Chapter 136: Eyes Open

Chapter 136

Wang Xiao Si took Liu Yun to the bicycle workshop, where Liu Yun saw for the first time how bicycles were made.

What attracted him most was the heavy and huge punching machine.

Bang bang - with just one stroke, even the ground was shaking, and at the same time the metal ball blank was punched into a perfect sphere.

What kind of brain could have come up with this?

When they arrived at the blacksmith's shop, Liu Yun's horizons were further broadened.

What a variety there was - windows, drills, grinders, milling machines, steam engines...so many different things that Liu Yun's eyes were dazzled.

"Young Master Si, it's dangerous here, go play somewhere else."

Xia Xian now had five apprentices, all clever young men selected from the villagers of He Wan village. After learning for a month they could get the hang of things, which made life a lot easier for Xia Xian.

Right now he was taking a few of them to a newly built large workshop nearby, to help test an "automated" production line.

Of course, they were only responsible for the work itself, the specifics of the testing were handled by the owner.

Soon Li Yao came over, and since Liu Yun was here, she took him along to watch and help out.

The main product of this new workshop was ceramic tiles.

But don't think ceramic tiles are easy to make, just compress some mud, apply some glaze, and fire - that's far from the truth.

The production process for ceramic tiles was quite complex, and making it semi-automated was even more complicated. Li Yao had already spent over a month soaking in this workshop to debug the production line.

First were the raw materials.

The main ingredients for ceramic tiles were potter's clay, kaolin, and loess.

Near Guihua Village in Baichuan County there was a large deposit of kaolin, also known as Guanyin clay, which was very convenient for Li Yao. She had already reached an agreement with Guihua Village for them to organize the mining of kaolin, which would be transported directly to her in the future.

In addition, quartz and feldspar were needed.

These three main raw materials were mixed together in proportion and ground into an extremely fine powder, which required the first row of large machines in the workshop - ball mills.

The principle of ball mills was simple: an array of steel balls were placed inside a horizontal cylindrical chamber. The raw materials and water were added, the door closed, and the chamber was rotated at a constant speed by a water wheel.

After a period of time, the raw materials and water would be ground into a mud thinner than a strand of hair.

The mud was poured out and passed through a magnetic separator to remove any iron fragments, then pumped into a 10-meter tall iron tank and dried with hot air blasts to obtain the basic powdered raw material.

Liu Yun: ......

Just a moment ago when he saw these tiles, he thought they were even more exquisite and smooth than the marble in the imperial palace. He was marveling at the ingenuity, but it turned out they were rejects!

And they were to be taken back to pave the pigsties!

Heck, the pigs in Li Yao's home were treated better than royalty!

"Auntie Li," said Liu Yun, "I just wanted to ask, what are these used for?"

"You don't even know that?" said Wang Xiao Si in Li Yao's place. "These are used to pave floors. Once laid down the floors will be very clean. They can also be installed in kitchens, bathrooms etc, and can simply be washed with water and wiped clean!"

So much effort and expense, so many machines, just for cleanliness and easy washing?

"Come, I'll show you something so you understand."

Wang Xiao Si took Liu Yun to the washroom behind the workshop.

The floors and sinks here were all paved with ceramic tiles.

Although they were rejects, they still looked very comfortable, and really were spotless.

"Look at this." Wang Xiao Si opened a wooden door. "Do you know what this is?"

Liu Yun went closer to take a look. It was a ceramic object shaped like a seat, but hollow in the middle. He truly had no idea what it was.

"This is a toilet, for pooping and peeing."

Liu Yun: ...... You took a prince to see a toilet? Do you want to be convicted of grave disrespect towards royalty?

"How do you use it?"

"Very simple, let me pee in it first."

Liu Yun really wanted to bash him to death.

"Watch closely now!"

Wang Xiao Si said, then pressed the flush valve. With a swoosh, a huge amount of water rushed in and washed the toilet completely clean.

"See how clean it is? Isn't it amazing?"

Although Liu Yun felt it was beneath his princely dignity to inspect a toilet, he had to admit this toilet was pretty good, at least it wouldn't stink.

He was already silently planning to take a few back, to install them in his father the Emperor's bedchamber and his mother the Empress's residence.