A few days later.

Early morning.

Behind the Nanshan Mansion, on a vacant lot.

Zhu Neng and the others stood cautiously in front of Chen Chu.

Chen Chu was playing with a fist-sized black stone in his hand, looking at it carefully, for fear of missing any detail.

After a while, Chen Chu shook his head.

said: "Impure, too many impurities, too high hardness, and the most important thing is that there is a dark brown color on it, and at first glance it has a high sulfur content...... Alas......"

Hearing Chen Chu's sigh, Zhu Neng was excited.

He ran up and said, "Boss, I waited according to your instructions, trekked through mountains and rivers, did not eat or drink, ran all over the area around Chang'an, and went as far as Lantian, Yunyang and other places...... It doesn't get much better than this......"

After speaking, he added: "If the boss is not satisfied, I will look for it later." ”

More than a month ago, Chen Chu carefully learned about the progress of Zhu Neng and others in banknote printing, and finally shook his head and asked everyone to stop for a while.

Then, with a sample, let Zhu Neng and others go to look for ore around Chang'an.

What we are looking for is the coal mine.

As for the sample, it was bought by chance from a merchant from Hebei Province.

It's late autumn right now.

It's getting colder.

Winter is coming.

After experiencing the cold winter last year, Chen Chu found that the entire Tang Dynasty, the way of heating is very backward, all of which are made of firewood, or charcoal, of course, charcoal is also made of firewood.

And coal, unexpectedly no one uses it.

That's a bit outrageous.

After all, coal will be one of the most important non-renewable energy sources in the world.

Therefore, when this winter came, Chen Chu was determined to develop coal.

There is the arduous process of Zhu Neng and others trekking through mountains and rivers to find coal.

Chen Chu stood up, saw Zhu Nengcheng's frightened look, and said, "Old Zhu, it's not that I'm dissatisfied with you, I'm just dissatisfied with this coal...... You've done a great job. ”

Zhu Neng asked tremblingly: "Boss, you mean, this thing is called coal?" Isn't it black soil? ”

Chen Chu laughed.

The natives are really interesting.

It looks black, like soil, so it is called black soil.

Chen Chu said: "From now on, it has a professional name, which is called coal...... How many coal mines do you have proven reserves? ”

Zhu Neng thought for a while and said embarrassedly: "Boss, this piece of black ...... Coal was found thirty miles north of Chang'an City, where there are several barren mountains, and after digging ten meters, all this kind of coal is underneath, as for how much, I don't know. ”

"All of them?"

Zhu Neng added: "There are several mountains. ”

It seems that there are a lot of reserves!

Chen Chu hurriedly said, "Let's go, take me to see!" ”

In a short time, a few fast horses left the Nanshan Mansion and went directly from the Chunming Gate to the north.

……

North of Chang'an City.

More than thirty miles.

The terrain was elevated, and a hill appeared.

Under the hills, there is fertile land.

And the hills, because they were barren, were uncultivated, and they were all abandoned.

During this period, the population was small, and there was a shortage of ploughing cattle and underdeveloped farming tools, which made it very difficult to open up the land.

Naturally, no one pays attention to a barren mountain like this.

In a col, by a small stream.

"It's on fire!"

"It's really on fire......"

Zhu Neng's voice suddenly shouted.

Several old men, around a fire, looked elated, like children.

For it was not wood or charcoal that burned in the fire, but coal.

They had been ordered to look for coal, and even if they did, they didn't know how to use it.

But now I found out that this thing, which is like stone and earth, actually burns, and it burns longer than firewood and charcoal, and the fire is more powerful.

Looking at the few old men jumping and jumping, Chen Chu rolled his eyes.

A bunch of guys who didn't know it.

Coal is something that has been discovered for a long time.

However, it has not become an official combustion raw material.

Zhu Neng and the others were originally ordinary people, but later went to be robbers, and they never saw burning coal, which is also a matter of course.

Chen Chu beckoned, called a few people over, and asked, "Old Zhu, what do you think this coal is like compared to firewood?" ”

Zhu Neng said without thinking: "Okay, boss, firewood is not as good as coal." ”

"Why can't it be compared?" Chen Chu asked.

Zhu Neng stammered, "Boss...... This, good is good...... It's not as good as that...... Forehead...... I ......"

I didn't say a reason for a long time.

Chen Chu was dumbfounded.

Lao Zhu represents a large number of craftsmen in ancient times.

These craftsmen are highly skilled and intelligent.

But they never ask.

As a result, there are many great inventions and creations, but there is no progress and development.

For example, the compass, there was Sinan during the Warring States Period, and Sinan has been used in warfare, navigation and other aspects since then, but no one has ever asked why Sinan has always pointed to the north.

As a result, a few years ago, the opportunity to discover the magnetic field was missed.

Chen Chu asked a few people to sit down and said, "Let me summarize for you, this coal, compared with firewood, has three major advantages. ”

"First, coal is easy to preserve, can be stored in warehouses, can be buried in the ground, and will never deteriorate. Firewood is susceptible to moisture, insects, and so on. ”

"Second, the burning time is long, the heat is high, and the efficiency of coal concentrated combustion is not comparable to firewood, firewood needs someone to constantly add firewood, and coal fire will not have this problem."

"Third, it is convenient to transport, because of the high combustion efficiency of coal, all the volume is small, and it is easy to transport."

"Do you understand?"

Chen Chu raised his head and saw Zhu Neng and the others all staring wide-eyed, with a confused expression.

!

Cast pearls before swine!

Blind.

He waved his hand and said speechlessly: "Go, on the map, roughly mark the place where there is a coal mine, and return to Chang'an City early tomorrow morning." ”

Tonight, Chen Chu plans to take people to stay here.

He needed to figure out where the coal was going around here.

Zhu Neng led people to take maps and pencils and began to go to the enclosure in groups.

Nothing was said all night.

Early the next morning, Chen Chucai returned to Chang'an City with a group of people.

As soon as he entered Chang'an City, Chen Chu went straight to the Mansion of Lu Guogong.

When he arrived at the Lu Guogong Mansion, Chen Chi directly found Cheng Yanjin and asked straight to the point: "Fourth brother, are you familiar with the land around Chang'an City?" ”

Cheng Biting Jin laughed: "Fifth brother, you will underestimate Lao Cheng and me, I am very familiar with all the places inside and outside Chang'an City......

Chen Chu didn't talk nonsense, he directly took out the map of Chang'an City, pointed to a circle on it, and said: "There is a piece of land here, about thirty miles away from Chang'an City, it belongs to a hill, is this a borderless land, or is it a master's land?" ”

Chen Chu's plan was that if it was a borderless land, then find a reason to occupy it.

If it's a Lordland, it's a bit more troublesome and needs to be bought.

……