Zhu Youzhen said unceremoniously to Zhang Yixian: "Let Tu Wenfu take this opportunity to formulate the rules of the Mining Supervision Bureau, can the rules he set by himself still compete with others?"

With the supervision of the Mining Supervision Bureau, the cost of those coal mines will inevitably remain high, and the Beijing-West Railway that will be built soon is in our hands. ”

Zhang Yixian didn't dare to defend again, and then Zhu Youzhen pointed to the edict and said to him: "The Xishan incident, I don't want to leave any sequelae, so I give you this edict."

If the death penalty were to be imposed on the miners' trial, you would have issued this edict to change the death penalty to exile in Taiwan. Tell Tu Wenfu to let him mediate, try to ease the contradictions between the two sides, and prepare for the resumption of production..."

The Xishan miners' riot was completely quelled within a week, with 27 miners being exiled to Taiwan and 13 private mine owners fined between 300 taels and 3,000 taels as compensation for the dead and disabled miners.

Since most of the conditions put forward by the miners were met, the leading miners were not executed, and the miners' resentment was slightly vented after a night of destruction, the miners were soon able to resume production under the organization of the union.

Under the strong political pressure of the imperial court, the powerful people behind the private mine owners either chose to sell their shares to the Xishan Coal Company opened by the palace, or they chose to accept the arrangement of the palace, jointly established a joint-stock company, and signed an underwriting contract with the Xishan Coal Company.

In addition to some remote small coal kilns, more than 280 private coal mines have formed 17 coal mine joint-stock companies according to their geographical location, and Xishan Coal Company has become the largest coal mine in western Beijing with more than 4,000 miners and a daily output of 300,000 catties of coal after annexing more than 30 private mines nearby.

Seventeen coal mining companies and Xishan Coal Company formed a coal trust, and the production, operation, and financial management of all coal mines fell into the hands of Xishan Coal Company.

The 17 coal mining companies are located in different locations, and in order to integrate resources and unify transportation, it is necessary to build roads between them. In order to improve the production efficiency of each coal mine, each mine needs to be changed to a production method that uses rail trolleys to transport coal.

This undoubtedly stimulates the production of cement plants and iron-smelting plants, and the expansion of production of cement plants and iron-smelting plants, in turn, stimulates the demand for coal, which forms a good positive cycle.

The Xishan riots also left Chongzhen with a gift, that is, after the burning coal pile was extinguished that night, more than 30% of the coal turned into coke.

So Sun Yuanhua, who had been studying how to coke, immediately took the craftsman to conduct sampling and analysis. Eventually, they found that coking coal needed bituminous coal, which the miners considered to be inferior, and that it needed to mix several types of coal.

This discovery undoubtedly greatly accelerated the development of coking, and by the end of May, the first furnace of coke was finally successfully refined, and in addition to coke, Sun Yuanhua also collected a black liquid, and after the coke oven gas passed through the water, he collected a pungent aqueous solution, and an insoluble liquid that is insoluble in water and clearer than water.

Sun Yuanhua brought some back to Beijing, wanting the academicians of the Academy of Sciences to study what the use of these things was.

After Chongzhen heard about it, he rushed to the Academy of Sciences to visit. By the time he arrived, the academicians had already smelted the asphalt from the black liquid.

But they still don't know anything about the effects of the other two liquids. However, Zhu Youzhen smelled the pungent smell and immediately recognized that this pungent aqueous solution was ammonia.

Bitumen can be used as a wood preservative, while ammonia is more useful. Zhu Youzhen instructed the attendants of the Academy of Sciences: "Go and get some maltose." ”

Sun Yuanhua, Jin Nige and others looked at the emperor's actions curiously, and the aqueous maltose solution was added to the glass tube, then ammonia was added, and then the water bath was heated.

Everyone had been looking forward to it for a long time, but nothing happened, and Zhu Youzhen's face was a little red. Seeing that the situation was not good, Sun Yuanhua, Jin Nige and others hurriedly diverted the topic and diverted the emperor's attention.

"Dare to ask Your Majesty, what exactly is this solution that smells strongly irritating?" Jinnige asked the emperor for advice.

Zhu Youzhen's face finally recovered slightly, and he replied casually: "This is ammonia, strange, why doesn't the silver mirror reaction occur..."

After answering Jinnige's question, Zhu Youzhen suddenly muttered to himself. And the academicians around him looked at each other and did not understand what the emperor was saying.

Zhu Youzhen reacted suddenly, now there is no silver in this glass tube, no wonder there has been no reaction.

However, it is definitely not possible to throw the silver directly, and if you want to configure the silver ammonia solution, you should add... Silver nitrate, Zhu Youzhen finally recalled.

"How much liquid did you get from the last dry distillation of saltpeter?" Zhu Youzhen asked towards Jinnige.

Kinney Pavilion instructed a colleague, who immediately took a glass ** with the word nitric acid on it from the shelf on the side.

Next, the silver nitrate solution was prepared, then the silver ammonia solution was prepared, and then the silver ammonia solution was dropped into the maltose solution, heated in a water bath again, and after waiting for a while, a layer of silver mirror was finally formed on the inner wall of the glass tube.

Seeing that Yinjing's reaction was finally successful, not only Chongzhen breathed a sigh of relief, but also Sun Yuanhua and the others who were watching on the side were also greatly relieved.

It was also a good thing for them to be able to see the emperor and be angry. And the chemistry that the emperor did did indeed surprise them.

Deng Yuhan, who rarely appeared in the Academy of Sciences, was surprised when he looked at this glass tube, and subconsciously said: "What is the reaction?" First nitric acid dissolved the silver, then this pungent liquid and maltose solution was added... Could it be that the maltose replaces the dissolved silver? ”

Zhu Youzhen was a little surprised by the comprehension ability of this anatomical expert, he nodded and said: "It's really good, your guess is very accurate, that's right." ”

When Chongzhen discussed the principle and use of the silver mirror reaction with the academicians of the Academy of Sciences, at the mouth of Dagu, Tianjin, Wen Daolin, the general banner, was urging his soldiers to build coastal defense forts.

After the first month, the Gegu coastal defense battalion was reorganized, after being diverted and replenished. Originally, there were only 6 or 700 people, and the coastal defense battalion was a mixed group of old and weak, but now it has been restored to a full strength of 3,000 people.

Although these soldiers who were supplemented from the salt households and boat households along the coast of Tianjin, they were very hard-working and hard-working.

After the Haiphong battalion was fully established, it moved from Gegu to Dagukou, where military barracks and forts were built. And the coastal defense battalion was assigned to the Bohai Fleet and became the garrison battalion of the Tianjin Naval Base.

Under the appointment of Chongzhen, the Western missionary Gao Yizhi led Han Yun and Han Lin from Shanxi to design a coastal defense system consisting of 5 large forts and more than 20 small forts on the south and north banks of the Haihe River.

Of course, only the two most important large forts and three small forts on both sides of the Haihe River are being built now.

Unlike the traditional Chinese boxy city, the fort designed by the Western missionary and two of his disciples looked like a rose covered with thorns.

The side wall of the fort is not a traditional one, straight up and down, but three side walls that are more than one person high and inclined inward, constantly shrinking inward, like a blooming rose. The outermost part of the side wall is a moat more than one meter deep, which is equivalent to forming four lines of defense.

Gao Yizhi stood on the big fort on the south bank, which was about to take shape, and couldn't help but say to Han Yun behind him with satisfaction: "Even in my hometown of Italy, there will be no better fort design than this.

As long as the top of the fort is covered with 30 centimeters of soil, it will be difficult for even a cannon to destroy the fort. What is missing now is artillery. ”

Han Yun, who walked to Gao Yizhi's side, carefully looked at the appearance of the entire fort, although he had seen it countless times on the drawings, but when the patterns on the drawings turned into actual buildings, he still felt an indescribable sense of satisfaction.

"It's a pity that Brother Lin is not here, otherwise he would definitely be happy to see this fort finished." Han Yun said with some emotion.

Gao Yizhi turned his head to look at him and comforted: "He just went to Lushunkou to survey the terrain, and he thinks he will be able to come back soon, it is said that Lushunkou is going to build a stronger fortress than this fort, and I think your brother will definitely be reused by His Majesty the Emperor this time." Hey, there's a ship coming over there. ”

Han Yun followed Gao Yizhi's gaze, and sure enough, the shadow of a sail in the distance was revealed, and soon a piece of sail was revealed. It doesn't look like a ship, it's a huge fleet.

Han Yun immediately called the police to Wen Daolin, the general flag below, and Wen Daolin sent someone back to the barracks to inform him, and at the same time ordered the sergeant who built the fort to stop his work and put him on guard.

At the same time, the fleet stationed at Dagukou also sent two ships to meet the incoming fleet.

Lu Jiude, Xu Xinsu and others stood at the bow of the ship, looking at the continent that was getting closer and closer, and finally relieved their hearts.

The time spent on this mission to Japan on the sea was much longer than the last time I went to Taiwan. However, the wind and waves in the Bohai Sea and the Yellow Sea are much gentler than those in the Taiwan Strait.

Lu Jiude felt that he had adapted to life at sea, and the only thing that worried him was that once there was a storm on the vast sea, once the ship was shipwrecked, there were few people on board who would survive.

was able to return to Tianjin safely, and for Lu Jiude, a piece of heart disease finally disappeared. On the ship at the back of Lu Jiude's ship, although he heard the report of his subordinates arriving in Tianjin, Mao Wenlong did not go out of the cabin to take a look, he was still sitting in the cabin and drinking sullen wine with a calm face.

Opposite him, Mao Chenglu, who has always been unscrupulous in his words and deeds, is now behaving like a student in a school.

"Father doesn't have to worry so much, one person does things and one person does it, Your Majesty really wants to blame me, it's a big deal, I'll mortgage my head to him." Mao Chenglu said unconvinced.

Mao Wenlong's eyes suddenly widened, and he scolded him: "You bastard, how many times have I told you, you just can't control the thing in your crotch, Guanghaijun's woman, you dare to move, why don't I let Your Majesty cut off your little head and let you enter the palace to be your father-in-law, okay?" ”

Mao Chenglu subconsciously clamped his legs, not daring to continue to talk back to Mao Wenlong.