Wang Xiao Si took Liu Yun to the bicycle workshop, where Liu Yun saw for the first time how bicycles were made.
What attracted him most was the heavy and huge punching machine.
Bang bang - with just one stroke, even the ground was shaking, and at the same time the metal ball blank was punched into a perfect sphere.
What kind of brain could have come up with this?
When they arrived at the blacksmith's shop, Liu Yun's horizons were further broadened.
What a variety there was - windows, drills, grinders, milling machines, steam engines...so many different things that Liu Yun's eyes were dazzled.
"Young Master Si, it's dangerous here, go play somewhere else."
Xia Xian now had five apprentices, all clever young men selected from the villagers of He Wan village. After learning for a month they could get the hang of things, which made life a lot easier for Xia Xian.
Right now he was taking a few of them to a newly built large workshop nearby, to help test an "automated" production line.
Of course, they were only responsible for the work itself, the specifics of the testing were handled by the owner.
Soon Li Yao came over, and since Liu Yun was here, she took him along to watch and help out.
The main product of this new workshop was ceramic tiles.
But don't think ceramic tiles are easy to make, just compress some mud, apply some glaze, and fire - that's far from the truth.
The production process for ceramic tiles was quite complex, and making it semi-automated was even more complicated. Li Yao had already spent over a month soaking in this workshop to debug the production line.
First were the raw materials.
The main ingredients for ceramic tiles were potter's clay, kaolin, and loess.
Near Guihua Village in Baichuan County there was a large deposit of kaolin, also known as Guanyin clay, which was very convenient for Li Yao. She had already reached an agreement with Guihua Village for them to organize the mining of kaolin, which would be transported directly to her in the future.
In addition, quartz and feldspar were needed.
These three main raw materials were mixed together in proportion and ground into an extremely fine powder, which required the first row of large machines in the workshop - ball mills.
The principle of ball mills was simple: an array of steel balls were placed inside a horizontal cylindrical chamber. The raw materials and water were added, the door closed, and the chamber was rotated at a constant speed by a water wheel.
After a period of time, the raw materials and water would be ground into a mud thinner than a strand of hair.
The mud was poured out and passed through a magnetic separator to remove any iron fragments, then pumped into a 10-meter tall iron tank and dried with hot air blasts to obtain the basic powdered raw material.
Just this one process took up half the workshop.
Looking at these hulking steel contraptions, Liu Yun was at a loss for words to describe his shock, and could only exclaim "What amazing gadgets!"
What Li Yao came to debug today was a hydraulic press, the machine responsible for compressing the powdered materials into blank ceramic tiles.
A row of thick steel molds were installed on a conveyor belt, which would be filled with the fine ceramic powder after passing through a hopper.
When it reached the press, Li Yao stepped on the first switch.
Hiss - as the valve opened, steam entered the pipes, driving the transmission mechanism to deliver a steel mold directly under the press.
After ensuring the mechanical motions were smooth and the positioning accurate, Li Yao stepped on the second switch.
Whirr whirr whirr - the heavy press slowly descended, compressing the steel mold and compacting the powder into a square ceramic blank.
But this was not enough.
This motion needed to be repeated three times, each time with increasing pressure, in order to thoroughly remove any air pockets from the blank.
The problem was with the third compression, the pressure was insufficient.
Li Yao picked up a wrench and adjusted the air pressure several times, until the blank finally reached satisfactory standards.
Next the greenware blanks just needed to be thoroughly dried, glazed, and fired in a kiln. Once removed from the kiln and lightly polished, the entire production line would be complete.
As for glazing and firing, she had spent a lot of money poaching several masters from the official kilns to oversee the process.
For now the ceramic tiles were just plain white without any patterns - she would have people research decorative techniques once all the preliminary steps were stable.
"Be careful, the kiln is opening!"
Following a worker's shout, the massive door of the kiln at the end of the workshop slowly swung open, and two workers used long poles to haul out a cart full of ceramic tiles.
After cooling slightly, Li Yao went up with several masters to inspect them.
The tiles arrayed neatly on the shelves looked very flat, but as soon as Li Yao placed a square steel ruler on them, it was apparent the surfaces were uneven in height, with variance of at least 1 mm.
"No good, the warping is still quite severe!" said one of the ceramic masters. "Also, the glaze color is slightly yellowish - it seems the glaze formula still needs adjusting."
"I've already adjusted the compression at the earlier stages, so warping shouldn't be as bad in the next batch," said Li Yao. "As for the color, I'll have to trouble you masters to focus on it."
"Of course, of course!"
"You there," Li Yao turned to Liu Yun. "I've got a job for you - go find a small cart and haul these ceramic tiles to my home. Even though they're rejects, we can't afford to waste them - take them back to pave the pigsties."
Liu Yun: ......
Just a moment ago when he saw these tiles, he thought they were even more exquisite and smooth than the marble in the imperial palace. He was marveling at the ingenuity, but it turned out they were rejects!
And they were to be taken back to pave the pigsties!
Heck, the pigs in Li Yao's home were treated better than royalty!
"Auntie Li," said Liu Yun, "I just wanted to ask, what are these used for?"
"You don't even know that?" said Wang Xiao Si in Li Yao's place. "These are used to pave floors. Once laid down the floors will be very clean. They can also be installed in kitchens, bathrooms etc, and can simply be washed with water and wiped clean!"
So much effort and expense, so many machines, just for cleanliness and easy washing?
"Come, I'll show you something so you understand."
Wang Xiao Si took Liu Yun to the washroom behind the workshop.
The floors and sinks here were all paved with ceramic tiles.
Although they were rejects, they still looked very comfortable, and really were spotless.
"Look at this." Wang Xiao Si opened a wooden door. "Do you know what this is?"
Liu Yun went closer to take a look. It was a ceramic object shaped like a seat, but hollow in the middle. He truly had no idea what it was.
"This is a toilet, for pooping and peeing."
Liu Yun: ...... You took a prince to see a toilet? Do you want to be convicted of grave disrespect towards royalty?
"How do you use it?"
"Very simple, let me pee in it first."
Liu Yun really wanted to bash him to death.
"Watch closely now!"
Wang Xiao Si said, then pressed the flush valve. With a swoosh, a huge amount of water rushed in and washed the toilet completely clean.
"See how clean it is? Isn't it amazing?"
Although Liu Yun felt it was beneath his princely dignity to inspect a toilet, he had to admit this toilet was pretty good, at least it wouldn't stink.
He was already silently planning to take a few back, to install them in his father the Emperor's bedchamber and his mother the Empress's residence.