In the morning light, you can vaguely see the busy figure of people sweeping the soil on the official road. The sound of the old broom's head pulling on the ground, accompanied by the barking of dogs, broke the silence of the morning light.

Looking curiously at the people who swept the floor in the morning light, Cui Muhua's face was full of puzzlement, if it weren't for the stench in the city such as Jingshi, maybe he would attribute this scene to the "weather of the kingdom", and it would be attributed to "the people of China are so clean", but after the Manchu Qing Dynasty stole China, this China has long ceased to be yesterday's "Celestial Empire weather", and this is just an ordinary official dirt road, why would these people sweep the road in the starry night?

"They're sweeping the gun!"

With the help of a stick and crutches, this kind said as he walked.

"In the area of the old road of the Yellow River, every winter and spring, the white expanse is like a snowfield. It was salt that came out of the ground, and after the wind blew all night, a layer of soft alkaline soil floated on the field path, at the base of the wall of the earthen house, and on the ground where there were few pedestrians. At this time, the people will sweep the nitrate here. ”

Finding the curiosity on Cui Bidong's face, he took the initiative to explain.

So when it was time for the winter to be idle, they carried two large baskets with their poles, and swept away the gray-white dust that floated on them with their brooms. Now is a good time to sweep the nitrate. ”

"Oh, Senior Brother Jin, why are they sweeping the nitrate?"

Cui Muhua's tone was puzzled, although he knew the purpose of this nitrate, but he never thought that in China it was actually such a sweep of nitrate, and the sweep of nitrate in North Korea was just a layer of whitened old old soil on the root of the old earth wall, sweeping the dust in the bricks of the old city wall, and sweeping the soil soaked in human and animal feces at the corner. There, like this, in thousands of households.

"The land on both sides of the Yellow River is full of saline-alkali land, and the land is barren, but the people have found something in this saline-alkali land that can be exchanged for food to feed their families—nitrate and salt.

The people swept the nitrate, will go home to boil the nitrate, they first set up a pottery urn in the yard, drill a chopstick-thick hole at the bottom, and then pour the nitrate soil in it and press it firmly, the name is: press the urn. The upper part of the urn is poured with water, and when yellow-brown water oozes out of the small holes, it is a "brine" containing nitrate. When the filtered water is colorless, the brine is poured into a large pot and called "boiling water". Finally, the boiled water is poured into the basin, and after cooling, it will form nitrate, which is called "pot nitrate", and the boiled salt is poured into the cloth pocket and buried with sand, which is called "perched salt". However, this is easy to say, but it can actually take days. It takes at least half a day to "press the urn", as for the water filtration, it takes as little as three days, as much as four or five days, as for the "boiling water", it also takes two or three hours, and the final result is only five or six catties of nitrate, seven or eight catties of salt. When filtering the water, I am afraid that the pottery urn will overflow, so I have to constantly change the pot at night......"

Because I have traveled here, I naturally know the process of boiling nitrate, and I know that on both sides of the old road of the Yellow River, boiling nitrate to make salt is an ordinary job.

"It was still dark, and the scavenger went out of the house with his burden to work. First park the basket at the end of the path, then turn around, gently press the ground with a broom, sweep the soil from the road like combing hair, sweep it into a pile, and use a milling shovel to put it into the basket. The basket was full, and the day was bright, so I could call it a day and go home without delaying other work. For the people, this sweeping of the soil can get salt and nitrate, and the salt swept out of the ground, although it is a little bitter, but for the poor people, it can also save the silver to buy salt. ”

This explanation only made Cui Muhua look at the people who swept the ground, and secretly wondered in his heart that it was the Heavenly Empire, or ordinary people, who could also get salt and nitrate from this land.

In this way, a monk together, two people who seem to have nothing to do with each other, all the way south, Cui Muhua has seen too much of the weather of the kingdom along the way, although this Qing captivity has made Shang Tu not see the prosperity of the homeland, but what he heard and saw still made him amazed, if it weren't for the fact that this kind was by his side, I am afraid he would have screamed many times, but even so, his surprised appearance fell in the eyes of this species, and this kind just smiled and looked at it without saying a word.

Compared with the poor monk, Cui Muhua, who is alias Cui Bidong, seems to be a young family from a wide family, after all, when he was ordered to leave Beijing, he brought more than 100 taels of silver, and because of this, sometimes, the two of them improved their food in a roadside restaurant and took a rest by the way.

Every time he had dinner, Cui Bidong did not forget to inquire about the news of the emperor's "royal driving expedition", and the further south he went, the more different he found that the people had different views on the emperor's "imperial driving expedition".

"Pro-enlisted? Bullshit! ”

Cui Bidong just asked, and the shopkeeper, who was usually based on one mouth, immediately gritted his teeth and said:

"What kind of pro-conscription, just what kind of barbarian Tartar, what kind of emperor does he have a face, what kind of thing? What's wrong with him going in person, with Zhu Dashuai here, can you still be afraid that he won't succeed? Zhu Dashuai is a well-known hero, how could he be afraid of that little man......"

"You mouth, what do you spit. Why don't you pour tea for the guests!"

The shopkeeper was well-informed, and was taken aback by the shopkeeper's words, and he was allowed to continue, and immediately shouted and reprimanded.

"Got it! Got it! ”

Although the shopkeeper said yes, he said when he wiped the table.

"This world is the world of our Han people, how can we tolerate those Tartars, according to me, the gas of this Tartar is exhausted, not to mention anything else, even God will not allow these beasts to be inferior to things......"

"Junko, you kid doesn't have a door on his mouth, you want to die? If you want to die yourself, don't drag me down! ”

Before he could finish speaking, the shopkeeper had already rushed out with a feather duster and whipped at him headlessly.

"There's no door on your mouth, you can do it to death, why don't you serve food to the guest officer quickly......"

In the pain of Xiao Er, after beating him away, the shopkeeper hurriedly rushed to the two monks to make amends.

"Two masters, that thing doesn't have a doorkeeper on its mouth, don't remember it, what you say is all fart. The one surnamed Zhu is a big thief, and the people of the world are looking forward to the emperor's personal expedition, and they will behead the things that don't know the monarch's father......"

The shopkeeper is not, in the eyes of the two, they naturally know that the shopkeeper is afraid of the government, and this meal is naturally tasteless.

However, when eating, the food was just in the mouth, and the bitterness and saltiness in it made Jinzhong's brows furrow, so he asked directly.

"Shopkeeper, you use earth salt for this salt?"

Although the meals eaten along the way are mostly made of soil salt, but in this county, the food is still slightly bitter and salty, but it is beyond the expectations of this species, after all, there has always been a salt ban in this city, and soil salt is salt private, so it is naturally impossible to enter the city to sell.

"Hey, this master, this is also impossible......"

When the shopkeeper heard this, he immediately complained of bitterness.

"Whoever let the thief occupy the salt field, this salt can't pass, and the people can only eat soil salt, I just hope that the emperor can destroy the thief as soon as possible, and we can also eat good salt......"