Fenghou

Chapter 373 Back
Ganquan Castle was still a vast expanse of whiteness. After half a year's absence, Chen Qing once again returned to this strong castle that he missed so much. Nothing had changed, as if they had just left yesterday.

Ganquan Fort is very important to Chen Qing. It is geographically remote, located in the north, and there are no trees within a radius of fifty miles around it. The nearest county town is also a hundred miles away. It is not easy to conquer it.

But for Jin Bing, Ganquan Fort is of no value. Occupying it just doesn't want to make it easier for the Song Army or the Xixia people.

There were only [-] puppet Qi troops in the castle. When Niu Gao led [-] troops to arrive, the puppet Qi troops surrendered.

There were no residents in the city, and all the residents were evacuated by Chen Qing. There were only empty houses, which were turned into a mess by the defenders looking for their belongings.

When Chen Qing arrived, Niu Gao had already led the soldiers to clean up the city and renovate it. More than [-] family members of Jurchen generals brought from Fengxiang and the rescued Song Nu were also placed in houses.

But what Chen Qing was concerned about was the food and grass issue. Although they brought a lot of food and grass from Mei County, how long could the food and grass last for them?
Fort Ganquan also had some food, and the food stored by the [-] garrisons was only [-] shi, which didn't make much sense. They had to get food and grass.

Hu Yanyun said to Chen Qing: "Beizhi went to various counties to see it. There are about [-] shi of grain in Qingshui County and Chengji County. Adding the grain in several other counties, Beizhi estimates that there are about [-] shi of grain. This is [-] shi of grain. , It can support our [-] soldiers for two months.

Then you can buy grain from big households. I feel that it is no problem to raise another [-] shi of grain. You can buy fodder and sheep from the Qiang people. According to the situation last year, it is no problem to buy [-] sheep and [-] dans of fodder. Enough to last us until spring. "

Spring will come in two months, and their main force will arrive, bringing a lot of food and supplies.

"Is there any difficulty now?" Chen Qing asked.

Hu Yanyun nodded, "The biggest problem right now is the lack of fuel, making it difficult to boil water and cook."

This is indeed a big problem. There are no trees around Ganquan. The previous residents collected bushes for fuel or used wheat straw. Local residents also buy a large amount of charcoal from outside every year.

Therefore, in several wars last year, the wood obtained from clearing the battlefield was collected, and the reusable ones were reused, and the unusable ones were used as fuel.

"I remember that there is still a lot of wood left in the warehouse, is it still there?"

"There is still a lot left that can be reused, but the wood used as fuel has been almost consumed by the defenders, or it is demolishing houses now."

Residential houses are only beams made of wood, and the rest are made of mud or stones, which are of little use value.

Seeing that Hu Yanyun hesitated to speak, Chen Qing said with a smile: "If you have anything to say, just say it!"

"Beizhi found a pile of charcoal in the barracks, with traces of burning. The captured soldiers said that they bought it from locals. Beizhi is investigating."

Charcoal is coal, which reminds Chen Qing that they can use coal without wood as fuel!There should be coal in the Ganquanbao area. When they first arrived last year, they heard that Qinzhou was rich in coal, but they didn't take it to heart.

"Take me to see!"

Soon, Chen Qing really saw a pile of coal in the corner of the barracks. The quality was very high, but it was relatively fine.

This discovery made Chen Qing very excited. Since he bought it from the locals, there must be coal nearby, and it should be an open-pit mine.

He immediately said to Hu Yanyun: "This kind of coal can completely solve our fuel shortage. Find out who discovered them as soon as possible."

Hu Yanyun silently memorized the word coal in his mind, and soon, the word coal gradually became popular, and everyone called it coal.

Early the next morning, Niu Gao led [-] cavalrymen and [-] camels to fetch food from various places in Qinzhou, while Chen Qing followed Hu Yanyun to a mountain depression about [-] miles south of Ganquan Fort. The deputy capital of the puppet Qi army who surrendered was called Wang Zhong, a native of Guanzhong, and he bought a batch of coal.

"That's right there!" Wang Zhong pointed to several houses in the distance.

There lived five or six families in the col, and a few children were playing outside. When they saw someone coming, they hurried home.

"Old man Liu! Is old man Liu there?" Wang Zhong shouted loudly.

A skinny old man came out and said with a smile, "So it's the head of the king's capital!"

Wang Zhong was a little embarrassed, and quickly whispered: "I am Song Jun now, this is"

Before he could introduce him, the skinny old man knelt down in fright, "So it's General Chen, I didn't recognize him just now!"

"you know me?"

"The villain has transported stones to Ganquan Fort and met General Chen."

Chen Qing said with a smile: "I see, Wang Zhong, you bought the coal from this old man Liu?"

"Exactly! Old man Liu, the charcoal you sold to me last time, we call it coal, where did you find it?"

"That thing was found in the Crow Pit, and there are many over there."

Place names like 'Crow's Pit' were called by the local people indiscriminately, and Chen Qing didn't know where the Crow's Pit was?
Chen Qing smiled and said, "Take us to have a look. If you find it, I'll give you twenty pennies!"

When old man Liu heard that there was a reward of twenty pennies, he laughed so hard that he couldn't close his mouth, and said repeatedly: "Go! Go! I'll take you there right away."

The so-called Crow Pit is seven or eight miles east of Ganquan Fort, a basin with a radius of about twenty miles. Old man Liu rode a donkey and led the crowd down the basin. He pointed to a place not far away that was covered by heavy snow. The covered sloping tunnel said: "It's here, you can see it when you remove the snow."

More than a hundred soldiers all brought shovels and went forward to shovel the snow together.

Chen Qing smiled and asked Old Man Liu again, "How do you use this kind of coal?"

"Put it in the clay oven and burn it directly!"

"Isn't the stove afraid of burning?"

Old man Liu suddenly understood, and quickly explained: "You can't use the old stove, you must use red clay stoves. There are many in this area. Isn't the Moon Mountain opposite Ganquan Fort just red clay?"

Hu Yanyun said to Chen Qing: "You don't have to worry about the stoves. I have seen the stoves used by the city guards before. They are very simple and convenient. There are a lot of fireclay around. In fact, the earthen stoves in every household in the city are made of this kind of fireclay. , can burn coal directly, and the chimneys are all ready-made.”

Chen Qing actually thought of how to burn coal in the room for heating. When he was a child, he had an iron stove at home, and then made a chimney out of iron sheets, so as not to be poisoned by gas. The whole family lived around the iron stove all winter.

It is estimated that it is unrealistic now, as there are not so many light irons, it is better to use a fireplace, or find a way to burn charcoal. Although there are no trees here, there are large forests in Chengji County and Qingshui County.

"Found it!" shouted the soldiers.

Chen Qing urged to go forward immediately, and saw that the soldiers had shoveled away a large piece of snow, exposing the soil layer under the snow. The soil layer was about eight feet high, and the middle layer was black coal, which was more than three feet thick. , which is equivalent to one meter. It is estimated that this area is all open-pit coal. The quality is quite good. It is a kind of fat coal, which is very suitable for household use.

And it is quite easy to mine, hundreds of soldiers can dig dozens of tons a day.

The Song Dynasty has long used coal in large quantities, especially in Bianliang, Tokyo. It is more common for people above the middle class to use coal. Blacksmiths forge iron, and military supervisors also use coal for smelting metals.

There may be a little less in the south of the Yangtze River, and the Guanzhong and Central Plains areas are the most common, and the soldiers under Chen Qing are very familiar with them.

Hu Yanyun is even more familiar with it. The Huyan Mansion in Bianliang uses coal.

Chen Qing was overjoyed, and asked Old Man Liu with a smile, "What minerals are still abundant in this area?"

Since he decided to use Ganquan Castle as his base and lair, he naturally had to make full use of all kinds of minerals here, preferably iron ore, oil, and saltpeter, it would be perfect.

(End of this chapter)