Standing at the foot of the mountain, you can clearly see that there is a black person pushing a cart out of the deep black holes on the mountainside, and with a bang, the coal in the cart is poured down from above, and along the black, it rolls down.

"Your Majesty, although the entire mining area has not yet been fully rolled out, this coking coal has to be stockpiled early, and now it is also the place with the most labor." Huang Cheng introduced. Otherwise, when the blast furnaces in the mining area are completed, the coking coal will not be available."

"Well, what you're thinking about is being prepared." Qin Feng looked up at the mine cave on the mountain: "Digging coal is a hard job, and it is also a dangerous job, how many people have died?"

Huang Cheng made a sudden attack, but after all, he still didn't dare to tell a lie: "Your Majesty, a month ago, the square collapsed once, and more than 100 people were buried."

Qin Feng took a deep breath and shook his head, whether it is a coal mine or an iron mine, anyone who wants to go deep underground is full of dangers. This is also a helpless thing, Daming needs iron ore and coal mines.

"Is the pension enough?" He asked softly.

"Anyone who can still find their families is given full pensions, but some of them have no relatives themselves." Huang Cheng said in a low voice.

"Is the salary sufficient?"

"The wages are very high, in fact, all the people who go into the pit also know that this is a job to play with their lives, if they are unlucky, landslides, water penetration, can kill them. If the wages weren't high, there would really be no one to do it!" HUANG Chengdao.

"But I look like there's a lot of people!"

"Some of them are criminals." Huang Cheng's face showed embarrassment, but he felt that it was best not to hide this matter from the emperor, and it was not necessarily possible to hide it." The lower officials gave them conditions, and after only working here for three years, they erased the past for them, and gave them a new household registration, so that they could be innocent people."

"How many people will live to three years?"

"I don't know!" Huang Chengdao: "This is an opportunity for them, and for Xintong, there is also some more labor."

Qin Feng nodded: "Got it!"

Huang Cheng was a little stunned, originally the emperor would be dissatisfied with his behavior in the future, but it seemed that the emperor didn't seem to care about these at all.

In fact, Qin Feng is no longer the slightly simple military man he was back then, he has changed too much over the years, and if he wants to gain something, he always has to lose something. Huang Cheng is also right, among these criminals, maybe there are heinous ones, digging coal here for three years, and if you can survive, you will have the opportunity to be a new person, and it is indeed an opportunity.

At the foot of the mountain, in addition to the fire cellar for refining coking coal, there are rows of warehouses made of rammed earth, and the neat wharf in which bamboo baskets are used to refine coke media. More than a dozen huge warehouses are now basically full.

To Qin Feng's surprise, there were some simple sheds on the other side, but there were some loose coals made into strange shapes densely packed inside, cylindrical shaped, but there were evenly distributed holes in the middle. And on the only side with a wall on three sides, such things are stacked high, at least tens of thousands.

"What is this for?" Qin Feng pointed to these things on the ground and asked.

"Your Majesty, this is what Xia Guan found after arriving in Xintong, the crystal coal excavated here, the lump coal has been transported away, these ordinary loose coal is not much to pay attention to, in Xintong, in addition to iron smelting and smelting, this thing is used for heating is very little, the people basically cut down firewood and cut trees to keep warm, and those who have money burn white charcoal. Because of the coal, it still smells good when burned. And these loose coals are really hard to clean up.

Qin Feng nodded, Huang Cheng was not bad, even in the palace, it was also a good white charcoal.

"Once the lower official went to a blacksmith's place and found that he had made a good thing and used a very special stove to keep warm." Huang Cheng smiled and said to an official behind him, "You should have this stove here, take one."

"Yes, Huang Junshou!" The officer flew away, and in a flash he brought a stove from the side of the room. put it in front of Qin Feng.

Qin Feng squatted down and looked at this thing with interest.

It is about half a meter high, covered with a layer of iron sheet, and in the middle is a hearth, which is also round, and the size is similar to the refining dough in the shed just now, and it is burning vigorously at the moment. What interests Qin Feng the most is that on the side, there is actually a mouth similar to a teapot, and water is bubbling out of it. When I lifted it up, I suddenly realized: "There is still water boiling in this stove?"

"Exactly, Your Majesty." Huang Cheng smiled and put another thing in front of Qin Feng. This stove is called a honeycomb stove, and this medium is called honeycomb coal. Your Majesty, don't underestimate this stove, it's very economical, and after ignition, one of these honeycomb coals can burn for an hour or two."

Looking at the fire burning in the hearth, Qin Feng said suspiciously, "Isn't it an exaggeration?" How could this burn for so long?"

"Your Majesty, please look!" Huang Cheng squatted on Qin Feng's side, stretched out his hand and inserted a small piece of iron on the honeycomb stove, and the fire in the furnace dimmed.

"Your Majesty, this is the damper, as long as this damper is closed, the fire will be reduced. Put a fresh honeycomb medium in at night, close the damper, get up the next morning, the fire is still burning, at this time just open the damper, and then replace it with a new coal, in a very short time, the fire will burn very strong."

"That's right!" Qin Feng suddenly realized: "In this way, it's really good." Squatting there, flicking the damper up and down, looking at the fire from time to time, Qin Feng was quite moved.

"The reason why the people don't like to burn this coal very much is mainly because it smells good when burned, and the second is that it can poison people when it is placed in a closed house in winter. But this stove has an extra layer on the outside and water on the inside, and it can be used for two things. First, these water vapors come out, and you can get the smell of these coals, and second, in winter, there is such a stove at home, and there is hot water at any time. If you turn on the fire completely, the water inside will boil quickly."

"There's a lot of use." Qin Feng said." Will that still poison people?"

"Your Majesty, in fact, when this stove is completely burning, there will be no such thing as poisoning people, but when the wind door is closed, it is still a little dangerous, so after closing the wind door, try not to put it in the house. If it must be placed in the house, it is better to put it in a ventilated place, although there is a part of this water vapor neutralization, but after all, the poisonous gas will overflow." Huang Chengdao: "But although there is this disadvantage, compared to his benefits, it can be ignored."

"It's really more beneficial than disadvantaged!" Qin Feng stood up, lifted the thing on the side, the bottom was a cylindrical iron can, as soon as Qin Feng lifted it, with a bang, the bottom of the iron can retracted back to the top, Qin Feng walked to the door, casually inserted the iron can into the thick snow, twisted it a few times, and then pressed a small horizontal bar above the handle, and pushed the entire snow ball out of the iron can. A snow ball that looked exactly like the honeycomb in the shade in the shed stood there.

"It's easy." Qin Feng nodded with satisfaction: "And it's easy to operate, Huang Cheng, how long does it take for the coal to be cooled and then burned?"

"Your Majesty, in fact, you don't have to wait for him to dry completely, as long as he is slightly dry on the outside and can stand still, he can burn it, of course, the smell of this burn is still bigger."

Qin Feng's eyes flashed, "Huang Cheng, I think this thing can be equipped with some in the army, the army is stationed outside, and the heating is to burn trees and cut trees for heating, and the daily needs are very large, and sometimes even a lot of troops have to be assigned to do this work, if there is this thing, it can liberate many troops."

Now the troops are warm, and the senior generals can still supply a certain amount of charcoal, but the general officers and soldiers can only burn firewood for heating, and it is difficult to find dry firewood in winter.

"Equipping such stoves in the army, preparing one camp tent, can solve the problem of heating the camp tent, and more importantly, there is always boiling water to drink and hot water to use." Qin Feng said: "More importantly, you said that this kind of medium is very durable, and it won't take much media that day, right?" The army only needs to buy these powdered media, and then the soldiers themselves make such honeycomb coal, which can solve the big problem of heating in winter."

"Your Majesty, the lower officials really didn't think of this." Huang Cheng said with a wink.

Qin Feng said with a smile: "You haven't been a soldier, and you haven't lived in a tent in the wilderness for the whole winter. This thing is good! You go back and go to the military department, introduce them to the usefulness and benefits of this thing, well, and then get a batch to send to the army outside Yongdu first. Let them try it out for a while."

"Your Majesty, do you want to send the honeycomb media ready?"

Qin Feng walked to the wall, took a coal, pinched it in his hand, and shook his head: "Send the pulverized coal over and let them make it themselves. The road is so bad, and the cellular media of this strength is going to be completely broken up on the road."

"Yes!"

"Actually, this thing can also be popularized for civilian use, it's very cleverly done." Qin Feng smiled and looked at Father-in-law Le beside him, and said: "When it comes to winter, a lot of grass will be needed in Yuejing City, I look at those forests outside Yuejing City, sooner or later they will be cut down, and they are very bare and not good-looking, if everyone can use this thing, it can save a lot of firewood and grass, and also cut down some forests."

"Your Majesty is right, there are millions of people in Yuejing City, and the vast majority of families can't afford to burn charcoal, this thing is cheap, not worth much, if it is popularized, it is really good, at least in the future, we will not Yuejing City in winter, and there will be smoke in the chimneys of every house, and the sky will be invisible." Le Gonggong smiled.

"Huang Cheng, this matter, the technical content is not big, but if you do it first, you can make a lot of money for Xintong County, not to mention coal, but this stove can still be sold for a lot of money." Qin Feng patted Huang Cheng's shoulder and said.