I am a Primitive Man

Chapter 396: Brick kiln put on the agenda

In the beginning, the people in the tribe were very worried about keeping such a large group of bees inside the tribe's walls, afraid that these bees would sting people. But if they were left outside, they were afraid that something else would take the delicious honey away. So, in a dilemma, they accepted the idea of ​​bees living in the tribe.

After a few days of contact, it was discovered that these bees were busy collecting pollen daily, flying around. As long as they didn't attack the beehive like Xiao Fu did initially, these bees wouldn't actively attack people. After that, the people in the tribe completely let go of their worries.

Many children would stand near the beehives when they had nothing to do, watching the bees coming in and out of the hives. Some would even involuntarily put their fingers into their mouths to suck on them.

Sweet honey was attractive enough for children who liked sweets. As long as they did their work well, they could drink a bowl of honey water. These kids worked harder than anyone else.

After the waves caused by the bees gradually subsided, the spring planting in the Green Sparrow Tribe was completed. The earliest planted millet had already sprouted from the ground, showing tender shoots and receiving the caress of the spring breeze.

Smoke was rising from outside the Green Sparrow Tribe, near the river. People who had freed up their hands from spring planting had begun to make bricks and prepare for the blue brick and big tile houses mentioned by the Divine Child.

Now, Hei Wa was no longer involved in the tile-making work, leaving it to the two people who often helped him. Making tiles was relatively easier than making pottery, which had higher requirements.

However, he was not idle either. At this time, he had more important things to do.

Compared to making tiles, making bricks was much more difficult. The kiln used for firing tiles was not suitable for firing bricks. It's not that it couldn't be done, but it was just too laborious.

They tried firing once before. The fire burned continuously for three full days before finally baking the bricks. It took so much time and materials, yet only produced about a hundred bricks in one firing, and half of them were damaged as soon as they came out of the kiln, rendering them unusable.

At this rate, it would take forever for Han Cheng's desired brick and tile houses to appear.

As it turned out, the kiln for firing tiles was unsuitable for firing bricks. The solution, of course, was to build a new kiln suitable for firing bricks.

The first requirement for the new kiln was that it had to be large enough to accommodate a large number of brick blanks at once, at least more than a thousand.

Secondly, it had to be sturdy.

Because of the living conditions later in life, Han Cheng saw brick kilns for firing bricks. In those years, brick kilns were not uncommon.

Of course, most of the ones he had seen were already abandoned brick kilns.

In his memory, the kilns used to fire bricks were roughly cylindrical, about four or five meters high, with a diameter of over fifteen meters, narrower at the top and wider at the bottom, similar to a huge mound.

Inside such a large mound was a domed space built with bricks, with an arched passage for transporting bricks and people in and out.

Inside, the space was relatively large, where the manufactured and dried brick blanks were placed...

Building such a kiln was also a major project. Even though Han Cheng intended to halve its size, it was undoubtedly a huge challenge for him and the people of the Green Sparrow Tribe, who only knew the general structure but had never tried their hand at it.

The arched roof, especially, requires very high technical skills.

But there wasn't much else to do, so they could only learn as they went along, fighting and learning simultaneously.

Many things are like this. You'll never know if you can succeed if you don't try.

Just like the charcoal burning and iron smelting before, Han Cheng had never thought of these things. But life had pushed them to this point, so what else could they do? They could only grit their teeth and do it.

Without trying, you'll never know how talented you are!

After motivating himself with such thoughts, Han Cheng began to arrange manpower.

Firstly, he had some people continue making brick blanks, which was necessary.

At the same time, he let two people continue firing bricks in the small earth kiln that wasn't suitable for brick firing.

There was no other way. The interior of the brick kiln to be built later would need to be lined with bricks, so they had to start by firing some as backups.

However, the bricks fired this way were not blue but red with a yellowish tint.

To fire bricks, another procedure that the small earth kiln used for firing tiles couldn't carry out was needed.

After several days, under Han Cheng's guidance, some people from the Green Sparrow Tribe began to select a site near the original small earth kiln and started digging.

They dug out a circular pit with a diameter of about eight meters and a depth of about one meter twenty.

After completing these tasks and realizing they still didn't have enough bricks, Han Cheng momentarily instructed people to cut more tree branches and bring them over, preparing to build a thatched shed near the earth kiln.

Of course, this shed wasn't for people to live in but for the brick blanks.

Like pottery clay molds, brick blanks couldn't withstand strong sunlight, especially in the summer and rain.

So Han Cheng took advantage of this opportunity to have people build a thatched shed to shelter the brick blanks. This way, even if it rained in the future, they wouldn't have to worry.

Building sheds like this was a piece of cake for the people of the Green Sparrow Tribe. After Han Cheng marked out the area for building the shed, he didn't have to worry about the rest. The people in the tribe could take care of the rest themselves.

The people of the original Bone Tribe once again marveled at the capabilities of the Green Sparrow Tribe.

How could they have so many things?

After this sigh of emotion, they began to invest themselves in various labor tasks, contributing to the tribe while also quickly learning these new skills.

While the tribe's members were busy with these tasks, Han Cheng, the foreman, didn't idle either. He continuously arranged the bricks that had already been fired, somewhat like playing with building blocks.

First, he arranged two walls no more than thirty centimeters high and no more than one meter long. The distance between these two walls was one meter.

Then, using brick by brick, he extended the arch between the two "walls" bit by bit.

The arch was an unavoidable obstacle in building the brick kiln, as it was the best choice regarding load-bearing and heat resistance.

This wasn't a big deal for people used to masonry work, but for Han Cheng, who was a novice, it was much more difficult.

"Clatter..."

The arches extending from both walls hadn't even smoothly connected before they collapsed...