It wasn't until the beginning of November that the busyness brought about by the First World War in Zhujiazhuang completely ended.

On this day, Gu Haotian summoned Wen Huanzhang, Xu Guanzhong, Zhao Ding and others to discuss the personnel arrangements for the new mountain personnel.

Meng Kang and Pei Xuan have already reached a conclusion and do not need to discuss it anymore, Luan Tingyu, Shi Xiu, and Yang Xiong must go to the escort team, and there is no need to think about it, only Hu Cheng arranged a few people to discuss for a while, and finally Gu Haotian proposed to let him be the director of commerce, one Gu Song is old and lacks energy, so he can only let him manage the wine workshop; Second, the cost of Hu is a good businessman, and it is suitable to be young and strong. Everyone felt that Gu Haotian's proposal was very safe, so they unanimously passed.

Later, Gu Haotian and Bian Xiang went to the training camp, and this time more than 5,000 recruits were recruited from Hebei and Zhujiazhuang at once, and the training camp had a serious shortage of manpower, so Ma Qiang temporarily transferred 300 backbones from each battalion to deal with the past.

But as soon as the two arrived at the training camp, before they could say a few words to Ma Qiang, someone came over to spread the word, saying that Zhang Heng, the deputy battalion commander of the sixth battalion of sailors, had returned, and Mr. Wen asked him to return to Zhonghua Hall immediately.

As soon as Gu Haotian heard it, he knew that Xiao Jiasui had news from there, and after hurriedly explaining a few words to Ma Qiang, he rushed back.

In Juxian Hall, in Wen Huanzhang's public house, when several people were surrounding Zhang Hengzheng and asking questions, Gu Haotian and Bian Xiang broke in.

"Little official, it's good now, Camp Commander Zhang Heng has brought back five boats full of good salt, and the market at Lijiadaokou has another good thing, and when it opens, I won't be afraid of being unpopular."

When Zhao Ding saw Gu Haotian coming in, he said excitedly.

"Brother Zhang Heng, is it going well over there?"

As soon as Gu Haotian heard that the salt had arrived on the shore, he knew that there had been an operation there, and there was no salt to dry in Laizhou Bay in winter, so he hurriedly set off for the market needs of Lijiadaokou, and the strategy he and Xiao Jiasui had set out before was to occupy the territory for a foothold first, and then wait for the opportunity to seize the finished salt. Now the salt grabbing must have succeeded, but he didn't know if it was going well, so he was anxious to know.

"Petty officials, we took the old nest of Qingzhou Guangling Salt this time, Cui Shida's old boy's warehouse of hundreds of thousands of catties of salt, all of them were cleaned by us, and I have more than 200,000 catties in these five boats, Director Xiao knows that the manor is urgently needed, so I will escort it back first. There is also a letter from him, please look at it from the junior officials. ”

Zhang Heng said, taking out a letter. Gu Haotian took it and looked at it carefully, only then did he understand what this team was doing in Laizhou Bay.

It is said that when Xiao Jiasui and his entourage arrived in Laizhou Bay, it was already early October, and they did not go ashore, but they occupied a small island called Shrimp Island off the coast of Victoria. Then they sent out their men to find suitable salt drying sites along the coast of Laizhou Bay.

One day, Jiao Ting led people to find a good place on the coast of Qingzhou and Victoria. Xiao Jiasui took people to the scene to check it and felt good, and immediately started the construction of the salt farm, but within a few days of the start of construction, someone came to obstruct it, and when he inquired, it was the minions of Cui Shida, the owner of Guangling Salt in Qingzhou.

Xiao Jiasui was not angry but happy when he learned about it, he was worried that he had no place to start and couldn't complete the task of the manor? So he told Jiao Ting not to back down, but often made small fights to make the other party suffer some losses. In the end, the Cui family was furious and dispatched more than 200 salt rods to clean it up. Who knew that Xiao Jiasui was waiting for such an opportunity.

In the afternoon of that day, more than 200 salt dings arrived at the salt field, but they were surrounded and beaten by the three armies of Liangshan horses, inmates, and waters, and none of them escaped the net. Xiao Jiasui then escaped and selected more than 200 people to disguise themselves as Yanding, and he and Li Jun personally led the team, Hao Siwen led the cavalry to guard the periphery, Zhang Heng led the sailor ships to follow behind, and then escorted Jiao Ting and dozens of other prisoners, and mixed into the Cui family's castle outside Guangling City by night.

Cui Shida thought that those newcomers were just wild dogs grabbing food, and he didn't even bother to use the government, so he directly sent his subordinates to kill them. Who knew that these people were blood-devouring tigers, and the old and young accomplices of the Cui family were slaughtered that night, and Xiao Jiasui also rebelled against the two stewards of the Cui family and took the opportunity to control the salt farm.

Xiao Jiasui also said in the letter that the Cui family has controlled the Guangling Salt Works for decades and has countless family fortunes, but they are vicious and unpopular. He was going to carry out the old plan of the iron mine in Jinling Town, and under the pretext of the year-end ceremony, he asked the two stewards to recruit all the people outside in the name of Cui Shida, and then the Liangshan personnel took over and turned the Cuijia Salt Farm into the Liangshan Salt Farm.

Gu Haotian finished reading the letter in one go, and then handed it to Wen Huanzhang and others, and pondered for a while but felt that it was inappropriate. The Cui family is different from the Wu family in Jinling Town, he is a local wealthy family with a wide range of connections, and how can he hide it for a long time. I couldn't help asking:

"Since the Cui family is a big salt merchant, it will be involved a lot with local officials and businessmen, and it will inevitably reveal clues after a long time, how to deal with it at that time, Director Xiao can say."

Director Xiao happened to explain this matter, but among the two principals, one was the Cui family, whose grandfather and Cui Shida's ancestors jointly ran this salt farm, and then they were slowly embezzled by him, and in the end he became a person from home. That guy has held a grudge over the years, and he has always wanted to take back his ancestral business, but this time he took the initiative to help us do things, and Director Xiao wanted to use him to create a false impression of competing for family property, and then buy the government to create the facts. ”

There is also such a thing, which is also possible. After hearing this, several people felt a little relieved, and just watched how Xiao Jiasui would deal with it in the future.

Having said that, Gu Hao Tiancai had some knowledge of Xiao Jiasui's affairs, and he was a little relieved, and then he remembered the five boats of salt, and said:

"Everyone, let's go and see the good salt in Laizhou."

"Petty officials don't have to work hard, Battalion Commander Zhang Heng has already brought a bag up?"

Zhao Ding said and carried a bag and put it on the table, Gu Haotian opened it and looked at it, but there was a bag of yellow-brown crystals, he picked up one and put it in his mouth and tasted it, it was bitter and astringent, and it was a few points worse than the usual salt.

"Is this our own processed salt?"

Gu Haotian couldn't help but ask suspiciously, he had taught Xiao Jiasui a method of refining sea salt before, if this was the salt obtained after purification, it meant that the method in his memory had failed.

In fact, the real sea salt purification method in later generations is to use several additives, not to say that Gu Haotian doesn't know these things, even if he knows, he can't get them. The method he taught was nothing more than a memory of the chemistry experiments of later generations, that is, the process of dissolution, filtration, evaporation, and crystallization. So he didn't have much confidence in his own approach.

Fortunately, Zhang Heng said that the salt was transported directly from the Cui family's warehouse and had not been reprocessed.

Gu Haotian was slightly relieved when he heard this, but he couldn't help but want to try the effect of this method. So he asked Bian Xiang to find someone to get some cotton cloth, charcoal, buckets, iron pots, and firewood.

When several people heard this, they were inexplicable at first, but then they thought that this little official was about to turn decay into magic again, and they couldn't help but look forward to it together.

After a while, Bian Xiang came over with a variety of things. Gu Haotian instructed Bian Xiang to mash the charcoal and spread it between two layers of cotton cloth, and sew it on all sides to make a filter; Pour another half bucket of water, then continue to add salt and stir until it is full, then put the strainer on another empty bucket, pour the salt water slowly, after repeating twice, the salt water in the bucket has been obviously clear. At this time, Gu Haotian's confidence came up, he poured the salted water into the pot and asked Bian Xiang to light the fire and boil it.

Let's say that Wen Changzhang, Zhao Ding, Xu Guanzhong and others originally stood aside and watched Gu Haotian busy, but they slowly saw a little way, so they rolled up their sleeves and joined in. Xu Guanzhong wielded an axe to chop wood, Zhao Ding added fire to the ground, and Wen Huanzhang stirred in the pot with a stick, but Bian Xiang, Zhang Heng and others were squeezed aside, and they were all dumbfounded.

After about half a column of incense, the water in the pot gradually decreased, and a layer of gray-white crystals precipitated, Gu Haotian let the fire go out, and the water slowly dried up for a while, and got a small dish of salt. Gu Haotian picked one up and tasted it, although it still had an astringent taste, it was much better than just now.

And the rest of the few for a long time, this will eventually bear fruit, and I can't wait to pick it up and taste it, but they are all full of praise.

"Liangshan has another divine product! In the future, why worry about the market is not prosperous, and why worry about the manor is not prosperous. ”

Zhao Ding's cheeks were covered with pot ash, but he didn't know it at all, but shook his head and sighed.

Xu Guanzhong's body was full of sawdust, but he said worriedly: "Although this method is good, it only consumes a lot of firewood, and I am afraid it will be difficult to continue." ”

Gu Haotian looked at the three people who were usually sven and neat, and they were so invested in salt, and at the same time, he couldn't help but laugh, but he was also full of emotion.

"The final boiling of this method, if there is good weather, choose a clean and quiet place to dry, and there is no need to use firewood."

As soon as Gu Haotian said this, the last doubts of the three people were all gone.

Wen Huanzhang's sleeves were still rolled high on his arms, but he was busy explaining to Zhang Heng, who was standing on the side:

"After you return to Laizhou this time, you must tell Director Xiao that you must choose a reliable old man in the manor to participate in this matter."

On the same day, Zhao Ding called the two deputy directors of Shangzhang and Pei Xuan, summoned his subordinates and the village chiefs of the Houshan, and after careful consideration, selected 300 reliable men and women, and opened a refined salt processing workshop at the side of the third battalion of sailors on the west side of Liangshan. invited Bian Xiang's father Bian Zhong to be the principal, and let Ren Laohan and Erhu's daughter-in-law, two absolutely reliable people, be helpers, and began to process refined salt the next day.

The market at Lijiadaokou is about to open, and Zhao Ding wants to make a batch of refined salt as soon as possible, which will be used as a treasure to press the box. Because he knows very well that compared with the immortal drunkenness, salt is a matter of concern to every household, but it is more attractive, not to mention the refined salt of excellent quality.

The arrival of salt has added confidence to the success of the Lijiadaokou market. On November 8, Gu Haotian held a special preparatory meeting for the opening of the market in Zhonghua Hall, which was attended by Wen Huanzhang, Xu Guanzhong, Zhao Ding, Zhang Jiucheng, Tao Zongwang, Shi Qian, Yuan Lang, Zhang Shun, Song Wan, Han Jiangping, and the new director of commerce Hu Cheng. The meeting was scheduled to hold a new year's fairy drunken auction in Lijiadao on December 10, and took the opportunity to open the market. He also demanded that before that, the infrastructure construction department would speed up the construction of stores, the garrison guard force should improve defense measures, the civil affairs department should formulate relevant policies, the commerce department would arrange for the sale of products, and the intelligence department should strictly prevent the infiltration of enemy information, and so on.

After the meeting, everyone took orders, but Wen Huanzhang said to Gu Haotian:

"It's time for the Poison Dragon Gang in Jeju to make a move, where the throat of Jiangnan and Jianghuai to the north is very important to the Lijia Daokou, and it must be controlled in our hands."