Chapter 103

103. Chapter 103: Building a Kiln

Finally, after paying the silver, the mother and daughter followed the horse trader to the large courtyard in the back to pick a horse carriage.

There were many stables in the courtyard, where horses transported from afar were kept, and there were also many brand-new horse carriages.

After all, families who came to the horse market to buy horses would often buy them together with horse carriages, which would be more cost-effective.

Finally, Jiang Wei picked a horse carriage, picked up Jiang Xiaoxiao, who had short legs, stuffed her into the carriage, and then drove the carriage away from the horse market, heading toward Yuhe Village.

Jiang Xiaoxiao looked at the empty carriage and was still stunned.

Thirty-five taels of silver, and her family owned their first horse carriage?

This was the most expensive means of transportation in ancient times!

Jiang Xiaoxiao couldn't hide the excitement in her heart. She lifted the curtain of the carriage, drilled out, and sat beside her mother.

It had to be said that this horse carriage was expensive for a reason. It not only ran fast but was also stable, much more stable than an ox cart. Even sitting outside, it wasn't bumpy at all.

She looked at the big brown-red horse running in front and suddenly felt that the thirty-five taels of silver were well spent.

"Mother, why did you suddenly want to buy a horse carriage?" Jiang Xiaoxiao couldn't help but ask.

Her mother was really too strange today. At first, she bought an ox cart full of bricks, and then she bought a horse carriage. Was she doing something secretly?

Jiang Wei, who was driving the carriage, tightened the reins in her hand, glanced at her, and said: "With a horse carriage, it will be more convenient to deliver goods to town in the future. And didn't we agree before that we would go to the provincial capital when we were free? We would have to buy this horse carriage as a means of transport sooner or later, so we might as well buy it first."

Jiang Xiaoxiao thought about it and it was true. Anyway, they had to buy it, so it was better to buy it early and enjoy it early. But...

"Then will we still let Grandpa Zhao drive the ox cart to help us deliver goods in the future?"

With a horse carriage, naturally, they wouldn't need an ox cart. Wouldn't Old Man Zhao be "unemployed"?

Jiang Xiaoxiao's worry was clearly unnecessary. When they drove the horse carriage back to the village, Old Man Zhao's ox cart had just arrived home. The full load of bricks on the ox cart was particularly eye-catching, causing the villagers working in the fields to look up one after another.

At this look, they saw the Jiang mother and daughter returning in a horse carriage. The strong brown-red horse was far ahead, and the Jiang mother and daughter were sitting in the horse carriage behind.

"Oh my, t-that's a horse carriage!"

"That's a horse carriage that only wealthy families in the city can afford! I didn't expect Xiaoxiao's mother to drive a horse carriage back!"

"Tsk tsk, this horse looks quite spirited, it must be worth a lot of money!"

The horse carriage ran fast and soon left the discussions far behind.

Arriving in front of the house, Jiang Wei carried Jiang Xiaoxiao off the horse carriage. Old Man Zhao was waiting in front of the courtyard gate. Seeing the horse carriage behind them, he couldn't stop the amazement in his eyes.

Jiang Wei stepped forward and said: "Uncle Zhao, we won't need your ox cart to deliver goods in the future. Do you know how to drive a horse carriage? If you do, help my family drive the horse carriage in the future. The wages will be the same as before, fifteen wen a day."

When Old Man Zhao heard that Jiang Wei didn't need his ox cart, he was a bit disappointed, but he didn't expect to hear that he was to drive a horse carriage in the next sentence. He was so excited that he nodded repeatedly: "I can! I know how to drive a horse carriage."

When he was young, he had been a coachman for wealthy families, so driving a horse carriage was naturally not a problem. But later, as he got older, the head of the family thought he was slow and sent him home.

He used all his savings to buy an old yellow ox. Although he couldn't drive a horse carriage, he could barely manage an ox cart.

He had always dreamed of having his own horse carriage. Although this wish hadn't been realized in his whole life, he was extremely happy to be able to sit in a horse carriage again at this age.

Old Man Zhao stepped forward and touched the brown-red horse in front. He didn't expect to touch a body of strong muscles, and he said happily: "This is a good horse!"

Jiang Wei entered the courtyard and asked the aunts and matrons who were working inside to come out and help move the bricks from the ox cart into the courtyard.

Those who came to work here were all honest people who didn't like to talk, so no one asked Jiang Wei what she was doing with so many bricks.

Jiang Xiaoxiao looked at the bricks being moved down. With her limited knowledge, it took her a long time to barely recognize that these were refractory bricks.

But what was her mother doing buying so many refractory bricks?

In ancient times, this kind of refractory brick was generally used to build high-temperature wood kilns. Refractory bricks had high hardness, were fire-resistant, and had a long service life, which meant they could withstand accidental collisions and damage during the long-term loading and unloading of the kiln.

People in this era built kilns for two purposes: smelting iron or firing porcelain.

Her family didn't lack either of these two things.

Just as she was thinking, Jiang Wei suddenly called her: "Xiaoxiao, go to Lizheng's house and find Liu Dagang."

Jiang Xiaoxiao responded and went out.

Now it was basically certain that her mother was pulling so many refractory bricks back to build a kiln.

Lizheng's family was all at home. Lizheng's wife was burning fire in the courtyard to cook. Jiang Xiaoxiao stood outside the courtyard and could see Lizheng's wife mixing buckwheat flour, mixing in chopped wild vegetables, and making cakes to stick to the side of the pot.

The pot was boiling porridge, with black beans and wild vegetables added, looking a bit thicker.

But such food was already considered good in the village.

Jiang Xiaoxiao felt silent in her heart. In the future, when there were outsiders at home, she absolutely couldn't let her mother eat big white rice for every meal. This was no longer a question of luxury. She had been in this village for a few months, but every family she saw with slightly better conditions used millet as their staple food, and no family had ever eaten big white rice.

If others knew that her family ate big white rice every day, there would be trouble sooner or later.

Jiang Xiaoxiao cleared her throat and shouted into the courtyard: "Big Brother Dagang, are you at home?"

"Xiaoxiao, why are you here?" Lizheng heard the sound and waved at her, "What's the matter with you looking for Dagang? Come in and talk."

"Mother has something to do with Big Brother Dagang and wants to invite Big Brother Dagang to go over." Jiang Xiaoxiao stood outside the courtyard and didn't move. It was almost time for them to prepare to eat, so it was really not good for her to go in. In this day and age, every family was short of food. If she went in, Lizheng would definitely pull her to the table to eat.

Liu Dagang drilled out of the room and said: "Alright, I'll go over after I finish eating."

"Then I'll go first."

Having completed the task of delivering the message, Jiang Xiaoxiao turned and slipped away.

Lizheng originally wanted to come out and pull her into the courtyard to eat, but didn't expect her to slip away in the blink of an eye, so he could only shake his head helplessly.

Jiang Xiaoxiao returned home and saw her mother lying on the table in the courtyard, drawing something with a brush, her expression extremely focused.

She leaned forward to take a look, and on the paper was a simple drawing of a kiln.

Her mother really wanted to build a kiln!

Jiang Xiaoxiao looked carefully again. This kiln was a straight-tube updraft kiln, which was almost non-existent in this era and only gradually appeared in later generations.

But this kind of straight-tube updraft kiln could provide a very high temperature, even reaching temperatures above 1600 degrees Celsius, and was generally used for smelting cast iron and steel in modern times.