Great Qin Shi Empress

==·Road Repair·==

Ying Zheng and Lin Qian didn't bother to eat breakfast, they immediately packed up their things and rushed to the Mohist Workshop.

They rushed to the room where Juzi of the Mo family usually worked, and found that the doors and windows were densely packed with people, one next to each other, and there was no gap at all.

Noticing His Majesty's gaze, Juzi Mo's face blushed immediately: "You brats, hurry up and pay your respects to Your Majesty!"

Juzi's loud voice immediately attracted everyone's attention.

After seeing Ying Zheng, the Mohists who gathered around Juzi's workshop to watch the excitement turned pale with fright, and then rushed to Ying Zheng in a swarm, and were about to kneel before him.

Ying Zheng said: "There is no need to mobilize the crowd, I just come and have a look."

Juzi glared at the others: "Have you finished your work and come to watch it? Hurry up and do your own work!"

As soon as the words fell, the Mo family disciples saluted Ying Zheng and ran away.

Only then did Juzi lead Yingzheng to the door of the workshop. When he arrived at the door, he turned his head and smiled and said, "I made cement with Marquis Gu Feng a few days ago, but because I was worried that the effect would not be good, I didn't immediately Instead, I was thinking of paving the workshop room with cement first to see the effect."

Ying Zheng waved his hand: "It's okay, it's better to be more cautious."

As he spoke, he came to the door, and his eyes were easily caught by the blue-gray ground.

Back then when Juzi of the Mo family said that he should first fill his workshop with cement to see how the effect would be, Lin Qian told him the tricks he had learned from watching videos of people decorating in his previous life.

There is no need to teach the process of mixing cement, gravel and water, evenly covering the ground and brushing the ground with a flat board.

But after doing this, even if the cement is solidified, it is impossible to have a smooth mirror-like ground——

After that, you need to sprinkle some cement powder on the cement floor when it is just brushed, and then brush it flat again with a clean and smooth wooden board.After such a process, the concrete floor will become extremely smooth after solidification, and it feels no different from a mirror surface.

And the Mohist Juzi adopted Lin Qian's suggestion, so the freshly laid concrete floor of this workshop is a bit conspicuous.

The morning sun just came out, and the rays of the sun fell on it, and some dazzling colors were reflected.

Most of the ground is still mud, and it is best not to compare it with bluestone slabs. This smooth and delicate ground feels extravagant just by looking at it.

Ying Zheng also had some amazement in his eyes, and he looked at the Mo family's giant: "Is this cement really dry?"

The Mohist Juzi nodded, bent down and touched the ground hard as a demonstration, then got up and raised his hand to show Ying Zheng.

Yingzheng followed the trend and saw that Juzi's hands were still clean, not even a speck of dust.

His eyes lit up, and he stepped on the ground.

After walking a few steps and looking back, except for a few dirt footprints stained from the outside, no trace was found on the concrete floor.

Ying Zheng stomped heavily on it a few more times, but there was still no trace of it after leaving the original position.

He looked at Lin Qian and Mo Jiajuzi with a satisfied expression: "This cement is really miraculous, but I don't know how convenient it is to transport? How much is the output? What preparations do I need to make to pave the road with cement? How much manpower will it cost?"

Lin Qian took the initiative to stand up: "Cement can be put into a bag made of ordinary linen like rice, and it is enough to sew a piece of paper inside; and as long as the raw materials are sufficient, we can build a few more kilns for calcining cement. The output is no problem at all. Even after planning the route of the road, kilns can be set up nearby according to the places where some limestones pass by on the road, and the production and transportation will be much simpler; while paving the road with cement only requires someone to dig the ground Open, roughly flat enough."

Modern road construction must take into account the load of large trucks passing through it, so of course road construction will not be so simple.

However, in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, there were no large trucks with a load of several tons, and the heaviest vehicle that could pass on the road was only a carriage carrying a few hundred catties of goods. It's also perfectly adequate.

As for how much manpower it takes...

Lin Qian turned to look at the Mohist Juzi.

Juzi understood and explained: "For a floor as big as Weichen's room, it only takes four people about half an hour to pave it. But that kind of road is rough, and I want to make it as smooth as it is now." , and someone needs to spend about two quarters of an hour to fix it."

One of the four people mixes cement, one transports it, one paves the floor, and one trims it with planks.

The Mohist children are all people who are used to manual work, and they do things quickly and carefully.It may take longer for ordinary people to pave the ground, but it will not be too slow if the division of labor and cooperation.

Lin Qian glanced at the Mo family's Juzi's workshop, which was considered the largest room in the Mo family, with an area of ​​about [-] square meters.

It took more than an hour to pave the cement in such a large place, so the speed should be considered fast?

but……

Lin Qian reminded: "The requirements for paving the floor with cement are different from those for road construction. Because only people walk on the floor of the room, making it smoother does not affect walking, and it looks beautiful. But for road construction, because there will be A lot of carriages go on it, so it's better not to make it too smooth, or the wheels will easily slip when driving on it."

Juzi of the Mo family nodded, taking this point seriously in his heart.

Ying Zheng glanced at Lin Qian with a smile, and was very satisfied with the effect of the cement: "If so, the road construction can be put on the agenda as soon as possible."

On this day, Xiao was hurriedly called home by his family from the textile factory that was expanding again.

When she got home, her parents were cooking in the kitchen.

Xiao's mother was busy on the stove, and Xiao's father was helping.Beside the stove, there were some dark and shiny stone-like objects, and there were also some black stones that were filled with raging flames inside the stove. Father Xiao needed to take out the dregs from the stove from time to time, but he didn't need to keep an eye on them all the time. On the fire in the hearth.

Seeing Xiao enter the door, her parents immediately greeted her with a smile.

After the family had lunch, Xiao finally learned from his parents why they called him back——

The papermaking raw materials near Xianyang City have been consumed for a long time, and many raw materials are hard to find.

Other raw materials such as straw paper can be found everywhere and are easy to grow. Fortunately, even if the raw materials are really used up, the government will not care.

However, the raw materials used by the Xiao family to make rice paper are specially selected bamboos and certain young trees. Seeing that more and more bamboos and trees are being cut down in Xianyang City, even the common people have planted them according to the law. New, the government now forbids them to cut down at will.

Xiao was a little helpless: "Didn't I remind you all before, don't go to the wild to cut down bamboo and trees, but open up wasteland and plant a bamboo forest and small forest?"

Her parents' eyes were wandering, and they dared not look at her.

Xiao sighed: "I can't do anything about the government's order. Fortunately, bamboo grows fast, especially in spring, when almost a spring rain can shoot up a large section. Now go and transplant some bamboos. There is still time to plant it, as for the other kind of tree, we can only buy it at a high price, anyway, the profit of rice paper is high, and buying a tree will not lose money."

"During the period before the bamboo grows, you'd better use the money to buy bamboo from other people who have planted bamboo forests."

Looking at the distressed parents, Xiao patiently persuaded: "Our family has also made a lot of money during this period, so parents should not be stingy. The most important thing now is to keep the guests safe, otherwise once the production of rice paper stops, others will buy it. The person who made the formula seized the opportunity to snatch away the customers, and even if we planted all the bamboo and trees in the future, I am afraid that not many people would buy it."

Since Xiao became the deputy owner of the tailor shop, Xiao's parents have been very convinced by her words. Now that she said that if the production is stopped, customers may be lost. They all don't care about the cost, and they all express that they will do things according to her request. Son.

Xiao worried about her parents, and planned to take them to buy the raw materials before going back to work.

But they didn't want to, not long after they went out, they found out that several nearby families had planted bamboo forests——

It turned out that some people discovered this business opportunity after finding that the raw materials for papermaking near Xianyang were getting less and less. They began to open up wasteland to plant bamboo, trees and some grasses for papermaking. forest.

These raw materials are high in quality and cheap, and the market has long been opened.

Xiao's parents were even more annoyed after hearing this.

Xiao is not surprised, after all, there is no shortage of smart people in this world, and it is normal for someone to find this business opportunity.

She simply gave up the idea of ​​letting her parents plant trees, and only planned to let them plant some bamboos that are not difficult to take care of, and the trees will be purchased directly from people.After convincing his parents, Xiao took them to shop around, and quickly found a company that could provide long-term supply, and signed a long-term supply contract with them on the spot.

After finishing everything, Xiao bid farewell to his parents and prepared to go back to work.

Unexpectedly, when she passed the gate of the city, she suddenly noticed a commotion outside the city, as if something had happened.

Although it seems that there are already many people outside the city, Qin Lv has enshrined the act of righteousness and bravery into the law. If he sees the crime with his own eyes and remains unmoved, he will be fined and sent to jail if he is reported.

And Xiao is still an official now, and if he is found out, the crime will be aggravated.

So she walked straight to the city gate.

Xiao Yuan wanted to ask the city gate guards to find out what happened, but before he reached the place, he heard a burst of exclamation, and then he heard people chirping and asking what happened.

She was a little curious and ran over quickly.

Then, Xiao saw that the road at the gate of the city was divided into two halves. One half was still open for pedestrians to enter and exit, while the other half was blocked by the closed half gate. She looked through the gaps in the crowd and found a group of soldiers who seemed to be moving a kind of The wet, bluish-gray stuff poured onto the road.

After Xiao took out his identity token and showed it to the guards, he squeezed into the innermost part of the crowd.

Then she saw that on the grass on the other side of the road, a group of soldiers were pouring sand, pebbles and a kind of blue-gray powder together on the ground where all the weeds had been removed. Make a big hole and start pouring water into it.

After mixing the water and those things evenly, the soldiers put them in barrels and poured them into a rectangular pavement about ten feet long surrounded by planks of the same width.

The other soldiers were holding a long and smooth wooden board, and the two of them held the vertical wooden sticks at both ends of the board and directly pressed and pulled across the strange mixture.

Almost in the blink of an eye, the height of the mixture inside the board becomes level with the sides, and the surface becomes relatively smooth.

Looking at it, there is a strange beauty.

And besides the wooden frame that was mostly poured in, there seemed to be many square frames that were also surrounded by wooden boards, one after another, which seemed to be endless when viewed from a distance.

Xiao couldn't help opening his mouth, and turned to look at the city gate guards: "What are these soldiers doing?"

When she asked, the other spectators all pricked up their ears in unison, wanting to know the answer.

The guard quickly explained: "This is paving the road."

Immediately afterwards, he introduced the function of cement, and mentioned where the road will be built from Xianyang to. At the end, he reminded: "Although this kind of cement dries quickly, it will take several days to dry completely. Tou, don't touch it during this period, or you will be fined a lot of money if you get caught, and you may even go to jail!"

Even if the guards don't mention it, the people will carefully avoid what the soldiers are doing.

But what does paving the way... mean?

The road outside Xianyang City is wide and flat, and there are almost no major disadvantages except that it is easy to get your feet dirty when walking on it in rainy days. Why do you have to pave some strange things on it?

==·Coal·==

Xiao actually didn't quite understand either.

But because during this period of time, when I went to Zhisu Neishi to report the income of several factories, I heard Zhi Su Neishi mention what "cement" Gu Fenghou and Mohist Juzi were researching during this time, as if it could be Reduce the cost of road construction.

Since Gu Fenghou participated in the research of this thing, Xiao didn't ask any more questions, but thought about waiting a few days to come and see the effect.

With this in mind, Xiao looked at the place for a while, then turned and left from the city gate.

But what Xiao didn't expect was that shortly after she returned to the tailor shop, she heard a commotion outside the door, and when she came out to check, she found that the street in front of the tailor shop had already been paved.

And it's not just the road at the entrance of the garment workshop, it seems that several streets in the entire Xianyang City are paved.

Unlike the road outside the city, which is basically poured with cement cubes on the same side, the street at the entrance of the garment workshop is paved with one piece on the left and one piece on the right.After watching it for a while, Xiao realized that this was done to make it easier for the people on the street to go out.

The next day, when Xiao went to the official office of the Shaofu to report the situation, it was no surprise that even half of the road in front of the Shaofu gate had been paved with cement.

After a night of drying, the pavement has dried a lot.

But looking at the soldiers on the ten-step-one-post on the blue-gray concrete road, Xiao still suppressed his curiosity and did not go to check.

After entering the official office and reporting the situation, Xiao couldn't help asking Lin Qian curiously: "Marquis Gu Feng, how much does that cement cost? Why did the imperial court use it so extravagantly to pave the road? The roads in Xianyang City are all replaced with that kind of blue-gray road, and even the main road outside the city has to be replaced with a cement road? Does the court have so much money?"

This is really a good question!

As expected, he is a person with a full sense of business sense. The first thing that comes to mind when he sees the concrete road is the cost.

Lin Qian explained with a smile: "The raw materials of this cement are only limestone and clay that are easy to find outside, and at most one piece of gypsum can be added. If you find a volcano, you can directly use volcanic ash and mix it with lime according to a certain ratio. It's already pretty good cement."

Xiao was stunned for a moment: "I didn't expect the raw materials to be such things that can be seen everywhere."

Lin Qian laughed: "Yes, so the original cost of cement should be very low, not to mention that it is used to pave the entire Xianyang city and the road outside the city, we also plan to build a few roads from Xianyang to connect Xinzheng, Shouchun, and Linzi The concrete roads in other places are intended to achieve the purpose of government orders by connecting various places.”

"The original cost was very low?" Xiao looked at Lin Qian suspiciously, "Did something happen in the middle that caused the price of raw materials to increase?"

Lin Mo next to him sighed, "It's not about the raw materials."

Xiao was puzzled: "Since it's not raw materials, what link went wrong?"

Lin Qian patted Lin Mo's hand reassuringly, and explained to Xiao with a smile: "It's not that there is a problem with the raw materials, but because the clay and limestone need to be calcined. We have considered the cost of raw materials before, but we didn't think that we still need to consider it." Fuel problem."

At present, almost all the people use hay and firewood to keep warm. The people in the village are fine. They walk around the foot of the mountain every day, and they can pick up firewood for several days in an hour or two.It is not easy to get firewood in the city. They have to wait for the people outside the city to use carts to bring firewood to the city to sell.

It costs two yuan for a load of firewood, which is not cheap.

So at this time, apart from cooking, it was inconvenient for the common people to take a bath.

There is no such problem in the palace and the major government offices. The imperial court can send prisoners to the mountains to cut firewood.But like calcining cement, which requires a huge amount of fuel and may continue to use a huge amount of fuel to continue, the cost of purchasing firewood has become a big problem.

At the beginning, the soldiers were asked to go to the mountains to cut firewood, and no one mentioned fuel, so Lin Qian didn't think about this issue.

But the Mohists only focus on research and don't care much about cost.

Therefore, until they built roads in Xianyang City these days, they quickly consumed more than half of the cement they calcined during this period. The additional prisoners almost chopped off a small mountain near Xianyang City, and they finally found out about it.

Lin Qian: "..."

She took a look at the small mountain that was originally gloomy and gloomy, but now suddenly "bald" for several blocks, and couldn't help but feel a ball in her heart.

This is only the cement consumption of Xianyang City and the road outside the city. If you add the several thousand-mile-long roads to be built, as well as the roads in other cities...

Lin Qian immediately took a deep breath.

Now the cement road in Xianyang City is still being repaired, but the construction of the main road outside the city has been suspended.

if……

Lin Qian subconsciously thought of modern coal.

Coal is called "black gold" and "industrial food" in modern times, and its role and importance to modern industry is self-evident.

Almost immediately after discovering this problem, she thought of coal.

But unfortunately, most of the coal is buried deep in the ground, and there is no way to find it with current technology.

There are a lot of coal reserves in Taiyuan, Shanxi, and there should be a lot of open-pit coal mines, but it is too far away from Xianyang, and there is no way to use the coal mines there for the time being.

Lin Qian looked at Xiao helplessly: "After the cement road in Xianyang City is repaired, we will first find a way to find cheaper fuel."

Forget about the trees. If she really wanted to cut down the nearby forests for a few cement roads, she worried that after hundreds or thousands of years, she would be directly nailed to the pillar of shame and insulted by future generations.

Unexpectedly, after Xiao knew about Lin Qian's problem, he suddenly lowered his voice and said, "If Marquis Gu Feng just wanted to find fuel that could be burned, Beizhi knew a kind of stone that could be used as fuel."

Lin Mo frowned: "How can stone be used as fuel?"

Xiao explained in a low voice: "My grandfather found that thing outside a certain village near Xianyang when he was still alive. He had some accidents and could only spend the night outside the city. The village was also exclusive, so he could only stay in A fire was lit outside the village to keep warm. But when the fire is lit, don’t you usually build a circle of stones around it to fix the firewood? He just picked up some stones around.”

"Who knew that after he lit the fire, the firewood didn't burn for a long time, and the surrounding stones started to burn like that."

"Later, every year we would go outside the village to pick up some black stones and bring them home. If there hadn't been those black stones during the heavy snowstorm last year, my family was so poor that we couldn't even wait for it. If a garment factory recruits workers, they will freeze to death and starve to death.”

"By the way, my grandfather thought he had picked up some treasure at the time, and he took the black stone to a certain nobleman to offer it. But he didn't expect that nobleman to know the black stone, and said that the black stone The aliases 'Shi Nie' and 'Charcoal' were recorded in the "Shan Hai Jing" very early."

Xiao was a little embarrassed: "I haven't read any Shan Hai Jing, but since they say that, maybe it's true?"

However, after hearing Xiao's words, Lin Qian stood up suddenly: "Since your family often uses that kind of black stone, do you know what happens when the black stone burns?"

Xiao was taken aback, and recalled: "The black stone can burn for a long time, but it is not easy to ignite. It will also produce a lot of black smoke when burning, and the smell is very pungent. And the window must be closed when burning. Open it, otherwise you will have a feeling of chest tightness and shortness of breath. But after it is burned through, it will turn into gray-white dross, which is very hard and can be used to lay on the ground at home, and it will not get dirty when walking on it in rainy days Sole."

Lin Qian was almost certain once again that the black stone in Xiao's mouth was Shi Nirvana in the Book of Mountains and Seas, that is, the coal of later generations.

She got off the couch immediately, and then pulled Xiao Xiao to the gate of the official office: "Are there many black stones you mentioned? Have they been discovered by others? Is it easy to mine?"

Xiao was dragged out, feeling a little dazed: "Marquis Gu Feng, you don't need to be in such a hurry..."

Why is Lin Qian not in a hurry?

She stopped and looked at Xiao: "If what you said is true, then there is no need to stop cement production. This is a major event related to the stability of the country!"

Without waiting for Xiao to ask questions, Lin Qian added again, "Let's go outside the village you mentioned first, and if we are sure what you said is true, I will take you to meet His Majesty right away."

Xiao: "!!!"

It's just a few inconspicuous black stones, but you can actually see His Majesty?

Xiao immediately came to his senses: "Gu Fenghou, please don't go to the city gate. Although I know this kind of black stone, I have never gone to that village to pick it up. We must first go back to my house and find my father together." Well, only my father knows where that village is."

Lin Qian was very annoyed: "Look, I'm so happy and confused, I forgot that you are a girl's family!"

Even if the folk customs of the Qin Dynasty are open, it is impossible for someone to take their daughter out of the city to the wild, let alone they just go to pick up some "inconspicuous black stones".

So the group changed direction and went straight to Xiao's house.

== Coal Mine ==

Xiao's parents were busy making paper with their neighbors, and they couldn't help but feel strange when they heard their daughter came back.

The two of them came out from the backyard after talking to their neighbors. Just as they were about to call out to their daughter, they saw that her daughter was accompanied by two women in court clothes.Moreover, his own daughter actually stood behind one of the women, obviously respecting her.

The husband and wife were taken aback, and the whole person became stiff.

Xiao also saw her parents, and hurriedly introduced the identities of Lin Qian and Lin Mo to her parents: "One of these two is Lin Mo, my daughter's colleague, and the other is Gu Fenghou, who was personally appointed by His Majesty, and concurrently serves as the court official. The post of Shaofu."

Then he introduced his parents to Lin Qian: "They are humble parents, and they should make paper with their neighbors in the back."

Xiao's parents hurriedly bowed to Lin Qian, and Lin Qian returned the gift before looking at Xiao.

Xiao hurriedly explained the reason why he came back today: "Marquis Gu Feng heard that my family has been using black stones as fuel, and he was a little curious, so he wanted to take a look."

Lin Qian glanced at Xiao, and did not reject her arrangement after all.

Xiao's parents looked at each other, and Xiao's father asked after a while, "Are you sure it's a black stone?"

Shino nodded seriously.

Xiao's father hesitated for a moment, and finally took Lin Qian to the kitchen, and then grabbed several "black stones" with his hands: "Gu Fenghou, this is the black stone that Cao Min's father accidentally discovered. It has no other purpose except burning. effect."

Lin Qian didn't mind either, and took one from the opponent's hand and looked at it carefully.

Xiao's parents were taken aback by her action, and looked at Xiao in panic, but only got a shaking head with a smile.

Although hesitant, the two did not say much.

After reading it, Lin Qian turned around and nodded at Xiao: "That's right, this is indeed the cheap fuel I want."

Xiao's eyes lit up instantly: "This is really great!"

She turned to look at her parents, and directly told her parents that the imperial court needed a lot of black stones to produce cement, and then used cement to pave the road.

Then, Xiao looked at his father seriously: "My daughter doesn't know where the black stone is, so I need my father to guide us."

Xiao glanced at Lin Qian, and whispered to his father, "Marquis Gu Feng can tell, if she is sure that there are really many black stones in that place, she can still bring her daughter to meet His Majesty!"

Xiao's parents: "!!!"

Isn't this something that nobles dislike?Why are they suddenly able to see His Majesty now?

The husband and wife were in a trance, almost thinking that they were dreaming.

Seeing this, Xiao pushed his father: "Father, Marquis Gu Feng has a lot of things to do every day, and time is precious, so don't waste it."

Father Xiao came back to his senses in an instant: "All right, all right, I'll take you to that village right now!"

Lin Qian was about to leave Xianyang City with his people, but when he was about to leave the city gate, he found Wang Qiang who was sweating profusely at the gate, looking around anxiously.

Lin Qian suddenly felt guilty, and after speaking with Xiao's father and daughter, he and Lin Mo walked in front of Wang Qiang: "Are you here to find me?"

Wang Qiang turned around when he heard the sound, and immediately showed a happy expression: "Marquis Gu Feng, why didn't you send someone to tell Beizhi when you left the Shaofu government office? Beizhi came back to his senses and found that you were gone, he was almost scared to death!"

Lin Qian was a little embarrassed: "Well... I'm used to going in and out by myself during this period of time, so I forgot it for a while."

As the person Yingzheng sent to protect Lin Qian, Wang Qiang usually stood guard outside the Shaofu gate when Lin Qian was on duty, or read military books in his office.But Lin Qian basically lived a two-point and one-line life during this period, and there was no place that needed Wang Qiang's protection, so when she took Xiao away this time, she never expected to be notified by Wang Qiang.

Wang Qiang: "..."

Wang Qiang sighed: "Forget it, there are also dereliction of duty in humble positions."

He should have kept an eye on Lin Qian at all times.

Both of them were at fault, so they chose to expose the matter by coincidence, as if it never happened.

Only then did Lin Qian call Xiao's father and daughter over. After verifying their identities, the group went directly to the village.

……

The village is not far away, and the group of people can travel fairly well, and it only took two quarters of an hour to reach the destination.

That place is a small hillside, but there is no tree on it, instead there is only a thin layer of grass, with some weeds that are only as long as fingers and some hairy dogtail grass.

The terrain does look like some coal mines are buried below, but there is no blackness around.

Xiao's father was not in a hurry, but walked to the front of the hill, squatted down and stretched out his hands to paw at a certain place a few times.

Soon, some dirt was scraped aside.

Father Xiao stood up and moved out of the way, revealing a piece of dark ground in front of everyone.

Lin Qian immediately widened her eyes in surprise, stepped forward in two or three steps, and stretched out her hand to pick up the scattered black coal on the ground.

But he didn't want Lin Mo to rush forward to stop him, and then directly picked up a piece of coal.

Lin Qian glanced at it, and her excited tone trembled a little: "This is really coal!"

Looking at the exposed part, the soil surface is not very deep, and it is easy to dig.

Wang Qiang understood what she meant, took his own bronze sword and inserted it towards the position where the soil had not been pushed away.But the tip of the sword was only inserted into the palm length, as if it was blocked by a stone, and could no longer penetrate.He pulled out the sword and found some small gaps at the tip of the sword.

Wang Qiang walked back and forth on the hillside again, changing positions and testing with his sword.

But even the thickest part of the soil is only half the depth of his sword, and his sword is only three feet long.

After inspecting the hillside, Wang Qiang came to Lin Qian and glanced at the black stone in Lin Mo's hand: "Did Gu Fenghou go out of the city this time to find this kind of black stone? If there is no accident, there should be hidden underground on the entire hillside." This black stone."

Lin Qian nodded happily: "This is excellent fuel. With this, there is no need for soldiers and prisoners to run to cut trees."

Moreover, although this coal mine has never been exposed outside, it is not too deep from the surface. It is much easier to dig out the underground coal mine than the deep underground coal mine. The key is that there is no danger.

So she turned her head to look at Xiao: "Since this thing was discovered by your family, why don't you follow me into the palace this time?"

Xiao and his father looked at each other and nodded excitedly.

When he first saw the cement-paved ground, Ying Zheng was very happy. He even couldn't wait to order the construction of more kilns for calcining cement, and then asked the Mohist children to recruit some people to help produce cement.

After the kiln was built and cement was produced in large quantities, Ying Zheng learned that although the raw materials for cement were cheap and easy to find, the fuel for calcining cement became an urgent problem to be solved.

Ying Zheng didn't mind chopping down a certain mountain.

However, the manpower, material resources and time invested in the process of cutting firewood are an invisible consumption.

What's more, it takes time to replant saplings later?

Therefore, when Lin Qian proposed to temporarily stop the road construction project after paving the ground of Xianyang City with cement, Ying Zheng didn't have the slightest opinion. He just wanted to ask someone to find if it was easier to find than firewood and the cost was not high. fuel.

But he didn't give much hope—

If the fuel to replace firewood is so easy to find, how could it be possible that the ancestors have not found it for so many generations?

however……

Ying Zheng looked at Lin Qian and the two people behind her: "You mean, you have found fuel with a lower cost?"

Lin Qian nodded: "It's coal, that is, Shi Nirvana recorded in the Shan Hai Jing."

Ying Zheng is also well-read, so he is no stranger to Shi Nie.

but……

He looked at Lin Qian: "Since Shi Nie has been discovered a long time ago and its flammable characteristics are known, it has not been widely used for so many years, so it must have huge and unavoidable shortcomings. Do you think coal can replace firewood?"

Lin Qian explained earnestly: "For ordinary people's daily use of fire, coal does have a very big disadvantage, and there is more than one."

Seeing Ying Zheng looking at him, Lin Qian explained, "One is that coal is more difficult to ignite than hay and firewood. It usually takes about a cup of tea to ignite coal, which is very troublesome for busy people; The second reason is that when coal burns, it emits a large amount of black smoke, which not only obstructs the line of sight, but also is particularly choking."

"If you want to use coal for heating in winter, you need to be very careful, because many components in coal are poisonous. If you don't open the windows to ventilate, you will easily suffocate to death."

"but!"

Lin Qian looked at Yingzheng seriously, "If coal is used for calcining cement, there will be no such disadvantages. Once the work of calcining cement starts, it will work in two shifts, which can almost be done day and night; secondly, the kiln is large enough. Moreover, there is a sufficiently powerful exhaust system, and the room where the kiln for calcining cement is located is extremely high in temperature, and that room is always open from morning to night."

Ying Zheng looked at Lin Qian: "Really?"

Lin Qian nodded naturally.

He asked Xiao and his father a few more words, and after getting more accurate information, he generously rewarded the father and daughter with a lot of money, and even rewarded Xiao with the title of "hairpin curl".

Then, Ying Zheng directly ordered many soldiers to go to the village where the coal mine was discovered to dig Shi Nie back to Xianyang.

So soon, car after car of coal was unearthed from the hillside.

And these coals were all sent to the place where the cement was calcined.

On the same day, the coal was sent to the kiln.

Mohist Juzi was far more perceptive than others. He noticed the difference between coal and firewood almost not long after the coal was put into the furnace: "This coal has a bad smell, but it burns a lot. This kiln The temperature of the furnace is much higher than before.”

Just by raising the temperature, you can do a lot of things.

And it didn't take long for the cement to be calcined.

Annealing allowed the kiln to cool overnight, and the next day, Ying Zheng and Lin Qian came to the workshop where the cement was calcined, waiting to open the kiln.

Soon, someone took out part of the calcined cement inside.

Ying Zheng didn't understand the details, so he looked at Lin Qian and Mohist Juzi.

Lin Qian has never missed every step of cement production, so he can almost see the difference between burning cement with firewood and coal at a glance——

The cement powder calcined by the latter will be finer and more uniform, and there will be no agglomeration at all!

Soon, cement production, which had been almost suspended before, started again, and this time with coal as the base, the calcination of cement was much easier than before.

At least add coal more often than when burning wood