Compared with Wang Shichong's sadness and helplessness, Li Yuan is now both happy and sad.
The worry is: his old buddy Pei Ji is really not a war material! Repeated battles and repeated defeats, repeated defeats and repeated battles! So far, they have not achieved any success in Jinyang and can only remain stubborn. It is not known when the original plan to conquer Jinyang will be achieved.
What made him happy was that since his second son took Xiao Han to Xiazhou, that small border town turned out to be a lonely checkpoint and turned into a treasure!
He looked at the small bag of salt brought by the Red Feather Messenger, and looked at it very carefully! The salt is as white as snow and has no impurities. This is definitely the best refined salt! Nothing compared to the salt in the palace! This alone is enough to make Li Yuan extremely happy!
As an emperor, a country has to work hard on everything big and small! Just talk about this little salt, it seems simple, but it is actually extremely important! Since the Han Dynasty, salt and iron have been a key subject of national control. Because of the tight control, the world was in chaos, and the salt-producing land was a place where heroes competed for hegemony.
At this point, Datang's luck is not very good!
The land in Guanzhong is fertile and there is no shortage of food and grass. The only lack of salt wells is that Li Daozong and Li Jing are now fighting desperately in the south, not only because of the vast territory there, but also largely because of the Zigong salt wells there!
Without well salt to eat, all that’s left is sea salt!
Unfortunately, the road to the east has been closed for several years. People like Wang Shichong and Du Fuwei will never let a grain of salt pass through their territory!
Just a few days ago, the censor came to report: the price of salt on the market has tripled, and ordinary people have begun to complain.
The censor only raises questions, and he is always the one who solves them. Li Yuan himself also knew that if he could not find the salt road again, it would be possible not to mention tripling it, but even thirty times!
Now in Chang'an City, the salt we eat is all the accumulated salt that was saved in the past. Even if Chang'an City, as the capital of a country, has huge reserves, now that it can't get out, even if there is a mountain of salt, it will be eaten up sooner or later!
Therefore, when he learned that the magical boy had actually extracted refined salt from mineral salt, he was so ecstatic in his heart!
Can mineral salt also produce salt? What did this kid think of? If he hadn't been in Xiazhou City, Li Yuan would have wanted to capture him and question him in detail!
It should be noted that in the past, no one had the idea of mining salt! There are a lot of these things on the river bank, piles and piles, and no one cares about them!
However, this thing can be eaten by ferocious beasts and animals, but not by humans!
People who eat mineral salt may suffer from vomiting and diarrhea in mild cases, or may turn purple all over and die in severe cases! The last person who dared to eat mineral salt probably has rotten bones now...
"Haha... This son is really my lucky star!" This is what Li Yuan said personally in front of the Minister of Civil and Military Affairs! At that time, everyone was catering to him and no one refuted him. Even the most foul-mouthed censor could not find anything wrong with his words.
Xiao Han found a cure for a strange disease that no one else could cure on the first day he went there, and successfully cured it!
The army has no salt to eat and cannot increase its combat power. When he goes out, he can find salt. It is said that he can produce thousands of kilograms of salt in one day! This is just the initial production!
This salt is not only more than enough to supply Xiazhou City, but also will feed back to Chang'an in the future! It’s so miraculous, it’s no exaggeration to say it’s a lucky star! Even some superstitious people have begun to think about whether they should get closer to him so that they can borrow some blessings from him!
Fuxing's credit is obvious to all, compared with it, the credit given to him by Sun Shunde in the letter is really nothing to mention!
It's just a mountain. Although there are some crops, it's not worth mentioning! Li Yuan happily stroked his pen on the spot, and the three mountains on the map, including Yangjiao Mountain, were all named Xiao! As for other achievements, they will be rewarded together when they return to Chang'an!
Several fast horses galloped on the post road leading to Xiazhou City with letters signed by the emperor.
When the messenger returned to Xiazhou City, he could hardly recognize this small border town! Wherever the messenger could see, there were all busy people!
The mass production proposed by Xiao Han is terrifying! Especially when these people are still soldiers who follow orders and prohibitions!
Every morning, half of the people in the city practice martial arts with the instructor, while the other half goes to the logistics office to help make salt. In the afternoon, the opposite is true. Throughout the day, everyone’s skills and strength are always being exercised!
In addition, those refugees, oh no... should be called Xiazhou City people now!
Their daily task is to rely on their incomparable knowledge of the mountains and forests to lead a group of auxiliary soldiers and elite soldiers up the mountain to move the salt mine!
There is no time to rest on the mountain road now, so it is still rough and difficult to walk. And leading to the salt mine, there are many places where only one person can pass!
In addition, Xiazhou City is surrounded by powerful enemies. Changsun Shunde did not dare to let too many people move the salt mine, and in the end he only had a team of more than 200 people.
A team of two hundred people, except for those responsible for security, could only transport more than 5,000 kilograms of salt mines a day. Even so, they still used all the mules, horses and donkeys in the city, almost non-stop!
In the newly designated salt field in Xiazhou City, Xiao Han was sitting on a big rock looking at the smoky cooking pot with a melancholy expression...
"Five thousand kilograms of salt mine produces more than a thousand kilograms of salt. One thousand kilograms of salt is only enough to feed 70,000 to 80,000 people for one day. Calculating this, the amount produced in one day is only enough for the people of Xiazhou City to feed themselves for five days! No wonder everyone is jealous. , the number of people increases. Just eating salt can make people live in poverty!"
Xiao Han, who had been calculating for a long time, never thought that in a tiny unit, multiplied by the number of ten thousand, the result would become so terrifying!
No wonder our ancestors said that the only thing that matters in war is logistics. If nothing else, a simple piece of salt can scare away Xiao Han! I don’t know how the people who supply food and grass in the logistics camp survived. Tens of thousands of kilograms of food a day makes people desperate just thinking about it!
Unlike the infinitely melancholy Xiao Han, General Sun Shunde has not closed his mouth in the past few days! The laughter like a night owl enveloped the sky above Xiazhou City, making people who didn't know the inside story think that there was a goblin here!
More than a thousand kilograms of salt a day, great! Very good! !
Finally, I no longer have to chew on that smelly and astringent vinegar cloth! Hurry and throw that thing far away, it's disgusting to look at! From now on, you can eat salt freely! Who said this is our own thing!
As a result, with the infinite connivance of the general, the people in Xiazhou City now have to put a few salt beans in their drinking water, so that no one is afraid of contracting tuberculosis...
For this reason, Xiao Han has said several times in the past two days that it is not good for people to eat too much salt, but it is of no use at all!
Everyone nodded in agreement, then turned around and soaked salted beans in water again! It’s been months since I’ve tasted salt. If I don’t eat more now, how long will it take...
The salt that had been lost for many days was finally replenished, and people gained strength!
After an hour of training, the sergeants in the city started complaining. Now I train for half a day, and I am still working hard in the remaining half day! For the general, this is already a good result!
Raise your head and look at the eastern sky. For the first time, Changsun Shunde had the confidence to fight Wang Shichong!
Come on, Wang Shichong!
