Chapter 7

On October 21, it was another sunny day.

In recent days, Captain Kuit's first mate had been leading 46 crew members and soldiers to unload the cargo from the ship's hold and dismantle the cannons to reduce the ship's weight. The Orange River had been hit by a large hole near the waterline by Spanish cannons. Although the crew had been trying to plug the damaged area, it continued to leak. When they reached the outer sea of the Big Fish River, the ship was already in great danger and could sink at any moment. Captain Kuit made a decisive decision to run the ship aground at the mouth of the Big Fish River.

After reducing the weight, the damaged area of the Orange River was now above the waterline, and the ship had floated. Next, they would need to do some repairs, which they would have to complete themselves.

The bottom hold of the Orange River was a mess with water. The crew, who had been working hard, spent an entire day pumping out the water, finally clearing the hold that had turned into a pond. Many supplies, such as food and gunpowder, had been soaked in water and were unusable. The gunpowder could be dried and used again, but the food would have to be purchased from the穿越者 (穿越者 refers to the time travelers or settlers in this context).

In addition, a large amount of money was stored in the bottom hold. After clearing it out, the total was: over 5,000 Spanish cross silver coins minted in America, equivalent to about 30,000 reals; over 40 Venetian gold ducats and over 1,000 silver escudos, equivalent to about 1,800 reals; and some miscellaneous gold and silver coins, equivalent to about 2,600 reals. The total amount exceeded 34,000 reals, or about 2,150 ducats.

"Did they plunder a Spanish ship?" Tangyuan, the newly appointed finance commissioner, who weighed over 200 pounds, stared at the dazzling coins with red eyes.

"Probably not wrong," Gao Mo nodded. "At least the Potosi-minted cross silver coins can't be wrong."

"Why are these silver coins so ugly? Each one has a different shape, all kinds of odd shapes." Tangyuan looked at the shapes of the Spanish cross silver coins and felt a bit frustrated.

"This is because the Spanish, in their pursuit of production, would cut a piece directly from a silver bar and then stamp it with a design to form a silver coin. However, the weight of these silver coins is still relatively moderate, so they can be used. Look at this one," Gao Mo picked up a cross silver coin at random. "The front has the coat of arms of the House of Habsburg, with the initials of the mint and the assayer on the side. This one is from Potosi. The back has a cross pattern, with a lion and a castle in each of the four corners. If it's a Mexican silver coin, there would also be a fleur-de-lis pattern around the cross."

"High, all my money is here, where are the goods I want?" Kuit looked at the six cardboard boxes being escorted by the security team behind Gao Mo and Tangyuan, somewhat impatiently.

"Of course, they're here. You can check them anytime." Gao Mo turned around and opened the boxes.

Kuit stepped forward, took out a pair of white gloves from his pocket, and put them on, examining each item carefully.

"Very good, 4 sets of Martin Luther lecture tableware, 2 sets of Christ baptism tableware." Kuit closed the box in satisfaction and pointed to the wooden boxes and bags containing the coins. "Now these are all yours, worth a total of 2,100 ducats."

Tangyuan immediately beamed with joy. This was the first income since he became the finance commissioner, and it was worth celebrating.

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Shao Shude walked over with a black face. "The humidity in the kiln's flue is a bit high."

Ma Jia immediately became nervous. "Is it serious? What consequences will there be?"

"Currently, it's not a big problem. When we stacked the bricks, we put the dry ones at the bottom, so it shouldn't cause the stack to collapse. However, we need to be careful and appropriately increase the flue temperature. We also need to pay attention to the fire." Shao Shude, the newly elected materials commissioner, was no longer in charge of the brick kiln, but he couldn't let go of his hard work. It was the first time firing bricks, so he finished his limited tasks and immediately rushed over.

"What if it collapses?" Ma Jia asked.

"Then we'll try to switch to a long-flame fuel, pull the fire over the collapsed stack, and ignite the front stack."

"How is the cement kiln construction going?" Shao Shude asked.

"We're figuring it out as we go." Ma Jia sighed. "We've never done this before, so we're learning and experimenting based on the information in the computer."

"Once the cement kiln and lime kiln are up, the last of the rebar and cement will be used up. We have to succeed or we're done for." Shao Shude joked, "The executive committee is eagerly waiting for us to produce building materials continuously."

"Damn! Can this be rushed?" Ma Jia angrily cursed. "I haven't even had time to work on my iron factory, and I'm busy all day making bricks and cement for these guys."

"Ha ha." Shao Shude patted Ma Jia's shoulder and then went to check the logging site and the mine. The number of people at the logging site was decreasing, mainly due to the severe damage to the tools. As soon as Shao Shude arrived, the logging team complained to him, but he couldn't do anything about it. There were no blacksmiths among the穿越者, so they could only rely on the Dutch. The limestone mine was piled with raw stones, and the sound of hammering limestone into powder echoed from the sheds on both sides. The ground limestone powder would be sent to the cement kiln to be mixed with clay and fired at high temperatures to make cement.

Shao Shude wandered around and finally returned to the brick kiln site to stay.

"There's some condensation on the bricks." The next morning, Shao Shude got up and ran to the kiln's fire observation hole. "The temperature isn't high enough. Reduce the ventilation and build up the fire!"

Ma Jia, with dark circles under his eyes and bloodshot eyes, had not slept well all night, getting up several times to check the kiln. He was so tired that he was yawning. Hearing Shao Shude's words, he immediately sprang to action, leading a group to reduce the ventilation and add more fuel, working hard for a long time before finally turning the fire around.

For the next day and night, the two commissioners and a group of soot-covered kiln workers carefully tended to the kiln, fearing any problems. By 9:00 AM on the third day, after repeated observations and confirmations, Shao Shude finally decided to stop the kiln.

The kiln door was opened, and after the temperature cooled down, they began to unload the bricks.

"Put on gloves." Ma Jia handed out a pair of cotton gloves to each person. The kiln was still hot, and the穿越者, with sweatbands on their heads, began to stack the bricks into prepared wicker baskets, moving one basket at a time.

"Damn, this is not human work." Ming Hui grumbled as he stacked the bricks. "It's too hot, and the dust is heavy. I'd rather have gone with Jin Kela to clean the sewers."

"What's the point of complaining now?" Xie Hansan glanced at Ming Hui. "Once those Dutchmen bring us some slaves, we won't have to do this hard labor anymore. Understand? We'll be the leaders!"

"Better bring some horses too, ha ha!" The two laughed lewdly.

It was lunchtime, and many穿越者gathered around the kiln site, having heard the news. The red bricks produced by the kiln were the first industrial products made by the穿越者, and they were of great significance.

When Ma Jia and Shao Shude carried the first basket of bricks out of the kiln, the穿越者present burst into enthusiastic cheers. Ma Jia smiled, showing a mouthful of white teeth on his black face.

By the evening of October 24, the first batch of bricks had been completely unloaded. After counting, over 10,000 intact red bricks were produced, and the remaining broken bricks and bread bricks were planned to be used for road construction.

To reward the kiln site for its significant contribution, the executive committee held a meeting and decided to award the entire kiln site staff 4 bottles of Wuliangye, 20 bottles of jam, and a box of meat cans.

Encouraged by this, the lime kiln and cement kiln were also set up in the following days. They were currently preparing materials and would start production in a few days.

The first batch of bricks would be used to build a slurry pool for paper production. Among the穿越者, there was a craftsman skilled in traditional papermaking, who could use grass, tree bark, and lime to produce white paper using traditional methods. Given the high demand for paper, not just for writing but also for more practical uses like toilet paper, a paper mill was set up near the limestone mine.

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