In September, the port of Mincheng is calm, and there are always a few eight or nine-year-old children standing on the towering stones, looking at the sea in the distance. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

They were looking forward to their father's return, and they would always see the mast but they would be excited only to find out that it was not.

Some rumors say that their father was shipwrecked when he followed Mr. Chen to sea and never came back; Some people also said that they followed Mr. Chen to catch the mermaid in the drunken sailor's adventure, and they didn't want their mother or them......

The children were still young, so they could only wait, singing the little snail that they had learned to look forward to Abba's return before going to sea, like a statue.

A wealthy kid who had just learned photography took advantage of the fact that these children were looking at the scene and quietly took a photo called "Hope" in the back.

This photograph was taken in such an artistic way that it soon became the winner of the first Photographic Photo Conference, and the quietly taken photo sparked a discussion - is photography art or not?

This photo was taken quietly, and the young man was just about to pack up the heavy equipment and tent when he suddenly looked up and saw the statue-like children jumping in joy.

The young man stood on tiptoe, stretched out his hand to build a pergola, looked out at the boundless sea, and understood the reason for the children's excitement.

Far away on the sea, a few masts were exposed, and those masts slowly climbed upward, like butterflies breaking out of their cocoons, spreading their wings step by step.

That's not wings, that's sails.

……

"Mr. Chen is back from Qi Kingdom! A lot of boats! ”

It only took half a day for such news to spread throughout Mincheng, and the next day was a day off, and in front of the red brick building, people saw Chen Jian.

Contrary to people's imagination, Chen Jian took out the account book of this trade, copied the accounts one by one, and pasted them on the glass-waterproof bulletin board.

People didn't rush to see it, they believed in Jian Chen's morality, and they also saw the harvest from Jian Chen's smile, and understood that the money they invested would make a profit.

Shouting to let Jian Chen tell what he had seen this time, Jian Chen looked at the crowd in the square with a smile and said loudly: "What you see and hear is in the book, you can read it at any time if you want to." The goods brought from Qi have not been sold, and everyone's dividends cannot be counted. ”

Someone in the crowd shouted, "We can trust Mr. Chen." You are a kind person, and you invest a lot of money in charity every year, how can you be greedy for our money? ”

After Chen Jian bowed, he said slowly: "Ladies and gentlemen, trust is one thing, but venture capital is another. This time I earned it, but what if I lose it next time? If trust is built on benefits, who can guarantee that this trust will last? ”

"Only by improving the system of venture capital and relying on the system to restrain everyone can we pool more money and make money. Forget it this time, the accounts are still being counted, but I can guarantee that everyone's income this time is more than 20%, or even more. ”

The crowd cheered, and the people were disgusted by the last orchid craze, but they had a soft spot for the speculative investments that were left behind.

After all, there are still people who have made money before, and in the days since Jian Chen left, people are also thinking about the difference between orchids and maritime trade, and that vague distinction has taken shape, and some people are trying to explain the reasons hidden in all this.

Although the monotony and the lack of many deficiencies, at least some people are beginning to realize that the problem of the quantity of labor is not or that it is relative to the times, which is the basis of the new era of capital and labor.

When people learned that they had made a profit of 20% from this speculation, they were even more convinced that this investment was worth trying.

As long as you see it clearly and don't make mistakes like the orchid craze, it is still profitable.

Even, as long as it is the investment made by Chen Jian Trading Company, it should be something to try, after all, there is still such a big industry in Nan'an, it is impossible to lose all your money.

Someone in the crowd shouted, "Mr. Chen, I heard that you are going to raise new funds, right?" ”

Chen Jian spread his hands and said: "I'm not in Mincheng, who are you listening to?" Could it be that I helped the news to the feet of the seagull in Qi and was picked up by you? ”

Amid everyone's laughter, Jian Chen shouted: "But although this is a rumor, I really guessed it right." This time there may be more money to be raised, and there may be more money to be earned. I'm a businessman, I want to make money, but sometimes the more money the better. Well, when these accounts are sorted out, there will be news in mid-October, in mid-October. ”

After that, Chen Jian talked about some issues such as the supervision of raised funds, the verification of accounts, and the proposal to set up a non-governmental supervision and verification agency.

Most people feel that this has nothing to do with them, and some people are interested in it, and think that it may be useful.

Chen Jian does not have to worry about the verification of the accounts of the sale and purchase of goods.

After unloading, two new ships like the Purple Quartz were added to the fleet, and the interns had to drive the empty boat to re-visit Turtle Island, and then go from Turtle Island to the mouth of the big river, and continue to practice on the boat, explore the route, and record the wind direction and current.

Eight hundred new flintlock pistols were also loaded onto the ship, along with various goods from trading companies and craftsmen who learned how to fire cement.

Wang Zhe and the others took the map drawn and Chen Jian's investigation report and went north with the ship, went to the capital, and handed over all the things they had seen and heard in the Qi State.

Jian Chen stayed in Mincheng for a few days, did something unrelated to commerce, and hurried back to Nan'an.

In the Lanxiang Technical School, the young man who was practicing to drill the fourth well was stopped and came to the oil seedling field.

Bamboo poles, bamboo tubes, wheels, ropes, oxen and drill bits, as well as simple houses have all been built, and Zhao Si and others have already dug stone layers and built cement well platforms in some places according to Chen Jian's requirements.

In three days, the two wells were officially opened.

The oxen and horses pull the ropes, use the winch to lift the heavy steel drill bit, rely on their own gravity, in the gap of the bamboo tube, smash the rock little by little, and then use a variety of different tools to lift the gravel from the well.

History is always magical, in this land of the 17th century, it is not only Chen Jian's family who extracted oil, in fact, there will be oil wells in Southeast Asia in a few decades, but not in this way.

And if history were not so magical, people would never believe that in the Song Dynasty, someone dug a thousand-meter-deep well with bamboo, and no one would believe that industrious people would have used natural gas to cook salt earlier.

Therefore, all the history that seems to be fantasy or even the wrong style of painting, if you think about it carefully, is not fantasy.

Just like the photos here, the drill bits smashing on the oil seedlings, the rumbling explosives in the distant mines, the hot air balloons flying in the sky...... and the humble schoons, the impoverished thatched huts, the yellow curtain, the bunched hair, and the smooth-worn cow covers soaked in the sweat of the ox......

The old and the new are intertwined, outlining the beauty of a graffiti-like magical reality.

In such a field where many strange oil seedlings are intertwined, forty young people who have practiced the drilling technique of Zhuo Tube Well for a long time are busy day and night.

Jian Chen brought a lot of helpers and gave the order to die.

You have to do it during the day, you have to do it at night with a campfire, and even if it rains, you have to put up a canopy and continue to dry.

People rest, horses, drill bits and winches do not stop.

These people did not do it for themselves, nor for the country, for the people, or for ideals, but only for money, for the money that Chen Jian promised.

Because there is nothing else to inspire them, this oil well belongs to Jian Chen, not theirs.

Every day, the drill bit struggled down in countless hits up and down, and the wall of the well made of bamboo barrels cut off water from the nearby creek from seeping into the well.

The hard rock layer is difficult to excavate, and the daily ruler can only go down two feet, which is already the limit speed they can reach.

As soon as the morning dawns, people who have stayed up all night rush to eat and then go to bed, and a new round of people will continue to dig.

They already knew what Jian Chen was going to dig, which was the black grease floating in the many puddles left here before.

One day in mid-October, the shift change shook his numb fingers from the cold autumn night and called out to the shift changer.

"How much did you dig last night?"

"Two inches."

"So little?"

"There's no way, it's really hard to dig. Be careful, the drill bit may have to be replaced. ”

The shift changer nodded, went to check the drill first, looked at the stone samples taken out last night, and measured the depth of the excavation.

Not counting the masonry layer above, it has been dug eighteen steps deep, and the stone here is much harder than the place where you practiced digging wells in the school.

Looking up at the sky, it's another good day today. A few days ago, a cow was tired to death, and after eating beef for a few days, I don't know how much more comfortable it was than before, but there were not many opportunities to eat meat before.

Several men put the oxen and horses on the ropes, tied the ropes, and picked up the whips, and several of them were already pulling the ropes a little numbly, listening to the roar of the drill after it fell.

By noon, the drill bit had a thud and then suddenly fell into the well the next time.

One thought the rope was broken and shouted, "Stop! Stop it! ”

The men of the cattle and horses hurriedly stopped, and gathered around the wellhead with all sorts of strange tools for removing the drill bits.

But then someone found out about the problem.

"That's not right! The rope didn't break, but the drill went down...... Don't...... Was it dug up? ”

Several people around the mouth of the well were anxious, this was related to the reward of dozens of silver coins, and it was too late to put on the cows and horses, and more than a dozen people pushed the winch together.

The creaking sound was heard for a while, and a scene they would never forget appeared.

Beneath the rope, about twelve paces deep, hung black gooey grease.

The drill bit did not break, but chiseled through the thin rock formation, and drilled out the stone grease at a depth of nineteen steps.

These stones rose like springs from nineteen paces to twelve.