Chapter 267 Black Stone Myth, Traditional Coking Method!

"This is...high quality bituminous coal?!"

Shulot looked at the asphalt-like black stone in his hand, and then at the thick smoke from the burning black stone not far away, and shouted in surprise.

A long gust of wind blew by, and thick smoke and exclamations dispersed in the wind. The long wind brought the unique sulfur smell of the mining area, and also blew away the bits of coal dust in the king's hands.

The king stared in a daze. They seem to be the first seeds, containing a glimmer of vitality for the sprouting of industry.

"Bertard, you have done a great job! Where did you find this?"

"The kitchen in the back camp. It seems that the miners dug out this black stone from the ground and used it to make fire for cooking. It seems to have been a long time ago."

Bertard smiled. He knew His Highness very well and had known that His Highness would be interested in these rare things.

"Ezpin, have you seen this?"

Hulot looked at Ezpin, who was a miner. Ezpan stared at the black stone in the king's hand and replied in a low voice with some fear.

"Your Highness, this is the blood of demons that coexists with the Stone of the Dead. It is said that the great god in myth killed and suppressed many underground demons. These demons came from the dark abyss, and after death, their blood and bodies condensed into black Black stone has been secretly used as fuel in the mine for more than ten years, at least since I first became a miner. "

"How many black stones are there?"

"It's not a small amount, it can't be used up at all. There are two places near the main mine, and some can be mined underground."

"Since there are not many black stones like this, why have I never seen them in the capital?"

Hearing this, Shulot was a little excited but also a little confused. In this day and age, logging was an extremely time-consuming and laborious task. After the wood is chopped, it has to wait until it is dry before burning, and the calorific value is not high. In contrast, coal is easy to mine and resistant to burning, and its advantages over wood are obvious.

"Your Highness, because this is unclean demon blood!"

Ezpin was surprised by the king's indifference.

"There used to be miners who took the black stone and reported it to the priests of Tarasco, hoping to get a reward. The priests were very angry, thinking that it contained evil and was extremely unclean. The priests said that since the flames of the Stone of the Dead can communicate In the world of the dead, the burning of demon blood will naturally communicate that demons are extremely dangerous evil things and cannot be allowed to be touched by civilians. "

Shulot was stunned. This deduction was in line with theology. he asked curiously.

"Then what?"

"Then. Then the miner was executed. The priests also sent people to the mining area to identify evil, and many of the older miners who had used black stones were executed. Fortunately, I had just arrived at the mine not long ago, and there were people left behind in the mine. He came to maintain the mining and escaped the disaster. From then on, no one dared to mention this matter outside. "

"It's just that the work in the mine is really hard, and there is too much work to do. Burning black stone can save a lot of manpower and allow the mine's output to meet the requirements. The Tarascan warriors who managed it turned a blind eye. Close your eyes and let the lowly miners use unclean black stones that they themselves will never touch."

". It turns out that the advanced production methods that challenged the divine authority were suppressed, but they were secretly preserved because of the advanced nature of production."

After listening, Shulot shook his head with emotion. This matter cannot simply be attributed to the conservative ignorance of the mythical age. As a high-ranking priest, he can better understand the logic of the Tarasco priests.

The priest's divine authority does not come from force, but from the reverence of the human heart. The priests of Tarasco burned the Stone of the Dead to communicate with the dead and intimidate all peoples, which became one of the important sources of the majesty of their theocracy. This kind of majesty will not allow ordinary civilians to provoke. Naturally, burning "wonderful objects" can only be the prerogative of the priests. Demon blood and the Stone of the Dead are closely linked in mythology, so they must not be discovered first by lowly miners, nor should civilians be allowed to use them at will!

"The divine power serves the priests. The root cause of this encounter lies in the identity of the discoverer! If a high-ranking priest discovered coal, just change the explanation, and the outcome of the matter would be very different."

Shulot thought in his heart. As the governance of the country deepened, he became more and more aware that the struggle for power and identity and the suppression of traditional authority were everywhere in the operation of the kingdom. How to constantly balance tradition and innovation, while maintaining the stability of the kingdom and giving new forces room to grow, will become his lifelong exploration and thinking!

The discovery of coal disrupted the original plans. Schulot suspended subsequent inspections of the farm and concentrated on investigating "food for industry" and also thinking about the use of coal.

Black Wolf's royal flag was stationed in the mine, envoys to dispatch support were sent back to the capital, and new royal orders were promulgated. Under the guidance of senior miners, dozens of warrior groups explored in all directions. They need to collect all the special rocks and carry samples of the black stone to find "the place where the demon was suppressed."

In the main copper mines in the mountains, miners continue to extract. The king did not interfere much with the operation of the mine, and did not care about the poor accommodation conditions. He just collected all the coal in the mining area under the uneasy eyes of the miners, and then began to try the local method of coking in his memory.

In the later generations of the northern Shanxi Plateau, traditional coking was once very common. Xiuluote had traveled there, seen the real thing, and listened to the tour guide's story about coking. In general, traditional coking is very similar to traditional charcoal burning. It is to ignite coal and calcine it under the condition that the air is not completely isolated in the furnace to achieve high-temperature dry distillation and carbonization. The kiln for traditional coking can adopt the design of clay brick kiln, but only slightly modified in appearance.

Xiuluote summoned a dozen senior miners and spent three to five days to build a ground furnace brick kiln more than 2 meters high.

The brick kiln is buried more than one meter under the soil. The upper end is like an inverted pot, and the bottom diameter is about 3-4 meters. The overall look is like a yurt. There are ignition holes and fire guides in the side walls of the kiln. The top of the kiln is covered with mud. In addition to the flue, there are also ventilation holes.

While building the kiln, another group of miners crushed the coal and carefully sieved it to remove impurities in the coal. When both sides are ready, fill the kiln with broken coal and pile it tightly. Then ignite the coking coal from the ignition hole and start coking in the furnace.

Soon, the coal gradually heated up and burned, and the billowing hot air flow came out of the flue at the top with thick smoke. The smoke was very strong, full of choking exhaust gas produced by coal combustion, and also carried a large amount of unpleasant coal cracking products.

Xiuluot stepped back a few steps and left the range of heat waves and smoke. He sniffed gently and vaguely smelled a familiar pungent smell.

"Huh? This smell of ammonia?"

The king's thoughts flew away in a trance. A long-standing term appeared in his mind, and he sighed again.

"Coal chemical industry"

The smelting of coal lasted for a full ten days, and the thick smoke gradually faded and disappeared. This proved that the coal in the kiln was almost calcined, and the remaining coke hardened and coked to form porous coke.

Xiuluot then arranged for people to pour water on the hot kiln to extinguish it. It was not until the kiln was almost cold that Ezepan took action himself, opened the sealed furnace mouth, and took out the epoch-making metallurgical fuel, coke!

"Your Highness, this is the divine object you got after the sacrifice! Thank the Lord God for the blessing, purify the blood of the demons!"

Ezepan's expression flashed, and he shouted the slogan of the gods. The miners around him were all in awe and bowed to the ground.

"The Lord God is omnipotent, far beyond the reach of ordinary gods. His light shines on the earth and washes away the impurities in the black stone. As long as you pray to the Lord God, civilians can use the black stone without worrying about corruption! And when the black stone undergoes the calcination ceremony, it will become a real divine object, containing the power to change the world!"

Xuluot, wearing complicated sacrificial clothes, chanted loudly in a simple tone in front of all the warriors and miners. He wants to redefine the mythical status of the black stone with unquestionable authority.

As the priest king chanted, everyone rose and fell, facing the kiln where coking was completed, and prayed loudly to this strange "altar".

"Praise the Lord! He is omnipotent, and with warm flames, he gave us divine objects!"

After the solemn prayer, Shulot waved his hand and asked the warriors and miners to resume work. Then, the king suppressed his excitement, took a piece of coke in his hand, and looked at it carefully.

The coke in his hand was in irregular blocks, rich in pores of varying sizes, and the color was silver-gray. He held it slightly and could feel the unique hard texture of coke, which was completely different from loose coal.

In this era, coking technology was only in the hands of the Eastern Celestial Empire. Although coke ironmaking has been around for two hundred years, it has always been passed down only among master craftsmen with profound background. This is the first coking in the entire Western Hemisphere!

"Even coke is available, now all we need is iron!"

Shulot felt a little emotional for a while. This was another seed he planted with his own hands, changing the entire era bit by bit. After a while, the king waved his hand, and Ezpan took two warriors to take out the formed coke and weighed it with a simple scale.

Ezpan quickly calculated the result, and the coking rate was about 40%. With the increase of coking experience, the coking rate will gradually increase, and the peak of traditional coking should be able to reach 60%.

"Well, it's the first time to make coke, and the coal quality in the mining area is very high!"

The king whispered to himself, and then waited patiently. Batches of exploration teams returned from all over the place, and also brought mineral information from the mining area.

The Chingambat mining area is located near the dormant volcano and contains a large number of rich mineral deposits. Among them, copper mines are the main ones, estimated to be more than 10 million tons. Then there are the associated gold and silver mines, which are located deeper and difficult to smelt, and are not worth mining at present. Then, the sulfur in the volcanic area, the content is unknown, and it must be enough for use, and it was once secretly controlled by the priests.

And surprisingly, a miner presented a piece of lead-zinc ore familiar to the alliance. According to the geological characteristics of this place, the lead mine should also contain silver.

"Well, lead and silver separation, ash blowing method."

I don't know what he thought of, but Xiu Luote smiled. He chuckled and shook his head, and then asked about the distribution of the most important coal mines.

Within a radius of 20 miles, five small coal mines with a capacity of one million tons have been discovered. According to the miners, there are several more "demon stones" stored underground. It is estimated that the total reserves must be above 20 million tons, mainly bituminous coal and lignite.

According to the standards of later generations, the coal reserves here are very small, and the value is far from comparable to that of gold and silver mines. The Chingambat mining area in later generations was monopolized by mining groups. Although the Mexican government discovered coal mines, it was determined that they were not worth mining, and only private teams secretly dug them.

In this era, in Shulot's view, such reserves are sufficient.

"The Chinganbat mining area, copper mines, gold and silver mines, sulfur mines, coal mines, lead and zinc mines, handicrafts of the feudal state, gunpowder workshops, and bronze workshops. The future industrial center of the feudal state should be located here, as the kingdom's Conquer, provide a steady stream of strength!”

Shulot raised his head and looked at the distant sky. The plan in his heart was as vast as the sky. The eagle will fly high in time, and the plains in the east, the hills in the south, the mountains in the west, and the great lakes in the north will eventually be under the king's gaze!