Chapter 181 The Discovery of Coal Mine

It has been less than two months since the new fiefdom was acquired, and the mineral resources in the territory have not been fully surveyed.

During this period, Richard has sent more than a dozen groups of surveyors to search for various ores on a large scale within the territory. From clay mines to lime mines, and then to various metal mines, the surveyors have been living in the open air and finally made some discoveries, drawing various mineral resources on a simple map.

Because the conditions are difficult and the threshold is not low, the salary of mineral prospectors is relatively high, reaching eight silver coins per month, which is comparable to the teachers of Riverside Primary School.

After two months of exploration, the general mineral resources in the territory have been discovered.

The first one found was the clay mine, which is not far from the military station.

Richard is ready to build a second brick kiln near the clay mine after the snow melts to speed up the development of the Harland Valley.

It is very inconvenient to build the territory without bricks. Although it is located in the mountains, Richard does not have so much manpower to build a quarry.

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

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

Now, when building the second brick kiln factory, Richard no longer needs to do it himself and take the lead in demonstration.

Then he discovered the lime mine, which can produce primitive cement. There is such an earthen kiln in the Haland territory, and Richard does not need to take care of it.

The third discovery was the scarce coal mine in the territory. After hearing about the discovery of the coal mine, Richard 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 at the military station, and issued a gold coin allowance to the prospectors.

The coal mine is 15 kilometers away from the military station. Richard personally went to inspect the coal mine and found that it was of high quality. 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.

Moreover, coal can be used for heating in winter after it is mined.

If the people in the territory burn coal in winter, it can reduce the felling of trees, prevent soil erosion, and avoid mountain torrents.

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

According to Richard's observation, there are very few open-pit coal mines in the northern border.

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

Because the miners in the territory have no experience in mining coal mines, Richard is a little worried. He followed the miners and stayed in the coal mine for a few days.

The surface coal mine is best mined, and it can be dug with a hammer and a steel chisel.

The coal mine was found halfway up the mountain. If you want to transport the coal out, you need to build a one-kilometer road.

After Richard and the surveyors surveyed the terrain, they decided to use wooden tracks to transport coal.

The territory can now produce some steel, using hydraulic forging hammers to beat steel into thin steel plates. After the thin steel plates are cut, the steel plates are nailed to the wooden tracks.

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

There is a small river at the bottom of the mountain that can pass small boats. This small river is a tributary of the Powell River. Coal can be transported to Fort William by river transportation.

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

The price specified by Richard for coal is very cheap, only twice that of wood.

The market price of one thousand kilograms of wood is about one silver coin. In the coldest time in the northern border, it can't burn for ten days.

A relatively wealthy family burns more than one gold coin in fuel in a winter, and needs to cut down more than twenty large trees to keep warm.

The same quality of coal has much higher heat than wood, and three kilograms of coal can burn a kang for a night.

An ordinary family can survive the winter with one ton of coal.

The price of one ton of coal is only four silver coins, which is equivalent to an ordinary person working for one month.

Such a price is acceptable to most families.

There are about 10,000 free people in the Harland territory now. Because Richard's tax is low, these free people have some money in their hands.

There are about 2,400 freemen in the territory. If all of these 2,000 freemen buy coal, the output value of the coal mine will reach 800 gold coins, and the net profit will exceed 500 gold coins, which is already a lot of money.

Moreover, many contract slaves fulfill their contracts every year. With the increase of population in the territory, consumption, and increased production of coal mines, 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 a simple calculation, Richard found that the reserves of the coal mine are very large, and this hill is almost a coal mountain.

The shallow coal seam alone exceeds 10 million tons.

According to the current mining volume of the Harland territory, this coal mine can be used for a hundred years.

The abundance of materials in the territory will promote the development of the territory's economy.

Now, even if Richard has no cash and lacks gold coins, he can distribute food, brown sugar, white wine, coal and other materials to the soldiers to make up for the account for a period of time.

In the future, Richard will distribute food and coal for the pension in the territory.

Gold and silver mines have not been discovered in the Harland territory, and since he is not a hereditary earl, he does not have the right to mint coins.

Due to the shortage of gold coins, deflation has already occurred in the territory. Many freemen have even developed the habit of bartering.

There are still many indentured servants and few freemen.

If there are more freemen, they will have the habit of hiding their coins and saving them, and then the shortage of currency will be more serious.

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

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

Coal is a necessary living material in winter, and it can be exchanged for money after mining.

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

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

A few months after the end of the war, the Harland Territory has been preparing for war.

Richard made another thirty 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 first squadron has twenty pieces of brute force armor, sixty pieces of snake scale armor, and seventy pieces of iron armor. The quality of the equipment exceeds that of the first squadron of the first battalion of the Northern Legion, enough to be on par with the Royal Guards.

The first squadron fought many hard battles and suffered heavy casualties. Only a dozen veterans who joined the army six years ago are left. Because of the continuous recruitment of veterans, the quality of the soldiers in this squadron is very high. Now there are eight professionals, forty-three high-level students, and the remaining soldiers are basically middle-level students.

The armor rate is 100%, and the enchanted armor rate is more than 50%, which is the iron fist in Richard's hand.

The second and third squadrons are also the main squadrons, and the replenishment strength is second only to the first squadron, and they are prioritized over Richard's guard squadron.

These three main squadrons are second only to the Warcraft Cavalry in the Harland Territory, and are the backbone of the territory.