The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 232 Drilling Around
Wanping and Daxing were actually counties affiliated with the Ming Dynasty capital.

The term "fuguo" actually means the area outside the city walls.

Outside the city walls of Beijing, with the central axis as the boundary, Wanping is to the west and Daxing is to the east.

The county government office of Wanping is located in Jiqingfang, northwest of the imperial city. All you see outside the western gate of the capital is the territory of Wanping County. You can imagine how close Wanping County is to the capital.

On the twenty-fourth day of the twelfth lunar month, at three quarters past three in the morning, Wanli arrived at the place where the coal mine was discovered.

This place is a mountain valley more than 30 miles west of the capital. The valley is not small, about two or three miles in radius, and there is a small valley inside that leads directly to the west.

Moreover, because this mountain valley is on the west side of the Yongding River, a bridge needs to be built to get there, so no one lives in this mountain valley.

It's freezing cold right now, and the ice on the river is probably thicker than a person, so there's naturally no need to build a bridge.

The soldiers of the Shenjiying Camp were able to lead the craftsmen to explore for minerals everywhere because the river was frozen. They could just cross the ice without a bridge. They only needed to wrap their feet and horses' hooves with coarse, non-slip cloth.

I have to say that prospecting in the snow and ice does have some advantages. At least you don't need a bridge to cross the river. Moreover, the river surface is now like a flat road, leading directly into the vast mountains. It is extremely convenient for the soldiers and craftsmen of the Shenji Camp to enter the mountains.

At this moment, many convoys of the Shenjiying Camp were gathering towards the river and heading into the vast mountains.

Hundreds of grain carts and thousands of Shenjiying soldiers gathered where the coal mine was. They were all waving hoes and digging everywhere. The snow on the ground had long been cleared by them, and even the trees in the mountain valley had been cut down by them.

Wanli raised his telescope and scanned the area, saying in surprise, "Yuan Jing, why are there so many Shenjiying soldiers and craftsmen here? Aren't they all going into the mountains to prospect for minerals? It seems like there are more than ten teams going in."

Qi Jiguang explained in detail: "Your Majesty, those prospectors said that they have found mineral deposits, but they still need to continue to explore the direction of the mine and where to mine it.

Now they have confirmed through drilling that the direction of the vein is westward, so the soldiers are digging westward under their guidance, and they are also continuing to explore westward from the valley inside.

As for the soldiers and craftsmen of the Shenji Camp here, they were transferred from the Summer Resort. They have been exploring there for half a month and have explored all the places that can be explored, but there are really no coal mines.

Therefore, I simply asked them to come over and learn from the craftsmen how to determine the direction of the mine after finding the ore seedlings and how to dig the mine."

Oh, so he was transferred from the Summer Resort.

There is no way to find out where it is.

In fact, it is better to explore here, because the Summer Resort is more than a hundred miles away from the capital. It takes a horse-drawn carriage carrying coal to the capital for most of the day, and it is impossible to go back and forth in a day.

This place is different. It is really close to the capital. If you ride a horse at full speed, it will take less than fifteen minutes. A horse-drawn carriage full of coal will take only an hour or so at most. It is definitely no problem to make four or five trips a day.

Moreover, the Yongding River nearby is not very wide. The widest part is only a few dozen feet, and the narrowest part is less than ten feet. It is quite simple to build a bridge.

More importantly, the Yongding River passes around the southwest of the capital. He could order people to dig a canal to connect the Yongding River and the moat, which would make it more convenient to transport coal by water.

When the coal is transported here, it goes downstream, so there is no need to row hard. Although the empty boat comes back upstream, it does not require too much effort, which is just right.

Wanli was just holding up a telescope, pondering how to transport the coal from this area to the capital, when suddenly a horseman came galloping out from the valley. A lieutenant from the Shenjiying Battalion rode over and excitedly bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, Duke, we have discovered more mineral deposits in the west, and not just one. This is a vein."

That’s great! Now all the coal for Shuntian Prefecture can be produced from here.

However, it seems a bit troublesome to transport the coal out of the mountains in the west.

Wanli thought about it carefully, then asked, "Where was the mineral deposit in the west discovered? Is it far from the Yongding River?"

The lieutenant explained in detail: "Your Majesty, there are now three mineral deposits discovered in the west. The closest one is about four or five miles away from here, across the small valley inside, and the farthest one is about ten miles away.

Moreover, the Yongding River winds and twists after entering the mountains, not straight. The three places where mineral deposits were discovered are all in the valleys beside the Yongding River.

That’s great. The mineral vein is at least ten miles long. I don’t know how long it can be used.

More importantly, they're all located along the Yongding River, making transportation incredibly convenient. Wanli nodded excitedly and said, "Okay, go tell them that the first team to discover this mineral deposit will be rewarded with 200 taels each, and any subsequent teams that discover the deposit will be rewarded with 100 taels each."

Upon hearing this, the lieutenant hurriedly bowed and said, "Thank you for your grace, Your Majesty. I will take my leave."

After saying this, he turned his horse around and galloped west.

These guys are really energetic. Even in such a cold day, they are running around as if they don’t even feel the cold.

However, the New Year is coming soon, and no matter how anxious he is, he can't let people skip the New Year.

Wanli thought for a moment and then asked, "Yuan Jing, what do you think? Why don't we let them visit for a few more days and then let them go home to celebrate the New Year on the 28th of the twelfth lunar month?"

This one.

Upon hearing this, Qi Jiguang said cautiously, "Your Majesty, I dare say that they are planning to spend the entire New Year exploring for minerals around the capital, because the money is easy to make, and all they have to do is drill a few holes in the ground every day.

Moreover, they also want to take advantage of the New Year holidays to learn how to prospect for minerals, which can be a skill to make money in the future.

As for whether to celebrate the New Year or not, the soldiers are used to it. They didn't celebrate the New Year when they were fighting outside. Since they can make money here, it doesn't matter to them whether they celebrate the New Year or not."

This is how the lower-class people are. As long as they can make money, why would they celebrate the New Year?

The soldiers cherished this opportunity even more. Digging a hole was much easier than fighting on the battlefield, and there was no danger at all.

It is impossible for them to spend their whole lives on the battlefield. When they get old and can no longer fight, driving a horse-drawn carriage around to prospect for minerals is also a good way to make money.

Upon hearing this, Wanli nodded slowly and said, "Okay, I'll give them triple the food and wages for the New Year.

Tell them to finish exploring the area around the capital during the Lunar New Year holiday. After the holiday, have them take their craftsmen and drills to Datong, Taiyuan, Pianguan, Yansui, Guyuan, and Ningxia towns for exploration. There are probably more coal mines there."

This was not actually what he estimated.

Because there are famously many coal mines there in later generations, they will definitely be able to find a lot with their cast-a-net exploration method.

At this, the soldiers of the Shenjiying Camp and the craftsmen who were prospecting for minerals were all overjoyed.

They really didn't celebrate the New Year. They wandered around in the mountains around the capital, having a lot of fun.

A few days into the first lunar month, they unexpectedly found a mineral vein in Fangshan, south of Wanping.

This is not all. After the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, tens of thousands of soldiers from the Shenjiying Camp brought thousands of craftsmen and more than 3,000 sets of drill bits and went straight to Datong Town, Taiyuan Town, Pianguan Town, Yansui Town, Guyuan Town and Ningxia Town, and drilled in the mountains on both sides of the Yanghe River, Huihe River, Heihe River, Yellow River, Fenhe River and other rivers.

Their prospecting method is actually not very efficient, but they have so many people and so many drills.

Moreover, it was the time when the rivers were frozen, so they could drive the grain carts around in the deep mountains and forests.

If we wait until the ice and snow melt, it will be difficult to go into the deep mountains and forests. Even if there is a boat, there is no pier to dock.

So, they took advantage of the cold weather to run around everywhere.

This mess was really terrible.

Before the first month of the lunar year was over, good news came in one after another. Coal mines were discovered in Datong Town. And there was not just one, but more than a dozen of them. These more than a dozen were all veins, and these veins were much larger than the veins in Wanping and Fangshan!
Soon after, news came from Shuozhou in Pianguan Town that they had discovered a large open-pit mine in a valley less than 20 miles north of Shuozhou City. Those valleys were full of coal. As long as a few feet of soil were dug away, there was coal underneath!
This was not all that was discovered. Immediately afterwards, a large number of open-pit coal mines were discovered in the valley on the west bank of the Yellow River opposite the Qingshui River.

When Wanli received the news, he was extremely excited. It was close to the Yellow River and water transportation was convenient. Moreover, it would be easy to reach many places by going downstream. This coal business was going to make a lot of money.

(End of this chapter)