xymnovel Chapter 124 Renovating the Imperial Kitchen, The First Heated Bed in the Tang Dynasty
Chapter 124 Renovating the Imperial Kitchen, The First Heated Bed in the Tang Dynasty
Chapter 124 Renovating the Imperial Kitchen: The First Heated Bed in the Tang Dynasty
boom!
A loud bang, and dust flew everywhere.
In the already cramped woodshed in the backyard of the imperial kitchen, half of a fairly sturdy wooden bed was smashed by Su Mu with a hammer.
Wood chips flew everywhere, startling Li Shimin, who had just entered the room.
He took a half step back, protecting the little ox in his arms from the dust getting into its eyes.
"Su Mu! Are you crazy?"
Li Shimin pointed to the mess on the ground, "Why didn't you sleep on your perfectly good bed? Did you dismantle it so you could stand up and get through the winter?"
Su Mu threw the large iron hammer in his hand to the ground, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and ignored the black ash that had smeared on his face.
Out with the old, in with the new.
He pointed to a stack of blue bricks and several baskets of yellow mud piled up in the corner.
"This wooden bed is drafty. Even if you stuff five hot water bottles into the bed, your feet will still be cold in the middle of the night. If you want to get a good night's sleep, you need to find a different way."
Li Shimin frowned as he looked at the pile of crude building materials.
"You want to sleep on bricks?"
"Not only do you have to sleep on bricks, but you also have to light a fire under the bricks."
Su Mu didn't explain much, and rolled up his sleeves to start mixing the mud.
The yellow clay, with chopped wheat straw added, is very sticky and won't crack.
He moved swiftly, laying a row of red bricks along the base of the wall, leaving a gap in the middle. It didn't look like he was building a wall; it looked more like he was setting up a maze.
"See that? That's called a chimney."
Su Mu held a trowel and smoothed the joints between the bricks.
"The fire burns in the stove, and the heat doesn't go directly; it has to travel along this winding path under the bed. Once the heat has warmed the bricks and stone slabs above, the smoke will then be expelled from the chimney at the other end."
Li Shimin walked around the half-finished earthen platform twice, his hands behind his back.
The principle sounds simple, but it looks really pathetic.
The platform, made of mud and bricks, didn't look like a place where people could sleep at all.
"Will this work?"
Li Shimin was skeptical, saying, "Don't turn around and roast yourself alive."
"It won't get cooked; at most, it'll be so hot you'll kick off the covers."
Su Mu worked quickly and efficiently, and in less than an hour, the large earthen bed was finished.
A flat, large stone slab was laid on top, and finally a thick layer of yellow mud was applied.
It looked wet, dusty, and terribly ugly.
"This thing needs to be dried before I can sleep on it."
Su Mu patted the mud off his hands. "While the kang is airing out, let's go get that black stone."
In the courtyard, several baskets of black coal transported from Xishan were piled up, looking filthy.
Su Mu found a large wooden basin, poured in the crushed coal powder, and added 30% yellow soil.
"Do we need to add more soil?"
Li Shimin was even more confused. "These stones are hard to burn to begin with, and you're adding soil to them. How can they possibly catch fire?"
"It won't take shape without adding soil, because it burns too quickly."
Su Mu poured water into the basin and stirred it vigorously with both hands. The black coal dust mixed with the yellow muddy water, turning into a sticky mess.
Little Sizi had been squatting by the side watching, but now she couldn't resist any longer. She broke free from Li Shimin's arms and ran over with her short legs.
"Hey bro! Are you making mud cakes?"
The little girl didn't mind the dirt at all. She stuck out a finger and poked the lump of black mud. It was soft and quite fun.
"Yes, make coal cakes."
Su Mu took the iron mold that the craftsmen had made long ago.
This is a cylinder with several iron bars welded in the middle.
He grabbed a lump of black mud, stuffed it into the mold, placed it on a flat stone slab, stepped on the edge of the mold, pressed down hard, and then pushed up the push rod in the middle.
pat!
A cylindrical black coal ball was demolded.
The most peculiar thing is that the coal briquette is covered with a dozen or so small, transparent holes, making it look like a black honeycomb.
"This is called a honeycomb briquette."
Su Mu pointed to the holes and said, "With these holes, the wind can get in, and the fire can leap up, burning thoroughly and fiercely."
Li Shimin squatted down and picked up a bit of coal ash with two fingers.
"Is it really that simple? Mix black soil with yellow mud, poke a few holes?"
"The greatest truths are the simplest."
Su Mu continued pressing the coal briquettes. This was a physically demanding job, and soon the ground was covered in coal. "It looks simple, but the proportion of loess, the size of the holes, and the coarseness of the coal powder all matter. If they are even slightly off, it won't work."
Too much soil and it won't ignite; too little soil and the coal briquettes will fall apart as soon as they start burning.
In just one afternoon, hundreds of honeycomb briquettes were neatly laid out to dry in the yard.
Su Mu picked out a few samples that had been dried earlier, and carried the newly installed tin stove into the house.
This stove is also specially made, with an air vent at the bottom, a cover ring at the top, and a long iron pipe at the back that leads directly to the outside of the window.
Light a fire and put out firewood.
Once the firewood was burning brightly, Su Mu used fire tongs to pick up a honeycomb briquette and gently placed it into the stove.
Li Shimin and Li Yuan, who arrived later to see the spectacle, both held their breath and stared at the furnace opening.
There's been no movement.
There was no black smoke coming out; the pungent yellow smoke that terrified the people was drawn away through the iron pipe.
About the time it takes to drink a cup of tea has passed.
Suddenly, a bluish flame shot out from the holes around the stove opening.
Whoosh!!
As soon as the vent opened, the flames shot up half a foot high, glowing red and carrying a fierce heat.
"It's on fire!"
Li Yuan slapped his thigh, his old face full of surprise, "It's already lit? I didn't smell anything bad!"
Su Mu placed the kettle on the stove.
"This coal burns for a long time; one piece can last for an hour. If you seal the vents, this furnace can burn all night without going out."
The temperature inside the room started to change.
The original chilling feeling was gradually driven away by the heat emanating from the stove.
The most crucial thing is that kang (heated brick bed).
The heat from the stove seeped into the kang (a heated brick bed) through the flue.
Su Mu reached out and touched the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed).
"That's about it."
He laid a thick layer of straw mat on the kang (a heated brick bed), and then put a mattress on top.
"Your Majesty, isn't your leg pain acting up again? Why don't you go upstairs and lie down?"
Su Mu patted the warm kang (heated brick bed).
Li Yuan was skeptical.
His chronic leg pain was excruciating, especially on cloudy or snowy days. Even with charcoal burning in his bedchamber, the heat would rise upwards, leaving his legs and feet still icy cold.
With Li Shimin's help, he took off his shoes and laboriously climbed up the earthen platform that was about half a person's height.
I had just sat down.
Li Yuan felt a jolt.
A warm, mellow heat, seeping through the mattress, seeped into his buttocks and rose up his thighs.
The feeling wasn't like the scorching heat of a fire, but rather like being immersed in warm water.
"hiss----"
Li Yuan squinted his eyes and let out a long, satisfied sigh, "This—this place—"
He simply stopped sitting and leaned back, sprawling out on the kang (a heated brick bed).
The heat warmed my back, forcing out the cold air from between my bones.
"How is it?"
Li Shimin was a little envious, looking at the old man's expression as if he had ascended to heaven.
"Quiet down!"
Li Yuan waved his hand, a look of enjoyment on his face, "This place belongs to me! No one can make me leave!"
Seeing how comfortably Grandpa was lying there, the little ox kicked off its little shoes and climbed up on its hands and feet.
Wow! It's warm!
The little girl rolled over on the kang (a heated brick bed) and pressed her face against the mattress.
"Honey! It's so warm here! A hundred times warmer than Father's dragon bed!"
Li Shimin was embarrassed.
He rubbed his hands together and tentatively reached under the covers to feel around.
Scalding hot!
That kind of heat isn't just on the surface; it's a real, lingering warmth.
Outside, snow was falling heavily, and water froze instantly. Inside this dilapidated woodshed, with just a few coal briquettes and a pile of mud bricks, spring seemed to have been created.
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