Thorium is radiant, but the thorium in nature generally exists in oxidation form, and the alpha particles it radiates are very penetrating and usually only needs a layer of fabric to isolate.

Therefore, as long as you do not inhale and eat it, it will not cause any serious harm.

What Luo Yong and what they are looking for this time is thorium oxide. Thorium oxide has a special property, which is that it can excite white light at high temperatures and can be used to make biogas lamps or lampshades for ignition lamps. The intensity of light emitted is about the brightness of an incandescent lamp of 40 to 60 watts.

In this era, it is not easy to develop natural gas, but biogas is easy to obtain. Just build a biogas tank and hang a biogas lamp, and the lighting problem will be solved.

Nowadays, the common lighting method is torch oil lamps and candles. Ordinary people are reluctant to use oil lamps, and candles can only be afforded by wealthy people.

Not to mention the lighting effect, 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 quite popular all over the Tang Dynasty. I heard that many cement workshops have been built in Henan, Hebei and Jiangnan.

With cement, a biogas tank can be built. At this time, it should be easier to promote it. This is a good thing that benefits the country and the people. It does not involve any political sensitivity, and it can also make money.

However, the search for thorium oxide and the production of biogas lamps are not easy, and it may require a lot of time, energy, financial and material resources.

For the sake of the biogas lamp, Luo Yong finally hired fifteen strong and smart young men, a group of nineteen people, to form a team.

The team will first go to Yiwu and try to find thorium oxide in Yiwu's coal mine area, because the thorium element often appears around some coal mines, so there will be a relatively high chance of finding it there.

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

Luo Yong knew that the place with the largest storage capacity of thorium was Baiyun Obo, but it was too far away from their current location, and it was a territory of the grassland people. Luo Yong had no business or accumulation in that area, so it would be more dangerous if he went rashly.

This time, the two disciples of Luo Yong, Feng Zhi and Huang Youtian, are both steady-witted and have always been reliable in their work.

In terms of research and development, the two of them did not have any outstanding talents. They were mainly responsible for leading the team, maintaining communication with Changle County, supplying materials, etc. The two students from Changle Academy were really responsible for research and development.

The two students were born in the Zheng family of Xingyang and the Gu family of Jiangnan respectively. Let’s not talk about the Zheng family of Xingyang. Although Luo Yong’s friendship with them was not very deep, the two sides were also relatively friendly overall.

Two years ago, when people from various major families arranged for their children to come to Changle County, the young people arranged by their family were quite excellent. The person was named Zheng An, with a good character and clear character and hardship. Luo Yong chose him this time, on the one hand, because of his own character and talent, and on the other hand, because of his family relationship.

Another student of Changle Academy in this team, named Gu Yunshan, was from the Gu family in Jiangnan, and this person is also good.

Luo Yong heard Qiao Junlin praise Gu Yunshan several times before, saying that he is very persevering and must learn everything he learns thoroughly. Unfortunately, he is born in the same branch and is also produced by the strings. He is a bit dull and does not have the free and easy temperament of a gentry, and is not very valued in the family.

Aunt Luo has developed in Jiangnan in recent years, and Luo Yong also intends to manage the relationship between their Luo family and the Gu family in Jiangnan, so this time he came to Gu Yunshan.

As for whether he is valued in the Gu family, there is no such thing as absolute. He is not valued at the moment. When he becomes valuable in the future, he will naturally be valued.

The nineteen people in their group, including property and equipment and gifts prepared by Luo Yong for several old acquaintances in Yizhou, hired a total of five wooden rail carriages.

On a cool and refreshing autumn morning, Luo Yong sent them all the way to the wooden carriage, reminding them to put safety first when they go out. If they encounter any problems, they can also go find the governor of Yiwu, and send someone back in time to report to him.

Several strong horses pulled these ordinary carriages along the wooden track on the deserted beach and quickly disappeared into the vast Gobi Desert.

Luo Yong's side, and at this time he also started to build a biogas pool. The biogas output was very slow in winter. At this time, they built the biogas pool. After a winter storage and fermentation, there will definitely be biogas available until the beginning of next spring. Even if there is no biogas lamp, it can at least be used to boil water and cook.

Maybe Feng Zhihuang Youtian and the others are lucky and will soon find thorium oxide and successfully make a mesh cover for biogas lamps. They will illuminate biogas lamps in the beginning of next spring. Who can tell you this accurately?

Time passes day by day. By November of the lunar calendar, it will be very cold here in Changle County, and it is time for every household to burn the kang.

Changle County is very lively, as if it is a little more lively than in autumn. There are many people driving the sheep around 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. It can earn a lot of cashmere in one winter. The price of cashmere is very stable. So after the winter this year, more herders were driven to Changle County to sell more than last year.

In addition to the herdsmen who came to sell sheep, there were also many merchants who came to buy goods, mainly from Yiwu and Gaochang, some came to buy needles, and some came to buy white-folded flower seeds.

Since the wooden tracks were found, it has been very convenient for people on both sides to come to Changle, Dunhuang. They have little precipitation and do not snow much in winter. Even if the weather is colder, it will not hinder the traffic on the wooden tracks.

On the afternoon of that day, Luo Yong and his second wife Peng Er and others discussed several newly knitted facial scarves recently. Someone suddenly came to the yamen. It was Huang Youtian who had just returned from Yiwu. Now the person is in the county yamen.

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

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

"No progress has been made yet." Huang Youtian was sitting on the kang at this time. When he saw Luo use it, he wanted to get off the kang and salute his master. Luo pressed it back with a gesture. He smiled and still sat on the kang and replied: "Bai Qi and the others picked up a lot of ore from the mining area, but I don't know which one is. Zheng Langjun and the others are experimenting."

Luo nodded, and he knew that this was not that easy.

Because Yiwu and Changle have frequent merchant transactions, Huang Youtian and the others have asked someone to bring a letter back before, mainly to report safety. As for the progress of the research and development of the biogas lamp mesh, I don’t talk much about it in the letter.

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

"It's not very useful, it's just food and clothing." Huang Youtian replied.

Bai Qi and the others went to pick up stones in the mining area. They heard that they were the people who Luo used to arrange the past here. The coal mine owner did not stop him. Not only did he not want their money, but he also invited people to have a delicious meal and drink. He tried different ways to find out the news from Bai Qi and the others.

After learning that Bai Qi and the others were looking for an ore called thorium oxide, the coal miners were hoping that they would find it quickly. Then, the coal miners could not only sell coal, but also sell thorium oxide to make money in the future.

"Now, several coal-producing mining areas near Yiwu City often send people to send ore, so Bai Qi and the others mainly go to the further mining areas to look for it." Huang Youtian said.

"I have accepted the favors of those mine owners." Luo Yong said with a smile.

"Some people also asked us if we buy charcoal." Huang Youtian said again:

"The price offered is a little cheaper than what we bought from other companies before. However, we have been working with the previous mine owner for many years, and the quality of the carbide provided by the other party has always been very good. Now if we exchange the supplier's name for these price differences, it is really inappropriate."

"There is no need to replace the original store. If the price they offered was suitable and the quality of carbonite was good, you just buy it. In the past two days, I have someone build a shed on the deserted beach behind the city, which is specially used to store carbonite."

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

A while ago, they had no meat to eat. In a blink of an eye, it was the season to eat meat again. It was really a drought that they died of drought and flooding. Fortunately, they sold all the canned meat they made last winter before winter began.

Earlier, when the tea merchants from Lishi came to transport tea, they also helped Luo Yong bring a lot of Eucommia glue from the Central Plains.

At this time, they started collecting mutton for canned food in Changle County, which was even more popular than last year. In addition to the farmers who were idle in winter under Changle County, they also collected many people from Dunhuang who came to Changle County to find work.

"Why do you want to stock up on carbonite? Master is worried about the price increase in carbonite?" Huang Youtian asked.

"That's right." Luo nodded, would it not raise the price, and what would Luo Guanshi do?

"There are many kinds of carbohydrates in the east," Huang Youtian did not think that carbohydrates would increase prices: "Except for some pottery cast iron workshops, ordinary people do not use them."

People think it is more expensive than firewood and is not cost-effective. Rich people think it smells bad and don’t like to use it. If there are too many fine charcoal and bamboo charcoal, I heard that some good charcoal and bamboo charcoal will have a fragrance when it is burned, why bother to use the choking and unpleasant charcoal.

"When Hengzhi's stuff is ready, the price of the carbonite may rise." Luo Yong said with a smile:

"It's winter now, and there are relatively few vehicles on the wooden tracks. It's better to stock up on some charcoal at this time, so you can withstand the horizontal and vertical things."

"Here." Since Luo Yong had said this, Huang Youtian agreed. It would be no harm to stock up on the fewer cars in winter.

As for the thing Hengzhi and their current work, Huang Youtian also knew about it. He said that he wanted to make a machine for the needle shop, and could draw and cut the iron block without human power.

Huang Youtian has never read much, but he always knows that no matter how exquisite the instruments are, they still need to have a place to rely on their strength. Whether it is manpower, hydraulic power, or wind power, how can they operate out of thin air without a place to rely on their strength? And it is also the work in the needle shop that requires a lot of effort to complete.

Huang Youtian could not imagine that there could be such a thing in this world.
Chapter completed!