Traveling to another world and becoming a local owner

"What's wrong, Uncle Lame?" Zhang Ling couldn't help but ask with a puzzled look on his face.

"This kiln has just been opened. There is a lot of heat inside and the temperature is very high. It is very easy to burn people. It is very dangerous if you rashly stick your head in." Hearing this, the lame man couldn't help but explain patiently.

"Well, thanks, Uncle Lame." Zhang Ling knew that he had made a low-level mistake and felt a little annoyed.

Because I was standing on the roof of the brick kiln covered with a thick layer of soil, I could hardly feel the temperature inside the kiln, and I forgot that there was still a large amount of unburned firewood and the scorching heat inside.

The lame man nodded, without saying much, but stretched out his big calloused hand and slowly probed towards the kiln shaft. After feeling it for a moment, he turned his head and said, "Open the kiln mouth and chimney, pour water on all the kiln shafts to extinguish the fire, and prepare to leave the kiln!"

"Turn off the fire, take out of the kiln..." the villagers not far away also shouted.

At that moment, the covers of more than a dozen kiln manholes behind Zhang Ling were all opened. Looking up, the surging heat waves made the air seem distorted.

He knew that blue bricks were different from red bricks and needed to be cooled with water. This was the reason why the iron in the clay was not completely oxidized and finally turned blue. Red bricks were naturally cooled and were rich in iron oxide, so they turned red.

Zhang Ling originally wanted to make red bricks, but it took too long. Just waiting for the bricks to cool naturally in the kiln would take several days. In addition, red bricks were considered inferior bricks in this era and were not auspicious, so he could only choose blue bricks, which were of better quality and more corrosion-resistant.

Buckets of stream water were poured into the kiln shaft, and the charcoal fire in the kiln was instantly extinguished. The steam came out of the kiln shaft and chimney like thick smoke.

Zhang Ling and others covered their mouths and noses, stepped aside and waited quietly.

One bucket, two buckets, three buckets... The villagers poured water down every few minutes until there was almost no smoke coming out of the kiln.

The lame man saw that the fire in the cave had gone out, so he went down the cave roof and discussed something with several men in the village. After a while, a man got wet all over, rushed into the cave entrance that had been opened long ago, picked up a brick wrapped in wet cloth and ran out. When he got outside the cave, he quickly threw it into a bucket.

The lame man walked forward, took the brick out of the water, and broke it with a stone. He observed it carefully for a moment, and then said happily: "Good, good, this batch of bricks is done."

"Uncle Lame, are the bricks ready?" Seeing this, Zhang Ling hurried down from the top of the kiln and stepped forward to ask.

"Well, the quality of this blue brick is absolutely top-notch!" The lame man held the brick that was broken into two pieces, his expression slightly excited.

"Well, that's good. Thank you for your hard work! After the matter at the kiln is settled, you can pick some more people. I want to build some houses on the vacant land over there first." Zhang Ling nodded, then smiled and pointed to a place not far away and suggested.

"Okay, let them continue pouring water here, and we'll go and take a look. I'll ask them to pay attention over here." The lame man threw the brick in his hand to the ground, then clapped his hands and said.

"You two go first. Don't worry. I'm watching here. Don't worry." Elder Yang smiled as he stood aside, leaning on a cane due to his mobility problems.

"Okay, then I'll have to trouble Grandpa Yang." Zhang Ling bowed when he heard that.

The two walked along the brick kiln and came to a relatively flat open space. It was close to the village and had a total area of ​​about six acres.

"Uncle Lame, what do you think of this place? I want to connect it up in a row from east to west and make them all single rooms. The rest of the place will be left empty for now and we'll talk about it later." Zhang Ling said, pointing around.

"Well, if you only build single rooms, even if they are bigger, there will be at least two hundred rooms in a row. Will you be able to use so many houses when the time comes?" The lame man calculated silently in his heart and said something unconsciously.

"Don't worry about these for now. I just want to build the house quickly. How long do you think it will take?" Zhang Ling waved his hand and continued to ask.

"There are not enough strong men in the village. If we split up the work, we can only build five houses a day at most." The lame man thought for a moment and answered affirmatively.

"Okay, then we'll arrange for someone to build the house today. You can keep these two hundred taels of silver notes first. If you need some wood, tiles, etc., you can buy them." Zhang Ling said, taking out two silver notes from his sleeve.

"I don't need so much." The lame man waved his hand to refuse.

"Uncle Lame, you take it first. You can give it to me if you can't use it all. I will go to the county later and think of a way to bring back some strong laborers." Zhang Ling insisted when he saw this.

"Well, okay. Then you go and do your work first. I'll arrange for someone to come and dig the foundation." Upon hearing this, the lame man had no choice but to take the banknote with a silly smile, then limped up to the kiln.

After he left, Zhang Ling went straight home, called Daniu and Li Liulang, and drove the carriage to the county town.

Shopkeeper Yang brought people here twice in the past few days. The money earned from the sales of Huangliang Xianniang these days totaled more than 14,000 taels. Excluding the purchase of mash and the 30% dividend given to Liu Huaiyuan, the remaining 70% profit in Zhang Ling's hands was more than 10,000 taels.

Silver is expensive in Dayi. The annual expenses of a family of five is only about three or five taels of silver. More than ten thousand taels of silver are enough for him to do many things.

After arriving in the county town, Zhang Ling went directly to Qianfu Dental Clinic. Manager Wang was as enthusiastic and enthusiastic towards him as usual.

Now that Zhang Ling had money, he was naturally not as stingy as before. He directly stated his purpose and wanted to ask for help in buying young and strong men in the entire Yahang Street. Price was not a problem.

Shopkeeper Wang was naturally overjoyed at such a large deal. Even if he did not take a commission from it, the small bosses of other dental shops would have to respectfully give him some commission.

"Mr. Zhang, please sit down for a moment. I'll be back soon. Gouzi, go get the Snow Peak Golden Buds from my collection and make some for you." Shopkeeper Wang had a smile on his face. He happily gave his instructions to his waiter and left in a hurry.

Upon hearing this, the waiter named Gouzi ran to the back hall and soon brought out a few cups of golden tea. He nodded and smiled, "Master Zhang, please enjoy your meal!"

"Well, thank you!" Zhang Ling smiled and nodded, took a sip of the golden bud tea, and waited quietly.

Less than an incense stick of time later, Manager Wang returned with forty-six young and strong men.

"Mr. Zhang, sorry to have kept you waiting! I ran all over the street, but could only find these people. I wonder if they are enough?" Shopkeeper Wang smiled carefully. He had tried his best. Young and strong men were so popular these days that he had to lose his temper to buy many of them.

"Thank you, Manager Wang. Could you please calculate the total amount?" Zhang Ling nodded slightly and asked.

"It should have been four hundred and sixty taels originally, but two families refused to let the owner go, saying that the property was already reserved, so I gave a little more, making a total of four hundred and eighty-seven taels." Shopkeeper Wang answered somewhat embarrassedly.

"It doesn't matter. Thank you very much anyway. This is five hundred and fifty taels. Please accept it. The extra money is my thanks. I will need to trouble you in many other ways in the future!"

"Mr. Zhang, what are you talking about? You are an old customer of ours. If there is anything I, Wang, can do to help you with, I will do my best." Shopkeeper Wang said with a smile, patting his chest.

"In that case, thank you very much, Manager Wang. Here is one thousand taels of silver notes. If there are any young and strong people recently, please help me buy them. Then I will have them all sent to Wangshan Village in Pinghe Township." Upon hearing this, Zhang Ling took out another stack of silver notes and put them on the table.

"Okay, I will definitely take care of this for you!" Upon hearing this, Shopkeeper Wang did not refuse and agreed directly.

"Well, thank you very much." Zhang Ling nodded, exchanged greetings with Manager Wang for a while, and then led everyone away. Da Niu followed the broker to the county government office to handle the slave registration procedures.