"Invention and creation are really not something ordinary people can do..." Zhao Si, squatting on the field ridge in the Lantian Camp, sighed.
"What do you mean?" Jing, who was dark and skinny, asked from the side.
Zhao Si shook his head and just looked at the various crops that had sprouted on the ground.
The weather and temperature are now suitable, and all kinds of crops have sprouted after more than ten days of planting. Sweet potatoes, potatoes and corn are also growing well. Zhao Si took the crew to catch insects and weeds when nothing happened.
"It's not interesting, just sigh with emotion!" Zhao Si shook his head and laughed.
In the past few days, the military craftsmen have made many small things based on the drawings provided by Zhao Si.
Vernier calipers, files, chisels, a whole bunch of little tools.
It's just that Zhao Si provided a theoretical basis, such as paper, etc., but the military craftsmen had no clue. They tried weaving with hay two days ago, but Zhao Si stopped it in time.
Invention and creation are never achieved overnight. Without instructions, it requires continuous trial and error, continuous accumulation of knowledge and continuous practice.
It's a pity that Zhao Si himself is not a craftsman, so he can't make various inventions by hand.
"Let's go! Take a look at Yanchizi!" Zhao Si stood up, patted Jing's shoulder and walked towards Yanchizi.
If you want to reduce the cost of salt, you must use the sun-dried salt method as the main method and the boiled salt method as a supplement.
Ancient fuel has never been cheap, especially when used to boil salt. The efficiency is so low that the cost alone is enough to make others feel sad.
Now the salt pond has been pounded with earth several times, and the inner wall has been painted with clay and then repaired by fire. Now it is smooth and tight, making it difficult for water to penetrate.
There was a light rain a few days ago, and the salt pond was full of water. Now it has been drained, and the salt pond has returned to dryness under the sun.
Zhao Si jumped into the ten-foot-square salt pond and jumped twice. It felt good.
Of the six salt ponds, the first five are basically ten feet square and four feet deep.
The last salt pond is twenty feet square and one foot deep.
Thanks to his obsession with outdoor exploration in his previous life, Zhao Si has a strong sense of direction and distance, and also has the ability to distinguish the weather with the naked eye.
Although it is not as accurate as the weather forecast, there are few mistakes.
Looking up at the sky, the sky is clear.
It rained before, and many of the clouds dispersed, and the remaining clouds also drifted away. There should not be any heavy rain near Lantian in the next few days. There is abundant sunshine, so salting can be carried out.
"Ready to start work!" Zhao Si clapped his hands, and some soldiers took the order to move large pieces of brine salt.
The brine salt dug out from the excavation was already prepared when the excavation of the salt pond began.
Make sure the weather is good enough to start work right away.
First, water was poured into the first salt pond, and then the soldiers and crew members worked together to break large pieces of brine salt and throw them into the salt pond where the water was stored.
When it became difficult to dissolve in water, Zhao Si signaled to stop.
"Sifter the salt water!" Zhao Si gave the order!
The soldiers picked up the prepared sieves made of thin bamboo strips to sift out the impurities in the brine.
After sifting, the roughly filtered turbid brine is introduced into the second salt pond.
Place charcoal to start adsorbing pigment impurities...
After a long wait, a third salt pond was introduced and manually re-screened again.
After re-screening, introduce a fourth salt pond, add plant ash, mix evenly, filter and absorb heavy metals and other impurities...
After a long wait, a fifth salt pond was introduced for manual re-screening, and at the same time, visible impurities of plant ash were removed.
After that, the sixth salt pond, which was twenty feet square and one foot deep, was introduced. After one operation, most of the day's work was wasted, and the work was busy from morning to nearly evening. The water in the originally full pool was only more than half left in the last pool.
The cost is a bit shocking, but it doesn't matter. The raw materials are all inedible brine salt, so it is a waste to turn into treasure.
The next step is to wait quietly for the sun to evaporate the water and precipitate salt crystals.
The sixth salt pond cannot be as deep as the previous salt ponds, otherwise the contact surface with the sun will be too small and a lot of time will be wasted.
After all the work, the soldiers and crew were very tired, and all their clothes were soaked through. Some of the trouser legs actually had salt crystals on them.
Zhao Si sat under the tree and silently observed and recalled the entire process.
"The cost investment is worthless brine salt mine, and the cost of mining and transportation may be higher. The site cost is not worth mentioning. Finally, there is the labor cost of manually screening the brine." Zhao Si calculated silently.
"But in this case, it is estimated that many salt workers engaged in the salt drying industry will suffer from skin diseases." Zhao Si said thoughtfully.
The human body has been soaked in salt water with too high concentration all year round, and you can imagine what the consequences will be.
"Brother, in this case, will it turn into salt just by waiting?" Jing asked.
It’s not that Zhao Si has never made salt at sea in the past. After all, in this era, there are indigenous people everywhere. After going to sea, he has never seen a port. In many cases, there is no trade. All materials need to be obtained by himself. Zhao Si often boils water directly to make salt. Salt.
After all, drying salt requires too many manpower, the process is more complicated, and it takes longer. Zhao Si’s crew totals only more than 400 people.
That's why Jing only asked, because Jing had never seen the salt-drying method.
"It's not just waiting. The sun dries the water and the salt comes out. If it's cloudy, I don't know how long it will take. If it rains, it will be even more troublesome. Everything has to be done from scratch." Zhao Si said.
After saying that, Zhao Si looked up at the sun in the sky and cursed.
"It looks big, why isn't it hot?" Zhao Si was also from the Central Plains in his previous life.
That guy is almost smoking hot when it's hot. Zhao Si doesn't even know what spring and autumn are.
After summer comes winter, and after winter comes summer. The temperature drops and rises suddenly, just like playing.
It can reach forty degrees when it's hot.
When it's cold, even two layers of down jackets aren't enough.
As a result, Guanzhong in the pre-Qin period was not like this.
It's now May, so it's logically speaking that it's already summer.
But even on a sunny day, the weather is still tepid, and it doesn't feel particularly hot.
"I guess it's because the environment is different in different times, right?"
Zhao Si was confused.
The climate difference in the same area over two thousand years is indeed quite large.
But think about it, ancient Henan was still a land of elephants, with abundant water and grass. The weather in Henan today is just like teasing you. Yesterday there was a clear sky and tomorrow there will be snow falling in March, and it will still be snow.
The same is true in Guanzhong now.
There is no large-scale diversion of the Yellow River. The entire Central Plains can be said to be the richest and most suitable place for human habitation and cultivation in the world.
Oh, it is worth mentioning that the current Yellow River is not called the Yellow River, it is called a big river.
It's not too hot in summer and not too cold in winter.
"In this case, it will be a waste of time to dry the salt in Guanzhong."
Zhao Si estimated that this sunny day would only reach 30 degrees at most...
"The salt-drying method can only be used to digest local brine salt mines in various parts of the Central Plains. I'm afraid it may not be enough to be self-sufficient. It seems that the big head will have to fall on the ground." Zhao Si pondered.
The differences between the times are not just cultural institutional inventions.
And the climate...
Given the overly peaceful climate and huge population of the Central Plains, even with the sun-salting method, the local salt production may not be self-sufficient, and it will eventually end up on the ground.
That place is close to the sea, and the sun is not false.
(Originally I thought about the whole flower life, but after thinking about it, I am considered a newcomer at the starting point, so I will just follow the plot honestly.)
