"Look, what's the bottom layer of this pot?"

As the water gradually evaporated, the water became more and more turbid, and everyone found that a layer of white things gradually appeared under the pot.

"Is this salt?"

Although everyone can't live without salt, there are very few people who have actually seen how salt is cooked.

And now Tao Qing led this group of soldiers to watch the salt appear from the bottom of the pot.

As the firewood is grilled underneath, there is less and less water in the pot, but there are more and more white crystals, and finally the water is completely evaporated, and a layer of salt particles about an inch thick is condensed at the bottom of the pot.

Tao Qing and the Danyang soldiers looked at each other, one by one as dumbfounded as clay sculptures, speechless.

Since Emperor Wu, under the monopoly of the imperial court, salt has become an extremely expensive thing, and even many common people cannot afford to eat salt, so they lick the salt soil with salt to make a living.

But they boiled so much salt with just a bucket of water, it seemed that it weighed several pounds, and it could be sold for a lot of money.

And the water in the well is endless, isn't that equivalent to finding a cornucopia?

"General, I remember that you said that the lord promised us five percent of the salt produced here as our reward, is this true?"

The pro-soldier next to him, looking at the thick layer at the bottom of the pot, couldn't help but ask.

At the beginning, in order to boost morale, Tao Qing conveyed Liu Ping's promise to the soldiers.

However, instead of boosting morale, the morale of the soldiers was lowered.

After all, no one knows if salt can be boiled here, and even if it can be boiled, five percent is too little, and it will inevitably not be as affordable as making money on the battlefield.

But looking at this thick layer of salt in front of them, everyone's hearts were moved.

Just one bucket of water boiled so much, and there was all the water in the well, and if you gave them five percent, they would make a fortune.

"Yes...... It's true," Tao Qing was still stunned, and he hadn't recovered from this incident.

"Your lord," he sighed, "how can your lord know that the water here can make salt?"

Leave five percent, and it won't be long before we're all tied to each other.

It's ridiculous that we didn't want to come in the first place. ”

Thinking of this, Tao Qing blushed.

The lord obviously gave him a great fortune, but he thought that the lord was using him and deliberately making things difficult for him.

If you don't know the hearts of good people like this, is that still a person?

As Zhang Liao said, they are soldiers to eat food, but now that they have a better way to eat food, and it is even possible to get rich, who is willing to go to the battlefield to lick blood?

"What are you doing here stupidly? Why don't you hurry up and dig wells and boil salt? Tao Qing yelled angrily at the surrounding soldiers.

All the soldiers immediately dispersed, all of them were high-spirited and full of energy, and there was no longer half a point of complaining.

For every hundred catties of salt produced, five catties belong to them, and whoever dares to cheat and play tricks will not be able to get along with everyone.

Without Tao Qing's instructions, someone immediately pestered the tomb robber and dug more than a dozen wells, but the water that came up was still dead, and it was also brine.

Seeing the appearance of all the soldiers rushing up, a pro-soldier next to him suddenly said: "It's broken, all the well water here is so salty, so what will we drink in the future?"

This is water, so I guess you can't use it for washing. ”

"With salt, do you care about that?"

Tao Qing already had a bit of a wealthy shadow, he glanced at the personal soldier, and said contemptuously: "Only this place is this kind of brine, if you leave dozens of miles, it will naturally be clear water, and you will send someone to transport the water from other places." ”

"What the general said is very true!"

"Send someone to the Lord to announce the good news, and remember, this matter must be kept completely confidential and must not be leaked."

Punching brine here, which can be salted, belongs to their core secret, and the fewer people who know about it, the better.

After all, with salt, it is not much different from having food, there are only a thousand of them in total, and if they are targeted by others and send someone to rob them, they will not be able to resist it.

If it could be kept secret, who would notice this edge of the desert where birds don't poop?

……

There was a herald soldier who traveled under the stars and nights, and reported the news of the successful digging of the brine to Liu Ping.

Liu Ping was secretly happy when he found out, it seemed that in the past two thousand years, the earth's leylines have not changed much, so he can dig out all kinds of mines in his memory.

Of course, the main ones are iron ore and salt mines.

With iron, weapons can be crafted, and with salt, grain and grass can be exchanged, both of which are related to warfare.

In these troubled times, everything is in the service of war.

At the same time, Liu Ping had the same idea as Tao Qing, and this matter chose to be kept secret and did not let others know.

After all, he is now short of troops, and he has no spare strength to divide his troops to protect the salt mine, so he can only choose to keep it secret.

In fact, Liu Ping not only had no spare strength to protect the salt mines, but the more urgent thing in front of him was that his soldiers were even stretched to protect Guanzhong.

Previously, Yuan Shang originally appointed Guo Yuan as the Taishou of Hedong, preparing to enter Tuguanzhong to contain the Cao army going north from the flank.

But unexpectedly, Liu Ping had already entered the customs one step ahead and occupied Chang'an.

In this way, the plan formulated for Yuan Shang was broken, and Yuan Shang was naturally unwilling, so under the suggestion of the trial, Guo Yuan was asked to exhaust the 20,000 troops in Hedong and enter Guanzhong strongly.

At the same time, Ma Teng Han Sui in the northwest and Zhang Lu in the southwest were contacted, and when Liu Ping's foothold was not stable, the three parties jointly attacked Chang'an, intending to drive Liu Ping out.

At this time, Liu Pingzheng was looking at the map in front of him and worried, and behind him were generals such as Tai Shici, Zhang Liao, and Xu Huang.

"Lord, Guo Yuan has led the army westward, so you must guard against it," Zhang Liao said.

"Although Guo Yuan has 20,000 soldiers, his combat power is not strong, so the Hedong Army is not worried, and Zhang Lu of Hanzhong, who governs the government with the 'Five Dou Mi Sect', has no ambition for expansion, and is not worried," Liu Ping sighed, looked at the northwest direction on the map and said: "What I am worried about, Ma Teng Han Sui in the northwest is only."

The father and son of the Ma clan have the courage of ten thousand people, and their soldiers have been fighting against the Qiang people for a long time, and their combat power is extremely strong, which is my fierce opponent. ”

Of course, Liu Ping knows that Mo said that Ma Teng's own force is not weak, and his sons, especially Ma Chao, are all superior in force, and even Tai Shici may not be Ma Chao's opponent.

What's more, there is also a Pound in their camp, which is also a character that cannot be underestimated.

Now there are only 9,000 people under Liu Ping's command, and they have to be divided into three groups to resist Guo Yuan, Zhang Lu, and Ma Teng respectively.

"The generals will obey!" Liu Ping stood up and glanced at the generals in front of him.