Salt has been one of the most important materials since ancient times. In modern society, salt still plays a vital role in people's daily lives.
The reason why salt was scarce in later generations was due to imperial control.
On the one hand, salt is something that everyone must eat, which can bring huge tax revenue to the court; on the other hand, because everyone has to eat salt, collecting a poll tax through salt can avoid tax evasion.
You can choose to conceal your population to avoid paying taxes, but these people who are concealed cannot eat salt, right? Okay, then I will raise the price of salt. As long as you eat salt, the price of salt must include the head tax. This is one of the reasons why private salt is cheaper than official salt.
While I was thinking, Baichong hurried over.
Baichong is also a member of the Bai clan in Guanzhong. Although he has no connection with the Bai clan in Yi County, he is from the Bai clan in Yi County after all. Since I ordered the Bai family in Guanzhong to change their surname to "Bai", Baichong became Baichong. There is nothing we can do about it...
After saluting, I looked at Baichong.
"How is the iron smelting going?"
Baichong bowed and said: "Since reporting to Your Majesty last month, the monthly iron output has more than tripled. The main problem now is not that the iron has time to be smelted, but that the ore cannot keep up. I have ordered The counties and counties have recruited civilians to mine, and the peasants' food and salary have been discussed with the Prime Minister You, and the results will be seen soon."
I nodded: "Very good. How is the production of salt in Daqin now?"
Baichong responded: "About eight million catties per year."
Compared to the population of the Qin Dynasty, which was more than 30 million, eight million kilograms was really pitiful.
“Where are the main sources of salt today?”
"The five coastal counties and the Hedong Yanchi. The five coastal counties mainly produce sea salt, and the Hedong Yanchi mainly produces lake salt. In addition, there are sporadic well salts, but the output is negligible."
After listening to Baichong's words, I was a little confused.
With current technology, it is almost impossible to increase the production of salt on a large scale through technical means, let alone increase the production of refined salt.
The coast is already the main salt producing area. Only the Hedong Salt Lake, the modern Yuncheng Salt Lake, can use lake salt in the interior. The other salt lakes are all on the plateau, which is the territory of the Qiang people. It is currently unrealistic to capture them.
The only thing that can be developed is well salt.
"Who is the current leader of the salt industry?"
Baichong cupped his hands and said, "I am the commander-in-chief. Because the production areas of salt are relatively fixed and concentrated, there are no separate additional officials."
I thought for a moment and then ordered: "When you go back, select three people for me to set up separate chief salt officers."
"I will give you a method for mining well salt in two days. The main difficulty in mining well salt is that you can't find the salt well and can't dig a deep well."
"As for the salt wells, you ordered Yan Guan to search for them in Shu County, Qiongdu, and Dian. I once saw in an ancient book that there are many salt wells in these places. As for digging deep wells, I will give you methods, including determining the location of the wells, The procedures of opening the well head, setting the stone circle, cutting the large mouth, setting the wooden pillars, cutting the small holes and repairing the well are explained in detail.”
"Most of the mined salt is transported to various parts of Daqin through Dajiang, Hanshui, Lingqu, etc. The other part is transported to Xianyang and Longxi through Yushui, Minshui, etc. I will order people to set up the Gudao Salt Mansion in Gudao County, the source of Yushui. , this part of the salt has its own uses.”
Baichong bowed and said yes.
After giving the instructions, I picked up the pen and paper next to me and prepared to write down the details of the well salt mining, when I suddenly saw that Baichong hadn't left yet.
"I will order someone to hand it over to you after I write down the mining method, but is there anything else?"
Baichong held it in for a long time and whispered: "Your Majesty, I dare you. The rice, iron smelting, farm tools, and this time the well salt, your Majesty said that they were all found in ancient books. I wonder what ancient books they are?"
I looked at him in astonishment.
Baichong lowered his head quickly: "Your Majesty, I don't mean anything else. I just like to delve into the art of mechanisms since I was a child, and I really want to see this sacred book. In addition, I can also share your worries for Your Majesty."
I had no doubt that he was there, so I said helplessly: "The ancient book has been lost long ago and cannot be seen. I only remembered it from memory."
Am I telling you that I came from the future and have the knowledge in my head? I’m afraid you won’t believe me if I tell you, brother!
Baichong said quickly: "This is my minister Meng Lang. Your Majesty, please forgive me. I will retire."
Looking at Baichong exiting, I shook my head. It seemed that I would have to make another excuse in the future...
After thinking about it, I ordered Qi Wan to call Lieutenant Colonel Wei Feng over.
After Wei Feng saluted, I took the cup in my hand and asked him, "You are in charge of lacquerware manufacturing. What do you think of this cup?"
Wei Feng didn't know what I wanted to do for a moment, so he hesitated and said, "Your Majesty, the lacquerware used in Xianyang Palace is the best. Is there anything wrong with this cup?"
I shook my head.
"This cup is considered to be of good quality among lacquer ware. It's just that the wooden cup is too light in your hand and will fall over if you're not careful. If it were replaced with bronze, it would be too heavy and not easy to use. In addition, , except for soups, the plates and bowls used for serving dishes are all made of wood. Not to mention the paint surface is time-consuming to make, and it will take a long time to wash and the paint will fall off, and it is quite wasteful to replace it. What do you think?"
Wei Feng was even more confused. Wood can't do it, and copper can't do it either. What does your beloved Majesty want to do?
"What does your Majesty mean?"
"What I mean is, how about changing it to pottery?"
Wei Feng shook his head gently, as if he wanted to shake the water out of his head.
"Your Majesty, it's not impossible to switch to pottery... It's just that the pottery is rough and I'm worried that your Majesty won't be used to it. Now I only use pottery pots to boil water when it needs to be kept warm for a long time."
I recalled it carefully, picked up the pen and paper on the table and handed it to him, saying, "I said, you write."
I was too tired to write with a brush, so I glanced at Qi Wan next to me. I had to get used to letting him write for me in the future...
"Send someone to look for a gray or blue-gray stone east of Pengze, called porcelain stone. This stone can be shaped after being crushed and added with water..."
I gave Wei Feng details about the processing of porcelain stones, the raw material configuration of the green body, the shaping of the carcass, the production and glazing of the body glaze, the grinding and processing of pigments, painting, kiln filling, kiln firing, kiln opening, color viewing, etc. Told it in detail.
"The pottery produced is made of porcelain stone, so it can be called porcelain. In addition, only the upper layer of porcelain stone can be directly used for firing porcelain. After the upper layer of porcelain stone was mined, it was found that the fired porcelain began to have difficulty in shaping. , when mining is difficult, you can find a kind of soil on a big mountain two hundred miles east of Pengze."
"This kind of soil may not be known to the locals, and it is called kaolin. Doping kaolin into porcelain stone powder in proportion can not only increase the molding rate of porcelain, but also save the manpower of porcelain stone mining."
"The formed porcelain should have a smooth surface, which is completely different from the roughness of pottery, and the patterns should be more exquisite."
After I finished speaking, Wei Feng's palm began to sweat, and he wrote for a while before putting down the pen in his hand.
Seeing that he was sweating, I smiled and said, "If there is anyone who didn't hear it clearly, I can repeat it again."
Wei Feng hurriedly handed over his hand: "I have written it all down, but I just don't understand something."
I stood up and looked at the process of his writing, and there was basically nothing missing.
"It doesn't matter if you don't understand. Just do what I tell you. When the first porcelain is fired, send it to Xianyang and I will see if it is what I want."
Wei Feng bowed his hands and stepped back.
Returning to the Young Master General's Mansion, Baichong was in the hall giving instructions about the salt well. When he saw Wei Feng walking towards the side hall without looking back, he quickly stopped him: "Wei Feng?"
Only then did Wei Feng come to his senses and hurriedly saluted: "Sir."
Baichong waved his hand. He had a good relationship with Wei Feng when he was the right school commander, so he didn't care about these details.
"What's wrong with you? Are you distracted? Did His Majesty reprimand you?"
Wei Feng smiled bitterly: "No, I just have a feeling. Your Majesty is really a god! He even knows what is on the mountain thousands of miles away! God is nothing more than that!"
Then the two of them screened out the others and began to discuss my magical operation with great interest...
