Lord Harland.

Chapter 181 The Discovery of the Coal Mine

It has been less than two months since the new fief was acquired, and the survey of the minerals in the territory has not been completed.

During this period of time, Richard dispatched more than a dozen teams of surveyors to search for various ores on a large scale within the territory.From clay mines, to lime mines, to various metal mines, the prospectors lived and slept, and finally found something, drawing various mineral resources on a simple map.

Because the conditions are tough and the threshold is not low, the wages of mineral exploration personnel are relatively high, reaching eight silver coins per month, which can be compared with the teachers of He'an Primary School.

After two months of exploration, roughly mineral deposits in the territory have been discovered.

The first thing to be found was the clay mine, which was not far from the military station.

Richard was ready to melt the snow, and built a second brick kiln near the clay mine to speed up the development of Harland Valley.

It is inconvenient to do construction in the territory without bricks. Even though it is located in a mountainous area, Li Cha does not have so much manpower to build a quarry.

After the completion of the new brick kiln factory, there is no need to consume transportation capacity to transport bricks from dozens of kilometers away.

After burning bricks for six years, the brick kiln factory already has a lot of technicians, and some of them can be transferred to build the shelf of the new brick kiln factory.

Now that the second brick kiln is being built, it is no longer necessary for Li Cha to do it himself and take the lead in demonstration.

Lime mines were then discovered, which produced primitive cement.There is such an earthen kiln in Harland's territory, and Richard doesn't need to take care of it.

The third discovery was a coal mine with scarce territory. After hearing that the coal mine was discovered, Li Cha was so excited that he didn't even have time to put on his shoes.

He immediately wrote a letter to the prospectors, held a celebration banquet in the military station, and distributed a gold coin allowance to the prospectors.

The coal mine is fifteen kilometers away from the Military Station Fort. Li Cha personally inspected the coal mine and found that the quality is very high. It is a typical bituminous coal with high carbon content and high calorific value, which can be used to smelt coke.

If coke can be produced on a large scale, the steelmaking process will also develop rapidly.

What's more, coal is mined and can be used for heating in winter.

If the residents burn coal in winter, they can reduce the felling of trees, prevent soil erosion, and avoid flash floods.

Li Cha has been in the Dawn Continent for more than ten years, and he has rarely seen anyone burning coal in Grant Kingdom.Perhaps humans in other regions have already used coal resources on a large scale.

According to Li Cha's observation, there are very few open-pit coal mines in northern Xinjiang.

This time, it is very rare to find a shallow coal mine that is easy to mine in the territory.

Because the miners in the territory had no experience in mining coal mines, Li Cha was a little worried, so he followed the miners and stationed in the coal mines for a few days.

Coal mines on the surface are best mined, and you can dig with a hammer and steel brazing.

Coal mines were found halfway up the mountain, and a one-kilometer road needed to be built to transport the coal.

After surveying the terrain with surveyors, Li Cha decided to use wooden tracks to transport coal.

The territory can now produce some steel. The steel is punched into thin steel plates with a hydraulic forging hammer. After the thin steel plates are cut, the steel plates are nailed to the wooden track.

Relying on the power of downhill inertia, the coal is loaded on the wooden bucket car, and the coal can be easily transported down the mountain along the track.

There is a small river below the mountain for small boats. This small river is a tributary of the Powell River, and coal can be transported to Fort William by river transportation.

After coal mining, the territory will also have a new source of income.

Li Cha's price for coal is very cheap, only double that of wood.

The market price of a thousand catties of wood is only about one silver coin. When it was the coldest time in northern Xinjiang, it could not be burned for ten days.

A relatively wealthy family burns more than one gold coin for fuel in one winter, and needs to cut down more than [-] big trees to keep warm.

With the same quality of coal, the heat is much higher than that of wood, and three catties of coal can be burned overnight on a kang.

For an ordinary family, one ton of coal can survive the winter.

The price of one ton of coal is only four silver coins, which is equivalent to a month's work for ordinary people.

At this price, most families can accept some.

Now there are about [-] freemen in Harland's territory, because Richard's tax is low, and these freemen have some money in their hands.

There are about 2000 free households in the territory. If these [-] free households all buy coal, the output value of the coal mine will reach [-] gold coins, and the net profit will exceed [-] gold coins, which is already a lot of money.

Moreover, many contract slaves fulfill their contracts every year. As the population of the territory increases, consumption increases, and coal mines increase production, the income from coal will also increase.

The development of the coal mining industry will also bring about the development of coal chemical industry.

After simple calculations, Li Cha found that there are a lot of coal reserves, and this hill is almost a coal mountain.

The shallow coal seam alone exceeds [-] million tons.

According to the current mining volume in the Harland Territory, this coal mine can last for a hundred years.

The materials in the territory are abundant, which will promote the development of the territory economy.

Now even if Li Cha has no cash or gold coins, he can distribute food, brown sugar, liquor, coal and other materials to the soldiers to pay for it for a period of time.

In the future, Li Cha will distribute grain and coal for pensions in the territory.

No gold and silver mines have been discovered in Harland's territory, and it does not become a hereditary earl, nor does it have the right to mint coins.

Due to the shortage of gold coins, deflation has appeared in the territory.There is even a habit of bartering among many freedmen.

There are still many indentured slaves and few free people.

If there are more free people and they have the habit of hiding coins for savings, then the shortage of currency will be even more serious.

To solve deflation, it is necessary to activate the economy, provide more commodities, increase the income of free people, and cultivate consumption habits.

After the coal mine was discovered, even in winter, the mining of the coal mine could not be stopped.

Coal is a necessary living material in winter, and coal can be exchanged for money when it is mined.

Even with such a big stall now, Li Cha is still short of money.

No matter how many gold coins flow into Li Cha's hands, they will be spent quickly. Although there are more supplies and stronger strength, Li Cha also feels more and more short of money.

For months after the war ended, the territory of Harland had been preparing for war.

Li Cha made another [-] pieces of snake scale armor and equipped them to the third squadron. At the same time, he made ten pieces of brute force armor and equipped them to the first squadron.

Now the No. [-] Squadron has [-] pieces of brute force armor, [-] pieces of snake scale armor, and [-] pieces of iron armor. The quality of the equipment exceeds that of the No. [-] Squadron of the No. [-] Brigade of the Northern Legion, and is comparable to that of the Royal Guards.

The No. 43 Squadron fought a lot of hard battles and suffered heavy casualties. Only a dozen or so veterans left who joined the army six years ago.Because veterans are constantly recruited to supplement, the quality of soldiers in this squadron is very high. Now there are eight professionals, [-] high-level students, and the rest of the soldiers are basically middle-level students.

The armor wearing rate is 50.00%, and the possession rate of enchanted armor is over [-]%, which is the iron fist in Li Cha's hands.

The second and third squadrons are also the main squadrons, and their replenishment is second only to the first squadron, and they have priority over Li Cha's guard squadron.

In Harland's territory, these three main squadrons are second only to the beast cavalry in importance, and they are the backbone of the territory.

(End of this chapter)