The rolling peaks resemble a large herd of livestock, immersed in the yellow mist. The east wind is like a seal, holding its head high, quietly gazing at the mountains in the east, layer upon layer, like clouds, so hugging each other.

Kongshan, located in the suburbs of Beijing, is very close to Songlu Mountain, where Zhu Gaoxian's palace is guarded. This land belongs to the royal family, but the royal investigators really don't think that there is any oil and water to squeeze in Kongshan, the land is not suitable for planting, the population is sparse, and there are no tourism projects to develop in the Ming Dynasty, so it was abandoned. But Kongshan still has a certain value, because there are large-scale open-pit coal mines in this mountainous area.

Open-pit coal mines, i.e. coal seams deposited on the surface or in shallow layers due to geographical changes, are excavated directly through open pit mining. When the royal family discovered that there was a large amount of coal in the area, they were hesitant to start construction. This place is very close to the capital, if it is mining, won't it hurt the foundation of the dragon vein?

Of course, this is only part of the reason, but more because the imperial court sent people to investigate, and found that the coal here is extremely toxic if used for heating. If it is used for ironmaking, the quality is extremely poor. And Kongshan is also like chicken ribs, tasteless to eat, and it is a pity to abandon it.

It's just that now this mountain range has been planned into the Qi Palace.

The old man was very happy, and directly sent someone to complete the formalities, and Zhu Gaoxian did not hesitate, and asked Su Wen to go to Kongshan with dozens of guards to investigate.

……

Zhu Gaoxian plunged his saber into the wide plain, and picked up a block of muddy grass, revealing the dark and shiny coal mine underground. He bent down and picked up the ore, which was not too dirty, so he held it in his hand and looked at it carefully.

"The open-pit coal mine in Kongshan really has amazing reserves, and some of them have even penetrated beyond the topsoil." Zhu Gaoxian couldn't help but admire.

Su Wen sighed: "It's a pity, the quality of this hole mountain coal is too inferior, and the poison is too high, if ordinary people use it for heating, I am afraid they will be poisoned directly." But if it is used to make iron, the quality of the steel is poor and useless. Ten pieces of coal are mined, and not necessarily one can be used. ”

Zhu Gaoxian shook his head: "No, this king thinks that this is not a big problem. ”

The quality of Kongshan coal is inferior, mainly because of the lack of a washing link, and the sulfur content in the coal is high and low, and the low is negligible. The poor quality of Kongshan coal is mainly due to excessive impurities.

The main purpose of coal washing is: to reduce ash content, remove impurities, and improve quality. To put it simply, coal washing is for coking, that is, combining various coals with different compositions into one piece for coking. The process of coal washing is the process of washing out different grades of coal according to the original composition content of the coal.

The specific gravity of coal is smaller than that of water, and the buoyancy of water is used to separate coal and gangue, which is called coal washing. Washed coal can remove 50% to 80% of the ash and 30% to 40% of the total sulfur in the raw coal, which can greatly improve the utilization rate of coal.

It's just that this link of washing coal will consume a lot of fresh water resources, but Kongshan is located in the north of Jinling City, relying on the Yangtze River, so there is no need to worry about water at all.

The open-pit coal mine of Kongshan contains terrifying reserves, and if used properly, the benefits it produces are self-evident. The world regards Kongshan as a wasteland, which is really wasteful.

Of course, ordinary people do not have the energy to turn Kongshan coal into treasure. Just by "Kongshan belongs to the royal family", it can be prohibitive.

"I have to find a few helpers......" Zhu Gaoxian touched his chin and fell into deep thought.

He was ambitious to build a completed flow industry on Kongshan, from raw coal to refined coal, to coke, and finally to apply coke to steelmaking to produce high-quality steel. Although the interests are huge, the financial resources that need to be invested in the early stage are also huge, and even the Qi Wangfu is difficult to support.

Thinking of this, Zhu Gaoxian immediately decided to return to the capital.

Let's find two partners to invest first!

……

Chengguo Mansion

"Haha, Lord Qi, why did you think of looking for me to drink today?"

Chengguo Gong Zhu Yong laughed and invited Zhu Gaoxian into the room, and had already prepared a table of delicacies and wine to entertain him.

"The last time Cheng Guogong spoke for this king in the court, I said a long time ago that I wanted to have a pot with you, but I was busy with errands, so it dragged on until now." Zhu Gaoxian sat down and saluted each other, "Come, let's go first!" ”

"Lord Wang, this is lifting me, okay, then let's go first!" Zhu Yong was also very bold, lifting the wine glass and drinking it all.

Zhu Gaoxian looked at Zhu Yong, who was bare-faced and bearded, and felt a little melancholy in his heart.

Among the second generation of generals in the Yongle Dynasty, the most outstanding ones are probably Zhang Fu and Zhu Yong. Zhang Fu shined in the Yongle Dynasty, and Zhu Yong performed on stage in the Xuande Dynasty.

When Emperor Xuande quelled the rebellion of the Han Dynasty, Zhu Yong thought that the soldiers were fast and the battle should move forward at full speed, and Zhu Zhanji recognized and adopted his idea. When the army came to the city of Qingzhou, the domain of the King of Han, Zhu Gaoxu directly admitted and surrendered out of the city. Later, Zhu Zhanji relieved Zhang Fu, who was also a contributor to the Jingjing, from military power, and the person who accepted his military power was Zhu Yong.

Speaking of which, I have to whip the corpse of Zhu Qizhen, the "God of War of Tumubao" who has not yet been born.

Zhu Qizhen drove his own expedition to defeat Warat, although the division was not successful, but the strength of the Ming army was far superior to Warat, Zhu Qizhen waved his hand, let Zhu Yong lead the 50,000 fine cavalry to meet Warat. But the leader of Warat was also much better than Zhu Qizhen in battle, and he ambushed the main force of Warat in the mountains, and before Zhu Yong arrived, Warat had already occupied the high ground and looked down on the Ming army.

The Mongol infantry ambushed the Ming cavalry, and it always felt that the poles were reversed. However, in fact, this is not the first time that the Mongol army has turned into infantry to fight in mountain warfare, and the previous Genghis Khan relied on this trick to defeat the cavalry of the Jin State in Yehuling.

Despite this, Zhu Yong is also a veteran, and he knows this situation very well, this is a good place to ambush, so Zhu Yongjun did not rush into the mountains to search for the enemy at first.

However, Zhu Yong understands that it does not mean that his subordinates understand as well as him.

Liu Seng of the supervising army, because he was afraid that others would take away the credit he "deserved", he privately led his troops to charge, and rushed into the pass to pursue the "forward" of Warat before the army was in position.

Here I want to talk about the position of the supervising army, because Wang Zhen, the head of the eunuch at that time, was deeply favored by Zhu Qizhen and had monstrous power, which also led to Liu Seng being a supervising army, but he did not take the orders of a prince in his eyes.

And this kind of behavior induced a large number of non-commissioned officers who felt that "the law does not blame the public", and these people also rushed out with Liu Seng. In this way, Liu Seng, a eunuch who didn't know how to fight at all, led a part of the Ming army into the narrow valley.

Zhu Yong had no choice at this time, he could not continue to command the remaining troops normally, as long as the front army got the first rank, these people behind him must be ready to move and completely disobey the command.

Liu Seng's advance did pay off, he managed to catch up with the "vanguard" of Warat, and cut off quite a few heads.

But the rest of the story goes like this:

"All the people are informed" - then the enemy army arrives

"The enemy ambushed four times, and the king died in battle" - the enemy ambushed in all directions, and Zhu Yong died in battle (Zhu Yong later posthumously crowned the king of Pingyin)

"50,000 cavalry are gone" - 50,000 cavalry are all wiped out.

The top boss (Zhu Qizhen) was blindly commanded, and was beaten by Liu Seng again, and Zhu Yong died in the hands of Wara so aggrieved. However, although Zhu Yong died, he did not die in vain. He gave Zhu Qizhen one last chance to turn back and buy enough time for Zhu Qizhen to escape.

The ministers suggested retreating all the way to Juyongguan to transfer troops to fight Wara, but Wang Zhen was not happy, because the more than 2,000 wagons accompanying him were his Wang Zhen's personal property.

Therefore, the prince asked to wait until the baggage arrived before retreating, such an absurd thing, Zhu Qizhen really listened, and ordered the army to set up camp in the place of Tumubao, wasting the opportunity that Zhu Yong exchanged for his life, and then it was the "Tumubao Change", the whole army of the Ming Dynasty was annihilated, and His Majesty the Emperor was "lucky" to become a prisoner of Warat, and every day in the yurt was delicious milk tea.

……

After three rounds of drinking, Zhu Yong's face was red and he asked, "Lord Wang, but do you have something to say?" ”

Zhu Yong is a smart person, of course he would not be naïve to think that King Qi really came to him just to drink.

"Did Cheng Guogong ever know about Kong Shan?" Zhu Gaoxian also began to get down to business.

"Of course I know, Kongshan has many coal mines." Zhu Yong smiled, "Lord Wang, this is trying to take me to dig coal together?" Then you may be disappointed, although there is a lot of coal in Kongshan, it is not laborious to collect, but the quality of this coal is too inferior, it is really useless, I Chengguo Mansion is so a little bit of money, I don't want to be all still in the coal mine. ”

When King Qi said the word Kongshan, Zhu Yong had already guessed King Qi's intention - to pull investment.

If King Qi wanted him to invest in other projects, Zhu Yong would also sell his favor and vote directly. But this Kongshan coal, Zhu Yong really can't see any room for investment and development, and it is better to invest money in Kongshan coal, so it is better to go directly to the street to throw silver.

Zhu Gaoxian said with a smile: "But what if this king says that he wants to pull the prince into the gang?" ”

Zhu Yong frowned slightly: "The prince is joking?" ”

"This king knows that everyone thinks that Kongshan Coal is a loss-making business and has no future of exploration."

Zhu Gaoxian drank the wine cup to the brim, and said without being salty or light: "But this king can tell you clearly, as long as you have the courage to smash silver with this king, within three years, Kongshan coal will make you a lot of money!" ”

Zhu Yong was a little suspicious in his heart, and asked: "Lord Wang, the minister dares to ask, why do you think that this shabby place of Kongshan can make money?" ”

"Hmm...... If this king says it in too much detail, you probably won't understand it. Zhu Gaoxian said categorically, "Chengguo Gong, there is no need to say much, you give this king a thorough explanation, do you believe me?" ”

(End of chapter)