Daming Crazy Emperor

Chapter 543 The Surprise Continues
Cao Wenzhao had already led the West Road Army to take Greenville, the westernmost castle of the British colonists in Carolina, and the casualties were not large.

According to the battle report, they killed more than [-] enemies and took nearly [-] prisoners. The casualties of the Apache tribe were only more than [-], and less than [-] were killed.

Lu Xiangsheng has also led the Eastern Army to take down the Columbia Castle built by the British colonists between Charleston and Greenville, with fewer casualties.

According to the battle report, they also killed more than [-] enemies and took nearly [-] prisoners, while the Sioux soldiers suffered less than [-] casualties.

Taichang was overjoyed when he received the news.

This proves that his judgment is correct. The technology of the British colonists has not yet been developed, and the muskets and artillery are simply not comparable to them.

The combat effectiveness of these colonists is also relatively weak, and they can't compare with the soldiers of the Shenwu Battalion, not even the soldiers of the Sioux and Apache tribes after the drill.

In this case, it is absolutely no problem to take Carolina and Virginia within a month and help the Apache tribe regain all their territories.

Sure enough, both the East Route Army and the West Route Army reported frequent successes. In less than half a month, they rushed northward for nearly a thousand miles, and took down five other forts built by the British colonists in Carolina along the way. into Virginia.

This speed has exceeded his expectations.

To his surprise, there are even bigger surprises waiting for him.

This afternoon, in the army camp on West Road, Cao Wenzhao was carefully checking the map in his tent, while more than [-] soldiers were burying pots for cooking and preparing dinner.

The whole camp was full of joy.

Because their journey can be described as overwhelming, and they have advanced nearly a thousand miles in less than half a month.

Although the colonists did not flee at the wind, they could not resist their footsteps. Several cities and fortresses were taken down, and they did not suffer many casualties.

The battle was much easier than they had expected, and victory was within easy reach.

Moreover, the colonists along the way also left them a lot of grain, cattle and sheep, and they couldn't eat too well.

At this time, the soldiers of the Apache tribe began to slaughter cattle and sheep, and the soldiers of the Shenwu Camp were also brandishing hoes and shovels, preparing to dig out the stove pit and set up an iron pot to cook meat.

Digging a stove pit is not very difficult, as long as you dig a hole one or two feet deep, then put a few stones on both sides, and then cultivate some soil to make it solid.

The soldiers of the Shenwu Battalion did not know how many times they have done this job, and it is naturally very quick to do it. Usually, they can dig out a stove pit in less than a cup of tea.

However, the digging of the kitchen pit today was quite difficult, because there were stones where they camped, and they would find stones when they dug less than a foot deep, and they were densely packed everywhere.

Generally, they will not dig down when they encounter this kind of situation. Anyway, it is the same to put a few more stones on the top and make the pot stand higher.

However, a few soldiers of the Shenwu Battalion who dug the stove found something was wrong.

The rocks at the bottom don't seem to be very hard, and digging hard can break the rocks, and what's more, after digging, what's dug out is pitch-black gravel.

Many of them have burned coal, so they can be recognized at a glance.

This pitch-black gravel is no ordinary stone, but coal!

Although they didn't come here specifically for prospecting, they also knew that the Ministry of Industry was looking for coal and iron mines everywhere.

After digging all this, it is naturally impossible for them to remain silent.

Soon, the general in charge of the Zao Tou Army took the dug coal and ran outside the tent and said loudly: "Report, general, there is a lot of coal here."

coal?

When Cao Wenzhao heard this, he couldn't help but got up and went outside the camp, took the black lump from the general's hand and saw that it was really coal, and it was still high-quality coal.

Of course he knew what the coal was for.

At this moment, the use of coal is great. Not only ships need a lot of coal, but ironmaking also needs a lot of coal.

There are also civilians who use coal for heating, cooking, burning bricks, etc.

There is coal here!
He couldn't help but wonder, "Where did you get this coal?"

The general pointed to the ground and said, "It seems that the ground is full of coal. When the soldiers under the last general dug the stove pit, they almost dug it up."

Is this still an open pit coal mine?

There is an open-pit coal mine in Liaodong, and Cao Wenzhao has naturally heard of it.

He quickly waved his hand and said, "Go, take me to have a look."

Hearing this, the general quickly led him to the dug stove pit.

Sure enough, there were black coals under almost every stove pit.

It really could be an open pit coal mine.

He thought for a while, and then ordered decisively: "Don't be in a hurry to start a fire and make food, dig around and see if the bottom is really full of coal."

When a group of cooks heard this, they quickly picked up their hoes and dug everywhere.

This was a terrible move. They dug for several miles, and the bottom was still covered with coal!
When Cao Wenzhao heard the news, he ordered decisively to report to the emperor quickly.

Obviously, this is a large open pit coal mine.

However, they are here to fight, not to explore the mine. Even if they know that this is a large open-pit coal mine, they can't stay here and dig around to see how big the open-pit coal mine is.

Taichang was really pleasantly surprised when he received the news.

He was still wondering what was going on in the North American continent. Iron mines were nowhere to be found, and there were only a few coal mines, and none of them seemed to be large coal mines.

At this moment, the coal mine they dug up is not enough at all, not to mention using it to smelt iron, even the coal for naval ships is not enough, and he is going to buy it from the Spaniards.

Well now, the army on the West Road has discovered a large open-pit coal mine, and now they don't have to worry about running out of coal.

However, the current position of the West Road Army seems to be more than [-] miles away from the coastline, and how to transport the coal after digging is still a problem.

It would be nice if there was some river nearby, even a river that could only enter the Spike.

Thinking of this, he immediately said loudly: "Cheng En, fetch the latest map."

Soon, Wang Chengen fetched the latest map and spread it out on the desk in front of them.

He leaned over the map and drew the route of the army of the West Road. He really found that there was a river nearby, and the army of the West Road was probably camped by that river.
It is even more coincidental that the castle that the army of the East Road is attacking at this moment is just downstream of this river.

That is to say, after the army of the East Road captured the castle, the Spike warship could go up the river until the army of the West Road discovered the large open-pit coal mine.

Moreover, they happened to capture a large number of British colonists.

Now there is no need to go to the Sioux territory to dig coal, just stay here and dig.

This is like a divine help!
He immediately issued an order to order the navy to send a fleet to Xinliaoyang City to pick up the officials from the Ministry of Industry and [-] soldiers from the Shenwu Battalion, and rush to the place where the West Road Army found the open-pit coal mine to explore and see how big the open-pit coal mine is. .

So, how big is this open pit mine?
(End of this chapter)