I was engaged in infrastructure construction in the Han Dynasty [Transmigration Book]

The matter of finding coal was actually thought up by Liu Tan on the spur of the moment. Originally, he did not put the search for resources as the top priority.

What he wanted was to develop the economy first, and then build the capital, Shuofang City, stronger.

As for how to develop the economy, there is no clue yet.

But no matter what method he has, the most important thing in this era is the cultivated land.

After listening to Jiang Chong's explanation, he knew that the matter of the trees had to be resolved.

However, what appeared to be in front of him was a dead end.

When the weather is cold, you need to burn firewood for heating. If you want firewood, you have to cut down trees. Cutting down trees will increase soil erosion, and the land will become barren and the people will be poorer. This is an endless cycle.

If you want to break out of this cycle, you need to develop the economy and increase transportation, so that coal imported from other places can reduce the cost and further reduce the price.

It's just that this method can't solve the problem fundamentally. In fact, the poor always account for a larger proportion.

If you want to solve it, you can only find new energy sources.

Liu Tan remembers that such things as coal were actually recorded in the Han Dynasty, but it is not clear when it happened. Now it seems that either the change of this time-space history line has affected a lot, or it really did not start in the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. Use coal.

No matter which one it is, he should let someone find it first.

Liu Tan remembered that there were coal mines near Zhungeer Banner in later generations, and the geological structure there was simple, the coal was buried shallow, and the coal seam was thick. These characteristics combined were very suitable for the mining equipment of the Han Dynasty.

The only disadvantage is that Shuofang City is probably near Urad Banner on the maps of later generations, and it is more than 300 kilometers away from Jungar Banner.

In addition, Liu Tan is not sure about the exact location of the coal, so he can only ask people to find it first.

As for why he was looking for purple-red rocks, it is also because Liu Tan once heard a jingle: there is Hongshiling in front and coal rocks in the back.

What Hongshiling refers to is the kind of purple-red rock, but this experience was confirmed in Zaozhuang Coal Mine, which is in Shandong, which is too far from the northern border country. I don’t know if this experience can be tried.

Liu Tan also knows that the best way to identify coal is through plant fossils, which can be more accurate.

But the problem now is that not only is the concept of plant fossils not deep at this time, it may even be impossible to find local plant fossils.

The most important thing is that it's useless if you find it. Liu Tan just knows this truth, and he doesn't study geology, so how could he know how to tell the difference?

The only thing I pray for now is that the coal mines on the Zhungeer Banner were already very close to the surface in the Han Dynasty. After all, the earth’s crust is always moving. In later generations, coal was close to the surface, but it doesn’t mean it’s okay now.

Liu Tan asked people to do a lot of inexplicable things, and everyone was not so surprised after hearing it. Anyway, soldiers really have nothing to do, so just look for them.

The only one who didn't quite adapt was Sang Qian.

Sang Qian had already made preparations to fight the Huns before he came. In his imagination, he should actively prepare for the war after arriving in Shuofang, and it would be too late in winter.

But now... he wants to take people to find the stone?

This gap is too big!

It's just that Sang Qian has found that he is basically helpless in this place, so he doesn't dare to say anything, he just wants to see if he can attract more people over.

To say that his quality is indeed not bad, after Liu Tan came to an end on this topic, he said, "Your Highness, there is still a shortage of officials in the middle school. I wonder what regulations your Highness has?"

Yes, this is what Sang Qian thought. Since Liu Tan brought so many people back from Beijing, he must find the rest from the local area. Just have to win over the locals.

Liu Tan glanced at him in surprise, then turned to look at Huo Guang: "What does Xiang Huo think?"

Sang Qian's face was a little uneasy, knowing that Liu Tan was reminding him that these things were the affairs of the Prime Minister, and he had crossed the line.

But it doesn't matter, anyway, he said it all, just wait a while.

As a captain, it is not enough for him to have only two school lieutenants, and he must add people. He must have the right to speak about these people, right?

Huo Guang didn't even look at Sang Qian, and said in a deep voice: "There are few people in Shuofang City, and I'm afraid there are not many people who can read, so everyone must work hard in the early stage."

Liu Tan reached out to knock on the case and suddenly said seriously: "I would like to follow the example of my father and issue the recruitment order. I wonder if it is feasible?"

Recruitment order?

Everyone looked at each other in blank dismay. No vassal state had ever done this before, but the court didn't say no. Liu Tan was somewhat suspected of crossing the line in doing so. Whether it could be done... depends on what the court thinks?

Sang Qian didn't expect Liu Tan to make such a big deal, and he was a little flustered. He was still thinking about waiting to go back and check what big families there are in the local area, and try to win them over, but if Liu Tan makes such a big deal, who knows who will come? Where are they from!

He coughed lightly and said, "This... is too much of a fight, right? No vassal state has ever acted like this before."

Jiang Chong on the side said coldly: "In the past, no prince came to guard the gate in person. Can ordinary princes and kings be compared with His Highness? What's more, everyone has seen what is going on here in Shuofang, and there are not many who can speak politely. , even the county guard's elegant words are a bit incomprehensible, do you want to work with a group of people who can't understand what they say?"

Sang Qian: ...

Liu Tan felt secretly refreshed, nodded earnestly on the surface and said: "That's true, remember later, it must be written in the recruitment order that those who are good at speaking are given priority."

Huo Guang asked again: "How can we judge whether those people are useful or not? Although Your Majesty has ordered the enlistment of scholars from all directions, there are not many people who can meet His Majesty. The current situation in Shuofang may not be able to screen out those who are not qualified."

To put it simply, there is not enough manpower, and no one can help Liu Tan eliminate unqualified people.

But it's not appropriate for those people to meet Liu Tan directly. After all, they are also kings. Is that what ordinary people can see when they meet each other?

But if they neglected them, the mouths of those scholars would be very poisonous. Looking at Shi Huangdi's current reputation, as a person who is familiar with history, Huo Guang knows that Shi Huang's advantages must outweigh his disadvantages, but now people mention him as a dictatorship. It really makes those people feel that they are not taken seriously, and if they go out to spread rumors, their Highness's reputation will be ruined.

After hearing this, Liu Tan said, "It's not difficult, just the exam."

"what?"

This time everyone's reaction was very consistent, not to mention that they hadn't passed the exam, and they hadn't even heard of these two words!

Liu Tan said enthusiastically: "It's not fair and just to rely on individuals to screen. Everyone has their own tendencies. Maybe a very capable person will be rejected just because he is not pleasing to the eye or otherwise unsatisfactory. Wouldn’t it be wrong to go on down? Just unify the assessment, as long as the conditions are met, then you can enter the next round, until there are only qualified people left, wouldn’t it be enough?”

Huo Guang's brain turned the fastest, and he understood Liu Tan's meaning in an instant, but he was still a little uneasy: "This sounds feasible, but how to evaluate it? What should be evaluated?"

Liu Tan rolled up his sleeves and said, "Isn't this simple? The first round of assessment is the most basic, such as how much you can read, whether you can write "Spring and Autumn" and other books silently, and you can be an official if you pass this level. The basics, and then the assessment by category, well, it will be a while, and it is not clear, I will write a report later, let's discuss it."

For such a strange thing, everyone couldn't come up with any suggestions for a while, so they could only agree to it with suspicion.

Liu Tan said: "Well, the most important thing now is these two things. Do you have anything else to say?"

Huo Guang said dumbfoundedly: "Your Highness, the most important thing now is to build the palace."

Liu Tan suddenly said: "Oh, yes, this is also on the agenda."

To be honest, when striving for a career, people's material desires will be infinitely reduced.

When Liu Tan first saw the situation in Shuofang City, he was also worried about how to live in such a place?

After visiting the county mansion, I felt that it was okay. Now that I have accurate goals and motivation, this place is not unbearable.

But it's useless for him to bear it. The palace still needs to be built. The palace represents the face of the princes and kings. Liu Tan doesn't care, but he also cares about the people below. Looking back, it's that the king of the northern border and the state officials can't compete with each other. If the palace can't be built, I'm too sorry for Huo Guang and others.

Huo Guang was relieved to see that Liu Tan agreed, and quickly said: "Your Highness, I chose these two places. Your Highness can choose one as the palace, and the other one can be used as a residence if you like."

Liu Tan looked down and saw that these two places were basically in the east, or one in the east and the other in the southeast.

He swiped and asked, "Is it appropriate to be so far away?"

Anyway, Shuofang City is also the capital of the country, and he built the palace in a far away place, and it is easy to form a new king city there over time.

This time, without waiting for Huo Guang to speak, Jiang Chong persuaded: "Your Highness, the selection of these countries is very good. Not to mention anything else, as far as the current situation in Shuofang City... it is not as good as riding a horse for a long time to go back and forth. Your manor in Chang'an is big, it's really not suitable for a country with such a size, so it will be expanded sooner or later, and the geographical location of Shuofang City makes it difficult to expand to the north, and the west and south are adjacent to the desert, so these two places are The most suitable place."

When Liu Tan heard Jiang Chong say that Shuofang City could not develop northward, he subconsciously said that was not necessarily the case.

But now it seems that this is true, so Liu Tan glanced at the map and thought for a while, then suddenly clicked a place on the map and said, "Here."

When Jiang Chong looked at it, he felt that what he just said was in vain. His Royal Highness King of the Northern Realm really didn't listen to it at all. The place that His Highness ordered happened to be on the Hetao Desert!