Han Qian and others rushed to the Mopangu camp and found Zou Lang, an engineer from the Industrial Construction Bureau who had gone deep into the northern section of the Wujian Mountains to survey the coal seam in the past two months, to learn about the preliminary work.

At present, a number of shallow coal have been found in Datongling and other places deep in Wujian Mountain, and the local township department has begun to organize mining, but the exploration of coal seam resources is still done by Zou Lang with a team of people.

This is related to the subsequent development of the Wujianshan coal seam, whether to hand it over to the local township department to make a small fuss, or whether the government will directly come forward to carry out large-scale development.

Although in June and July, the mountains are also heavy rain, but Zou Lang they overcome the difficult conditions, the survey work has not been interrupted, at present the surveyors in the most suitable large-scale mining of the Datongling coal seam, has dug several small hole wells more than ten zhang deep, the coal seam is still continuous, coal storage is extremely abundant.

The quality of coal and stone in Datongling is also good, there is not much smoke, less impurities, and enough firepower.

Because the coal seam is more than ten zhang above the surrounding ground, even in the rainy season like this year, no springs have been found in the Datongling area; Even if there were, it would be fairly easy to drain water, and would not produce large-scale water accumulation that was difficult to drain like the coal seams in the plains.

It's just that Datongling is nine miles away from the Mawan River, a tributary of the upper reaches of the Puyang River, and it is necessary to build a nine-mile rail road and two bridges with spans of about six and eleven zhang respectively.

Of course, the waterway of the Mawan River is still shallow and narrow, and in the dry season, the transportation capacity will be greatly reduced, and there is even the possibility of breaking the flow, but if you want to directly build the coal transportation terminal to the Puyang River estuary outside the eastern foot of Wujian Mountain, the rail road that needs to be built is as long as 30 miles; When the time comes, the coal will be transported by flat-bottomed silo ships, and even if the speed is not as fast as that of the sharp-bottomed sailing ships, the capacity will not be limited.

Hardwood rails, similar to the railroad tracks of later generations, had a precedent for hardwood rails built during the Qin Dynasty.

Even if the sleeper rails and guide rails are made of hardwood, and then the horse-drawn carriage with special wheels dragged by animal power is much more efficient than the post road and gallop road that will become muddy when trampled on after rain; For the animals towing the trucks, walking on the track can also greatly save the physical consumption.

A large coal yard with an annual output of hundreds of thousands of quintals is a million quintals, and on average, three or four thousand truckloads of coal and stone are transported out every day; If it does not rely on the rail road to connect with the waterway wharf, it will undoubtedly be a disaster for ordinary roads; It only takes a single rain to bring transportation to a standstill, and it takes a lot of money to repair the road from time to time.

Of course, there may be no technical difficulty in building a rail road, but the cost is much higher than that of an ordinary post road, not to mention the rest, think about only 50,000 or 60,000 standard hardwood sleeper rails, how much does it cost?

At present, there are more hardwood resources such as pines and cypresses in Wujian Mountain and Huaiyang Mountain, and there is no need to manufacture more expensive concrete beams and fine iron tracks, but the preliminary calculation, including the pre-construction of the coal yard and the construction of the water transportation wharf, is expected to invest a huge amount.

Even if the output of the coal yard reaches the estimated annual output of 600 to 800,000 quintals of coal, it will take more than a decade to pay for itself with such a huge investment, considering that this will prompt a sharp reduction in coal prices from the current level.

Of course, this cannot be done in the account.

In order to maintain a large urban population that was detached from agriculture, the amount of fuel needed for cooking and heating in winter was astronomical, not to mention the work of casting and smelting and the firing of lime cement of green bricks.

If this fuel is replaced only by logging and cutting firewood and crop straw, it will soon be depleted of the surrounding forests, and the labor required will be unprecedentedly large.

Burning bricks with coal can reduce the price of each brick to one-third of what it used to be, and it can be further reduced in the future, mainly because of the difference in labor costs for obtaining coal and firewood.

In addition to the hard work required to grow enough food to eat, the harvest of firewood, the weaving of clothing, and the construction of housing required a lot of labor.

What Han Qian has to do now is to do everything possible to greatly improve labor efficiency in every link, so that the labor force can be truly released, so that it is possible to get rid of the predicament of the agricultural era.

The large-scale use of coal, which led to the advent of the industrial age, or the original era of the industrial revolution, which continuously stimulated the demand for coal and expanded its production, is quite controversial in later generations, but it is undoubtedly complementary to a certain extent.

Han Qian weighed it a little and asked Zou Lang and others to make further surveys of the Datongling coal seam and optimize the construction plan, but he also asked Feng Yi to immediately put the manufacturing of sleeper rails on the agenda without any further delay.

Even if it is confirmed after a period of time that the Datongling coal seam is not suitable for large-scale mining, the sleepers can be used elsewhere.

In the dream world, there was a precedent for large-scale mining of shallow coal in the Huainan area.

Even if Datongling was not suitable here, Han Qian believed that there must be large shallow coal mines in Jiushan, Bagongshan, or other places in Huaixi that they had not yet discovered.

The terrain near Datongling is not particularly rugged, and it does not take too long to build a nine-mile-long or even thirty-mile-long foundation road, but it is not easy to make tens of thousands of sleepers; The firing of cement and the casting of trough iron bridge girders need to be prepared in advance - in today's Tangyi, this can be said to be a super project.

However, Han Qian insisted on doing it.

As long as you do it, you can accumulate and improve the details of good technology, and you can further cultivate and accumulate talents.

In the Mopangu camp, Han Qian talked with Zou Lang and other engineers until late at night.

When he was about to rest, Feng Yi, who had just returned from Xuzhou, rushed from East Lake to Shiliang and failed to see Han Qian's people, and rushed to Mopangu overnight.

After Huaidong handed over Shiliang County, Han Qian sent an order to Xuzhou, asking the Liukou who were trapped in Longtan Mountain to be encircled and suppressed by the Chenzhou camp, and Wei Xu and Lin Zongjing led the troops and horses to supervise it.

Chenzhou Fanying gritted his teeth and stormed Longtan Mountain, leaving not a single living mouth, and neatly handed over three hundred Fankou heads, without any discount - in this case, even if the father and son of the washing family took the heads of some ordinary Fanhu to replace them, Feng Yi and they could only pinch their noses and admit it.

After handing over 300 Fankou heads, and under the supervision of Zheng Chang's supervising imperial history, Zheng Tong, Zheng's disciple, and Zhou Qinian, the Chenzhou Fanying finally left Chenzhou by boat along the Yuan River in early August.

The Xi's father and son had no choice, the Liang State was in turmoil, and the Shouzhou army could not give the Tangyi army too much military threat from the north for the time being, if they were not convinced, even if they could withstand the attack of the Xuzhou soldiers and horses, could they resist Han Qian and then transfer 10,000 elites from Tangyi back?

What's more critical is that Yezhou and Sizhou are instigated in the current situation, Chenzhou is lonely, and what Shen Yang and Zheng Chang fought for them can already be said to be the best conditions.

After confirming that Chenzhou Fanying's fleet continued south along the Xiangjiang River to Hengzhou, Feng Yi rushed back to Donghu by boat first.

The crisis in Chenzhou, which lasted for four and a half months, was lifted.

In exchange for the secret negotiation, the superintendent Zheng Tong would stay in Chenzhou and replace the sound of washing and shooting as the state commander; And when Xishu Peng went out with the army, his post of commander of Lipu County will also be taken over by Zheng Chang, who was born in the Zheng family.

Of course, with the departure of the Fanying camp, a group of local officials who were originally held by the children of the Xi clan and other generals from the big surname forces were promoted from the local area to more than a dozen Hakka children and the corresponding officials sent by the Hunan Propaganda Envoy - this was a feast for everyone except the Xi clan and the late Red Mansion and Huaidong.

According to the agreed conditions, half of the county soldiers and township soldiers in Chenzhou were recruited from the children of Hakka nationality, and the total size of local county soldiers was limited to less than 1,000.

The biggest threat to the northeast flank of Xuzhou is temporarily lifted; This is also destined to become more honest in the two states of Si and Ye in the west, and they will never dare to act rashly in a short period of time to provoke the evil tiger of Xuzhou.

After Feng Yi and Lin Zongjing led 2,000 sailors to reinforce Xuzhou, Xuzhou immediately lifted its full alert to minimize the impact of production; The follow-up naval army will be withdrawn to Tangyi, and the active soldiers and horses in Xuzhou will be further reduced to the level before the crisis.

Feng Yi chased all the way to Mopan Valley, in addition to reporting the good news of the dissolution of the crisis in Chenzhou, he also brought a bundle of special oilcloth, like selling treasures, and moved people to the big tent, and called Han Qian, Feng Yi, Han Donghu, and Huo Li to inspect them:

"Xixunqiao specially asked me to bring it, what do you see this oilcloth made of?"

In the past, the oil cloth produced in Xuzhou was mainly cotton and linen woven cloth coated with tung oil to prevent waterproofing.

Tung oil cloth is qualified to make oil paper umbrellas, but the cost is still not low, the toughness is poor, and it is easy to be damaged when used in a large area.

The roll of blue-black oilcloth brought by Feng Yi emitted a slight smell of burning, but it can be concluded that the matrix is made of linen, which is thicker and tougher than the common tung oilcloth.

Feng Yi and Wang Zhe frowned and guessed what the smear layer was, but Han Qian could smell the scorching smell similar to the asphalt in the dream world, and said, "The smearing is the green paste that is separated from the coal tar. ”

In order to improve the quality of coal smelting refined iron, Longya Mountain has long used cellar-fired coal on a large scale, and the black, viscous coal tar is its by-product, and for a long time, in addition to being used as a rust inhibitor to smear various refined iron components, I don't know what other use it can be.

Although only seven or eight catties of coal tar are produced in a cellar, the coal tar accumulated over several years fills a whole dry pond in Longya Mountain.

Coal tar is used for the anti-inducement of fine iron components, and the amount is very small, and a large amount of it is accumulated, so that it has become an extremely difficult and difficult to solve the big trouble.

The Engineer School has been doing dry distillation and fractionation of coal tar.

The dry distillation method is similar to the method of charcoal burning and coal burning in the cellar, that is, the air is isolated from heating and decomposition; Fractional distillation is repeated heating distillation, and Yandangchun is made by this method.

In the past, there was no theoretical basis, but after the establishment of the engineering school, dry distillation, fractional distillation and quenching methods for preparing miasma liquor are three important means to study various physical properties.

Han Qian knew that the composition of coal tar was complex, and only by separating the different components could he study whether it had a specific use.

Han Qian had long known that coal tar fractionation could produce asphalt, and in his impression, asphalt was used to pave roads, and the by-product of coal tar left by coal burning in Longya Mountain Cellar was used to harden the road surface by fractionation, which was obviously too luxurious in the world.

He didn't expect that Xuzhou would use asphalt to smear linen cloth and make a new tarpaulin.

Seeing that this was particularly like the linoleum cloth of later generations, he immediately became interested and asked about the specific details and the specific cost of fractionated bitumen.

To talk about production without cost is to play hooliganism; If the cost of the new tarpaulin cannot be reduced to be lower than that of tung tarpaulin, it will be meaningless.

He knew that the current detection methods were too limited, and to engage in large-scale fractionation production, it was equivalent to stepping into the most basic chemical industry production field, and the danger was too difficult to control; In his impression, coal tar has many harmful and toxic components.

Seeing that Han Qian guessed it at once, Feng Yi immediately lost interest, but the engineering academy over there in Chenzhong confirmed that the cost and danger of large-scale fractionation of asphalt from coal tar were not high, at least it was used to produce this kind of green paste tarpaulin with better waterproof performance and more durable, which was not more expensive than the previous tarpaulin.

In the waterproofing of the shed and the covered cabin, the linoleum cloth has better waterproof, moisture-proof and anti-bending performance.

More importantly, compared with tung oil cloth that is easy to ignite, green ointment linoleum cloth is much more difficult to ignite; By virtue of this alone, in the military field that pays more attention to fire prevention, it is destined to be in the aspects of ship, barracks waterproofing, etc., the new green plaster linoleum cloth can fully replace the traditional tung oil cloth, and the amount is quite low.

After learning about this, Feng Yi couldn't wait to transfer people from the Chenzhong Engineer School to East Lake, and at the same time organized the production of a new type of linoleum cloth - East Lake production cellar burned coal, and a lot of coal tar was accumulated one after another, and he was worried about how to deal with it.

In addition to the military, this new linoleum cloth can also be sold in Gyeonggi and wealthy counties such as Yeonho, after all, even if the green tile roof is old, rainwater leakage is still a problem; In places such as Tangyi, this kind of green paste linoleum cloth can be used on a large scale, and the construction of simple houses will become easier and more convenient.

Of course, what is more important is Han Qian's future fiscal and tax planning for Tangyi and Xuzhou, which intends to retain a considerable share of the land tax revenue at this time, and the local government has relatively sufficient financial resources to ensure that local construction is not interrupted; The industrial and commercial taxes such as the city parking tax and the passing tax, the sale of salt, wine, tea and horses, and part of the profits of the official money bureau, the industrial construction bureau, and the Chishan Society were transferred to the government.

This means that Feng Yi has to sharpen his head to increase new tax sources.

An industrial product that can only be mass-produced in Xuzhou and Tangyi, and can be popularized and applied on a large scale in a short period of time, how can Feng Yi not be excited?

…………

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Originally, everyone was ready to rest, but Feng Yi rushed over to make the chickens and dogs jump, and they ran away like a thief in a sleepy state.

Feng Yi rushed to Tingshan at noon, had a meal in Tingshan, and then rushed to Shiliang non-stop, did not see Han Qian, and rushed to Mopan Valley, already hungry.

However, the soldiers who escorted him hunted a yellow sheep and a roe deer halfway, Feng Yi saw that everyone was not sleepy, so he pulled together to find a vacant land, lit a bonfire, and skinned the yellow sheep and roe deer on the fire and roasted them.

Everyone ate oil until the sky was light, and then went to bed early, and slept until the afternoon before leaving for Datongling to see the survey of the coal seam on the spot.

After walking in the mountains near Datongling for three days, inspecting several cottages and two newly established township inspection divisions, I found that the northern section of Wujian Mountain was simply a coal mountain. In addition to the Datong Mountains, shallow coal resources are distributed almost everywhere in the northern section of the Wujian Mountains.

Of course, between the peaks and ridges in the northern section of Wujian Mountain, there are also traces of coal mining by predecessors, but there have been frequent wars in the Huainan area in the past hundred years, and the old things of coal mining and charcoal burning have been annihilated in the dust of history.

It can be seen how strong the impact of frequent wars on the whole society is!

Regardless of whether or not to enter the Wujian Mountain for large-scale coal mining, two new township inspection divisions have been established in the northern section of Wujian Mountain, which have jurisdiction over the nearby mountainous areas 30 miles deep, more than 10 villages, and more than 4,000 people, all of which need to build a simple post road to ensure that the two township inspection divisions are in contact with Shiliang County and Huailing County, so as to ensure that small-scale coal mining can be transported by cattle and horse-drawn carts from the land and nearby waterway wharves to the farther area.

Although there is a lot of running around in Wujian Mountain, compared to the still hot weather outside the mountain, the grass and trees are scorched under the scorching sun, and the trees in the mountain are verdant, but it is also very comfortable.

Han Qian had planned to rush to Shoudong before the end of August, but he didn't want to leave Wujian Mountain for Daishanzhai on the eve of a heavy rainstorm, and the rain poured down from the sky, washing away the treacherous path from the northern section of Wujian Mountain.

Heavy rain continued for the next few days, a rare heavy rainstorm since the beginning of autumn, and the strong winds blowing from the coastal areas caused trees to fall and collapse the roads.

In addition to sending people out of the mountain to report and contact first, Han Qian and Feng Yu were forced to be trapped in the mountain.

It wasn't until the sixth day of the ninth month, after the heavy rain stopped, that Han Qian and his team trekked through mountains and rivers, climbed over the low mountains in the northern section of Wujian Mountain, and rushed to Daishanzhai, all the way worried that the disaster in Chaohao and other places would become more and more serious.

After arriving in Haozhou, he not only led the Haozhou Assassin History, and commanded the five counties of Huailing, Linhuai, Zhaoyi, Zhongli, and Shouzhou, but also led his troops to force the Shouzhou Army from the east and south, Lin Haizheng, who rushed over from Shoudong, Gao Shao and Wang Zhe, who was responsible for spying and collecting intelligence on the Central Plains, also rushed from Donghu to Daishanzhai to see Han Qian.

Wang Zhe also brought the latest news from the Central Plains and Heshuo region this time.

In mid-March, when the Mengwu cavalry and the Han army infantry battalion crossed the Taihang Mountains and entered Zezhou, although the city of Zezhou was under the control of the Liang army at that time, the whole thing shook the Liang army too much.

Emperor Zhu Yu of Liang led 100,000 soldiers and horses to the northern expedition to Luzhou, and the real main force of soldiers and horses was the elite of the 30,000 guards and horses and infantry led by him.

Bianjing mutiny, the back road was cut off, the food was exhausted, and the attack on Luzhou for a long time could not be stopped, the Jin army was in front, Huma was behind, the people were panicked, and the military food could not last long, even if Emperor Zhu Yu of Liang had the ability to turn his hands into clouds and cover his hands for rain, he could only ensure that the elite of the descendants withdrew to Zezhou City first, and ensure that the retreat route of the Fenshui River Valley in the Guanzhong region was not cut off.

At that time, even if the Liang army stormed Luzhou City, it was meaningless, and they did not dare to hastily fight the main force of the Mughal people, who were more prepared.

The city of Luzhou has been besieged by them for nearly a year, and the food in the city has long been cut off, and the walled city outside the city has been repeatedly scraped by the Liang and Jin armies for more than a year, and there is no more grain to collect; What's more, the war in the past two years and the internal disturbance of the Jin army have caused extremely serious damage to agriculture in the Shangdang area, and a large number of households have fled to the deep mountains and old forests or to foreign lands.

At this time, the mountain pass northwest of Luzhou City and leading to Taiyuan Mansion was occupied by the main force of 20,000 Jin army reinforcements; The Jingcheng Pass in the northeast was blocked by thousands of German elites.

Without food and grass supplies, no matter how many cities the Liang army occupies in a land where enemies are on all sides, it is a dead end.

The outer soldiers and horses were routed and defeated by the Mengwu cavalry, and Emperor Zhu Yu of Liang led the main force of the guards to fight with the pursuing Mengwu soldiers and horses in the Fenshui River Valley, and did not get rid of the pursuing soldiers until early June.

And in this process, the main force of the guards and pro-army also lost their troops, and the number of men and horses dropped to 20,000.

Emperor Zhu Yu of Liang crossed the Yellow River and fled into the Hejin area to rest for a month, at this time he collected the deserters and horses, and regathered 60,000 soldiers and horses under his command - this is still the Liang Emperor Zhu Yu timely divided the elite soldiers and horses to protect the passage of the Fenshui River Valley, and entangled the elite cavalry of the Mengwu forward as much as possible, so that a large number of defeated soldiers and horses were able to escape from this channel to the Guanzhong area, and were not slaughtered by the Mengwu cavalry.

Otherwise, even if Emperor Liang did not suffer any damage to the main force of the guards and fled back to Guanzhong, it would be even more miserable.

However, at this time, although Lei Jiuyuan, Han Yuanqi and others still firmly controlled Bianjing City, Hangu Pass to the west of Luoyang fell into the hands of the rebels, and the passage of Emperor Zhu Yu of Liang led the main force of the Liang army west out of Hangu Pass was temporarily blocked and temporarily trapped in Guanzhong.

After June, the Mughurs did not continue to pursue the Liang army along the Fenshui River Valley.

In mid-June, when the Mengwu prince Wusu Deyan and the southern court prince Xiao Yiqing formed an alliance with Liu Yun, the commander of the Jin army, in the south of Luzhou City, they suddenly besieged Liu Yun and his followers, and then 20,000 Mengwu cavalry bypassed Luzhou City, trampled on the Jin army reinforcement camp in the north of Luzhou City, and after annihilating 10,000 Jin army elites, they used the camp abandoned by the Liang army to besiege Luzhou City again.

The latest news came from Luzhou in mid-August.

After learning that Shi Chengzu, the prince of Jin, had joined the Mengwu people and led the Shuozhou soldiers and horses to attack Taiyuan Mansion, the defenders who had been trapped in Luzhou for more than a year were finally more than 9,000 hungry men and horses under the leadership of the guard Tian Weiye and surrendered to the Mengwu.

After Wu Su Deyan and Xiao Yiqing occupied Zelu Prefecture, they sent more reinforcements through the Taihang Mountains and entered the south bank of the Yellow River, joined forces with the Weizhou rebels, strengthened their control over the Xingyang and Hanluo areas, and blocked the passage of the main force of the Liang army out of Guanzhong in the west.

If no new changes occurred, it would be a matter of time before Taiyuan Province fell and the Heshuo, Hedong, Shangdang and northern Jin regions north of the Yellow River fell into the hands of the Mughu.

Due to the occupation of Hangu Pass by the rebels, and the Xingluo area fell into the hands of the rebels and the Mughu, the main force of the Liang army was blocked west of Hangu Pass and could not go west out of the pass.

After Han Yuanqi and Chen Kun rendezvous, Lei Jiuyuan and Jing Hao, although they successfully kept Bianjing, they fought fiercely several times, and the loss of soldiers and horses was also extremely tragic, and there were only more than 20,000 soldiers and horses in their hands, and they were in a stalemate with the rebels east of Bianjing.

The Sima clan, headed by Sima Tan, chose to wait and see in the Xusi area.

Xu Mingzhen led the Shouzhou army to strengthen control over the southern states of Liang such as Ying, Qiao, Cai, and Ru, and did not reveal any intention to defect to the rebels, nor did he lead his troops to reinforce Bianjing.

The entire Central Plains region can be said to be a mess at this time.

Of course, Gao Shao and Wang Zhe rushed from Donghu to Daishan Town to see Han Qian, not simply to report the information on the chaos in the Central Plains.

In the few days when Han Qian and the others were trapped in the depths of Wujian Mountain by heavy rain and could not come out, Wang Jian, the lord of Shu, sent Wei Jian to Jinling and proposed that the two armies of Chu and Shu join forces and participate in the battle to divide Liang State......