Chapter 81: The Age of Rubber

Lu Chengxiang said: "I just came back from the lime kiln, I should ask them who knows how to burn a large vat." As soon as Zhang Zhimu heard about the lime kiln, he asked, "How is their lime kiln business?" ”

"Not good. Now there are a few families who build houses, and they are all free to live. Lu Chengxiang replied.

Zhang Zhimu knew that when the economy was in a recession, it was a good time to buy, and asked: "Can you go and discuss with their owner, can we buy the lime kiln?" ”

Lu Chengxiang said: "I think it can be done, if we don't buy it, we may not be able to do it." Chen Yufeng said, "Why did you buy it?" Don't spread the stall too big all at once. Zhang Zhimu said: "This lime kiln has too much effect on us. You say, what do we shoot the most after the lime we buy is built on the wall? Chen Yufeng said: "Then you don't need to say, I'm afraid of water." Zhang Zhimu said: "I want to burn a kind of lime that is not afraid of water, it is a lime that is not afraid of soaking in water for decades after drying, and it is harder than a stone." Lu Chengxiang said: "If there is that thing, it will be terrible." ”

Zhang Zhimu said: "Mr. Lu, are you going to do this now?" If their owner agrees. Leave their workers behind. All according to the treatment of our kiln gang. Lu Chengxiang said: "I'll do this tomorrow." ”

Huang Yukun came over and said, "I have already made a big basket of wild vegetable roots for you." They found a large patch of wild vegetables in the mountains. They'll go get it tomorrow. Zhang Zhimu hurriedly said: "Don't get those wild vegetables, don't do this if you want to dig wild vegetables, you must keep this wild vegetables." I'm of great use. In addition, if I see that this wild vegetable is blooming, as long as the seeds are blackened, even the flowers are picked together, and it is useful for me to collect more seeds. ”

As a result, when the women heard that Mr. Zhang wanted this kind of wild vegetable seeds, they searched all over the mountains and fields, and they could get some flowers every day. When he got the flowers, Zhang Zhimu put them in a cool place, dried them in the shade for a day, and then rubbed the flowers with his hands to pick out the flower seeds. In this way, there were a total of three or four catties of seeds, and Zhang Zhimu shouted to stop.

On this day, Zhang Zhimu was carefully picking flower seeds, and Lu Chengxiang came in and said, "There's a letter from the lime kiln, let's go." The last time I went to talk to them, they said think about it. Because they are a partnership of three businesses, one person cannot be the master. I guess let's go now and negotiate the price. Mr. Zhang, you can sit and listen when you go, and I will talk about the price, otherwise if you open your mouth, we will have to spend a lot of silver. Zhang Zhimu laughed and said, "Okay, I'll listen to you." ”

The lime kiln is not far from the kiln, especially now that there is a four-wheeled carriage, the road is not a difficult process. Li Jing personally drove the car, and Zhang Zhimu, Chen Yufeng and Lu Chengxiang were sitting in the car. It was the first time for all three of them to come out in a new carriage to run errands, and the new car attracted countless lights along the way. The people in the car were also very proud. Chen Yufeng asked Zhang Zhimu: "When are you going to sell the car?" Zhang Zhimu said: "It's not in a hurry now. I want to wait until better steel is smelted, and then I will sell it. Now these cars are not enough for us, and after a while, we will go to kill Hukou, and these cars may not be enough. Lu Chengxiang said: "This time, we can't just go to kill Hukou, but also go to Zhangjiakou." With so many goods sold in one place, it's worthless. The materials for building the house are ready. I walked around Shanxi first, and there were some things that Shanxi could sell. ”

This lime kiln is a good place, the mountain behind is a ready-made stockyard, the stone is smashed down from the mountain is the raw material, there is a small river next to it, and it is convenient to get water. The production of lime in this era is too unenvironmentally friendly, and there is lime powder everywhere, but it is a pity that the new carriage that Zhang Zhimu and they rushed to was also disgraced.

Introduce each other, and everyone is seated. The shopkeeper of the kiln factory spoke, "Zhang Dongjia, we have already heard of the name of your kiln, we are very happy that you can take a fancy to our small kiln, and this matter cannot be hidden, I think you also know that we can't do this kiln." In this year of drought, who still buys lime? The kiln factory is owned by three companies. In fact, even if I am a dry stock, I take care of this kiln factory, and the money is from these two people. Fortunately, business was good in the past few years, and everyone still made some money. Now you see, the big warehouse over there is full of burned lime, which has not been sold yet, and the kiln cannot be stopped. Once the kiln is stopped, it will be more troublesome to burn again. If you can take over, the kiln will not stop. Lu Chengxiang said: "Since you have already said it, let's set a price." Zhang Zhimu said: "You talk about the price, I'll go out and take a look." Leaving Lu Chengxiang and Chen Yufeng to negotiate the price with them, Zhang Zhimu came out. Looking around is very satisfied with this place, easy access. As long as you clean up, the environment can change greatly, mainly because the original owner door is too eager for quick success. There is no discipline in the limestone mining on the mountain behind, how convenient and how to do it, it makes everything messy, and it is strange that it can be developed to make money.

It didn't take long for all the people in the house to come out. The price was negotiated, everything was covered, and the previous creditor's rights and debts were not concerned, and the whole number was a total of two thousand taels of silver. Zhang Zhimu was very satisfied, and said in his heart that it would be worth 200,000 taels of silver in my hand. Make an appointment to bring the silver tomorrow and go to Xiurong to handle the transfer documents together. The two proprietors said: "Zhang Dongjia, we have never seen a proprietor like you, and when we talked about money, you were gone." Usually at this time, the owner stares without blinking. Zhang Zhimu said: "I believe in them, if you trust others, others will be very loyal." "The two owners left, apparently they were also satisfied, and finally relieved. The shopkeeper of the kiln factory did not leave, his surname was Wu Shan. Zhang Zhimu said: "If you stay, you will still be asked to take care of it here, but we will send people to participate in the management, your management here is too chaotic." The first one is that the environment here is so dirty and messy, and the treatment of our kiln gang, did Mr. Lu tell you. Wu Shan said: "It's all said, I'm willing to work with Zhang Dongjia, our workers here feel that they have a head start when they hear that Zhang Dongjia can take over the kiln factory, otherwise they will leave here and have no place to eat." Zhang Zhimu said: "Go and see the workers." Let's take a look at the cafeteria first. As a result, Wu Shan said: "There is no canteen here, the meal is ready, bring it over, and the workers will eat here." Zhang Zhimu saw that most of the so-called stored grain here was bran vegetables. The workers were unclothed and had not taken a shower for I don't know how long.

Zhang Zhimu gathered all the workers together, stood on a high place, and said to everyone: "Brothers workers, starting tomorrow, we will be a family. With me, I will let everyone live a well-fed, warmly clothed and dignified life. Tomorrow, I will have people bring some food back, and everyone will no longer have to eat the same things as pigs and dogs. I'll put new clothes on everybody. When everyone is working, there are work clothes to wear when they are working, and there are work clothes to wear when they are not working. "In the future, we will build a canteen and a bathhouse here, and every day after work, we will take a shower and go back to rest. The workers didn't react at all after listening to it, and the workers didn't believe what Zhang Zhimu said, thinking that they were listening to the dream talk. Finally the workers woke up and there was a buzz.

When Zhang Zhimu was leaving, he told Wushan that now you must clean up the environment, there is water in the river, and the floating soil and ash can be washed away with water, and I don't want to see the dust everywhere next time, if you can't change it, don't do it. Zhang Zhimu told Lu Chengxiang to send some food first, then buy some bricks and tiles, build workers' dormitories and canteens, etc., and those shacks were demolished. Remember to ask Huang Yukun to organize people to make clothes and send them over. He also said to Wu Shan: "You can't stop the kiln now, continue to dry, and you will do it according to my recipe in the future." I have something to ask you, do you know that there are kiln firers? Wu Shan said, "Yes." My grandfather and father were both kiln burners, and I learned how to burn lime from them. Zhang Zhimu said: "Great, I want to restore the kiln in the kiln, this kiln can also feed many people." Wushan said: "Great. My grandfather and my father used to burn cylinders in the kiln, and they would have been very happy if they heard that the kiln could be restored. Zhang Zhimu said: "You leave an address, and we will invite them." Wu Shan said: "No, I'll take your car out in a while, go back home, and I'll arrange things at home." By the way, just let them go to the kiln tomorrow to find you. Zhang Zhimu was so good to hear it. Tell you to arrange this place first, and we'll go back.

On the way, Zhang Zhimu said to Chen Yufeng: "Don't build that big canteen first." Let's build something else in that place. Chen Yufeng said: "You will be anxious for a while, and you will not be in a hurry for a while." Zhang Zhimu said: "When Wushan burns new lime, I will build the best canteen in Shanxi." Ha ha! ”

After completing the paperwork the next day, Zhang Zhimu's people came to the kiln factory again, at this time the grain, vegetables and meat had been delivered, and the workers had eaten a full meal, and they were so happy to see Zhang Zhimu. Zhang Zhimu said: "The clothes will be sent over as soon as they are ready." This time, Zhang Zhimu called Wushan aside alone and told him that according to the ratio of limestone and clay, they were three to one, three to two and three to three, and three kilns were burned. Then, it is crushed with gypsum, stirred evenly, and a part of it is wrapped and sent to the kiln. This recipe must be kept secret. Wu Shan said: "Don't worry. I know the weight. ”

Answering to the kiln gang, the two sons and sons of the martial arts family are waiting. Zhang Zhimu said: "I have always wanted to restore the kiln in the back, so that it can also feed many people." So I'd like to ask both of you for help. The two of them said, "As soon as I heard that you were going to restore the kiln, I couldn't sit still last night." It's great that this kiln can be restored. It's a good kiln. The surface of the burned cylinder is uniform, and there are few air holes. Now it's all right. Zhang Zhimu wanted to say to Lu Chengxiang: "Organize the personnel of the cylinder kiln as soon as possible, and let the two who can burn porcelain also come to participate, I will let people buy some porcelain clay, and we will burn some special porcelain here." "The rest will be left to Chen Yufeng and Lu Chengxiang.

Zhang Zhimu came to see Li Yunhe's experiment. Seeing Zhang Zhimu, Li Yunhe said: "This time it's almost over, we have changed it several times."

Take a few corn stalks, use two oxen to pull and drive, and feed the corn stalks, and the corn stalks will automatically be rolled in and out, and the corn stalks will be rolled into shreds and cut into an inch long corn stalks. Zhang Zhimu said that it was great, and he did it twenty times. I will give you a big credit, those who participated in the design experiment tonight will add vegetables, and half a catty of wine per person. When everyone heard this, they all "boiled" and almost jumped up with joy.

Zhang Zhimu said to Li Yunhe again: "You can arrange for them to make those." How much iron can we make in our iron furnace now? Li Yunhe said: "If you get it quickly, plus steelmaking, you can get more than 1,000 catties a day." Zhang Zhimu asked again: "Can it all be made into steel bars?" "You can't hit a few with a hammer a day." Li Yunhe replied. Zhang Zhimu said: "I have an idea, get two sticks, the upper one should be pressed, the two rollers rotate opposite each other through gear transmission, so that the steel rod that has just melted out is fed into the two sticks, and the steel rod is flattened once it passes, so that one is pressed out a few times." Li Yunhe said: "It would be too convenient if you could get what you said." Press to a certain extent, and then you can use the method of wire drawing. Zhang Zhimu said: "This is a key technology for our steel development, breakthrough it, we can not only roll steel bars, so that we can press steel plates, and so on." Li Yunhe said, "I know." Start now, when you look into this thing. ”

Li Yunhe suddenly remembered something and said: "I found a strange phenomenon, you see that we make steel, we used to think that the longer we smelt, the harder the steel becomes. But after practicing for too long, the more I practiced, the softer I became. Zhang Zhimu said: "That's right, if there is carbon in the iron, it is steel, and it is hard." But after practicing for too long, the carbon in it is gone, and it is pure iron. Pure iron is much softer. You can also refine some pure iron, which is very useful for tying things up. The steel wire I want you to get is for pounding the structural parts of Shuini, and the steel bars must be connected and tied with iron wires. Therefore, steel bars and iron wires should not be used less. Li Yunhe said: "I will hurry up and get these steel wires. ”

After arranging these, Zhang Zhimu came back to deal with his wild vegetable roots, he crushed the wild vegetable roots, used a stone mill and water to grind them repeatedly, and then put them in the water, fished out the floating debris, and milled the precipitated material in the stone mill, flotation again, and finally extracted the rubber. Such rubber is sticky and soft. After they are dried in a cool place, they are cut into fine powders, mixed with sulfur powder, and placed in a container where they are heated for a while by the iron furnace. While it is hot, it is pressed into thin slices with a wooden board, and then the thin slices are pressed into a pocket with a small opening. Touching the soft rubber pocket, Zhang Zhimu thought to himself that my rubber might have been successfully extracted, so I could master three of the four major raw materials for industrial production, rubber, coal, steel, and oil, and I would be short of oil. Seeing that Zhang Zhimu was stupid and couldn't move, Xiaohu Xiaoqing and the other children who came in were already staring at the things in his hand, and they were impatient. Xiaoqing said, "Uncle, what are you doing with the things in your hands?" Zhang Zhimu came back to his senses and said, "This thing is very useful." As he spoke, he blew on the rubber pocket, which bulged into a large balloon. The children watched the joy of jumping their feet. Zhang Zhimu said to go and get a thread, and it should be stronger. Xiao Qing's legs were fast, and he took back a thread after a while, and Zhang Zhimu tied the balloon mouth with the thread and handed it to the children. He said, "Here it is for you, take it and play with it." "The kids rushed out with the balls. In the yard, it was kicking and fighting, and it was a lot of fun. Zhang Zhimu knows that today's ball is a sign that mankind has entered the rubber era in advance.