At once, the people nearby twitched their nostrils and sniffed hard. Sure enough, they caught a faint, intermittent stink, and its source was precisely the deep hole they had dug in the ground.
"Bring a torch."
The mining foreman of Team Nine called out, and someone immediately brought over a torch. Holding it, he carefully moved it above the hole in the ground. With a whoosh, the flame suddenly brightened for an instant, then immediately entered a sage-like state and returned to normal.
The flames were no longer violent, but a layer of blue flame had spread over the outside of the steady fire. Clearly, this was not something wood could produce when burned. Some kind of flammable gas must be bubbling up from below.
"There's gas below. Looks like we really have found a coal mine. And since gas has appeared, the coal reserves below definitely aren't going to be small." After seeing the result, the coal-mine foreman of Team Nine immediately reached a conclusion. Confirming the news left everyone wildly excited.
"Really?! That's wonderful! It's been several months. We've dug at least ten thousand holes, and we've finally found a coal mine." The leader of Team Eight spoke with considerable excitement.
"Mm, it seems we're close. But don't get anxious yet. We should confirm this before saying anything. Let's dig another two meters first. Once we've verified the news beyond doubt, we'll quickly send word to Chief Emissary You and have him contact the Chieftain." The leader of Team Seven also came to a conclusion.
Everyone unanimously approved the decision and immediately continued excavating the coal underground. However, since they had struck a true coal seam, and the seam was far too hard, the Luoyang Shovel could only bring up a little coal dust each time. Even so,