Yan Maoda stood on the top of Mao'er Mountain. [Full text reading] This mountain is 400 meters high. It is steep and has rugged rocks, making it difficult to climb. The reason why Yan Maoda wanted to climb up was to have a condescending look at the terrain in this area.
Mao'er Mountain is an iconic hill on the coast of Hon Gai. It is said that there was a "true ancestor emperor" who composed "poems" here. Later, a group of so-called "celebrities", "heroes", "heroes" and the like composed "poems" here, so it was also known as the local name. It "poems" mountains. This mountain was also related to the Vietnamese Communist Party in the 1950s. According to some "reminiscences of the Communist Party", during the French rule of Vietnam, there was a flagpole on the top of the mountain. From the late 1940s to the early 1950s, on May Day and September 2nd every year, members of the Viet Cong climbed up the mountain and hung the "national flag" on the flagpole on the top of the mountain.
"There is no need to hang the national flag here. We can build a lighthouse to guide ships to dock." The secretary next to Yan Maoda said. He looked down upon the earth and the sea. Maoer Mountain is a stone mountain, half of which protrudes into Yalong Bay. The coastline is full of hills and hills. Only at the foot of Mao'er Mountain is a long strip of flat land 2 to 3 kilometers long along the seashore. The Hongji City of old time and space is here. Hongji City was gradually built on the basis of the Hongji Coal Mining Company established by the French.
"What river is that?" Yan Maoda asked, pointing to a wide river that entered the sea a few kilometers away.
"This is Beitang River." Bei Kai said, "It is also called Bai Dang River. It is said that the Yuan army was defeated by Chen Xingdao at this mouth." He also learned a lot about Vietnamese history because he learned Vietnamese.
"Oh, it turns out it's still an ancient battlefield. It seems that the armed trading station is also at great risk." Yan Maoda looked at the rolling river. The river is wide and dotted with sandbars everywhere. The tide is rising here. The rising tide is yellow water, and the river is green water. There is a clear line in the center of the river. It is very spectacular.
"Where is the best place to locate the business station?" Yan Maoda asked. As a member of the exploration team, Bekai led a team to explore here and is very familiar with the surrounding geographical environment.
"Of course the most suitable location is at the foot of the mountain, in Hongji City in the old time." Bei Kai said and pointed, "There is flat land here where houses and storage yards can be built. The conditions for building a port are also good. You can also use nearby pipelines The Beitang River water is used for coal washing and domestic use.”
"What about defense?" Yan Maoda was very concerned about this.
"Since it is a trading station, the scale of the fortifications must be moderate. To prevent the trees from attracting the wind. Besides, it has to be too big and strong. Not only will it require a large stall, but it will also require more soldiers." Bekai put down the hat on his head. , "Try to use peaceful means. The executive committee's intention now is that they don't want to fight here."
Yan Maoda nodded: "Indeed. Let's go down the mountain."
At the foot of the mountain, the navy and sailors of the Zhennan have begun to build a temporary earthen fence on the shore. The outside is surrounded by a trench filled with standard bamboo sticks, and the construction of a sentry tower built with prefabricated parts is in full swing.
In the open space in the middle of the earth fence is a wooden house built with prefabricated parts. This is Bekay's residence and office. The sailors who served as security guards lived in wooden barracks on the other side.
Bekay was a little frightened when he thought about having to run an office in this small village - apart from 30 sailors and a 12-pound mountain howitzer, his most reliable thing was a silicon 2-watt radio, powered by his maid Responsible for operations. The fear of being alone on a desolate coastline is indescribable. But I can't afford to be a softie right now - it will be difficult to get along with the senior officials after this opportunity to take charge of my own affairs slips away.
"You need to overcome it for the time being." Yan Maoda probably also felt that this facility was a bit crude - if a 10,000-strong Vietnamese army was to be stationed here, Bei Kai would have to admit it. "I will immediately arrange for ships to transport construction materials, workers and guards when I get back."
Bekai bravely pretended to be a hero: "It's okay, there are 30 sailors and 1 cannon, which is enough to resist the local bandits and pirates. Northern Li Dynasty will not use its army to deal with us when it is full."
"It won't take three or four days to deliver all the materials for the expansion base to you - the sea route is very close from Lingao." Yan Maoda tried his best to reassure him, "I will send the Zhennan back as soon as I return to Lingao, and we will continue to do so from now on." It’s at your disposal. Zhang Dascara is very familiar with the situation in Vietnam and will be an effective assistant.”
"This is great." Bei Kai was overjoyed. With the Zhennan and Zhang Dascara here, it made people feel more at ease. Even if it didn't work, they could board the ship and escape. He said: "Zhang Dascara is very interested in the sea route here." He knows the roads well and is a very useful talent.”
Yan Maoda looked around: "Where is the open pit here?"
"Mao'er Mountain is not an open-pit mining area." Bei Kai came to Hongji last time to personally preside over the digging of detection pits. He has first-hand information on the distribution of coal mines. "The underground in Guang'an is almost entirely coal, but the open-pit mining area is Of those few, the largest open-pit mine is in Jinpu - Nei6, 15 kilometers away from here."
"So far? I thought it was on the beach."
"There is coal on the seaside too," Bekai said. "We dug an exploratory hole last time."
The result of exploring the pits is that there are veins of coal mines everywhere under the hills in this area. The disadvantage is that most of them are buried deep and require vertical shafts to be mined. It took almost a week for Bekai to find an open-pit mine vein under a hill 3.5 kilometers away from Mao'er Mountain. The mining surface was very small, with a maximum diameter of less than 400 meters, but the burial was very shallow, with a covering soil layer of only 2 meters. . It is the shallowest mineral vein they have discovered within 5 kilometers around Mao'er Mountain.
The two people were escorted by sailors and walked on the overgrown wasteland for more than 20 minutes. Fortunately, this is the seaside, the sea breeze is strong, the vegetation is not dense, and the grass is not high. Yan Maoda could still vaguely see the traces of the previously opened paths. The deep ruts of the Zidian trolley can still be barely discerned in some places.
Walking to the foot of the hill, you can see that a small circular pit has been dug here, with water accumulating at the bottom of the pit, turning it into a stagnant pool. There are overgrown weeds around the mine. Apparently no one has been here since Bekay and the others left.
"We named this place Cat Shit Pit No. 1." Bekai laughed. "The coal quality is very good. It is all high-quality anthracite. There are almost no impurities. At that time, the people on the Great Whale dug it in a week. We bought a hundred tons of coal. It’s a pity that we had to go to war to open this place. We didn’t have the strength to invest at that time, and later Lao Chang negotiated an agreement with the Wu family to exchange sugar for coal. There are also many coal mines in Wu Yujia’s manor that can be mined.”
"So the Hongji coal we use now is not actually produced by Hongji?"
"Hongji Coal is just a commercial name." Bei Kai has spent many days in the exploration team and has been to Hongji. He knows a lot about the ins and outs. "It means coal shipped out from Hongji. In fact, it is Guang'an-Ben. The name of space and time is Guangning - the coal produced. The real Hongji coal should come from Jinpu - the largest open-pit mine in the Hongji mining area."
Yan Maoda looked at it and found that it was 4 kilometers from the mine to the seaside. A small railway or something like that was needed to improve the efficiency of coal transportation. It is best to wash coal on site - there is ready river water available. He thought twice and asked: "How much coal can this pit produce?"
"Bai Guoshi has read our exploration data and said that at least 40,000 to 50,000 tons can be mined - this is conservative."
"Fifty thousand tons" Yan Maoda thought that this number was not worth mentioning in the old times - the peak coal consumption of a 200,000-kilowatt medium-sized thermal power plant in one hour was more than 40 tons. The full mining of 50,000 tons will only take 2 months. But it is an incredible resource for Lingao's industrial system. In particular, Hongji's coal is all anthracite with high calorific value, which is much better in calorific value than the low-quality lignite produced in Guangdong currently used. It can also play a big role in filling the gap in coal chemical raw materials - the current operating efficiency of the coal and coking combined plant of the Ministry of Chemical Industry is not high, only reaching 4o% of the designed production capacity - the lack of sufficient coal guarantee is a bottleneck question.
"This mine mines 1,000 tons a day, which is 3,000 tons a month. It can be mined for seven or eight months." Yan Maoda calculated.
"1oo tons a day is too low. Wu De is definitely not satisfied." Bekai said, "If push bucket trucks and small rails can be used, even without animal power and other tools and equipment, each miner can complete a mining volume of 100 tons per day. 1oo A worker equipped with a simple tool such as a shovel can do the job. I think it is at least 200 tons per day. Only then will the executive committee feel that Kaihongji is of full significance. The executive committee may also allocate some mechanized equipment to assist in the procurement. Coal, so 500 tons per day is possible."
"Based on 200 tons per day, Mao Shi No. 1 can only be mined for three months. What should we do next? Go deeper into the interior?"
Bei Kai had already planned: "We can continue exploration in three months. There is coal everywhere underground in Guangning. I believe that other open-pit mines can still be found nearby. Moreover, the 50,000 tons of Mao Shi No. 1 are open-pit reserves." , if you are willing to continue digging deeper, there are still coal belts that can be mined. It’s just that the investment in construction is huge.”
"In the long run, we will have to completely control the Hongji-Jinpu area sooner or later." Yan Maoda sat on a stone beside the mine, looking at the black water at the bottom of the pit, "Miner, how are you going to solve it?"
"First send a group of naturalized miners to serve as base workers, and then recruit some local people." Bekai said, "Zhu Fuyuan said that the lives of farmers here are very hard. There is even less arable land in Hongji area, and they all grow upland rice. The yield is high. It’s on the low side, and the taxes of the Li Dynasty are not light either. Two upland rice and one miscellaneous grain are not enough to eat, and people starve to death every year. It should be able to recruit a lot of workers. It’s just that we know too little about Beiqi.” . ..
