North and South groceries

Thorium element is radioactive, but thorium element in nature generally exists in oxidized form, and the alpha particles radiated by it have very weak penetration, and usually only need a layer of cloth to isolate it.

Therefore, as long as it is not inhaled and ingested, and it enters the human body, it will not cause any serious harm.

What Luo Yong and the others were looking for this time was exactly thorium oxide. Thorium oxide has a special property, that is, it can emit white light at high temperature, which can be used to make biogas lamps or lampshades for lighting lamps.The intensity of light emitted by it is about equivalent to the brightness of an incandescent lamp of forty to sixty watts.

In this era, it is not easy to develop natural gas, but biogas is easy to get. Just build a biogas digester and hang up biogas lamps, and the lighting problem will be solved.

These days, the common way of lighting is torches, oil lamps and candles. Ordinary people are not even willing to use oil lamps, and only the rich can afford candles.

Not to mention the effect of the lighting, Luo Yong has lived in this era for so many years, and he is really fed up with the dim lights the size of soybeans.

Nowadays, cement is relatively popular in the Tang Dynasty. I heard that many cement workshops have been built in recent years in Henan, Hebei, and Jiangnan.

With cement, biogas digesters can be built. At this time, it should be easier to make biogas lamps and popularize them.This is a good thing that benefits the country and the people. It does not involve any political sensitivity, and it is very profitable.

It's just that the search for thorium oxide and the production of biogas lamps are not easy tasks, and may require a lot of time, energy, financial and material resources.

For the biogas lamp, Luo Yong finally asked two of his disciples and two students from Changle Academy, and also hired fifteen young and strong men who were physically strong and looked more alert. A total of 19 people formed the group. formed a team.

This team will first go to Yiwu, and try to find thorium oxide in the coal mine area of ​​Yiwu, because thorium elements often appear around some coal mines, so there will be a relatively high chance of being found there.

They are expected to stay in Yiwu for a year. If there is no progress after one year, they may have to make other plans by then.

Luo Yong knew that Baiyun Obo had the largest reserves of thorium, but it was too far away from their current location, and it still belonged to the territory of the grassland people. more dangerous.

This time the team was led by two of Luo Yong's disciples, Feng Zhi and Huang Youtian, both of whom had a steady personality and were always reliable in their work.

In terms of research and development, the two of them don't have any outstanding talents. They are mainly responsible for leading the team, maintaining communication with Changle County, supplying materials, etc., and the two students of Changle Academy are really responsible for research and development.

The two students were from the Zheng family in Xingyang and the Gu family in Jiangnan, not to mention the Zheng family in Xingyang. Although the friendship between Luo Yong and them is not very deep, the two sides are relatively friendly overall.

Two years ago, when the people of the major families arranged for the children of the clan to come to Changle County, the young people arranged by their family were quite outstanding. The name of this person was Zheng An. The reason why he was chosen was on the one hand because of his character and talent, and on the other hand because of his family relationship.

Another Changle Academy student in this team, named Gu Yunshan, was from the Gu family in the south of the Yangtze River, and he was not bad.

Luo Yong had heard Qiao Junlin praise Gu Yunshan a few times before, saying that he is very persevering, and no matter what he studies, he must learn until he understands it thoroughly. What kind of free and easy temperament and aristocratic demeanor are not very valued in the family.

Aunt Luo has developed in Jiangnan in the past few years, and Luo Yong also intends to manage the relationship between their Luo family and the Gu family in Jiangnan, so this time she approached Gu Yunshan.

As for whether he is valued or not in the Gu family, there is nothing absolute about this kind of thing. Right now, he is not valued. When he becomes valuable in the future, he will naturally be valued.

There were nineteen people in their group, together with their belongings and equipment and the gifts that Luo Yong prepared for some old acquaintances in Izhou, they hired a total of five wooden carriages.

On a crisp autumn morning, Luo Yong sent them all the way to the wooden carriage, and told them to put safety first when they went out. If they encountered any problems, they could also look for the Yiwu governor. When the person returns, report to him.

A few strong horses pulled these ordinary-looking carriages along the wooden track on the deserted beach all the way to the north, and soon disappeared into the vast Gobi.

Luo Yong’s side is also starting to build biogas digesters at this time. The output of biogas is very slow in winter. They are repairing the biogas digesters at this time. Biogas is available, even if there is no biogas lamp, at least it can be used to boil water and cook.

Maybe Feng Zhihuang and Arita are lucky enough to find thorium oxide soon and successfully make the mesh cover of the biogas lamp. They will be able to light the biogas lamp next spring. Who can say for sure? .

Time passed day by day, and in November of the lunar calendar, it was very cold here in Changle County, and it was time for every household to burn kangs.

Changle County is very lively, it seems even more lively than in autumn, there are many people driving sheep to and fro in and outside the city.

It is said that the price of mutton in Changle County is high, and there is Luo Erniang's cashmere workshop, which can harvest a lot of cashmere in one winter. The price of cashmere here is very stable. There are more herdsmen from Le County to sell than last year.

In addition to the herdsmen who came to sell sheep, there were also many merchants, mainly from Yiwu and Gaochang to buy goods.

Since the wooden track was established, it is very convenient for people from both sides to come to Dunhuang Changle area. There is little precipitation here, and there is not much snow in winter. Even if the weather is colder, it will not hinder the traffic on the wooden track. .

This afternoon, Luo Yong was discussing with his second mother, Peng Er, and the others about the new patterns of facial scarves that they had recently woven, when someone from the yamen suddenly came to him and said that Huang Youtian had just returned from Yiwu's side. People are in the county government.

When Luo Yong heard about it, he quickly put down the towel in his hand, put on a hat and a cloak, and went back to the county government office.

"How is it? Is there any progress in your affairs?" Luo Yong asked Huang Youtian as soon as he saw him.

"There hasn't been much progress yet." Huang Youtian was sitting on the kang to warm his feet at this time, but when he saw that Luo was using it, he wanted to get off the kang to salute his master, but Luo pressed it back with a gesture and smiled. Laughing, he still sat on the kang and replied: "Bai Qi and the others picked up many ores from the mining area, and they don't know which one is. Zheng Langjun and the others are experimenting."

Luo Yong nodded, and he also knew that this matter would not be so easy.

Because Yiwu and Chang Le have frequent business exchanges, Huang Youtian and the others had asked someone to bring a letter back, mainly to report safety. As for the progress of the research and development of the biogas lamp grille, it was not mentioned much in the letter.

At this time, the master and apprentice said a few more words, and Luo Yong asked Huang Youtian, "Is the money and silk still enough?"

"It's not really expensive, it's just food and clothing." Huang Youtian replied.

Bai Qi and the others went to other people's mining area to pick stones. I heard that Luo Yong arranged for them to go there. The coal mine owner didn't stop them at all. Not only did they not want their money, but they even invited people over to eat and drink After entertaining them, they tried their best to get news from Bai Qi and the others.

After learning that Bai Qi and the others were looking for a kind of ore called thorium oxide, those coal mine owners wished that they would find it quickly, and then these coal mine owners would be able to sell not only coal, but also thorium oxide to make money in the future.

"Nowadays, there are several coal mining areas near Yiwu City that often send people to send ore. Bai Qi and the others mainly go to further mining areas to search for it." Huang Youtian said.

"It's because of the favor of those mine owners." Luo Yong said with a smile.

"Some people also asked us if we would buy charcoal." Huang Youtian added:

"The price offered is a little lower than what we bought from other companies before, but we have cooperated with the previous mine owner for many years, and the quality of the coal supplied to us by the other party has always been very good. There is something wrong with the business name."

"There's no need to replace the original one. If the price they offer is right and the quality of the charcoal is good, you can just buy it. In the past two days, I have asked someone to build a shed on the deserted beach behind the city for special use. Put the charcoal."

Luo Yong picked up the teapot on the kang table, poured some hot tea for himself, and poured some for Huang Youtian.

Some time ago, they didn’t have any meat to eat here. In a blink of an eye, it’s the season of eating meat until they feel sick again. It’s true that they died of drought when it was dry, and died of waterlogging when it was flooded. I sold all the canned meat I made last winter.

Earlier, when the tea merchants from Lishi brought tea, they also helped Luo Yong bring a lot of eucommia gum from the Central Plains.

At this time, they began to collect mutton for canning in Changle County again, and the scale was even bigger than last year. In addition to the farmers in Changle County who were slack in winter, they also took in a lot of Jinchang people who came to Changle County to find work. Dunhuang people.

"Why do you stockpile charcoal? Master is worried about the price increase of charcoal?" Huang Youtian asked.

"Exactly." Luo Yong nodded, if the price would increase, what would Luo Yong stockpile it for?

"There are a lot of charcoal in Hedong." Huang Youtian doesn't think that the price of charcoal will increase: "Except for some pottery and cast iron workshops, ordinary people don't use it."

Ordinary people think it is more expensive than firewood and it is not cost-effective. Rich people think it smells bad and don’t like to use it. There are too many fine charcoal and bamboo charcoal. I heard that some good charcoal and bamboo charcoal have a fragrance when burned. Why bother to use it? That choking charcoal.

"Waiting for their goods to be ready, the price of charcoal may increase." Luo Yong said with a smile:

"It's winter right now, and there are relatively few vehicles on the wooden track. It's good to stock up on some charcoal at this time. Anyway, this thing can stand up to storage."

"Here." Now that Luo Yong said so, Huang Youtian also agreed. Taking advantage of the lack of cars in winter, there is no harm in hoarding more coal.

As for the thing that Hengzhi and the others were making right now, Huang Youtian also knew about it. He said that he wanted to make a machine for the needle workshop, which could draw and cut iron blocks by its own strength without manpower.

Huang Youtian hadn't read much, but he always knew that no matter how delicate the mechanism and utensils are, there must be a place to rely on, no matter whether it is manpower, water power, or wind power, there is no such thing as a leverage. How can it work out of thin air?And it is the work in the needle workshop that requires a lot of effort to complete.

No matter what, Huang Youtian couldn't imagine that such things could exist in this world.

But his master said so, Hengzhi also followed the devil this time, since he came back from repairing the bridge, he plunged into it, and he didn't know if they could really make such a shocking thing in the end.