Compared with forging steel, the technique of burning bricks is much simpler, and it is basically the kind that can be done with hands.

Generally, civilizations that point out pottery technology will also learn to burn bricks by the way, and further unlock the production of glaze or glass.

Contrary to what many people may think, glass has a very long history.

Not counting the natural glass pillars produced by lightning striking the desert and melting away the sand (also called silica tube stone or lightning lava, this kind of glass looks black and unstable because of too many impurities, like coke, and it seems to have no other use except for being cool)

The earliest history of human production of artificial glass can probably be traced back to ancient Egypt and ancient Greece BC, and of course, it was Rome that finally brought glass to life.

The Romans invented the glass mirror by coating a layer of clear glass on metal, and in addition to mastering more complex glass techniques such as blowing, molding, cutting, carving, and winding, they were even able to make delicate thin-walled glassware (although there were a bit of bubbles inside).

However, after the fall of Rome, their glass craftsmanship gradually disappeared, and only stained glass inlay remained in medieval Europe.

In contrast, the Eastern Empire was almost a millennium ahead of the world in the development of material technology at the same time, but perhaps because of the fanatical preference for porcelain, glass technology could not be lit up in China.

Until the nineteenth century, the shadow of glass was almost impossible to see in the daily life of Orientals, so much so that the invention of the telescope and microscope was missed.

On the side of Brattis, the situation is a little more complicated, and it is said that the secret of making glass is firmly in the hands of the elves.

The elves claimed that this skill was a gift from the Mother Goddess of the Forest and Life to the elves, who could use this transparent and light material to make all kinds of beautiful utensils.

It is even rumored that in the depths of the forest lies a transparent palace made entirely of glass.

Li Yu is personally skeptical of this statement, because the impact resistance of glass is too poor, and it is not safe to build a sun room, let alone an entire palace.

But it can also be seen from this that the glass craftsmanship mastered by those elves should not be too bad, maybe comparable to that of the ancient Romans.

It's far away, let's go back to burning bricks.

Although the Red Lion Empire couldn't figure out the secrets of the elves' production of glass, bricks could still be burned, but after Li Yu inquired, he learned that only a few areas along the southern coast had sporadic brick kilns.

After all, the nobles of the empire did not look down on such things as brick houses, and they often preferred stone forts that were more defensive and more magnificent in appearance, even if the construction cost of a stone fort was far higher than that of brick houses, and the mining, processing, and transportation of stone alone would cost a huge amount of gold coins.

And the civilians can look at it but can't afford it.

Even if the cost of burning bricks is not high, the raw clay is everywhere and is easy to obtain.

For most nobles, whether they were freedmen or serfs, they were just pure tools of production, as long as the most basic living conditions were ensured, and they were not starved or frozen to death, so the taxes on the territory were often set very high.

In addition, there were various kinds of conscription, such as cultivating a certain amount of land for the lord each year, building or repairing castles, military service, and other miscellaneous expenses, such as the use of bread stoves and wells, the breeding of boars, special payments for weddings and funerals, and so on.

In the end, even less money ends up in the hands of farmers.

In addition, the war and banditry are also a factor that cannot be ignored, if the brick houses that were built with great difficulty are burned down or demolished, the losses will be even greater.

On the contrary, it is not as easy to rebuild as an ordinary thatched longhouse.

In this way, it is naturally difficult for brick houses to be popularized in the Red Lion Empire, in fact, if Li Yu is not mistaken, it was not until the twelfth century that brick houses began to gradually become more common in Europe.

Of course, Li Yu was not interested in waiting that long.

At this stage, the cost of reinforced concrete structures is still too high for him, and Li Yu has to give up, but he can still afford to build a few brick kilns.

And Miss Rabbit's family fiefdom is a little remote, but it's not completely without benefits, at least it's not easy for the war to burn here on weekdays.

After all, there must be a reason to fight, Green Field is mediocre, and it is not worth anyone to send an army at all, even if he wins, he can only grab some radishes and go back.

Regardless of whether this is called Triumph, I am afraid that I will blush first.

In the past, the biggest trouble in this land was those lizardmen robbers who lived in the swamp, but now these lizardmen have been recruited by Li Yu, even if they don't rob others, no one around dares to provoke them.

In this way, the cost of reconstruction is less to be considered.

The only problem was that Li Yu couldn't directly recruit ready-made bricklayers on the western side.

And the south is too far away, even if those craftsmen are willing to come and build a brick kiln for him, it will take two months at the earliest, and this is only when Li Yu offers a high price that they can't refuse, so they are willing to leave their homeland and trek all the way to the territory of the Arias family.

Although Li Yu has money, there are still many places that need to be spent in the future, he doesn't want to squander it so much, and he doesn't want to wait so long, so he simply builds a brick kiln by himself.

Unlike in the game, you can easily unlock technology with a single mouse.

In reality, it is not easy to invent a technology, even if it is only an existing one, and develop it to the point where it can be put into use.

"The First Evolution"

Fortunately, Li Yu had a certain amount of mental preparation for this, and after setting the construction plan, he took out the spirit of writing his own papers, began to collect literature on the Internet, learned and summarized technical points, and went to the library to borrow a few books on related aspects.

When it was time to actually do it, Li Yu purchased some tools and equipment from 1688, including but not limited to a temperature gauge that can measure the temperature of a brick kiln, a standardized mold for brick making, and so on.

He even managed to bring a manual small brick making machine to Brattis by disassembling and carrying it in batches, which greatly increased the speed of brick making.

But even so, it was only three weeks after the actual time to burn the bricks that Li Yu was barely satisfied with, and it was a full two months after converting to the Brattis Continent.

However, looking at the whole row of red bricks that were burned to the point of being completely the same size and shape, and were square, Li Yu still felt that the hard work during this time was worth it.

The next step is to expand the scale of the brick kiln, and Li Yu plans to gradually increase the output of bricks to 50,000 pieces per day, which will almost meet the needs of the next construction.