Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 113 Salt and Iron Government
After finalizing the arrangements for Dingyuan's group, Lu Jin immediately called Zheng Yong over.

Now Zhu Liangzu's request to station a cavalry in Dingyuan is actually very necessary. Dingyuan is "vast and sparsely populated", similar to Luzhou. Dingyuan is more than 100 miles away from the nearest Haozhou, more than 200 miles away from Chuzhou, and more than 200 miles away from Liangxian.

The city of Dingyuan has to control an area of ​​hundreds of miles in radius, and it would be impossible without a fast and mobile cavalry. Moreover, it has to face the pressure from the Yuan court. Dingyuan is extremely important to Lu Jin and must be firmly controlled. It is a territory that must not be lost.

However, Lu Jin now only has one cavalry regiment, which has just been upgraded to a regiment and is not yet fully staffed. It is called a regiment, but in fact it is just two battalions. But there is nothing he can do about it. He is in urgent need of it and lacks cavalry, so he can only continue to force the expansion of the army.

As soon as Zheng Yong entered the Marshal's Mansion and before he even saluted, Lu Jin said straight to the point, "Zheng Yong, you've been promoted again."

"what?"

Zheng Yong was bowing, and when he heard this, he looked at Lu Jin in surprise.

Lu Jin explained immediately.

"Zhu Liangzu of the Fifth Regiment has already taken Dingyuan. There is only one city in a radius of several hundred miles. His regiment can defend the city, but his external control is very limited. He requested that I send a cavalry unit to stay there permanently.

"We have few cavalry now, and I only have you and Ye Sheng, so I can only send you. You surrendered here before the fight against Zuo Junbi, and I feel at ease with you there."

This is the art of leadership. Lu Jin deliberately added the last sentence, implying that Zheng Yong arrived before Ye Sheng, and that Ye Sheng was a surrendered general. Comparing the two, Lu Jin trusted Zheng Yong more.

Of course, this was just for him to hear. Ye Sheng and Zheng Yong were both very trusted by Lu Jin. If he talked to Ye Sheng, Lu Jin would definitely say that he was the first surrendered general to come to him. I am at ease wherever you are.
Sure enough, when Zheng Yong heard this, he immediately knelt on one knee and clasped his fists.

"Thank you for your trust, Marshal. I will definitely help you defend Dingyuan."

Lu Jin immediately stepped forward and helped him up personally.

"Stand up. No need to be so polite. From now on, Ye Sheng will be the commander of the first cavalry regiment, and you will be the commander of the second cavalry regiment. I don't have more cavalry to give you now. You can only recruit soldiers and horses when you get there. I will ask the Dingyuan County Magistrate to allocate the money and food you need."

"Yes, I will obey your order." Zheng Yong responded quickly.

Lu Jin said, "When you go there this time, escort the county magistrate and chief clerk of Dingyuan County to take up their posts.

"Also, when we get to Liang County, have Zhang Wen of the Sixth Regiment transfer the Auxiliary Battalion to you to escort a batch of food and fodder. You escort them together. When you pick up the group from Dingyuan, have the Sixth Regiment's Auxiliary Battalion follow them back. Then you take the Second Cavalry Regiment and the county magistrate and go together."

"Yes, I have noted them all down."

"Go ahead and pick up the people from Dingyuan first. They don't have much food with them. Once you pick them up, you can continue to Dingyuan."

"Yes."

Not long after Zheng Yong left, Xu Jichuan from the Wenyuan Construction Department also came to visit. He brought a group of craftsmen with him and excitedly came to Lu Jin to report the good news.

"Marshal, we found him. We are looking for him while riding a donkey. The person we are looking for is right next to us, but we didn't notice him before. The coking craftsman you want is this person. I found him among the two thousand boatmen sent by Heyang."

"Oh? There are shipbuilders who know how to make coke? What's your name? Where are you from?" Lu Jin looked at the craftsman and asked.

The craftsman looked to be about forty years old. He was not tall, about 1.7 meters, a little hunchbacked, and had a beard. He looked like a little old man and looked very nervous. When he saw Lu Jin asking him questions, he knelt on the ground with a plop.

"In reply to the Marshal, my name is Jing Chunlai, and I am a craftsman in Ningguo Road."

"Oh? Craftsman? Stand up and talk. You can make coke? How do you make it?" Lu Jin asked hurriedly.

"Yes."

Jing Chunlai then stood up timidly, but when it came to work, he immediately stopped stuttering and seemed very knowledgeable.

"This coking is actually the same as burning charcoal. There are two ways to do it. One is the trench burning method, which is to dig a trench in the ground, tamp it flat, and then put the mined coal in it. After the coal is lit, cover it with soil and leave a hole to let the smoke out.

“When the smoke stops, pour water on it to extinguish the coal. Then the coke is produced and can be directly dug out and used.

"There is also a kiln-burning method, which is exactly the same as charcoal burning. First, build a charcoal-burning earthen kiln, put the coal blocks in it, light it and let it smoke. When there is no smoke, you can extinguish it and take out the coke, which is the same as the ditch-burning method."

Lu Jin nodded frequently as he listened. This was the traditional method of making coke in ancient times. In fact, it is almost the same in modern times, where water is poured after burning. The only difference is that modern times have various sensors that can accurately control the temperature, as well as detection methods to check the content of various components in the coke.

It seems that this person really understands.

Lu Jin asked curiously, "Where did you learn this method of coking?"

Jing Chunlai quickly replied, "In reply to the Marshal, I am from Xuancheng County, Ningguo Road. There are coal mines in my hometown. In the Song Dynasty, this coking method was used to smelt iron. Wuhu's Sugang was smelted with coke from Xuancheng. I learned it from my elders since I was young."

Lu Jin nodded again. This made sense. Xuancheng, Anhui, is where the Huainan Yanjiang Coalfield is located. Why is it called the Yanjiang Coalfield? Because it is not only in the south of the Yangtze River, but also in the north of the Yangtze River. The Chaohu Coalfield belongs to the north of the Yangtze River in the Huainan Coalfield.

In fact, the ancients used coke to smelt iron very early. This technology existed at least in the Song Dynasty, and it was very mature in the Yuan Dynasty.

It’s just that the iron smelted from coke at that time was indeed not as good as the iron smelted from charcoal, but the ancients were still keen on this technology and it developed very quickly. As for why, it was of course caused by the shortage of fuel resources.

Many people have no idea about the amount of charcoal needed for iron smelting. A rough calculation shows that smelting 500 kilograms of iron requires at least 4000 kilograms of charcoal. If you add steelmaking and forging heat treatment, the amount of charcoal will need to be doubled. Even if there is a primeval forest nearby, it will not be enough for you to burn.
So the ancients naturally set their sights on coal, which can be burned and has a higher calorific value. As for the sulfur content of coal, the iron produced is more brittle? Since wood can be put into the kiln and burned into good charcoal, why can't coal lumps be burned? This is how coke came about.

Lu Jin asked him again, "Then are you willing to make this coke for me?"

Jing Chunlai immediately said, "Marshal, whether this coal can be used for coking depends on what kind of coal it is. Ordinary coal cannot be made into coking coal. Only smelly coal can be used."

Stinky coal is the ancient name for coking coal. Coal is also divided into many categories such as anthracite, thermal coal, and coking coal. Not every type of coal can be used for coking. Lu Jin also knew this, but he remembered that there should be coalfields in Huainan. Since there is coking coal in Xuancheng, there is no reason why there is no such thing in Chaohu, which is in the same mineralizing area.

"Then go to Chao County and look for it. If you find the coking coal, I will remember your merit. Not only will I build you a house and give you land, but I will also let you be the director of the Coking Coal Company. Are you willing?"

Upon hearing this, Jing Chunlai immediately knelt down again and said, "Thank you, Marshal. I will definitely find the coke."

"Hahaha, okay, then I'll wait for your good news. I'll come back and ask Manager Xu to arrange some staff for you. You go down first, and Xu Jichuan, you stay for a while."

"Yes."

After Jing Chunlai left, Lu Jin said to Xu Jichuan again.

"You did a good job this time. We found it in just a few days."

Xu Jichuan said quickly, "This is all by chance. I discovered it when I was making a list for those craftsmen."

Lu Jin nodded, "Since you are so good at finding people, I will assign you a few more tasks. Find me a few iron smelting craftsmen, iron foundry workers, locksmiths, and jewelry craftsmen. It would be best if you could find a few craftsmen who can dig salt wells and boil salt."

"Dig salt wells? Can we dig salt wells here too? I only heard that people in Shu eat well salt. The salt we eat in the Jianghuai area is sea salt from the Huaidong Road." Xu Jichuan was puzzled.

He could understand iron smelting, iron casting, and locksmithing, and he could barely understand jewelry craftsmen. Maybe the Marshal wanted to make gold and silver wares? But what was this salt well?

Lu Jin could only explain.

"We do have salt here, but it's in Dingyuan. The salt mines are hundreds of feet underground, so we can't dig directly, we can only use water to mine.

"We are currently blocked by the imperial court and cannot reach the seaside for the time being. It is difficult to get salt. It would be best if we could make salt ourselves. It is also a stable source of income."

Xu Jichuan opened his mouth wide, he didn't expect that Dingyuan could drill salt wells. As a scholar, he certainly knew how much profit the salt and iron monopoly could bring. Now there are iron mines and coal mines, but he didn't expect that there are even salt mines in his territory!
"Does the Marshal really mean what he said?"

"Would I lie to you about something like this?"

"Then I'll go find it right away!"

Seeing Xu Jichuan running out, Lu Jin smiled immediately.

How did he know there was a salt mine in Dingyuan? Of course, it was not because of the mineral distribution map he brought with him, but because of the offline map on his phone, which showed that there was a salt chemical industrial park in Luqiao Town, Dingyuan County. Lu Jin had discovered this when he was tracing the map.
As an industrial and mining enterprise, it would of course be most appropriate to build it directly on the mine. Why is there a salt chemical industrial park in inland Anhui? Just think about it and you will know that there are mines there!

There is a large salt mine in Dingyuan County with a reserve of about 20 billion tons. If it is used only for food, it will be enough for million people to eat for tens of thousands of years. At the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the salt mine in Dingyuan was enough to meet the national food needs.

Of course, the modern industrial park not only produces table salt, but also produces 80 tons of caustic soda and 100 million tons of soda ash each year, as well as some other salt-related chemical products, with a total output value of over billion yuan.

Lu Jin remembered that when the nuclear wastewater was discharged into the sea, people rushed to buy salt. At that time, the news reported how many salt mines there were in the country, especially in Anhui. Anhui people have always eaten salt from Dingyuan. When have they ever eaten sea salt?
However, even though we know this, mining is not easy. This kind of mine is buried 300 to 600 meters underground. With the current technology of the Yuan Dynasty, the most reliable way to mine it is by using well brine.

Dig a deep well, pump water to melt the rock salt, then pump the brine up and boil it dry. In fact, the modern Dingyuan salt mine also uses this water mining method, but the equipment is more advanced.

If it is really impossible to find a craftsman who knows how to dig a salt well, then the Lu brocade can only be dug out with a Luoyang shovel.

Just after summoning a craftsman, Lu Jin thought about it and decided to do all the craftsmen's work at once. He asked people to find Xue Gang and Sui Gu, the two blacksmiths who helped him make weapons, and Shao Da and Su Qing, the two carpenters. Shao Da helped him make the bamboo shaft gun barrels, and Su Qing was the one who followed him to modify the loom.

Lu Jin called these four people together and prepared to hold a technical meeting to discuss the next step of making weapons. By the way, he would delegate some low-end technology to improve the ancient technology level. At least he could unify the rulers and make a few vernier calipers or something.

Write the staff list, a little late, report a little

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(End of this chapter)