Drilling

Zhang Beichen also knew about the situation in Baiyang County. These days, he had been reading up on the county and knew that Baiyang County used to be a barren land.

Originally, the population wasn't large. Therefore, people could still live while relying on the Dragon's Eye Spring. However, as Kingdom Qin lost more and more land and the number of refugees increased, the number of people who migrated here also increased. Thus, the Dragon's Eye Spring was not enough for them to get water.

Zhang Beichen did a little research on the geographical environment here. According to the previous information, Baiyang County had an overground river a few hundred years ago, but it dried up later.

Nonetheless, Zhang Beichen deduced from various information that there should be enough underground water in Baiyang County. However, the geological structure here was special. The ground was mostly made of rocks, making it difficult to dig a well. Moreover, the depth was not deep enough to find underground water.

As a science student with some simulation experience, Zhang Beichen already had an idea.

"Since I'm the magistrate of Baiyang County, I'll naturally solve these problems," he said to the crowd, "But you've broken the law, so you must be dealt with according to the law as well."

Yu Yong asked upon hearing his words, "Will be dealt with? You can deal with this problem? Lord Zhang, if you can solve the water shortage problem of the people in Baiyang County, we won't have to rely on the heavens to feed ourselves and fight for our lives every year. I, Yu Yong, don't need you to execute me. I will do it myself and punish myself!"

"Right!" The other felons also said, "If you can get everyone to use water, so what if we are executed? At least our descendants won't have to be like us, killing each other for a bucket of water!"

"Alright!" Zhang Beichen looked at the crowd and said, "Today, I'll make you all convinced!"

"Ah Da, bring the tools from the county government office over and dig a well to get water!"

"Yes, My Lord!" Ah Da and the others returned to the county government office to move things over.

Meanwhile, Bai Liangpu and the others were laughing inwardly.

"This brat is really an id*ot," Bai Liangju laughed, "If it was so easy to dig a well in this land, would there still be a fight for water?"

"He's at the end of his rope!" Bai Liangpu's face was filled with pride. He said, "He doesn't dare to kill anyone, but he can't let anyone break the law either, so he can only take a gamble. Unfortunately, even if he dug here for three days and three nights, he wouldn't be able to get any water!"

"My Lord, are we really going to dig a well to get water?" Liu Wen's expression was a little hesitant. From his experience, this kind of thing was futile.

"Of course!" Zhang Beichen ordered, "Registrar Liu, bring me to the ancient river of Baiyang County."

"This... Alright." Liu Wen had no choice but to lead the way.

The prisoners and citizens all followed him to see what Zhang Beichen could do.

Not long after, Ah Da and the others brought the tools.

Bai Liangju looked over and saw the bailiffs pulling carts. On top of the carts were hollow bamboo tubes of similar caliber. On top of them were awls, shovels, and some other metal devices.

"And here I thought the magistrate had some tricks up his sleeve. He's digging a well with just these things?" Bai Liangju laughed and asked, "What's the purpose of those bamboo tubes? Are they using it as firewood?"

Everyone was also puzzled.

Zhang Beichen was still choosing a site. He even invited a few experienced people who were good at digging wells to help look at the location.

The group of people came to an ancient river. This place had already dried up for more than a hundred years. The original river had long become a wasteland.

"My Lord, I heard from my grandfather that there used to be a river here," said an old man. He continued, "This place is low-lying and suitable for digging wells."

Liu Wen quickly reminded Zhang Beichen, "My Lord, the county has also sent people to dig a well here. They spent months and dug a full 200 feet. There was no water! There's too much gravel down there, and it'll be harder to dig deeper. Look, that's the pit for the well!"

One foot in Kingdom Qin was about 23 centimeters, so 200 feet was about 46 meters!

Zhang Beichen went over to take a look. There was indeed a big hole. At the bottom of the pit, gravel and soil were mixed together.

Seeing this, Ah Da and the others were also in a difficult position. They said to Zhang Beichen, "My Lord, this place is not suitable for digging a well. They've dug so deep and there's still no water. It's probably a waste of time to dig further."

"I'll go down and take a look." Zhang Beichen asked someone to put him down with a rope. He touched the cave wall and found that the wall was indeed wetter than the top.

He went up again and walked a few miles around.

Everyone was waiting for him. Yang Shan asked impatiently, "Zhang Beichen, can you do it? If you can't, just let them go and stop wasting everyone's time!"

Zhang Beichen glanced at him but didn't reply. He observed his surroundings and knew that there was water underground!

Because when he went down to the abandoned well, he noticed that the underground temperature was lower, and the cave walls were wetter than the ground. The surrounding trees and vegetation were obviously denser than the other areas.

Some plants had well-developed roots and could absorb water from deeper underground, which meant that there was water underground.

As for why water wasn't dug out, there was only one reason, and that was that the well-digging technology here was not developed enough, so it couldn't dig 50 meters deep.

In his previous time and space, even if it was a well in a village, it would often be 200 to 300 meters deep. In this era, it was extremely difficult to dig a few hundred meters deep with human strength!

"Prepare to dig a well! We'll continue digging along this well!" Zhang Beichen ordered.

"Yes!" When the runners were ready, Zhang Beichen said to Che Yang, "General, please ask your soldiers to come and help. Their cultivation is deeper, so they will be faster!"

"No problem!" Che Yang asked his soldiers to help dig the well. Their strength and endurance were stronger than the runners. They dug the well and dug the stones, while the runners helped to move the mud and stones with hanging baskets.

The soldiers took turns entering the pit and soon the well was deeper by dozens of meters.

After two hours, the people at the scene were getting impatient, but there was still no water coming out from the bottom. The soldiers kept consuming their spiritual energy and they themselves couldn't take it.

"Lord Zhang, with your method, we won't be able to find any water even if we dig for a month. Do you want us to wait here for a month?" Bai Liangpu asked.

"Why are you so anxious?" Zhang Beichen took a look at the depth. It was almost deep enough. He ordered people to put down the things that had been prepared. At the same time, they installed something similar to a large wheel with a metal cone tied to it with a metal chain.

"What is this?" Everyone had never seen this thing before, so they were confused.

"Step on this wheel and use the iron awl to drill the ground!" Zhang Beichen ordered.

Logically speaking, when the iron awl hit the ground, it would create a hole the size of a bowl at the bottom of the hole. It could even easily penetrate rocks!

"This is so much easier than doing it manually!" Liu Wen said in surprise.

That hard rock was actually shattered so easily!

They did not understand that this was actually a disguised lever-linked device. After connecting the iron cone, the soldiers stepped on the pedal to turn the wheels and drive the iron cone, forming a man-made impact drill!

This wasn't Zhang Beichen's original creation. It was a technique created thousands of years later in his original time and space.

When the seven kingdoms dug wells, they were all shallow wells, which took a lot of time and effort. Think about it, if he had to dig two hundred meters, that would be about eight hundred and seventy feet!

If they were to use human strength to dig, how long would it take? Even a warrior with cultivation would die of exhaustion!

Moreover, the area of the shallow well had to be large to give people space to stand, excavate, and move mud and stones.

To dig a deep well, one only needed to dig a hole the size of a bowl.

"My Lord, are you digging a well? With such a small hole? How deep could they dig? And how do they get the mud and stones out? Even if the water was dug out, how would the water come up? Are you toying with us?" Yu Yong and the others couldn't understand and asked.

"In another four hours, water will definitely come out!" Zhang Beichen said with certainty.

He naturally had a solution to these problems. After chiseling a certain depth, he put the bamboo tube in. A one-way valve was put in the bamboo tube, which could use air pressure to extract the mud and stone inside. Then, he put the drill bit in, went in, and hit. This cycle continued until water was produced.

This was the deep well drilling technique. In the agricultural era, this technique could be used to drill deep wells hundreds of meters long. It was known as the first version of oil drilling technology.