Chapter 267: The Myth of Black Stone, Local Method of Coking!
"This is...high quality bituminous coal?!"
Shulot looked at the asphalt-like black stone in his hand, then looked at the thick smoke from the burning black stone not far away, and shouted in surprise.
A long gust of wind blew by, and thick smoke and exclamations were dispersed in the wind. The long wind brought the unique sulfur smell of the mining area, and also blew away the bits of coal dust in the king's hands.
The king looked at them in a daze. They seemed to be the first seeds, containing a glimmer of vitality for the sprouting of industry.
"Bertard, you have done a great job! ... Where did you find this?"
"The kitchen in the back camp. The miners dug out this black stone from the ground and used it to make fire for cooking. It seems that it has been for a long time."
Bertard smiled slightly. He knew His Highness very well, and he would have known that Your Highness would be interested in these rare objects.
"Ezpin, have you seen this?"
Hulot looked at Ezpan, who was a miner. Ezpan stared at the black stone in the king's hand and replied in a low voice with some fear.
"Your Highness, this is the blood of demons that coexists with the Stone of the Dead. It is said that the great god in myth killed and suppressed many underground demons. These demons came from the dark abyss, and after death, their blood and bodies condensed into black
Stone. Black stone has been secretly used as fuel in the mine for more than ten years, at least since I first became a miner. This thing is very resistant to burning and has great firepower, which can save a lot of time in chopping firewood.
.”
"How many black stones are there?"
"It's not a small amount, it can't be used up at all. There are two places near the main mine, and some can be mined underground."
"Since there are not many black stones like this, why have I never seen them in the capital?"
Hearing this, Xiulote was a little excited, but also a little confused. In this era, logging is an extremely time-consuming and laborious job. After the wood is chopped, it has to wait for it to dry before it can be burned, and the calorific value is not high. In comparison,
Under the circumstances, coal is easy to mine and resistant to burning, and its advantages over wood are obvious.
"Your Highness, because this is unclean demon blood!"
Ezpin was surprised by the king's indifference.
"There used to be miners who took the black stone and reported it to the priests of Tarasco, hoping to get a reward. The priests were very angry, thinking that it contained evil and was extremely unclean. The priests said that since the flames of the Stone of the Dead can communicate
In the world of the dead, the burning blood of demons will naturally communicate with demons... This is an extremely dangerous evil thing and cannot be allowed to be touched by civilians."
Shulot was stunned. This deduction was in line with theology. He asked curiously.
"Then what?"
"Then...then the miner was executed. The priests also sent people to the mining area to identify evil, and many older miners who had used black stone were also executed. Fortunately, I had just arrived at the mine not long ago, and the mine had to stay.
The servants came to maintain the mining, and they escaped disaster... From then on, no one dared to mention this matter outside."
"It's just that the work in the mine is really hard, and there is too much work to be done. Burning black stone can save a lot of manpower and allow the mine's output to meet the requirements. The Tarasco warriors who manage it turn a blind eye.
Close one eye and let the lowly miners use the unclean black stone. They themselves will never touch it..."
"...So it turns out...the advanced production methods that challenged the divine authority were suppressed, but they were secretly preserved because of the advanced nature of production..."
After listening, Shulot shook his head and felt quite emotional. This matter cannot just be attributed to the conservative ignorance of the mythical age. As a high-ranking priest, he can better understand the logic of the actions of the priests of Tarasco.
The divine authority of the priests does not come from force, but from the awe of the people. The priests of Tarasco burn the stones of the dead to communicate with the dead and intimidate all peoples. This becomes one of the important sources of their divine authority. This kind of majesty will not be allowed.
It is naturally only the privilege of the priests to provoke ordinary civilians and burn "wonderful objects". Demon blood and the Stone of the Dead are closely linked in mythology, so they must not be discovered first by lowly miners, nor should civilians be allowed to do so at will.
use!
"The divine authority serves the priests. The root cause of this encounter lies in the identity of the discoverer! If a high-ranking priest had discovered the coal, the outcome of the matter would have been very different if the explanation was changed."
Shulot pondered in his heart. As the governance of the country deepened, he became more and more aware that the struggle for power and identity and the suppression of traditional authority were everywhere in the operation of the kingdom. How to constantly balance tradition and innovation was crucial to maintaining the stability of the kingdom.
At the same time, giving new energy space to grow will become his lifelong exploration and thinking!
The discovery of coal disrupted the original plan. Schulot suspended subsequent inspections of the farm and concentrated on investigating "industrial food" and thinking about the use of coal.
Black Wolf's royal flag was stationed in the mine, envoys to dispatch support were sent back to the capital, and new royal orders were promulgated. Under the guidance of senior miners, dozens of warrior groups explored in all directions. They
It is necessary to collect all special rocks and carry samples of black stones to find "the place where the demon was suppressed".
In the main copper mine in the mountains, the miners continued to mine. The king did not interfere much with the operation of the mine, and did not care about the poor accommodation conditions. He just collected all the information in the mining area under the uneasy eyes of the miners.
of coal, and then began to try the local method of coking in memory.
On the northern Shanxi Plateau in later generations, home-cooked coking was once very common. Xiulote once traveled there, saw the real objects, and listened to the stories of coking from the tour guide. In general, home-cooked coking and home-cooked charcoal burning
It is very similar to igniting coal and calcining it under the condition that the air is not completely isolated in the furnace to achieve carbonization at high temperature. The indigenous coking kiln can use the design of a clay brick kiln, with only slight modifications in appearance.
Xiulote summoned a dozen senior miners and spent three to five days building an underground brick kiln more than 2 meters high.
The brick kiln is more than one meter buried under the soil. The upper end looks like an inverted pot, and the diameter of the bottom is about 3-4 meters. Overall, it looks like a yurt. There are fire holes and fire guides in the side walls of the kiln.
The top of the kiln is covered firmly with mud, and in addition to the flue, ventilation holes are also drilled.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! While building the kiln, there is another group of miners who crush the coal and carefully pass it through a sieve to remove impurities in the coal. When both sides are ready,
The crushed coal is filled into the kiln and the coal is piled tightly. Then the coking coal is ignited from the ignition hole to start coking in the furnace.
Soon, the coal gradually heated up and burned, and the billowing hot air flow carried thick smoke and came out from the top flue. The smoke was very strong, not only full of the choking exhaust gas produced by coal burning, but also carrying a large amount of unpleasant smell.
Coal cracking products.
Shulot took a few steps back and left the range of the heat wave and smoke. He sniffed lightly and vaguely smelled a familiar pungent smell.
"Eh? This smells like... ammonia?"
The king's thoughts flew away in a trance for a moment. A distant term appeared in his mind, making him sigh slightly.
"Coal chemical industry..."
The coal smelting continued for ten days, and the thick smoke gradually became lighter and disappeared. This proved that the coal in the kiln was almost completely calcined, and the remaining coke hardened and coked, forming porous coke.
Xuelote then arranged for people to pour water on the hot kiln to extinguish it. It was not until the kiln was almost cold that Ezpin took action himself, opened the sealed furnace mouth and took out the epoch-making metallurgical fuel, coke!
"Your Highness, this is the divine object you got after offering sacrifices! Thank the Lord God for his blessing and purify the blood of demons!"
Ezpin's expression flashed and he shouted the slogans of the gods. The miners around him looked in awe and bowed to the ground.
"The Lord God is omnipotent, far beyond what ordinary mortal gods can compare to. His light shines on the earth and washes away the impurity in the black stone. As long as you pray to the Lord God, civilians can use the black stone without worrying about corruption! And when
After the black stone undergoes the calcining ceremony, it will become a true divine object, containing the power to change the world!"
Shulot wore complicated sacrificial robes and chanted loudly in a simple accent in front of all the warriors and miners. He wanted to use unquestionable authority to redefine the mythical status of the Black Stone.
As the priest king chanted, everyone fell down on the ground, facing the completed kiln, and prayed loudly toward this strange "altar".
"Praise the Lord God! He is omnipotent and uses the warm fire to give us divine things!..."
After solemn prayer, Shulot waved his hand and asked the warriors and miners to resume work. Then, the king suppressed the excitement in his heart, took a piece of coke in his hand, and looked at it carefully.
The coke in his hand was in the shape of an irregular block, with pores of varying sizes in the middle, and the color was silver-gray. When he held it for a moment, he could feel the unique hard texture of the coke, which was completely different from loose coal.
In this era, coking technology was only in the hands of the Eastern Celestial Empire. Although coke ironmaking has been around for two hundred years, it has always been passed down only among masters with profound knowledge. This is the first time coking in the entire Western Hemisphere!
"We already have coke, but now we just need iron!"
Shulot felt a little emotional for a moment. This was another seed he had sown with his own hands, changing the entire era little by little. After a while, the king waved his hand, and Ezpan led two warriors to take out the formed coke.
, and weighed by a simple balance.
Ezpin quickly calculated the result, and the coking rate was about 40%. As the coking experience increases, the coking rate will gradually increase, and the peak value of the local coking method should reach 60%.
"Well, this is the first time for coking. The coal in the mining area is of very high quality!..."
The king whispered to himself, and then waited patiently. Groups of exploration groups returned from various places one after another, bringing with them mineral information about the mining area.
The Chinganbat mining area is located near a sleeping volcano and contains a large number of rich mineral deposits. Among them, copper ore is the main one, estimated to be more than 10 million tons. Then there are associated gold and silver mines, which are deep in location and troublesome to smelt. They are not worth mining at present.
Then, the sulfur in the volcanic area, whose content is unknown, must be enough for use, and was once secretly controlled by the priests.
What was surprising was that a miner presented a piece of lead-zinc ore that the Alliance was familiar with. According to the geological characteristics of this place, the lead ore should also contain silver.
"Well, lead and silver separation, ash blowing method..."
I don't know what he thought of, but a smile appeared on Shulot's face. He shook his head with a chuckle, and then asked about the distribution of the most important coal mines.
A total of five small million-ton coal mines have been discovered within a radius of 20 miles of the mining area. According to the miners, there are still several "demon stones" stored underground. It is estimated that the total reserves must be 20 million tons.
Going up, bituminous coal and lignite are dominant.
By the standards of later generations, the coal reserves here were very small, and their value was far from comparable to that of gold and silver mines. In later generations, the Chinganbat mining area was monopolized by mining groups. Although the Mexican government discovered the coal mine, it judged it not worth mining.
Only private teams secretly dig it privately.
In this era, in Shulot's view, such reserves are sufficient.
"Chingambat mining area, copper mine, gold and silver mine, sulfur mine, coal mine, lead and zinc mine... Fengguo handicraft industry, gunpowder workshop, bronze workshop... Fengguo's future industrial center should be located here.
Here, we can continuously provide strength for the kingdom’s conquest!”
Shulot raised his head and looked at the distant sky. The plan in his heart was as vast as the sky. The eagle will fly high in time, and the plains in the east, the hills in the south, the mountains in the west, and the great lakes in the north will eventually...