Chapter 240 It's Too Early to Say

Lin Si was a bit far away; he hadn't even reached the top of the hill yet when a large crowd had already gathered around the probe.

Someone shouted, "Engineer Lin is here!" and with a "whoosh," the crowd automatically parted to make way.

Shui Jisheng leaned on a cane, while Ren Xinbo stood to the side, holding a few pieces of gray coal ash in his hands.

Upon seeing Lin Sicheng, he handed it forward, saying, "Engineer Lin, take a look!"

Lin Sicheng nodded and took one.

It feels heavy and is very hard, with a blackish-silver hue. The surface has residual white ash and a unique metallic sheen.

The cross-section has dense cracks and tiny pores, but they are uneven in size, resembling an irregular honeycomb.

Lin Sicheng lowered his head and looked at the bamboo tubes on the ground: two meters below the surface, and nearly a meter thick, it was all this kind of thing.

This indicates that the pile of coke underfoot was not formed by chance, but rather was used in large quantities as fuel.

Lin Sicheng casually tossed it aside and clapped his hands: "Lan charcoal, named for its interlaced cracks resembling mountain mists. When it's first put into the furnace, it emits blue flames, hence it's also called blue charcoal, or orchid charcoal..."

"Because of the limitations of ancient technology, the traditional dry distillation method was incomplete, so from the perspective of modern industrial science, it can only be considered as semi-coke..."

Ren Xinbo's eyes flickered slightly: "Engineer Lin, if it's used for firing porcelain, what kiln temperature can it reach?"

Lin Sicheng thought for a moment: "It should be around 1,500 or 1,600, even without the wind, it should be over 1,400!"

Ren Xinbo's lips moved slightly: "At a temperature of 1500 or 1600 degrees Celsius, isn't it still just coke?"

Lin Sicheng paused for a moment, then nodded: If compared to firewood or coal, or in ancient times, this would naturally be coke.

For a moment, a group of people stared at the charcoal residue in the shovel, unsure of what to say.

When Lin Sicheng first arrived here and mentioned the caves and kilns, most people only had a vague understanding of them.

Even the most knowledgeable people, like Ren Xinbo, basically thought that Lin Sicheng was referring to a small, workshop-style kiln.

After excavating the kiln, Lin Sicheng drew a diagram, and everyone understood what kind of kiln he was referring to: a unique new kiln that combined the horseshoe kiln and the sloping dragon kiln.

How new is it?

This is the first discovery of its kind in the province, and even the first discovery in the country.

What do these four words mean in the context of archaeology?

To fill historical gaps and correct the course of history.

To be honest, this was already shocking enough, so when Chief Engineer Shui mentioned that Lin Sicheng speculated that there was a coal-fired porcelain kiln from the Tang Dynasty here, most people were skeptical.

Later, when it was said that Lin Sicheng suspected there might be a coking coal kiln here, the group felt it was even more unreliable.

Because whether it is a coal-fired porcelain kiln or a coking coal-fired porcelain kiln, the earliest records in historical documents date back to the end of the Song Dynasty, and archaeological discoveries from the same period also confirm this.

But before he could finish speaking, less than three minutes later, a pile of coke was discovered less than ten meters away from the kiln.

This indicates that during the Tang Dynasty, Hejin was already able to fire high-temperature porcelain with a glaze temperature of 1400 degrees Celsius.

At this point, it's no longer a matter of filling historical gaps, but rather rewriting history. It also signifies new processes and new technologies.

The mere mention of "Tang Dynasty coke" is enough to include the Hejin Kiln and Lin Sicheng, who discovered it, in textbooks.

From now on, whenever Tang porcelain, high-temperature porcelain, or ancient metallurgy are mentioned, this place and the name of the place that was discovered will be indispensable...

Suddenly, someone remembered that when Lin Sicheng got off the bus, he looked around in the pine forest, then went up the mountain and pointed: "Where is the temple? Where is the pond? Where is the kiln?"

And his judgment on coal-fired porcelain kilns and coking coal-fired porcelain kilns.

To be honest, this is no longer a question of speed or accuracy, but rather something beyond the comprehension of ordinary people.

Think back to before: an honorary advisor, a special expert, a specially appointed engineer in his early twenties... just how outstanding must he have been?

Now look at it: It's worth it, it's fucking worth it, worth every penny.

Even if no egg-white porcelain is ultimately restored, the existence of this kiln alone is enough to make the city leaders' attention worthwhile, and the fact that they specially led a delegation to Xi'an for negotiations...

A group of people admired him immensely, but Lin Sicheng remained calm and methodical.

"Professor Huang, let's take a sample and run it through the instrument first..." Lin Sicheng instructed, then smiled, "Don't get too excited yet. What if it's not from the Tang Dynasty, but from the Song Dynasty, or even the Jin or Yuan Dynasty?"

That's enough.

Even though it dates back to the Yuan Dynasty, it is still two hundred years earlier than the earliest discovered "Ming Dynasty Chenghua doucai porcelain fired with coke", which is enough to rewrite history.

Moreover, none of those present were laymen; at least they knew what superimposed remains were: cities built on top of cities, tombs built on top of tombs, that is, overlapping, with the old below and the new above.

If it is a kiln site, then it means a new kiln was built on top of an old kiln.

Looking at the soil layer in the furnace tube, the bottom of the new kiln charcoal pile is a full meter above the red brick layer on the top of the old kiln, and both are raw soil layers.

Therefore, it can be inferred that this overlapping relationship was not caused by human factors, but rather by natural forces. It is highly likely that disasters such as flash floods or mudslides destroyed the old kilns, and new kilns were built on the same site afterward.

In other words, the time difference between a new kiln and an old kiln may not exceed ten years, and may only be one or two years. Perhaps even the kiln workers and masters are the same group of people.

Therefore, if the old kiln dates back to the Tang Dynasty, then the new kiln can only be from the Tang Dynasty as well...

Lin Sicheng asked for paper and pen again and drew another diagram: "Preliminary inference is that the two strata are not very far apart in age. However, the interlayer is very thick, indicating that it is just covering rather than destroying. We should try to use non-invasive exploration methods..."

"Compared to the old kiln, the new kiln is significantly off-center, with a horizontal deviation of at least fifty meters. However, the layout of the facilities is not much different; it is still a slope-side pit-type kiln... The focus of the investigation is on the coking oven and its supporting equipment. Secondly, it cannot be ruled out that the kiln structure has a double firebox and is equipped with blast furnace equipment..."

Lin Sicheng drew and explained at the same time, and Tian Jie took out his notebook and wrote down every single word.

After giving a general explanation, the group went down the slope again.

Now that the fuel pile has been found, finding the location of the core kiln and supporting facilities is only a matter of time; there's no need to do it personally.

He accompanied Shui Jisheng back to the car.

There was shade nearby, and Tan Wu moved a folding chair for Lin Sicheng: "Teacher Lin, do you want to report?"

"Wait a moment. Professor Huang should have the test results for the coke and transport samples within half a day at most. If all goes well, Tian Suo and Team Gao should be able to determine the general extent of these two layers of the site before dark. So, there's no rush to report back tomorrow morning..."

Lin Sicheng smiled and said, "Otherwise, what if we just fired a blank? How upset would the leader be?"

That's true.

Shui Jisheng was getting on in years and couldn't sit still. After chatting for a while, he said he would go back to the city (Hejin) first. Most of the people accompanying him weren't going to participate in the survey; they were just there to observe, and they would also return to the city.

Lin Sicheng personally saw him off to the car, and soon the convoy of cars on the roadside had dwindled by more than half.

Ren Xinbo glanced in the rearview mirror: Lin Sicheng waved and sat back down.

To avoid kicking up dust, the vehicles moved very slowly, forming a long line of more than ten vehicles of various sizes on the country road.

He paused for a moment, then asked thoughtfully, "Teacher, have we forgotten something?"

Water then exclaimed "Ha!": Ren Xinbo, Ren Xinbo, you only just remembered?

"Have you forgotten why so many people came today?"

"I haven't forgotten this: let's take a site visit and get ready to start construction tomorrow!"

Ren Xinbo replied, then suddenly paused: "Huh...right, we don't start work until tomorrow?"

Whether it was an auspicious day or not, I don't know, but Lin Sicheng and his teacher decided on the date together, and it was tomorrow.

The bureau leaders attached great importance to it and gave specific instructions, so everything that needed to be prepared was ready: chicken, beef, pig heads, incense, paper, table... Dozens of people from various institutes and units also came.

But as soon as they arrived, Lin Sicheng went up the mountain for a walk and then said there was a temple in Songmu Village, so the archaeological team started construction.

Then came piles of porcelain clay, washing pools, cave kilns, and coke piles... Ren Xinbo was so shocked that he completely forgot about this part.

So, Lin Sicheng has already done so much work, why would he need to wait until tomorrow to start work again?

He was stunned for a while: "Teacher, so will this work still start?"

"Why even bother opening it?" Shui Jisheng sighed. "Xiao Lin doesn't believe in this stuff at all!"

Ren Xinbo paused for a moment, then sighed as well.

He wasn't surprised by whether Lin Sicheng believed in this or not, but by how quickly it had only taken half a day.

Work doesn't start until tomorrow, but Lin Sicheng has already finished almost half of the job today...

Ren Xinbo was somewhat suspicious: "But it seems like he's not very interested?"

"How high is considered high?" Shui Jisheng glanced at him. "Like you, so easily delighted, so ecstatic?"

What else?

This is the first discovery of its kind in China, filling a gap in the field and rewriting history. It might even make it into textbooks. Who wouldn't be excited?

But Lin Sicheng didn't even flinch, let alone get excited.

Ren Xinbo moved his lips, about to say something, but then closed his mouth again: Compared to the two layers of ruins he found in half a day, this is nothing.

Even now, he still doesn't understand how Lin Sicheng made that judgment, or what evidence he relied on...

It wasn't just Ren Xinbo who couldn't understand it; it also included Tian Jie, Gao Zhangyi, Shang Yan, Zhao Xiuneng, as well as Wang Qizhi and He Zhigang.

The canteen was set up at the village primary school, and Tan Wu contacted the city (county) hotel to arrange for a quick meal. It was quite a feast, but no one had much of an appetite.

Only Lin Sicheng, unhurried and deliberate, chewed slowly and carefully.

"Actually, it's not difficult to determine, including the kiln god temple, the layout of the kiln, the direction of the kiln, and the burning of coal, coke, and so on..."

"As for the evidence, there's even more, including the mountain range, river channels, topography, location, porcelain clay composition, mineral distribution... Of course, the most crucial factor is the bowl belonging to the chief engineer, and those porcelain shards..."

They also knew that Lin Sicheng was basing his decisions on these factors. The problem was that they didn't know the specific effects of these factors, how they manifested themselves, or the kind of corroborating relationship they formed with each other.

"It's a bit complicated to explain, let me put it simply..." After finishing the last bite of rice, Lin Sicheng put down his bowl and took the teacup Fang Jin handed him: "It's like math formulas; the more problems you do, the more naturally you'll be able to apply them..."

The group of people were stunned for a moment.

I understand: Read a book ten thousand times, and its meaning will become clear.

It's like a group of underachievers and a top student. They haven't read as many books as Lin Sicheng, so no matter how much Lin Sicheng says, they still can't understand.

The problem is, I've never seen Lin Sicheng study much before.

"But what about coke?" Wang Qizhi thought for a moment. "There's no basis for that, not even any record or discovery. How did you make that judgment?"

Lin Sicheng paused for a moment: Actually, there is evidence, and some discoveries have been made, but they are not discovered now; it will take many more years.

In 2023, the third excavation of the Jun kiln site complex in Xiabaiyu, Yuzhou, unearthed Tang Dynasty official kiln wares for display, including black, white, celadon, and polychrome glazes. Among the most famous finds was a Yuhuchun vase with a floral glaze.

This discovery not only pushes the origin of this type of vessel from the Song Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty, but also rewrites the origin of Jun ware: previously it was Bafengdong in the center of Yuzhou City, but this discovery confirms that it is located in Xiabaiyu, Shenhou Town, about 40 kilometers to the southwest.

Furthermore, it pushed back the history of Jun kiln firing colored kiln-transformed porcelain from the early Northern Song Dynasty to the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty, a full two hundred years earlier.

In addition to this Yuhuchun vase, malachite glaze residue was also unearthed at the site, which proves that Jun kiln already possessed the technology and techniques for firing high-temperature kiln-transformed porcelain in the mid-Tang Dynasty.

The problem then arises: the glaze color of this begonia red requires the copper oxide in malachite to be reduced to elemental copper in a reducing atmosphere of 1350 to 1380 degrees Celsius, and then synthesized into cuprous oxide; otherwise, the red color cannot be achieved.

However, with the technology of the Chai kiln in the Tang Dynasty, it was difficult to reach a kiln temperature of 1,200 degrees Celsius, let alone close to 1,400 degrees Celsius.

It wasn't until the following year, in 2024, that the remains of a traditional coking furnace were unearthed near the kiln site, leading to speculation that Jun kiln may have mastered coking technology and used it for firing porcelain during the Tang Dynasty.

However, because that area is a cluster of Jun kiln ruins, containing dozens of kilns of varying sizes dating from the Tang to the Ming dynasties, and because the geological strata are severely damaged, it is impossible to confirm whether the coking furnaces date from the Tang, Song, Yuan, or Ming dynasties. Therefore, no definitive conclusion has been reached.

At that time, Lin Sicheng also went to see it, and he leaned towards the Northern Song Dynasty, or even the Tang Dynasty.

He no longer knows what the final conclusion was, but that doesn't prevent him from using it as a basis for his argument.

Since the Jun kiln during the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty could produce coke and then fire copper-red glaze at 1,380 degrees Celsius, why couldn't Hejin, which was only 300 kilometers away from the Jun kiln at the same time or later, fire white glaze porcelain at 1,400 degrees Celsius?

Anyway, it's just a guess, just speculation. It would be better if it were true, but it wouldn't matter if it weren't. Even when he discussed it with Shui Jisheng, he just mentioned it casually, and even Lin Sicheng himself didn't have much hope.

Unexpectedly, his guess was right on the first try?

Having worked for two lifetimes, Lin Sicheng knew all too well what it meant if that pile of coke was indeed from the Tang Dynasty: industrial innovation, technological innovation, and fuel innovation.

It may even reach the level of "exploring the industrial genes of Chinese civilization and rewriting the history of global technology": the history of coking predates that of Europe by about 1,000 years, highlighting the leading position of ancient Chinese industrial technology.

Compared to this, the fact that it was the first discovery in the province and the country, and filled a historical gap, is child's play.

Of course, this is only a possibility. As the saying goes, a single piece of evidence is insufficient, and a single piece of evidence is not enough to support a claim. Relying solely on one site is far from enough; at least two or three other sites from the same period must be excavated for cross-referencing.

But it's definitely not as bad as Ren Xinbo said, that he wasn't interested.

He was just a very composed person, so it wasn't showing on his face. People like Shang Yan, Tian Jie, Gao Zhangyi, and even Huang Zhifeng, who had already returned to the city for testing, were so excited that they didn't even know what the food tasted like.

Just imagine: how many papers could be written and how many journals could be published based on this one kiln site alone?

He Zhigang lit a cigarette: "Since we're not starting work, I'll go back this afternoon. It'll be easy with the bureau; everything was agreed upon beforehand, at most a notification will be issued. But what about the school? How are you going to report this?"

"We've already reached an agreement with the school, so we'll definitely stick to the agreement." Lin Sicheng smiled. "Besides, the employment contract will be issued and the salary will be paid as usual, without any discounts. We can't just suddenly discover some benefits and then back out!"

After a slight pause, He Zhigang nodded: "Yes!"

Tan Wu sat to the side, eyes downcast, seemingly oblivious to everything else.

But he knew perfectly well that Director He and Lin Sicheng were talking about the excavation report of the site, as well as the subsequent papers and journal publications.

Leaving aside everything else, let's just mention one thing: the phrase "coking in the Tang Dynasty"—if that were to appear in the newspapers, the entire nation would be shaken. This includes academic circles such as history, archaeology, ceramics, industry, and culture, as well as central government departments.

Forget about complete verification, as long as we can produce some research results, we can publish them in relevant journals however we want, and they will definitely be the most core and authoritative ones.

You don't need many, at most two or three papers, and that's more than enough to advance one level in your professional title: from lecturer to associate professor, and from associate professor to professor.

For Northwest University, a top-tier institution ranking second in archaeology nationwide, this is a golden opportunity. Perhaps someone will come up with a plan.

Having known Lin Sicheng for so long, He Zhigang was naturally well aware of his personality. Although it was too early to say anything, and it might take years to fully develop his character, he felt it was only right and proper to remind Lin Sicheng, as it was better to be prepared.

Then, he looked at Wang Qizhi again, who nodded almost imperceptibly.

Just as he had promised Lin Sicheng before: You just focus on academics and research, and leave the rest to your teacher.

Not to mention that the principal and Dean Geng would never have such thoughts, even if they did, he would guarantee to refute them immediately.

On another note: Lin Sicheng, his teacher, Shang Yan, Fang Jin, as well as Li Zhen from the center, Zhu Kaiping and Feng Lin from the laboratory, etc., are all people from the school?

If everyone publishes one or two papers, wouldn't that count as Xida University's papers?

Lin Sicheng will distribute the Category T (Special) and Category A (Authoritative Core) publications. The remaining Category B, Category C, and general publications will definitely be allocated to the local assisting departments. Then, we also need to add Tian Jie, Gao Zhangyi, several archaeological team leaders, and Huang Zhifeng, the two experimental group leaders.

How many people are there?

Where would someone be allowed to cut in line?

After a moment's thought, he gave He Zhigang a reassuring look.

The two exchanged glances, and Shang Yan belatedly realized, "What about the local departments?"

"That's what we say, but it's not right to eat it all by yourself; we definitely have to share some!"

Lin Sicheng smiled and said, "Of course, it's too early to talk about these things. If it's charred from the Yuan Dynasty, then there's no need to even mention it!"

Several people shook their heads in unison: The soil structure of the two cultural layers is so similar, how could it possibly be from the Yuan Dynasty?

At worst, it was still the Song Dynasty...

Just as Lin Sicheng was pondering this, the phone buzzed. He answered it without thinking, and Huang Zhifeng's voice came through:

"Professor Lin, the dating results for the coke are in..."