Daming Crazy Emperor

Chapter 545

In the eastern part of North America, there is a huge mountain range about a few hundred miles from the east coast.

This mountain range runs north-south, with a length of about seven or eight thousand miles and a width ranging from hundreds to thousands of miles.

Pembin was now exploring coal mines on the southeastern outskirts of the range.

To be honest, he still doesn't know how big this open-pit coal mine is, and there are not many ways to detect coal mines at the moment. Basically, he can see with his eyes and dig with a hoe and shovel.

Of course, it's impossible to dig as soon as you catch a mountain. A big mountain is enough for them to dig for a lifetime, not to mention, here is a vast group of mountains.

So how to determine the scope of this open-pit coal mine?
The biggest external feature of coal mines is the lack of vegetation.

However, this cannot be generalized, because the lack of vegetation in many places is not because there is coal below, and many places with coal mines will also have flowers and trees above them.

This mainly depends on the depth of the coal seam. If the coal seam is more than ten meters deep or tens of meters deep, and it is covered with fertile soil, it is not impossible to grow a dense forest.

In short, the coal mine is not so easy to explore, Peng Bin can only find a barren mountain based on the only appearance of no vegetation, and take people up to have a look first.

There is no coal on the surface of this barren mountain. At least, they did not see coal on the ground all the way from the bottom of the mountain to the top of the mountain.

However, Peng Bin was not discouraged.

He felt that there might still be coal down here, because the mountain was covered with strata, that is, shale, not sandstone, rock, or boulders.

If it is gravel, rock or cobblestone, then the hope is not very great, and the layer stone is still very promising.

As for why, this also has a certain basis.

Because coal is basically layer by layer, and most of the open-pit coal mines are tumbling, that is, the coal seams under the ground are squeezed up during earthquakes.

In this case, the coal is mostly bedrock rather than sand, rock, or cobblestone.

Of course, this is not accurate, sometimes there is still soil in the middle of the coal.

After Peng Bin climbed to the top of the mountain, he raised his binoculars and scanned the surrounding landforms carefully, feeling more confident.

Because the landform here is very similar to the protrusion squeezed out after the earth dragon rolled over.

In other words, this barren mountain should have been almost as flat as the open-pit coal mine below, but the barren mountain was protruded by the earth dragon.

He thought about it carefully, discussed with his subordinate officials for a while, and then ordered decisively: "Spread out and dig down."

When Qin Yiming heard this, he waved his hand without hesitation, and hundreds of strong soldiers from the Shenwu Battalion scattered in all directions, digging with hoes and shovels.

Fortunately, the mountain is made of shale, and it has been weathered quite badly, so digging it down is not that strenuous.

If it is sand or rock, it will be difficult to dig.

Hundreds of strong men dug less than a cup of tea, and suddenly someone exclaimed: "My lord, it's dark down here."

Hearing this, Peng Bin ran over to have a look, and sure enough, there were black coals underneath.

This is less than a foot deep!
Immediately afterwards, many people exclaimed: "My lord, this one is also here!"

Don't think about it, there are coal seams under this mountain!

As for why the coal seam on this mountain is buried shallower than the coal seam below, it is probably because the soil on the mountain was washed down by the water flow and piled up to the bottom of the mountain.

That is to say, there is a coal seam under the layer of rocks on this mountain, and the thickness of this layer of rocks is less than one foot.

Thinking of this, Peng Bin couldn't help squatting down, picked up a layer of rocks and looked at it carefully, then got up and said to Qin Yiming: "General Qin, the soldiers spread out and take a look on the surrounding hillsides. For this kind of rock, dig down to see if you can get coal."

This is simple.

Qin Yiming immediately ran down the mountain, and ordered several generals to pick up a pile of such stones and distribute them. Soon, nearly ten thousand soldiers of the Shenji Battalion carried hoes, shovels and other tools, and scattered stone samples around. go.

After thinking for a while, Peng Bin took a few officials under his command and hundreds of strong soldiers from the Shenwu Battalion to the place where the coal was found at the foot of the mountain. He ordered people to dig a hole several feet in radius and dig down hard.

This coal seam also depends on its thickness. If it is only a few feet deep or one or two feet deep, then the reserves are not very large.

Seeing this, Qin Yiming simply ordered the sailors who brought them over to remove the tents from the boat, and pitched a big camp on the spot.

He, Peng Bin and other officials from the Ministry of Industry spread out the map in the tent and waited.

Not long after, a general ran into the tent with coal, and said excitedly, "Report, General, we found a mountain of coal."

Qin Yiming pointed directly at the map on the table and said, "The location."

The chief quickly lowered his head, looked at the map carefully, then pointed to a point on the map and said, "It's roughly here."

Peng Bin nodded slightly, and then picked up a pen to make a mark.

Qin Yiming waved his hand without hesitation and said, "Explore again."

This exploration lasted for a day, and tens of thousands of soldiers of the Shenwu Battalion explored for dozens of miles around, and a faint vein extending along the north-south direction gradually emerged in front of them.

And the hundreds of strong men who dug the pit in the big camp have dug down several feet deep, and there are still black coals underneath.

How big is this open pit mine?

They haven't figured it out yet.

Because they have only explored the eastern edge of the open-pit coal mine, and they have not explored the edge to the south, north, and west. Moreover, they have not explored to the end how thick the coal seam is.

What's next?

Early the next morning, Qin Yiming, Peng Bin and several officials from the Ministry of Industry gathered in the tent again.

At this time, they were all very excited, even Qin Yiming rubbed his hands excitedly, because this open-pit coal mine was bigger than their expectations.

This may be a super large coal mine with a width of tens of miles and hundreds of miles in the north-south direction!

Moreover, this is still an open-pit coal mine, so you can just dig down from the ground or the hillside. The bottom is full of coal, and I don't know how thick it is.

Now, they don't know how wide, long and thick this open-pit coal mine is.

Peng Bin stared at the map and thought about it for a while, then discussed with Qin Yiming: "General Qin, if we don't do this, we will divide the tens of thousands of people into four groups, and you and I will bring 1000 people here to find out how big the coal seam is. The others are divided into three groups, and the three officials under me will lead them to explore the south, north and west respectively to see how long and wide this vein is."

Qin Yiming naturally had no objection, he was here to help, and Peng Bin was in charge, so he could do whatever he wanted.

Soon, the heads of the three Ministry of Industry each set off with 3000 men and horses, and the original camp of tens of thousands of people was demolished, leaving a camp of more than a thousand people.

Peng Bin led Qin Yiming out of the tent, looked at the big pit in the middle of the camp, and frowned.

It was only one night, and the water in the pit was almost half a person deep.

It seems that digging down from here will not work.

There is a river next to it. If we dig further down, I am afraid that a large well will be dug. How can we continue to dig down?

He frowned and pondered for a while, and then discussed with Qin Yiming: "General Qin, I'm afraid we won't be able to dig here, otherwise, let's try to move the tent to a hillside farther away from the river."

Naturally, Qin Yiming had no objections, he immediately summoned Mr. Qian who stayed behind and confessed a few words. Soon, thousands of soldiers from the Shenji Battalion dismantled their tents and moved to the mountains.

(End of this chapter)