In Dengzhou City at night, there is not much light to see.

The city is not big, and under the leadership of more than a dozen officials, more than 20,000 fish were quickly distributed to the people of each square.

Although there is a curfew in each city at night, it is mainly forbidden on the main roads, and it is still not forbidden to walk around the square.

Smoke continued to rise from the chimneys of every house, accompanied by the barking of dogs and the crying of children, and many homes resounded with long-lost laughter.

"Daddy, come, you eat first."

Looking at the steaming stewed yellow croaker in the large ceramic bowl, everyone at the table was constantly drooling.

"Let the kids eat first."

"No, you are the strong man of our family, only when you are full, our family can have hope."

"Today, His Royal Highness the King of Chu sent us two big yellow croaker, which is enough for our family to eat two meals, let's eat together."

"Yesterday, everyone was worried about whether a prince would be tossed around, but I didn't expect it to be a good prince who thinks about our poor people. Daddy, you don't have anything to do tomorrow anyway, why don't you go to the docks and see if you can help? It can be regarded as a reward of gratitude to the prince. ”

"Well, I already knew that. Come on, let's move the chopsticks, didn't you see that the two little guys were all flowing on the table? ”

……

Similar scenes kept happening in Dengzhou City, and Li Kuan also returned to Wendeng County after a busy day.

"Lord Wang, this big yellow croaker is really delicious in the world!"

Qing'er touched her belly very uncomfortably, feeling that she was a little overwhelmed.

"The deliciousness of marine fish is naturally not comparable to ordinary food, plus you haven't eaten it before, so you think it's particularly delicious, if you eat it every day, you probably won't think so."

Li Kuan also took a sip of wine, and then sandwiched a piece of red stewed yellow croaker.

"Lord Wang, my subordinates haven't figured it out until now, why did those big yellow croakers stupidly drill into our fishing nets? I don't think we're fishing today, we're going to carry the catch. ”

Xue Li held back his questions for a day, and now he finally had the opportunity to ask them.

"Hehe, everything in the world has its own operating laws. Anything you can't figure out, there must be logic behind it that you don't know. This big yellow croaker has otoliths on its head, and the sound of knocking on bamboo bars will have some special effects on otoliths, so these fish will take the initiative to lean over. ”

"Wouldn't that be able to catch so many big yellow croakers every day in the future?" Wang Xuance asked excitedly.

"Not necessarily, the big yellow croaker also swims, this season is more in the sea off Dengzhoufu, and when the weather is cold, it may not be so common. But in addition to the large yellow croaker, there are some other fish that also have a similar reaction. Besides, the East China Sea fishery has been out to sea a few times, and there are always some other ways to catch it, but this king is not worried about future outputs. ”

"It's good to catch a lot of fish, but if most of them are sent out like today, it's not a long-term solution." Chu Suiliang thinks that these big yellow croakers are delicious, but they are too difficult to preserve, which is a big problem.

"That's right, that's why this king bought hundreds of acres of land by the sea."

"Lord Wang, if your subordinates are not mistaken, these lands are all used for drying salt, right?" Chu Suiliang's face became even more worried.

"With the 20,000 or so large yellow croakers that we gave away today, it should be easier for the East China Sea fishery to recruit personnel. Starting tomorrow, we can speed up the construction of the evaporation pond of the salt pond and strive to produce the first batch of salt this month. ”

Salt is an essential daily necessities and the most basic industrial material.

Li Kuan wants to make a difference in Datang, the importance of salt is beyond doubt, and it can even be said that the work of drying salt is more important in the long run than the East China Sea fishery going out to fish.

"Lord Wang, my subordinates feel that if they have to dry salt, they can't sell salt directly, otherwise the backlash will be very huge." Chu Suiliang emphasized again with a serious face.

"Dengshan, don't worry, this king won't be stupid!" Li Kuan smiled mysteriously.

……

Assassin in the house.

Chun Yu summoned several major merchants in the city, and asked with a serious expression: "Everyone should know about yesterday's situation." Today, the East China Sea fishery went out to sea early in the morning. If it is still like yesterday, then the price of grain in Dengzhou will definitely fall sharply, and it is possible that the price will fall even lower than the price in previous years. ”

"Envoy, if this is the case, will we not lose a lot? Many of these grains are recovered from the neighborhood at a high price, and if they can't be sold at a good price......"

"That's right, the big yellow croaker worth hundreds of dollars a pound sells for a pound, and what pariah would be stupid to buy food?"

"This King of Chu, hold on when you are full, and specialize in thankless things."

A group of businessmen talked a lot, and there was no good way.

"Actually, I have a solution?"

As soon as the words of the shopkeeper Lu, who was sitting in a difficult position, came out, everyone turned their eyes.

"What's the solution?"

"Don't sell it, say it quickly!"

Shopkeeper Lu showed a confident smile, "His Royal Highness the King of Chu is to catch more sea fish and come back, what can he do?" At most, it will affect the food situation in the state capital. As long as these fish are not treated in time, they will almost spoil overnight, and everyone knows very well that to keep these fish for a long time, salting them is the only way, and the salt in Dengzhou is in the hands of everyone......"

"I see! Isn't it okay not to sell salt to the East China Sea fishery? ”

"This is a good idea, we don't have to directly confront His Royal Highness the King of Chu, and we can achieve our goal."

"It's worthy of being the shopkeeper Lu, and it's really full of scheming."

……

In the next few days, the East China Sea fishery was as good as the first day, and each time it was fully loaded.

Although the price of a penny and a pound is very low, it can't stand the lower cost of fishing.

Even if these fish catches can only be sold in the state city for the time being, nearly 1,000 yuan is credited to the account every day, and Li Kuan directly distributed half of the proceeds to the people who go to sea.

In a sense, these are also the money they paid for with their lives.

"Lord Wang, in the past few days, the East China Sea Fishery has recruited more than 500 helpers, and there are new people to sign up every day, is it temporarily suspended? We don't need that many people now. ”

Wang Xuance was happy and troubled to report the situation to Li Kuan in the past few days.

"Slowly replace the ship's guards with newly recruited personnel, and then assign an extra group of people to help in the salt pans, and build the salt pans as quickly as possible."

Han Xin ordered troops, the more the merrier.

In a short period of time, Li Kuan is not worried about recruiting too many people at all, anyway, these people, as long as you take care of the food, it doesn't matter how much the salary is paid, or even whether it is paid or not.