Chapter 290 The Only Path to Choose (VI)
The disciple left the day before and came back the next day. Chen Mingtai almost sent someone to ask his disciple Gao Pang to go back to where he came from. But after thinking for a moment, he felt that he had to scold this stupid disciple in person to vent his anger, so he ordered someone to bring Gao Pang in.
"Sir, the governor has solved the problem you mentioned yesterday."
After listening to this, Chen Mingtai was so angry that he was no longer angry. With the mood of watching the fun, Chen Mingtai signaled Gao Pang to continue.
"The governor believes that salt is a product that the people need every day. We buy salt directly from the salt fields and process it ourselves, taking into account the teacher's wages and various expenses. We charge a transportation fee for the salt transporter, and calculate the transportation price to various places based on this price. For example, the price of salt in Jiangning Prefecture will be half of what it is now. Since there is no huge profit, there is naturally no corruption. Official salt is cheaper than private salt, so no one smuggles it. In this way, corruption, smuggling, and everyone can use delicious official salt, which is the best of all worlds."
The content of the story was very simple, and the conclusion was very clear. Chen Mingtai understood it immediately. Scholar Chen Mingtai felt that it was right, but he also felt that something was wrong, very wrong. After thinking about it, he suddenly understood and said in surprise: "Gao Pang, then General Huo is not making money?"
"You can definitely make money. 10% is still a profit, 100% is still a profit. The general thinks 20% is enough."
"Then...then...General Huo, do you know how much the imperial court earns from the salt tax in a year?" Chen Mingtai stuttered.
Gao Pang recalled that he had asked the same question before and answered confidently: "Sir, the governor does not make money from salt and iron, which is a matter that strangles people. The people are all focusing on such things, so who has the energy to engage in production?"
Sensing the arrogance in his words, Chen Mingtai angrily said, "If Huo Chong is really as powerful as you boast, he is far superior to the Han and Tang dynasties, and comparable to the Three Dynasties! The Salt and Iron Theory has been unshakable for nearly two thousand years. Gao Pang, you are just a top scholar. Do you really think that the ancients were not as good as you?"
Gao Pang replied a little aggrievedly: "Sir, since I have already followed the governor, even if I cannot say that I have devoted myself to him, I have to do my best. Besides, without the salt administration to make money, hundreds of millions of people will at least get some tangible benefits. Even if no one remembers my good deeds, I still feel sorry for myself when I think about it..."
"Nonsense!" Chen Mingtai slammed the table in anger. He walked back and forth for a few steps, and suddenly his face changed, "Gao Pang, go and tell Huo Chong that if he wants to do that, he needs help. Although I am old, I can still do the errands."
Six hours later, Huo Chong saw Chen Mingtai. He looked at this guy. There was a jade on the forehead of his melon-shaped hat, and a rat tail on the back of his head. There was a belly under his long gown. The only thing he had was a sharp look in his eyes. He looked like a standard gentleman in his forties.
Chen Mingtai had no intention of kneeling, but Huo Chong felt comfortable. He stepped forward to shake hands and sat down. After hearing what Chen Mingtai said, Huo Chong laughed and said, "Mr. Chen, are you here to see me laugh?"
Chen Mingtai wanted to say "yes" but because he was worried about being killed, he could only say a few perfunctory words.
Huo Chong didn't care. "My method of making salt is relatively simple and crude, and the output can't be increased for a while. Salt sales are so large, if Mr. Chen wants to see large-scale production, it will take half a year or a year. That kind of work is repetitive labor, Mr. Chen may not be suitable."
Chen Mingtai no longer dared to look down on him . He had seen so many people, more than half of whom were scholars, and even Gao Pang, a bastard champion. There was really no one who could describe something so simply and clearly. Especially Huo Chong's reason for opposing Chen Mingtai was even more straightforward and frank. Chen Mingtai imagined according to Huo Chong's description of salt making, and actually felt that he was indeed not suitable for that kind of simple repetitive labor, or physical labor.
Such a feeling actually aroused Chen Mingtai's interest. "General, it won't work for a long time, but a few days will do. I heard from Gao Pang that you have the means to make salt. Why don't you let me have a look?"
Huo Chong did not object to this. This expedition opened up Huo Chong's mind. He even figured out why he was so timid before.
After all, I was deeply impressed by the arduous history of the liberation of New China, so I naturally felt that the road was rough. However, this time when I went to the south of the Yangtze River, the level of the enemies along the way was really "Qing Dynasty level". In the face of more advanced firearms, the former monsters and demons collapsed .
The most important thing is that the Qing Dynasty has no foreign help behind it. Huo Chong can dominate China without any interference from the great powers, so he has nothing to fear.
Since Chen Mingtai is a famous person in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and Huo Chong wants to open up a sea trade route to the Yangtze River as soon as possible, it would be a good idea to take the old man with him for a trip.
To Huo Chong's surprise, Chen Mingtai was still an active old man. Forty years old was considered an old man in this era. Chen Mingtai brought some people with him. Gao Pang introduced them privately. They were all scholars from Yangzhou and Zhenjiang.
The Han army left some people to guard Zhenjiang and Yangzhou, and sent out two more groups of troops, one to attack Hangzhou, and the other to sail down the river to attack the cities downstream of Zhenjiang and Yangzhou.
I thought that the cities along the way would not encounter fierce resistance, but unexpectedly, Nantong City refused to surrender and even had a garrison.
It was the first time for Chen Mingtai to see a battle in person. Gao Pang was with his teacher. Seeing that the teacher was still a little scared, he comforted him, "Sir, it will be quick."
This was like speaking to the air, no one responded. Although Nantong was not a particularly famous city, it was not something that could be taken down with a single move. Especially since there were many soldiers and horses swaying on the top of the city.
Chen Mingtai glanced at Gao Pang, his face full of distrust. The other celebrities did not dare to glare at Gao Pang, so they looked at Chen Mingtai, also with disbelief on their faces.
Perhaps waiting was too boring, a guy in his thirties broke the silence, "Which of the two groups on the left and right sides of the city gate do you think will be the first to enter the city?"
Gao Pang glared at the man for his indecent behavior. At this time, the Han army's mortars were already bombarding the top of the city. The shells falling from above exploded on the top of the city, and the people watching the battle were frightened and their faces turned pale. The man just now screamed in fear. Perhaps it was too sharp, and it felt like a woman.
Chen Mingtai didn't say anything, but his body was shaking unconsciously. Especially when he saw the Qing soldiers being blown off the top of the city wall by the blast and falling to the ground alive, Chen Mingtai had already closed his eyes, apparently unable to bear such a bloody scene.
Fortunately, the Qing troops on the city wall were far from fighting to the death. Seeing that the situation was not going well, they all fled. The Han army quickly set up ladders and climbed up to the top of the city wall. After a while, the city gate opened and the troops rushed into the city.
The gentleman who had just screamed like a woman turned pale, came over and asked with lowered eyebrows, "Mr. Gao, is this the end?"
Gao Pang rolled his eyes at the guy and said, "Now we are just taking down the city wall and opening the city gate. How would I know what the fighting is like in the city?"
Gao Pang said this out of anger, but he didn't expect the teacher to turn around and look at him, with a meaningful look in his eyes. He looked at him carefully again. Gao Pang didn't know what was wrong with the teacher, and he didn't dare to ask.
Fortunately, the siege had reached this stage, and the Qing troops in the city had completely lost their fighting spirit and surrendered quickly.
The troops left some people behind to take charge of Nantong and clean up the mess. The large group of troops rested for a night and then continued on their way.
The next day was smooth sailing, and they finally arrived at Songjiang Prefecture. Songjiang Prefecture also put up resistance, but given the huge gap in strength between the two sides, it was hard to say whether it was a bloody battle or not.
Outside Songjiang Prefecture is the sea. The fleet is all inland vessels, and it is difficult to sail into the sea. Huo Chong sent people to inquire whether there are government-run salt fields here. This inquiry proved that there are indeed.
Huo Chong was curious after hearing this. Songjiang Prefecture is located in the plum rain belt, and it rains for several months every year. It is not a place suitable for drying salt at all. I didn't expect that there are salt fields here.
Chen Mingtai was just a scholar and didn't do this kind of business. Although he thought it made sense, he could only keep silent.
Since it is an official field, people always feel that there is something different. When they went to take a look, they were very disappointed. They saw that the salt field was not big and was located on a high place. It was low tide at this time, and the sea water was far away from the salt field.
Among the people traveling with us, there was a salt business. When he saw this situation, he praised: "It's actually a good place."
Everyone was confused and asked for advice. He then explained. To dry the salt, the water needs to be dried as quickly as possible. The higher the salt pan is from the water surface, the faster it can be dried. And the higher the location, the salt pan needs to be watertight. To prevent water leakage, you can't just think about it. The salt pan needs to be well cared for.
Huo Chong felt suddenly enlightened after hearing this. He had never thought there were such details. Based on these details, Huo Chong walked around the salt pan several times and had figured out the layout of the salt pan in front of him.
He directed the men to move the prepared water pump down and set it up on a strange-looking platform. The salt business owner asked in surprise, "How did the general know that this was where the waterwheel was placed?"
Huo Chong didn't want to explain. The more he explained, the lower his tone would be. If he didn't say anything, he would seem unfathomable.
Sure enough, in the evening, the tide began to rise and the water level rose. The hollow that seemed useless began to have seawater. When the water became deeper, the pump started to pump water from the salt pan with a roar.
By midnight, the salt fields covering several acres were filled with sea water.
The industry insiders circled the salt field several times, and suddenly came to Huo Chong and bowed deeply, "General Huo, the machine made by General Huo is good, really good!"
The other gentry all looked exhausted. They had been tossing and turning for most of the night, and this was something that these scholars didn't understand at all, which made them even more exhausted. If it weren't for the cold sea breeze, they would have fallen asleep sitting on the ground.
Seeing that it was getting a bit lively, everyone gathered around.
The salt merchant looked at Huo Chong, wanting to say something but stopping himself. Huo Chong smiled and said, "I'm not afraid of people seeing my secrets, so it's okay to tell them."
After hearing this, the gentleman carefully explained that it did not take a whole year of sunny days to dry salt. If the wind was strong and the temperature was high, a large pool of salt could be dried in ten days or half a month.
However, the salt content in seawater is not high, so new seawater must be continuously injected into the salt pans. This is a very laborious job. It is actually quite expensive to hire people to use water trucks to inject seawater into the salt pans. In addition, the ebb and flow of seawater is time-sensitive.
The scholars didn't understand, so they could only ask, "Will the salt be cheap?"
This knowledgeable man shook his head like a rattle, "It has nothing to do with that, it has nothing to do with that." Then he asked Huo Chong in a somewhat crazy manner, "General, how many floors of salt fields do you plan to build?"
Huo Chong didn't expect that this guy really knew what he was doing, so he replied, "Third floor, what do you think?"
Hearing this, he was so excited that he almost jumped up and down. Seeing the other scholars looking confused, he shouted loudly: "Everyone, if it is a three-layer field, then the salt produced is all top-grade salt. As much as you want, you can have as much as you want. Really as much as you want!"
It was really like a mountain between two different trades. Huo Chong and the knowledgeable people only needed two questions to understand what was going on. The gentry just didn't understand. They could do nothing except stand there stupidly in the night wind. They didn't know what to do.
Ten days later, at another salt-making family's two-story salt field, the family was willing to serve Huo Chong like a servant. Chen Mingtai looked at the water level in the top layer of the salt field that had been lowered by the wind, and said nothing.
After ten days, he finally understood what was going on. The purpose of the bottom layer of the so-called three-layer salt pan was to obtain the purest seawater possible.
Seawater is not clean and needs to be filtered and precipitated to obtain clear seawater. The second layer is to inject such seawater for evaporation to form brine, and the third layer is to inject pure concentrated brine taken from the second layer until salt is produced by sun exposure.
According to experts, you can't wait for the salt to be completely dried because the seawater not only produces salt, but also brine, which can kill people if you drink it. Even if the amount of brine is not lethal, as long as the brine is concentrated to a certain level, the salt will taste bitter.
So when a certain amount of salt appears in the salt pan, the salt must be taken out, the brine is then drained, and new concentrated brine is injected.
The pump provided by Huo Chong can ensure maximum water extraction and always fill the second layer of salt pans.
Chen Mingtai didn't believe it at first, but after tasting different kinds of salt himself, he finally understood what "high-quality salt" meant. High-quality salt is simply salty. Salt that is not so high-quality will have a bitter taste.
As for inferior salt, not only is it very bitter, but it also contains a lot of impurities such as dirt. It's very bad.
After understanding this, Chen Mingtai made up his mind and went to Huo Chong to thank him: "General Huo, I heard that you are a very skilled craftsman, but I didn't expect that you not only know how to make glass fire. I have learned a lot this time."
Huo Chong thought that Chen Mingtai might be willing to be the salt administrator, so he asked, "If Mr. Chen becomes the salt administrator, how will he deal with the issue of greed and dereliction of duty?"
Chen Mingtai was stunned for a moment before he replied, "I heard that the general will conquer the world and rule the world immediately. I think the general will use severe punishments."
"What's wrong with using severe punishments to combat corruption?" Huo Chong joked.
Chen Mingtai shook his head. "There is nothing wrong with using harsh laws to combat corruption. But if it is effective, why hasn't it been controlled until now? Harsh laws are necessary, and education is the kingly way. But... alas... education is only useful, but it can't achieve the full effect. General, you are unparalleled, please teach me."
Huo Chong's opinion of Chen Mingtai immediately became much higher. "Mr. Chen, of course, harsh punishments are useless. Education alone is also useless. Even if harsh punishments and education are used together, I'm afraid it will still be useless."
Chen Mingtai nodded and sighed.
“But why is it useless? That’s because the people who are managing it don’t actually know what they are managing. They think there is something called salt in the world, and then they manage salt.”
Chen Mingtai frowned, "Is there no salt in the world?"
"Mr. Chen, which came first, the thing called salt or the word salt?"
Chen Mingtai was stunned, and after thinking for a while, he answered: "Of course, there was something called salt first."
"I read a book in which someone asked a question: Take a piece of wood, and take half of it every day. When will you finish it?"
Chen Mingtai was stunned for a moment. "General, this is too metaphysical. Let's talk about something more practical."
Huo Chong did not expect Chen Mingtai to be so decisive, so he simply stated his purpose, "If you really want to manage the salt policy, you have to understand what salt is, what the principles and processes of salt making are. If you understand the process to this extent, you will have a basis for strict punishment. The reason for the punishment will be irrefutable."
Chen Mingtai frowned and said nothing, as if he was thinking about something or trying to refute something.
Huo Chong continued, "If we understand what we are doing, we can discuss moral education based on this. I once told Gao Pang that people who only talk about humanity regardless of the specific situation are inhumane. People who only talk about morality regardless of the specific situation are also immoral."
"General, if you say that, doesn't that mean that criminals can defend themselves?"
"Of course they can defend themselves. Why shouldn't people be allowed to defend themselves?"
Chen Mingtai was stunned for a moment, and suddenly understood something. He asked again: "If so, the general's reasoning can also determine whether the general is guilty and whether the general is moral."
Huo Chong couldn't figure out whether Chen Mingtai wanted to object or to make things difficult, so he answered frankly: "Yes. That's right. That's exactly how it should be."
Chen Mingtai remained silent. After a long silence, he replied, "The general is so arrogant, he must have something to rely on. He was able to kill the previous emperor and slaughter hundreds of thousands of government troops. He broke through Nantong in one day. If he is favored by the will of heaven, it is not surprising that the general will unify the world. However, the general has won the world and wants to rule the world immediately. It is easy to imagine how cruel it is. Although I dare not go against the will of heaven, I dare not follow the general either. This time I followed the general and learned a lot. So I'll take my leave."
After saying that, Chen Mingtai turned around and left without stopping.
Looking at Chen Mingtai's back, Huo Chong's heart was churning. Being rejected in such a high tone was not too painful, but he still felt a little uncomfortable.
Is he such an unpopular guy? Huo Chong had to question himself.
In the afternoon, Gao Pang came to see Huo Chong and said, "Governor, my teacher has already returned to Zhenjiang."
"Did Mr. Chen say why he left?"
Gao Pang replied, "My teacher told me about the conversation with the governor. He asked me to tell you that although it is right to see the big picture from the small details, if you focus too much on the small details, you may miss the big picture."
Huo Chong nodded, "Gao Pang, do you understand the atomic part of the chemistry I taught?"
"I see. I just don't have time to memorize so many chemical equations."
"It's enough for you to understand atoms. I don't want you to be a salt agent for life. I'll teach you how to do the salt business."
Gao Pang was not happy about the job. He hesitated and asked, "Governor, my teacher is both virtuous and talented. He is also very prestigious. Why don't you invite my teacher again?"
Huo Chong shook his head, "Gao Pang, I know you may not understand what I am going to say next. But I still want to say that your teacher is not a bad person. But he cannot become a person of the new era. Through learning, the world in the eyes of the people of the new era is completely different from that of the people of the old era. Unless your teacher can also learn that the world is made up of atoms, otherwise he is just a person of high moral integrity in the old era. The new era that is unfolding is incompatible with people of the old era like him. Don't force him. It's your turn!"
