"So, where is the coal mine?" Zhao Si smiled.
To figure out where the coal mines are, we need to figure out what coal was called in this era.
Zhao Si looked back at the books he had read and found that they did not seem to involve such oddities, so he could only ask his disciples for advice.
"Black, burning stone?" Zhang Cang frowned and pondered for a moment.
"It is said that Emperor Shun once used black stone to make pottery. Is this what the lord is talking about?" Zhang Cang thought for a moment.
Chen Sheng and Wu Guang didn't know what to ask, and Chen Ping didn't know either. Li Shiqi thought for a while and took out a black accessory from his arms.
"What the Lord is talking about should be Shi Nie."
Zhao Si took the accessories sent by Li Shiqi and took a closer look. They were made of coal ore.
"Exactly this thing, exactly this thing!" Zhao Si was overjoyed.
"My lord, you want to spend the winter by burning stone? But the smell of stone is pungent, the smoke is very strong, and there is fire poison. Many people who don't have firewood burn stone to spend the winter, but they often get the fire poison and die. After death, over time, fewer and fewer people use Shi Nie." Li Shiqi opened his mouth to explain the history of Shi Nie's use to Zhao Si.
"That's the poisonous gas produced by the burning of stone. Just pay attention to the air circulation!" Zhao Si smiled.
"What's the price of stone nirvana?"
"It's worthless. This thing can't be sold for the price it paid for." Li Shiqi said.
In this era, high-end families use charcoal, ordinary families use firewood, and the third is all kinds of weeds, dead wood, etc...
As for Shi Nie, due to the uneven quality, insufficient combustion, strong smoke, and pungent smell, and this era did not understand the fatal principle of Shi Nie, the combination of various factors led to the fact that although Shi Nie has been used, it has been delayed. No promotion yet.
Zhao Si was overjoyed when he heard this.
In the next few days, after Zhao Si reported to the First Emperor, he went to Shanyang for an on-site inspection with a hundred soldiers wearing his own golden armor.
Zhao Si discovered that there are really not a few people who use Shi Nie in Shanyang Land.
There was no way, a large amount of firewood was used to supply the First Emperor's motorcade. Except for the truly wealthy families, it would be impossible to get through this winter without Shi Nie.
Not only that, Zhao Si also found that the stone nirvana used by the people of Shanyang Land burned more transparently, and the smoke was not very large, which showed that the purity of the coal was relatively high, which was a good thing.
Zhao Si visited back and forth. Everywhere he went, he would summon the local villagers and ask them to tell the villagers that they must open the windows for ventilation when using Shi Nie. If there are no windows, open the doors for ventilation. In short, they must pay attention to the air flow to avoid poisoned by carbon monoxide.
pity……
With little success……
They stubbornly believed that it was fire poison, just like the miasma that raged in South Vietnam. In fact, a large part of the reason was caused by not drinking boiled water.
Many people are still unwilling to do things that modern people take for granted, things that they think are reasonable and not troublesome at all, let alone ancient times.
"It seems that if Shi Nie is widely used, corresponding laws must be formulated, and windows must be opened for ventilation. In South Vietnam, there should be laws that prohibit drinking raw water and must drink boiled water." Zhao Si thought thoughtfully.
Do you really think that these good habits are rooted in the history of Zhuxia?
In fact, most of them were enforced by that great man.
If history is allowed to develop slowly, under the threat of life safety, corresponding habits will naturally form in hundreds or thousands of years, but it is too slow. Zhao Si wrote these down, just burning Shi Nie and opening windows for ventilation. and the prohibition on drinking raw water in the miasma forest areas of South Vietnam, both of which can prevent the death of many people in Great Qin.
Anyway, Qin's laws and regulations are complicated, and there are more than one laws and regulations involving people's livelihood regulations. There is no problem in adding these two.
During the subsequent visit, Zhao Si successfully found the Shanyang coal mine.
It cannot be said to be a coal mine, it can only be said to be a coal mountain.
How about saying that Shanxi is rich in coal bosses?
There are really many rich coal mines in this place. Businessmen who come to Shanxi to do business for various reasons have only one final destination, and that is to become a simple coal boss.
Zhao Si looked far away and saw many people coming here carrying baskets on their backs.
There was no way, the heavy snow came too early, and it happened that the First Emperor's drive stopped here. In order to meet the supply of firewood for the First Emperor's motorcade, the Shanyang County magistrate could only issue a ban on logging, prohibiting private logging by private people, and giving priority to the First Emperor's entourage. Fleet use.
The First Emperor was accompanied by tens of thousands of people in his motorcade. The people, let alone cutting firewood, had to cut down a tree in front of their own homes and the government had to supply it to the First Emperor.
Obviously, the team of more than 10,000 people has brought great supply pressure to Shan Yang.
Although Li Si has been coordinating the solution and trying his best not to disrupt the local people's livelihood in Shanyang, the heavy snow has blocked the roads and the transfer of material supplies is obviously not that fast.
People can only pick up stone nuggets to keep warm in the winter.
Zhao Si looked around and saw that some people were even in rags, some were still wearing single clothes, and some were even barefoot. The heavy corvee and taxes in the Qin Dynasty left the people with no money left. He could feel the hardship of the people.
"Hmm... Do rich people also come to pick up stone nuggets for the winter?" Zhao Si keenly noticed that in this rich ore-rich coal mountain, there were not only ordinary people, but also a group of more than a dozen knights riding war horses.
He didn't carry a weapon, but he shuttled back and forth with a wooden stick in his hand. Every time he passed by, the people would talk to him.
The formation of Zhao Si and his party was still very large. When Zhao Si looked at them again, a dozen knights also discovered Zhao Si. Then they saw hundreds of fully armed cavalry and a golden-armored general at the head. Subconsciously, he went to a hidden place and avoided it from a distance. Zhao Si frowned and immediately gave the order when he realized the problem.
"Capture them all. If they resist, kill them on the spot!"
"Also, go and invite a few people who are picking up stone nirvana. Please note that this is an invitation, and no violence is allowed!"
Zhao Si gave the order, and hundreds of knights moved in response. A dozen knights on the opposite side clearly sensed something was wrong, and subconsciously wanted to leave quickly.
It's a pity...their horses can't run as fast as the Qin army's elite war horses, not to mention they don't have a three-piece horse suit.
Within a moment, a dozen knights were knocked off their horses by the Qin army and all were captured alive.
This commotion caused an obvious commotion among the people present. A large number of people fled after hearing the news. Some of them were really weak and knelt on the spot. A few cavalrymen easily invited a few more people to come. In front of Zhao Si.
Zhao Si looked over and saw an old man, trembling in single clothes, and a young man, barefoot, with frostbite on his hands and face.
There were a few shirtless men who were fine, and there was even sweat on their foreheads.
However, regardless of whether they were young or old, they all knelt down tremblingly when they came in front of Zhao Si.
Kneeling with them were a dozen knights who had been captured alive.
"do not be afraid……"
Zhao Si wanted to help them up, but as soon as they were helped up, their hands loosened and they knelt down. They were too scared to have physical contact with him. Zhao Si had no choice but to squat next to them and talk to them.
"I saw them talking to you, who are they? What are they doing here?"
"Who picks up... picks up fire stones..." The young man raised his eyes, noticed the ferocious gaze staring at him from one side, and quickly stopped talking.
Where did they come to collect flint stones? They were all obviously lackeys of the Zheng family. Seeing that the people had to pick up stone nirvana to make a living, they came to take advantage of the opportunity to collect mountain entry fees.
But he didn't dare to say... and he couldn't afford to offend the Zheng family.
"bass!"
As soon as the young man finished speaking, Zhao Si had already raised his sword. A human head had already fallen to the ground, and scarlet blood splashed on Zhao Si's face.
"Did I let you see it?"
Zhao Si stared at the dozen knights, seeing that life and death were in front of him in an instant, a group of knights did not dare to move rashly, and they fell to the ground obediently.
Zhao Si casually threw the sword to the accompanying soldiers, took off the bloody helmet and squatted down again and asked: "Don't be afraid, tell me what they are here for."
"Collect... collect taxes... collect flint taxes."
"Collecting taxes? Are they from the government?" Zhao Si was stunned for a moment.
"No... no, they are from the Zheng family." The young man's trembling voice was filled with tears.
If he said this, he would probably not survive.
"Not from the government?" Zhao Si smiled and walked up to a dozen knights.
"Let me think about it, how should we punish private taxation?"
"It seems like clan execution?"
As Zhao Si spoke every word, the bodies of the dozen knights began to tremble uncontrollably.
"Kill them all here!"
Zhao Si gave the order, and the sound of drawing swords suddenly sounded, and the heads of more than a dozen knights fell to the ground.
"I hate this kind of people the most in my life!" The Zheng family took advantage of the people's lack of firewood to collect coal mining tax, which violated Zhao Si's bottom line.
"Take a soldier and enter Shanyang County to find out where the Zheng family is!"
"Don't miss anyone!"
The Qin Dynasty strictly stipulated that any military activities involving more than fifty people must be personally approved by the First Emperor.
Unfortunately, whenever Zhao Si went out, at least one hundred soldiers would accompany him to protect Zhao Si's safety. Therefore, every time Zhao Si went out, he had to go through the procedures for approval by the First Emperor.
This also happened to be convenient for Zhao Si. By the time he went back to report to the First Emperor or notify the Shanyang County Government, most of the Zheng family would have already fled.
This place is far away from Guanzhong, and Zhao Si does not have much hope for the administrative execution here.
"only!"
All the soldiers obeyed the order. Strictly speaking, this was Zhao Si overstepping his authority to enforce the law, but who ordered Zhao Si? Anyway, Zhao Si has this power, and if there is a problem later, Zhao Si can still resist it, so what is there to worry about?
"I have to shake the eggs to loosen their yellow color, and I have to split all the earthworms dug out from the ground into two halves!" Zhao Si was still angry after thinking about it.
For people who make money from disaster, Zhao Si believes that it is not an exaggeration to use a hundred kinds of torture on them.
The soldiers obeyed the order and set off, leaving Zhao Si looking at the several Guizhou heads prostrate on the ground and sighing.
"No wonder the inspection by higher-level governments in ancient times was a disaster for the local area..."
"Even if the First Emperor's intention was not this, and even if Li Si tried his best to reconcile, it still brought an extremely serious burden to Shan Yang..."
"Fortunately, we have found a large-scale rich mine, and then we can get the briquettes out of the way, which can solve most of the problems... If the First Emperor can set an example and let the fleet use it, it will greatly speed up the widespread application of coal."
"The only question is whether the First Emperor is willing or not."
After all, coal is indeed very cheap compared to charcoal, and it is somewhat unworthy of the status of the First Emperor. It is understandable that the First Emperor refused.
"Anyway, let's make a suggestion..."
The First Emperor was not such an unreasonable emperor. If he could be moved by emotion and reason, the First Emperor would probably agree.
(no more)
(End of chapter)
