Heading south from Yingdu Mansion, the first stop is Hehua Mansion.
The location of Ha Hua Mansion is Ha Tinh in later generations, and the main urban area can be said to have basically remained unchanged, so it is very convenient to determine the location of the iron mine in a pragmatic manner.
How to be sure? Gao Pangshi has two memories of the Shixi Iron Mine in Ha Tinh. One is that it is close to the sea, not far from the sea; the other is that it is only eight kilometers away from the city of Ha Tinh. With these two "coordinates", it is certainly not difficult to determine the general location.
After he wrote to Liu Xin last time asking about the distribution of Annan's minerals, Liu Xin's reply was a hundred times more clear.
Liu Xin said that the Changshan Fold Belt is one of the very important polymetallic metallogenic belts of iron, copper and gold in Southeast Asia. There are many large and even super-large mineral deposits distributed in the belt, the most famous of which are Shixi Iron Mine and Peng Peng Mine. Miao Gold Mine, Fushan Gold Mine, Sepan Gold Mine, Fukang Gold Mine, Pailishan Iron Mine, Funuoan Iron Mine, etc.
However, Liu Xin seemed to have guessed what Gao Pragmatic was going to do, and specifically pointed out several areas that were relatively easy to mine and might have convenient transportation, such as the iron mines in Ha Tinh and the gold mines in Da Nang.
Of course, when it comes to iron ores alone, the Ha Tinh Shih Khe iron ore is the largest. This iron ore is the largest skarn-type magnetite in Southeast Asia. Not only does it have reserves of more than 600 million tons, but its average grade is as high as Above 61, it beats most of the iron ore mines in Ming Dynasty.
But the trouble is not without it. The biggest trouble is that of the more than 600 million tons of reserves, Gaowu Shi can only use a small part now, because although this mine can be mined directly in the open pit, the total depth of the ore body is terrible, and future exploration results It reaches more than 400 meters below sea level.
In this era, it is unimaginable to dig below more than 400 meters above sea level. Especially since it is located on the seaside, there may be underground water and so on. Therefore, Gao Pragmatic can only dig one layer on the surface, and at most, dig down to a depth of ten feet. Ten feet is just about right.
Fortunately, this is enough - these days, it's not just him who is pragmatic and can't dig too deep, no one in the world can dig too deep. If that's the case, then why worry about this? I'm really afraid that if there is no iron ore, wouldn't it be great to seize Australia first in the future? Anyway, the surface part of the Shixi Iron Mine can be mined for at least a hundred years based on the production scale determined by the high pragmatism.
The second trouble is the supply of coking coal. Since Gao Jingzhi had already mastered the technology of coking coal in domestic iron-making in the Ming Dynasty, coal had always been used to make iron and steel, so the demand for coal was not small. However, not all coal can be used to make iron. The most critical use of coal in the iron-making industry is coking, and the main coal used in coking is coking coal.
There are many such coals in China during the Ming Dynasty, but Annan's coal is famous for its high-quality anthracite. Generally speaking, it is a low-impurity thermal coal. If we are already in the age of steam power, it is certainly good news that there are many high-quality anthracites, but now But not necessarily. The use of anthracite is relatively simple. Even with Jinghua's technical level, it can only be used as fuel for blast furnace injection and sintering of iron ore and as casting fuel.
It is useful, but the coal for coking is still not solved.
There is a coal mine not far northwest of Ha Tinh, and it is not difficult to dig it out. But according to Liu Xin’s memory, the coal there is mainly anthracite. It can be dug, but it is not necessary because Liu Xin found another supply place.
This supply site was the later Hong Gai Coal Mine, located near Halong Bay in the northeastern part of Annam. It was the largest coal mine in Southeast Asia in later generations. Although the coal mines here are mainly anthracite coal, generally speaking, the coal types are still very rich, which can fully meet the high pragmatic demand for coking coal and other types of coal.
In fact, the Ming Dynasty had already used earth kilns to make coke and use coke to smelt iron before the Gao pragmatic crossing. However, the technology content was very low and the quality of the iron produced was poor.
After the Gao pragmatic crossing, two earth kilns, the round kiln and the long kiln, were built based on the original technology of the Ming Dynasty. The former is suitable for areas with low groundwater levels and good coal coking; the latter is because the furnace bottom is higher than the ground. , the operation is less affected by groundwater, and the coking time is shorter. It is suitable for areas with heavy rain and slightly poor coal coking properties.
But Gao Pragmatic also knows that the characteristics or shortcomings of the earth kiln are that the coking chamber and the combustion chamber are not separated. The coking heat source relies on the gas generated during coal carbonization and the combustion of part of the coal material. Therefore, the coking rate is low, the ash content of the coke is high, and the coking time is It lasts about 8 to 12 days and nights - as for chemical products that cannot be recycled and cause serious air pollution, he ignores it.
He just knew that it wouldn't work, so he had to think of ways to improve it, but he failed to do this for several years. Later, he used his own ideas and asked Zhu Zaiyu to help design and improve it, and finally came up with a round kiln with a fixed vault. Known as a cellular coke oven.
The coal loading capacity of each hole of this coke oven is about 10,000 kilograms, and the coking time is reduced to two to three days. The efficiency is greatly improved, and the coking quality is also extremely excellent in this era, ensuring that Jinghua is the leader in steel production. status.
These two situations determine one thing: Ha Tinh Iron Mine can be developed, but it needs to be coal from the An Bang Xuan Phuc Division that has been privately "allocated" to Huang.
It is definitely a dream to expect Huang Zhiting and her family to find a way to mine coal on their own. Gao Pragmatic must let Jinghua participate, and it must take the lead - of course it is not easy to take the lead in terms of profits, but it must take the lead in production.
Therefore, after talking to Huang Zhiting, he sent someone to deliver a message to Gao Xiaozhuang, asking him to prepare to send someone to "aid Vietnam."
The main purpose of passing through Ha Hua House was for the iron ore, but when they arrived in Hue, Gao Pangshi didn't stop much. While telling Gao Jue and others to quickly recruit the Annan army under Nguyen Huang's command in Hue, he continued southward with the escort group of his servants, running towards Go to Da Nang in his mind.
Hue is not far from Da Nang, only about a hundred miles, and we arrived at this bay in less than three days.
This place is really just a small fishing village now, with a huge bay and a radius of dozens of miles. The population is less than a thousand households, which is not as large as the guard group Gao Pragmatic brought.
The Jinghua Fleet also sent a part of its ships to Da Nang to inspect the harbor conditions under the pragmatic assignment. The results were of course gratifying. In terms of natural conditions, this place is a natural base for a large commercial port.
But Gao Jing, Boss Hu, and Boss Li simultaneously raised a question to Gao Pragmatic: The commercial port is easy to build, but where is the market?
The location of Da Nang has already entered Guangnan. It is the southernmost Xuanfu Division in Annan. It was the "Land of the Southern Barbarians" that was captured from the Champa people back then - my God, in their eyes , Annan is originally a land of Southern Barbarians, but this place is actually a Southern Barbarian among Southern Barbarians. It just sounds like there are no business opportunities.
The first priority for a business opportunity is to have someone there. What business opportunities can be discussed if there is no one? But what this place lacks is people!
However, if they could think of this, how could Gao Pragmatic not think of it? Although a large part of the reason he built Da Nang was to build a bridgehead out of Nanyang, he did not intend to engage in a loss-making business - at least not in the long run.
Therefore, Gao Pragmatic said to them very calmly but in a very dignified manner, "Don't worry about this, the population will be there soon, because in Guangnan... there are at least two large gold mines."
"Big gold mine?" Gao Jing and the other three people opened their eyes wide.
Boss Hu even hurriedly asked, "How big is the gold mine? How did you know about it?"
Of course, Gao Pragmatic couldn't say that Liu Xin told him, so he could only continue to pretend, "How do you know? I'm supposed to be a good observer of the earth's energy, don't you know?"
Oh...there is such a legend. After all, Gao Yintai's vision for prospecting is unmatched by anyone in the world.
Boss Hu and Boss Li both got excited, rubbed their hands and asked in unison, "I see, I wonder how much gold can be found in these two big gold mines?"
Gao Pragmatic said calmly, "One of them has at least four million taels of gold reserves."
"Hiss--" The two of them, oh no, Gao Jing must be added, and the three of them suddenly gasped.
"Four...four hundred...ten thousand taels?" Boss Li was trembling as he spoke, as if he was showing off.
"Four million taels... is it just one of them?" Boss Hu's situation is not much better than that of Boss Li. He is like a pair of brothers in need.
Gao pragmatic smiled and said, "Yes, one of them."
He is really not kidding. This is a gold mine that Liu Xin specially highlighted, which is the Pengmiao Gold Mine in later generations. Its reserves are cautiously estimated to be 200 tons, which is four million taels. If the estimate is "not cautious", Maybe five million taels is also possible.
Four million taels of silver can already make countless people grab their heads. What is the concept of four million taels of gold?
If nothing else, as long as Gao Pragmatic releases this news, even in the Ming Dynasty, no one knows how many gold diggers will come - human beings' desire for gold has almost never diminished! And there is no distinction between Chinese and foreign.
At this moment, Boss Hu and Boss Li even wanted to change their careers and come here to pan for gold.
Unfortunately, Gao Jingshi immediately extinguished their hopes, because Gao Jingshi said, "But Guangnan is so big, with a radius of hundreds of miles, but only I know the approximate location of these two gold mines..."
The golden flames in the eyes of the two bosses were extinguished just as they rose.
Yes, so what if there are gold mines. This is not a few tens of miles in radius, but a hundreds of miles in radius. Only Gao Jintai knows the location of those two large gold mines. What is the use of us here?
Can you find it? Can you dig it? Any luck?
"Then, I wonder how Yuntai plans to develop these two gold mines?"
Gao pragmatic smiled and said, "The two bosses are smart people, and they really tell the truth - let's put it this way, I, Jinghua, want one of the mines; while Jinghua does not want the other mine, it is specially used to attract gold diggers. . And then... We will open a flight, divided into multiple routes, to continuously transport these gold diggers from the Ming Dynasty. If you are interested, you can also participate in this matter and spread the news. spread."
Oh...that's what happened.
