The black patches that were seen from afar, when they walked closer, the entire hills were almost dyed black. Standing at the foot of the mountain, you could clearly see black people pushing the cart out at the deep black holes on the hillside, and with a roar, pouring the coals in the cart down from above, rolling down along the black area.

"Your Majesty, although the entire mining area has not been fully laid out, the coking coal needs to be reserved early, and it is also the place with the most labor." Huang Cheng introduced. "Otherwise, after the blast furnace in the mining area is fully built, the coking coal will not be supplied."

"Well, what you are thinking is to be prepared for good things." Qin Feng looked up at the mine cave on the mountain: "Digging coal is a hard job and a dangerous job. How many people have died?"

Huang Cheng beat him up, but he still dared not tell lies: "Your Majesty, a month ago, he collapsed and buried more than 100 people."

Qin Feng took a deep breath and shook his head. Whether it was a coal mine or an iron ore, anything that had to go deep into the ground was very dangerous. This was also impossible. The Ming Dynasty needed iron ore and coal mines.

"Have you given enough pensions?" he asked softly.

"Everyone who can still find family members will be given sufficient pensions, but some of them have no relatives themselves." Huang Cheng whispered.

"Is the wages enough?"

"The wages are very high. In fact, all the people who have been trapped in the pit know that this is a life-long job. If you are not lucky, landslides and water can kill you. If you are not high, no one will do it!" Huang Chengdao.

"But I look like I have a lot of people!"

"Some of them are criminals." Huang Cheng's face showed a look of embarrassment, but he felt that it was best not to hide it from the emperor, and it might not be possible to hide it." The officials gave them conditions and only worked here for three years, so they wiped the past and gave them a new household registration, so that they could be innocent."

"How many people can live until three years later?"

"I don't know!" Huang Chengdao: "This is an opportunity for them, and Yu Xintong has more labor."

Qin Feng nodded: "I understand!"

Huang Cheng was a little surprised. Originally, the emperor would be dissatisfied with his approach in the future, but it seemed that the emperor didn't care about these things at all.

In fact, Qin Feng is no longer the simple military man he used to be. Over the years, he has changed too much. If he wants to get something, he always has to lose something. Huang Cheng said it is also right. Among these criminals, there may be some unforgivable people. Digging coal here for three years, and if he survives, he will have the opportunity to become a new person. It is indeed an opportunity.

At the foot of the mountain, in addition to the fire cellars for refining coking coal, there are rows of warehouses made of rammed earth, with neatly arranged docks, bamboo baskets and bamboo baskets of refined coke media. More than a dozen huge warehouses are now basically full.

What surprised Qin Feng was that there were some simple sheds on the other side, but there were densely packed loose coals made into strange shapes, which were cylindrical, but evenly distributed holes in the middle. On the side where there were only walls on three sides, such things were tall, at least tens of thousands of them.

"What is this for?" Qin Feng pointed to these things on the ground and asked.

"Your Majesty, this is what the officials discovered after they arrived in Xintong. All the crystal coals excavated here were transported away. Not many people paid attention to these ordinary loose coals. In Xintong, apart from iron and smelting and mines, there are very few things used to keep warm. The people basically cut firewood and trees to keep warm. The rich burn white charcoal. Because coal is still smelly when burned. Moreover, these loose coals are really hard to clean up.

Qin Feng nodded, Huang Cheng was pretty good, even in the palace, the best white charcoal was burned.

"Once, the official went to a blacksmith and found that he had made a good thing and used a very special stove to keep warm." Huang Cheng smiled and said to an official behind him: "You should have this stove here, get one."

"Yes, County Magistrate Huang!" The official went there like a flying time, and suddenly he brought a stove from the duty room on the side and placed it in front of Qin Feng.

Qin Feng squatted down and looked at the thing with interest.

It was about half a meter high, with a layer of iron on the outside, and a furnace in the middle, which was also round, and was similar to the refining balls in the shed just now. It was burning vigorously at this moment. What interested Qin Feng the most was that there was a mouth similar to a teapot on the side, and water was coming out. He lifted it up and weighed it, and suddenly realized: "There is water still burning in this furnace?"

"That's right, Your Majesty." Huang Cheng smiled and put another thing in front of Qin Feng. "This stove is called a honeycomb furnace, and this medium is called honeycomb coal. Your Majesty, don't underestimate this stove. It's very cost-effective. After ignition, a honeycomb coal can be burned for one or two hours."

Looking at the fire burning vigorously in the furnace, Qin Feng said in confusion: "Is it an exaggeration? How could this last for so long?"

"Please look at your Majesty!" Huang Cheng squatted beside Qin Feng, reached out and inserted a small piece of iron on the honeycomb furnace, and the fire in the furnace became dim.

"Your Majesty, this is a wind gate. As long as you close this wind gate, the fire will be reduced. Put a fresh honeycomb media in at night and close the wind gate. When you wake up early the next morning, the fire will still be burned. At this time, you only need to open the wind gate and replace it with a new coal. In a very short time, the fire will burn very vigorously."

"That's right!" Qin Feng suddenly realized: "That's true." He squatted somewhere, plucking the wind gate up and down, and looking at the fire and light and darkness, Qin Feng was quite moved.

"The reason why people don't like to burn this coal is mainly because it tastes good when it is burned. Secondly, it can poison people by putting it in a closed house in winter. But adding an extra layer outside the stove and filling it with water inside can make one use of both things. Firstly, the water vapor comes out and you can get the smell of burning coal. Secondly, in winter, if you have such a stove at home, you can use hot water at any time. If the fire is completely turned on, the water inside can boil quickly."

"It does have many wonderful uses." Qin Fengdao." Will that even poison people to death?"

"Your Majesty, in fact, when the stove is completely burned, there will be no poisonous things, but it is still a bit dangerous when closing the wind door. So after closing the wind door, try not to put it in the house. If it is necessary to put it in the house, it is best to put it in a ventilated place. Although the water vapor neutralizes part of it, the poisonous gas still overflows after all." Huang Chengdao: "However, although there are such disadvantages, compared to his benefits, it can be ignored."

"It's true that the benefits are more than the shield!" Qin Feng stood up and lifted the thing on one side. At the bottom, there was a cylindrical iron can. As soon as Qin Feng lifted it up, the bottom of the iron can shrank back to the top. Qin Feng walked to the door and inserted the iron can into the thick snow. He twisted it a few times, then pressed a small horizontal bar on the handle and pushed the whole snow ball out of the iron can. A snow ball that was exactly like the honeycomb media in the shed was standing there.

"It's really simple." Qin Feng nodded with satisfaction: "And it's easy to operate, Huang Cheng, how long does it take to dry the coal made in this way and then burn it?"

"Your Majesty, you don't have to wait for him to completely dry. As long as he can stand up with a little bit of external dryness, he can burn it. Of course, the smell of burning like this is still bigger."

Qin Feng's eyes flashed, "Huang Cheng, I think this thing can equip the army with some. The army is stationed outside, and heating is burning trees and logging wood to keep warm. The daily needs are very large. Sometimes there are even a lot of troops to go out to do this job. If there is this thing, it can free many troops."

Nowadays, senior generals can still provide a certain amount of white charcoal for the troops, but ordinary officers and soldiers can only burn firewood to keep warm. It is difficult to find dry firewood in winter. In the early years, when Qin Feng led his troops to fight, he often had to worry about finding some dry firewood. Sometimes he had to endure the burning of wet firewood and tears flowed.

"Equipping such a stove to the army and preparing one for one tent can solve the heating problem of the tent. More importantly, there is always boiling water to drink and hot water available." Qin Feng said: "More importantly, you say that such media is very durable, and it won't cost much media that day, right? The army only needs to purchase these fans and then make such honeycomb coal by the soldiers themselves, which can solve the major problem of heating in winter."

"Your Majesty is wise, the official really didn't expect this." Huang Cheng blinked his eyes and said.

Qin Feng smiled and said, "You have never been a soldier, and you have not lived in a tent in the wild. It was the feeling of the whole winter. At that time, we were very worried about finding some firewood to keep warm. This thing is good! You go back to the Ministry of War and introduce them to the use and benefits of this thing. Well, then you can get a batch to send it to the army outside Yongdu. Let them try it out for a while."

"Your Majesty, will you send me the prepared honeycomb media?"

Qin Feng walked to the wall, took a coal, pinched it in his hand, and shook his head: "Send the pulverized coal over and let them do it themselves. The road is so bad that all the honeycomb media of this strength will be dispersed on the road."

"yes!"

"Actually, this thing can be popularized for civil use, and it is very cleverly made." Qin Feng smiled at Eunuch Le beside him and said, "When winter comes, there will be a lot of grain in Yuejing. I see that the forests outside our Yuejing will be cut down sooner or later, and it will be bare and not good-looking. If everyone can use this thing, it will save a lot of firewood and cut down less forests."

"Your Majesty is that there are millions of people in Yuejing, and most families cannot afford to burn white charcoal. This thing is cheap and not worth much. If it is promoted, it will be really good. At least in the future, when winter comes, thick smoke will appear in the chimneys of every household, covering the sky without seeing it." Eunuch Le smiled.
Chapter completed!