With a monthly income of 5,000 pounds of silver, Marlin was extremely excited. That's the equivalent of 416.6 pounds of gold, which can mint more than 53,000 gold coins!

It's just that, considering that this is the result of the hard work of fifty or sixty thousand strong men, Marin is unhappy again - what to do when these people are sent to the Americas? If you don't have enough miners, you won't be able to reach this output......

However, when he asked Galtz, the mine supervisor, Marin was much more relieved - Galtz told Marin that in fact, the energy of the 57,800 miners was not released, and at most less than 20,000 miners were released.

Why? Because the tunnels are narrow, you can't squeeze in any number of people. Therefore, most miners are not actually mining rock, but digging new tunnels, and then placing load-bearing wooden frames inside the tunnels to prevent the tunnels from collapsing. And, in general, miners will not enter the mine until it has stabilized for a while.

Of course, in the mines of the North Sea Kingdom, when the wooden frame is secured, the minecart track will also be laid by the way. Once the mine is built, you can send a team of miners to mine in it.

However, the choice of the tunnel is not to be dug randomly, but to be excavated under the supervision of an engineer. Engineers will take samples and estimate the strike of the veins based on the survey results. Then, a new tunnel will be excavated along the course of the vein. At the same time, groundwater systems must be avoided.

Groundwater is not evenly distributed, and it also has some water systems. To put it simply, the underground water system is like a blood vessel in the human body, with large arteries and small branch veins. If you dig the main vein of groundwater, you will either try to plug it or abandon the pit.

As for digging some small branches of groundwater with little water flow, they will pump water out of the pit while trying to block them as much as possible. For example, the steam engine is much stronger than manual pumping in this regard.

Goslar is fine because it is located inland, in the Harz Mountains, and the underground water system is not very developed. And the Tara lead-zinc mine in Ireland, which Marlin had previously plotted, was relatively pitted. Ireland is so rich in water and the Tara lead-zinc mine is hundreds of meters deep that even if a steam engine is used to pump water, it will be difficult to cope with the surging groundwater. In this era when people need to go down to the mine themselves, this kind of underground mine that cannot be controlled by groundwater has no mining value. Unless, that's a gold and silver mine of very high taste.

Therefore, in ancient times, surface mines were generally mined. Except for high-grade gold and silver mines or high-value copper mines, most people do not like to go into the mines.

Goslar has been mining for hundreds of years, and there is no surface silver mine left, so it has to go down the mine. The 57,800 Hungarian prisoners of war and the original seven or eight thousand miners, their main task was actually digging new mines and finding new veins. At the same time, groundwater systems are being carefully detected and avoided. Over the centuries, however, artisans have become more or less familiar with the underground water system. At the very least, there is no problem in avoiding the main veins of groundwater. As for the small branches, they can only be pumped.

In fact, less than 20,000 people are mining rocks in the original mature mines. Others, mainly digging new ore lanes, looking for new ore veins. Once a large number of new tunnels are excavated, production will be doubled. Then, there will be a high production period of several years or even more than ten years.

Then, when the potential of these new tunnels is exhausted, it will fall into a trough again. At that time, it was necessary to mobilize a large number of engineers and dispatch a large number of manpower and material resources to find new ore veins and dig new mine tunnels. If it is found, it will usher in a new wave of high production, otherwise, the mine will start to decline......

Marin remembers that the silver mines in the Hartz Mountains seemed to have been mined until the 80s of the 20th century. Therefore, under the current mining conditions, it is difficult for the Goslar silver mine to decline. Because, the amount of resources is there.

Today, the problem of pumping water in mines has been solved by steam engines and pumps. Then, as long as you avoid the main vein of groundwater, you can continue to exploit it.

It's just that mining in tens or even hundreds of meters underground is too difficult. Among them, underground lighting is a big problem.

In this era, torches were generally used for underground lighting. Miners go down the mine with torches and then, while mining, stick torches into the walls of the work area to provide light. Or, with a candle or an oil lamp or something. But in terms of light, the torch is better.

It's just that the torches inserted in the wall are very taboo from getting wet. If the top of the tunnel is damp and seeping with water, the torches can easily be extinguished by dripping water.

Therefore, in this era of mines, after the new mine tunnel is excavated, it needs to be ventilated and dried for a period of time before it can start operation. In addition to safety reasons, there are also reasons to prevent water seepage on the top of the mine to extinguish the torches. After all, without lighting, it is impossible to work in a well that is tens or hundreds of meters deep.

For example, it will take a long time for these tens of thousands of Hungarian strong men to dig a new mine before they can start mining......

Marlin frowned - lighting moisture-proof? In addition to the electric lights of later generations...... That's right, horse lantern!

Marin suddenly remembered that in the 90s, rural electricity was very unstable. As a result, kerosene lamps are available in every household. At that time, the price of oil in China was very cheap, and there were very few cars. Using a kerosene lamp is much more cost-effective than a flashlight. Because, at that time, the flashlight could only use dry batteries, and when the battery ran out, it was necessary to buy a new battery, which cost a lot. Therefore, in addition to going out to run errands at night, most people do not use flashlights at night, but use the most suitable one of the kerosene lamps to carry - horse lanterns!

A horse lamp is actually a kerosene lamp that can be carried by hand or hung on the wall. The reason why it is called a horse lantern is that it seems to be hung on the saddle of the American West in the 19th century by cowboys who rush to the night to illuminate, so it is called "horse lantern".

Because the wick of the lantern is wrapped around a glass cover, the lantern is not afraid of wind and rain. When he was a child, Marin even saw fishing boats hanging horse lanterns outside to illuminate the boats on stormy nights. You can even use a lantern to attract fish into the net at night......

Speaking of which, the structure of the horse lantern is very simple - the bottom is a metal base, which is also the place where kerosene is placed. Then, there is a lamp head and a wick attached to it. Around the lamp head, there is a glass cover fixed with metal strips, which can be lifted up and replaced. At the top, there are air vents to the surrounding areas for air exchange between the lantern and the outside world. At the same time, because of the angle, raindrops are also avoided from entering the interior......

In his previous life, when Marin was a few years old, he didn't carry a horse lamp in the middle of the night to help his parents illuminate. Especially in the autumn harvest season, in order to harvest rice and wheat and avoid the rainy season, adults often have to bring the night to harvest rice and wheat. At that time, Marin, who was only a few years old, was specially responsible for carrying a horse lantern to provide lighting on the side......

Therefore, for Ma Deng, Marin is too ripe to be cooked. After all, he was a professional lantern bearer when he was a child......

When he was a child, he received the influence of chicken soup essays made up by unknown third-rate authors (the 90s were the era of chicken soup essays), and he heard that Edison loved to dismantle things. So, I also stupidly demolished my house everywhere, like a second ha.

At that time, Marin had dismantled the lantern many times, and was very familiar with the structure of the lantern, and he could easily assemble the lantern back. However, later Marin became more heartfelt and began to dismantle the TV at home...... Then, because the difficulty was too high, I couldn't assemble it back, and I was beaten by my parents for a long time......

The past is unbearable, but when I was young, I learned to dismantle my house, but I was familiar with the structure of the horse lantern. Then, with the help of craftsmen, Marin easily restored the lantern.

However, the biggest problem with using horse lanterns is not actually a technical problem, but an energy problem - there are too few sources of kerosene!

Previously, most of the oil Marin received from the Galicia region of Poland was used by him to extract gasoline. Even, because there was not enough gasoline, Marin also refined the kerosene part and mixed it with gasoline to increase the firepower.

However, if you start using kerosene lamps, you will need to pay attention to the separation of gasoline and kerosene in the future. In fact, the distinction between gasoline and kerosene is somewhat blurred. Oil near the tipping point between the two can be used as either gasoline or kerosene, depending on which one you prefer. In later generations, gasoline was in greater demand, so it was natural to prefer gasoline. Available in the 19th century...... Gasoline is said to be disposed of as a dangerous waste product...... Until the advent of gasoline engines......

In fact, the earliest purpose of the human oil industry was to provide kerosene for kerosene lamps. As for gasoline and diesel, they were useless by-products at that time. It was only later that the internal combustion engine appeared, and gasoline and diesel were "reused......

However, from a military point of view, Marin has always been more inclined to gasoline. But in underground mining, kerosene lamps are of great use. Therefore, after some ideological struggle, Marin still chose to "invent" the horse lantern. At the very least, it is very valuable to promote the use of horse lanterns at the Rammelsberg silver mine in Goslar. After all, Marin is now short of silver......

The characteristics of the horse lantern are not afraid of moisture, which is indeed very conducive to underground mining operations, and has brought great convenience to the silver mining in Goslar......