Wow......

When the windmill rotates, the wooden shaft is driven by the wooden gear, and the wooden shaft drives the keel waterwheel through the gear, and when the seawater is drawn up to the canal, looking at the water that is constantly being drawn up by the waterwheel, the stoves all show shocked expressions.

"Water, water is coming, water is coming......"

At this moment, everyone was dumbfounded, and they all watched in amazement as the sea water was constantly being sucked up by the wind, even faster than the previous manpower.

Not to mention the stove Ding who has never seen the world, but Zheng Xiaru, who has seen a lot of the world, was also stunned, and he muttered after a while.

"This, this really doesn't require manpower?"

What does it mean that a watermill does not use manpower?

No one knows all this better than Zheng Xiaru, which means that the heaviest and most physically demanding work in the salt works is a thing of the past, and from then on, the wind-powered waterwheel can continuously draw seawater into the brine pond day and night.

"Shijie, don't be in a daze, you are a salt patrol, this Huainan salt field is all in charge of you, this soldier, must be recruited, after all, now is not waiting for me, 100,000 Qing captives go south, this official has to do everything possible to block the Qing captives from going south, so, this salt production, must be improved, this windmill to draw water, must be immediately promoted to each salt field, this windmill is made of wood and iron, the cost is only a few dozen taels, if you are in a hurry, a salt field can make at least five windmills a day, like this salt field, at most only fifty or sixty windmills, so that, so that the stove households can be relieved of the heavy pumping labor, so that the salt service will not be affected by the recruitment of soldiers, and even the production can be increased......"

Looking at the waterwheel that is constantly drawing water from the Haihe River driven by the wind, and looking at the surprised joy of the surrounding stove households. There was only one thought left in Zhu Mingzhong's mind, that the production of the salt farm must be improved, not only to recruit soldiers, but also to reduce production costs, so that the stove households of the salt farm would not have to endure heavy labor as in the past.

"As for the salt pan salt drying method, it should also be promoted, this salt pan salt drying is far simpler than frying salt, only need to build several terraces of different heights, first use a wind-powered waterwheel to introduce seawater into the highest level, that is, the evaporation pond, the salt field drying field, this level of evaporation pond should account for more than eighty percent, when the water is evaporated to a certain extent by the sun, and then the water is opened to put the brine into the crystallization pool, that is, the next level of the drying field, this level of drying field accounts for two percent, continue to dry the sun, then the high concentration of brine will gradually precipitate the salt again. In the first stage of drying, there is almost no need for manual labor, only in the crystallization field, it is necessary to manually push the salt, push the salt blocks in the pond into piles, and load them in baskets to transport them away......"

Although he didn't know much about the salt pan drying method, thanks to a visit to the salt factory, Zhu Mingzhong was able to give a general idea, and when explaining the steps of drying salt, Zhu Mingzhong even used a wooden stick to draw a simple salt pan structure diagram on the seawall.

In his explanation, Zheng Xiaru just listened carefully, if he was still a little suspicious before, then now watching the wind-powered waterwheel continuously draw water into the pool, he no longer dares to have the slightest doubt about the concept of pacifying the envoy.

In this way, there is no need to fry salt in front of the stove, and this salt production is naturally not as labor-intensive as in the past, and the salt cost will be reduced accordingly, after all, the whole process is almost entirely dependent on heaven. Not only is the cost of drying salt the cheapest, but it can even estimate the yield, so that the government can control the salt pans and thus fundamentally control the private salt. ”

Then he pointed to the Haihe River, which is connected to the seashore and is used to divert seawater.

"Shisuke, this tide has its own ups and downs, and in the future, you can directly build a canal to divert water from the tide, and use the tide to divert water into the pool, so that you can save the labor cost of the windmill......

Zheng Xiaru, who was following Zhu Mingzhong's side, became submissive, he still felt that he knew very well about salt affairs, and it was just a day's work, this wind-powered waterwheel, salt pan drying and tide diversion have completely subverted his understanding, and naturally he dares to say that he understands salt affairs. Even if there is no empirical evidence for the latter two, his understanding of salt affairs makes him Zheng Xiaru very clear that whether it is salt drying in the salt field or diverting water from the tide, it is feasible, and it will fundamentally change the production of the Lianghuai salt farm.

"What the pacification envoy said is that the lower officials must do a good job in this matter, if the salt pans are dried and the water is diverted, not only can all the households in the two Huai salt farms be discharged, and it will not affect the salt affairs, and the price of salt will also be reduced, so that the government can naturally get more salt ......profits."

As a salt envoy, Zheng Xiaru, what he values is naturally the salt tax, after all, this is his duty, and the root of the salt tax lies in the salt profit.

"Salt Profit, ......"

Zhu Mingzhong, who was smiling but silent, just sighed, and then nodded and said.

"Of course, this salt profit is to be taken, but it depends on how to take it, right now, it is not the time to take salt profit, after all, this is not the most important thing now, by the way, Shijie, how is the situation in Yangzhou?"

Compared with the salt profits obtained through the Lianghuai Salt Farm, Zhu Mingzhong really values those salt merchants in Yangzhou, and the family business of the dozens of salt merchants can not be compared with the salt profits of one or two years? Although those salt merchants were only the accumulation of more than ten years, in just ten years, it was enough for them to accumulate enough wealth.

In fact, Zhu Mingzhong didn't have his eyes on those people, if it weren't for Zheng Xiaru's mention of their relationship with the so-called "imperial merchants", and even many of them themselves were agents of the "imperial merchants" and even the Manchu nobles, how could he have targeted these people.

Wealth is the most tempting! What's more, it is worth tens of millions of taels. If he gets those people's family business, at least for the next few years, he doesn't need to think about financial resources, which is enough for him to last these years and lay the foundation for the future!

"Back to the military gate, those people are just as they initially expected, bent on delaying, in the opinion of the lower officials, you might as well take advantage of the current situation, quickly cut through the mess, directly raid their homes, and punish their clans......"

When mentioning those salt merchants, Zheng Xiaru's eyes flashed coldly, without the slightest politeness, the reason why he is so is because the Jin and Shaanxi salt merchants in Yangzhou are all exterminated, and it is beneficial and harmless to both public and private, and Yu Gong said that the government can get silver by copying the house, Yu private, after the Jin and Shaanxi salt merchants were driven out, the only thing left was naturally the local salt merchants in Jiangnan Province, and the Zheng family was one of them.

"The time has not yet come......"

Zhu Mingzhong was naturally very clear about Zheng Xiaru's selfishness, he shook his head and smiled.

"When the time comes, I'll do it!"

When the words fell, he looked at the soldiers who were hurrying from afar, and knew that it must be Zhu Mingzhong, who had something important over there, so he said to Zheng Jieru with a smile.

"I originally planned to go to Yangzhou, but it seems that I can't go this time, and I can't do it this salt business, but I can ask Shijie to ......"