Mr. Wang's family had to make arrangements for Belitung Island before they could leave the island, even though several truckloads of oil had already been shipped back. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

With the tin problem solved, he was able to take care of the work of distilling various oils.

Tin was one of the earliest metals used by man, and it was easier to smelt than copper, and it is now easier to mine than Iwami Mine in Japan------ because it was mined in the Central Plains and was an open-pit cassiterite mine.

In nature, tin rarely exists in a free state, so there is very little pure metal tin.

The most important tin ore is the cassiterite mine, which has a chemical composition of tin dioxide.

Tin smelting is much easier than copper, iron, and aluminum, and as long as cassiterite and charcoal are burned together, charcoal will restore tin from cassiterite.

Obviously, if people in ancient times burned bonfires in places where there were tin mines to roast wild animals, the cassiterite on the ground would be reduced by charcoal, and the silvery, molten tin would flow out.

It is precisely because of this that tin was discovered very early.

In this time and space, tin is also a precious metal, one of the famous ancient "hardware" ------ gold, silver, copper, iron, and tin.

Tin has been discovered and used since ancient times. In some ancient tombs in the Great Song Dynasty, some tin pots, tin candlesticks and other tin tools are often excavated, and it is verified that as early as the Zhou Dynasty, the use of tin tools has been very common.

In Egyptian tombs, pewter daily necessities have also been found; Ancient Greek and Roman eras were also available.

In the Japanese court, elaborate imperial sake was made only on pewter vessels.

This is, of course, the most rudimentary usage.

Wang Defa's family needs them as alloy materials, as welding, rust prevention, dyes and food preservation materials.

In particular, tin sulfide, a compound that reacts with tin and sulfur heat, is similar in color to gold and can be used as a gold dye.

Tin itself is a precious metal and has a wide range of uses, and it would be a joy if it was easy to mine and smelt!

Therefore, the tin mine on Belitung Island had to attract his great attention.

In a letter to the owner of Zhang Guoan, he said:

"A few days ago, I took three Yasu-class sea boats, twenty indigenous team members and some indigenous laborers to that desert island, which is still unknown.

On the way, I repeatedly used a sextant to locate the aircraft, and during the voyage of more than 300 nautical miles, I identified several small islands as navigation beacons.

Our sailors and captains have done so well that their ability to handle sails and make charts should be the best in the world------ so we were right to do the most in the morning.

The nautical talents trained in the sea trade are more important than the economic harvest of the sea trade! ”

Although there are less than 600,000 people on Liuqiu Island and the floating population------ if we can train 100,000 sailors, then I dare not say that the entire ocean on the earth is our sea, and I dare to say that most of them are!

Sailing brings more than just commercial profits, the cultural connotation generated in the process is too profound.

Will there be a real spirit of solidarity and cooperation in the voyage?

Will there really be a spirit of obedience that respects the captain?

Will it really generate a truth-seeking spirit of exploring and studying nature?

Will there be an adventurous spirit to step out of the shackles of land and yearn for a new life?

During this trip to Belitung Island, Wang Defa's family was very emotional, and he observed that the sailors he hired from the Bo Ni country had a sincere admiration for the sailors, especially the slaves he bought, and they were simply watching the actions of the sailors with admiration!

Of course, the outfits of the sailors are uniform, and there has never been anything like this in this plane.

Their sailors' suits looked the same, but strips of cloth of different colors were sewn on their chests------ which made their duties clearly divided.

When it was time to set sail, they divided their labor to participate in the loading operation, hoisting the sails, untying the cables, lifting anchors, and steering, and the scene was orderly.

When sailing, they take turns on duty, steer the sails, participate in deck equipment maintenance, hull maintenance.

When they docked temporarily, they hoisted small boats and went to the islands and the freshwater rivers on land to refill the water, find edible fruits, and even catch large sea turtles.

Their signal flags, signal rockets, binoculars, pulley sets and small steam boilers in the kitchen, as well as their trawls, are a novelty.

Along the way, Wang Defa's family also focused on observing the cooperation between the sailors of the Boni Kingdom and the sailors of Liuqiu hired by him.

The result is okay, although their language communication is not very smooth, but sometimes they can communicate through body movements.

After all, the sailors of the Bo Ni Country are more familiar with the surrounding waters than others.

Belitung Island is in the southern part of the mouth of the Munlai River, two or three hundred nautical miles, and their maiden voyage did not take half a month to arrive.

Along the way, I also briefly investigated the hydrological situation of the route, which was actually not too different from the information in the hands of Wang Defa's family.

The captains of the three Angang-class ships were secretly surprised that Wang Defa's family had never been to the so-called Belitung Island at all, but they seemed to be very familiar with the route.

They didn't know if there were any wild people on that island, but they knew the terrain on it, and even pointed out the general location that was more suitable for docking!

They can only think about the reason from objects like telescopes, maybe the king's family has a telescope to see farther!

In that world, Belitung Island accounts for almost 30% of the world's tin production every year, and the annual output of 100,000 tons is small, so you can imagine how huge the tin ore reserves on the island are!

To say an exaggeration, even in non-main mining areas, a few shovels and rocks can be used to smelt tin, but it is just a matter of how much.

Of course, the natives of this time and space do not know how to smelt tin, but only dig for natural tin in the river, which is more difficult.

They didn't even know that there was also a tin island here.

The waters of Southeast Asia are originally the area of ten thousand islands, and Belitung Island itself is not special at all, and because there is no prey on the island, it is even less concerned.

After Wang Defa's family led people to the island, it was a pity that no traces of human habitation were found------ at most there were traces of staying, fires, blackened stones, and fish bones.

He sighed, he still had to organize people to dig by himself.

Like oil, he temporarily transports raw materials to Liuqiu, where they are processed for post-processing.

Truth be told, the skill level of the laborers here ------ that is, digging and sifting sand.

Until now, every time they want to mix cement concrete, they must send special personnel to supervise their work, otherwise, they will definitely make a mistake in the ratio.

Moving bricks often hit the instep of the foot------ no way, who said that people have never seen bricks.

After Wang Defa's family led the team to find the main mining area, he took the lead in excavating the working face.

The tin ore here is cassiterite, which is well recognized, and is a grayish-white stone-like thing.

After he had dug some out, he squatted down and picked out some very standard looking ore, and let everyone look at it----- and then everyone dug hard, and even the sailors on the ship had to come down and dig in turn, at least to open a larger working face.

This will facilitate the future deployment of indigenous labour that is less technically capable.

After digging for a long time, Wang Defa's family felt that he was going to die of heat, so he handed over the shovel to a captain to continue to work, and people couldn't stop the tools!

He gasped and fanned the air with a straw hat made of corn stalks, trying to cool himself down, but unfortunately, the air was hot.

He knew that the best time to work would be early in the morning or late afternoon, but now that time was tight, it could only be done temporarily.

He had been fanning the hot air in vain, sweating profusely, thinking, labor, suitable for the tropics, to get more. (To be continued.) )