Take Zhang Juzheng for example. Even the powerful prime minister only dared to make some fuss about the number of fields. He never touched the salt tax! As for food prices, he can only control them through market means and suppress them within a certain range, which still leaves huge profit margins for those who interfere with food! As for the salt, he didn’t even touch it! This shows how powerful these people are!
Moreover, the news that Liu Haojia was building a salt factory had already spread, but they did nothing. This shows that in their eyes, Liu Haojia is simply insignificant! They felt that Liu Haojia had no channels and not enough manpower, and the market had been completely divided by them. Even the salt produced could not be sold. Maybe the salt factory would end up in their hands!
But they never expected that Liu Haojia's breakthrough point was not in the private market at all, but in the Jiubian army! As long as he opens up this market, he will have enough power to erode other markets!
On this day, the salt flats by the sea were filled with dense crowds! There is also a gong and drum troupe that makes the drum music loud! It turns out that today is the day when the salt farm officially starts construction!
When the time was almost up, Liu Haojia finally reached the height surrounded by everyone. He just took people for another walk and confirmed that the salt field can resume normal operation.
At this time, Zhang Zhi came forward and bowed and said: "Master Hou, the time has come. Do you think we should start now?"
Liu Haojia nodded and said, "Then let's get started!"
According to the rules, it is natural to worship God before starting work. Especially at the seaside, we have to worship the gods on the sea. So amidst the sound of gongs and drums, Liu Haojia was in front, Zhang Zhi was behind, and others followed to deliver sacrifices.
After a series of complicated procedures to worship the gods, Zhang Zhi handed a red flag to Liu Haojia. Liu Haojia, who was standing at a high place, waved the red flag in his hand vigorously, and a shout of response immediately sounded not far away. At the same time, more people waved red flags to indicate that the gates could be opened to release water!
After receiving the order, the well-prepared salt workers worked hard to open the gate! At this time, it was the time of high tide, and the sea water rushed into the filter tank!
The heights of these salt pans are not uniform. The first level of salt pans and filter tanks are relatively high, the second level is relatively low, and the third level is the lowest and has the largest area. Then it’s time to raise it layer by layer! The reason for this arrangement is to use the drop principle to let the seawater pass through the filter tank to filter out most of the debris and impurities.
The filter pool on the first floor is made of large pebbles. These pebbles can directly intercept large pieces of seaweed and other things. The second layer of filter tank is made of fine sand that has been washed repeatedly. After the sea water passes through, the smaller impurities will be filtered out!
The gate was opened, and waves of water poured into the purification pool and quickly passed through the cobblestones. Some vegetation, seaweed, and even small fish and shrimp floating in the sea water are blocked by pebbles. Then the much clearer seawater flowed to the second purification pool. The seawater filtered by the sand was indeed extremely clear, without a trace of debris! Then the clear sea water flowed into the salt field!
The officials and gentry standing next to the salt field were amazed by the scene in front of them. They all said that Wu Ninghou was clever and could use this method!
The third layer of salt fields is the lowest and the largest salt field. The filtered seawater is dried here, concentrated into brine, and then pumped by waterwheels to the highest salt pans. There the brine will undergo a third filtering process.
The third time the filter pool was filled with crushed charcoal instead of pebbles and sand! Charcoal can absorb impurities that fine sand cannot block, and the filtered brine is as clear as well water without impurities. The salt particles produced by such brine are small, pure in color, and not fishy or astringent in taste. It is truly top quality!
Soon the salt pan was filled with sea water. The salt workers lowered the gates one after another to completely isolate the sea water. Then a large number of salt workers rushed up to replace the pebbles and fine sand in the filter tank. The pebbles and fine sand will be washed again and replaced next time the salt pan gates are opened.
At this time, Zhang Zhi had already picked up the corner of his robe and ran to the salt field to scoop up a bowl of sea water. He walked up to Liu Haojia with the sea water and handed it over, and said at the same time: "Master Hou, the filtration method you mentioned really works! Look, the sea water is extremely clear and transparent!"
Liu Haojia looked down and found
Finding that the sea water in the bowl was indeed extremely clear, he nodded and said, "I'd better ask the master to take a look."
Zhang Zhi turned around and waved to the crowd, and three old salt workers walked out of the crowd. This was probably the first time for these three old salt workers to see such a powerful person as Wu Ninghou. In just a dozen short steps, they took two steps forward and one step back, and finally reached Liu Haojia!
When they had just finished kowtowing and were hesitating whether to get up, the leader was grabbed by the impatient Zhang Zhi and dragged over, saying, "Come on, let's take a look at the sea water."
As soon as they saw the sea water, the eyes of these three old salt workers lit up! They gathered around and took a look at the white porcelain bowl in Zhang Zhi's hand. Seeing the rippling water in the bowl without any impurities, one of the old salt workers couldn't help but nodded and said, "Good water! There are indeed no impurities!"
The other one also nodded and said: "Indeed, this filtering method is indeed wonderful!"
Finally, the old salt worker dipped his finger into the seawater and wiped it in his mouth. Then he smacked his lips and said, "The salty taste has not changed, but the fishy smell has faded a lot. What's the reason behind this?"
The old salt worker who spoke first said: "Didn't Mr. Hou say that we need to use charcoal to filter it? By then, maybe even this fishy smell will be gone!"
The three old salt workers were busy discussing it, completely forgetting that Zhang Zhi was still in front of them. Zhang Zhi also knew that these old craftsmen were like this. They were always very selfless when it came to craftsmanship, so he simply turned back to Liu Haojia and said: "Master Marquis, it seems that these old salt workers say that this water is good and should produce good results." Salt!" Kanshu La
Liu Haojia also heard the discussion of the old salt workers, nodded and said: "In this case, I will wait until the brine comes out, then let the salt workers identify the quality, and then wait for the salt to come out!"
Hearing this, Zhang Zhi cupped his hands and said, "In that case, I would like to send you off to the Marquis! But I won't leave the salt factory. I want to keep a close eye on you."
Liu Haojia said: "In that case, you should work harder!"
Then Liu Haojia told the others a few words and then turned and left. Because he had other things to deal with, namely the employees in the salt field. Because this year's project is over, it would be a pity to let these trained people go in vain, so Liu Haojia planned to keep some of them.
