Chapter 245 Burning Charcoal

Without those two elites following behind, everyone in the team felt that the air was much fresher.

After that sleet, the weather was clear for a few days, and then it started to snow again.

Qiao Ran looked at the map and found that there was a long stretch of road not far ahead, which was on a plain without mountains, far away from the mountains and forests, so it would be more troublesome to find firewood.

If it's fine in summer, just pick up some hay on the roadside and cook something to eat.

But in this cold weather, not only do we have to cook, we also have to boil water and keep ourselves warm. Dozens of households use a lot of firewood a day.

If you don't prepare early, I'm afraid there will be some trouble.

Taking advantage of the fact that it would take about three or four days to get out of the mountain road, Qiao Ran went to the village chief and expressed her concerns.

When the old village chief heard this, he immediately summoned the heads of each family and asked Qiao Ran to tell everyone about the situation.

"We are about to leave the mountains and forests. There are plains in front of us, and there may be fewer trees on the roadside. It is winter, and we need to use a lot of firewood. We need to prepare early."

When the villagers heard this, they also frowned: "What should we do? How about we pick up some firewood and take it with us first, so that we don't worry about running out of firewood."

Qiao Ran said: "Firewood is huge. We only have a few vehicles with food and tents, so we can't bring much firewood. And the firewood burns very quickly. I'm afraid the firewood we bring will be gone within a few days."

"Huh? What should we do?"

Everyone looked at each other, and the men scratched their heads, unable to think of a good solution.

Qiao Ran said: "Use charcoal! Charcoal is easy to carry and can burn for a long time. It is more convenient."

"Charcoal? This wilderness is far away from the next town. Where can I buy charcoal?"

Qiao Ran helplessly pointed to the surrounding trees and said:

"It's precisely because there is wood everywhere in the wilderness, so we can make charcoal ourselves! Let's slow down our journey these days, stop early in the afternoon to rest, and chop wood to burn some charcoal! It's more convenient to carry it on the road. Not only can it be used to make a fire, but it can also be used to boil water for cooking.”

The men looked at me again, and I looked at you, and smiled bitterly: "Burning charcoal? This... we don't know how to do it!"

Qiao Ran sighed and took on everything silently: "I'll teach you!"

Everyone was surprised.

"Ran Yatou, can you still make charcoal?"

The old village chief also asked in surprise.

Qiao Ran nodded: "Probably a little bit, but the charcoal may not be that good."

Dad Shitou smiled and said: "I don't care if it's good or not, just use it if you can! We're not a wealthy family, so we still have to use gold wire charcoal and silver wire charcoal. To use charcoal, we have to classify it into three, six or nine grades. We only need Just use it.”

The old village chief also nodded: "Yes, as long as the charcoal can burn."

Qiao Ran said: "Okay, I'll teach you how to make charcoal."

Everyone did not expect that Qiao Ran would teach them a new skill again, and they were all very happy.

You know, in winter, those who make a living by burning charcoal can also make a lot of money.

Rich people in the city buy charcoal for heating in winter, and they use a lot of charcoal throughout the winter.

If they learned how to make charcoal, wouldn't they be able to make charcoal and sell it in the future?

As soon as they started, everyone started to slow down their journey and stopped when they found a place suitable for burning charcoal.

The men went to cut down the dead trees, and Qiao Ran told them to choose dead trees with harder wood, so that the charcoal would be strong and resistant to burning.

The children took bamboo baskets to pick up stones, and then several people came back carrying baskets of stones.

Under the guidance of Qiao Ran, the women used the hoes, shovels and other tools they brought with them to dig holes in the ground. The dug yellow soil was mixed with water and turned into clay.

Then use these stones to build a charcoal kiln, and seal it with sticky yellow mud paste.

There are openings at the bottom and top of the charcoal kiln, and some flammable hay and pitch pine blocks are placed at the bottom to ignite the fire.

After the men dragged the wood back, they chopped the wood into pieces about one foot long.

Stack the wood blocks crosswise into the kiln, keeping them ventilated so they can burn easily.

After stacking the wood blocks, light the hay and pitch pine blocks at the bottom and let the fire burn from bottom to top.

After all the wood blocks were burned, they were sealed with stones and yellow mud, leaving only a small opening for ventilation.

Because the ventilation openings were too small, the wood blocks inside were not burned enough, and the wood slowly turned into pieces of incompletely burned charcoal.

In fact, if you are not in a hurry, you can completely seal the opening, let the open flame inside go out due to lack of oxygen, and use the remaining heat to char the wood.

After one night of carbonization, the fired charcoal can be taken out the next day.

It's just that they are in a hurry now. In order to burn more charcoal and take it with them on the road, they can only use this faster method.

Everyone followed the steps explained by Qiao Ran and divided their labors. After chopping enough wood, they gathered around the charcoal kiln and waited expectantly for the charcoal they burned.

When the first batch of charcoal came out of the kiln, everyone couldn't help but cheer.

"It's done! It's done! We can also make charcoal!"

"Great! So it's so easy to make charcoal? Then we can make charcoal and sell it in the future!"

"Don't just sell it for money. Even if you use it for your family, you can save a lot of money and firewood!"

"That's right. Let's not talk about the future. It's such a cold weather right now. Let's keep going. If there are no woods ahead and we can't find dead branches to make firewood, this charcoal will really help!"

"Yes, yes! Ran Yatou is still smart! With her here, we have really solved a lot of problems that we couldn't solve at all! She is truly the reincarnation of the little fairy child!"

While everyone excitedly continued to burn furnace after furnace of charcoal, they kept praising Qiao Ran.

The Qiao family is also very proud, especially Mrs. Qiao and Chen Huiniang, knowing that Qiao Ran was not only taught many good ideas by the old fairy, but she even got a magical treasure bag given by the old fairy!

But this is a secret that only belongs to the three of them, no one can tell it!

A few days later, the villagers had burned so much charcoal that the empty sacks and bamboo baskets were not enough to hold it.

Qiao Ran also taught everyone how to chop bamboo and rattan and make many bamboo and rattan baskets.

Carts, bullock carts, and carts were piled with baskets of bamboo charcoal. The men and strong women carried or carried what was not fully loaded on the carts.

A few days later, when they walked out of the mountains into the basin and took out the charcoal for use for the first time, they discovered that the charcoal was very easy to use. It not only produced less smoke, but was also very durable.