"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 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 stared in a daze. They seem 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. It seems that the miners dug out this black stone from the ground and used it to make fire for cooking. It seems to have been a long time ago."
Bertard smiled. He knew His Highness very well and had known that His Highness would be interested in these rare things.
"Ezpin, have you seen this?"
Hulot looked at Ezpin, 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. The mine has been secretly using black stone as fuel 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 too little, 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, Shulot was a little excited but also a little confused. In this day and age, logging was an extremely time-consuming and laborious task. After the wood is chopped, it has to wait until it is dry before burning, and the calorific value is not high. In contrast, 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 that 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 finish. Burning black stone can save a lot of manpower and allow the mine's output to meet the requirements. The Tarasco warriors who managed it turned 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 with emotion. This matter cannot simply be attributed to the conservative ignorance of the mythical age. As a high-ranking priest, he can better understand the logic of the Tarasco priests.
The priest's divine authority does not come from force, but from the reverence of the human heart. The priests of Tarasco burned the Stone of the Dead to communicate with the dead and intimidate all peoples, which became one of the important sources of the majesty of their theocracy. This kind of majesty will not allow ordinary civilians to provoke. Naturally, burning "wonderful objects" can only be the prerogative of the priests. Demon blood and the Stone of the Dead are closely linked in mythology, so they must not be discovered first by lowly miners, nor can they be allowed to be used by civilians at will!
"The divine power serves the priests. The root of this encounter lies in the identity of the discoverer! If a high-ranking priest discovered coal, the outcome of the matter would be very different as long as the explanation is changed."
Shulot thought 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, while maintaining the stability of the kingdom and giving new forces room to grow, will become his lifelong exploration and thinking!
The discovery of coal disrupted the original plans. Schulot suspended subsequent inspections of the farm and concentrated on investigating "industrial food" and also 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 need to collect all the special rocks and carry samples of the black stone to find "the place where the demon was suppressed."
In the main copper mines in the mountains, miners continue to extract. 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 coal in the mining area under the uneasy eyes of the miners, and then began to try the local method of coking in his memory.
In later generations, on the northern Shanxi Plateau, local methods of coking were once very common. Shulot had traveled there before, seen the real thing, and listened to the story of coking from the tour guide. In general, the local coking method is very similar to the local method of burning charcoal. The coal is ignited and calcined under the condition that the air is not completely isolated in the furnace to achieve carbonization at high temperature. The kiln for indigenous coking can adopt 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 upside-down 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, there are also ventilation holes.
While the kiln was being built, another group of miners pounded the coal and carefully passed it through a sieve to remove impurities in the coal. When both sides are ready, fill the kiln with crushed coal and pile the coal 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 emerged from the top flue. The flue gas is very strong, containing not only the choking exhaust gas produced by coal combustion, but also carrying a large amount of unpleasant-smelling 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.
"Huh? This smells like... ammonia?"
The king's thoughts flew away in a trance. 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 proves that the coal in the kiln is almost completely calcined, and the remaining coke has hardened and coked to form porous coke.
Xuelote then arranged for people to pour water on the hot kiln to extinguish it. It wasn't 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!"
Ezpan's expression flashed and he shouted the slogan of the gods. The surrounding miners looked in awe and bowed to the ground.
"The Lord God is omnipotent, far beyond the capabilities of ordinary mortal gods. 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 wants to use unquestionable authority to redefine the mythical status of Black Stone.
During the chanting of the priest king, everyone fell to the ground together, facing the kiln where the coking was completed, and prayed loudly towards this strange "altar".
"Praise the Lord God! He is omnipotent and uses warm fire to give us divine things!..."
After solemn prayers, 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 irregular lumps, with pores of varying sizes in the middle, and the color was silver-grey. When he held it a little, he could feel the unique hard texture of 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 only been passed down among master craftsmen with profound knowledge. This was the first 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 weigh it on a simple scale.
Ezpin quickly calculated the result, and the focus rate was about 40%. As coking experience increases, the coking rate will gradually increase, and the peak value of local coking methods should reach 60%.
"Well, it's my first time to make coking. The coal in the mining area is of very high quality!..."
The king whispered to himself, then waited patiently. Groups of exploration groups returned from all over the place one after another, bringing with them mineral information about the mining area.
The Chinganbat mining area is located near a sleeping volcano and contains large and rich mineral deposits. Among them, copper ore is the main one, estimated to be more than 10 million tons. Then there is the associated gold and silver mine, which is located deep and is troublesome to smelt. It is not worth mining at the moment. 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 was familiar to the Alliance. According to the geological characteristics of this place, the lead ore should also contain silver.
"Well, lead and silver separation, dust blowing method..."
I don't know what he thought of, but a smile appeared on Shulot's face. He chuckled and shook his head, then asked about the distribution of the most important coal mines.
A total of five small-scale coal mines with a million-ton capacity 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 over 20 million tons, mainly bituminous coal and lignite.
By the standards of future generations, the coal reserves here are very small, and their value is far less than that of gold and silver mines. Later, the Chinganbat mining area was monopolized by mining groups. Although the Mexican government discovered the coal mine, it determined that it was not worth mining, and only private teams secretly dug it.
In this era, in Shulot's view, such reserves are sufficient.
"Chinganbat Mining Area, copper mines, gold and silver mines, sulfur mines, coal mines, lead and zinc mines... Fengguo's handicrafts, gunpowder workshops, bronze workshops... 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 be under the king's gaze!
