The smoke of the stove is permeated by the sea, although it is not noon, but the whole seaside is shrouded in the smoke of the stove, this is the ordinary scenery of boiling sea frying salt, if it is at night, the light of the stove in the heart of the seaside is like a star, in front of the iron stove of half a zhang wide, around the stove Ding and his family, constantly stuffing artemisia grass into the stove from several hearths, the smoke and water vapor, diffuse between the thatched sheds. In the smoke and fire, I only saw tired and numb faces.

“…… The people of the stove were bound to the salt field by the "stove book" and the "joint sitting method", and made a living by boiling the sea, and were exploited and lived a miserable life. The most vicious and inhumane one, there is no salt law. …… Huainan merchant pavilion divided the decoction of the book, or since the former Ming Dynasty, the official law of suppression, forced to do hard labor, so that the field merchants at a low price. The merchant was ordered to sell at a high price, so the commercial tax was reimposed for profit, and the merchant put barrels to raise the price to suffer. If he refuses to accept it, he shall be punished with a rod and shackles, and if he flees, he shall be punished by his son, and if he has no son, he shall be punished by his grandson, and if he has no grandson, he shall be punished by the husband and grandson of his daughter, and if he is not a relative."

While walking with this salt field, Zhu Mingzhong recounted everything he had learned about the past few days, and everything he had seen in the salt field, all of which were shocking, making him almost unable to believe what he saw in front of him.

“…… The salt people Hengbu lived on the seashore, piled up the earth as a mound, built on it, and lived in Sijusi, far away from the township. In addition to drying ash, pouring marinade, and frying pans all day long,...... In the land of the seaside, when the tide comes, you can't live at ease; The earth is rejected, the grains are not climbed, and the food is not enough; Those who live in restlessness and do not have enough to eat, and return to the army with bitterness, muddy silkworms, and deer without beads, and if the slaves of the Manchurian people are not like this! ”

Staring at the people in the shed frying salt in the smoke and fire, although most of the young men and women in this time have been recruited into the army, there are still many people who have been rejected by the loyal army because of age and other reasons. Zhu Mingzhong asked in a deep voice.

"Such a miserable people, how can you make Zhu turn a blind eye?"

Junmen's words made Zheng Xiaru's mind sink suddenly, although he rushed to the salt field, but when trying to prevent the military gate from recruiting troops in the salt field, at least to prevent large-scale recruitment, the answer he got was "no".

"Released from the army!"

Staring at Zheng Xiaru, Zhu Mingzhong's brows frowned.

"If it weren't for the war, my loyal army urgently needs to recruit soldiers, even if this stove people don't need to join the army, Zhu will release them as people, instead of continuing to serve them, the reason why Zhu joined the army is because he doesn't want my Han people to be the slaves of the Qing captives, since my Han people don't want to be the slaves of the Qing captives, then how can my Han people serve my compatriots?"

The righteous and awe-inspiring words did not change the fact that in just a few days, tens of thousands of soldiers had been recruited in these salt fields, and they were all the elite stoves of the salt works. Where there is oppression, there is resistance, and now, Zhu Mingzhong has given them another choice to resist, they can change the fate of themselves and their families by joining the army.

"But, but, but if the stove is abolished, there is no stove Ding decoction salt, I am afraid that there will be no Huai salt in this world, when the time comes, the people of the world are only afraid of light food, and the people cannot be without salt for a day, if there is no salt, then I am only afraid of the chaos in the world!"

Although he knew that the military gate had made up his mind, Zheng Xiaru still continued to dissuade him.

"Please appease the second thought!"

Faced with Zheng Xiaru's dissuasion, Zhu Mingzhong asked rhetorically.

"Shijie, according to what Zhu has heard in the past few days, this stove originated from Mengyuan, before Mengyuan, there was no stove and no stove, at that time, where did the salt eaten by the people in the world come from? Huai salt has been available since ancient times, how can this stove book be there in ancient times? If there is no stove, there will be no salt? Joke! ”

Isn't that just a joke?

Before the Meng Yuan Dynasty brought into China these artisans and stove households, which were equivalent to slavery, did the Chinese not have salt to eat? No artisans? The regression of civilization brought about by slavery in just a few decades has not been restored for hundreds of years, so how much spiritual destruction has the Manchu Qing Dynasty's barbaric slavery brought to this nation for more than 200 years?

"Appeasement, this, this......"

The rhetorical question of the appeasement envoy made Zheng Xia stunned, he had long been accustomed to frying salt in the stove, and he had thought of other things.

"This is not the past, before the Tang and Song dynasties, the people could make salt, but in today's situation, the salt tax is the most important tax in the world, and there must be a stove to fry ......the salt."

Salt lesson!

Perhaps, this is the most fundamental reason, for the government, they want to get as much salt as possible by controlling the salt production of stoves.

"This Huainan stove Ding is only a few 60,000 people, at the moment these stoves all want to get out of the army, if it is appeased to recruit troops here, although tens of thousands of soldiers can be raised, but if there is no stove Ding to fry salt day and night, not to mention, the people of the world are afraid of falling into the suffering of light food, and the official hall will not be able to get the salt class, and then I am only afraid that the appeasement will make no silver to be paid."

When the words of warning came from Zheng Xiaru's mouth, Zhu Mingzhong only nodded slightly, he was not a pedantic person, if it weren't for the fact that Zao Ding was currently the easiest soldier to recruit in Jiangbei, between the millions of taels of salt class every year and the freedom of Zao Ding, he would choose the former.

But now......

If you let go of the good is false, conscription is the real thing!

"Leaving the army to be released" is just an excuse to attract stove households to join the army. The salt class is important, but if you can't defeat Dasu's 100,000 Qing army, this salt class is just a salt class of the Manchu Qing Dynasty. So compared to the two, he chose the former.

However, the salt class is also very important, after defeating the Manchu Qing, the salt tax of these two Huai will be the foundation of the loyal army!

On the one hand, it is necessary to serve as a soldier to defend Jiangbei. On the other hand, there is no stove Ding that is no salt, no salt is no salt class, and no salt class is no silver for payment.

The question of contradiction was once again placed in front of Zhu Mingzhong's eyes, which made him suddenly silent.

What to do?

Seeing that the appeasement envoy seemed to be a little moved, Zheng Xiaru hurriedly continued to dissuade him.

"The pacification envoy, the following officials, since the current situation in Jiangbei urgently needs to recruit troops, there are many young and strong people in this salt field, and the pacification envoy may as well raise a quota of only 30,000 yuan, so that although it has a certain influence on the salt class, it will not stop the production of the salt field, so that the salt field has no salt to come out, and the official hall has no salt class to collect. What do you think of the appeasement? ”

I have to say that Zheng Xiaru's suggestion is very exciting, but when Zhu Mingzhong, who was frowning, looked at the stove fire that was dozens of miles away, he said.

"There is an inverse correlation between the production of frying salt and the distance from the sea. The farther away from the sea, the more difficult it is to communicate with the tide and draw brine for salt. The stove people have to move eastward frequently to chase the tide, and the living environment is wetland......"

As he was talking about frying salt, he pointed to the tidal flats on the sea and asked.

"Since frying salt in artemisia grass is time-consuming and laborious, and the stove is poor, why do you want to change it to a salt pan?"