One sunny afternoon...a group of hawks hovered high in the sky above the Chaka Salt Lake. Their sharp eyes stared at the vast and calm lake, as if looking for food in the salt lake. They spread their wings and flew over the mountains and mountains.

As a river, nothing can hinder them, because they are the overlords in the sky, and as long as plump prey appears, it will become their meal.

But today, on this thousand-mile grassland, a huge and huge eagle suddenly came from the south and drove them away tyrannically.

At this time, bursts of desolate sounds suddenly came from the south, like thousands of drums beating in unison on the battlefield, which moved people's hearts.

This desolate voice brought a wave of black shadow, and a large black steel forest appeared in the south where the sky and the earth meet, like the water of the Yangtze River pouring down from the sky. As the black shadow approached, only

I saw countless flags flapping in the wind, and the most dazzling one was undoubtedly the military flag with the word "Sui".

This was the Xuanjia Army led by Yang Tong himself. His return to the West Sea was not a whim, but a carefully considered decision.

Now that Tubo has been split, Tuyuhun has been destroyed, and the overall situation on the plateau has been decided, it is no longer meaningful for Yang Tong to stay in Jiangyuan County. Jiangyuan now has Pei Xingyan, Wang Xiongdan, and Zhou Shao to guard it, and it is governed by both civil and military personnel.

Li Shimo, the new county is under construction in an orderly manner. With these people here, not only is it as stable as Mount Tai, but with the strength of the First Army and the sharpness of the honeycomb crossbow, it will be difficult for both Niang Shangnang and Li Shimin to fight;

And not long after, Wang Fubao will also return to Jiangyuan with the soldiers of the Ninth Army. By then the two armies will join together, and even if they attack Wenshan, Tongchang will no longer be a problem.

As the emperor, Yang Tong's current mission is to control the overall situation, not to be the first in everything, let alone compete with the generals for credit. When there is no one, he has no choice but to do it himself. Now that talents are at their peak, there is no need to do everything in person.

beated.

The key is that after the big shots in the DPRK heard that he was almost buried by the torrent of mud and rocks, they sent eagle letters one after another urging him to return to the DPRK.

Everyone said so, Yang Tong decided to follow the good example? He went back to make decorations for the time being? The worst he could do was to shift his energy from charging into battle to managing government affairs.

Since he decided to be the mascot of the Sui Dynasty, he had to give full play to his light and heat? So he came to Chaka Salt Lake? He was prepared to cordially express condolences to the skilled craftsmen who had made great achievements to show the emperor's great kindness.

As early as a few days ago, Li Keshi, the governor of Xihai County, sent him an eagle letter, saying that the craftsmen had made fine fine salt according to Yang Tong's steps.

Is salt relevant to the national economy and people's livelihood? It is an indispensable necessity for everyone. The substantial extension of human life span begins with eating salt. However, the immaturity of salt production technology has led to a serious shortage of production. Although salt containing toxins is sold at a good price

? So the profits from salt have always been huge profits? Salt merchants were extremely rich. Why did the Dugu family become the richest man in the Sui Dynasty?

The reason is that the Dugu family controls the Hedong Salt Pond. The Hedong Salt Pond is of high quality and does not require manual processing. It will be formed naturally? It can save a lot of labor costs. It has been developed on a large scale since the Han Dynasty and sold all over the country. It is the most important in Yongliang.

Source of edible salt!

Before Yang Dong, the Sui Dynasty did not implement the official management of salt and iron? The Dugu family was the main force in usurping the Zhou Dynasty and establishing the Sui Dynasty. After Yang Jian ascended the throne and established the country? In order to repay the Dugu family? Let the Dugu faction support him wholeheartedly? So he ceded the management of the salt pond in Hedong to

Although the Dugu family did not directly control the salt pool, they firmly controlled the most profitable refined salt in their own hands. All wealthy families in Daxing City and Luoyang City eat Dugu's refined salt, as do high-end restaurants and brothels.

In addition to refined salt, it also controls the coarse salt business in the northern land. It is difficult for the Dugu family not to get rich. Since Yang Dong regained Bingzhou, Hedong salt was nationalized. However, the biggest problem of Hedong pool salt was that it contained too much insoluble minerals and was originally unavailable.

In the production method, they are not easy to precipitate and will crystallize in the salt, seriously affecting the taste and causing harm to human health. Also, because the cost of producing salt in Hedong was too high, by the 1980s,

The production of Hadong salt, which lost its competitiveness, was stopped and replaced by high-quality salt from other places. Among them, Xihai salt was the most important source of salt to replace Hadong salt.

Yang Tong prepared to develop a large amount of Western Sea salt because he finally knew that there was a shortage of salt for private use and the high price of salt made the people of the Sui Dynasty miserable. The salt crystals here were like sand, and the only cost was simple processing and transportation.

If the salt from the Western Sea is taken away, the price of salt will definitely drop significantly, and countless people will definitely benefit from it.

Another potential meaning is to use the infinite value of Western Sea salt to break the inherent concept that the Central Plains is the richest and the rest are barbaric. It makes people realize that there are places richer than the Central Plains everywhere, and slowly develop the habit of looking outward.

It is not about clinging to one region of the Central Plains for generations.

From a distance, Yang Tong had already seen the vast camp. At this time, Li Keshi not only had craftsmen and 5,000 troops stationed in Xihai, but also more than 5,000 county soldiers stationed in Xiping, Wuwei, and Zhangye.

Go to Chaka Salt Lake and assist Li Keshi in managing and supervising tens of thousands of slaves in Tubo and Tuyuhun.

At this time, a group of cavalry left the camp and rushed toward Yang Dong's team. The leader was Li Keshi, the governor of Xihai County. Li Keshi got off his horse, ran quickly, saluted in front of Yang Dong's horse and said:

"Weak minister Li Ke, please pay homage to your Majesty."

Yang Tong got off his horse, helped Li Keshi up, and said with a smile: "I have been waiting for the good news from Li Taishou. Li Taishou has produced refined salt in such a short period of time. It can be said that it is a benefit to the present generation and a great contribution to the future."

"The real credit is given to the Holy One who improved the method of making salt. The humble minister is just copying the gourd and should not be praised by the Holy One." Li Keshi said with shame.

"I'm just talking about it. It's really remarkable how Li Taishou turned his theory into reality."

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your praise."

Yang Tong laughed and asked again: "Let's go and have a look."

"Your Majesty, please come with me." Seeing that Yang Tong was very interested, Master Li did not waste any time and led the way.

The group traveled about ten miles and arrived at the salt-making area.

What appeared in front of everyone was square pools. These pools were not deep, but very spacious. At this time, the pools were filled with brine, and they looked like paddy fields from a distance.

These pools are dug down one by one from top to bottom, with a height difference of about ten inches. There are drain gates between the upper and lower pools to allow water to flow downward.

"Prefect Li, what are these pools used for?" Yang Qinfang couldn't help but ask.

Master Li introduced: "Back to Your Highness, after we use the Holy Method to filter out the impurities, what is left is salt-producing brine. According to the past practice, we use a large iron pot to boil all the water, and the only thing that sinks to the bottom of the pot is

grains of salt, but this cooking method not only consumes a lot of firewood, but also has a small output. So we built these pools according to the holy method of making sea salt, pouring the brine filtered out of impurities into high pools, and drying them in the sun

, the strong wind blows away some of the water to increase the concentration of the brine. On the third day, the gate is opened again and the brine is placed in the second layer of the pool. What is left at the bottom of the high pool is salt like silt, and then the water is released one by one.

, after five layers of sedimentation in the pool, the remaining brine is almost useless. As for the wet salt deposited on the bottom of the pool, it only takes a few days to solidify into a plate. When you shovel it into a pot and stir-fry it, you will get salt like snowflakes. If you are not in a hurry,

, or it can be dried naturally.”

Yang Qinfang walked to a higher place, curiously pointed to the first-floor pool beside her, and asked, "Can this pool produce salt?"

Master Li looked at it for a while and said respectfully: "The concentration of the brine is nearly 100%. According to our salt production process, it will not take long to produce salt."

"How do you know it's nearly 10%?" Yang Qinfang turned into a reporter.

Yin Mingyue, Li Zhi and other Xuanjia generals were also quite surprised. There was nothing that could be tested here. How could it be possible to judge the purity of the brine with the naked eye?

"Although the human eye cannot see it, lotus seeds can." Li Keshi said with a smile: "If the lotus seeds float diagonally in the brine, they are 70 to 80% brine, and if they float horizontally, they are 100% brine. The different appearances of lotus seeds in brine are different.

Depth represents the different purity of the brine. If it sinks to the bottom of the pool, it means that the brine does not have much salt and can be discarded."

Everyone was suddenly enlightened and said one after another: "I have learned a lot."

Yang Tong laughed and said to the craftsmen waiting on the side: "Since the brine is nearly 100%, let's use this pool of brine to open everyone's eyes."

"Here."

The craftsmen roared together, and several excited craftsmen rushed to the high-rise salt pond, opened the gate beside the pond, and put the brine into the salt pond on the next level. As the brine drained away, a thick layer was left at the bottom of the pond, like

Silt-like salt.

Someone used a long wooden rake to push hard at the bottom of the pond like pushing snow, and the sludge-like salt was pushed up... Then shovels were used to shovel it onto carts one by one, and then cart after cart was transported to a flat drying ground.

The salt flat is paved with wooden boards, and the boards are covered with sun rolls made of bamboo strips. When the carts of wet salt are poured onto the sun rolls, the craftsmen begin to use wooden rakes like "Jiuzidao Palladium" to remove the wet salt.

bulldozed.

As the wet salt water drains away and is dried by the sun, the snow-white salt particles slowly reveal their true colors.

As if the generals of the Xuanjia Army who led the inspection work in later generations stared blankly at the salt mountain reflecting the white light in front of them!

Everyone can hardly believe their eyes...

"Salt, is this it?"

"Yes, that's it." Master Li understood everyone's mood. When he saw it for the first time, he was so shocked. He said with a smile: "The Chaka Salt Lake is surrounded by flat plains and the wind is strong. Even if there is no sunshine,

The moisture of the wet salt can also be easily blown away, but to avoid moisture, it still needs to be fried and dried once. The fuel for this process is locally produced coal, which not only has sufficient firepower and firewood, but also requires no fuel and is easy to collect.

.”

Yang Tong smiled and said: "I know that the crystalline salt in the West Sea is different from the natural salt rocks in Hedong. It is a naturally formed high-quality edible salt. As long as the impurities in the salt are simply removed, it will become the best salt."

"I have nothing to do. I want to make several hundred kilograms of salt and take it back to reward the civil and military officials." Suddenly, Yang Tong said happily.

The salt made by the emperor himself is not just salt. If it is distributed to various prefectures, everyone must not be grateful.

"The Holy One wants to make salt?" Some people who didn't know what was going on looked at Yang Tong with doubts on their faces. The Holy One doesn't know how to do this, right?

"I came up with this new method of making salt. Don't underestimate me." Yang Tong looked at Master Li and said with a smile: "Where is the raw material workshop? Take me there..."

"Here." Master Li responded with a dumbfounded voice, and led everyone towards a huge workshop.

...........

This huge workshop has begun to take shape. The warehouses are filled with square salt bricks dug from the salt lake. From a distance, they look like cyan ice cubes. There are many items in the operation room.

Pots, pots, and large pots were placed on large stoves, with blazing fires inside.

Yang Qinfang bent down to find a clean place, chopped off a small piece with a knife, and licked it with her little tongue. She only felt a bitter, astringent, and salty taste. She quickly took off the water bag and rinsed her mouth, saying:

"This salt is bitter and astringent. Can the Holy Spirit really turn this thing into edible salt?"

"The biggest difference between natural salt blocks and fine salt is that there are many impurities. Just remove the impurities in the salt bricks. Look at it." Yang Tong saw that the tools here were complete, so he threw the salt bricks into a large stone trough.

Crack it with a big hammer.

Yang Qinfang, an activist, became Yang Tong's free labor. Under Yang Tong's command, she shoveled the broken salt into a dustpan and poured it into a large pool filled with clean water again and again. It quickly melted and disappeared.

disappeared, and the clear water gradually became turbid.

"Keep pouring it in!" Yang Tong looked at the salt in the water tank and saw that the salt had melted, but the lotus seeds used as buoys were still underneath. He started knocking on the salt bricks again, indicating to Yang Qinfang to continue pouring the coarse salt, and so on until the lotus seeds floated up.

Kosher salt no longer melts.

"To make fine salt, the first step is to filter out the sand from the salt blocks. Although the salt blocks here are very clean and pure, we cannot ignore this most fundamental problem." Yang Tong asked several women who were eager to try it.

Said: "Time is limited, don't be idle, everyone, get busy. Mingyue, Yaoyao, Li Youwei, you three will scoop the brine into the barrel, Fang Xiuzhu, Zheng Liwan, you two will help you to the filter."
To be continued...