After settling the magistrate Hanwen, Dai Qi then went to meet with the county Cheng, the chief bookkeeper and the canon, and they all ceded a small part of their shares to them in the name of lack of funds. Of course, according to the different size of each person's official position, the proportion of equity is also decreasing step by step. As for the funds for the shares, Dai Qi said that they should be deposited in everyone's hands first, and they would come back to ask for money when they wanted to use it in the future.

Giving away 20% of the shares in exchange for the full support of the county officials for Su's Science and Trade Commercial Bank. Han Wen said that Su Hao would be given full support on the issue of land acquisition for coal mines; Wang Qi of the county personally called the warden in charge of the fast shift and instructed him to fully cooperate with the work of Su Hao and Dai Qi, and if there were lawbreakers who dared to pick quarrels and provoke trouble in coal mining, they should be severely cracked down.

Wang Fengshao, the chief bookkeeper, is in charge of industrial and commercial affairs, and he helped Dai Qi to complete the various licenses for opening a commercial bank, so that Su's Science and Trade Commercial Bank has a legal identity from now on; He personally accompanied Dai Qi and Su Xiaohu to Nanchang to go to the relevant departments of the Political Envoy Department to handle the kiln license required for coal mining, register and pay taxes.

I would like to mention a little here that the case of Deng Kui and Hao Tong violently beating Wei Laohu was inexplicably dismissed. Wei Laohu didn't go to the county office to complain, and Xiao An, the leader of the fast shift, seemed to have forgotten about it, but when he saw Su Hao's attitude, he was obviously much more enthusiastic. As for who instigated Wei Laohu to trouble Lu Xiu'er in the first place, it became a headless case, and Su Hao didn't bother to investigate it anymore.

Regarding the application procedures for coal kilns, Dai Qi is familiar with it, and Su Hao does not have to interfere. He took Chen Guanyu, as well as several officials and students of the academy, and crossed the Gan River by boat, and came to Xuanfeng Township in Hexi to choose the site of the coal mine.

Xuanfeng Township was called Qujiang Town in later generations, located in the northeast of the county seat, across the Ganjiang River from the county seat. This area is located in the remnants of Jiuling Mountain, the terrain is gentle hills, and the highest point of Xiangu Ridge is only about 150 meters above sea level.

Because of the drilling of wells, Su Hao once went to Xuanfeng Township and investigated the geological conditions here, confirming that there are conditions for coal formation here, which should be an area rich in coal resources. When digging wells, Su Hao mainly operated in densely populated places, but this time, he went the opposite way and chose those sparsely populated places, because the more such places, the more likely it was to be coal-forming areas.

Before leaving, Su Hao first drew a general geographical map of Xuanfeng Township, and in the process of investigation, he constantly supplemented this map, marking the topography and landform, vegetation distribution and other information in various places. If coal is to be mined here in the future, a relatively accurate map is necessary.

Everyone carried out a dragnet investigation in Xuanfeng Township, and the progress was not fast. On this day, the group came to a hilly area called Wangjiapo and walked along the valley between the low mountains and hills. Su Hao and Ma Yu observed the landforms on both sides as they walked, and at the same time made marks on the map, exchanging a few words briefly from time to time.

As he walked, the old Taoist Chen Guanyu suddenly pointed ahead, turned his head and said to Su Hao: "Master, look at the mountain in front of you, it looks like a place where coal is produced. ”

Su Hao raised his eyes and looked at the small hill in front of him, then looked at Chen Guanyu in surprise, and said with a smile: "Yes, Lao Chen, you actually know how to explore coal?" ”

Su Hao said this unintentionally, but if you think about it carefully, it seems that there is also a meaning to belittle Chen Guanyu. After all, the first time the two of them fought was when they were exploring wells, and Chen Guanyu proved with his practical actions that he was just a god stick and didn't know how to survey wells at all. Hearing Su Hao's evaluation, Chen Guanyu's face flushed slightly, and he hurriedly said: "Where is it, in front of the master, how dare Xiaodao get an axe." ”

Su Hao shook his head: "Lao Chen, don't be modest, what you just said really has some truth." I'm just wondering how you can tell that this mountain looks like a place where coal is produced. By the way, if you fool me with that gossip mystery, I'm not done with you. ”

Chen Guanyu saw that Su Hao didn't seem to be joking, so he said seriously: "Master said that he was joking, even if he took out the little bit of Taoism, even if he took it out to deceive you, master." That's why I think the mountain in front of me looks like a place for coal production, mainly because of the sparse vegetation on this mountain. When Xiaodao learned the art of surveying public opinion, he once heard the master say that if there is coal under it, the grass and trees on it will not grow. As for what the truth is, Xiaodao can't say it. ”

Su Hao nodded and said, "It seems that your master is also a learned person." In "Heavenly Creations", it is said: Where coal does not grow lush grass and trees...... If there is no grass and trees in the bald mountains in the south, there will be coal below. These statements do not coincide with what your master said. ”

"That's that, my master is a man of the Tao, but it's a pity that Xiaodao is not good at learning and art, and he is embarrassed by his master." Chen Guanyu said half boasting and half reproaching.

Ma Yu is a loyal fan of Su Hao, and he has to seriously understand every word Su Hao says. Listening to Su Hao talk about the narrative in "Heavenly Creation", he couldn't help but interject: "Heavenly Creation? What kind of strange book is this, how come the little brother has never heard of it? ”

"Haven't you heard of such a famous book?" Su Hao looked at Ma Yu, and immediately reacted, he was talking about the divine book of Tiangong Kaiwu as a traverser, and at the moment, the benevolent brother who wrote Tiangong Kaiwu should still be staying at Fengxin's house in Jiangxi, whether he is literate or not is still a question.

"This is a book that my younger brother read in his early years, and I don't know who wrote it, which mentions the truth of opening things to do business, but it is quite insightful." Su Hao said in disguise. The so-called opening of things to become a business is a saying in the "Yi Zhi Ci", which means that by cracking the truth of all things and acting according to this principle, it can be regarded as an understanding of physics in ancient China. The title of the book "Heavenly Creation" is a combination of the words "ingenious workmanship" and "opening things into business".

"Brother Gai can have this book, can I borrow it from my younger brother to read it?" Ma Yu asked.

Su Hao had no choice but to pretend to be annoyed, and said: "The younger brother also happened to see this book at the same age when he was taking the children's exam, and he was not sensible at the time, and he didn't borrow it to copy it, but just memorized some of the words. The name of the brother of the same year, I can't remember it now, it seems to be a candidate from Fengxin County, surnamed Song. ”

"Fengxin County, surnamed Song ......" Ma Yu quickly took out a pen and paper and wrote down the name, thinking about when he would have the opportunity to inquire again.

Since they believed that there was coal on the hill in front of them, several people left the avenue and walked up the hill along the path that someone had stepped on, hoping to see if they could be lucky enough to find the coal seedlings on the mountain, that is, the outcrop of the coal deposit.

As Chen Guanyu said, the vegetation of this mountain is sparse, with only a few pine trees and tea trees, and the wild grass on the ground also grows in the east and west, and it is not large. After everyone walked for a while, the official Xu Zong suddenly pointed to the ground in front of him and shouted: "Master, look, there is really coal." ”

How coincidental was it that coal seedlings could be found in the open air? Su Hao thought in surprise. He looked in the direction of Xu Zong's finger, and sure enough, he saw something black not far away, among which there were one or two small black stones that were shining, which was clearly the appearance of coal.

Everyone walked up to the coal and couldn't help laughing, it turned out that this was not an outcrop of coal, but a small pile of raw coal sprinkled by someone else.

"So, there are already people mining coal in this mountain?" Su Hao said.

The surrounding land is barren and sparsely populated, and there are no homes to live in, and there is no lime or iron smelting place on the hillside, so the coal cannot be brought in from outside, but more like it is transported from the mountains. It is estimated that the person who transported the coal out of the mountain accidentally bumped it here, spilled some coal, and was seen by the sharp-eyed Xu Zong.

"It's in that direction." Chen Guanyu carefully identified a few vague rut marks on the ground, and then pointed in a direction. This rut is the mark of the most common wheelbarrow in the countryside, and it is assumed that the coal miners must have used this cart to push the coal out of the mountains to sell.

Everyone followed the rut trail and walked another mile towards the mountain, and after crossing a small hill, a low-lying area appeared in front of them. In the center of the depression, a dozen small shacks were erected crookedly, and smoke was rising. In the corner of the depression, there is a small pile of coal, which looks like it can be thousands of catties. Further to the side, Su Hao saw a roller frame, and two craftsmen were shaking the roller handle, lifting baskets of black coal from the ground.

"It turns out that there are really people mining coal here." Xu Zong said dejectedly.

Su Hao smiled and said, "It's okay, since they are also mining coal, then everyone is walking together, let's go over and take a look." ”

According to Su Hao's thoughts, since he has already worked so hard to come, there is no need to leave in a hurry. When he was still a student, he had read about the ancient Chinese coal mining technology in the literature, and as for the real situation of coal mining by the ancients, he had really not seen it after he crossed over. Now that I've seen a living sample, there's no reason why I don't go ahead and take a look.

The people were walking up the hillside towards the depression, and when they were about to reach them, the dogs in the hut spotted them and began to bark wildly. Then, the craftsmen noticed their tracks and seemed to be a little flustered. With a commotion, a man who looked like a foreman walked out of the shack group with a few men and greeted Su Hao and his party.