Liu Zheng didn't talk nonsense and smiled lightly.
Shen Xing walked over to the old farmer curiously and asked, "Old man, do sheep often lick stones?"
The old man glanced at him and said with a smile: "Master, I don't know why you are licking. But if you don't lick for a few days, the sheep will become sluggish. No, the road was blocked by heavy snow some time ago, and they will be kept in captivity for a month." Several of them have killed me!”
"It's getting better these days. The sun is out, the grass can be eaten, and the white rocks can be licked!"
"Next year, there will be another good harvest!"
The old farmer laughed and drove the sheep away.
Shen Xing clicked his tongue and marveled. After living for so long, he realized that sheep need to lick the white stone in order to gain weight. Although I don’t know exactly why, I just feel in my heart that everything in the world is so magical that it’s hard to describe.
When he looked back at Liu Zheng, he still looked shocked: "Sir, is this really salt?"
Liu Zheng didn't know how to explain it to him.
Many animals and livestock in nature will find the trace elements their bodies need by themselves, such as salt, alkali, acid, etc. This is an instinct, an innate ability. If the body is lacking, it will look for it to make up for it.
This is nature.
The reason why Yinzhou is called "Silver Beach" is because of this large area of lake salt.
At present, the salt eaten by the Longyan Dynasty, or the entire world, is almost all sea salt. Needless to say, sea salt uses the basic "sun-drying method", also called "beach-drying method", which is to use the coastal beach to build dams to open up salt fields, absorb tidal water, attract seawater to fill the pond, and evaporate into it after sunlight. brine. When the brine concentration evaporates to 25 Baume degrees, sodium chloride is precipitated, which is the original salt. The process of producing raw salt by solarization is generally divided into four major processes: moisture absorption, brine production, crystallization, and salt collection.
The lake salt and mine salt of later generations are another kind.
Lake salt is a modern mineral deposit formed by the accumulation of soluble salts in salt-forming basins since the Quaternary Period, the concentration of mineralized water, and the gradual deposition of salt minerals.
Mine salt is a salt substance on land that is carried by surface water or groundwater and accumulates in inland basins. Under conditions of hot drought and evaporation greater than water supply, the salty water in the basin continues to evaporate and concentrate. Deposited as huge salt deposits.
What is very surprising!
This Silver Beach not only contains lake salt, but also mine salt! Yinzhou is located in the Qaidam Basin. Due to the dry weather, the difference between winter and summer is quite extreme. In addition, there is an inland lake and a certain terrain, which actually produced a very large mine salt mine!
Lake salt plus mine salt.
Isn't this his best chance to make a fortune?
Just now Shen Xing said that the current commercial income of Yinzhou and Yangzhou is just enough to cover the agricultural tax! If Liu Zheng wants to pursue other plans, he can only place his hope on the lake salt and mine salt.
Liu Zheng nodded excitedly,
Shen Xing took a breath excitedly: "Doesn't that mean, doesn't that mean..."
Halfway through his words, he covered his mouth in shock.
You know, in this era, making salt and selling it privately is a crime of beheading!
Liu Zheng laughed and said: "What are you thinking? All these salts need to be processed, otherwise people will be poisoned if they eat them! Go quickly, call Wei Tiezhu and bring me a hundred craftsmen! A thousand soldiers !”
Shen Xing was shocked in his heart and knew the seriousness of the matter. He didn't dare to talk nonsense anymore and galloped away on horseback.
Soon, Wei Tiezhu brought people over, and Zheng Yueru also came.
Because Shen was feeling anxious and excited along the way. He knew that if the silver beach was really salt, what would it mean to Yinzhou and what would it mean to the world! What does it mean to the Liu family and his son?
Therefore, after receiving the order to go to Yintan, Wei Tiezhu asked why, but Shen Xing had no idea.
Seeing that another thousand soldiers were counted, Zheng Yueru, who was busy working in the Shengongfang, was also shocked. Every time Liu Zheng made a move, it was a big battle. But she had never seen anyone who needed soldiers to protect her, so out of curiosity, she followed him.
Liu Zheng saw several people coming and pointed here with high spirits: "Have you seen this silver beach?"
Several people nodded.
"Within half a year, I will encircle the entire Silver Beach! Do you understand? I want this place to become a factory like Shen Gongfang!"
When several people heard this, their expressions changed and they didn't know why.
The silver beach in Yinzhou stretches as far as the eye can see. How much work is required?
Shen Xing knew it, but he didn't dare to say it because he was holding back too much. Zheng Yueru didn't talk to Liu Zheng for many days, so she naturally didn't take the initiative to ask questions. She snorted coldly and started watching from the side. After Liu Zheng came to Yinzhou, this Silver Beach was what he wanted most! Now, it will also be his biggest source of income in the future! Whether you can build your territory into an empire that can dominate the world depends on this. So he didn't waste any time and went straight to enclosing the land and building the city!
The project will be large, but it will be well worth it.
He will not allow anyone to get involved in his salt factory!
That day, these one hundred craftsmen and one thousand soldiers started working immediately. It is impossible to keep this matter top secret. So Liu Zheng simply divided the thousand soldiers into three teams, one team was responsible for guarding, and the two teams took turns to rest and work.
Soon, three days later, Liu Zheng's "project department", a simple house, had been set up near Yintan.
While others are busy, Liu Zheng naturally cannot be idle.
He specially brought ten trustworthy and flexible backbone craftsmen to study how to make salt. For the mining of lake salt, the mining method or the beach drying method is mainly used.
In terms of mining, Silver Beach has evaporated over a long period of time, and the salt has settled on the bottom of the lake. It can be harvested directly without processing. Silver Beach, a salt lake in the Qaidam Basin, has gone through tens of millions of years of change to form a dry lake, with salt exposed on the surface. So it is not particularly complicated. The process flow is roughly: peeling off the covering, collecting salt, transporting, washing, dehydrating, and finished product!
The beach drying method is similar to the sea salt production process.
This is Liu Zheng's first time trying it, but fortunately it's not very complicated.
Three days later, the first furnace of salt finally appeared in front of people.
Everyone was stunned.
There was no breathing at all.
There was a snap.
The craftsmen's tools fell to the ground in shock. Wei Tiezhu and Zheng Yueru also looked on stupidly. At this time, Shen Xing also ran back from outside, rolling with excitement: "Is it done? Is it done? I said I won't tell, but you insist on letting me say it! Tell me, do you dare to say this? , Dare you say this?”
The sparkling salt blinds people's eyes.
Zheng Yueru was speechless: "Brother Liu, Brother Liu..."
Liu Zheng smiled slightly: "Are you afraid?"
The faces of the ten key craftsmen turned pale. This is the sin of beheading! How could they not be afraid? Before anyone came here, they never thought that their Mr. Liu could actually tinker with making salt? There were a few timid ones whose legs began to shake.
Liu Zheng laughed loudly: "If you are afraid, you can leave on your own, but please do not mention this matter to anyone!"
Several people wanted to run away.
However……
Liu Zheng continued: "As the saying goes, wealth can be found in danger... If the ten of you stay, you will get a hundred taels a month!"
Ten people forgot to breathe at the same time. You looked at me and I looked at you.
One hundred taels of silver!
Shen Xing's salary is only twenty taels!
Liu Zheng looked at the performance of these people at the scene and suddenly felt dumbfounded. Why do I have a sense of déjà vu that what I made was not salt, but crystal meth...
"Son, I'll do it! I'm afraid a ball will come!"
"It's just that we didn't have enough to eat in the past years. We haven't done anything like beheading?"
"If it weren't for Young Master, how could Yinzhou be where it is today? Why not do it!"
"Fuck, let's see who dares to leave here today! The young master has a kind heart, but I am different! Whoever dares to leave, I will kill him!"
Of the ten people, four immediately stood up and roared fiercely. One is because of the temptation of a hundred taels of silver, and the other is because of loyalty to Liu Zheng. When I looked at those hesitant people, they already had murderous intent, as if if they wanted to leave now, they would definitely not survive tonight.
Liu Zheng smiled bitterly.
"That's right, what are you afraid of!"
"Now that Yin Yang is under the protection of the Marquis and the Young Master, who can come in?"
Soon, the ten backbones immediately reached an agreement and did it!
"good!"
Liu Zheng was very satisfied, but he was immediately pulled aside by Zheng Yueru. The latter had a solemn look on his face. He didn't care that he was still angry with Liu Zheng and said: "Brother Liu, do you know what you are doing? This private Making homemade salt is a crime of beheading!”
Liu Zheng smiled lightly: "Poverty is the original sin."
Zheng Yueru was about to speak but stopped.
Liu Zheng added: "Otherwise, why do you think I should cooperate with the Baiya Army instead of Chen Ping?"
Zheng Yueru's delicate body trembled, and then she realized that Liu Zheng had been planning this salt-making plan for a long time.
"But but..."
Zheng Yueru is still worried.
Liu Zheng laughed loudly: "Stop it, this is not the finished product yet, keep working!"
A group of people looked at each other.
This shiny salt is of much higher quality than what they usually eat, but it’s not even a finished product?
Liu Zheng smiled and said: "If you don't have advantages, how can you be competitive? To make salt, you need to make refined salt. What's the use of coarse salt?"
At this time, even Zheng Yueru was curious, what is this refined salt?
In fact, this process is not particularly complicated. There are only a few steps to purify coarse salt into refined salt: dissolution, filtration, impurity removal, and evaporation. The first step of dissolving is because there are many soluble and insoluble impurities in the coarse salt. After dissolving the coarse salt, filter out the insoluble substances in the coarse salt. As for some chemicals that will be added in future generations, Liu Zheng must be Can't do it anymore. I can only talk about these four steps and repeat them over and over again.
Another three days.
March is the season for making salt in the north. Otherwise, this process may take longer.
When the first batch of refined salt was made, it was piled in the sun.
Everyone present's eyes were straightened.
Is this salt?
Who would be willing to eat such salt?
