Chapter 82: Salt Production Plan
Liu Zheng didn't waste any words and just smiled faintly.
Shen Xing walked over curiously and asked the old farmer, "Old man, do sheep often lick stones?"
The old man glanced at him and laughed, "Sir, I don't know why you lick them. But if you don't lick them for a few days, the sheep will become listless. Just recently, the road was blocked by heavy snow, and several of my sheep died after being kept in the pen for a month!"
"It's fine these days. The sun is out, I can eat grass, and I can lick white stones!"
"Next year, there will be another good harvest!"
The old farmer laughed and drove the sheep away.
Shen Xing was amazed. He had lived for so long and only now realized that sheep need to lick white stones to grow fat and strong. Although he didn't know why, he felt that the world was full of wonders that were hard to describe.
When he looked back at Liu Zheng, he was still shocked: "Sir, is this really salt?"
Liu Zheng didn't know how to explain it to him.
Many animals and livestock in nature can find the trace elements needed by their bodies, such as salt, alkali, acid, etc. This is an instinct, an innate the body lacks something, it will want to find what it needs.
That's human nature.
The reason why Yinzhou is called "Silver Beach" is because it is famous for this large area of lake salt.
At present, the salt consumed by the Longyan Dynasty, or the entire world, is almost all sea salt. Needless to say, sea salt is produced by the basic "sun drying method", also known as the "beach drying method", which is to use coastal mudflats, build dams to open up salt fields, and attract seawater to fill the ponds by pumping water through the tide, and evaporate into brine through sunlight. When the brine concentration evaporates to 25 degrees Baume, sodium chloride is precipitated, which is the raw salt. The process flow of producing raw salt by the sun drying method is generally divided into four major processes: tide intake, brine preparation, crystallization, and salt collection.
However, lake salt and well salt in later generations are of different types.
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.
Well salt is salt substances on land that are carried by surface water or groundwater and accumulated in inland basins. Under hot and dry conditions when evaporation is greater than water replenishment, the salt-containing water in the basin continues to evaporate and concentrate, and is deposited into huge salt deposits.
What is very surprising is!
This Yintan not only has lake salt, but also well salt! Yinzhou is located in the Qaidam Basin. Due to the dry weather, the extreme difference between winter and summer, the inland lake, and the certain terrain, a huge well salt mine has been produced!
Lake salt plus well 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! So if Liu Zheng wants to plan for other things, he can only put his hope on lake salt and well salt.
Liu Zheng nodded excitedly.
Shen Xing took a breath of excitement: "Doesn't that mean, doesn't that mean..."
Halfway through his words, he covered his mouth in shock.
You have to know that in this era, privately making and selling salt is a capital crime!
Liu Zheng laughed and said, "What are you thinking about? These salts need to be processed, otherwise people will be poisoned if they eat them! Go quickly, call Wei Tiezhu to me, and bring a hundred craftsmen and a thousand soldiers!"
Shen Xing was shocked, and knowing the seriousness of the matter, he dared not say any more nonsense and rode away on his horse.
Soon, Wei Tiezhu brought people over, and Zheng Yueru also came.
Because Shen Xing was nervous all the way... and excited. He knew that if the silver beach was really salt, what would it mean to Yinzhou, what would it mean to the world, and what would it mean to the Liu family father and son.
So, when he received the order to go to Yintan, Wei Tiezhu asked why, but Shen Xing knew nothing.
Seeing another thousand soldiers counted, Zheng Yueru, who was busy at the Divine Workshop, was also surprised. Every time Liu Zheng did something, it was a big deal. But she had never seen anyone who needed soldiers to guard, so out of curiosity, she followed.
Liu Zheng saw that several people had arrived and pointed over here with high spirits: "Do you see this silver beach?"
Several people nodded.
"Within half a year, I will enclose the entire Silver Beach! Do you understand? I want this place to become a factory like the Divine Workshop!"
When several people heard this, their faces turned pale and they were confused.
The Silver Beach in Yinzhou is endless. How much work does this require?
Shen Xing knew, but he didn't dare to say it, he was so depressed. Zheng Yueru hadn't talked to Liu Zheng for many days, so naturally she didn't ask questions. She snorted coldly and watched from the side. After Liu Zheng came to Yinzhou, this Yintan was what he had been thinking about! Now, it will also be his biggest source of income in the future! Whether he can build his territory into an empire that can dominate the world depends on this. So he didn't waste words and directly enclosed the land and built a city!
This project will be huge, but it will be worth it.
He would not allow anyone to get involved in his salt factory!
On that day, the 100 craftsmen and 1,000 soldiers started working immediately. It was impossible to keep this matter top secret. So Liu Zheng simply divided the 1,000 soldiers into three teams, one for guarding, and the other two for resting and working in turns.
Soon, three days later, Liu Zheng’s “project department”, a simple house, was set up near Yintan.
Since others are busy, Liu Zheng naturally cannot sit idle.
He specially brought ten trusted and smart backbone craftsmen to study how to make salt. For the mining of lake salt, the main methods are excavation or beach drying.
As for mining, the salt in Yintan has been evaporated for a long time, and the salt has settled at the bottom of the lake, so it can be directly scooped without processing. The salt lake in the Qaidam Basin, Yintan, has undergone changes for tens of millions of years and formed a dry lake, with its salt exposed on the surface. So it is not particularly complicated. The process is roughly: stripping the covering, mining salt, transportation, washing, dehydration, and finished product!
The beach drying method is similar to the sea salt production process.
This is Liu Zheng’s first attempt, and fortunately it is not very complicated.
Three days later, the first furnace of salt finally appeared in front of people, sparkling and shiny.
Everyone was stunned.
There was no breathing at the scene.
With a click.
The tools of the craftsmen fell to the ground one by one in shock. Wei Tiezhu and Zheng Yueru also looked at them stupidly. At this time, Shen Xing also ran back from outside, rolling and crawling with excitement: "Is it done? Is it done? I said I wouldn't say it, but you insisted that I say it! Tell me, do you dare to say it? Do you dare to say it?"
The sparkling salt blinds people's eyes.
Zheng Yueru was a little speechless: "Brother Liu, Brother Liu..."
Liu Zheng smiled slightly: "Are you scared?"
The faces of the ten key craftsmen turned pale. This was a capital crime! How could they not be afraid? Before anyone came here, they had never thought that their young master Liu could actually make salt? Some of the timid ones began to tremble in their legs.
Liu Zheng laughed loudly: "If you are afraid, you can leave on your own, but you must not mention what happened here to anyone!"
Several people wanted to run away.
However……
Liu Zheng continued, "As the saying goes, wealth and honor come from risk... If the ten of you stay, you will get a hundred taels of salary per month!"
Ten people forgot to breathe at the same time, you looked at me, I looked at you.
One hundred taels of silver!
Shen Xing’s salary was only twenty taels!
Liu Zheng looked at the performance of these people at the scene and was suddenly a little amused. Why did he feel like what he made was not salt, but methamphetamine...
"Sir, I'll do it! I'm not afraid of a ball!"
"That's right. In previous years, we didn't have enough to eat, so we did all kinds of things that cost us our lives."
"If it weren't for you, how could Yinzhou be what it is today? Why don't you do it!"
"Fuck, let's see who dares to leave here today! You may be kindhearted, but I am different! Whoever dares to leave, I will kill him!"
Out of the ten people, four immediately stood up and roared fiercely. One was because of the temptation of the hundred taels of silver, and the other was because of their loyalty to Liu Zheng. When they looked at the hesitant people, they were already murderous, as if if they wanted to leave now, they would definitely not survive the night.
Liu Zheng smiled bitterly.
"That's right, what are you afraid of!"
"Now Yinyang is under the protection of the Marquis and the Young Master, who can come in?"
Soon, the ten key members reached a consensus and did it!
"good!"
Liu Zheng was very satisfied, but was immediately pulled aside by Zheng Yueru. The latter had a serious face and was no longer angry with Liu Zheng. She said, "Brother Liu, do you know what you are doing? Making salt privately is a capital crime!"
Liu Zheng smiled faintly: "Poverty is the original sin."
Zheng Yueru hesitated to speak.
Liu Zheng added: "Why else do you think I would cooperate with the Baiya Army instead of Chen Ping?"
Zheng Yueru's body trembled, and she realized that Liu Zheng had been planning this salt-making plan for a long time.
“But but…”
Zheng Yueru was still worried.
Liu Zheng laughed: "Don't worry, this is not the finished product yet, keep working on it!"
A group of people looked at each other.
This shiny salt is of much higher quality than what they usually eat, and it’s not even a finished product?
Liu Zheng laughed and said, "If there is no advantage, how can there be competitiveness? If you want to make salt, you have to make refined salt. What's the use of crude salt?"
At this point, even Zheng Yueru became curious. What is this refined salt?
In fact, this process is not particularly complicated. There are only a few steps to purify crude salt into refined salt, which are dissolution, filtration, impurity removal, and evaporation. The first step of dissolution is because there are many soluble impurities and insoluble impurities in crude salt. Then, after the crude salt is dissolved, the insoluble substances in the crude salt are filtered out. As for some chemical substances that need to be added in the future, Liu Zheng certainly can't do it. We can only talk about these four steps, repeatedly.
Another three days.
March is the salt-making season in the north, otherwise the process might be even longer.
When this first batch of refined salt was produced, it was piled up in the sun.
Everyone present had their eyes wide open.
Is this salt?
Who would be willing to eat such salt?
