Chapter 2023: This is not a barren hill, this is a heaven-sized treasure!

"It's actually Zhang Ping and Zhang Shou's mountain, what a coincidence."

Upon hearing this, Gao Yang's eyes flashed with brilliance.

He stared at the grayish-black barren hill before him, his gaze sweeping over the scattered pitch-black coal chunks on the ground, as if gazing at a furnace spewing gold.

Li Laoshi, who was observing his expression, saw Gao Yang's excited look—not of fear, but as if he had discovered some rare treasure—and couldn't help but muster his courage, asking cautiously.

"My lord, you ask this, could it be that you want to buy this Black Wind Mountain and take these plague stones to sell?"

Gao Yang did not answer immediately, his gaze still burning and locked onto this barren hill containing a massive amount of coal.

Seeing this, Li Laoshi became very anxious and couldn't care about the fear, hurriedly trying to dissuade him: "My lord, the things you have done for the world are known to this small one, so I dare to ask you to forgive this small one for being meddlesome, but this must absolutely not be done!"

His voice trembled, and fine sweat seeped from his forehead, "The power of these plague stones, this small one has absolutely no falsehood. They... they really will kill people. The Zhang brothers are famously greedy for money. As imperial relatives with great power, even they dare not touch this hot potato, so my lord can imagine!"

"Furthermore, the fierce reputation of this thing has spread over the past few years, and it simply cannot be sold for a price; instead, it is easy to attract lawsuits. My lord, please think thrice!"

He was poor and helpless, so he took the risk to steal some. Even so, he only dared to store them cautiously and would never dare to light them unless it was freezing cold enough to kill people.

If Gao Yang wanted to sell these plague stones and earn a sky-high price, it was absolutely impossible!

Gao Yang slowly withdrew his gaze, looked at Li Laoshi, and said in a steady voice, "I know everything you said."

He took five taels of silver from his bosom and threw it toward Li Laoshi: "Take it, this is what you deserve. Go down the mountain."

Seeing Gao Yang's stubbornness, Li Laoshi sighed in his heart.

But Gao Yang's status was too noble, and he dared not persuade him further.

Plus, with the five taels of silver within reach, Li Laoshi had no other thoughts in his heart. He hurriedly held the heavy silver and kowtowed repeatedly: "Thank you, my lord, thank you for your great kindness!"

After speaking, Li Laoshi ran down the mountain as if his feet were greased, fearing Gao Yang would change his mind.

Once Li Laoshi's figure disappeared at the end of the mountain path, Shangguan Wan'er and Chu Qingluan, who had been suppressing their intense curiosity, could no longer hold back.

"Gao Yang, what mystery do these plague stones hold? Looking at the expression on your face, why do you treat this barren hill as a supreme treasure?"

Shangguan Wan'er stepped forward, her beautiful brows slightly furrowed, her beautiful eyes filled with confusion and inquiry, staring straight at Gao Yang.

Chu Qingluan also added: "This mountain is extremely barren, and the 'ghost stones' are things that the common people would never touch unless they were in a desperate situation. Do you really want to take them to sell?"

Just at this moment, Gao Changwen, who had been taken by Chen Sheng to wash clean and change into a spare set of clothes, also returned, cursing and swearing.

Gao Yang weighed the pitch-black, heavy coal chunk in his hand, the corners of his mouth slowly curling into a smile.

"This is not some Plague God ghost stone, it is called coal! It is the essence of the sun buried underground for hundreds of millions of years, it is a true treasure!"

"This Black Wind Mountain is not a barren, dead land at all, but a coal mountain, and it is a huge, open-pit coal mine with astonishing reserves and easy to mine!"

"Its value far exceeds the mountains of gold and silver you imagine!"

"Treasure? Coal?"

Shangguan Wan'er and Chu Qingluan spoke in unison, their beautiful faces filled with shock and disbelief.

A barren hill that could poison people to death is a treasure?

Gao Changwen's eyes widened even more, looking at the pitch-black coal slag all around, falling into immense shock.

"What? This thing that hit my ass so painfully is a treasure? Brother, you aren't joking, are you?"

"Joking?"

Gao Yang scoffed, his eyes as sharp as knives.

He held up a pitch-black, shiny coal chunk, displaying it under the warm sun of late autumn and early winter as if showing a rare treasure.

"Do you know that the heat released when burning the same weight of coal is more than three times that of the same weight of dry firewood, or even more!"

"If you use it to keep warm, the heat from a fist-sized piece of coal is equivalent to several catties of firewood!"

"But didn't this Li Laoshi say that this ghost stone has a ghost and god curse, will release a poisonous smoke, and will poison people to death?"

Although Chu Qingluan's heart was surging with waves, she immediately thought of Li Laoshi's words and asked with a frown.

If the poisonous smoke is not removed, this coal is a death warrant, let alone profit?

"Poisonous smoke?" Gao Yang sneered, his speaking speed increasing, carrying the confidence of insight into the essence, "What ghost and god curse? That is nothing more than carbon monoxide acting up within it."

"Carbon monoxide?"

Chu Qingluan's brows tightened.

Shangguan Wan'er also looked puzzled.

This carbon monoxide was simply unheard of.

Gao Yang explained,

"What is called carbon monoxide, you can also understand it as stifling smoke. It is a colorless, odorless, highly toxic gas produced when coal burns with insufficient oxygen and incomplete combustion!"

"This thing is slightly lighter than air and will accumulate in a closed space."

"Once a person inhales a large amount, it will preemptively bind with the hemoglobin in the blood, making it impossible for the human body to obtain oxygen, eventually suffocating to death silently in their sleep!"

Everyone looked at each other.

Hemoglobin, oxygen...

These were extremely unfamiliar to them.

But they understood the meaning of "highly toxic" and "suffocation."

"Simply put, this smoke is indeed poisonous, but Old Five Wang's family mainly died from ignorance and poor ventilation, not from the coal itself!"

"Husband, is there a way to break this?"

Shangguan Wan'er bit her red lips lightly, a glimmer of hope igniting in her phoenix eyes.

She knew Gao Yang's abilities well. If the poisonous smoke could be solved, it meant that in the harsh winter, the common people of the world would have one more way to survive besides just enduring, firewood, and charcoal!

Gao Yang looked around at everyone's shocked faces and said confidently.

"Naturally!"

"The way to break it is, first, to change the form of the fuel to promote complete combustion, and second, to force ventilation to exhaust the waste gas!"

Gao Yang grabbed a handful of coal dust from the ground and applied a little force. His fair hand became covered in black, and his voice followed.

"Yellow mud is cheap and easy to get. It can be used in small amounts as a binder, and then pressed into shape with a special honeycomb-shaped mold. I call it honeycomb coal!"

Noticing the puzzled looks of the few, Gao Yang used his hand to gesture the honeycomb hole structure, "Honeycomb coal is a porous structure, which can greatly increase the contact area between coal and air. The basic principle is equivalent to fanning a fire when burning, which allows the coal to burn more fully and thoroughly!"

"When it burns more fully, this can greatly reduce the production of carbon monoxide, and at the same time, it can make the coal's heat release more uniform and lasting, with higher combustion efficiency!"

Shangguan Wan'er asked urgently, "Changing its shape can prevent the production of carbon monoxide, and the people can use it?"

Gao Yang shook his head, "That naturally cannot."

"Full combustion can only reduce the production of carbon monoxide, but it cannot be completely eliminated. However, I have a backup plan!"

"I have an implement in my mind, called a chimney!"

"This chimney goes straight from the room to the outdoors. By borrowing the force of rising hot air, it forces all the waste gas produced by burning coal, including the remaining trace amounts of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, water vapor, and smoke particles, to be extracted and exhausted outdoors!"

"At the same time, leave a certain gap in the doors and windows of the room, do not seal it, and you can sleep soundly!"

Shangguan Wan'er's beautiful eyes brightened.

She was not doing it for money, but for the common people struggling on the line of food and clothing in the cold winter!

Now, before winter has even arrived, dry firewood has already been sold for fifteen wen per catty, and charcoal is sold for fifty wen. This is a sky-high price!

In the whole world, how many people can afford it?

Therefore.

Shangguan Wan'er asked the last and most concerned question, "Gao Yang, what is the cost of this honeycomb coal, paired with the chimney stove?"