It was normal that Li Zexuan did not know about Yifang County, but if it was Lan County, he would definitely know about it.
In the modern era, Shanxi Province had 3.546 billion tons of usable reserves and 514 million tons of unusable reserves, ranking fourth in the country. This did not include the Shanxi type of limonite ore that was widely distributed but had not been explored.
Among them, 89.3% of the discovered iron ore resources were concentrated in Lan County (2 billion tons) and Wutai Mountain (1.625 billion tons).
Other than iron ore resources, Lan County was also rich in other mineral resources, such as coal, iron, manganese, sulfur, marble, granite, and so on! It could be said that it was a real mining county!
Lan County was called Yifang County during the Tang Dynasty's Zhenguan period, and it was the capital of Lan Province at that time!
Therefore, it was not surprising that Fubin could find two iron ore mines, two sulfur mines, and a big coal mine in Yifang County!
"Thank you, Young Master!"
In Fubin's eyes, Li Zexuan was a real big shot. Now that he could get Li Zexuan's praise, he was overjoyed!
"Ahem! Young Master! Forgive me for being blunt, but this coal mine is very difficult to mine. If we can mine a large amount of coal, it'll be fine, but if there's no coal and it's all coal, then it'll be a big loss! "
Faubert was obviously more mature and looked at the long-term. He said to Li Zexuan worriedly.
"Uhh … Faubert, why is coal useful … Oh! I understand now! But Faubert, you don't have to worry. To me, coal is useful, but coal is also useful! "
Just as Li Zexuan was about to ask why charcoal was useful and coal was useless, some memories of his predecessor suddenly emerged. He quickly swallowed the words that were already at the tip of his tongue and changed his words.
His predecessor's memory told him that although people had started to use coal, coal was not popular yet!
The history of ancient coal mining in China can be divided into four stages: the Pre-Qin Dynasty was the discovery and early exploitation of coal; the Western Han Dynasty to the Northern and Southern Dynasties was the mature stage of coal exploitation; the Sui, Tang and Yuan Dynasties was the general development and rapid progress of coal exploitation; the Ming and Qing Dynasties was the heyday of ancient coal exploitation.
However, it should be noted that the coal mentioned above was mainly referring to charcoal, not coal. At least before the Song Dynasty, coal was not used on a large scale!
This was because the unprocessed coal dug out from the coal mines was difficult to burn fully. On the other hand, this kind of coal would emit a lot of soot when it was burned. Therefore, the people would rather burn firewood than coal!
This was because the smoke emitted from firewood was less than that from coal!
It wasn't until the late Tang Dynasty that the technology of using coal to make coke appeared.
According to the Tang Dynasty scholar Kang Pian's "Drama Talk Log", when the rich and powerful children of Luo (Luoyang) used coal to cook rice, they would first burn the coal to remove the smoke. This was called cooked coal or refined coal, and then they would use this refined coal to cook rice. This type of refined coal was closer to coke, but because it wasn't deliberately burned, it was only the prototype of coke.
In the Song Dynasty, the coking technology was perfected, and the raw coal processing and utilization in our country entered a new stage, and the use of coal gradually became more widespread. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the development and utilization of coal in our country had reached the heyday. Similar to the previous salt and iron dictatorship, the mining rights of coal had been nationalized, and coal mining taxes had been collected!
"What? Young master has a way to use raw coal? "
Fubin didn't think much of it, but Faubert's eyes suddenly widened. He sat up straight from the sofa and said in shock.
As long as one had a little bit of common sense, they would know that if raw coal could be used, then a coal mine could bring an amazing amount of wealth!
Li Zexuan didn't deny it and nodded happily and said, "I do know some ways! Therefore, this coal mine must be mined! Whether it's charcoal or coal, we want it all! "
Faubert said excitedly, "If young master really has a way to use raw coal, then of course this coal mine must be mined!"
Li Zexuan smiled. He muttered to himself for a while, then looked at Fubin and asked, "Xiao Bing, previously you said that you met with some problems in Yifang County. What exactly happened?"
Fubin scratched his head and replied, "Young master, it's like this! When we first arrived at Yifang County, we were targeted by a few local ruffians! Those ruffians heard our accent and knew that we came from Chang 'an, so they wanted to collect toll from us! Biao Zi was furious, so he gathered his brothers and beat up those ruffians!
Originally, it was nothing much, but who knew that those ruffians were related to the County Magistrate's son. That County Magistrate's son didn't know what was right and wrong, so he ordered the bailiffs to arrest us and put us in jail. Luckily, Biao Zi's martial arts were much better than those bailiffs, so he took advantage of the chaos to escape. Two days later, the County Magistrate interrogated us. Actually, it was just a formality.
In court, those ruffians became the good guys, and we became the bullies who bullied the weak and feared the strong. The County Magistrate and Deputy County Magistrate didn't even give us a chance to defend ourselves and wanted to send us to a mine in the county to do hard labor!
Luckily, Biao Zi arrived in time and brought along the Lan Province's Provincial Governor's Office! Those two days, he was carrying young master's warrant and went to the Lan Province's Provincial Governor's Office to get reinforcements! At that time, the Lan Province's Provincial Governor was not in the government office, so the County Magistrate came over!
What happened after that was logical. The County Magistrate of Yifang County did not teach his son well and allowed his son to keep evil slaves, disrupting the law and order. He was removed from his position and investigated by the Lan Province's Provincial Governor. Even the Deputy County Magistrate was not spared! After this incident, we no longer met any obstacles when we were looking for ore veins in Yifang County! "
After hearing what Fubin said, Li Zexuan curiously said, "Hey! There's such a thing? This Lan Province's Provincial Governor is not bad! Xiao Bing, thank you for your hard work! "
"Hmph! Marquis, you don't need to sympathize with this kid! When you are outside, you should wear normal clothes to keep a low profile. Are you afraid that others will not know you are from Chang 'an?! There are so many people going to Yifang County. Why didn't those ruffians look for other people? Why did they look for the few of you? Isn't this your own fault? "
Faubert sneered and scolded them mercilessly.
Fu Bin's face was immediately filled with embarrassment. Clearly, Uncle Fu's words had hit his sore spot.
Li Zexuan looked at Fubin and laughed. "Faubert, you can't say that. This person was walking on the streets and was knocked down by someone. Can you blame that person for not going out today? Xiao Bing and the rest did not break the law and were bullied by the ruffians. How can they not retaliate?
Before they left, I had told them not to create trouble, but they cannot be afraid of trouble! I feel that they had done well this time! Furthermore, Xiao Bing and the rest had unintentionally helped the people of Yifang County to get rid of a big problem. Not only did they not do anything wrong, but they also did a good deed! Haha! "
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