In the past few days, Captain Pieter de Vries's first mate, along with the crew and soldiers on board, totaling 46 people, had been moving the cargo in the cabin and dismantling the cannon to reduce the weight of the ship. A large hole had been shot through the side of the Orange River near the waterline by the Spanish cannon. Although the crew had been trying to plug the damage, it was still leaking. When it first reached the sea outside the Dayu River, the ship was already in great danger and could sink at any time. Captain Pieter de Vries acted decisively and ran aground at the mouth of the Dayu River.
After reducing the weight, the damaged part of the side of the Orange River was already above the waterline, and the hull also floated up. The next step was some repair work, which they would do themselves.
The bottom cabin of the Orange River was flooded with water, and the miserable crew members drained the water for a whole day before cleaning the bottom cabin that had become a pond. Many supplies such as food and gunpowder could not be used because they were soaked in water for a long time. The gunpowder could continue to be used after being dried, but the food could only be purchased from the time travelers.
There was also a large amount of money stored in the bottom cabin. After cleaning up, there were more than 5,000 Spanish cross silver coins of various types minted in the Americas, equivalent to about 30,000 rials; more than 40 Venetian gold ducats, more than 1,000 silver escarins, equivalent to about 1,800 rials; in addition, some scattered and messy gold and silver coins were equivalent to about 2,600 rials; the total amount was about more than 34,000 rials, equivalent to about 2,150 ducats.
"Did they rob the Spanish ships?" Tang Yuan, the new finance commissioner who weighed more than 200 kilograms, stared at the fascinating coins in front of him with red eyes.
"It should be correct." Gao Mo nodded, "At least those cross silver coins minted in Potosi are correct."
"Why are these silver coins so ugly? Each shape is different and weird." Tang Yuan looked at the appearance of those Spanish cross silver coins and felt a little painful.
"This is because when the Spanish minted silver coins, in order to increase production, they cut a piece directly from the silver rod, and then punched a pattern on it to form a silver coin. However, these silver coins are of moderate weight and can be used. Look at this one," Gao Mo picked up a cross silver coin, "The front is the coat of arms of the Habsburg royal family, and the abbreviations of the foundry and the chemist are on the side. Well, this one is produced in Potosí. The back is a cross pattern, and the four diagonal grids are lions and castles. If it is a silver coin produced in Mexico, there will be iris patterns around the cross on the back."
"Gao, all my money is here, where are the goods I want?" Pieter de Vries looked at the six cartons escorted by the security squad behind Gao Mo and Tang Yuan and was a little impatient.
"Of course, they're here. You can check them at any time." Gao Mo turned around and opened the carton.
Pieter de Vries stepped forward, took out a pair of white gloves from his arms, put them on, and looked at them carefully one by one.
"Very good, 4 sets of Martin Luther's lecture tableware and 2 sets of Christ's baptism tableware in the Jordan River." Pieter de Vries closed the carton with satisfaction and then pointed to the wooden boxes and pockets containing coins, "Now these are all yours, with a total value of 2,100 ducats."
Tang Yuan immediately smiled. This was his first income since he took office as the Finance Committee member, and it was worth writing about.
Shao Shude approached with a grim expression. "The humidity in the kiln exhaust is too high."
Ma Jia immediately became anxious. "Is it serious? What could be the consequences?"
"At the moment, the problem isn't critical. The dry bricks were placed at the bottom when they were stacked, so the brick stack shouldn't collapse. But we still need to be cautious and increase the exhaust temperature. Additionally, keep a close eye on the fire," said Shao Shude. He had just been elected as the Materials Committee member. Although the brick kiln was no longer under his direct control, he was still deeply concerned about the project. This was the first time the kiln was being used, and after addressing some immediate concerns, he rushed over to supervise.
"What if the stack collapses?" Ma Jia asked, worried.
"Then we'll switch to long-flame fuel, pass the fire through the collapsed adobe pile, and direct it to the front," Shao Shude replied.
"How's the cement kiln coming along?" he asked.
"We're building it as we go," Ma Jia sighed. "I've never done this before, so I'm learning as I work while also checking information on the computer."
"The cement and lime kilns are already up, but we've nearly used all the steel and cement. If we don't succeed now, we're in trouble," Shao Shude joked. "The Executive Committee is eagerly awaiting continuous production of building materials from us."
"Damn! Can this be rushed?" Ma Jia swore angrily. "I don't even have time to oversee the iron factory; I've been busy all day just burning bricks and cement to build houses for these people."
Shao Shude laughed and patted Ma Jia on the shoulder before heading to the logging site and the mine to check on the situation. The manpower at the logging site was dwindling, primarily due to damaged tools. As soon as Shao Shude arrived, the logging team began complaining, but he had no solution. Since there was no blacksmith among the time travelers, they had to rely on the Dutch for tools. Meanwhile, the limestone mine was busy with raw stones being processed into limestone powder. The ground powder would be sent to the cement kiln, where it would be calcined at high temperatures with clay to make cement.
After checking on everything, Shao Shude returned to the brick kiln to stay for the night.
"The condensation on the bricks is still too high," Shao Shude said the next morning, looking inside the fire-viewing hole of the brick kiln. "The fire isn't strong enough. Reduce ventilation and raise the fire."
Vest, who had dark circles under his eyes and bloodshot gaze from lack of sleep, had been monitoring the kiln closely throughout the night. At the sound of Shao Shude's orders, he immediately sprang into action, leading a group to adjust the ventilation and add firewood. After much effort, they finally got the fire under control.
For the next day and night, the two committee members and the kiln workers, who were all covered in soot and exhaustion, worked tirelessly to maintain the kiln and prevent any further issues. At nine in the morning on the third day, after repeated checks, Shao Shude decided it was time to stop the kiln.
When the kiln temperature had cooled sufficiently, everyone opened the kiln doors and began removing the bricks.
"Put on gloves," Ma Jia instructed as he handed out cotton gloves to everyone. The kiln was still hot, so the workers covered their heads with sweat towels and began stacking the bricks in rattan frames, pulling out baskets one by one.
"Damn, this job isn't for humans," Minghui muttered while stacking bricks. "It's so hot, and the dust is suffocating. If I'd known, I would've gone with Jin Kela to dig manure."
"Stop complaining," Xie Hansan said with a glance. "Once those Dutch guys catch some slaves for us, we won't have to do these rough jobs anymore. We'll be leaders. You hear that? Leaders!"
"It's better to get some big horses, haha!" the two laughed crudely.
During lunchtime, a large crowd of time travelers gathered at the kiln to see the bricks. The first batch of red bricks produced by the kiln was a major milestone for the time travelers, as they marked the first industrial products created from scratch.
When Ma Jia and Shao Shude appeared at the kiln door with the first basket of bricks, the crowd cheered enthusiastically. Ma Jia smiled, revealing his white teeth against his dark skin.
By the evening of October 24, all the bricks from the first kiln had been produced. After counting, they had over 10,000 intact red bricks. The broken bricks, bread bricks, and other defective products were set aside for road construction.
In recognition of the kiln's significant contribution, the Executive Committee held an emergency meeting and decided to reward all brick kiln employees with four bottles of baiju, 20 bottles of jam, and a box of canned meat.
Encouraged by the success, the lime and cement kilns were also set up in the following days. Materials were being prepared, and production was set to begin shortly.
The Executive Committee decided to use the first batch of bricks to build a pulp pool for producing white paper. A craftsman among the time travelers was skilled in traditional papermaking and could use grass, bark, and lime to make white paper. The demand for paper was high, not just for writing, but even for basic hygiene needs. As a result, a papermaking workshop was built near the lime mine.