Get up early, take your money, ride on the "Erba Dagang", and "speed" towards the county seat.

There were not many pedestrians and very few cars on the road. The wind was blowing under my feet, the wheels were spinning, and I was actually sweating while riding.

When I arrived at the tile factory, I took a quick look and saw that it was very shabby.

The tile factory is actually located in the northern suburbs of Xigui County, on the fields and dams on both sides of the road. There are some earth kilns set up. Workers buy clay from everywhere, step on the mud, make bricks, dry, put in the kiln, bake, and leave the kiln.

They are scattered (stacked) and then sold to thousands of households. After passing the tile factory, not far up the mountain along the road is the Emperor Temple.

The tile factory is not actually a "factory". It has neither a factory building nor a machine. It is completely a "handicraft industry." Strictly speaking, the workers in the tile factory are not workers. They are actually the landowners of the clay kiln and the landowner's brother-in-law.

My cousin, my aunt, my sister. They usually do some farm work, and when the weather is good in summer, they step on the mud and burn tiles, and together they make some money. After all, tile burning is still a "depending on the weather" job.

With the development of economy and social progress, there are few new houses with mud walls in rural areas. Newly built houses are generally prefabricated cement brick houses. Those with better economic conditions build red brick houses.

Burning tiles is actually a hard job.

The clay you buy is very hard and compact. You need to manually break it into small pieces with a hoe. Then you take a large pile of mud that is like a hill and dig out a big pit from the middle of the mud pile. It looks like a "

Then pour a lot of water into the "crater". Then use hoes and shovels to knead it evenly like "kneading noodles."

After being reconciled, gather them up and pile them up. Let them sit for a few hours, which is actually half a day. Wait for the "mud noodles" to "ferment" naturally. When the "fermentation" is complete, everyone digs out the mud piles, closes them again, closes them, and digs them out again.

. Repeated this many times, and when the "master" felt that it was "almost", everyone stood on the mud with bare feet and "stepped on the mud". Why not wear shoes? It's not that I feel sorry for the shoes, but it's really uncomfortable to wear them.

It is convenient to step on the mud. Stop stepping when the master feels it is "suitable". As for the "suitable" standard, only the master knows. I guess the clay surface becomes even and fine, right?

After the "mud surface" is reconciled, it is time to "make the blank". "Making the blank" requires the help of some tools. One is a tile bucket and the other is a tile knife. The tile bucket is made of cast iron, and the other is hollow and about one centimeter thick.

, an iron bucket with a small upper opening and a large lower opening. There are four groove lines on the wall of the bucket. The tile bucket is used with a wooden bottom plate. The wooden bottom plate is square and is about ten centimeters larger than the diameter of the bottom of the tile bucket.

The masters use tile knives to cut off evenly thick "mud sheets" from the tile mud, then wrap them on the tile bucket, trim them evenly with a small tile knife, and make four cuts along the groove lines of the tile bucket. The four "tile blanks"

"It's done.

The finished tiles should be naturally air-dried and properly aired. The standard should be that they can be picked up without deformation. Do not allow them to dry completely. If they are completely dry, they will crack as soon as they are fired in the kiln. If they are not properly aired, something will happen during the kiln installation process.

If it is deformed and burned, it will also be a waste product. The kiln loading is also very important. It must be even and not too dense, otherwise it will not be burned thoroughly and unevenly, otherwise there will be more waste products and defective products. If it is too thin, it will waste resources such as firepower and efficiency.

Low efficiency means low. Not only will you not make money, you will also lose money.

To make a good kiln is to close the kiln for firing. The most important thing for firing is to control the heat. If the heat is not controlled well, it will either explode or not be burned thoroughly, and the color will be incorrect when it comes out of the kiln. In the words of a master chef, the quality problem is:

Just like lice on a bald man's head, it's obvious. Naturally, no one will buy your tiles. How else can you make money? Only "green tiles" are good tiles with the best price. The second is "missing corners"

, even if the corners of the tiles were burned or knocked off after being knocked out of the kiln, it does not affect the use, and the price is a little lower. The worst is the "gray tiles", which are not burned through, and will weather and rot in a short time after being built on the house.

Lost.

After firing, it is time to "get out of the kiln". Don't be too impatient when getting out of the kiln. If you are too anxious, people will be easily burned, or even "poisoned", and in severe cases, people will die. However, some masters are just "lucky".

, in order to improve production efficiency, the time out of the kiln must be as short as possible. This not only saves time, but also saves waste heat in the kiln. After all, the word "money" is.

The tiles that have been baptized by the kiln fire are neatly stacked next to the kiln. If you can look down from the sky, you will definitely see a "maze"-like pile of tiles. These tiles are stacked there quietly, covered with

The "rails" made of bamboo slices slowly dissipate the "fire energy" (stress) brought out in the kiln in the wind and rain. Then, they are waiting for pairs of warm hands to place them on the roofs of thousands of households.

, shelter people from wind and rain, and slowly count the spring and autumn.

When the workers in the tile factory saw someone coming, they greeted me. I went among them and asked about the price.

The workers said: "The green tiles are 1.5 cents, the missing corners are 1.2 cents, and the gray tiles are 5 cents. They will not be included in the carriage or delivery."

I said: "Isn't it only 1 dime and 2 cents last year?"

The workers smiled and said, "Brother, nothing in this society has a high price."

Then the boss-like worker asked: "Brother, are you going to buy a lot of them? If you buy 30,000 to 50,000 horses, we still have to discuss it."

I know that they are all straightforward people. If they can negotiate the price, they will naturally not be secretive. So I readily bought 1,500 horses.

Just as I was paying, Suona arrived. He helped me put the tiles into the carriage. I saw that he also carefully brought some straw.

He smiled and said: "I guess you left early and may have forgotten to bring some, so I brought some. Then I put them on the four sides of the carriage and clamped them tightly. This will reduce a lot of wear and tear on the road."

Just as we were about to leave, the boss brought some tiles over. I looked at him in surprise.

The boss said: "Brother, I gave you these twenty watts. There will inevitably be some wear and tear on the road. It would be bad if I lost just these few tiles." I accepted the tiles and thanked the boss. I rode on my "Two

"Badakan" followed the suona and hurried back slowly and leisurely.
Chapter completed!