As the saying goes, firewood and rice in the countryside are cheap, and the prices in Hai'an are really cheaper than in the capital, and they are much cheaper.

When Pan Er went to wood in the afternoon, he bought two catties of pigs and a four-catty silver carp, which only cost forty-two yuan. However, I didn't expect that although Hai'an's salt is cheaper than the capital, only twenty-one wen per catty, it is more expensive than expected when I came, after all, it is next to Fu'an, Anfeng, Jiaoxian and Zhangcha and other salt fields, and the imperial court has long stipulated that the salt in Taizhou, Rugao, Dongtai and other counties is not taxed.

After eating and sending Liu Shangen away, Han Xiufeng sat in the study of the inner house, listening to Pan Er's afternoon experience while reading "Taizhou Chronicles".

Pan Er added two pieces of firewood to the stove and sighed: "But the salt in Huainan is better than the salt in our hometown, and it is worthy of tribute salt, I didn't expect that we would also eat tribute salt this day!" ”

It's just a little salt, and he is actually happy to be like this because he can eat Huainan's salt.

Su Jueming, who was sitting on the side, felt funny, and couldn't help but raise his head and said: "Master Han, the price of salt in Hai'an was not so expensive before, when I was a child, it seemed that it was only eight or nine Wen a catty, and it only rose over the years." ”

"Why did it go up so fast?" Han Xiufeng asked curiously.

"It is said that the salt brine is getting lighter and lighter, the salt pavilion is getting less and less, and the salt is getting harder and harder to fry. Moreover, we say that it is next to the salt farms of Fu'an, Anfeng, and Jiaoxi, but it is not close to the place where the salt is fried, and people naturally want to make money by transporting salt from the sea. ”

"That's right, after all, it's more than a hundred miles."

"What is salt brine, isn't salt fried in seawater?" Pan Er asked puzzled.

"Yes and no."

"What's the name yes and no?"

Su Jueming put down the teacup and explained with a smile: "The two Huai produce salt, Huainan uses the decoction method, and Huaibei uses the drying method. It is not to take seawater to decoction directly, but to first find a piece of 'halo wang land' to build a pavilion, ram the soil solidly, after the rain and wind blow, choose a sunny day to spread grass ash in the pavilion, stir and mix the grass ash and the field soil into ash soil in a certain proportion, and then sweep out the ash, put it into the ash pool, and compact it with your feet. ”

Han Xiufeng didn't know how the salt was fried, and subconsciously asked, "Then what?" ”

"Then seawater is injected and then introduced into the brine well or brine pond by the reed pipe at the bottom of the pool, which is called salt brine. When the salt accumulates to a certain salt brine, put the stone lotus to test the salinity of the brine, and if there is more salt in the brine, it can be used to fry the salt. When the brine is cooked, it condenses, which is called 'rising', and then it can form crystalline salt. ”

Su Jueming had seen frying salt, and then said: "Then use a shovel or shovel to shovel up loose salt and large pieces of salt, which is called 'straight?'." There are some large pieces of salt that can't be shoveled up, these salt fast stove dices are called 'stiff pieces', so they are watered with hot brine and then fried and then taken, which is called 'double off', the salt color of 'double off' is white, and the salt cubes are thick and ......"

Seeing that the two of them seemed to understand or not, Su Jueming added: "All in all, the sea water is salty, there is salt in the sea water, but the salinity is not high, and there is more salt in the soil that has not been soaked in the sea for many years, so the stove households have to find a place to take the soil." How many years has the salt been fried in the Huainan salt field, and all the dynasties have fried salt here, and there are fewer and fewer places to brine and wang, and the stove households will frequently move the pavilion to brine. ”

"After a long time, it turns out that it is not easy for the stove households to fry some salt."

"It's not easy, it's just miserable."

Han Xiufeng thought about it and asked: "The stove households frequently move the pavilion and marinate, and the previous salt pavilion is also abandoned, why do you keep such a big empty place?" ”

"Long grass, Master Han, you can see it when you go to the salt farm, there is grass everywhere."

"Why don't you open up the wasteland to grow grain?"

"The stove households and households in the salt field want to open up the wasteland to grow grain, but the grass ash is needed to make brine, and the fire is required to fry salt, and there is no grass. There is a saying that 'dang is the mother of salt', no grass is useless even if there is more land in Luwang, so dang can only grow grass, can not be cultivated, if anyone dares to reclaim and grow grain, it will be investigated by the salt department Yamen, and those are all saline-alkali land, even if it is reclaimed to plant crops and harvest will not be good. ”

"I see."

Han Xiufeng nodded, and was about to continue reading Taizhou Zhi, Yu Youfu helped the big head pack up the dishes and chopsticks and walked in, and as soon as he entered the door, he asked in surprise: "Young master, is it true that the big head said that the master was dismissed and investigated?" ”

"Well, I just heard about it the day before yesterday."

"The old man is very good, why was he dismissed."

Han Xiufeng couldn't help but smile: "He is good to us, but it is another matter for the people, as an official of the imperial court, he not only smokes opium, but also levies grain and consumes, and I don't know who sued him to the Huaiyang Dao Yamen." And he was only born in a person, neither a jinshi nor a Hanlin, the seat master at the time of the middle lift had already died, and he was not supported by the seat master and was in a high position in the same year, so it was normal to be dismissed. ”

"After all, there is no one in the DPRK and China!"

"Almost."

Yu Youfu thought about it and asked, "Young Master, what about that Master Zhang from Taizhou?" ”

"You're asking Master Zhang what his background is?"

"Hmm."

"Master Zhang is not as good as having the surname Du, Master Zhang is just from a tribute background." Han Xiufeng put down the "Taizhou Chronicles", looked at him with a smile and said: "The place is not as good as the capital, and there are not so many Jinshi Hanlin." I have inquired that among the main halls of these prefectures and counties under the jurisdiction of Yangzhou Prefecture, Lu Wu, the main hall of Jiangdu County, was a lifter, Yao Weicheng, the main hall of Ganquan County, was a supervisor, Bai Shangcai, the main hall of Xinghua County, was born in Bagong, and only Tang Shoudao, the main hall of Baoying County, and Wei Yuan, the governor of Gaoyou, were Jinshi. ”

"What about the county lord of Rugao?" Yu Youfu asked curiously.

"Although Rugao is close to us, it is not under the jurisdiction of Yangzhou Mansion, but a county under the jurisdiction of Tongzhou Zhili Department.

"Why are there so many people, tributes, and prisoners, and there are so many Jinshi Hanlin in the capital, why don't you let those Jinshi Hanlin come to be the county magistrate?" Yu Youfu asked puzzled.

"The state and county officials are the most difficult to do, and if they don't do well, they will be taken away, so Master Ji and Master Ao don't want to be state and county officials. Besides, the way to promotion is to be promoted in the Hanlin Academy, and all the way to the university. Either transfer to the department, do the imperial history and do the six subjects to the matter, or do not release it, at least the department or a provincial school politics. ”

Yu Youfu reacted and couldn't help laughing: "Also, what does the county master have to do, and it won't be long before he does it." ”

Han Xiufeng didn't want to say this anymore, so he raised his head and asked, "Can the class room be strengthened tomorrow?" ”

"There are only two walls left, and it will be almost the same in another morning, anyway, as long as it is strong and not pretty."

"Then there's no need to wait, I'll get people according to the roster early tomorrow morning!" Han Xiufeng touched his chin, and continued: "The ghost knows if Chu Chenggui Jiang Huai and those archers will take the opportunity to extort, I don't want to make a lot of complaints." Our troops are divided into five routes, I, you, Changsheng, Datou and Shiheng each take two archers to get people, and then look at the map to see if there are any people who stop by the way, and strive to get a few more at a time, and in four or five days, we should be able to arrest all the people on the roster. ”

"Master Han, what about me?" Su Jueming asked eagerly.

"Didn't you say in the afternoon, you went to Fuanba to find your father's student. Jueming, whether my inspection can be stable and long-term, and whether your family will do it in vain depends on whether your father's student is willing to help. In short, success or failure is in one move, if you become a big guy, you can live a good life. ”