Chapter 5 chapter Five

Tongzhi eight years. Every strand of air in Qiaotou Town is filled with primitive human desires. The dreams of young women are born on the flower boat. Under the coal kiln, the blood of young and strong men boiled. After only five months of working in the kiln, Xiao Taiping felt that he had seen through the secrets of the coal kiln: how simple it is, as long as there is a piece of land where the coal is buried and a group of young and strong people who want to make money Man, the kiln is set up, and the coal is dug out.The key here is not the capital or skill of opening the kiln, but the brute force of people. As long as there is inexhaustible brute force, there will be a steady stream of coal gushing out of the ground.

During the five months of his life in the kiln that he will never forget, Xiao Taiping did almost every job in the Baijia kiln.First, he and Cao Ershun carried coal from the bottom of the kiln to the top of the kiln, and then he and a group of Xiao brothers planed coal and dragged baskets under the kiln.I also worked as a drainage worker for a few days when the small kiln was flooded. From the bottom of the kiln more than ten feet deep, I used cowhide bags and wooden barrels to pump out half of the ditch's water. Xiao Taiping believes that, apart from brute force, if there is something bluffing about the kiln, it is the ventilation and drainage below the kiln.It is impossible to have no wind under the kiln which is nearly ten feet deep, and it will suffocate people to death.When he first came out of the kiln, Xiao Taiping couldn't figure it out, he didn't see a big bellows at the kiln entrance, and he didn't see any hidden mechanism, how could there be warm wind underground?It was later discovered that there was another underground shaft connected to the inclined shaft besides the inclined shaft.The wind on the ground goes in from one well and comes out from the other, a bit like the passing wind in a house.Drainage also depends on the shaft.The shaft was dug very deep, and the groundwater flowed into the pit. When it was full, the leather bag was lowered with a wooden pulley at the top of the well, and lifted up with one stroke.If a lot of water gushes out at once, the kiln will be flooded, and the brothers carrying coal will throw away the coal baskets and replace them with wooden barrels, and the barrels will be carried up from the inclined shaft.According to the rules of the kiln, carrying a bucket of water on your back is also worth a basket of coal.

Let's look at the cost of opening a kiln—except for buying a piece of land with coal, Xiao Taiping didn't realize how much money was needed.Whether it is a shaft or an inclined shaft, they are all dug out by manpower. As the main advance payment for a kiln, there are only a few mat sheds, a pile of coal picks and baskets of small money, and Xiao Taiping can afford these small money. However, it is a pity that Xiao Taiping, who lived in the eighth year of Tongzhi, did not have a piece of land for him to set up a vertical kiln.He has a large group of brothers full of brute force, and he has nearly fifteen taels of silver to buy production tools, but he has no kiln land.The secrets he sees through are still only secrets.The Bai family kiln did not become the Xiao family kiln because Xiao Taiping saw through his own secrets. It is still a matter of the future for him to open a kiln and become the kiln owner.Right now, the only way for him to go is to first contract a kiln from Mr. Bai Er and Mr. Zhang Third to accumulate capital and strength.

Mr. Bai Er promised him to let him build the kiln in the future.But after Mr. Bai Er said this at the bottom of the wazipo, he never saw it again.Zhang Sanye, the shopkeeper of the kiln, didn't mention this topic. Whenever he saw him, he still had a sullen face, as if he owed a lot of money to the kiln.But it's also very strange, Zhang Sanye didn't mention Mr. Bai Er's promise to build the kiln, but implemented Mr. Bai Er's promise of wages, and actually paid Xiao Taiping and the three of them the kiln salary, which made Xiao Taiping unable to tell. Come on.Xiao Taiping thought for the best, thinking that Mr. Bai Er and Mr. Zhang thought he was too young and not yet qualified to make a kiln.

In order to show that he has such qualifications, Xiao Taiping took every opportunity to show Zhang Sanye his knowledge and ability to open a kiln, and he was the first to put forward the idea of ​​a day and night operation system in the history of the coal industry in Qiaotou Town—Tongzhi In Qiaotou Town for eight years, all the small kilns followed the living habits cultivated by farmers for thousands of years. They worked at sunrise and rested at sunset. No one thought that the time at night could still be used. Only Xiao Taiping thought of it. Thought of it on a very random night. On a moonlit night, Xiao Taiping wandered around the entrance of the Baijia Kiln, which was closed for work, trying to smell a chance of his own in the ordinary air.

Opportunities do not know where.Under the big mat shed at the entrance of the kiln, apart from a few brothers guarding the kiln and watching over the charcoal, there was no living creature.It was already winter, and it was very cold. The brothers who guarded the kiln and looked after the charcoal were all sitting around the charcoal basin under the big mat shed to warm up the fire. It was in that silence that Xiao Taiping suddenly thought of using the night of the small kiln.He thought, if Mr. Bai Er and Mr. Zhang San did not entrust him with the kiln during the day, they could also entrust him with the kiln at night.Even if the kiln is idle at night, if you leave it to him, won't there be an extra income on the cabinet?

Xiao Taiping was so excited by this thought as soon as it came out, he was so tormented that he couldn't sleep peacefully all night. The next morning, Xiao Taiping ran to the kiln early, and said to Mr. Zhang very mysteriously: "...Master Zhang, I have made a big discovery! The kiln is not on the ground, there is no difference between day and night, and it can still be seen at night." Work to produce charcoal. If we don’t stop the kiln, wouldn’t one kiln be used as two kilns? Wouldn’t the kiln earn twice as much money?” Zhang Sanye's eyes lit up for a moment, but then he turned dark and silent.

Xiao Taiping noticed the flash of light in Zhang Sanye's eyes, and thought that Zhang Sanye was moved, so he said enthusiastically: "...Third Master, think about it, this time there are two more Advantages: Firstly, it saves the kiln fee for guarding the kiln, and secondly, there are people under the kiln at night, and there are people to deal with the accumulated water, so the kiln will not be flooded." Only then did Third Master Zhang speak slowly, with a disdainful expression on his face: "Brother Xiao, do you think you should worry about this kind of thing? Are you the kiln owner or the kiln shopkeeper?"

Xiao Taiping's heart tightened, and he expressed his thoughts with a lost smile: "Third Master, I...I think, Mr. Bai Er and you...if you always think highly of me, I...I will try it at night ,Bag……" As soon as the word "bao" was uttered, Mr. Zhang changed his face, and asked with a sneer, "Brother Xiao, is your heart too big? You have only been in Qiaotou Town for a few days, and you want to Bao Er Mr. Bai." The kiln? What’s the matter with opening the kiln, do you understand?” Xiao Taiping said nana: "Compared with...and you, the third master, I dare not say that I know how to open a kiln, but...but compared with the brothers in Kuazipo, I dare say that I always understand... understand a little bit of……"

Third Master Zhang rolled his eyelids: "That's right, you are a little better than them—but it's because of your shrewdness, not because of your understanding. It is because of your shrewdness that you pulled the brothers from Poshang to Baishang. The kiln will only give you three kiln wages if you work hard at the kiln. So, you have to be satisfied." Xiao Taiping still wanted to continue arguing with Mr. Zhang, and wanted to explain to Mr. Zhang the knowledge of small kilns he had accumulated in the past five months.But Mr. Zhang didn't want to listen anymore, he waved him away, turned around and talked to Mr. Tian, ​​the accountant on the cabinet, about selling charcoal...

This made Xiao Taiping very angry, and he couldn't figure it out day and night.It's obviously a good thing for the kiln, why didn't Mr. Zhang do it?Is it because Mr. Zhang can't trust him, or does Mr. Zhang have other plans?Xiao Taiping really couldn't figure out what kind of medicine was sold in Mr. Zhang's gourd. Just when Xiao Taiping kiln was trying to figure out Mr. Zhang, an accident happened on the kiln. A roof collapsed and covered more than a dozen brothers in. One local kiln worker died, and two brothers from Cao Tuan died. Xiao Taiping Almost died too. On the day of the accident, Xiao Taiping was digging coal under the kiln, when he suddenly heard a strange "creak, creak" sound from all around.Xiao Taiping looked through the light of the oil lamp, and saw that the wooden pillars in front of him and behind him cracked with strange noises, and the entire kiln roof was dropping slag.Someone yelled "the roof has collapsed", and before the words were finished, the entire coal roof collapsed with a bang.A burst of air waves made of coal dust and rock powder extinguished the oil lamp in Xiao Taiping's hand, and overturned Xiao Taiping on a pile of floating coal behind him. The change in that instant was astonishing.When I turned on the oil lamp and looked again, the space supported by the wooden pillars in front of me was completely filled up by the fallen rocks and coals, almost including Xiao Taiping.Most of the brothers who had been plowing and loading coal together had disappeared. After a long time, Xiao Taiping heard someone crying and moaning under the collapsed rocks and coal.That's when I remembered to save people.Xiao Taiping and the brothers present used prying tools and hand picks, tossed and tossed for a long time before they pulled out the people and corpses buried inside... Looking at the three smashed corpses, Xiao Taiping suddenly felt indescribable fear. Never die under the kiln like those three brothers, never! One night when he was in shock, Xiao Taiping finally decided to go to Qiaotou Town to have a formal talk with Zhang Sanye.