Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 100 Salt Field ([-])

Even in modern times, with the realization of large-scale mechanized production, drying salt is still a labor-intensive and extremely hard work. It is far from digging some condensation and evaporation ponds on the beach to produce salt in batches-the ancients were very early. It is known that a small amount of salt can be condensed by the evaporation of seawater accumulated on the shore reef, but until the Yuan Dynasty, boiling seawater into salt was still the most widely used method of salt production.Sun-dried salt is not as simple as imagined - the application of theory in production practice requires a systematic process flow.Wang Luobin has seen the production of saltworks in the countryside of Guangxi.The technological process is that the seawater is brought into the water storage ditch inside the dam from the tidal ditch outside the dam, and the water is sent from high to low by power machinery, and sent to the evaporation pool through the dry and branch waterways. After pooling, it will be concentrated to 5-10 degrees, collected by the brine channel and returned to the brine machine room, then lifted to the brine pool by power, and then poured into the crystallization pool.The depth of the brine is 20-25 cm, and the concentration should be kept at 6-8 degrees, so that the salt can be exposed.

In ancient times, it was obviously impossible to have such production conditions. How they increased the concentration of brine under the original conditions is a question that he is very interested in.

The village chief took him and Xiong Buyou to the embankment. Under the embankment was a large area of ​​salt tanks made of stone that looked like inkstones. The arrangement of these salt tanks was very particular. Patchwork.In order to make full use of the sunlight, the center surrounded by salt tanks is a patch of black salt fields.The village head said that there are more than 7000 salt tanks in the village, all of which were excavated and polished by the ancestors and passed down from generation to generation.

Yantian is a kind of muddy tidal flat, which they call "salt mud".In the dry season when the sunlight is relatively strong, the salt mud will be flooded by spring tide twice a month. The salt mud has the effect of absorbing the salt in the sea water. When the sea water recedes, the salt mud will be loosened with a rake, After a few days in the sun to evaporate the water, this piece of salt mud contains a relatively high salt content.

Then put the salt-containing mud into the salt pond, which is completely manual labor: use a wooden rake to put the sun-dried mud into the salt pond.The so-called salt pond is a 2-meter-wide, 3-meter-long, 1-meter-deep pool excavated on the salt field, with bamboo chips and thatch under it for filtering.

After the salt mud enters the pool, the salt workers need to step on it firmly, and then inject seawater. The filtered water flows into the brine pool on one side from the small opening reserved next to the salt pool, and there is a pool of brine.

How to judge the concentration of brine?Yanding will break off the stems of yellow croaker, a plant that grows on the edge of the salt pan, and put them into the brine pool. Only the stalks of yellow croaker floating on the surface of the water are the real saturated salt water, otherwise it needs to be exposed to the sun repeatedly.

Pick the brine to the salt tank. The salt tank is made of volcanic rock. Wang Luobin took a closer look. There are small and dense holes in the stone, which may play a role in water penetration?Before the sun rises, the brine is poured into the salt tank. After a day of exposure to the sun, the salt can be scraped with a board at dusk and stored in bamboo baskets.In the hottest season, a salt tank plus two or three brines can be evaporated to dryness.

At this time, most of the salt tanks are empty, but there are still some salt tanks with sun-dried salt crystals, shining crystal light in the sun, which is really beautiful.

Looking at the more than 7000 salt tanks, Wang Luobin said: With such the most primitive working method, more than 200 tons of salt can be produced here a year, and he can't help but marvel at the infinite wisdom of the ancient people.

There is a tool shed on the embankment. Out of curiosity about ancient salt field tools, Wang Luobin went in to have a look. There were many tools piled up in it, and the appearance was not much different from the ones seen in the salt field in the past.I tried the rake for raking the ground and found that it was much heavier than modern products-the ancient times lacked processing capabilities and could only be manufactured by the most cumbersome methods.It is really hard work dragging such a heavy tool under the sun in the hot summer.

He approached a drying salt tank, and a layer of white salt had already condensed inside, crystal clear and beautiful, and very delicate.It looked very much like the refined salt produced by a modern salt factory - this was beyond his expectation, sea salt could reach this level without refining process, at least he had never seen it before.I put some into my mouth with my fingers, it is much lighter than bringing fine salt, and it melts in my mouth.

Not sure about the sodium chloride content.There is no instrument here, so it cannot be analyzed.But Wang Luobin knew that just because of the appearance of this kind of salt, it was not a hot commodity.

But the poverty of this place was surprising.The ancient working people really lived in dire straits.

Just as he was expressing emotion, he suddenly saw a group of people walking towards the embankment. The leader was riding a horse—this is a rare thing in the local area, followed by a large group of people in Tsing Yi.When Tan Cunzi saw it, a look of fear and disgust appeared on his face, he turned to Wang Luobin and said, "It's the big family Gou."

"Gou Dahu?" Wang Luobin vaguely remembered the name, so it seemed that he had forgotten it.

"Mmm, um." Village head Tan seemed to be afraid of the power of this big family, so he didn't even have the time to say a word to him, so he hurriedly greeted him, saluted with crossed hands, bowed his back, and had a very respectful attitude.

Wang Luobin didn't know who this Gou Dahu was, but judging from the respectful and fearful appearance of the village chief surnamed Tan, this person must not be a good person, and it is most likely a local local tyrant and bully. Such people deal directly with each other, simply watching from the embankment.

I saw the horseman yelling repeatedly, and the village chief Tan bowed and bowed, as if he was begging for something. After performing such a live pantomime for a while, the village chief Tan led the people to the village dejectedly.He actually left them on the dam and ignored them.Wang Luobin hastily informed the people who were still carrying salt in the village over the walkie-talkie of the situation, asking them to be on guard.

But the people who came here obviously didn't dare to provoke them, the short-clothed and hair-haired pirates are known to all women and children in Lingao now.After a while, the village head returned to the embankment and led them back to the village with a sad face.

Xiong Buyou inquired for a long time before he figured out the whole story.It turned out that according to the government's regulations, the saltworks adopted a system of paying by color.That is to say, the salt miners do not need to pay the government directly the extra salt, but convert the salt into rice or silver.The rule in the old years was to convert rice into one stone for each quotation. Later, Zhemi was renamed Zheyin: first convert salt into rice, and then convert it into silver according to the price of rice.The amount of salt in the Mali Salt Field is "410 Qiyin 230 Jin", and the amount of Zhese rice is more than 400 shi.According to the market price in the Chongzhen year of the apocalypse, the price of folded silver would be nearly 2000 taels.

Paying the salt tax has certain advantages for the salt workers: production is no longer subject to government supervision and control, as long as you pay the salt tax on time, basically you can do whatever you want, and you don’t have to devote yourself to the Ming Dynasty’s salt business day and night.After the salt is released, merchants will naturally come to buy it. If there is a lot of salt and the market is good, then life is still good.Some people think that drying salt is too bitter, and some people use their income from business or land reclamation to pay the salt tax.

But after the earthquake, everything changed.Gou Dahu's father took advantage of the flooding of the salt field in the village and the difficulty of not paying the salt tax for a while, and gradually controlled most of the sales of salt by borrowing money in lieu of advances.However, his purchase price was much lower than the market price, and the salt that the salt workers worked so hard to dry out was not enough to repay the serial debt.He also colluded with the government to take over the salt class, insisting that the price of rice is high now, and the price of rice per stone is three taels of silver.The usury here is not clear, and the official debts over there are in a mess.The Yan Ding knew that he was making troubles, but they had to beg him to act as a substitute in front of the government.Over time, the Gou family became the de facto rulers of the village.The salt field seems to have become the private property of the Gou family, and the exploitation is increasing day by day. In addition, every time the pirates come to Gao these years, they always rob the salt field and kill many people, and the village becomes more and more dilapidated.The young and strong usually dare not go home, and gather in some inland places to reclaim wasteland and farm to live.

As for his reason for coming just now, it was actually to urge to pay the "regulation money" for this month, and told him to call all the young and strong back to dry the salt, otherwise all the women, children and children in the village would be arrested and imprisoned.

"Prison?" Wang Luobin asked, "He became an official?"

"Where, it's his family's private prison." Village Chief Tan trembled as he spoke, "Gou's family is amazing, let alone a private prison, whoever messes with his family will be arrested and tortured to death. have--"

As he spoke, he quickly shut up, probably feeling that he had said too much, so he kept urging them to bring the salt and leave quickly.Wang Luobin felt that the matter in Yancun was a complicated issue.The issues involved here may really have to be dealt with by the land reform task force.

In order to obtain the guidance of the Executive Committee, he returned to Bairen City that night.Although some of the executive committee members were not in the city, the remaining people agreed with his idea of ​​the work team after discussion: send a smart and capable team to the salt field to help the local villagers resume production, and also arm the salt workers to get rid of them. The threat of bullies and pirates has made the Maliu Salt Field an important salinization raw material base for traversers.

Because this is the first time that the traversers have really carried out a comprehensive transformation of a place from the social level, so each group attaches great importance to this matter, and a saltworks team is formed by dispatching personnel.

Originally, the executive committee planned to let Wang Luobin be the captain of the work team, but Wang Gong believed that it would be best for someone with military experience and strong social interaction skills to take up this position, so Xi Yazhou was finally determined.

Du Wen is in charge of the organization of cultural propaganda - since she landed, she hasn't gotten any real work except reading the radio scripts that no one listens to every day. participated.The entire team consists of 30 people, including a doctor, Hippo.

Each carried sufficient weapons: pistols, rifles, knives, and plenty of ammunition.Hippo brought many medicines and simple surgical instruments.Considering that they may be stationed there for a long time, the team also brought wind turbines and other equipment.The problem of food is more troublesome—in addition to eating for ourselves, we may also need to provide relief to the local people.Although Xiao Zishan had already brought people to Guangzhou for big purchases, there was still some time before the first batch of grain would be shipped back, so Wu Nanhai didn't dare to give more, so he allocated a week's worth of grain and non-staple food.

(End of this chapter)