In the side hall,

At this time, only himself and Mi Zhen remained.

This made Zhang Xiu quite embarrassed, this lonely man and widow, how inconvenient!

And a righteous gentleman like himself doesn't look like someone who shouldn't do anything.

"General, it's getting late, let the concubine change your clothes for you!" Mi Zhen's face turned red, and she lowered her head and said in a voice like a fly and a mosquito.

This is the first time that her eldest brother has pushed himself out, which can be regarded as a political sacrifice, which has been doomed since she was born in the Mi family.

"Well, yes, it's not early."

Zhang Xiu found that she was still suitable for sleeping with a wife, and sleeping with this kind of little girl was somewhat guilty, or a kind of responsibility, after all, she couldn't be ruthless!

Forget it, this kind of little girl still won't be provoked now, let's talk about it when we get married!

Zhang Xiu made up her mind and didn't think nonsense.

There's no way, the little girl is not skilled in her movements, and she can't compare with the young woman!

Changing clothes and going to bed, Zhang Xiu promised that he didn't do anything!

…………

The next day, at the polder.

The field water that was just released yesterday.

And today's polder water is deeper, which means that there are more and bigger fish in it.

After a while, the people caught a lot of all kinds of big fish.

"Wen Ruo, these silver carp, grass mix, and carp are not small, and they can't be eaten in a while, so I intend to cut these swim bladders to make fire oil."

"As for the fish, it can be marinated and eaten for 100 days, so that it can save rations, and secondly, the fish is extremely nutritious, and it is really good to carry it on the march."

Zhang Xiu looked at Jia Xu and asked.

"My lord, it's possible to make oil from fish bladders, but it's impossible to marinate so many fish. Nanyang has little salt and can only rely on Yuncheng or Xuzhou sea salt to supply. ”

"However, these supplies have long been monopolized by the family, and now the price of salt in Nanyang and even Jingzhou has been high, and the coarse salt that the people eat costs 1,500 yuan per stone."

Jia Xu hurriedly dissuaded.

Nanyang is already short of salt, if it weren't for some salt dealers, I'm afraid ordinary people would have no salt to eat.

"Fifteen hundred dollars a stone?"

Zhang Xiu's brows frowned slightly, and gradually shone brightly.

During this time, he worked day and night, but he threw aside some ways to make money.

"Is this the price of coarse salt?"

Zhang Xiu didn't say a word, and directly asked Jia Xu about it.

Next to him, Xu Shu answered: "It's just a lot, it's not a lot, ordinary people generally buy coarse salt from some salt dealers, and the price is about 1,200 yuan." ”

"As for fine salt, it costs 3,000 yuan a stone, and the quantity is limited, and it is fought for by countless families."

Zhang Xiu pinched her chin and nodded.

Since ancient times, salt and iron official camps, because salt is the lifeblood of the people, things that must be eaten in ordinary times, the sales are very high.

Iron is to control the rebellion, and in ancient times, catching salt dealers was like fighting drugs now.

"Salt is the lifeblood of the country, how can it be transported by other land?" Zhang Xiu said in a deep voice, and then said: "Wen He knows where there are salt mines in the surrounding rivers?" ”

Zhang Xiu checked that the main salt production in the Han Dynasty relied on Yuncheng and Haiyan, and there were many ordinary small brine mines. But rock salt was everywhere at that time.

However, it is known as "poisonous salt", and no one dares to eat it!

And it is not difficult to purify this thing, he has specially consulted the information in his previous life, but he has not yet practiced it, and there is not much problem in thinking about it.

"Salt mines? But the lord said poisonous salt? Xu Shu frowned and continued, he has been in Jingzhou for a few years, and there are not too many poisonous salt mines, and you can find one almost ten miles along the river.

Zhang Xiu nodded, "Yuan Zhi knows where the poisonous salt mine is." ”

"My lord, poisonous salt mines are everywhere, what is my lord looking for it?" Xu Shu asked puzzled.

"Salt making,"

"Salt making?" Xu Shu and even Jia Xu were stunned, and the former said urgently: "The lord must not, although the poisonous salt has a salty taste, it is accompanied by bitterness, and eating too much can make people purple, and even kill people, and it must not be eaten!" ”

"Lord, what Yuan Zhi said is good, if you eat a little bit of this poisonous salt, you will have diarrhea, and even if there is no salt, the ancient and modern people do not dare to eat poisonous salt."

Jia Xu also nodded, after all, this is not child's play, if this poisonous salt is edible, then Jingzhou and other places will not be short of salt.

Zhang Xiu pursed her lips, and didn't know how to explain it, but she was helpless in her heart, this salt mine is edible, but even the nitrate, phosphorus, and potassium in the salt mine can not turn purple if you eat it!

"The reason for the purple color is that the salt mine contains other impurities that can be lethal. These impurities are simply filtered and broken down, leaving behind the refined salt. ”

Zhang Xiu thought about it and said it about it.

Jia Xu and Xu Shu glanced at each other, not understanding too much, but they grasped the point of what Zhang Xiu said.

"Lord, could it be that you can turn poisonous salt into table salt?"

The two looked forward to it, but they still didn't believe it, because the salt mine was inedible and had been passed down for thousands of years, and it had long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, so how could it be made into table salt, and it was also refined salt.

"It should be possible, just try it."

Zhang Xiu is not sure, after all, he knows the principle and doesn't do it himself, so he still lacks confidence.

Hearing this, Xu Shu hurriedly said: "General Hu is tired of going ten miles south of the river, if I remember well, there should be a poisonous salt mine somewhere, dig some back." ”

"If it is feasible, the people of Nanyang will no longer be controlled by others, and the price of refined salt is very expensive, which is really a big income."

Hu Che'er should get off and lead more than a dozen riders to gallop away with chisels and cloth bags.

Shaoqing,

The backyard of the general's house,

At this time, there were a lot of things in the yard.

A stone mill, a simple funnel, a large piece of linen, a steamer, etc., several large vats, and some nitrate plates the size of beans.

It is quite common for this thing to stick to the blood after long-term boiling, and this is the key to decomposing these poisonous salts.

Hu Che'er has a lot of strength, and he moves the stone mill, and after a while, he grinds the chiseled stone salt into powder.

"Put the salt powder into the jar and add water."

Zhang Xiu recalled the salt-making process and directed.

After adding ten catties of salt powder in a row, Zhang Xiu personally took a wooden stick and began to stir, which needed to be completely dissolved in the water.

Not long after,

The vat of salt water had been completely dissolved, emitting a foul smell of mud. As for the salt water in the tank, it is yellow-brown and looks a little disgusting.

Seeing that it was almost over, Zhang Xiu instructed: "Hu'er, go and fold the linen twice and seal it at the mouth of another water tank." ”

Hu Che'er nodded.

Seeing that the mouth of the water tank was sealed, Zhang Xiu grabbed the mouth of the tank with both hands and slowly poured out the salt water in the tank.

For a while,

When a vat of salt water was poured, I saw that the four layers of linen had been filtered out of a lot of residue, various small stones, and unknown crystals.

When the linen cloth was removed, the salt water in the jar was lighter, but it was still yellowish-brown.

"Come again!"

Zhang Xiu flushed the water tank into the sidewalk.

It was filtered several times in a row, until the brine was pale yellow and the impurities could not be filtered, and Zhang Xiu stopped.

"My lord, that's it?"

Xu Shu raised his eyebrows and asked.

Zhang Xiu shook his head, and the next step was the last step of filtration.

He took the soybean granular-sized nitrate plates that he had prepared in advance, wrapped them all in sackcloth, and stuffed them under the wooden funnel.

After setting up the funnel and putting a new tank underneath, Zhang Xiu advised: "Hu'er, this time you come, the speed is slower, if I remember well, this time it should be salt water." ”

"No," Hu Che'er nodded.

Everyone looked at Hu Che'er, and their hearts were full of expectation.