Six hundred and fortieth chapters in the mountains
Han Qian and others rushed to the Mopangu camp and found Zou Lang, an engineer from the Bureau of Industry and Construction who had been surveying coal seams in the northern section of the Wujian Mountains for the past two months, to learn about the preliminary work.
At present, many shallow coal seams have been discovered in Datongling and other places deep in Wujianshan. The local township bureau has begun to organize mining, but Zou Lang and a team of people are still doing the surveying of coal seam resources.
This is related to whether the subsequent development of the Wujianshan coal seam should be left to the local township government on a small scale, or whether the Zhizhi government should directly carry out large-scale development.
Although heavy rains continued in the mountains in June and July, Zou Lang and his team overcame difficult conditions and continued their survey work. Currently, surveyors have drilled several small wells for more than ten years in the Datongling coal seam, which is most suitable for large-scale mining.
The coal seam is ten feet deep, and the coal seam is continuous, and the coal reserves are extremely abundant.
The coal quality of Datongling is also good, with not much smoke and impurities, and sufficient firepower.
Since the coal seam is more than ten feet higher than the surrounding ground, even in the rainy season this year, no springs have been found in the Datongling area; even if there are, drainage is quite easy, and there will not be large-scale accumulation of water that is difficult to drain like coal seams in plain areas.
It's just that Datong Ridge is nine miles away from Mawan River, a tributary of the Puyang River upstream. Nine miles of track and two bridges with spans of about six feet and eleven feet respectively need to be built.
Of course, the waterway of Mawan River is still shallow and narrow. During the dry season, the transportation capacity will be greatly reduced, and there is even the possibility of drying up. However, we want to build the coal terminal directly to Puyang outside the eastern foothills of Wujian Mountain.
At the mouth of the river, the track that needs to be built will be thirty miles long; when the time comes, flat-bottomed warehouse ships will be used to transport coal. Even if the speed is not as fast as that of pointed-bottomed sailing ships, the transportation capacity will not be limited.
Hardwood track is similar to the railway track of later generations. There was a precedent of hardwood track built in the Qin Dynasty.
Even the sleeper rails and guide rails are made of hardwood, and then the specially-made horse-drawn carriages dragged by animal power are much more efficient than the post roads that will become muddy after being trampled after rain;
For animals, walking on tracks can also greatly save physical energy consumption.
Large-scale coal yards with an annual output of hundreds of thousands or even millions of tons require an average of three to four thousand cars of coal to be transported out every day. If rails are not connected to waterway terminals, it will undoubtedly be a waste for ordinary roads.
A disaster; just one rain can bring transportation to a standstill, and it also requires huge costs to repair roads from time to time.
Of course, it may not be technically difficult to build a track, but the cost is much higher than that of an ordinary post road. Not to mention other things, just think about how much it would cost to build just 50,000 to 60,000 standard hardwood sleepers?
Zou Lang led a small team and has initially drawn up a track paving plan. Currently, there are more hardwood resources such as pine and cypress in Wujian Mountain and Huaiyang Mountain, so there is no need to manufacture more expensive concrete beams and refined iron tracks. However, according to preliminary calculations,
Including the preliminary construction of the coal yard and the construction of water transport terminals, the estimated investment is a huge amount.
Even if the coal field output reaches the estimated annual output of 600,000 to 800,000 tons of coal, considering that this will cause coal prices to drop significantly from the current basis, it will take more than ten years to recover the cost of such a huge investment.
Of course, the account cannot be calculated like this.
In order to maintain a huge urban population that is divorced from farming, the amount of firewood required for cooking and heating in winter is an astronomical figure, not to mention casting, smelting and other manufacturing tasks and the firing of bricks, lime and cement. Once the scale is large
With development, the demand for fuel is greater.
If these fuels are only replaced by felling wood and crop straw, not to mention that the surrounding forests will soon be exhausted, and the labor required will also be unprecedentedly huge.
Using coal to burn bricks can reduce the price of each brick to one-third of the previous price, and it will be further reduced in the future. The most important factor is the difference in labor costs for obtaining coal and firewood.
The dilemma of the farming era was that in addition to the hard work required to grow enough food for food, a large amount of labor was required to collect firewood, weave clothes, and even build houses.
What Han Qian has to do now is to do everything possible to greatly improve labor efficiency in every link, so that the labor force can be truly released, and only then can it be possible to get rid of the predicament of the farming era.
The large-scale use of coal led to the arrival of the industrial age, and it was the initial industrial revolution era, which continuously stimulated the demand for coal and expanded its production. There is considerable controversy in later generations, but they are undoubtedly complementary to a certain extent.
Han Qian weighed in and asked Zou Lang and others to conduct further surveys of the Datongling coal seam and optimize the construction plan. However, he also asked Feng Liao to immediately put sleeper rail manufacturing on the agenda without further delay.
Even if it is determined after a period of time that the Datongling coal seam is not suitable for large-scale mining, the sleepers can be used elsewhere.
In the dream world, there was a precedent for large-scale shallow coal mining in the Huainan area in later generations.
Even if Datongling is not suitable, Han Qian believes that there must be large shallow coal mines that they have not yet discovered in Jiushan, Bagongshan or other places in Huaixi.
The terrain near Datongling is not particularly rugged. It does not take long to build a nine-mile or even thirty-mile-long base road. On the contrary, it is not easy to make tens of thousands of sleepers; the firing of cement and the production of channel-shaped fine iron bridge beams
Casting requires preparation in advance - in today's Tangyi, this can be said to be a huge project.
However, Han Qian insisted on doing it.
As long as we do it, very good technical details can be accumulated and improved, and we can further cultivate and accumulate engineering talents.
At the Mopangu camp, Han Qian talked with Zou Lang and other engineers until late at night.
When he was about to rest, Feng Yi, who had just returned from Xuzhou, rushed from East Lake to Shiliang but failed to see Han Qian's people, and then rushed to Mopan Valley overnight.
After Huaidong was transferred to Shiliang County, Han Qian sent an order to Xuzhou, asking the bandits trapped in Longtan Mountain to be encircled and suppressed by Chenzhou Fanying, with Wei Xu and Lin Zongjing leading troops to supervise them.
Chenzhou Fanying gritted its teeth and stormed Longtan Mountain without leaving a single person alive. They handed over 300 Panko heads neatly without giving any discount. In this case, even if the Xi family father and his son took some ordinary
Fanhu's head came to replace him, but Feng Yi and the others could only hold their noses and recognize it.
After handing over 300 heads of bandits, and under the supervision of the supervisory censor sent by Zheng Chang, Zheng Tong's descendants Zheng Tong and Zhou Qinian, Chenzhou Fanying finally left Chenzhou by boat along the Yuan River in early August.
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Xi's father and son had no choice. The Liang Kingdom was in chaos. The Shouzhou Army from the north could not pose a great military threat to the Tangyi Army for the time being. If they refused to give in, even if they could withstand the attack of Xuzhou soldiers and horses, they would not be able to withstand Han Qian's return from Tang.
Will the city bring back 10,000 elite troops?
What's more important is that Yezhou and Sizhou are cowering under the current situation. Chenzhou can't stand alone. What Shen Yang and Zheng Chang have fought for for them can be said to be the best conditions.
After confirming that Chenzhou Fanying's fleet continued southward along the Xiangjiang River to Hengzhou, Feng Yi took the boat back to East Lake first.
The crisis in Chenzhou that lasted for four and a half months has been resolved.
As a secretly negotiated exchange, Zheng Tong, the supervisory censor, will stay in Chenzhou and replace Xi Shesheng as the state's military commander; when Xi Shepeng goes out with the army, his post of Xupu County Magistrate will also be served by Zheng's family.
Zheng Chang took over.
Of course, with the expedition of Fanying, a group of local officials who were originally held by the children of the Xi family and generals from other powerful surnames were promoted from the local area to more than a dozen guest children, and the Hunan Xuanwei Envoy Department sent corresponding officials to serve - this
It was a feast that everyone was happy about except Xishi, Wanhonglou, and Huaidong.
According to the agreed terms, half of the county soldiers and rural soldiers that Chenzhou will deploy to arrest bandits and maintain public order must be recruited from the children of foreign residents. The total size of the local county soldiers is limited to 1,000 people.
the following.
The biggest threat to the northeastern wing of Xuzhou has been temporarily relieved; this also destined that the two states of Si and Ye in the west will become more honest and will never dare to act rashly in the short term to provoke the evil tiger of Xuzhou.
After Feng Yi and Lin Zongjing led 2,000 naval troops to reinforce Xuzhou, Xuzhou immediately lifted its full alert to minimize the impact on production; subsequently, the navy would withdraw to Tangyi, and the active troops and horses in Xuzhou would be further reduced.
to pre-crisis levels.
Feng Yi chased him all the way to Mopan Valley. In addition to reporting the good news that Chenzhou's crisis was over, he also brought a special bundle of oilcloth, as if selling treasures.
, Han Donghu, Huo Li and the others checked:
"Xixunqiao specially asked me to bring it here. Do you think what this oilcloth is made of?"
In the past, the oilcloths produced in Xuzhou were mainly cotton and linen fabrics coated with tung oil for waterproofing.
Tung oil cloth is qualified for making oil-paper umbrellas, but the cost is still high, the toughness is poor, and it is prone to breakage when used in large areas.
The roll of blue-black oilcloth brought by Feng Yi has a slight burnt smell, but it can be concluded that the base is made of linen, which is thicker and tougher than the common tung oilcloth.
Feng Yi, Wang Che and the others frowned and guessed what the smeared layer was, but Han Qian could smell the burnt smell similar to the asphalt in the dream world, and said: "The smeared layer is green paste separated from coal tar."
In order to improve the quality of coal smelting refined iron, Longya Mountain has long adopted coal burning in pits on a large scale. Dark and sticky coal tar is its by-product.
Apart from iron components, I don’t know what else it can be used for.
Although only seven or eight kilograms of coal tar are produced when a load of coal is burned in a cellar, the coal tar accumulated over several years fills an entire dry pond in Longya Mountain.
Coal tar is used to prevent sequestration of fine iron components, and the amount used is very small. It accumulates in large quantities, causing it to become an extremely difficult and difficult problem to solve.
The Engineering College has been conducting dry distillation and fractionation treatment of coal tar.
The dry distillation method is similar to the method of charcoal burning and coal burning in pits, which is to isolate the air and heat and decompose it; fractional distillation is to heat and distill multiple times, and Yandangchun is made by this method.
There was no theoretical basis before, but after the establishment of the Engineer School, dry distillation, fractional distillation and the quenching method of making miasma-removing wine became three important methods for studying various physical properties.
Han Qian knew that coal tar had complex components, and only by separating the different components could he study whether it had any specific uses.
Han Qian has long known that fractionation of coal tar can produce asphalt, and in his impression, asphalt is used to pave roads, and the coal tar, a by-product of coal burning in Longya Shanjiao, is used for fractionation to produce asphalt.
To harden the road surface is obviously too luxurious in this world.
But he didn't expect that Xuzhou would use asphalt to smear linen cloth to make a new tarpaulin.
Seeing that it looked very much like the linoleum cloth of later generations, he immediately became interested and asked for specific details and the specific cost of fractionated asphalt.
To talk about production without cost is to be a rogue; if the cost of the new waterproof tarpaulin cannot be lowered than that of tung tarpaulin, it will be meaningless.
He knows that current detection methods are too limited. To engage in large-scale fractionation production is equivalent to entering the most rudimentary chemical industrial production field, and the risks are too difficult to control. In his impression, coal tar contains many harmful and toxic components.
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Seeing that Han Qian had guessed it right away, Feng Yi immediately lost interest. However, the Engineering Academy in Chenzhong confirmed that the cost and risk of large-scale fractionation of asphalt from coal tar was not high, at least for production.
This kind of green paste oilcloth with better waterproof performance and more durability is no more expensive than the previous oilcloth.
When it comes to waterproofing roofs and cabins, linoleum cloth has better waterproofing, moisture-proof and breakage resistance properties.
More importantly, compared to the easily ignited tung oil cloth, the green plaster linoleum cloth is much more difficult to ignite. Based on this alone, in the military field that pays more attention to fire prevention, the new green plaster linoleum is destined to be used in marine, military camp waterproofing, etc.
Linoleum cloth can completely replace traditional tung oil cloth, and the dosage is quite high.
After understanding this, Feng Liao couldn't wait to transfer people from Chenzhong Engineer School to East Lake, and at the same time organized the production of new linoleum cloth - the East Lake production cellar burned coal, and a lot of coal tar gradually accumulated.
I'm really worried and don't know how to deal with it.
In addition to military use, this new type of linoleum cloth can also be sold in wealthy prefectures and counties such as Gyeonggi and Runhu. After all, even if the green tile roof has been around for a long time, rainwater leakage is still a problem; in places such as Tangyi, it can be greatly
Using this kind of green plaster linoleum on a large scale will make the construction of simple houses easier and more convenient.
Of course, what is more important is Han Qian's future fiscal and taxation plans for Tangyi and Xuzhou. He intends to retain a considerable share of the land tax revenue at this time for the prefectures, counties, and townships, and the local governments have relatively sufficient financial resources.
, in order to ensure that local construction is not interrupted; and some of the profits from industrial and commercial taxes such as city parking taxes, over-taxes, salt, wine, tea and horses, as well as the official money bureau, industry and manufacturing bureau, and Chishan Association will be transferred to the government.
This means that Feng Liao has to sharpen his head to increase new tax sources.
Why is Feng Liao not excited about an industrial product that only Xuzhou and Tangyi can produce on a large scale and can be widely promoted and applied in a short period of time?
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Everyone was originally ready to take a rest, but Feng Yi rushed over, causing everyone to panic, and sleepiness disappeared like a thief.
Feng Yi arrived at Tingshan at noon, had a meal there, and then rushed to Shiliang without stopping. Without seeing Han Qian, he rushed to Mopan Valley and was already very hungry.
However, the guards escorting him hunted a yellow sheep and a deer halfway. Feng Yi saw that no one was sleepy, so he led them to find an open space, lit a bonfire, skinned the yellow sheep and deer, and put them on the fire.
Bake it.
Everyone ate with their mouths full of oil and went to bed early until the sky was dimming. They slept until noon before setting off for Datongling to see the survey situation of the coal seam on the spot.
After walking for three days in the mountains near Datongling, inspecting several cottages and two newly established township inspection departments, I found that the northern section of Wujianshan is simply a coal mountain. Except for Datongling, the shallow coal resources are almost
Distributed throughout the northern section of the Wujian Mountains.
Of course, relics of coal mining by ancient people have also been found among the peaks in the northern section of Wujianshan. However, the Huainan area has been prone to frequent wars in the past century, and the past events of coal mining and charcoal burning by ancient people have been lost in the dust of history.
It can be seen how severe the impact of frequent wars on the entire society!
Regardless of whether we want to enter Wujianshan for large-scale coal mining, two new township inspection departments have been established in the northern section of Wujianshan. They have jurisdiction over the nearby mountainous area 30 miles deep, more than ten villages, and more than 4,000 people. They all need to build a simple post road.
, ensuring the liaison between the two township inspection departments and their respective Shiliang County and Huailing County. This can also ensure that small-scale coal mining can be transported by oxen and horse-drawn carriages from land and nearby waterway terminals to spread to further areas.
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Although I was running around endlessly in Wujian Mountain, compared to the still hot weather outside the mountain, where the grass and trees were scorched under the scorching sun, the trees in the mountain were lush and green, but it was also very comfortable.
Han Qian originally planned to rush to Shoudong before the end of August, but he didn't want to have a heavy rain fall on the eve of his plan to leave Wujian Mountain for Daishan Village. The rain poured down from the sky, washing away the dangerous path leading out of the northern section of Wujian Mountain.
trail.
Heavy rains continued for the next few days - this was also a rare heavy rain after the beginning of autumn. The strong winds blowing from the coastal areas caused trees in the mountains to fall and roads to collapse.
Except for sending people out to report the news first, Han Qian, Feng Liao and others were forced to be trapped in the mountain.
It was not until the sixth day of September, after the heavy rain stopped, that Han Qian and the others trudged over mountains and rivers, climbed over the low mountains in the northern section of Wujian Mountain, and rushed to Daishan Village. They were worried that the disaster in Chaohao and other places would become more serious along the way.
After arriving in Haozhou, he not only served as the governor of Haozhou, but also took charge of the five counties of Huailing, Linhuai, Zhaoyi, Zhongli, and Shouzhou. Lin Haizheng, who was responsible for leading his troops to invade the Shouzhou army from the east and south, came from Shoudong.
Gao Shao and Wang Zhe, who was responsible for spying and collecting intelligence from the Central Plains, also rushed from East Lake to Daishan Village to meet Han Qian.
Wang Che also brought the latest news from the Central Plains and Heshuo areas this time.
In mid-March, when the Mongol cavalry and the Han infantry battalion crossed the Taihang Mountains and entered Zezhou, although the city of Zezhou was under the control of Liang Jun at the time, the whole incident shocked Liang Jun too much.
Emperor Zhu Yu of the Liang Dynasty led a hundred thousand soldiers and horses to the northern expedition to Luzhou. The real main force was the 30,000 elite guards, horses and infantry he led. Some of the other soldiers and horses were from the Nanya Forbidden Army, and some were from various states.
Some of the state soldiers recruited from the county were soldiers from the vassal town recruited from Weibo.
Bianjing rebelled, the road back was cut off, the food supply was about to run out, and the attack on Luzhou could not be carried out for a long time. The Jin army was in the front, and Hu Ma was behind. People were panicked, and the army's food supply could not last long. Even if Emperor Zhu Yu of Liang Dynasty changed his mind, he overthrew him.
With Shou Weiyu's ability, we can only ensure that the elite members of the direct line evacuate to Zezhou City first to ensure that the retreat route to the Fenshui River Valley in the Guanzhong area is not cut off.
At that time, even if Liang Jun stormed Luzhou City, it was meaningless, and he did not dare to rush into a decisive battle with the main force of the Mongol people who were better prepared.
Luzhou City has been besieged by them for nearly a year, and the city has long since run out of food. The walled city outside the city has also been repeatedly captured by the Liang and Jin armies for more than a year, and there is no more stored food to harvest;
What's more, the two years of war and the internal disturbances of the Jin army caused serious damage to farming in the Shangdang area, and a large number of households fled into the mountains and forests or went to foreign lands.
At this time, the mountain pass leading to Taiyuan Prefecture in the northwest of Luzhou City was occupied by the main reinforcements of 20,000 Jin troops; the Jingxing Pass in the northeast was blocked by thousands of elite German troops.
Without food and grass supplies, no matter how many cities Liang Jun occupied in a land surrounded by enemies, it would be a dead end.
The peripheral soldiers and horses were defeated by the Mongolian cavalry one after another. Emperor Zhu Yu of the Liang Dynasty led the main force of his bodyguards to fight with the pursuing Mongolian soldiers and horses in the Fenshui River Valley. It was not until early June that they got rid of the pursuers.
In this process, the main force of the bodyguard army also lost troops and generals, and the number of troops dropped to 20,000.
Emperor Zhu Yu of the Liang Dynasty crossed the Yellow River and fled to the Hejin area to rest for a month. At this time, he gathered the fleeing troops and horses, and his subordinates regrouped 60,000 troops and horses. This was because Emperor Zhu Yu of the Liang Dynasty sent out elite troops and horses in time to protect the Fenshui River Valley.
They created a passage and entangled the elite cavalry of the Mongol forward as much as possible, so that a large number of defeated soldiers and horses were able to escape to the Guanzhong area through this passage without being slaughtered by the Mongol cavalry.
Otherwise, even if the main force of Emperor Liang's bodyguards was not damaged and escaped back to Guanzhong, the situation would be even worse.
However, at this time, although Lei Jiuyuan, Han Yuanqi and others still firmly controlled Bianjing City, Hangu Pass to the west of Luoyang fell into the hands of the rebels. Emperor Zhu Yu of the Liang Dynasty led the main force of the Liang Army out of Hangu Pass westward.
The passage was temporarily blocked, and we were temporarily trapped in the pass.
After June, the Mongols did not continue to pursue Liang Jun along the Fenshui River Valley.
In mid-June, when the Mongolian prince Wusu Deyan and the southern imperial master Xiao Yiqing formed an alliance with the Jin army commander Liu Jun in the south of Luzhou City, they suddenly attacked and killed Liu Jun and his entourage. Then 20,000 Mongolian cavalry bypassed Lu.
They trampled the Jin reinforcement camp in the north of Luzhou City and annihilated 10,000 elite Jin troops. They then used the camps abandoned by the Liang Army to besiege Luzhou City again.
The latest news came from Luzhou in mid-August.
After learning that Jin Prince Shi Chengzu had defected to the Mongolians and led Shuozhou soldiers and horses to attack Taiyuan Prefecture, the defenders who had been trapped in Luzhou for more than a year were cut off from food and their morale was destroyed twice. In the end, more than 9,000 people starved to death.
The skinny men and horses, led by the guard Tian Weiye, presented the city and surrendered to the Mongols.
After Wusu Deyan and Xiao Yiqing occupied Zelu Prefecture, they sent more reinforcements across the Taihang Mountains and entered the south bank of the Yellow River. They joined forces with the Weizhou rebels to strengthen their control over the Xingyang and Hanluo areas and block the Liang army.
The main force left the Guanzhong passage to the west, and at the same time sent Wang Yuankui, Tian Weiye and other surrendered generals to lead their troops and horses, entered Taiyuan Prefecture, and joined forces with the Jin prince Shi Chengzu to attack Taiyuan, the capital of the Jin state.
If no new incidents occur, it will be a matter of time before Taiyuan Prefecture falls and Heshuo, Hedong, Shangdang and northern Shanxi areas north of the Yellow River fall into the hands of the Mongols.
Since Hangu Pass was occupied by the rebels, and the Xingluo area fell into the hands of the rebels and the Mongol people, the main force of the Liang Army was blocked to the west of Hangu Pass and was unable to leave the pass westward.
After Han Yuanqi, Chen Kun, Lei Jiuyuan, and Jing Hao reunited, although they successfully defended Bianjing, they suffered several fierce battles and suffered extremely heavy losses of troops and horses. Currently, they only have more than 20,000 troops and horses in hand, which is far from the east of Bianjing City.
The rebels stood in a stalemate.
The Sima clan headed by Sima Tan chose to wait and see in the Xusi area.
Xu Mingzhen led the Shouzhou Army to strengthen control of the southern Liang states such as Ying, Qiao, Cai, and Ru. He showed neither the intention to defect to the rebels nor the willingness to lead his troops to reinforce Bianjing.
The entire Central Plains region can be said to be a mess at this time.
Of course, when Gao Shao and Wang Che rushed from East Lake to Daishan Town to meet Han Qian, they did not simply report information about the chaos in the Central Plains.
During the past few days when Han Qian and others were trapped deep in Wujianshan due to heavy rain, Wang Jian, the leader of the Shu Kingdom, sent his envoy Wei Jian to Jinling to propose that the Chu and Shu armies join forces to participate in the battle to carve up the Liang Kingdom.
