Overlord!

Chapter 100 Creating tidal flat drying salt method
Although as early as the time of Wu State, the Central Plains began to boil the sea for salt, but the Central Plains still used well salt and mine salt for a long time.In Dahan, the equipment for mining salt has already been laid 120 feet underground, which is more than [-] meters in conversion.

Expecting the common people to carry the salt on their shoulders and baskets to send out baskets of salt from hundreds of meters underground, the efficiency may not be high anyway.

But even so, Zhongyuan would rather choose mineral salt than boiled sea for salt. You can imagine how difficult it is to boil sea for salt.

That is to say, some desperadoes are willing to privately manufacture in the southeast, setting up stoves in every household for private profit, and every autumn and winter, after the farm work is completed, they cook and sell privately.Especially the poor, young and old, men and women all carry baskets of salt, shoulder to shoulder, and sell it privately.

This fully demonstrates one thing, that is, even the most elementary handicraft industry is profitable, and wealth far exceeds the output of farmland.

But what Sun Ce wanted was not this kind of manual production at home, the rustic method where a family sets up a stove at home to make salt.

In this model, Kong has consumed a lot of manpower and material resources, but it can't provide much wealth to the Central Plains at all.Not to mention the extra salt used to marinate food.

However, the southeast salt industry is indeed able to make the country rich in future generations.

There is a famous saying in later generations: "Since ancient times, the profit of cooking salt has been more important than that of the southeast, and the two Huaihe Rivers are the most. The world's endowment, salt is half of the profit."

That is to say, the sea salt in the Jianghuai area has become the main source of the salt industry.

In the 30 years of Shaoxing alone, there are as many as 500 million stones of unsold salt accumulated in the salt fields of Huaihe and Zhejiang.

Song stones are considered the largest in all dynasties. The 500 million stones made in the Song Dynasty are roughly equivalent to about 2000 million stones made in the Han Dynasty.

His unsold salt alone has 2000 million Han stones. If Sun Ce had so much salt, he would dare to announce to the people of Wujun that he would never increase taxes and remove agricultural taxes tomorrow.

The day after tomorrow, he issued a call to the Han Dynasty: "What is wrong with the minister, that he can't succeed Wu Chenghou? The more I think about it, the more I get angry, I don't accept it!!!"

As for Yuan Shu?Or roll and play in the mud.

The reason why sea salt can have such a high status is, of course, because the Song Dynasty had a large-scale salt production method, that is, the "Sunri Salt Production Method", which is popularly known as sun-dried salt by tidal flats.

That's right, Song Dynasty, Song Dynasty again!

It is an indisputable fact that his economy is soaring and prosperous, and theoretically, the economic foundation is the dynasty most similar to the Eastern Han Dynasty.It can be regarded as after the Five Disorders, the economic track was corrected from the average field production back to the Zhuxia model.

Therefore, in order for Sun Ce to develop the economy in the Eastern Han Dynasty, it was inevitable to eliminate the historical context of the Northern Wei Dynasty's land equalization system and connect the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Song Dynasty.

As long as Sun Ce can develop the economy to the affluent level of the Song Dynasty, the emergence of this modern capital sprout is a shortcut that can save thousands of years.

Of course, one-tenth of it is fine... Sun Ce feels that he is always so content and happy.

When it comes to system reform, Sun Ce still has to worry about whether to use the methods of the Song Dynasty.

However, with technological reforms, especially the technical reforms of people's livelihood such as salt production, Sun Ce began to copy the Song Dynasty with almost no burden.

So after talking with Zhou Cheng about the idea of ​​salt production, he took advantage of the rainy season to gather a few powerful families of salt production in Wu County and Haiyan, and planned to explore the method of drying salt together.

In the land of the east of the Yangtze River, the land is dangerous and remote, and the tyrants recruit people to flee for their lives. Those who work in private salt often gather in groups of thousands.

Even Yuan Xiong, the school lieutenant in Sun Ce's army, was a private salt dealer before, and many craftsmen were still salt households.

Throughout the rainy season, Sun Ce successfully found more than 40 powerful households that produced salt in Wu County and Haiyan through counties and counties.

In Haiyan County, there are countless people who are smugglers. There are probably thousands of households who set up stoves in their homes to cook sea for salt!Five or six of the common people used to make salt and sell salt.

When the rainy season was over in June, Sun Ce ordered Yuan Xiong to be in charge of summoning these dozens of powerful households to Haiyan, and recruiting skilled craftsmen in salt production along the coast to study the method of sun-drying salt on the beach.

He personally brought his wife Zhou Cheng, long history Zhang Zhao, schemer Qin Song, and scholar Wu Fan and a series of top Jiangdong talents to the coast of Haiyan County.

A crowd of talented people gathered on the coast, blowing the summer sea breeze, and everyone felt refreshed.

The surrounding fields are surrounded by iron armor for several miles, with flags fluttering in the wind, and the guards here are tightly guarded.

Hao Qiang, Yando and craftsmen in the middle of the venue all looked curiously at Sun Ce who was surrounded by a large number of civil and military personnel.

They had already heard about the purpose of this trip before they came. After all, Sun Lang's plan to implement a "salt production method in the sky" was already well known.This incident has been rumored in Wu county for more than a month.

Before Sun Lang came, Colonel Yuan Xiong even called them together for several days to discuss this technology.

Ordinarily, everyone is familiar with this matter. The Han Dynasty has always had this tradition. If there is a major project, a capable minister and virtuous official will be sent to recruit skilled craftsmen, and then the old man with many years of experience will be consulted. Drive the entire project to important results.

Wang Jing's governance of the Yellow River and Ma Yuan's development of paddy fields all followed this process.

But everyone still couldn't help whispering.

"What's all this called? Salt made from the sun? I've never heard of a person who can make salt without boiling it."

"That's right. What does a general Sun Lang know about making salt? He even said that he wants to open salt fields to dry salt, and can salt grow in the fields?"

"It's ridiculous! It's almost time for the early rice harvest. If you don't harvest rice in the rice fields, but study some rice fields here, wouldn't it be a waste of money?"

"It's not necessarily impossible. I have read ancient books. As early as the time of the kings, there were ancestors who were steaming fields for salt."

"That's because there is brine under the fields, and the salt stays in the fields after the water dries up. But have you ever seen salt remain when the sea water dries up?"

"In my opinion, this matter should not be presided over by Sun Lang. As a general, how does he know how to make salt? It should be handed over to a virtuous minister, who will examine the physical customs and make a judgment."

Halogen means salt juice. "Historical Records": Shandong eats sea salt, and Shanxi eats brine.

As tyrants and artisans who cook salt, they all know the brine.

Turning seawater into bittern, they all understand that they need to make bittern first when boiling seawater into salt, and then cook bittern instead of pouring seawater directly into the kettle for cooking.

But it is beyond their imagination that bittern can be cured only by exposure to the sun, and then turned into salt.

Looking at the people who were whispering, Sun Ce was sure that if he appointed a virtuous official to promote the method of drying salt in the salt fields, and asked him to lead the craftsmen to find out from the beginning, it would be half the effort.I don't know how long it will take to build the salt fields and perfect the method of drying salt.

That's why he went directly to the battle and presided over the matter.

He didn't have the plot of those monarchs and ministers keeping their parts, and he didn't stick to the promotion of virtuous ministers in order to perfect a skill.

Since a courtier can promote a project, so can he, the lord.

As a student of a major province in the college entrance examination in later generations, he is of course a coastal person.Of the three major college entrance examination provinces, two of them are coastal provinces with salt production sites.

Sun Ce has actually seen the sparkling salt fields.

The salt field is built on the tidal flats along the coast, stretching as far as the eye can see, with criss-cross canals.

The grid-like salt fields covered with shallow water are sparkling and silvery in the sun.

An ordinary salt field also has more than 9 mu.

The scenery of "salt fields store seawater, and the red sun condenses the clear sand" is also magnificent.

In fact, salt fields and paddy fields are very similar, and even the principles are exactly the same.They all build dams to form fields, and then set up canals to fetch water.

The so-called salt field is to build dams on the seaside tidal flats to open up a piece of land, and then set up a diversion dam. When seawater needs to be introduced, the stones are opened at high tide to introduce seawater into the salt fields.Put down the stone when you don't need it to block the water from the sea water.Then, with the help of solar evaporation, the water in the salt field evaporates and becomes bittern, which is then processed, concentrated, and crystallized to form sea salt.

The construction of salt fields is the key to tidal flat salt production, which allows Haiyan to build salt fields of tens of thousands of acres on a large scale, and the output can finally be no longer limited to those small stoves and small kettles.

This is already the most advanced salt drying method that can be built manually after the founding of the Chinese Empire. It does not use any equipment, but it is more than 2000 years ahead of the contemporary era.

So salt can really be grown from the field!The farming talents of the Zhuxia people have already been maxed out.

Sun Ce then stood in front of the crowd and raised his hand, making everyone quiet and looking here.He said loudly: "I brought you here today to take a look at this tidal flat with you. The elders in Haiyan County should have seen that after the tide recedes, salt crystals often form in the crevices of the rocks where the sun shines. But Has anyone collected these salt crystals?"

A tyrant nodded and said: "Indeed, my guests and the treacherous people in the trilogy will collect this kind of salt if they don't worry about cooking, and even sell Zhiyi."

Sun Ce looked sideways at him, so what kind of salt did the private salt dealers sell?Can this be eaten without filtering it?

The whispers in the crowd quickly interrupted Sun Ce's thinking on this aspect.

Someone immediately asked: "But sea water can make salt, even if it is left in the crevices of rocks, what has it to do with the salt field?"

Sun Ce said decisively: "Since salt can settle in the crevices of rocks, it can be deposited in the salt pan! I have already asked my subordinates to build a salt pan of [-] mu on the tidal flat between the ebb and flow of the tide. One foot of sea water, you can go and see how much brine is left in each mu of salt fields after a few days of drying."

A group of people flocked to the salt fields by the sea, and some people exclaimed: "It really looks like brine!"

"How many thousand stones does the seawater in this acre of salt fields have to have? How long does it take to boil it all in kettles and stoves?"

"The output from this one mu is enough to produce the output of hundreds of salt farmers cooking the sea day and night! Even if it is not perfect, this method of making brine alone can save a lot of labor!"

"Strange? Why did the salt stay in the field and not seep into the ground with the water?"

"Haha. This one looks like Lord Jiangdong. The tidal flat is made of mud, so naturally the brine will rarely sink. In the future, we can continue to repair and improve it."

Sun Ce also opened his mouth, and said to a powerful craftsman who was surrounded by the salt field, bending over in amazement: "Yes, this method is not perfect in details. If I do my best to perfect this method of sun-drying salt on tidal flats, I will honor him as the captain of the salt supervisor and reward him with a thousand pieces of gold. And in the future, all salt farms will share [-]% of the salt-drying method!"

After the words fell, everyone took a deep breath.What a wealth of wealth!

As long as the tidal flat drying method can be perfected, under Sun Lang's rule, [-]% of all the sea salt produced by the salt field will be compulsorily given to him.

Everyone's hearts were burning with enthusiasm.Wealth can rival a country, right in front of you!

Countless people don't need to argue any more, they immediately recognized the Sky Salt Making Method, which is the truth that is absolutely feasible!
Even the tyrants are united with the craftsmen and stand in the same camp.I urgently hope that anyone can perfect this sun-dried salt method.

After all, even if he had to share [-]% of the income from drying salt, the remaining [-]% would be a hundred or a thousand times the income from boiling salt today.

Sun Ce emphasized again to all the tycoons and craftsmen: "Abandoning the cauldron and stove and building salt fields is a great plan that will benefit the present and benefit the future. I swear today by referring to the East China Sea that as long as you can perfect the method of drying salt on the tidal flat, I will eliminate the franchise of salt and iron forever, and allow you to enjoy the benefits of mountains and seas with me!"

This sentence refers to the East China Sea and swears that no matter whether you believe in the method of drying salt, the tyrants are completely moved, and they will perfect this method of drying salt on the tidal flats at all costs.

Of course, salt and iron is no longer a franchise, not to give up the control of salt farms, but to allow people to sell salt in shops, which is no longer just a government patent.This undoubtedly has a very important impact on reducing the price of salt.

Sun Ce has always advocated improving people's livelihood by increasing production.The production of salt is insufficient, and no matter how much you specialize in it, the price will be sky-high, and the total amount will not be huge.

Looking at the tyrants and craftsmen who were eagerly discussing around the salt field, Zhou Cheng frowned and asked: "Sun Lang, this method of drying salt, even if it is perfect, it may not be easy to implement, right? A heavy rain will easily cause the people to die for three or four days." Hard work pays off."

Sun Ce nodded. The method of drying salt is indeed easily affected by the weather.

So he looked at Wu Fan, a famous scholar in Jiangdong.

Wu Fan is famous in Kuaiji County for his management of history and knowledge of customs.He had been recommended to go to Luoyang before, but he couldn't make the trip because of the chaos in the world, so he was detained by Liu Yao.

Since the surrender of Qu'a, he has been serving under Sun Ce and serving the Wujun shogunate.

Sun Ce said: "Wu Zong, I intend to appoint you as the county magistrate of Haiyan, to guide the astronomical calendar and climate seasons for the people in the salt industry. To help the salt farm avoid wind and rain, and choose the sun to dry the salt. What do you think?"

Wu Fan belongs to a typical madman. He is proud and arrogant. Hearing the words, he raised his head proudly and said, "What's the point of a mere trivial matter? I just need to do the math for a moment to know the weather. Now that the rainy season has just passed, The next few days will be hot and scorching sun, so there is no need to count too much."

And the weather was exactly as Wu Fan said, from the end of June to the beginning of July, the sun was scorching hot for more than ten days in a row.

And the first batch of salt fields in Haiyan County finally reaped results.

Although it was only the first attempt by the powerful craftsmen, the scale of the harvest still shocked everyone beyond belief.

Only the first batch of [-] mu of salt fields that have been developed successively produced [-] stones of sea salt!

The amount of salt produced per mu is even higher than the amount of grain produced per mu in the north.But it must be known that this is still an incomplete initial salt production scale.

In the face of this result, the powerful people in the entire Haiyan County were completely crazy about it!They sleep long and hard, and at all costs must let the trilogy and guests be familiar with the method of drying salt immediately, and then improve it!

And Sun Ce also greatly increased his confidence. Although this level is only a few percent of the grain yield per mu of later generations, it is enough!

This is a salt field. There are two salt harvest seasons in the first half and the second half of the year.This harvest season is not the harvest season in the farmland.

No matter how bad Yantian is, it is an attribute of industrial production.Moreover, it is a large-scale industrial production, and a batch of sea salt can be produced every four or five days.If the weather is good, more than ten or even twenty times of salt can be produced in one harvest season.

The scale of 500 million stones of sea salt is already within reach!

With this wealth, he immediately devoted his energy from domestic production to military conquest!Haiyan's income is enough to provide sufficient logistical support for his next military campaign.

(End of this chapter)