The Empress's Gigolo
/ The Empress's Gigolo Chapter 157
Ren Baqian looked at the iron mountain in front of him with doubt . Is this really natural?
Ren Baqian believed that this was an enormous remnant of a meteorite rather than a mine .
It was possible that the remnant of a meteorite crashed here a few billion years ago . After many years of transformation of the earth's crust, the gigantic basin became a plain . The remnant of the meteorite eventually turned into the current Mount Damo .
Ren Baqian felt that this explanation was more likely than the iron mountain forming naturally .
Otherwise, nothing seemed to make sense at all .
"Can you make a few holes here?" Ren Baqian asked Gu Qiong as he pointed to a rock above his head . "The holes must be fist-sized and half a meter deep . "
Seven meters above Ren Baqian, there was a four-meter-long rock protruding outwards from the wall of the mountain .
It was very hard for one to mine from that area given its height .
However, if he could make a few small holes there and place explosives within them, he might able to blast a huge chunk of it off .
This was merely his conjecture, after all he wasn't an expert in demolition .
"Sir, even though I don't know what you're intending to do, it's impossible to make such huge and deep holes there . We can only make fist-sized holes at most . Anything deeper than that, we will have to resort to digging," Gu Qiong explained with a troubled look on his face .
Upon hearing these words, Ren Baqian furrowed his eyebrows . If what Gu Qiong said was true, explosives might not be very useful here .
If he was on Earth, he would have many solutions to deal with this situation . For example, he could use acetylene to cut it .
However, most of tools on Earth needed either electricity or gas tanks . For example, if he decided to use acetylene, he would have to bring one tank of it here . However, he could only bring one per trip . Furthermore, he had to bring it to this place directly . Otherwise, given the condition of Dayao's roads, it would explode on the road here .
In addition, if he really brought a tank of acetylene here, his secret would be exposed . This was unacceptable for him .
"Bring me to the vicinity of Mount Damo to take a look . " After pondering over the issue for quite some time, Ren Baqian felt that he should take a look at the surroundings of Mount Damo first . Right now, there was still some time before the sky darkened . He should at least inspect the surroundings of the iron mountain first .
For the remaining part of the day, everyone rode around the foot of Mount Damo for some distance before going back . Ren Baqian realized this mountain was exactly what he expected it to be . It was an enormous remnant of a meteorite . That was because structure of this mountain was completely different from its surrounding terrain's . He noticed that all the ore veins were gathered at the top of the mountain . Furthermore, there were extremely little trees and plants on top of the mountain . Mainly, there were weeds and scrubs . The layer of soil which covered the surface of the mountain should be dust that was accumulated over the years .
"Sir Ren, do you have any ideas?" Tao Jiyuan furrowed his eyebrows as he asked Ren Baqian on the way back .
"Oh? I do have an idea, but I don't whether or not it will work . We have to give it a try first," Ren Baqian raised his head in shock and replied . His thought process was disrupted by Tao Jiyuan's question .
"That's great then . For so many years, countless people have come up with ways to increase the mining output for Mount Damo but failed . As such, we can only use manual labor to mine the iron bit by bit . If Sir Ren's idea works, you will do the nation a great service . " A smile spread across Tao Jiyuan's face .
"I'd rather you go and snatch iron from other countries than mining them from this place," Gu Qiong grumbled on one side .
Ren Baqian rolled his eyes . Isn't this obvious? Snatching iron is of course more efficient than mining them . The issue is, is it that simple to do so?
By the time they reached their camp, the sky had already darkened . Those laborers swarmed back to the camp as well . They crowded around a few barrels in the middle of the plaza and waited for their meat soup . However, there were very few people talking to each other . They had spent many years like this . Extremely few new prisoners were sent here as well .
Ren Baqian could smell the fragrance of meat soup from a distance . "Nice food!"
"If they're not full, they won't have enough energy to work . After all, if you don't have enough energy, you won't be able to chisel a single piece of iron from this iron mountain . "
Ren Baqian nodded his head .
Gu Qiong had already prepared a wooden house for Ren Baqian . His dinner was meat soup as well . However, his meat soup had been improved with some wild herbs and two dried rations . Even Gu Qiong had to also eat such food every day . After all, there were no towns or villages nearby . Other than the people that delivered meat and other rations, no one else came here . It was almost impossible to make other types of food .
After finishing his dinner, Ren Baqian immediately went to sleep . The next morning, after he woke up, he called Gu Qiong and Tao Jiyuan to his room . "I have an idea that we can try . Pile up a large amount of wood at Mount Damo and then burn it . Then, pour plenty of water over the fire . Things expand when it's hot and contract when it's cold . Cracks will start to appear on the metal surface and this will make the mining process slightly easier . "
Even though this was Ren Baqian's idea, he wasn't too optimistic about it . It wasn't at all easy to heat up the iron mountain . Furthermore, metal was a good conductor of heat and the rock composition was very little . Even if a huge amount of wood was burned to heat up the iron mountain, only a few cracks would be produced on the iron surface .
Moreover, cutting down trees and transporting wood to this place will require a huge amount of manpower . This method wasn't that easy to implement . The efficiency of this method was too low .
Ren Baqian had another idea . He could return to Earth to make a huge number of mirrors and concave mirrors and bring them back here . Then, he would adjust the angles of the concave mirrors so that they would point at the wall of the mountain . Subsequently, he would use the mirrors to direct the sunlight to those concave mirrors .
This way, he could use the concave mirrors to focus the sunlight and melt the iron into molten iron within an extremely short period of time . This would make the extraction process of iron much easier .
"Things expand when it's hot and contract when it's cold? What does it mean?" Tao Jiyuan did not understand Ren Baqian's idea . However, he was very interested and curious about it .
"I can demonstrate it to you . " Ren Baqian led both of them out of the wooden house .
"Start a fire first," Ren Baqian instructed . Gu Qiong immediately asked someone to get some wood .
After a while, a fire was started . Ren Baqian picked up two rocks and asked someone to hold them with two iron awls and heat them up with the fire .
The rest looked at him curiously, trying to figure out what was he doing .
When it was about time, Ren Baqian instructed the person to throw the rocks into a bucket of water that was prepared a while ago .
Immediately, traces of steam were released from the bucket of water . After a few minutes, Ren Baqian placed his hand into the bucket of water and scooped out the two rocks . There were a few cracks on the rocks .
Following which, Ren Baqian showed the rocks to everyone . Everyone, except Tao Jiyuan, did not discover anything unusual . A look of realization dawned upon Tao Jiyuan's face as he said, "I see . "
This was a very common natural phenomenon . It wasn't that no one discovered it, but rather, no one pointed it out and explained what was going on . Therefore, they did not know the concept of thermal expansion . Certainly, no one had thought of using this concept on Mount Damo .
"What happened?" Tao Jiyuan asked curiously .
"An object will expand when you heat it up . Even if you can't see it, it is actually expanding . And after an object is cooled down, it will contract . If these two processes happen within a short period of time, this reaction will be produced . Not only will this reaction occur on rocks, but metal as well .
Ren Baqian gave Tao Jiyuan a rough explanation . If he talked about molecular theory, Tao Jiyuan would definitely not understand it .
A pensive look appeared on Tao Jiyuan's face . Meanwhile, Gu Qiong widened his eyes and asked, "Sir Ren, your idea is to burn Mount Damo?"
"We can just burn one part of it," Ren Baqian looked around and replied . The top of Mount Damo might not have much vegetation but its vicinity had a lot .
He could instruct Gu Qiong's men to cut some wood to burn a part of the mountain . Even though the efficiency was very low, he still wanted to give it a try . He could at least increase the speed of the extraction process of iron .
After he returned to Earth, he would do some research on how to make concave mirrors . By then, he could solve the iron extraction problem of Mount Damo once and for all .
It was a pity that he wouldn't be using the 40 kilograms of TNT he brought here .
Chapter 157 Two PlansTranslator TYZ Editor Book HoarderRen Baqian looked at the iron mountain in front of him with doubt . Is this really natural Ren Baqian believed that this was an enormous remnant of a meteorite rather than a mine . It was possible that the remnant of a meteorite crashed here a few billion years ago . After many years of transformation of the earth s crust, the gigantic basin became a plain . The remnant of the meteorite eventually turned into the current Mount Damo . Ren Baqian felt that this explanation was more likely than the iron mountain forming naturally . Otherwise, nothing seemed to make sense at all . Can you make a few holes here Ren Baqian asked Gu Qiong as he pointed to a rock above his head . The holes must be fist sized and half a meter deep . Seven meters above Ren Baqian, there was a four meter long rock protruding outwards from the wall of the mountain . It was very hard for one to mine from that area given its height . However, if he could make a few small holes there and place explosives within them, he might able to blast a huge chunk of it off . This was merely his conjecture, after all he wasn t an expert in demolition . Sir, even though I don t know what you re intending to do, it s impossible to make such huge and deep holes there . We can only make fist sized holes at most . Anything deeper than that, we will have to resort to digging, Gu Qiong explained with a troubled look on his face . Upon hearing these words, Ren Baqian furrowed his eyebrows . If what Gu Qiong said was true, explosives might not be very useful here . If he was on Earth, he would have many solutions to deal with this situation . For example, he could use acetylene to cut it . However, most of tools on Earth needed either electricity or gas tanks . For example, if he decided to use acetylene, he would have to bring one tank of it here . However, he could only bring one per trip . Furthermore, he had to bring it to this place directly . Otherwise, given the condition of Dayao s roads, it would explode on the road here . In addition, if he really brought a tank of acetylene here, his secret would be exposed . This was unacceptable for him . Bring me to the vicinity of Mount Damo to take a look . After pondering over the issue for quite some time, Ren Baqian felt that he should take a look at the surroundings of Mount Damo first . Right now, there was still some time before the sky darkened . He should at least inspect the surroundings of the iron mountain first . For the remaining part of the day, everyone rode around the foot of Mount Damo for some distance before going back . Ren Baqian realized this mountain was exactly what he expected it to be . It was an enormous remnant of a meteorite . That was because structure of this mountain was completely different from its surrounding terrain s . He noticed that all the ore veins were gathered at the top of the mountain . Furthermore, there were extremely little trees and plants on top of the mountain . Mainly, there were weeds and scrubs . The layer of soil which covered the surface of the mountain should be dust that was accumulated over the years . Sir Ren, do you have any ideas Tao Jiyuan furrowed his eyebrows as he asked Ren Baqian on the way back . Oh I do have an idea, but I don t whether or not it will work . We have to give it a try first, Ren Baqian raised his head in shock and replied . His thought process was disrupted by Tao Jiyuan s question . That s great then . For so many years, countless people have come up with ways to increase the mining output for Mount Damo but failed . As such, we can only use manual labor to mine the iron bit by bit . If Sir Ren s idea works, you will do the nation a great service . A smile spread across Tao Jiyuan s face . I d rather you go and snatch iron from other countries than mining them from this place, Gu Qiong grumbled on one side . Ren Baqian rolled his eyes . Isn t this obvious Snatching iron is of course more efficient than mining them . The issue is, is it that simple to do so By the time they reached their camp, the sky had already darkened . Those laborers swarmed back to the camp as well . They crowded around a few barrels in the middle of the plaza and waited for their meat soup . However, there were very few people talking to each other . They had spent many years like this . Extremely few new prisoners were sent here as well . Ren Baqian could smell the fragrance of meat soup from a distance . Nice food If they re not full, they won t have enough energy to work . After all, if you don t have enough energy, you won t be able to chisel a single piece of iron from this iron mountain . Ren Baqian nodded his head . Gu Qiong had already prepared a wooden house for Ren Baqian . His dinner was meat soup as well . However, his meat soup had been improved with some wild herbs and two dried rations . Even Gu Qiong had to also eat such food every day . After all, there were no towns or villages nearby . Other than the people that delivered meat and other rations, no one else came here . It was almost impossible to make other types of food . After finishing his dinner, Ren Baqian immediately went to sleep . The next morning, after he woke up, he called Gu Qiong and Tao Jiyuan to his room . I have an idea that we can try . Pile up a large amount of wood at Mount Damo and then burn it . Then, pour plenty of water over the fire . Things expand when it s hot and contract when it s cold . Cracks will start to appear on the metal surface and this will make the mining process slightly easier . Even though this was Ren Baqian s idea, he wasn t too optimistic about it . It wasn t at all easy to heat up the iron mountain . Furthermore, metal was a good conductor of heat and the rock composition was very little . Even if a huge amount of wood was burned to heat up the iron mountain, only a few cracks would be produced on the iron surface . Moreover, cutting down trees and transporting wood to this place will require a huge amount of manpower . This method wasn t that easy to implement . The efficiency of this method was too low . Ren Baqian had another idea . He could return to Earth to make a huge number of mirrors and concave mirrors and bring them back here . Then, he would adjust the angles of the concave mirrors so that they would point at the wall of the mountain . Subsequently, he would use the mirrors to direct the sunlight to those concave mirrors . This way, he could use the concave mirrors to focus the sunlight and melt the iron into molten iron within an extremely short period of time . This would make the extraction process of iron much easier . Things expand when it s hot and contract when it s cold What does it mean Tao Jiyuan did not understand Ren Baqian s idea . However, he was very interested and curious about it . I can demonstrate it to you . Ren Baqian led both of them out of the wooden house . Start a fire first, Ren Baqian instructed . Gu Qiong immediately asked someone to get some wood . After a while, a fire was started . Ren Baqian picked up two rocks and asked someone to hold them with two iron awls and heat them up with the fire . The rest looked at him curiously, trying to figure out what was he doing . When it was about time, Ren Baqian instructed the person to throw the rocks into a bucket of water that was prepared a while ago . Immediately, traces of steam were released from the bucket of water . After a few minutes, Ren Baqian placed his hand into the bucket of water and scooped out the two rocks . There were a few cracks on the rocks . Following which, Ren Baqian showed the rocks to everyone . Everyone, except Tao Jiyuan, did not discover anything unusual . A look of realization dawned upon Tao Jiyuan s face as he said, I see . This was a very common natural phenomenon . It wasn t that no one discovered it, but rather, no one pointed it out and explained what was going on . Therefore, they did not know the concept of thermal expansion . Certainly, no one had thought of using this concept on Mount Damo . What happened Tao Jiyuan asked curiously . An object will expand when you heat it up . Even if you can t see it, it is actually expanding . And after an object is cooled down, it will contract . If these two processes happen within a short period of time, this reaction will be produced . Not only will this reaction occur on rocks, but metal as well . Ren Baqian gave Tao Jiyuan a rough explanation . If he talked about molecular theory, Tao Jiyuan would definitely not understand it . A pensive look appeared on Tao Jiyuan s face . Meanwhile, Gu Qiong widened his eyes and asked, Sir Ren, your idea is to burn Mount Damo We can just burn one part of it, Ren Baqian looked around and replied . The top of Mount Damo might not have much vegetation but its vicinity had a lot . He could instruct Gu Qiong s men to cut some wood to burn a part of the mountain . Even though the efficiency was very low, he still wanted to give it a try . He could at least increase the speed of the extraction process of iron . After he returned to Earth, he would do some research on how to make concave mirrors . By then, he could solve the iron extraction problem of Mount Damo once and for all . It was a pity that he wouldn t be using the 40 kilograms of TNT he brought here .
Chapter end
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