Bricks and Papermaking

Liu Xiuyuan nodded and said, "This isn't a big problem. I'll arrange for the village carpenter to make it."

Zhou Wanwan thought for a moment and said, "Is there anyone in our village who can build houses? Is there any way to build a wall to enclose our village?"

Liu Xiuyuan looked at her and said:

"A wall? That's not a problem, but the key question is, what kind of wall do we need?"

If it's a wooden fence, then it's not a big problem; we can just cut down more trees.

Zhou Wanwan strolled around the village and said, "It has to be all stone, the higher the better. If we don't have money, we'll hire people. Our Liu Family Village isn't short of manpower."

Liu Xiuyuan looked at her and said, "So you mean we need to buy bricks? Those big city bricks aren't cheap."

Large city bricks are thick, large blue bricks specially made for defensive projects, and are larger in size than ordinary bricks.

The glutinous rice mortar is made by mixing glutinous rice juice with lime and sand to fill the gaps. It is tight, waterproof, and strong, several times stronger than ordinary mud mortar.

Zhou Wanwan asked, "How much do the large city bricks cost? How many large city bricks would we need to block up our intersection?"

Liu Family Village has a uniquely advantageous location, with only a few entrances and exits.

With the main road blocked and the small side paths on the back mountain also sealed off, outsiders simply cannot get in.

Zhou Wanwan planned to block off all the side roads and the main gate, leaving only one door open.

Liu Xiuyuan pondered for a while before saying, "I estimate it will cost over a thousand taels."

Zhou Wanwan shuddered and said, "Over a thousand taels? These massive city bricks are way too expensive!"

Then Lingbao stretched and said, "Big city bricks? What are you guys making those things for?"

Zhou Wanwan looked at it and said, "Oh! You're awake?"

"Ugh! Every time I absorb the medicinal power, I get really sleepy and need to rest. These large city bricks are quite easy to make, so why buy them?"

"It would be better to save this money and buy medicinal herbs," Lingbao said.

Zhou Wanwan looked at it and said, "You can even make large city bricks?"

"To be honest, making large city bricks isn't actually that difficult. You just need good clay and to fire them slowly in a large kiln until they're thoroughly fired to make them strong."

But I think using regular bricks works just fine!

"We can fire the kilns in the village, so we don't have to bother buying them from elsewhere. It saves money and trouble, and it's enough to block those intersections," Lingbao said.

Zhou Wanwan thought for a moment and said:

Clay should be easy to find.

"Liu Xiuyuan, do we have any clay here?"

Liu Xiuyuan nodded and said:

"Clay is easy to find. At the bottom of the dried-up ditch at the east end of the village, there is fine clay. Just dig out the top layer of soil and you'll find it. It's very sticky, perfect for making bricks."

I'll gather the able-bodied men in the village, and they can bring carrying poles and baskets to fetch the goods; a few trips will be enough."

Zhou Wanwan nodded, and soon saw them returning carrying loads of clay.

Zhou Wanwan asked, "Can this be fired into bricks?"

Lingbao nodded and said, "Of course you can. Although I've never done it before, following my method will definitely not be wrong."

Lingbao thought for a moment and said:

"Don't rush to mix the clay after digging it up! You have to spread it out in the drying yard for two or three days to clean out the gravel and grass roots inside, otherwise the bricks will be full of holes after firing."

Once it's dried until it's no longer sticky, mix in 30% fine sand, then sprinkle with water, and have several people stomp on it vigorously.

The more evenly and stickily the brick is tamped, the stronger it will be.

After the mud has been tamped down, let it rest overnight. The next day, stuff it into a wooden mold, press it firmly, scrape off the excess mud, and after unmolding, stack it in a drying yard to air dry. It must be kept out of direct sunlight, otherwise it will crack!

After air-drying for about ten days, they are stacked in a small earthen kiln.

Leave some gaps between the bricks to allow the fire to circulate, place pine firewood underneath, light the fire through the kiln door, and let it burn for two days and two nights.

Once the kiln walls turn a bright red, seal the kiln door and let it sit for a day to cool down. Then, when you open the kiln, you'll find hard bricks!

Zhou Wanwan instructed the villagers to do as she said, and the villagers whispered:

Can we make bricks here?

I don't know what the young master was thinking, why make so many bricks?

"We'll do whatever our master tells us to do. Why all the nonsense? You Little Ancestor who've angered us will regret it!" Liu Xiuyuan shouted.

The people from Liu Family Village immediately fell silent and began to work.

While other villages were shrouded in gloom, Liu Family Village was bustling with activity.

Children over five years old in the village used to have to work, but now children aged five to eighteen are specifically engaged in charcoal burning.

Those aged eighteen to fifty specialize in handling bricks.

The women also had work to do; wherever there was space in the village, vegetables were planted, including on the mountains.

As the women pulled weeds, they said, "Winter is coming soon. Even if we clear the land now, we won't be able to plant anything."

"Don't overthink it. The Little Ancestor has her own methods. She's been talking about greenhouses lately, but I wonder what she's up to?"

Zhou Wanwan originally didn't want to set up greenhouses, but greenhouse vegetables were definitely profitable, especially in ancient times.

There's a locust plague right now, and vegetables on the street are selling for thirty coins a pound. I'm afraid the price of vegetables will be even higher next year.

She originally didn't want to grow greenhouse vegetables, but now she has a natural advantage!

Coal is free, but greenhouse vegetables absolutely require charcoal. Although there was no plastic film in ancient times, there was oil paper.

The key point is that Lingbao also knows how oiled paper is made.

This Lingbao's knowledge is truly vast; it pointed to the paper mulberry bark and tung oil barrel in the courtyard and said:

"Making our own oil paper isn't difficult! First, soak the bark of the paper mulberry trees cut from the mountain behind the village in the river for ten to fifteen days until it softens."

Then put it into a stone mortar and pound it into a fine pulp. Spread it evenly on a bamboo mat, drain off the water, and dry it in the sun to make coarse paper blanks.

After the paper blank has dried, pour tung oil into a ceramic basin, add a little pine resin, and stir well.

Then immerse the entire sheet of paper in oil and stir it with a wooden stick so that every inch of paper is fully soaked in oil.

After taking them out, hang them under the eaves to air dry in the shade. Don't expose them to direct sunlight, or the paper will tear.

Once the first coat of oil has dried, soak it again, and let it air dry completely. Then you'll have oil paper that's both rainproof and allows light to pass through!

Zhou Wanwan chuckled. It was indeed simple; it was just the process of making paper.

She then realized that she could make not only this kind of paper, but also other types of paper. The children in the village were learning to read and writing, and they needed a lot of writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones.

She made a little extra, including some toilet paper for home use.

Zhou Wanwan has been here for so long, and the most inconvenient thing for her is defecating. Usually, people use tree branches to scrape their poop clean after they've defecated.

She simply couldn't stand it; they were using cotton fabric, but cotton fabric needed to be washed every time, which was very inconvenient.

She still remembers how to make paper: the best Xuan paper is made from the bark of the Qingtan tree, and some of it is mixed with a little Shatian rice straw.

The method is similar to making rough paper blanks: the bark is soaked until soft, mashed into pulp, spread evenly on a bamboo mat, drained, and dried in the sun.

However, the pulp needs to be repeatedly pounded to make the fibers finer and spread more evenly.

Grass paper is simpler. Better quality grass paper uses rice straw and wheat straw as its core raw materials, and also incorporates tender bamboo fiber and the inner layer of paper mulberry bark.