Lord of the Desert

Chapter 412 Coal Mine
August fifteen.

Eighty miles east of Xijing, the scorching sun's rays were blocked by the mountains.

Shen Tiexin leaned out of the carriage window, a pair of red jade earrings swaying in the breeze.

"Miss, we have entered the Canglang Mountain area."

Next to the carriage, a guard from the Hunran Realm, who was perched high on his horse, lowered his head and reported.

Shen Tiexin nodded, looked back at the swamps and the tall thatched grass on the hills he passed by, and finally his sight swept across the seven peaks standing on the mountains.

The Shen family owns a coal mine and two iron mines in Canglang Mountain. Now all three assets have been invested in Tiannan Bank.

Shen Tiexin went out early this morning for this purpose.

At exactly 9 o'clock in the morning, the convoy arrived at Wohu Peak and stopped halfway up the mountain to wait.

Another quarter of an hour later, four Shen family guards in tight uniforms and armed with swords saw an eagle coming from the west, riding on the sunlight through the clouds and landing directly outside the road.

They knew that the real host had arrived, and hurried forward to greet him.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting."

The visitor bowed in return, which was Hong Fan's behavior.

After the two parties met up, a guard took the initiative to give up his mount to Hong Fan; the team continued to move upwards and arrived at the mining area after less than half a quarter of an hour.

The carriage stopped and Shen Tiexin was helped out by the maid Lingxi.

She had her hair in a short bun today and wore a long skirt with a white background and light gold patterns. Her clothes were fresh and elegant, but it was obvious at a glance that they were expensive.

More than a year later, Hong Fan met the most dissolute and beautiful woman in Xijing for the third time. He was amazed but also a little embarrassed.

But he was used to it, so he just put on his usual smile and walked forward, as if there had never been any conflict between the two sides.

"Miss Shen, it's been a long time."

Hong Fan took the initiative to greet.

"You've taken the trouble to come all the way here by boat. Please bear with me if the coal mine is dirty."

When the two met, not only Lingxi pursed her lips, but even the coachman and guards of the Shen family felt a tingling sensation in their hearts.

Family members know their own business. Miss Shen has always had a temper worse than her manner. Over the years, she has only suffered at the hands of Chisha. This time, she was forced by the clan to come out and deal with him. It would be a miracle if she didn't cause some trouble.

However, Shen Tiexin's reaction was calmer than they expected.

"Just do things at your own pace, don't worry about me."

She clasped her hands in front of her and replied calmly.

Lingxi opened his mouth wide and took a breath.

Hong Fan nodded in thanks, but didn't show it on his face. However, he sensed a hint of nervousness and fear from Shen Tiexin's forced calm words and expression.

But these are not important.

In Hong Fan's mind, the conflict between the two was a thing of the past. Now he only regarded Shen Tiexin as a young lady from aristocratic family who came to gild her reputation and a half-investor of Tiannan Bank. It was enough to maintain a good superficial relationship.

After the two men greeted each other, an old man in his fifties who had been waiting by the side came over with his body hunched over, introducing himself as "Deng Xian" and saying that he was the mine manager of this coal mine.

"Our Wohu Kiln has a well of 50 feet deep and 200 miners. It is considered to be of medium to high scale in the whole Liangzhou. It can produce 160,000 catties (80 tons) of coal every day."

He was quite nervous when he spoke, and obviously had not recovered from the shock of Shen Tiexin's appearance. He only dared to look around her, as if she was a black hole that would eat people.

A group of people walked towards the mine.

On the outer edge of the mining area, there are two rows of houses made of straw and mud, which are probably where the miners eat and sleep.

Further in, there was an unusually neat brick house on the open space. According to Deng Xian, black gunpowder was stored inside.

The mine is located at a high altitude to prevent rainwater from flowing back.

When everyone arrived, they saw a wooden cart covered with oilcloth leaving the cave. The cart and one horse were pulling five or six hundred kilograms.

On the side of the cave is a specially built ventilation shaft with a windmill outside the shaft. As the workers turn it manually, fresh air is sent all the way down the shaft along the wind tunnel woven from rattan.

"What are those bamboo tubes that are more than ten meters long used for?"

Shen Tiexin asked.

"That's used to exhaust gas." Deng Xian replied respectfully.

"When a new ore layer is opened, the sharpened ends of these bamboo tubes are inserted into it to let the gas out."

"What is gas?"

Shen Tiexin asked again.

"It's the foul air in the coal seams..."

Deng Xian dared not not answer, but he could not express himself clearly in a few words and sweat broke out on his forehead.

"The main component of this thing is generally called methane in the Instrumentation Department."

Hong Fan took over the conversation.

"It is produced together with coal, is colorless and odorless, and can easily suffocate miners and explode when exposed to open flames."

This explanation was very clear, but it was not enough for Shen Tiexin to understand - she didn't know what methane was, nor did she know why the gas would explode when exposed to fire, but seeing Hong Fan looking at her seriously, she inexplicably didn't dare to ask any more questions.

"We've looked outside, let's go down to the mine."

Hong Fan said.

Deng Xian looked a little embarrassed.

“Are there too many people?”

Hong Fan asked.

"Go back to the boss. The mine tunnels in the upper level of the kiln are fine, but it's crowded down there."

Deng Xian replied.

"Then why not just you and I go?"

Hong Fan then made a proposal.

"No, I want to go down to the mines, too."

Shen Tiexin suddenly interrupted and left no explanation.

"How about just the three of us?"

Hong Fan asked again and got a nod from Deng Xian. Seeing that the Shen family was hesitant, he spoke again.

"Once you get in, I'll guarantee your young lady's safety. How about that?"

He said this casually as an experiment, but he didn't expect that it immediately put the guards and maids at ease - a year ago, Liangzhou Chisha was just a good fighter among his peers, with only his looks and potential worth praising, but after defeating Yan Xingjin in a battle, he has undoubtedly become one of the strong men in Xijing.

Holding an oil lamp, Deng Xian led the two bosses down to the mine.

The upper road in the mine was wider than Shen Tiexin had imagined.

It is more than five meters wide and is supported by wooden mortise and tenon frames all the way. Occasionally, stone niches are dug into the wall, with simple oil lamps lit inside.

The white light from the cave entrance was quickly dissipated in the continuous diffuse reflection, leaving only the dim illumination of the lamp.

Shen Tiexin followed the lamp and felt a slight breeze passing through his damp palms, giving off a hint of coolness.

Hong Fan took half a step towards her.

"Don't worry. I just used the sand world to sense that this mine is well dug. The stress in the rock layer is not overflowing much, and the support is sufficient to cope with it."

As he was speaking, he saw several miners coming towards him carrying their loads on their shoulders. Their faces were all pitch black and their facial features could not be recognized under the firelight. No wonder they were called "black-faced".

And when these people caught a glimpse of a pair of men and women in gorgeous clothes and outstanding looks suddenly coming into the mine tunnel - especially the woman's white hair in a bun and her black eyes lowered, immersed in the light, glowing with a faint glow - and the mine manager bowing beside them, they all felt ashamed of themselves, and without being scolded, they squeezed to the side of the mine tunnel as if they were under a spell, letting the three men pass first.

As we walked nearly a hundred meters deeper, the air became increasingly heavy and humid, with water occasionally visible on the mine walls.

So at Hong Fan's request, Deng Xian first took the two of them to watch the water pumping.

"Water seepage during mining is inevitable since ancient times. We use the old method here. We first lead the groundwater into the excavated water pit, then connect it to the ground through a vertical shaft, and then pump the water out."

As the old man spoke, he turned two downhill corners. As the humidity grew heavier, Hong Fan could hear the hissing sound of water evaporating when it encountered high heat.

(End of this chapter)