Su Mao said: "Last time you also saw that many of our materials, steel, iron, copper, lead, paint, need to be bought from foreign countries, and the materials we use now are all bought from the United Kingdom in the last batch, but now the British strictly abide by neutrality and no longer sell materials to us." ”

Lin Yuan nodded and said, "I'll think of a solution, what is the other fatal problem?" ”

Su Mao said: "Compared with the previous one, this is the more fatal problem, that is, our coal problem, we are still using the inferior coal of Kaiping Coal Mine, last time you also knew that the use of this coal damaged our fire-tube boiler, these days we are almost sleepless overtime production, so the steam engine is also getting worse, the number of repairs has to increase, greatly delaying our production progress." ”

Lin Yuan said: "It is not realistic to change the steam engine, only from the perspective of improving coal combustion, I will go to Zhang Yi to solve this matter." ”

Su Mao asked, "How do you solve it?" Zhang Yi of Kaiping Coal Mine has a deep background......"

Lin Yuan smiled: "There will be a way, I'll go and meet him first." ”

In the Qing Dynasty, Kaiping was a small city, because of the construction of coal mines, it was prosperous here, in order to transport coal conveniently, the railway to Tianjin and Beijing was also built here, so Lin Yuan took the train, and soon came to Kaiping.

Lin Yuan didn't have much effort to find the office of Zhang Yi, the general office of the Kaiping Mineral Bureau, Zhang Yi was originally a domestic slave of the Prince of Alcohol, and he carefully drilled in the palace, and gradually gained the trust of the Prince of Alcohol, and step by step with the princes and ministers, and then sat in the position of the general office of the Kaiping Mineral Bureau.

Zhang Yi has a lot of big mansions in Tianjin and Beijing, and he is not in the mine on weekdays, but he came to inspect the mine today, but he didn't expect to meet Lin Yuan.

Zhang Yi doesn't have to think about it to know what Lin Yuan is doing, Lin Yuan has made a lot of trouble in Tianjin Machinery Bureau, how can he not know Lu Dao, he knows that he sells inferior coal to Tianjin Machinery Bureau as high-quality coal, Lin Yuan will definitely not give up.

He also knew that this Lin Yuan was a difficult character to deal with, but he was not afraid at all, in the decades that he had been a fly camp dog, he was used to seeing too many high-ranking officials who were honest and honest in front of him, and who saw money behind him, "Money can make ghosts grind", no one can understand the meaning of this sentence better than him.

As soon as Lin Yuan entered the courtyard, Zhang Yi greeted him, knelt on the ground when he was far away, walked a few steps on his knees, kowtowed to Lin Yuan, and sang in his mouth: "Humble Zhang Yi, welcome Lord Lin late, the crime deserves death!" ”

Zhang Yi invited Lin Yuan into the room, wiped Lin Yuan's chair with his sleeve, and poured tea for Lin Yuan himself, simply treating Lin Yuan as a living immortal.

Lin Yuan hurriedly said: "General Manager Zhang, don't bother, I'm here just for one thing." ”

Zhang Yi said with a smile: "Lord Lin, please speak, listen to the little ones." ”

Lin Yuan said: "Why do you sell inferior coal as high-quality coal to our Machinery Bureau? ”

Zhang Yi said with a blank face: "There is such a thing, I will definitely investigate it thoroughly when I go back!" Relevant personnel, severe punishment will not be granted! ”

"I don't know if I ask three questions, the gods can't blame", this is simply an official's talisman, of course Lin Yuan knew that this was Zhang Yi's trick, he wanted to drag himself, he still had a lot of things to do, and it was impossible to run here all day long, so this matter slowly faded away.

Lin Yuan thought to himself: "You actually came to this trick with me." So Lin Yuan said slowly: "You and I understand this method of prevarication, Master Zhang doesn't need to make me this ecstasy, be honest and honest, if you don't give me high-quality coal, this matter will not be over." ”

Zhang Yi saw that his prevarication strategy did not work, so he smiled and said: "I don't know if Lord Lin can know that when our high-quality coal is sold in Hong Kong, the foreigners pay the money with one hand and deliver it with the other, and the price is three times that of yours. ”

Lin Yuan sneered: "I guess you have also heard of my methods, if you don't sell me coal, you will be in big trouble." ”

Zhang Yi said neither humbly nor arrogantly: "Lord Lin doesn't need to scare me, let me tell you clearly, in this Qing Dynasty, no one can touch me Zhang Yi." ”

The two of them stopped talking for a while, and after a while, Zhang Yi smiled and said: "Lord Lin, we came out to be officials, who believes those nonsense words of loyalty to the monarch and love the people, isn't it all to save more belongings, in this way, Lord Lin, don't dig into it, I will give you 100,000 silver shares, how about it?" ”

Lin Yuan snorted and sneered, and was about to speak, when he saw a little guy running in in a panic, and regardless of Lin Yuan still being on the spot, he said to Zhang Yi: "Lord Zhang, it's amazing, something big happened in the mine!" ”

Zhang Yi glanced at the little guy angrily, and said angrily: "What's the panic, what's wrong?" ”

The little guy hurriedly said: "Well No. 6 has risen to the top, and more than 30 people are pressed underneath." ”

In a mine, the level of coal mining is not just one layer, but there are many layers at different heights, and the so-called "roofing" means that the upper layer falls down and presses on the lower layer.

Zhang Yi also panicked, he knew that if there was such an accident, it was very likely that all the thirty or so people would die, and such a responsibility was enough to make his black yarn hat unsafe.

Zhang Yi hurriedly said: "You are not allowed to talk to anyone about this matter, have you heard it!" ”

The little guy was frightened by Zhang Yi's serious appearance, nodded again and again, Zhang Yi turned his head, thinking that this Lin Yuan would definitely not let me go, what he didn't expect was that Lin Yuan didn't look gloating at all, but said with a concerned face: "Let's go, let's go and have a look, let's rescue people first!" ”

Zhang Yi and Lin Yuan took a few entourages and hurried to the No. 6 well where the accident occurred.

The entire mining area had stopped, and the roofing accident was not far away, many people gathered around the main shaft, and several officials on duty frowned.

As soon as Zhang Yi came, he said angrily: "What do you see, scatter, scatter, go to work!" ”

Everyone was frightened by Zhang Yi's official authority and dispersed, Zhang Yi called the official on duty over and asked, "What's the matter?" ”

The officer on duty hurriedly said: "I heard from the people who ran up that the fourteen troughs collapsed, and the people of the thirteen troughs were crushed underneath. ”

Zhang Yi asked, "Is the air duct blocked?" ”

The officer on duty said: "Judging from the state of the air inlet and return air outlets, the air duct is good. ”

Lin Yuanzhi Ludao Kaiping Coal Mine belongs to the mine-type coal mine, not the open-pit type, the mine of the Kaiping Coal Mine is nearly 100 meters underground, such a depth, people want to mine coal in it, first of all, to ensure ventilation, the so-called air inlet and return air outlet, is to use a large steam engine to drive the blower to blow air into the underground tunnel mouth.

Lin Yuan asked on the side at this time: "The fourteen trough surface has collapsed, will it kill people?" ”

The officer on duty said: "No, there are thirteen troughs in the top block, and the rocks in the fourteen troughs will not directly kill the people below, but the rocks block the entrances and exits, and the people below will die sooner or later!" ”

Lin Yuan was anxious when he heard this, and said, "Then what are you waiting for!" Hurry up and get down the well and save people! ”