On the banks of the Bashui River, on the west side of the river-blocking dam, thick smoke was rolling beside a third-level ship lock, and steam pumps roared to fill the second-level ship lock. As the water level increased, the ships in the second-level ship lock also rose. Finally, the water level of the second-level ship lock remained the same as the water level of the previous level (third-level ship lock).

The water level of the third-level ship lock is the same as the water level of the river upstream of the weir bar, which means that the ships coming from the downstream of the weir bar have taken the "three-level steps" and successfully arrived at the upper reaches of the weir bar, with an elevation height of more than eight zhang.

This is an amazing number. The height difference between the upstream and downstream of the weir bar is greater than the height of ordinary city walls. It is precisely because of the third-level ship lock that allows ships traveling on the water to pass through the river and dam smoothly.

This river dam is also part of the official road across the east and west banks of Bashui, and is actually a bridge.

The third-level ship lock has one set on the east and west sides of the weir barn, namely the "upward" and "downward" ship locks. According to the principle of "driving on the left" (the right and left are determined by the direction of travel), the upward ship lock is on the left (west side) of the weir barn, and the downward ship lock is on the right (east side).

The reason why two sets of ship locks are set is to facilitate the convenience of a large number of fleets passing through river dams. If there is only one set of ship locks, there will be congestion when the shipping is busy.

The Ba River originates from the southern foot of the Dabie Mountains and flows from north to south. It enters the Yangtze River from the mouth of Ba to the east of Xiyang. It is one of the "Five Waters of Xiyang". It has flowed quietly for thousands of years, but now it is extremely busy.

The quarries and logging farms upstream of the Bashui River continuously provide stones, limes, wood, charcoal, and a large number of mountain goods from the Dabie Mountains, all of which are transported by this river.

There are also a large amount of supplies to be transported north along the Bashui River to the upstream area. After unloading the goods upstream, they are transported to the mountains by land to supply the mountains.

The busy Bashui shipping has increased the requirements for the waterway of ships, and the water level of Bashui will drop during the dry season, affecting the passage of ships.

However, in the rainy season, the outbreak of mountain torrents will cause the water level of Bashui to soar, posing a threat to the safety of the people along the borders of Badong County in the lower reaches of Bakou. Therefore, the government has concentrated manpower and material resources to build river dams and supporting water conservancy facilities, including third-level ship locks.

This expensive water conservancy project has the basic ability of "storing water in the rainy season and storing water in the dry season". It serves as a bridge to communicate between the east and west and the west, and is also an important hub for the Bashui waterway.

But the most important point is that it undertakes the experimental task of steam pump.

Multi-level ship locks have actually existed with canals and canals. They have existed since ancient times. When the river water is abundant, whether it is upward or downward, you only need to release water, and you do not need to use a machine to pump water.

However, frequent water release is not conducive to maintaining the water level upstream of the weir, which is more obvious in canals and canals where water is tight.

The water level of the canal and canal is related to whether the canal canal canal canal canal canal pass smoothly. Therefore, once the water level difference between the upstream and downstream of the weir is too large, and the ships have to frequently pass through the locks, it is easy to significantly lower the water level upstream and affect the traffic capacity of the entire canal.

Now, with a steam pump, it is no longer difficult to maintain the water level upstream of the weir, but new problems follow: the durability of the steam pump and the cost of use.

Steam pumps can also burn coal, but no matter which fuel is burned, the demand for fuel is very high.

More importantly, in order to ensure the normal operation of the multi-stage lock, the working intensity of the pump is not small, so a backup machine is needed to facilitate rotational inspection and repair.

All kinds of problems are gathered together, which is the most critical issue of cost of use. If the cost of use is too high, no one can afford to use a steam pump.

This problem cannot be solved by verbal battles alone, so the multi-level lock of Bashuiyan dam undertakes the experimental task of steam pumping machines. It requires a long-term trial operation to demonstrate the practicality and "economicity" of steam pumping machines for ensuring the passage of ship locks.

The trial operation has been nearly a year, and a large amount of data has been accumulated for the use of steam pumps for shipping. At this time, Yu Wen Kai, the chief supervisor, and several officials from the Dongguan Office, looked at the reports in their hands and the expenses recorded on it, and couldn't help but feel excited:

Not a lot of losses!

When the number of fleets in the canal reaches a certain value, the tax paid by the locks can be used as the operating expenses of the steam pump, or at least share most of the expenses, so as not to let the government lose money and vomit blood. This is the operation result of the Bashui locks.

This means that when coal is easier to obtain, it is still quite feasible to use a steam pump to assist the transport of the canal.

When the imperial court digging canals and organizing canal transportation, the first issue to consider was not profit, but a large amount of food and grass transportation. Therefore, as long as the cost is not too high, some losses are not a problem within the scope of the financial ability to bear it.

The problem is that this steam pump requires a lot of coal or firewood, which is a bit troublesome to use.

Coal is carbonite. If the coal mine is too far away, the cost of transporting coal alone will be astonishingly high; using firewood is convenient. The problem is that using steam pumps year after year may lead to a cut-off of all the surrounding trees.

For Huangzhou, because it is close to Daye, there is coal produced in Daye, so fuel is not a problem. The busy Bashui shipping allows the tolls collected by the lock to make up for the huge expenses caused by using steam pumps.

But elsewhere, there are no such good conditions.

The high cost of use determines that the current steam pump cannot be promoted on a large scale and can only be used in specific places.

But even so, it is a magical tool.

Yuwen Kai thought so, looking at the trial operation report, he was becoming more and more interested in steam pumps, and he could already figure out the value of the pumps in several important canal transport hubs.

For the imperial court, these canal transport hubs do not need to pursue profits, but only need to ensure smooth canal transport. Then the high cost of using steam pumps is not a problem.

While thinking, Yuwen Kai looked at the third-level lock in front of him and the water pump next to the lock, and thought of another question: Why did the Huangzhou Official Office conduct a "test operation" of the steam pump on the Bashuiyan dam?

It must be about preparing for large-scale projects, otherwise it would be impossible to invest a lot of public funds in vain to do some "trial operation"!

Yuwen Kai looked at the Huangzhou Chief General Secretary Hao Wu Bo who was accompanying the tour. Hao Wu Bo was also responsible for the explanation. Therefore, Yuwen Kai asked directly whether the other party had any plans for a large-scale water conservancy project in King Bin.

Hao Wu Bo’s answer was very simple: “Yes.”

Yuwen Kai's problem then came: "So, how to solve the problem of carbonite... coal? Although there have been no coal mines since ancient times, there seems to be no other large-scale mining of coal mines except Daye."

"No, near Yecheng, a large ore vein was investigated last year. Now the trial mining is successful, and the amount of coal output is greater than expected. Large-scale mining will be started next year."

After hearing what Hao Wu Bo said, Yuwen Kai and his colleagues were stunned: What does Yecheng have to do with the discovery of a large coal mine?

There is Ru River near Yecheng. Could it be that King Bi wants to clear the shipping of Ru River?

Yecheng is located at the east end of Yewandao. Yuwen Kai is quite familiar with that area. After thinking deeply, he figured it out.

His face was as white as paper, looking at Uncle Hao as if he saw a ghost. He grabbed Uncle Hao's hand despite his rudeness: "This is impossible! This is impossible!"

"The terrain of that place is higher than both ends, like a threshold. How can the river water at both ends..."

Having said that, it came to an abrupt end because Yuwen Kai thought of two more points: steam pumps and large coal mines.
Chapter completed!