Three Kingdoms: A Million Soldiers Grown from the Fields

Chapter 129 Open-pit Coal Mine (Please read 4k words)

The rising steam from the distillery, carrying an intoxicating aroma, permeated the western part of Luqi City.

Zhang Xian watched as buckets of clear, spring-like "Cold Pool Fragrance" were carefully sealed and loaded onto carts. He then said to Manager Wang, who was bowing respectfully beside him,

"That's all, 20,000 catties. Send it to the Zhou family in Changshan Zhending, Jizhou. Also, tell them that when they take goods in the future, they should send a message in advance, and I will arrange for someone to deliver it to the border of Jizhou for handover."

Of course, the price increased from 30,000 coins per hundred catties to 35,000 coins per hundred catties.

Manager Wang bowed even deeper, his posture almost rigidly humble, his official robes, which were more formal than those of a clerk, made him appear extremely modest.

"Rest assured, my lord! I will personally escort it and ensure that not a single drop of wine is wasted," he assured, patting his chest.

Zhang Xian nodded, gave him a deep look, and then turned and left.

Manager Wang's excessive restraint was like an invisible barrier.

Since being given this minor official position, equivalent to a hundred bushels of grain, Manager Wang had become excessively cautious in his dealings with others.

Perhaps this is the sense of maladjustment brought about by a sudden change in class.

He couldn't say much more, so he could only try to change people's minds little by little.

Let's focus on what's in front of us first.

Fortunately, after the spring planting, his economic lifeline will finally start producing real money.

……

The market in Lusi is becoming more and more bustling and lively each day.

Long queues still formed in front of the official salt stalls. The relatively bluish-white salt had replaced the coarse, earthy salt of the past, and the prices were clearly written on the signs.

An old farmer, clutching the reward money he had just received for clearing land, bought some salt. Weighing it in his hand, he said to the person beside him, "Since the magistrate came to our Luqi, this salt has become much whiter, hahaha."

"Who says it isn't?"

The blacksmith stalls directly operated by the government office were also extremely popular.

The newly forged hoes and sickles had blades that gleamed with a cold, hard light, and smooth, comfortable wooden handles.

A man picked up a hoe, weighed it in his hand, and then flicked the blade with his finger, making a clear, ringing sound. He grinned and said, "Good heavens! This blade, this weight! Those old scrap iron blades would chip after a few strokes! With this treasure, we'll have plenty of energy to work on our newly cultivated fields!"

At the fabric stall, the colorful fine linen attracted women and girls to linger. Although there were few buyers yet, the bright colors had already sown the seeds of anticipation.

More stalls displayed local goods: steaming hot freshly steamed bean and cornbread, sturdy repaired baskets, jars of homemade pickled mustard tubers, and women carrying baskets of eggs calling out their wares... The bustling atmosphere of the market, carrying the scent of sweat and harvest, was truly authentic.

Several teenagers, brandishing wooden swords, chased and "fought" in the open space on the outskirts of the market, shouting commands they had learned from the military camp: "Wind! Wind! Strong wind!" This drew good-natured laughter from the passing yamen runners.

……

Outside the city, the fields are covered in varying shades of green.

The wheat fields along the Hutuo River are rolling with green waves, growing vigorously. The bean seedlings in the hillside fields are unfurling their tender leaves, and the sorghum seedlings along the field ridges are standing exceptionally tall.

The most eye-catching sight is the lush sea of ​​pumpkin vines on the sandy slope!
Thick vines spread out freely, huge green leaves overlap in layers, and golden trumpet flowers dot the landscape.

Even more delightful is that many of the flower stems have already produced fuzzy, fist-sized green cucumbers, which hang heavily on the vines.

Zhao Tian squatted at the edge of the field, carefully and gently pulling back a vine that had climbed over the edge of the field. Using the method taught by the agricultural official, he pressed down the nodes with damp soil to encourage it to take root.

His rough fingers brushed over a plump leaf and the small gourd that had just settled below, snapping off a few bunches of pumpkin vines to direct the roots' nutrients to the flower buds.

"Zhu Zi, keep the snapped pumpkin vines safe. The agricultural officials said that the vines are edible."

"I know, Dad! Come and see this vine!" Zhao Zhu's voice was filled with barely suppressed excitement.

He pointed to an exceptionally thick main vine next to him, on which hung four small gourds, the largest of which was already the size of a bowl, and was lush and green!
"The results are in! Magistrate Zhang's prediction of one vine yielding multiple melons is now a reality!"

Zhao Tian stood up and looked at the vibrant green landscape before him. His doubts about the "yield of several thousand catties per mu" vanished like morning mist meeting the sun.

“Take good care of them, and these will be gold nuggets! The magistrate is a saint; he wouldn't deceive us!” Zhao Tian’s voice was resolute.

"The water must be thorough, the soil loose, the vines firmly pressed down, and the roots deep enough for the melons to grow! Whether we eat chaff or rice afterward depends entirely on the next few dozen days!"

"I know dad!"

……

After dusk.

The lights of the thatched cottage in the east of the city shone even more steadily in the night.

The rustling sound of the sand table rubbing was still there, but the content on the stage was different.

On the wooden board behind Chen Ming, new characters such as "stone", "dou", "sheng", "wen", and "gong" are displayed alongside numbers.

The simple "+" and "-" signs have been replaced with more complex formulas.

"Fellow elders," Chen Ming's voice carried the same encouragement as always.

"Now that we've laid a solid foundation, let's learn something more practical! Let's calculate grain, money, and work points!"

He wrote on the clay tablet: 1 shi = 10 dou, 1 dou = 10 sheng.

"Old Zhao, the county government is rewarding those who reclaim wasteland with millet distributed per mu. Your family has 3.5 mu, and each mu will be rewarded with 1 dou and 2 sheng. How much millet will your family receive in total?"

Chen Ming pointed to Zhao Tian again. He could tell that Zhao Tian was the most serious person in the entire thatched cottage.

Zhao Tian did not answer immediately this time. He stared at the unit conversion on the mud slab, his brows furrowed, and his fingers unconsciously traced patterns on the rough trouser legs.

He tried hard to recall the "multiplication rhyme" taught by Chen Ming and the new number system he had learned.

After a long pause, he hesitated before speaking: "Three and a half mu... one dou and two sheng per mu... three mu is three dou, half a mu is... half a dou plus one sheng? So that is... three and a half dou plus one sheng?" He looked at Chen Ming uncertainly.

"That's the right approach!" Chen Ming nodded in affirmation, then wrote the equation on the blackboard.

3.5 mu × 1.2 dou/mu = ?

"First, multiply 3.5 mu by 1 dou, which gives 3.5 dou. Then multiply by 0.2 dou, which gives 0.7 dou. Put them together, and you get 4.2 dou! That is, four dou and two sheng!"

He broke it down step by step, making it clear and understandable.

Zhao Tian suddenly realized, and his cloudy eyes lit up: "Right, right! Four pecks and two pints! That's much clearer than I could explain it myself!"

Chen Ming also wrote that the rent for government-owned oxen was equivalent to 5 liters of millet per day.

Zhao Zhu plowed the field for three days. How many liters of millet should he be paid in wages?
This time, Zhao Zhu volunteered to calculate it himself: "5 liters x 3 days = 15 liters!"

The voice was loud and clear, carrying the confidence of someone just beginning to understand the basics.

The practice questions became increasingly realistic, such as calculating how many bushels of grain a family of five would eat in a month, how many chickens they sold would earn them how much money, and how many kilograms of salt they could exchange for.

Recently, it has even started to involve simple work point accumulation and conversion.

At their desks, farmers frowned, their wooden sticks moving laboriously across the sand as they calculated figures that determined their livelihoods.

Mistakes still exist, but the focus and the drive to understand carry a much heavier weight than simply learning to recognize and trace characters.

The reputation of Luqi, like the mellow aroma wafting from the distillery, quietly crossed the Hutuo River and spread to the surrounding counties and towns.

On the official road leading from Lüchi to the neighboring county of Yangqu, several dilapidated oxcarts creaked and rattled, with families crammed onto them, carrying meager belongings, their expressions weary yet filled with anticipation.

"Brother Wang, is that Luqi... really that good? They really give out new land? And exempt it from taxes?" a sallow-faced, emaciated man asked the old man driving the cart.

The old man wiped his sweat, his eyes gleaming: "My sister, who married into Zhao Family Village in Luqi, sent word that it's true! Magistrate Zhang has opened the granaries, distributed good farm tools, and even rented government oxen! As long as you're willing to work hard, there's a way to survive! Unlike our Yangqu, where land rent is crushing people, even the rats in the government granaries have more fat in their bellies than we do!"

"I heard... they teach peasants like us to read and do math there?" another woman asked in a low voice, her tone filled with disbelief.

"Yes!" The old man nodded vigorously: "My sister said that my brother-in-law Zhao Tian goes to the thatched cottage every night, and when he comes back, he can draw a few numbers on the ground!"

They say they can clearly calculate how much grain they're entitled to and how much rent they owe! Everything is crystal clear! In this world, being able to know exactly how many grains of rice are in your bowl is a great blessing!

These words drew sighs and longing from the people on the bus.

The oxcart continued steadfastly toward Lüqi in the twilight.

At the Luchi market, there were also more vendors speaking with accents from neighboring counties.

A cloth merchant from Meng County, while tidying up the coarse linen he had brought, struck up a conversation with a local pottery vendor next to him: "Brother, your Luqi... things have really changed! Look at this market, how bustling it is! The aroma of wine from that distillery can be smelled from miles away! I heard that Magistrate Zhang is going to repair the road?"

The local stall owner said with a hint of pride, "That's right! Magistrate Zhang said, 'If you want to get rich, build roads first!' He said it would be made of something like... 'three-in-one soil'?"
Anyway, it's a good product, sturdy! From now on, we won't have to worry about this road turning into a muddy mess on rainy days!

The cloth merchant from Meng County clicked his tongue in amazement, his eyes filled with envy: "Incredible! Incredible! If only our Meng County had such a magistrate... Alas!" He shook his head, his tone bitter.

Inside the county government office, Han Ji presented a brief report to Zhang Xian: "My lord, recently, dozens of refugees and poor families from Yangqu, Meng County, and even Dingxiang County have been moving into Lüqi every day."

They all said they admired the lord's benevolent rule and were willing to serve the people of Luqi by clearing wasteland and contributing their efforts. According to precedent, they had already been registered, assigned to village heads for resettlement, and provided with rations and farming tools.

Zhang Xian looked at the population growth figures on the briefing but showed little joy. Instead, he said...

"Acceptance is acceptable, but screening is necessary. Local security and household registration management must keep up to prevent spies or lazy people from infiltrating."

Newly reclaimed land is limited, and subsequent resettlement needs to be planned early. In addition, honest, hardworking individuals with some skills should be selected from among the displaced people to supplement the artisan camps and other relevant occupations.

"Yes! I understand!" Han Ji nodded in response.

Then he took out a booklet and spread it out: "In addition, my lord, the coal that you asked Ji to send people to search for has also been found."

"This item is found around Wufeng Mountain. Our dispatched personnel have already located three open-pit mines. If you want to mine it, you only need to pass through the area to collect it."

Zhang Xian raised an eyebrow, a hint of joy in his heart. He had anticipated the discovery of coal mines around Lüqi, so he wasn't overjoyed.

Don't you even know what the area west of the Taihang Mountains is called?
That's right, it's called Shanxi!
Look again, what was Wufeng Mountain called in later generations?
That's right! It's called Wutai Mountain.

So it's perfectly normal for there to be a coal mine here; it would be strange if there weren't.

He nodded slightly: "Now that land reclamation has slowed down and there's a lot of free time for farmers, let's organize people to repair the roads to the mining area." He glanced at the official document that Han Ji had just handed him and smiled.

"Now that many new out-of-towners have arrived, it's a good opportunity to provide them with jobs, so let's organize them to repair the road."

"only,"

Han Ji bowed and accepted.

Zhang Xian added: "However, once you are registered in the Lüqi Yellow Register, you are a citizen of Lüqi. Do not be harsh on your daily food and wages. Also, remind the supervisor not to treat you differently."

Han Ji bowed again in response and then withdrew.

Zhang Xian continued working at his desk.

Now that the coal deposits have been located, it's time to begin trial preparations for coking coal production.

It's not that the Eastern Han Dynasty didn't use coal; on the contrary, coal was used in various places, and even in iron smelting.

However, he knew that if he wanted to produce good iron and steel, the coal needed to be desulfurized, which is coking coal.

In addition, with the population of Luqi County increasing, daily fire consumption is also surging, and the production of honeycomb briquettes needs to be tried.

The surface of an open-pit coal mine is inevitably severely weathered by wind and sun over a long period of time. To obtain high-quality coal, one would have to dig at least four or five meters down. Fortunately, the inferior coal on the surface is perfect for making honeycomb briquettes.

He remembered that in later generations, most of the inferior coal was used to make honeycomb briquettes.

This type of fuel, which can burn for a long time, can effectively reduce fuel demand.

The brushstrokes moved across the wooden tablet.

Half of his mind was on official business, while the other half was on coal.
-
The next day, Zhang Xian personally led a group of people through the morning dew to a ravine at the foot of Wufeng Mountain.

The terrain here is gentle, and large areas of black mineral veins can be clearly seen winding through the exposed rock layers, like the veins of the earth.

The surface weathering layer is obvious.

Zhang Xian bent down and picked up a palm-sized, heavy, dark stone.

It feels cool to the touch, and the cross-section shimmers with a dull resinous luster.

Han Ji also picked up a piece; it was quite heavy and carried a mixed smell of earthiness and faint sulfur.

"This substance is not uncommon in Bingzhou. Poor families occasionally mine it for heating, but the smoke is very heavy, choking and irritating to the eyes, and it is very easy to extinguish. It is not as convenient as firewood or charcoal, so it is not widely used."

"And the secretary, in the cold of winter, used coal for warmth, closed his doors, and his family perished."

Zhang Xian threw away the weathered coal in his hand and clapped his hands: "Untreated coal is like this. Although it can burn, it will also release toxic gases. If the environment is even slightly enclosed, it can easily lead to people being poisoned and dying."

"Actually, not only is coal poisonous, but the charcoal we used to use is also poisonous when burned in a confined space."

He pointed to the large area of ​​exposed mineral layers: "The coal and charcoal on the surface here are mostly of inferior quality. They produce a lot of smoke and little fire when burned. If you want better coal, you have to dig down several meters."

Han Ji nodded and silently noted down these key points.

"There are two more open-pit mines. Do you wish to go and see them, my lord?" he asked.

Zhang Xian shook his head: "This area alone is enough to consume most of Lu Si's labor force. Let's build mines and roads here for now, as it is really too inconvenient to travel here."

Bingzhou is not like the Central Plains; its vast territory and sparse population are not just empty words. Wufeng Mountain is right next to Luqi County, and even a section of its foothills is within the boundaries of Luqi County.

Even so, the closer you get to the foot of the mountain, the more vivid the original appearance becomes.

If he hadn't used his influence to bind prospectors to search for minerals, this place might have remained silent for who knows how long.

Han Ji cupped his hands and said, "I already gave instructions last night. The nearest village is Shi Village, which is twenty li away. So, how about building the road from Shi Village to here?" He asked tentatively.

Zhang Xian thought for a moment and nodded in reply: "Okay, we will also build another road that leads directly from Shicun to Lüchi, with a width that allows two vehicles to pass at the same time."

"And know."

　I need votes, I'm sleepy, going to bed now.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)