Aztec Eternals

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Hearing the cry of "quack", Shilot raised his head and saw a black silhouette hovering in the sky.

The young man stared for a while, his feet stopped.

There are many chinampa floating fields by the lake, and the staple fruits and vegetables are grown all year round. These crows are attracted to food and are extremely intelligent. They stole the spiky corn seedlings and devoured the seeds underneath, and as the corn matured, they ripped off the protective husk and feasted on the cob. The straw man statue inserted in the field can scare away other birds, but not the crow, and the farmers have nothing to do with it.

"It's still necessary to popularize bows and arrows, and let the militiamen practice archery... The technological development being nurtured by the Shenqi Institute must not be interrupted by the crows of the empire..."

Thinking of this, Shilot laughed at himself. For the past two months, he has been full of religious reformation, power struggles, and technology farming... It has been a long time since he had purely appreciated anything, and it is difficult to be as clear as before.

"Saints, the beauty of the original heaven and earth can reach the truth of all things... When can I reach the realm of saints? When I look at the world, my heart is transparent, and my spirit is complete, it is like the crystal of glass..."

While walking, Shulot came to the brick-making workshop, where a small brick kiln had been built, some were burning bricks, some had just turned off, and some had cooled.

He watched closely. These brick kilns were about three meters high, like a barrel, with a bottom diameter of about two meters. The top of the brick kiln is a slightly smaller arc, and the four walls are thick soil, forming a hollow circular platform. There are two opposite small doors on the earth wall of the brick kiln, which are used for loading blanks and producing bricks, and the bottom is the fire channel for filling firewood.

The young man made a silent calculation in his heart, the height and the diameter of the bottom... Well, the volume of the cylinder is a little more than ten cubic meters, and the density of the masonry is 2.5-3.0 tons cubic. This kiln is about three tons of bricks. Bricks are indeed the cheapest and most productive building material!

In fact, as early as the Olmec civilization in the first millennium BC, the ancestors had already built a large number of houses by burning bricks. By the time of the Teotihuacan civilization, the scale and skill of burning bricks had reached their peak.

In the place where Shulot came to this world, the magnificent ancient holy city, the spectacle of the Sun Pyramid is 63 meters high, the top is a platform of tens of meters, and the bottom is a foundation of more than 200 meters long and wide, with an estimated volume of more than 1 million cubic meter. It is estimated that it is a full 3 million tons of building materials, a small part of which is stone, and most of which are fired bricks! Between the bricks, filled with gravel and adhesive, the seams are tight.

The teenager has climbed the 248 stone steps of the pyramid countless times. Built in the 2nd century AD, the spectacle did not use any metal, animals or tools with wheels, all bricks were fired nearby. Looking closely at the color of the bricks, he was surprised to find that many of them were hard and long-lasting blue bricks. After more than 1,300 years, the Pyramid of the Sun is still as stable as a giant mountain, and so is the Pyramid of the Moon.

Sun and moon, the wonders of the two blue brick pyramids have been standing until later generations, shocking every visitor. They are also silent, entrusting the imaginary national community, so that the ancient civilization of Mesoamerica still survives in people's hearts, rather than being completely erased from history like the North American Indians.

"Gathering people's hearts, this is the meaning of spectacle!"

Shiroute missed his hometown in the holy city, which he hadn't returned to for two years, and also recalled the distant future in his dreams. In this era, the Great Wall of Ming Dynasty has been basically completed, and the periphery of important checkpoints are reinforced with blue bricks. Dayan Khan of ZTE Mongolia had just ascended the throne, and then he was blocked outside the Great Wall.

Like the well-developed pottery art, the Mexican brick-burning technique is already extremely mature. The potter is in charge of burning the bricks of the alliance, and the manager here is Tanari, a female potter chief.

Seeing His Highness, Tanali strode over. She is about forty years old, with a sturdy figure, her face is full of vicissitudes, and there is a faint beauty that has passed between her eyebrows and eyes. On the body of the potter leader, a special bright cloth robe is draped.

Shulot looked carefully, and there were eight abstract babies painted on the cloth robe, and there were five warriors with battle sticks under the babies. The boy gasped for a moment and bowed his head to Tanali. The surrounding warriors also bowed and saluted to express their respect for the heroic mother. With this kind of merit, the prestige of the potter leader even surpassed that of the local community priest, and indeed it was enough to serve as the manager of the potters.

Tanali made a strong salute to her Highness, and then said loudly and loudly.

"Your Highness, God of War blesses us! This new workshop is not as large as the big kiln in the capital, but with me managing it, the red bricks made are not bad at all!"

Shilot hurriedly took two steps forward and held up the potter leader. Then, while visiting the workshop, the boy listened to Tanali's introduction to the process of making bricks.

"His Royal Highness, the soil for burning bricks has to be dug deep from the ground to make it soft and sticky, and it is fine and easy to use! Then it is best to keep this clay piled up for a few months. The thinner the better."

Tanali strode forward, grabbed a handful of fine soil from the clay mound, and placed it in His Highness's hand. Shirot squeezed the fineness of the soil and nodded.

"Then, add water to the soil, and knead it repeatedly, at least five times. This step is very important! Whether the fired bricks are firm or not depends on how well this step is done!"

Having said that, Tanali has already walked to the hundreds of people in Hemu and waved her hand vigorously.

"It's all work and work! Your Highness can also watch it, rub the soil for me seven times today!"

The civilians were silent, bowing their heads obediently and continuing to work. Shulot also nodded slightly. Under the management of Tanali, the people were like arms and ordered in an orderly manner.

"Next, sprinkle a layer of fine sand on the ground, and then turn the soil into the wooden billet mold, and compact it to make a brick. The removed brick should be dried in the shade so that it will not crack."

Saying that, Tanali patted the wooden shed next to her forcefully, and the thatch on the wooden shed fell, scattered among the bricks stacked on the ground.

"After more than a month, the adobes are dry, and they will be fired in the kiln. First, burn them for five or six days, and then slowly burn them on a small fire. It will take more than ten days to burn for a total of ten days. When the adobes are all red, the fire can be slowly turned off. , when it comes out, it will look like a solid red brick!"

At this time, the chief potter walked to a brick kiln that had cooled down and pointed forward. The young man looked carefully, and the busy people were taking bricks from it, all of which were bright red bricks.

Shirot was a little puzzled, and he looked at Tanali beside him.

"Tanari, you did a good job. But I have seen the blue bricks of the pyramids in the Holy City, and they seem to be more durable."

Tanali pondered for a moment before answering.

"His Royal Highness, the ancient temples were built of blue bricks, but the specific craftsmanship has been lost. I also tried to make it a few times, and when the fire was turned off, the kiln was sealed, and the blue-red bricks came out, which were neither good-looking nor bad. How much better than red brick."

Xiulote thought for a while, the red in the bricks was high-priced iron oxides, and the blue ones were low-valent iron oxides. The blue bricks themselves were made of burnt red bricks anaerobic reduction. To restore, it is necessary to isolate oxygen. The brick kiln is sealed off to isolate a part of the oxygen, so it is blue-red. If it is completely sealed... it seems to be watering outside... watering, steaming green? correct! When the water is heated, it turns into steam, creating an internal high pressure, which naturally presses the oxygen outside.

Tanali stared at His Highness, um, what a handsome young man, thinking like a good-looking hummingbird.

After a while, Shirott's eyes lit up, revealing a confident smile.

"Tanali, when the bricks are fired and cooled, you first seal the ventilation holes on the top of the kiln with soil, then use the soil to make a pool on the top, add water to it, and let the water vapor slowly seep into the kiln. Steaming like this for a few days, Take it out and take a look!"

Hearing this, Tanali looked at His Highness with some doubts.

"Your Highness, why do you add water when burning bricks?"

Shilot was at a loss for words. He thought for a while before answering.

"Baking a brick is to use the power of the **** of fire to turn the soil into stone. Adding water is to use the power of the **** of rain to make the bricks not bad in the wind and rain."

Tanali was moved when she heard the words, this must be the inheritance of the priest! She bowed deeply respectfully and was ready to try.

Shilot continued to think for a while. The large-scale brick kiln is an improvement direction, but the charcoal output needs to be increased, and the bottom combustion heat can keep up. In my memory, it seems that internal combustion bricks were burned in the villages of later generations. Since history has left this technical solution, it must have undergone various practical tests. The boy continued to speak.

"Tanali, go to the charcoal firing place to get some charcoal powder, try to add it evenly to the brick, and then burn it to see the effect."

Tanali thought for a while, and then looked at it seriously.

"His Royal Highness, adding charcoal, is this borrowing the power of the God of Plants and Trees?"

Seeing the serious faces of the potter leader and the surrounding warriors, Shiloh was speechless and had to solemnly nod his head.

Afterwards, the boy looked at the wooden molds engraved with various patterns. These wooden molds are used to press patterns on the bricks, the most common being the feathered snake and the sun. The bricks specially prepared for the nobles are magnificent, engraved with the patterns of various families, implying the blessing of the gods.

After the inspection was over, Shilot said goodbye to Tanali, who respectfully saluted. The boy raised his head and saw that the sun was slightly westward, and there was still a lot of time. He went to the glass workshop of Lozano, the chief mason, in the nearest noble mansion.

Said to be a glass workshop, at this time it was just a few large earthen kilns, several sets of obsidian processing tools, a master mason, and a dozen apprentice masons.

Lozano frowned and sat on the ground with his legs crossed, staring at the pile of milky white quartz sand in front of him, unable to do anything. He was tall and muscular, and in this position he sat like a hibernating giant bear.

The master mason frowned. Ever since he was forcibly conscripted into the High Priest's Palace by His Highness, he had to give up making lucrative obsidian tools and study what, colorless "glass" instead? I don't know where this kind of tongue-in-cheek name came from. Anyway, the well-informed Master Lozano has never heard of it.

According to His Highness's instructions, he found this milky white hard sand near the lake area, and there were large pieces of hard stone that could not be scratched. There are a lot of these things in the mountains to the east, and even more near the volcano. He asked more than a dozen apprentices to dig a bag each, bring it back to the workshop, and then burn it according to His Highness's instructions. The problem came.

"This thing basically won't burn! Your Highness, is he dreaming?!" Lozano complained loudly while holding his head, and the apprentices stood in the corner, shivering, not daring to make a sound.

Behind Lozano, Shilot was expressionless. He looked at the master mason and waved to stop Bertard and Etalic who were about to come forward.

After a long while, the master mason raised his head and looked at the apprentices standing opposite.

"What are you doing standing here stupidly? Why don't you go and burn the earthen kiln, mix this thing with soil and burn it again!"

The apprentices just stood stupidly in front, and an apprentice quietly stretched out his index finger and pointed to the back of the master.

"How dare you point your finger at me? It's the other way around..."

Looking at this scene in the workshop, Lozano suddenly realized something. He suddenly jumped up, turned around abruptly, and saw the expressionless face below the palace, and he didn't know when it came, it wouldn't be...

Lozano fell to the ground again with a swift action like a bear.

"Ah, Your Honorable Priestess!...I, I, Lozano, are trying to figure out how to make glass. Just now I seem to have fallen asleep talking..."

Shirot shook his head. He looked at the quartz sand on the ground and asked seriously.

"Lozano, can't you burn these hard white sand? Did you try to increase the temperature and add some combustion support?"

The master mason's face turned pale, and His Highness also heard this sentence, isn't it? ... He opened his mouth and spoke after a long while.

"His Royal Highness, I have changed the kiln twice in Lozano, adding more firewood, more wind, and pouring some oil, but this sand is still difficult to melt... It seems that vegetable ash has some effect, other Still trying."

Shilot thought about it carefully. He also knew very little about glass firing. He only knew that quartz sand was pure silica and could produce transparent glass. Quartz Sand and Quartz Stone are the product of volcanic activity and are abundantly produced in Alliance territory.

The difficulty now is that the melting point of pure silica is too high, and we must find a way to increase the temperature or lower the melting point.

The teenager recalled repeatedly and remembered three key words: quartz sand, flux and stabilizer. Flux? Saltpeter and lead should work. stabilizer? I don't know what this is~www.readwn.com~ After a while, he said seriously.

"I will give you a batch of high-quality charcoal to increase the burning temperature. I will also give you a small amount of soil nitrate powder, which you can mix in hard white sand and try to burn. Finally, I will give you a batch of lead, which is also added to the white sand. ..

Lozano, colorless glass is very important to the future of the league. You have to settle down, prepare for two or three years or even ten years, try different formulas, and make progress as early as possible! From now on, this is your main business! "

Sherlot stepped forward and patted the broad arm of the master mason seriously. Afterwards, the boy looked at Lozano's solemn and frozen expression again, and nodded with satisfaction. He continued to look around again, and there was indeed no result, so he nodded and turned away.

Behind him, Lozano is still solemn and solid like a sculpture, but his mouth gradually grows. After a while, the sculpture fell to the ground with a bang, and the burly body slammed on the ground with a loud bang. The apprentices rushed up and rubbed the master's heart and back.

Shilot did not hear the voice behind him, he had already gone far.

Lake Texcoco reflected the rays of the setting sun, illuminating the tough silhouette of the boy. There was some dust on his face, but he still looked calm and determined.

Under the calcination of time and world events, the youth has been reshaped. His passion is deep, like the black charcoal made of wood, which burns restrained and fiery. His will is hard, like a brick calcined from clay, calm and not afraid of vicissitudes. And when will his soul become complete and transparent, as pure and bright as glass?

"I have sown the seeds of technology, and I still need time to wait."

Shirot thought to himself, looking into the distance. In the distance, sparkling waves appeared on the golden lake, telling the story of thousands of years of flow.

Time will shape everything in the end, including civilization, including himself.