Chapter Thirty-Eight: Open-Pit Coal Mine

  The snowstorm subsided, and Li Qing couldn't wait to go take a look at that coal mine. Shang Haibo was worried, so he had Wang Qiniang bring over a team of soldiers, adding to Li Qing's own hundred or so personal guards. The group set off in grand style. Yang Yidao and Tang Hu were beaten with boards, only ten times, but under Shang Haibo's supervision, these ten board hits were solid and substantial, without any leniency. The two of them limped along behind Li Qing's horse, their buttocks too sore to sit on the horse.

  Li Qing, who was supposed to let them go and rest, looked at the two of them walking away with a satisfied expression, and couldn't help but laugh and scold: "You're asking for trouble!" But in his heart, he was actually very pleased - these two were truly loyal!

  "General, if this beast charcoal is really as you say it is, then it would indeed be of great benefit to my Chong County. But is it true?" Shang Haibo was still uneasy and kept asking this question repeatedly along the way.

  "Of course!" Li Qing patted his chest, "Mr. Shang, I'll prove it to you with facts at that time."

  After half a day's journey, the group arrived at the entrance of Zhangzi, as told by Wu Si Niang. This place is over ten miles away from Chong County's old camp, with no main roads, only a rugged mountain path winding through the mountains. The snow covered everything, making it impossible to see the road. If not for the guide who was familiar with the mountain paths leading them, Li Qing and his group would have had difficulty finding their way here.

  "General, this is where the willow tree is, Wu Si Niang was picked up here, and we also know that there are black beast charcoal everywhere. It's just that basically no one dares to pick it up and burn it here."

  Li Qing squatted down, using his hand to brush away the top layer of floating snow. The snow underneath was already frozen extremely hard, so he pulled out his waist and chopped randomly, cutting out snowflakes and ice chips in all directions. The soldiers also used their hands to brush away the accumulated snow, finally revealing the solid ground.

  "General, I found one!"

  "General, I have it here too!"

  After a busy and confusing commotion, a large pile of coal had accumulated in front of Li Qing. He picked up one piece and examined it carefully, confirming that it was indeed coal, but this pile contained both good quality coal and inferior stones mixed with coal dust. These stones could not burn thoroughly and were prone to producing toxic fumes. It seemed that Lü Siniang couldn't distinguish between the coal and the stones, so she had taken them all back to burn, making her small cottage poorly ventilated, which led to carbon monoxide poisoning. If her cottage had been as well-ventilated as others, it would have been fine.

  Li Qing shook his head. This woman was really unlucky, but fortunately for her bad luck, he himself knew that Chong County had such good things, resources, this is a strategic resource.

  Li Qing smiled and pointed to the ground, "Dig it open for me!"

  The guards took out the pickaxes they had prepared beforehand and started digging. Li Qing smiled at Shang Haibo, "Mr. Shang, as far as I know, these coal deposits are usually buried very deep underground, making it extremely difficult to extract them without causing casualties. It's rare to see open-pit mines like this one. But Chong County has one, which is truly beyond my expectations. It can be seen that in the near future, Chong County will surely rise to prominence because of this."

  Shang Haibo said: "If it's really as General said, and can solve the problem of the poisonous gas from the beast charcoal, that would be a great help. Perhaps this is the general's destiny, heaven's blessing. Let Chong County not only have this thing, but also let the general know its usage."

  Li Qinghaha smiled and said, "What a fate, Mr. said interestingly, it's just good luck."

  Shang Haibo glanced sideways at Li Qing, who was intently watching the soldiers digging, and smiled thoughtfully to himself. Of course, it's too early to say now, but what about in the future?

  The ground was frozen extremely hard, and often a pickaxe could only dig open a few inches deep. In no time, the soldiers began to sweat, while the ground had been dug about ten inches deep.

  "General, General, I've dug it out!" a soldier shouted loudly, followed by more soldiers shouting. Li Qing quickly walked forward to see the turned up soil had become completely black, with countless large and small pieces of coal mixed in the black powder. He stretched out his hand, grabbed a handful, and slowly lifted it up, looking at the black coal blocks, his heart filled with wild joy. It was indeed a blessing from heaven, such good quality coal, only a foot deep underground.

  Watching Li Qing ecstatically holding the black powder in his hand, even putting it to his nose and sniffing deeply, Yang Yidao, who had just been beaten, suddenly rushed up and knocked the coal out of Li Qing's hand. "General, this beast charcoal is poisonous!"

  Li Qing burst out laughing and stood up, "No, this beast charcoal will only produce toxic gases when it's burned. Now, there isn't any, it's very safe. Hmm, Yang Yidao, you've made progress, it seems Mr. Shang's slap was effective!" The guards beside him heard Li Qing's teasing and couldn't help but burst out laughing at the sight of their leader's embarrassed face. Only Shang Haibo had a displeased expression, letting out a cold hum from his nostrils.

  "Come on, every soldier get some back." Li Qing shouted loudly.

  Chong County, General's Mansion. Shang Haibo saw the busy craftsmen and still felt a bit uneasy in his heart. He asked Li Qing, who was supervising the work, in a low voice: "General, are you sure there won't be any problems? Can we really solve his poisoning?"

  Li Qing had been repeatedly asked this question by Shang Haibo, and was getting frustrated, so he smiled wryly and said: "Sir, I've said it before - if there's no problem, then there's no problem. How about this? After it's built, we'll try it out first. During the trial period, I won't go in, okay?"

  Shang Haibo nodded in satisfaction, "This is the most secure way."

  Alas, Li Qing let out a long sigh. Downstairs, the craftsmen were building an earthen dragon according to Li Qing's rough sketch in the General's mansion, setting up a fire kang, and even the stove platform in the kitchen was set up. It was estimated that it would be usable in four or five days. The thousands of catties of coal brought back by the soldiers were also piled up in front of the General's mansion.

  "The common people don't dare to use it, because they don't understand. In the past, no one has used it before, but if I take the lead in using it, then it can play a promotional role among the people. So this winter, we won't have to suffer from the cold." Li Qing said to Shang Haibo.

  "It's good that the general has the people in his heart, but this kind of unknown and unpredictable danger, it's better not to have the general do it himself from now on. Let the people below handle these things." Shang Haibo reminded Li Qing at all times.

  These days, the people of Chong County's old camp all knew that the general would use charcoal to keep warm and declared that there was a way to solve the problem of toxic fumes from charcoal. The eyes of tens of thousands of civilians were focused on the General's Mansion.

  The earth dragon started burning, and the big kang also caught fire. At first, a chaotic smell came from several chimneys, and the crowd watching outside the General's mansion changed color on their faces and retreated in unison. Li Qing remained calm and motionless, while Yang Yidao and Tang Hu stood firmly behind him, although they looked pale but didn't retreat at all. On the other side, Shang Haibo was also standing steadily, his eyes fixed intently on the chimneys.

  Before long, the strange smell slowly disappeared. Li Qing estimated that the earth dragon and the kang should be cooked by now, so he smiled: "Alright, now we can go in and take a look."

  Just as he was about to enter, Yang Yidao had already taken a tiger's leap and rushed into the house before Li Qing. Tang Hu then grabbed Li Qing with one hand, this one-eyed dragon having extremely great strength, his iron-like fist pinning Li Qing in place, rendering him unable to move.

  On one side, Shang Haibo nodded heavily and smiled on his face. These twenty boards were worth beating. Yang Yidao's wife, Yang Zhou, bit her lip tightly and looked at her husband in the house with a tense expression.

  Yang Yidao stepped into the house, and his first feeling was that it was warm and cozy. The air inside was fresh, with a hint of earthy smell left over from recent construction, but not a single whiff of the foul toxic gas could be detected.

  After standing still for a few minutes, he actually felt a bit hot, he stood steadily in the room, carefully experiencing it, damn it, getting hotter and hotter.

  One incense stick of time had passed, and another incense stick of time had passed. Li Qing was almost frozen stiff. He struggled to break free from Du Yanlong Tang Hu's grasp and turned around, saying: "Alright, so much time has passed now, everyone should know that there shouldn't be any problems. Let's go in!"

  As they spoke, the door opened and Yang Yidao appeared at the entrance, his face flushed with red light. "General, it's so hot in here!" Li Qing cursed to himself, of course it was hot, not only had they burned the dragon-shaped stove, but also the fire kang, how could it not be hot?

  A crowd surged into General Zhang's residence, and the drastically different temperature from outside left everyone stunned. This house was like a spring day!