The first legitimate son of the Tang Dynasty

Chapter 254 Spending the Cold Winter Day

The temperature in Chang'an of the Tang Dynasty seems to be falling desperately. It has dropped below 10° since about October. When the solar term comes to the beginning of winter in November, the temperature will reach around 10° to 11° in the morning and evening. This temperature is It's really too cold.

Of course rich people have clothes to keep out the cold, but poor people have some trouble.

It can be said that when it is not snowing, the endless cold air is a "magic attack". Once heavy snow falls in the sky, it becomes a "physical attack". Not only can the snow cover your calves when you go out, but also the ice skates on the windows. It's also several inches long.

At that time, Ang Lee remembered an interesting joke on the Internet about the winter in Northeast China, that is, you cannot lick the railings, as your tongue will stick to the frozen railings.

Li An felt that this was true and not a funny joke. It was too cold today.

As a result, in the guards, when someone held the tip of an iron gun, if they took it directly and then put it down, the skin on the hand would feel tearing pain. If they held the tip of the iron gun for a while, their hands would be frozen solid The tip of the iron gun is stuck together, and if you tear it down hard, a layer of skin will be pulled off.

Also, because the temperature is too low, Li An needs to rush if he wants to eat a hot meal. Generally, everyone needs to sit around the table before the stew can be served. Otherwise, if there is a wait for someone or a few ink strokes, The food was completely cold.

Also, don't wash dishes with cold water, as your hands will freeze. It's so cold, and at this time, the price of something in Chang'an City has increased, including coal.

Moreover, when it comes to burning charcoal, people in the Tang Dynasty had various choices.

For those dignitaries, the charcoal they burned must not only be warm, but also smoke-free and provide good lighting.

In stark contrast to them are the common people, who cannot afford coal and can only shiver in the cold.

And their warm room in the Tang Dynasty is also unique.Among the greenhouses of the Tang Dynasty, there was a building called "Jiao Fang".The special feature of this kind of pepper house is that when the walls are being pasted, the peppercorns are smashed and poured into the mud.

Zanthoxylum bungeanum was a luxury product in ancient times, and it was not at all the common condiment it is today.During the Tang Dynasty, bribes given to officials were calculated in peppercorns.Those who can use this kind of luxury goods like cement are truly wealthy.

In addition to building houses with Sichuan peppercorns, they also burn various small stoves and hang curtains to keep out the cold.Of course, the above practices still did not include ordinary people in the Tang Dynasty.For the world of ordinary people in the Tang Dynasty, we can refer to the life experience of the poet Du Fu.

"The quilt has been as cold as iron for many years, and the arrogant son has been lying on it and it has cracked inside. There is no drying hole in the bedside room, and the rain has not stopped the feet." We live in a shabby thatched house, and the quilt is as cold as iron.The house was leaking and it never stopped.

Du Fu's life was almost the way most ordinary people in the Tang Dynasty spent the winter.

Of course, it cannot be ruled out that some people are worse off.But even in this situation, Du Fu could still say: "There are tens of thousands of vast buildings, and the poor people in the world are all happy. It is as safe as a mountain without wind or rain! Wow, when did I suddenly see this house in front of my eyes, my house is ruined and lonely." It's enough to freeze to death." It's admirable.

"How much has the coal price increased now?" Li An sat in the warm room and looked at Wei Wangning who was beside him.

Wei Wangning sighed: "It has already risen by [-]%, and it will soon double. The weather this year is really weird. It is extremely cold. I heard that people in Chang'an City started to freeze to death yesterday." Li An Standing up from the chair, Li An already had a design drawing of a coal stove on his desk. Li An was ready to speed up the production of coal stoves.

Before that, what Li An had to do was to buy bulk coal from all the surrounding coal mountains, because the most valuable coal in Datang was lump coal, bulk coal was not valuable, and the prices that kept rising were lump coal, and bulk coal was basically All are cabbage prices.

Li An wanted to get these loose coals and make a large number of briquettes. Those who sell lump coal would never dream that loose coal can be turned into briquettes as long as water is added.

Li An knew that it was too late for him to make briquettes now. What Li An had to do now was to quickly make a coal stove. This coal stove was the simplest kind, with a relatively small diameter. It was just a tin bucket with an opening at the bottom. There is a square opening with a place for supporting the grate. The inner circumference of the stove must be lined with mud.

This small stove can burn briquettes or lumps of coal.

The production of briquettes is very simple and is done by hand. There are workers who shake briquettes in every coal yard.The workers mixed the coal noodles and loess together in a certain proportion and added water.

After mixing, spread it out, use the big chopper to chop the coal and soil into small one-inch square cubes, and then use a flat shovel to shovel these square coal cubes into the sieve.A flower pot is placed under the sieve, and the worker shakes the sieve up and down, left and right.After shaking for a while, these cubes of coal soil were shaken into round briquettes.Then pour it out and set it aside to dry.

When we buy briquettes, we usually ask for them to be slightly dry. If they are not completely dry, they will be heavy and break easily.

Coal is natural, and it rarely burns. However, in Chang'an City of the Tang Dynasty, the price was very high. At that time, every family had a coal storage place, or a small pool made of bricks, or It is a basket made of bamboo strips or a wooden box used to hold coal.

You also need to prepare firewood, which you buy at the coal shop. If the wood is too big, you have to split it.Just use the heavy wood-chopping knife, and the job of chopping wood is usually given to boys.

If you have accumulated a lot of coal briquettes, you can also make briquettes at home. The method is the same as that of the coal yard.If it is clean coal, you have to find some loess, mix it with water, spread it out after mixing with water, and cut it into small squares. Of course, you don't need to shake the briquettes at home, just burn these square coals.If it is the end of briquettes, there is no need to add loess.

When it gets cold, you need to rely on the stove to keep warm. You don't need to light a fire every day. Instead, you need to save the fire and seal it up when it's not needed.

Sealing fire is also a skill. What is used to seal fire?Use briquettes.Just put coal slime in a small bucket or broken washbasin, cover it on the fire port, and poke a hole in it for ventilation.

After sealing it until the next morning, you can open the coal cake and keep the fire burning. You can also break the coal cake to make a fire.

These are the simplest and fastest coal stoves, not the briquettes we are familiar with in the 80s. It is already too slow to make briquettes at this time, so Li An needs to make some simple coal stoves that can keep warm, so as to maximize The maximum guarantee allowed the people of Datang to survive this cold winter.

Li An stood up and said to Wei Wangning, "Ninger, tell my uncle to have people from the Ministry of Industry come over and build a stove like this according to the drawings on my desk. You want to do something for me, then." That is to purchase all the loose coal and crushed coal around Chang'an, and we will hold another auction. We hope the money collected can help the people of Tang Dynasty survive this cold winter."

(End of this chapter)