The Strongest Lu Bu's Sweeping Thousands of Armies

Chapter 107 Planning to Open a Coal Mine
The guard planed some black coal.

Lu Bu asked them to add a small amount of yellow mud to the coal, and then used a spoon to roll out coal balls and put them aside to dry.

It's already a hot summer day, and the hot and dry wind recedes quickly.

Before the stove and the wood for the fire arrived, the briquettes were completely dry.

A guard lit a fire to chop wood.

Faint green smoke rose and flames shot up, Chen Gong and Zang Ba looked puzzled.

Lu Bu clearly said that he was going to use coal to light the fire, so why did someone bring it to chop firewood?
The flames grew hotter and hotter.

"Put some briquettes on it," Lu Bu ordered the guards.

The guard took a few briquettes and put them in the stove.

The flames licked the coal balls, the black coals gradually turned red, and finally actually burned.

Chen Gong and Zang Ba looked astonished.

The guards next to him were also dumbfounded.

It was the first time they saw that the stone could actually burn.

"Coal can be burned, and it burns for a long time." Lu Bu said: "Use it to forge steel, the molten iron can be completely melted, and more impurities can be extracted."

"How does Marquis Wen know this kind of soil... Uh, no! It's coal..." Chen Gong asked, "Can it burn?"

"It was recorded in the history books." Of course Lu Bu would not say that he had knowledge after 2000 years, and simply put the responsibility on the history books: "It was only by accident that I saw such a wonderful thing in the world."

"Since we have discovered it, should we temporarily stop the construction of the barracks?" Chen Gong said, "It won't be too late to continue building after all the coal here has been collected."

"The good coal in Xuzhou is all underground." Lu Bu ordered: "Continue to build the barracks, find some carpenters, stonemasons and people who specialize in digging tunnels, and come out of the city with me tomorrow morning."

"Wen Hou wants to..." Chen Gong seemed to understand what Lu Bu was going to do.

"There are so many people in Pengcheng, we can't send them all to grow food." Lu Bu said, "I want to open mines, open coal mines! Isn't it stupid to sit and guard Xuzhou and let the coal lie in the ground without being used?"

The changes in the technological era are always accompanied by the emergence of new energy sources.

If it is possible to open mines in Xuzhou, the application of coal will definitely drive the development of other industries.

Xuzhou's strength may lie in this move.

Lu Bu knew very well that opening a coal mine was not as simple as he imagined.

In the huge Xuzhou, coal is not everywhere underground.

With the existing excavation capabilities, it is not an easy task to dig a tunnel several hundred meters deep underground.

The most important thing is to confirm that there is coal in the ground before digging.

They didn't know the concept of mining. Although Chen Gong and Zang Ba were confused, they didn't ask much.

After deciding to open a mine in Xuzhou, Zang Ba immediately went to recruit people.

Most of the able-bodied men were in the army, and most of the men who came to Pengcheng were weak.

However, no matter how weak a man is, his strength is greater than that of an average woman.

Except for those who are seriously ill and those who are too young or old, as long as they are men, Zang Ba will accept them all.

Chen Gong accompanied Lu Bu back to the government.

Going straight to the study, Lu Bu asked someone to find a roll of tanned sheepskin.

The sheepskin was spread on the table, and he picked up a pen to draw lines one by one.

Chen Gong, who was standing next to the picture, looked at it for a while but didn't understand what he was painting.

"Wen Hou, these are..." Wen Hou asked Lu Bu in astonishment.

"The construction plan of the coal mine." Lu Bu said: "Excavating a coal mine is not as simple as imagined. The terrain of Xuzhou is complicated, and the real good coal is hundreds of steps below the ground."

Chen Gong was startled: "It's so deep..."

"It's easy to deal with if it's just deep." Lu Bu said while drawing the construction drawings: "There are many problems to be solved in the construction of a coal mine. First, we have to dig tunnels so that people can go down. Second, we have to build ventilation holes to ensure fresh air. The wind is sent to the ground. The lighting cannot use open flames..."

Having said this, Lu Bu stopped.

Looking at Chen Gong, he also had a look of astonishment on his face.

Coal mines are different from other places.

The excavated roadway will be filled with thick gas gas, and the use of open fire will definitely cause an explosion.

Chen Gong, who didn't understand this at all, didn't know why Lu Bu suddenly stopped talking.

Looking at Lu Bu suspiciously, he was still waiting for an answer.

After a long silence, Lu Bu looked at the construction drawing but did not add any strokes on it.

"Is there any embarrassment?" Chen Gong saw that Lu Bu was hesitating.

"Does the public platform know what can be used for lighting without using open flames?" Lu Bu suddenly asked.

At the end of the Han Dynasty, open flames were used for lighting, and Chen Gong did not know of any lighting that could be illuminated without using flames.

From the expression on his face, Lu Bu got the answer: "Forget it, I'll think of a way."

"Open flames are used for lighting, I've never heard of it..." Chen Gong replied with some guilt.

Lu Bu interrupted him: "I know you haven't heard of it, I just asked casually just now."

"What are the layers of Wen Hou's paintings?" Looking at the construction drawings drawn by Lu Bu, Chen Gong found that the part representing the ground had been divided into several parts by him.

Each part is also marked with strange symbols.

Chen Gong didn't know that those symbols were actually Arabic numerals that became very popular after 2000.

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the cultures of various regions had not penetrated into each other.

The Arabic numerals that Lu Bu thought were very convenient were just some strange symbols to Chen Gong.

"The public doesn't know something about it." Lu Bu said: "Coal is not found in every corner of the ground. It is divided into many layers. Some deep coals are difficult to burn, while some deep coals are easy to burn."

Pointing to several layers on the construction drawing, Lu Bu went on to say: "Each layer is called a trough, and the best coal is mostly in the eighth trough down to the fifteenth trough up. The coal thickness of these layers is wide, It burns easily and has the most mining value."

He used to be a mercenary, it stands to reason that Lu Bu shouldn't know these things.

He happened to be on a mission once, and it was in a coal mining area in a certain country.

And many of the people working there are his compatriots.

When he is free, he always chats with his compatriots, and his understanding of coal is only at that time.

Lu Bu talked eloquently, but Chen Gong was confused.

He looked at Lu Bu in astonishment and asked, "How does Wenhou know this?"

It wasn't until Chen Gong asked that Lu Bu realized that he had talked too much.

For Chen Gong, who grew up in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, coal itself was a magical existence.

It was even less likely that he knew anything about coal.

Suddenly realized, Lu Bu smiled: "Read more books, many things have been told to us by our ancestors, but we just ignored them."

Chen Gong also reads a lot of books, but he has never read any books about coal.

He was full of doubts, but Lu Bu looked serious, and Chen Gong didn't want to ask more questions.

"Gongtai go back to rest earlier, and I will go out of the city with me tomorrow morning to explore the terrain." The more he talked, the more loopholes he said, Lu Bu reminded Chen Gong to go back earlier.

(End of this chapter)