Volume 2: The Storm in Chang'an Chapter 101: The Prototype of the Greenhouse
"Master Hou, it's out! It's out!" Liu Laosan shouted excitedly as he looked at the clinker coming out of the kiln.
"It's the cement that came out! It's not the Marquis who came out!" Hearing Liu Laosan's cry, Lu Chen shook his head helplessly. When Liu Laosan shouted, it was as if I, the Marquis, had gone in.
After the clinker cooled down, Lu Chen ordered someone to mix the clinker with the iron slag and start grinding directly. Lu Chen kept pinching the gray powder that came out of the grind with his hands.
"Almost done!" Lu Chen threw the gray powder in his hand to the ground, clapped his hands, and followed the order to get a wooden basin, put in the gray powder and water, started stirring, and waited for it to cool down. After all, this was only the first time. It is considered a test product. Whether it can be called cement depends on the results.
Lu Chen quietly watched the test product in the wooden basin solidify and cool down. The gray viscous shape was indeed very similar to cement, but he didn't know if it could achieve the effect of cement. As the test product solidified, Lu Chen touched it with his hands first. After touching it, the hardness was really good. Then he asked Liu Laosan to bring a hammer. Lu Chen swung the hammer and smashed it on the solidified test object.
"Dang!" The feeling coming from the hammer was the same as when he hit the cement floor with the hammer. Looking at the cement block, it was only a small piece that was broken. Lu Chen picked up the broken piece. Zhizhi carefully identified it and suddenly became ecstatic, "It's done! It's done!"
Everyone was stunned by the hardness of the dusty powder created by Lu Chen. All the craftsmen gathered around and reached out to touch the cement blocks and feel the hardness of the cement blocks.
The building materials of this era did not even have "sanhe soil". Even the masonry and tiles of the palace and city walls were made of yellow clay slurry. Can that thing be as strong as cement? And the yellow clay slurry is It's also labor-intensive, and nowhere is cement so easy to make.
"Master Hou, can this thing be used to build a house?" After seeing the adhesion and hardness of cement, Huang Gui, a bricklayer by training, asked Lu Chen in a guessing tone.
"Build a house?" Lu Chen raised his eyebrows and raised the corners of his mouth proudly, "If it can only build a house, then what is the use of building this thing? This thing can not only build a house, but also pave roads and build cities! It's so useful. Alright!" How useful is cement? It can be said that cement is a great invention. Anyway, that's what Lu Chen thinks.
"Then Lord Marquis, give this thing a name!" Except for Lu Chen, this was the first time for everyone to see "cement", and Lu Chen invented this thing, so the naming rights naturally went to Lu Chen.
"Let's call this thing cement!" Lu Chen looked like he was thinking about it for a moment.
"Cement, this name is so appropriate!"
"Sure enough, the Marquis is still knowledgeable!"
All the craftsmen began to please Lu Chen one after another. Lu Chen pressed down his hands, and everyone's voices were muffled by Lu Chen.
"Can we add more manpower?" Lu Chen turned to ask Liu Laosan.
"There is no problem in increasing manpower, but does Mr. Hou have to keep firing cement?" Liu Laosan asked.
"This thing must be used all the time!" Lu Chen nodded, in response to Liu Laosan's question about always firing cement.
"There are a lot of people in Zhuangzi, and we can't go to the fields now, so there will be many people who can come and start the work, but there are not many things like iron slag in Zhuangzi!" Liu Laosan could tell at a glance that cement requires iron slag, although It is the leftover material from smelting iron ore, but there is not much in Zhuangzi. With just manpower and no materials, it is impossible to make so much cement!
"I will take care of the materials. You just need to find someone to start the work! In addition, I will not let everyone work in vain. Each person who works will be paid five cents, and the kiln manager will be paid ten cents!" Lu Chen said directly
The wages of the villagers who had people working were announced. As for Liu Laosan, Lu Chen did not say the wages of the kiln manager. After all, he belonged to Lu Chen's Hou family.
You know, at this time, a liter of rice only costs more than ten dollars. As for other grains, the prices are even lower. In other words, if you work in a cement factory, you can get enough money to buy food for the whole family for one or even two days.
"Master Hou, how can we have money?" Just when Lu Chen announced the salary standard, Liu Jing couldn't help but whisper a reminder beside Lu Chen.
"Don't worry, there will be plenty of money in the future!" Lu Chen glanced at Liu Jing and said with a smile.
"Old Liu, speed up the construction of the blast furnace, and let the blacksmith shop quickly build what I want. From today on, this area will be assigned to Lujiazhuang Workshop!" Now this is no longer the Imperial Village, since it is Lu Chen's place
Lu Chen, a Marquis of Zhuangzi, lived here again, so it naturally became "Lujiazhuang". Lu Chen pointed at the hillside where the three kiln entrances are currently located and said.
"Yes, Lord Marquis!" Now that Lu Chen has given the order, Liu Laosan naturally follows it. Because of the salary, these people's enthusiasm has soared. Some even plan to wait until dark to go home and take care of their children.
Also bring work.
"Okay, hurry up and get the cement out and send some to my back garden first!" Lu Chen saw that the cement had been made successfully, so he turned around and left the cement workshop. Now the three kiln entrances were all occupied by Lu Chen
It is named after "xx Square".
This kiln can produce a lot of cement, but Lu Chen's first task is to "bark the greenhouse". Only when he is full can he have the strength to work!
Lu Chen stopped by the blacksmith shop and saw that many of the iron frames he wanted had already been built, so he asked the few Beiwei guards who were following him to borrow a cart and move them to the back garden.
After all, limited by the technology of this era, it is difficult to make an integrated frame, and the only way is to splice it. But even so, Lu Chen was very satisfied and directed Bei Weiwei to drive the frame into the pre-marked position.
All that's left is to wait for the cement.
With the incentive of salary, two trucks of cement were quickly delivered from the cement workshop. As soon as Lu Chen saw the arrival of the cement, he immediately began to direct people to start the civil construction work of the greenhouse. As for the sand, Lu Chen had people go to the emperor's house a few days ago.
It was dug and sifted from the creek in the village.
There is a saying: "It's easier to work when there are more people!"
In just two days, the greenhouse planned by Lu Chen was built. When Su Dingfang, Fang Qi and Liu Jing laid down the plastic film of the greenhouse, they were shocked. They had never seen such a soft and transparent plastic film.
It was such a tough thing that Liu Jing couldn't help but put the plastic film on his face. The soft feeling made Liu Jing show an expression of enjoyment.
"Stop being intoxicated! Hurry up and get to work!" Lu Chen felt a chill when he saw Liu Jing's expression of enjoyment, and kicked Liu Jing's butt directly.
"Hey!" Liu Jing, who was kicked by Lu Chen, could only laugh and started to apply film on the greenhouse.
"Master Hou, what you asked for has been delivered!" Just as Lu Chen was instructing Liu Jing and the others to fasten the membranes of the greenhouse, Liu Laosan walked in quickly from outside.
"Well! Let them stay outside! No one is allowed to enter the back garden without my permission!" Lu Chen glanced at Liu Laosan and said, "Fang Qi, arrange a few people to guard the back garden for me soon!"
"Okay, Lord Marquis!" Fang Qi, who was squatting on the back wall and pulling on the plastic film, quickly accepted the order.
After the greenhouse film was installed, Lu Chen walked around the greenhouse and saw that there were no flaws, then he took Liu Jing, Su Dingfang and Fang Qi to the front yard and moved a bunch of iron tools to the back garden.
"What is this?" Su Dingfang looked curiously at the iron cylinder he was carrying.
"This is called a stove! It will be used in the greenhouse later!" Lu Chen looked at Su Dingfang's curious look and couldn't help laughing, "We don't have enough iron now, so we can only use it in the greenhouse first. This thing
The heating effect is great in winter!”
"Oh!" Su Dingfang responded with a vague understanding, and ran into the back garden carrying the iron tube.
After the stove was installed, everyone began to look curiously at the iron thing Lu Chen had made, wondering how it could be used for heating.
"Gou Boy, bring me a copper pot of water!" Lu Chen asked Liu Jing to fetch a copper pot of water.
Just when Liu Jing went to fetch water, Lu Chen had already started adding charcoal to the stove.
As the charcoal in the stove was ignited, the temperature in the greenhouse began to rise, and the spout of the copper kettle placed on top of the stove began to produce hot steam.
"Master Hou, let me guard here at night!" Fang Qi, who had already taken off his hat, rushed to Lu Chen to ask for his tassel.
"Just say you want to keep warm here!" Su Dingfang exposed Fang Qi mercilessly, and Fang Qi laughed innocently.
"Okay! If you're not afraid of the heat, you can live here!" Lu Chen glanced at Fang Qi and said nonchalantly, this penthouse is used to heat the greenhouse when it's cold in winter and absorb light normally.
The temperature is just enough to maintain temperature in the greenhouse.
At this time, the temperature in the ear room was no longer low, and Lu Chen went out directly. As for Fang Qi, after feeling the real temperature in the ear room, he also started to think about working in the ear room at night.
"Okay! That's it for today! The ground inside should be loosened tomorrow, and you can plant vegetables by then!" Lu Chen felt the temperature inside the greenhouse. At this time, the temperature in the greenhouse increased with the heating of the penthouse and sunlight.
The irradiation has been improved a lot.
"Let's go! Let's have hot pot tonight!" Lu Chen waved his hand. These guys have worked hard and they must be rewarded no matter what, and the best reward is food.
"Long live the Marquis!" When they heard Lu Chen talking about eating hot pot, several people cheered.
"Don't talk nonsense! It won't be good if people hear it!" Even if the title "Long Live" spreads out, Lu Chen won't care, but it will always cause trouble. After all, Lu Chen has a lot to do now, some of which are irrelevant.
It's better not to encounter necessary troubles, but can Lu Chen really get what he wants?