Volume 2: The King's Way Chapter 172 The Magic of Salt
Wujun and Wuxian. When Bai Tu was in Huainan to preside over the situation, many representatives from various aristocratic families were invited to Wuxian.
Including Lu Kang, Yu Fan, Zhang Zhao and others who served in the General of Chariots and Cavalry's Mansion, they also came to the Wuxian Salt Field to participate in the "Salt Viewing" ceremony - nominally to let everyone visit the salt production of the General of Chariots and Cavalry's Mansion.
In fact, it was said a few days ago that the salt would be shown to everyone, but it was postponed for a while. This made several companies who had already regarded the "million stone salt" as a joke believe that it was a delaying tactic.
However, the reason why it is nominally held today is because today is the day when Gan Ning leads his fleet of ships into the sea to fish.
After that, we also ask everyone to actively use food to buy fish to save people...
As the tycoons who , they all expressed disdain for Bai Tu's action, secretly believing it to be "official begging" that just wanted them to "contribute" a little.
They knew that the first batch of ships had already arrived near Wu County, but...how much fish could they catch? As for solemnly inviting them over?
However, Bai Tu is now the "master" of Jiangdong, and the Lu, Zhang, Yu, Wei... these great aristocratic families are now willing to carry the sedan chair for the general's mansion, so naturally other noble families must follow closely.
I secretly cursed Bai Tu for being a "beggar", but in fact I still came with a heartbreaking amount in mind.
When we arrived at the warehouse outside the salt field, he mysteriously asked everyone to wait until an auspicious time - after all, this was the first time the salt field opened.
Of course, only the outer warehouses are allowed to enter.
Pang Tong was reluctantly greeting representatives of the major families outside.
Since being reused by Bai Tu, Pang Tong has become less and less willing to deal with other people. Instead, he prefers to use this time to swim in the ocean of knowledge.
If the previous Pang Tong was inferior because of his appearance but stubbornly wanted to gain recognition from others, then the current Pang Tong is like "everyone is drunk but I (and my teacher) am the only one sober".
Others did not know Pang Tong's talents, and when they saw his appearance, they looked down on him - this was in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, when the "Wei and Jin style" became popular, being ugly was considered a dead end, but judging people by their appearance has been a tradition since ancient times.
However, when everyone saw that Lu Kang, Yu Fan and others were very polite to Pang Tong, and that the latter was neither arrogant nor impatient even when facing Lu Kang, people began to take him seriously.
As important members of the six departments of the General's Office, Lu Kang and others naturally knew some inside information...
It is said that this young man who looks... quite strange is the candidate favored by Bai Gong for the most mysterious "Ministry of Works" among the six ministries!
Therefore, no matter how much salt we can see today, there is no need to offend Pang Tong...
After exchanging pleasantries with several important representatives, Pang Tong gave a brief speech and then said directly: "Thank you all for taking the time out of your busy schedule to attend the first salt release at the General's Salt Field. Now you can follow me into the warehouse to view the salt. If you have any intention of cooperating, you can consult about the 'salt permit'. If you are not interested, you can stay for a while and go to see Governor Gan to buy fish in the afternoon."
Asking the governor to buy fish...sounds weird!
But now Pang Tong has a feeling of returning to nature. He is gradually becoming less interested in the ways of the world and speaks more bluntly.
Zheng Xing, one of the seventeen salt merchants in Wu County, was listening from behind and secretly laughed in his heart: "Salt permit? How much salt can you have? Salt permit... Tsk tsk."
Now they also know what the "Salt Permit" that the General's Mansion is going to launch is. It is a certificate for obtaining salt from the government-run salt fields!
The salt fields do not sell salt directly. One has to buy salt permits from the government. Naturally, the salt permits already include the "salt tax".
Afterwards, with Pang Tong paving the way, a group of representatives from aristocratic families came to a warehouse that looked quite large.
I saw... salt mountains that looked like small hills, whiter and more sparkling than boiled salt!
In a warehouse, there are probably fifty or sixty salt mountains that are two people tall.
Just seeing these things is actually not enough to make people tremble with fear. At least the seventeen major salt merchants have seen such scenes.
But you have to know that there are twenty more warehouses of this kind here!
"Shi" is a unit of volume, usually filled with a container carved from a large stone. Once it is full, it is called "one shi".
Therefore, in terms of weight, one stone of salt is half to twice as heavy as one stone of rice.
Now, Pang Tong has already dried two batches of sea salt, totaling two million stones, which are divided into twenty warehouses. Each warehouse has about 1,500 to 2,000 cubic meters of salt...
This is a bit scary, almost twice the total annual output of the 17 companies.
"No, it's impossible! It must be fake!"
"There should be...something else in there, right?"
"Haha, I heard that this is how Dong Zhuo entered Luoyang..."
After a brief moment of surprise, more and more doubts began to circulate privately.
Using straw to "impersonate" food and fodder and using less to make up for more is not a new thing. For example, when Dong Zhuo, who was causing trouble in Luoyang a few years ago, first entered Luoyang, the soldiers from Liang Province were not much more numerous than the guards of Luoyang.
However, after accepting Li Ru's advice, the Liangzhou soldiers began to march into the city in broad daylight and sneak out of the city at night. After a few days of confusion, it seemed that Dong Zhuo had brought hundreds of thousands of cavalrymen and had deceived the officials and incorporated the Tiger Guards of Luoyang...
When they thought of this, although everyone was still a little surprised, they gradually calmed down.
At the same time, what he was thinking more deeply was that he was worried about Pang Tong... or what was Bai Tu trying to achieve by doing this?
Do you want to use "fake salt" to incorporate our salt fields, just like Dong Zhuo incorporated his guards?
They have already seen through Bai Tu's "evil plan", but... what if Bai Tu uses violence?
Maybe you will have to bleed a little, just to pray for safety!
But at this moment, Pang Tong took the initiative to say: "Many of you here know a lot about salt..."
"We dare not, we dare not!" No one dared to agree. After all, smuggling salt was a serious crime.
"Well, that's okay. I asked everyone to come here today because I want to learn and communicate with you. What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of the salt in this warehouse and other warehouses compared to the salt you... know? I can give you plenty of time to taste them later. Don't worry about messing up the salt piles. Please do as you please." Pang Tong said.
Obviously Pang Tong also understood what these people were thinking, and in order to dispel their doubts, he simply let them go and allowed them to be checked.
"Ahem, Dr. Pang, how about we go to the side hall to have tea? Dr. Pang has an important responsibility, and he used to be a little distant from us colleagues. Today is a good opportunity to get in touch with him." Yu Fan said at this time.
Yu Fan and his companions would naturally not personally do such a trivial matter as testing the salt, as there were clan members in the tribe who were responsible for the task.
Pang Tong didn't want to stay here for long, for fear that others would be constrained - and there was no need to watch, if these dozens of people were allowed to steal the food, how much could they eat?
"Okay." Pang Tong actually wanted to study more, but... thinking of the important task given to him by his teacher, he decided to sacrifice some of his happy study time.
In the eyes of Lu Kang and others, the young Dr. Pang from the Ministry of Industry was a symbol of someone who was obsessed with "studying things" and ignorant of the ways of the world. After a brief contact, this stereotype was further deepened.
But thinking about the nature of Pang Tong’s official position... maybe this kind of person is needed?
When they were having tea and chatting, the experienced Zhang Zhao wanted to guide the topic so that Dr. Pang would not be too bored...
Unexpectedly, after gradually regaining his former state, Pang Tong got rid of his previous dull appearance. Apart from his facial features, his dress, speech and behavior actually showed some demeanor of a celebrity.
Pang Tong was not afraid of either elegant conversation or high-sounding comments on current affairs.
Even when Zhang Zhao was led by the rhythm and revealed some information about government affairs, Pang Tong was able to respond.
Moreover, most of the people present could judge that Pang Tong was not just a scholar who could only talk about military affairs on paper, but a man of real talent and knowledge!
Zhou Shang was also present at this time. Although the Zhou family was theoretically a noble family in Shu County, Lujiang, and not in Jiangdong, the focus was gradually shifting towards Jiangdong because of Zhou Yu.
Thinking of the "Dr. Pang" in front of him, who was said to have worked under his nephew at first, and was frustrated and then personally received by Bai Tu, Zhou Shang felt a bit complicated.
This is an inspirational story among many grassroots officials, and many people know it.
In fact, Zhou Shang could also understand why Zhou Yu, who always had a good eye for talent, missed Pang Tong this time - his appearance!
As Zhou Yu's close uncle, Zhou Shang also knew one of his secrets, which was that Zhou Yu possessed the legendary Heavenly Book, which was none other than "The Heavenly Book Volume 7: Xiang".
Moreover, after Zhou Yu obtained the "Photo Scroll" at a young age, he tended to apply his understanding of "photography" to himself. As he grew older, Zhou Lang, who had been very cute since childhood, became more and more "beautiful and graceful".
At the same time...even fortune and intelligence are affected by his appearance and gradually improve.
Moreover, Zhou Yu's ability to judge people was based more on "physiognomy", so... it was normal for him to miss Pang Tong.
At the same time, Zhou Shang even secretly speculated that Pang Tong might also possess the Heavenly Book - Zhou Yu's "physiognomy" did not only look at the appearance. The situation of "strange signs in life must have supernatural powers" should also be within the recognition range of "physiognomy". The fact that he could interfere with the results of "physiognomy" meant that... Pang Tong might also possess the Heavenly Book.
As time passed, while people were amazed at Pang Tong's versatility, they also gradually realized some other things.
For example... Pang Tong's attitude was very relaxed, and he had no intention of leading the topic to official salt, as if he was just waiting for the results of other people's inspection.
Could it be...
A guess that did not conform to basic logic gradually emerged in the minds of Lu Kang and others.
Two full hours passed, and when Lu Kang's old kidneys could no longer bear the tea and he had to go to the toilet several times, Pang Tong finally took everyone to see the "experts" in salt testing.
When I came to the warehouse again, I could see that most of the original salt mountains had been razed to the ground. The surrounding salt workers looked at the guy who had inspected before with some resentment. The other 19 warehouses also had signs of inspections.
As for the result?
The pale faces and dazed expressions have already revealed the final result!
Two million rocks of salt, all real...
