Chapter 69: Observing Down the Well Everyone now looked at these rats and felt...
Chapter 69: Observation Underground
Early the next morning, Lin Shiyi went to the cafeteria to have breakfast, and even knocked on the door opposite to call Director Wu.
Yan Jiuru spat out the toothpaste foam in his mouth. "Didn't you eat another bowl of noodles last night? Why do you look like a starving ghost?"
Lin Shiyi rubbed his stomach and wailed, "I want to eat rice. Noodles don't satisfy my hunger. They digest too quickly."
Woohoo, if he can eat a bowl of noodles in one meal, he can last until dawn.
Isn’t it because my stomach is not as big as others?
Yan Jiuru: “…”
***
The canteen of the guesthouse has a wide variety of breakfast options, all of which are local specialties: hemp leaf tofu, knife-cut noodles, oil tea noodles, steamed buns, meatball soup, mutton offal soup, and golden millet porridge.
Yan Jiuru looked at the 'hemp leaf tofu' and felt happy. Isn't this the tofu pudding with fried fruits in Yancheng?
It doesn’t matter what it’s called, it all tastes the same when you eat it.
It was obvious that there had been coordination between the higher-ups. Yan Jiuru had many more meal tickets in his hand than others. The chef and the waiter also greeted him warmly and did not mind at all that he ordered too much.
An enamel basin of hemp leaf tofu with two extra fried dough sticks, a basket of steamed buns, a big bowl of meatball soup and a pile of sesame pancakes...
Finally, a bowl of golden millet porridge came.
Others, including Director Wu and the guards, looked at Yan Jiuru enviously while he ate. It was not that they were not full, but that they did not have such a big appetite.
What a pity!
Lin ordered a bowl of meatball soup with sesame cakes and a basket of steamed buns at 11.
He picked up the steamed buns and dipped them in the vinegar dish. He took a bite and held his cheek tightly, his teeth almost falling out.
Everyone laughed so hard.
***
The person sent to receive them today was Deputy Director Wang. It was said that Deputy Director Li had gone to attend a mobilization meeting.
"Our mining bureau is working very hard, 24 hours a day. The underground workers work in three shifts and have to produce high yields every day. We hold joint operations every few days to produce more coal and ensure both quality and quantity.
Have you seen those buyers stationed outside the guesthouse? They're all causing trouble because of the coal shortage.
Everyone wants to get the coal first, so they all send people to keep an eye on it.
In fact, we also want everyone to have a share, but the coal is dug out by workers one shovel at a time and transported up by trucks one by one. It cannot be done faster.
People who work in underground mines for a long time tend to become mentally exhausted, so mobilization meetings are very important."
Director Wu and others nodded repeatedly and praised the mine for its good ideological work.
***
Today’s first stop is Mine No. 5, which is dozens of miles away.
The two jeeps drove on the coal gangue road for nearly forty minutes before arriving at a large coal yard.
"These are the primary coal and waste rock piles that have been mined and are waiting to be transported away," Deputy Director Wang explained expertly. "The tunnel entrance is in the back. Let's go change clothes first."
They changed into blue work clothes, put on helmets, mining lamps, gloves, and long rubber boots, and each person was given a white towel.
***
This is a relatively shallow mine with two wellheads: the main well and the auxiliary well. The main well is used to lift coal and gangue upwards, while the auxiliary well is mainly used for personnel and equipment to go up and down. In addition, there is also a ventilation well.
The pit they were going down was a huge dark hole with no bottom in sight.
For those who enter here for the first time, it is like a monster with a wide-open mouth, waiting for them to put themselves into its mouth.
Deputy Director Wang even joked, "So, are there any of you who are afraid to go down? Tell me sooner."
Director Wu chuckled, "Really not."
Among their group, not to mention him and Yan Jiuru, they are both considered to have killed enemies and made great contributions. Lin Shiyi is a tomb robber who specializes in digging up graves of the dead. Although he likes crickets, he is even braver.
They were standing in an iron cage, which was said to be able to hold 12 people at a time. The one they were riding in was considered relatively small.
Deputy Director Wang said, "The larger ones can hold about 20 people at a time, and are mostly used to transport materials downstairs."
"Ready, let's go!"
The operator shouted, and with the sound of bangs, the cage dropped down.
About ten minutes later, with a bang, they reached the bottom.
***
The headlights were like fluorescent dots in the darkness, and I could only see a small area in front of me, which made me feel inexplicably nervous.
Yan Jiuru didn't care. He spread out his spiritual sense, and the entire mine was basically included in his spiritual sense.
The well is about sixty or seventy meters deep. It has a main tunnel with rows of lights on the top and lighting lamps at intervals on the sides. There are double railroad tracks underneath. There are fully loaded coal carts going out and empty carts or carts loaded with materials going back. It is very busy.
There are many branch tunnels on both sides of the main tunnel. In each branch tunnel, people are busy digging, drilling, shoveling coal, etc., and there are also "boom, boom" sounds of explosions coming from some tunnels.
Lin Shiyi asked, "Director Wang, coal is fuel. If we use explosives, aren't we afraid of making a fortune?"
Deputy Director Wang smiled and said, "We use special explosives in our mines, otherwise what would happen?!"
“Oh~”
***
They walked along the railway tracks while introducing the place, then randomly chose a fork in the road and turned in.
As I was walking, something suddenly rushed past.
"Hmm? What is it?"
The soldier in charge of guarding immediately became alert.
"It's okay. This is the rat master that the miners are taking care of. It's time to feed him now."
"What? Feed the rats?!"
Yan Jiuru, who prided himself on having a lot of experience, was also a little surprised.
Upon seeing this, Deputy Director Wang took everyone to see Master Mouse.
Sure enough, in a corner not far away, there was a lamp, and underneath it was a deformed iron box. Someone had put biscuits and snacks in it.
Two or three fat mice were holding snacks or biscuits in their front paws and gnawing on them.
When they sensed someone coming, they stopped eating, stared at everyone with their green eyes for a while, and then continued eating as if nothing had happened.
. . . . . .
Everyone: It feels very strange, and I don’t know whether I should say it or not.
Deputy Director Wang explained in a low voice: "Don't think that rats are hated by everyone outside, but in our mines, they are life-saving little masters."
It turns out that gas is easily produced in mines. If people inhale too much, they will be poisoned. If the concentration of gas exceeds a certain limit, it is prone to explosions and other accidents.
However, methane is a colorless, tasteless and odorless gas. Workers cannot judge its concentration and safety status by themselves. It is often too late to discover it after inhaling excessive amounts.
However, mice are very sensitive to gas concentrations by instinct.
Once the gas concentration exceeds the standard, the rats will flee.
The workers have been living with rats for a long time, and they can often respond promptly to the rats' abnormal movements and save their lives.
More importantly, if a landslide occurs, it is easier to find a way to survive by following rats, as they are much better at finding air, water and food than humans.
"In our mine, there have been more than one cases where mice have saved people's lives." Therefore, it is not an exaggeration to call him master.
Now everyone looks at these mice and thinks they are just cute. How can they be annoying?
***
After saying goodbye to the little cutie, they continued walking inside for about fifteen minutes and saw the workers in front drilling holes with electric drills at the front of a face.
Deputy Director Wang's entourage went up to greet the miners.
Yan Jiuru noticed with his sharp eyes that there were also mice living in the corners here.
Moreover, this mouse is not afraid of the noise of the electric drill.
"This is the front line for us excavators. How about trying to drill a hole?" Deputy Director Wang glanced at the mouse and asked with a smile.
It's rare to come across an electric drill in daily life. Lin Shiyi was eager to try it out and even pulled Yan Jiuru along: "Come on, come on, let's try it. We won't have this opportunity again in the future."
More difficult to deal with than a woman.
***
The team leader of this class is named Liang. Like the other workers, his entire face is dark, with only the whites of his eyes and teeth being white.
He wiped his black hands with a towel, shook hands with everyone one by one to express his welcome, and then personally demonstrated to Yan Jiuru and others how to use and control the electric drill and how to drill holes.
Team Leader Liang and several other miners were no taller than 1.75 meters. To drill holes high up, they had to hold an electric drill weighing 20 to 30 kilograms and drive a two-meter-long drill rod into the mine.
The sound of electric drills was heard, and coal dust flew everywhere. Yan Jiuru and others immediately covered their mouths and noses with towels, but Team Leader Liang, who was drilling, didn't care about the coal dust and debris flying in their faces.
As the drill rod slowly moves forward into the coal seam, the hands and arms holding the electric drill are subjected to tremendous vibrations. It is conceivable that after drilling a few holes, the whole arm will be in pain.
"Come on, who wants to try first?" After drilling a hole, Team Leader Liang turned around and called out to his two temporary 'apprentices'.
Lin Shiyi rushed forward enthusiastically.
He has never played with this big toy before, so he definitely wants to try it out.
As the electric drill started to rattle, Lin Shiyi almost dropped it: "Ouch! Why can't I hold it?"
The funny thing is that he raised the electric drill and just gave it a few strokes before his entire arm fell down uncontrollably.
Yan Jiuru was quick-witted and quick-handed, and grabbed him.
Lin Shiyi embarrassed himself in front of everyone and said, "I wasn't prepared just now. Let me try again!"
He took a deep breath and started very carefully.
"Thump, thump, thump..." The vibration of the electric drill almost made him feel the same rhythm.
"No, no, I can't do it." He persisted for a few minutes until his arms felt like they were no longer his own, so he had to retreat.
***
After all, they were on the same team, so Yan Jiuru had no choice but to go up and take it.
He is tall and has long arms, so he doesn't need to hold the fixed hole at this height, he just needs to hold it against the wall.
He asked Lin Shiyi to help him cover his mouth and nose with a towel, and then he started drilling.
Despite his height advantage, the shaking of the electric drill and the vibration of the drill bit still made him feel huge resistance.
Fortunately, he was quite strong and had seen Lin Shiyi's failure, so he was mentally prepared.
When the two-meter-long drill rod was halfway down, his spiritual sense discovered a large rock in front of him.
He stopped and asked Liang, the squad leader beside him: "I feel that there is no coal inside, it should be stone. What should I do? Should I continue to dig?"
"It's gangue, right?" Squad Leader Liang took the electric drill and asked, "Did you hit a rock?"
Yan Jiuru shook his arm, which was numb from the shock. "It's still three or four centimeters away, but it's definitely not gangue, it's hard stone, and the diameter is no less than fifty centimeters."
Everyone: ...
Yan Jiuru simply found a larger piece of coal, and under the dim mining lamp, drew an irregular circle in front of him to mark the position and size of the stone.
Now I see that there are two more fixing holes on the stone.
Squad Leader Liang naturally didn't believe it, so he continued drilling forward. However, within a minute, another kind of resistance and sound came from the front.
Team leader Liang quickly stopped the electric drill.
This thing is very expensive. It can be used to drill coal seams, but the drill bit will break easily when used to drill rocks, and we can't afford to waste materials.
***
However, it is obvious that this situation is common in their coal mining and they have already had a plan to deal with it.
"Don't dig to the bottom. Drill a few holes first and blast the rocks."
Yan Jiuru helped drill a few more holes, and learned from Team Leader Liang how to use wax sticks to stuff explosives into the holes, seal them with yellow mud, and then hide in the distance with everyone, watching Team Leader Liang detonate the explosives.
After a few loud bangs, flying coal blocks and debris poured down like rain.
At the same time, the entire alley was filled with gunpowder smoke, which not only made people's throats sore, but also made their noses and tears flow.
Deputy Director Wang quickly covered his mouth and nose and led everyone away.
They just came to visit and not to really mine coal, so this is fine.
***
Back on the ground, they all felt like they had seen the light of day again.
Coal miners have a hard time!
He will never complain about having too little coal again!
. . . . . .
As guests, they went to a clean bathhouse to take a bath. It is said that the bathhouses for coal miners only change the bath water once every few days.
Yan Jiuru looked at his watch. He had only visited one mine in the morning, and it was almost noon.
You really can't feel the passage of time underground.
***
During the break, Lin Shiyi rubbed his shoulders and groaned.
Yan Jiuru kicked him and said, "That's enough. You still have the nerve to hum? You were so excited than anyone else, but you only lasted three or five seconds!"
Lin Shiyi opened the clothes on her shoulders to show him, "Look, it's all swollen, and I can't let you hum a few times..."
Yan Jiuru didn't feel sorry for him. "If you don't push hard, the electric drill will hit your shoulders and arms again and again, right?"
It would be strange if it wasn't swollen.
Fortunately, Deputy Director Wang had someone send over some medicinal wine.
The two of them didn't have to go get the medicine themselves.
***
After two o'clock in the afternoon, the group continued driving to another well No. 3.
When Deputy Director Wang met them, he asked the two men if their arms were okay.
Yan Jiuru smiled and said, "Thanks to you for sending the medicinal wine, otherwise I might not be able to lift my arms right now."
"Haha," Deputy Director Wang laughed, "Young people, when they first operate something, they just think it's fun. They have no experience. Eight out of ten people are like this. We've seen it a lot."
Deputy Director Wang was very curious about how Yan Jiuru knew that there were rocks behind the coal seam and was able to point out the shape and size of the rocks. However, he knew that it was a confidential task issued by his superiors, so no matter how curious he was, he resisted asking.
However, he did not hide his enthusiasm for Yan Jiuru at all.
Director Wu secretly exchanged glances with Yan Jiuru, which was exactly the effect they wanted.
With this foundation, the afternoon should go more smoothly.
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