Chapter Eighty-Eight: Testing the Coal

The gifts sent over by those neighboring villages added up to ten pigs and eight sheep, and there was no way to slaughter them all at once. They would have to be kept first.

Since they had to be raised anyway, Wei Renshi intended to keep them a little more carefully.

Setting aside any future plans, even for his own sake, meat raised with more care would taste better.

And to raise such animals, they had to be castrated first.

Castration meant neutering. In livestock and poultry, it applied not only to males but to females as well.

It meant removing the gonads, the testes or ovaries.

Especially with pigs, once a boar or sow was neutered, its sexual functions ceased, its temper became gentler, and its aggressiveness dropped markedly, making husbandry far easier. There was no longer any need to keep males and females separate; they could be raised together in mixed groups, reducing labor and expense.

In addition, castration made the meat more tender and removed any strong odor. Energy that would otherwise have gone into reproduction could be redirected toward growth, improving fattening, shortening the raising period, eliminating poor stock, and aiding selective breeding.

In fact, pig castration had appeared as early as the Western Zhou era. The Book of Changes, in the Great Accumulation hexagram, already said, "The tamed boar's tusks are auspicious." The meaning was that a castrated pig no longer had any aggressiveness, and its tusks were nothing to fear, which was considered lucky.

But here, the purpose of castrating pigs had been to reduce their aggressiveness or to prepare them for sacrifice. It had not yet been applied to livestock breeding.

It was only with the Song dynasty, when large-scale consumption of pork emerged, that people discovered the value of castration in animal husbandry.

So at this time, there ought to be people who knew how to geld these pigs.

After thinking it through, Wei Renshi turned to Zheng Lizheng. But Zheng Lizheng stared at him in astonishment, his face full of disbelief.

"Neutering? What for? What do you want to do?" Zheng Lizheng looked terrified.

"There are too many pigs to eat at once. We have to keep them," Wei Renshi said. "When raising pigs, you only keep one boar for breeding and a few sows for litters; the rest are all castrated. After castration, pigs not only grow faster and fatter, but the meat is richer and without any off-putting smell... Tsk, tsk, that's my own private secret for breeding livestock."

Zheng Lizheng looked from Wei Renshi to the pigs and said skeptically, "Neutered pigs can still have those benefits?"

"Of course," Wei Renshi said, clapping his hands. Then he added, "My house isn't even built yet, but I need to build a pigsty first."

"What's so hard about that? I'll call Stone the Elder later, and by the time you finish eating, the pigsty will be set up," Zheng Lizheng said with a smile.

"My pigsty isn't ordinary," Wei Renshi said. "What I build is called a breeding farm."

"No matter what name you give it, it's still just raising chickens, pigs, dogs, and swine," Zheng Lizheng said, laughing. "By the way, I handed the trap you made to the county office. The county magistrate wants to report it upward, but it'll take some time."

"I'm not in a hurry," Wei Renshi said. "Uncle Zheng, come farm with me and raise livestock. We'll split everything fifty-fifty. In less than two years, your estate will catch up to your brothers'."

"Can farming and raising livestock really amass a fortune that quickly?" Zheng Lizheng asked in surprise.

"That depends on who is doing the farming and raising," Wei Renshi said. "Maybe others can't, but I can."

"Young Master Wei is a kindhearted man," Zheng Lizheng said with a smile. "Then I won't refuse Young Master Wei's support. You have plenty to keep you busy every day. Just tell me what to do, and I'll help you manage these matters in Changgu."

"Thank you, Uncle Zheng," Wei Renshi said, seeing that Zheng Lizheng understood his meaning and had agreed.

Zheng Lizheng then said, "As for finding someone to do the castration... honestly, I don't really know. But I can ask around. I expect we can find someone."

Wei Renshi nodded. "This is crucial. If we truly can't find anyone, then we'll have to bring in a pig butcher and work it out ourselves."

Zheng Lizheng immediately showed a look of disgust and said, "Don't worry. Even if I have to go all the way to Luoyang, I'll find one."

"Also, in these past few years, every village must have had rains that left some wheat sprouting and ruined. Uncle Zheng, help me ask around and say that I'm willing to buy up a large quantity of that sprouted wheat," Wei Renshi said.

"Sprouted wheat? What do you want that for?" Zheng Lizheng asked.

"It has plenty of uses. For example, it can be made into feed," Wei Renshi replied. "It can also be used to brew wine, though I don't know whether people will get used to that unusual flavor."

"That part is easy," Zheng Lizheng said with a nod. "Young Master Wei is truly something else. Things that everyone else throws away can still be put to great use in your hands."

Wei Renshi grinned, and the two of them went home together.

That night he did not rest either. He drew up the dimensions and shape of the pig pens he wanted to build. Once the people that Jiao Haiqing had found arrived, they would begin construction of the breeding farm, build several houses, and at the same time repair the current house as well.

The next morning, as soon as Wei Renshi got up, he smelled fragrance filling the whole courtyard. After breakfast, he praised Xi'er for her ever-improving cooking, then left home, borrowed a donkey cart, and took Stone the Elder to Fuchang City to find the blacksmith.

Sure enough, the blacksmith had already finished the coal stove. Wei Renshi examined it closely; the craftsmanship was excellent, the joints seamless, the shape handsome and pleasing, almost identical to the design he had drawn. The iron piping and elbows were also made just right, snug but not tight.

The hand-cranked coal maker was finished too. It was rather heavy. Wei Renshi lifted it and felt it should work well.

The kettle meant to be used with the coal stove was also very well made. The handle was wrapped with a layer of cork, and outside that were several layers of cloth, making it very comfortable to use.

"Master Zhang, fine craftsmanship," Wei Renshi said. He had had the blacksmith make many things for him before, so they were already familiar. After inspecting the work, he offered his praise.

"Thanks to the young master for supporting my business," said Blacksmith Zhang with a smile.

Blacksmith Zhang helped Stone the Elder lift the coal stove onto the donkey cart. Wei Renshi then went to a clay kiln outside the city. The inner furnace tube was done too. He took it directly and tried fitting it to the coal stove, then shaved a little off the outside until it could be inserted smoothly and securely, a perfect fit for the horizontal iron grate inside the stove.

The inner furnace was very important; it insulated the heat and locked it inside. Without that layer of yellow-clay lining, no one would dare sit beside the coal stove.

Using the yellow clay from the kiln, he also tested the coal maker. The briquettes it produced fit perfectly into the inner furnace. It was simply flawless.

Thus, the coal stove was complete.

They hauled it back by donkey cart and unloaded it. Wei Renshi said to Stone the Elder, "Next we mix the coal."

The donkey cart was driven over to the side, and the family came out to watch the excitement.

Stone the Elder's grandson came over with Zhang Changgui, who was leaning on a wooden cane. Xi'er came with them too, even bringing some iced water for everyone.

"The coal has to be ground into powder first. There's a water-powered mortar by the river. Let's haul the coal there first," Wei Renshi said.

"Right away." Zhang Changgui, leaning on his cane, walked up to the basket. Bracing himself against the cane, he hooked a hand around the basket's rope handle and lifted. In one motion, he raised a whole basket of coal up to waist height and set it onto the donkey cart.

"Good heavens!" Wei Renshi was stunned.

That basket of coal must have weighed nearly three hundred catties.

Was that still human?

The group drove the donkey cart to the river and used the water-powered mortar to pound the coal into powder, then loaded it back onto the cart.

The dried river mud had already been prepared several days earlier. The coal powder was mixed with water in a one-to-ten ratio and stirred into a coal paste. Then it was mixed again according to the ratio of two shovels of coal paste to one shovel of dirt.

"Uncle Stone, you do the coal pressing," Wei Renshi said, handing the coal maker to Stone the Elder.

Stone the Elder pressed the coal maker down into the prepared paste, then pushed out the formed honeycomb briquettes onto a clear space beside him.

The afternoon sun was still fierce. Under the blazing light, the group only drank a few bowls of iced water and chatted for a while before the briquettes they had made were already dry in the heat.

"Time to test the coal stove!" Wei Renshi called out. At once, everyone came over and loaded the two exhaust pipes, the coal stove, and the honeycomb briquettes onto the donkey cart, heading home.

After searching around for a suitable place, Wei Renshi had them set the coal stove in position. Then, under his instructions, several of them worked together to join the two pipes with the elbows, one end attached to the coal stove and the other extended outside.

They lit a fire outside. Within minutes, the charcoal placed on top was glowing red-hot. They set a honeycomb briquette inside the coal stove, covered it with a layer of red-hot charcoal fragments, then placed another briquette on top. The lower air vent was opened, and Xi'er used a palm fan to fan air through the vent. Very soon, the upper briquette began to redden faintly. Before long, flames appeared.

Watching the flames rise higher and higher above the honeycomb briquettes, Wei Renshi added another briquette on top, then put the round lid over it and set the kettle on top.

Going outside to check, he saw wisps of blue smoke drifting out through the iron pipe. When he went back inside and sniffed hard, he could not smell the slightest trace of coal gas.