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Chapter 68 Pottery and Salt

"Okay, you, you are the one who sends the children, and I will be the one to reward you?"

Lin Yu complained in a joking tone.

Zhang Tian said cheekily, "This is called division of labor and cooperation."

Lin Yubai glanced at him, and asked: "If you dig a hole and burn pottery, will it be shallower to the knee?"

"Who said I dug a pit for pottery?"

"Isn't it?"

Lin Yu was taken aback for a moment, she thought that Zhang Tian would use the pit firing method to make pottery, this primitive pottery making method has been used until modern times, she had seen it in some ethnic minority settlements.

Zhang Tian said: "I guess most of the pottery of the Yougu tribe is made by bonfires or digging pits. If I use the same method to make pottery, how can I show our superiority?"

Lin Yu couldn't help laughing, wondering what kind of rivalry you have with primitive people...

But since he said that, it means that he has a way to make pottery with better quality and more beautiful appearance, and it is hard for her not to support it.

"Then why do you let the children dig holes?"

She became even more curious. She understood the method of making pottery, but it was only at the theoretical level, and she had never practiced it. Many details were not so clear.

"You'll understand at night!" Zhang Tian pretended, "Let's go, see you tonight!"

After speaking, he went into the mountain with the men.

Damn... Lin Yu looked at the children who were struggling to dig a hole, and felt as uncomfortable as a cat scratching.

She is quite a person, and she has to figure it out when she encounters a problem, otherwise she will always remember it in her heart.

I kept remembering it until the evening, and when I came back, I found Zhang Tianzheng squatting by the pit and busying himself. He immediately went into the cave to put down his basket, and came out to observe and study.

The children dug two pits, one deep and one shallow, filled with raw clay.

Zhang Tian asked the men to fetch water from the river and pour it into the clay. He and Xiao stirred with wooden sticks to make the clay melt into the water and form a suspension.

Seeing Lin Yu rushing towards him suddenly, Zhang Tian handed her a wooden stick and asked her to help stir it.

"I understand!" Lin Yu realized immediately, "These two pits are used to separate impurities, right?"

"clever!"

Xiao was at a loss: "What do you mean? Didn't you say you want to make pottery?"

Zhang Tian patiently explained: "Do you still remember how I separated the glue and swim bladder when making swim bladder glue?"

"Remember, use sackcloth, pour the swim bladder glue on the sackcloth, the glue will leak through the gaps, and the swim bladder will stay on the sackcloth."

"That's right, it's the same now."

Zhang Tian took out a handful of crushed stones from the bottom of the suspension and said, "Clay is used to make pottery, and these crushed stones mixed in the clay will cause the pottery to crack, so they must be separated, but this time we don't use it." linen."

So saying, he dug a ditch between the two pits.

Xiao Xiao saw that the clay suspension in the shallow pit immediately flowed into the deep pit through the ditch, while the broken stones remained at the bottom of the shallow pit. He suddenly realized and silently recorded this wonderful separation method.

After repeating this several times, the deep pit was filled with the clay suspension. After standing for a while, the clay settled to the bottom. Zhang Tian and Xiao fished out the moist refined clay from the bottom of the pit and set it aside to dry.

"It's time to eat!" Lan Hua shouted, "Go play in the mud after eating!"

"It's not playing with mud!" Xiao was furious, "We're making pottery! God said, pottery is much easier to use than stone tools!"

I didn't say that... Zhang Tian retorted in his heart.

The functions of pottery and stone tools do not overlap, and it is not pottery, or even copper, that eventually replaces stone tools, but iron.

Both hands and faces were covered with mud, Lan Hua washed them with water and soap, and muttered disgustedly: "It's so dirty!"

Since Lin Yu came to the tribe, the tribe's pursuit of cleanliness has increased day by day.

The aesthetics of different eras may be different, but no matter when, cleanliness is always one of the standards of beauty.

After cleaning up, take a seat by the campfire.

After a busy day, the two were already so hungry that their chests were pressed against their backs. They grabbed the fragrant roasted game in one hand and the steaming vegetable soup in the other, and devoured it hungrily.

The women laughed and asked, "Where is the pottery? Where is it?"

"Come on!" Xiao swallowed the food in his mouth and vowed, "Wait to be surprised!"

Although he has never seen pottery, he believes in heaven. During this period of time, what is not amazing about the things made by heaven?
Zhang Tian ate silently without speaking.

The pottery couldn't be fired today, but while drinking the vegetable soup in the bowl, he decided to purify the salt first.

Boil the soup without salt, and no matter how much spices are added, it will not be interesting after all.

When the pottery is fired tomorrow, Lin Yu said that she will cook a pot of fresh fish soup, another pot of millet porridge, deep-fried vegetable balls with bear fat, pan-fried bird breast meat, deep-fried prawns... just My mouth is watering just thinking about it!
After the meal, Zhang Tian carried the salt water that had been in the sun for a day into the cave.

I dipped my little finger in some salt water and tasted it. It was bitterly salty, indicating that the saturation of the salt in the water was high enough.

"Has the salt become pure? Why is it still water?"

Owl asked curiously.

The clansmen also gathered together, waiting to see Zhang Tian's operation.Unlike pottery, salt is something they are familiar with and is closely related to their daily lives, and they also want to know how to make salt pure.

Zhang Tian dipped some salt water for Xiao to taste, and then asked everyone to taste some. To his surprise, Lin Yu also ran over to join in the fun.

He thought she was here to join in the fun, but in fact she came to learn technology. She understands the principles of salt making, but like pottery, she is a pure theoretical school with no practical experience at all. In this regard, she knows that she is not as good as Zhang Tian.

"Huh!" Xiao Xiao's face twisted, "It's so salty! It's so bitter!"

The clansmen also had the same expression.

Zhang Tian smiled and said: "That's right, it's salty and bitter, which means that the power of the sky has been integrated into the water, and now you can get pure salt from the water."

Xiao Xiao asked: "How to do it?"

"Go get some big bamboo tubes."

The tribesmen brought big bamboo tubes.

Zhang Tian poured the salt water from the tree tube into each bamboo tube and put it on the fire to cook.

Everyone stared at the salt water in the bamboo tube with burning eyes.

As the water temperature gradually increased, the tribesmen quickly noticed something strange: white powdery crystals appeared in the water!
"Salt! The water has become salt!"

There was a commotion in the crowd, and the sound of exclamation was endless.

Zhang Tian immediately poured out part of the saturated brine, or brine, about one-tenth of the total amount, and put it aside for later use.

Then dry the remaining concentrated brine to get a tube of crystals, which is coarse salt, and the color is slightly yellow, indicating that the salt still contains more impurities.

Zhang Tian collected the coarse salt from each bamboo tube in one place, dipped a little bit with his little finger and tasted it, it was slightly bitter and tasted bad, but it was ready to eat.

He asked the tribesmen to taste it, and then asked, "Is this the same as the salt you bought?"

"Exactly the same!"

The clansmen are very excited, they have salt!Pure salt!In the future, there is no need to exchange salt with other tribes anymore, maybe you can exchange salt for good things from other tribes!
Just as Zhang Tian thought, the salt made by the Salt Tribe can only be concentrated and crystallized. At this time, the salt is not pure, and there is one step missing in the process of rinsing and purifying.

He heated the spare brine until it was close to boiling, then poured it into a bamboo tube and mixed it with coarse salt, and stirred it gently with a wooden stick.

Due to the difference in the solubility of each substance with temperature, salt is almost insoluble in boiling brine, but impurities are slowly dissolved.

"What is this doing?"

The clansmen were puzzled, since they had already obtained salt, why did they need to add water?

But they soon discovered that the slightly yellowish salt was gradually turning white, becoming as white as snow!

Zhang Tian scooped out the refined salt with a wooden spoon, and handed it to the clansmen: "Try it again."

After one taste, everyone's eyes lit up!

At this time, the salt no longer has a little bit of bitterness, the taste is delicate, and the salty smell fills the lips and teeth.

The tribesmen have never eaten such pure salt, and they are amazed by the salty fragrance that remains in their mouths.

Thinking of what Zhang Tian said a long time ago that offering sacrifices to the sky would give him more pure salt, he thought to himself: Sure enough, the sky is the source of all things!I thought again: Is there still a need to sacrifice to Xue Ling in the future?

(End of this chapter)