The Linqiao Fire Well is the first natural gas well drilled in human history, which is the largest in the world. Its successful creation is the prelude to the modern large-scale development and utilization of oil and natural gas, and occupies an important position in the history of new energy utilization in the world.
The history of Linqiao Huojing is written from the beginning of the Han Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty. This provides historical evidence for the excavation, continuation and development of the Linqiao Fire Well. To this end, the historical reality of Linqiao Huojing should contain two meanings:
That is, in a narrow sense, it only refers to the first fire well first excavated in the Linqiao area during the Western Han Dynasty; in a broad sense, it is from the Han to the Ming Dynasty, "there are prosperity and rest", prosperity and decline, one after another, and the well site is distributed in linqiao. In northern Zhou, there was a fire well in the town of Huojing, and the town of Sui Chaosheng set up Huojing County.
In the history of the development of well salt in Sichuan, in the process of excavating underground western, gas and oil resources, if they are chiseled together, most of them obtain one of the (main) resources and name it as a well name, and then replace a number of well (group) names with a combined name, and evolve from the name of the well to the place name, and then, with the name of the well, it is an ordinary phenomenon to place, set up, and establish a city. For example, the artesian well (named because the underground west water flows out of the ground), was a famous salt well in the history of Sichuan's salt, and during the late Ming Dynasty, "artesian ancient well, the original number of 380 eyes" (still named after the first well), the well name evolved into a place name, and later the artesian well and the gongjing were jointly called Lishi, resulting in a city, that is, the present-day Zigong City, Sichuan.
Thus, the development from a well to a group of wells and then into place names and towns is named after salt (or gas).
In total, how many fire wells were opened in the Linqiong area, and there is no clear record of historical facts. However, the development of Linqiao fire wells from the Han To Ming Dynasty lasted more than 1700 years, and it can be concluded that the number of fire wells is quite large. Otherwise, how could a fire well have been produced continuously for seventeen or eight centuries? Linqionghuo well is actually a general term for a well group, in this well group, there are not only simple gas wells, but also gas, water or oil, gas and gas production wells; not only there are gas wells with higher pressures of "high flame flying inciting in Tianli", but also low-pressure gas wells that directly boil salt at the wellhead; there are not only large shallow wells with a well depth of "two or three zhangs", but also wells with a depth of "sixty zhang"; not only waste wells that have "not been re-ignited so far" in the old land, but also new wells opened after the new land.
In short, the group is widely distributed in the Linqiao area, geographical orientation, mainly distributed in the southwest of Linqiao City, Pushui and Huojing River basin and southeast of pujiang river.
China was one of the first countries to discover natural gas. The excavation of natural gas wells and the use of natural gas new energy in industrial production are the earliest countries in the world. The Sichuan Linqiao area of well sinking, gas production, salt production, is the earliest area in China, for this reason, the creation and utilization of Linqiao fire well, in the history of new energy development in China and the world occupies an important position.
The boom and development of the oil and gas industry has only happened for more than a hundred years. But back to our wise, industrious ancestors, we have made brilliant achievements in the development and utilization of natural gas.
Thousands of years ago, shallow underground natural gas was found in some parts of the world, including China. However, underground natural gas resources, through sinking, exploitation and utilization, are the earliest in China. From sporadic collection to the development of a large number of wells, it is a major breakthrough in human understanding and utilization of new energy. The first batch of fire wells in Linqiao, Sichuan, China, was created, becoming the first country in the world to use natural gas and new energy, more than 13 centuries earlier than western countries (such as the United Kingdom) in the use of natural gas.
According to the record of Volume IX of Zhang Hua's "Natural History" of the (Jin) Dynasty, our ancestors used natural gas for the production of salt industry. And also understand that "taking the well and boiling" salt, than using "household fire (that is, firewood) to cook, get very little", more high calorific value, salt rate of industrial production value and economic value. The Song Dynasty Liu Shu's "Pengcheng Collection" Volume 14 wrote an epic poem of "boiling salt in a fire well to harvest double profits, and mountain fields to cultivate deeply". Monks in some Western countries worship natural gas as a "sacred fire" that cannot be extinguished by water, and they are ignorant and ignorant.
In short, as far as the world is concerned, the large-scale development of oil and gas, which is widely used in industry, agriculture, transportation, etc., is a modern society. The excavation and utilization of the Linqiao fire well is the precursor of the modern oil and gas industry.
The creation of the Linqiong Fire Well is not accidental, but is closely linked to the development of social productive forces. After the Qin Dynasty destroyed Bashu, in order to develop Bashu, the western Sichuan region was first developed, and gradually formed an economic development zone centered on Chengdu and connected with Pi County and Linqiong. The construction of water conservancy, the development of agriculture, the construction of cities, the rise of handicrafts, and the prosperity of commerce are the crowns of the whole Sichuan. From the Qin To the beginning of the Han Dynasty, the social economy of Linqiong made great progress, providing a rich material foundation for the excavation of salt wells (gas wells) in the early Western Han Dynasty and providing a large amount of financial resources.
Secondly, the introduction of well drilling technology in the northern Central Plains, especially the successful drilling of a number of wells such as the "Guangdu Salt Well" in western Shu at the end of the war, was directly used for the creation and application of the Linqiao salt well (gas well), and the technical preparation for sinking was made.
Moreover, the rise and development of the iron smelting industry in Linqiao and the use of iron tools have provided means for the excavation of salt wells (gas wells). In short, the rapid social and economic development of the western Sichuan region (including Linqiao), the successful excavation of the "Guangdu Salt Well" and the use of iron tools have created conditions for the excavation of the Linqiao Salt Well (gas well).
Regarding the time of the excavation of the Linqiong fire well, although there was a dispute in the academic circles, according to the tendentious opinions of most experts and scholars, it was set in the early Western Han Dynasty. That is, in the third year of the Han XuanDi Festival (about 67 BC), there was a large-scale "20 salt wells in Linqiong and Pujiang (at that time Pujiang belonged to The jurisdiction of Linqiong)", and at the same time, it was chiseled into the Linqiong Fire Well. Sichuan underground shallow halogen, gas, oil is often symbiotic together, for this reason, in the production practice, in addition to pure gas wells, halogen wells and oil wells, most of them are manifested as surface, gas and production. "Cover the fire well of Shu, and the water and fire are good."
Therefore, at that time, Linqiao and Pujiang penetrated the salt wells "Twenty Houses", and there would be no salt wells chiseled to natural gas. At the same time, according to Liu Jingshu's "Yiyuan" (vol. 4) and Ren Yu's "Yizhou Record", "the Long of the Han Chamber, then Yan Hemi". To this end, the age of the excavation of the Linqiong fire well is unlikely to be in the Qin Dynasty, and the Eastern Han Dynasty is the safest to excavate, if it is set to open the Linye salt well for a period of time in the early Western Han Dynasty (around 67 BC), it is more appropriate.
At the beginning of the Western Han Dynasty, the creation of the Linqiong Fire Well greatly encouraged the enthusiasm of the Qiong people to dig salt. And with the peculiar functions of natural gas lighting and boiling salt, it has further promoted the rise and development of the salt industry. The rise of the iron smelting industry in Linqiong at the end of the Qin Dynasty and the use of iron tools created conditions for the opening of salt wells and fire wells in the early Western Han Dynasty. At the same time, the boom of the well salt industry has promoted the development of the iron smelting industry. With the construction of the city, the prosperity of commerce and trade, and the development of the economy, Linqiao has thus become the center of the salt and iron industry in Sichuan and southwest China. During the Western Han Dynasty, Linqiao was developed in the salt and iron industry, and specially set up "iron officials and salt officials" in charge of the iron industry and salt industry.
With the social and economic prosperity of the Linqiao area, the fire well gradually rises, and a celebrity gathers for a while, looks at and sings the present, is surprised, and its popularity is greatly improved. During the Northern and Southern Dynasties of Xiao Liang, Qiong Prefecture was established by the county administration. In the third year of the Sui Dynasty (607), the state was abolished and changed to a county. During the Tang Dynasty,during the reign of Emperor Daizong, Emperor Xianzong, and five generations ago of Shu, he set up a festival envoy in Linqiong. During the (northern) Zhou and Sui dynasties, there was a major development of fire wells. Therefore, during the Northern Zhou Dynasty, the town of Huojing was specially set up in the name of Huojing, and in the twelfth year of Emperor Zhao's great cause (616), the town was changed to Huojing County, and tang and Song were all because of it. In the history of Sichuan Jing, there were Fushi County (present-day Fushun County, Sichuan) because of Fushi Salt Well, or Dagong Town and Gongjing County (present-day Gongjing District, Zigong City) because of Dagong Salt, or Lingjing Prefecture (present-day Renshou County) because of Lingjing. Then they all sink wells to fry salt, so that the local areas get rich, economically active, and socially progressive, so they are specially named as towns, counties, prefectures, and cities. It can be seen that the large-scale development of fire wells and the prosperity of the salt industry constitute the political and economic elements of the Linqiao area, and occupy a pivotal position, which promotes the development and great changes in the Linqiao area.