Hedong County, at the southern end of Anyi County, on the bank of the salt pond, Zhang Liao, Guo Jia and others are inspecting the salt pond. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Hedong salt pond is divided into two large pools, one is in the northwest of Xie County, called Xie Pond, 25 miles from east to west, 20 miles from north to south. One is at the southwest end of Anyi County, 51 miles long from east to west, 6 miles wide from north to south, and 114 miles per week, which is actually a large saltwater lake.

Hedong salt pond began to produce salt since the time of the Three Emperors and Five Emperors, until now, the salt produced here is exported to the north and the state, the west to Guanliang, the south to Luoyang, the east to Jizhou, Yanzhou.

In the fourth year of the Han Dynasty, with Sang Hongyang and other words, the benefits of salt and iron, the world's salt officials were twenty-eight counties, and Hedong Anyi was the head, and then many sons of heaven had come to see the salt pond in person.

Salt has been a necessity for human survival since ancient times, and the importance of salt ponds is self-evident.

Just as Guo Jia plotted at the beginning and let him choose Hedong to gain a foothold, in addition to the geographical advantage, a big factor is the salt pond, mastering the salt pond in Hedong, it is almost to sit on the ground to collect money, and can control the salt affairs of the four prefectures and counties in Hedong, in exchange for the grain and grass, war horses and weapons he needs.

The water of the salt pond is not frozen in winter, and the salt pond is surrounded by salt furrows, and the salt pond water is stored and is specially used to dry salt.

Biqiuxing on the side explained the process of drying salt to Zhang Liao: "The salt workers reclaim the land on all sides of the salt pond as furrows, divert water fertile, and consume salt into water. Reclamation in February every year, water diversion in April, fumigation by the sun in the summer month, turbulence of the south wind, the salt plate is knotted, smooth and thick, the water on the board is about three inches, the waves are churning, and the plate is formed into particles, which is called the grain salt. If it rains lightly, the color is more distinct, the salt quality is better, it is advisable to fish in time, if it rains heavily, the salt is dissolved, the cold pool is dry in autumn and winter, and the salt can not be born, occasionally there are, the nitrate and alkali are mixed, and the taste is not right, so it stops in August, and the salt is more than 100,000 stones every year. ”

Zhang Liao couldn't help but nod his head when he heard it, he also thought that the salt pond in Hedong could be exposed at any time, but now after listening to Biqiu Xingyi, he knew that this cycle is also very long, and it is calculated on an annual basis, which is not easy.

He asked Biqiu Xing again: "Which families are in control of Yanchi now?" ”

When Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, he attacked the Xiongnu from afar, and spent a lot of money, in order to collect military funds, implement the salt and iron official camp, and collect the benefits of the mountains and seas, but after the death of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Huo Guang assisted the government, and under the promotion of the powerful family, he restored the salt and iron private sector, and in the Later Han Dynasty, there was a son of heaven who tried to restore the salt and iron official camp, but he could not screw the power of the family, and ended in failure.

Today's salt ponds are controlled by local tycoons, and the imperial court only sends salt officials to collect salt taxes.

Zhang Liao knew that there were too many forces mixed in the salt pond, and Biqiu Xing, as a native of Hedong, should know more.

Sure enough, Biqiu Xing's expression was also quite solemn: "There are more than 30 people involved in the salt furrow here, including Hedong, Henan, Hongnong, Bingzhou, Guanliang and even Hanoi. ”

When Zhang Liao heard this, he couldn't help frowning, more than thirty families were powerful...... If he directly adopts the means of violent eradication, it is estimated that he will be embattled immediately, and this Hedong is too afraid to do it.

"What are the families?" He asked again.

Biqiu Xing muttered: "Originally, the Runan Yuan clan also had it, but now it is occupied by the Lintao Dong clan, in addition, there are also Hongnong Yang clan, Liu clan, Fufeng Dou clan, Geng clan, Anding Huangfu clan, Wuwei Hu clan, Yang clan, Jingzhao Wei clan, Jin clan, Du clan, Feng Yiji clan, Xingyang Zheng clan, Hanoi Fang clan, Zhongshan Zhen clan, Taiyuan Wang clan, Hedong Wei clan, Fan clan...... However, now the Fan family and the Wei family have been swept away by the lord and temporarily taken over by the county government. ”

Nima, so many flies!

Zhang Liao couldn't help but want to pat his forehead, he groaned and looked at Biqiu Xing: "What if their salt furrows are collected into the official camp?" ”

Biqiu Xing hurriedly said: "The salt and iron official camp is to compete with the people for profit, so that the king's move is afraid of losing people's hearts, so think twice!" ”

"Competing with the people?" Zhang Liao snorted: "For two hundred years, salt and iron have been privately owned, and I haven't seen the people rich, but I have fattened those wealthy families, what is the benefit to ordinary people?" ”

The lifeblood of a country like salt and iron should not be controlled and monopolized by the powerful family, otherwise it will only make the family more and more powerful, which is not a good thing.

Biqiu Xing said: "This is a national plan, so if you do it, I am afraid that you will be held accountable by the Son of Heaven." ”

Zhang Liao raised his eyebrows, this is a problem, the time is not yet right, once Dong Zhuo is dead and Guanzhong is out of control, he can act completely independently.

At this time, Guo Jia said loudly on the side: "The share of the Wei and Fan families is not small, after they were confiscated from their family property, their share in Yanchi was all taken over by the county government, so that the monarch can strengthen control in the name of the country, although there is no official name, but there is an official camp." ”

Zhang Liao grinned, this method is not bad. Guo Jia said vaguely, but in fact, he wanted to use Dong Zhuo's name to forcibly control the salt pond first, and then let Dong Zhuo bear a bad reputation, I am afraid that there are not many ministers and Haoqiang who rushed to question Dong Zhuo at the moment.

If Dong Zhuo asked about himself, he could say that the Hedong Mansion was empty, and if he wanted to support the war, he could only control the salt pond, plus Li Ru and Tian Yi's words, presumably Dong Zhuo would not be too responsible.

And he didn't think about the future of Yanchi's government and private sector. The disadvantages of being run alone are not small, production will be reduced, and the problem of the private sector will be even greater. He thought of the salt introduction of the later generations, in fact, the later generations were not completely official, but only cooperative.

But in any case, Yanchi is determined to win, even if he is the enemy of those families, he will not hesitate to do it.

Seeing that the sky was getting dark, he waved his hand: "Go!" Go to Xie County to have a look. ”

……

Xie County is located to the west of Yanchi, adjacent to Yanchi, so its status is very important. About the origin of the name of Xie County, quite interesting, ancient books record, the Yellow Emperor killed Chi You in the middle of Hebei, Chi You body head in a different place, Chi You blood into the pool into brine, then the salt pool of the solution, because of its autopsy, so named Jie.

The real cause of the Hedong Salt Pond is that it was a sea area hundreds of millions of years ago, and then after the vicissitudes of the sea and the terrain changes to form today's salt pond geology. However, the fact that Chiyou and the Yellow Emperor fought here can reflect that most of the former Yellow Emperor tribe and Chiyou tribe fought for the salt pool.

In the area of Xie County, there are quite a lot of fields, and they go all the way to the west for dozens of miles, the terrain is extremely flat, with fields and dense forests on both sides, but many fields are barren.

Seeing this large piece of barren land, Zhang Liao couldn't help but sigh.

The disasters brought about by the war were extremely serious, and a large number of strong soldiers were recruited as the people, which not only increased the consumption of grain and grass, but also reduced the source of grain and grass, and famine would come sooner or later.

Biqiu Xing seemed to know Zhang Liao's thoughts, and said: "Xie County is adjacent to Yanchi, and the people in this area are mostly hired by Haoqiang to engage in salt drying and transshipment, and after the Son of Heaven moved the capital to Chang'an, some officials came here to recruit people, go to the south of Zhongtiao Mountain to cut wood, repair Chang'an Palace, in addition to understanding the county, there are also nearby Hebei, Dayang, Puban, Fenyin County, have been requisitioned a lot of people, every household is only left with old and weak women and children, so the farmland is more wasted. ”

Zhang Liao frowned, and said, "It's been more than half a year since the Son of Heaven moved the capital to Chang'an, could it be that the palace hasn't been repaired yet?" ”

Biqiu Xing hesitated and said in a low voice: "The Chang'an Palace has been repaired, but Dong Xiangguo wants to build a palace in Fufeng Yi County, so the people have all been sent there." ”

Yiwu?

Zhang Liao remembered that Dong Zhuo had also done this, and couldn't help sighing and shaking his head again and again.

Hewu is close to the junction of Guanzhong and Liangzhou, and Dong Zhuo's construction of Hewu means that his ambition is lost, and he is only ready to enjoy it, leaving a way back.

In fact, in history, Dong Zhuo Xiu Yiwu, Gongsun Zhan Jian Yijing, and Yuan Shu Xiu Gongque all went into decline. Ambition is lost, vision is lost, how can you not be defeated.

At this time, Biqiu Xing said again: "The day before yesterday, the captain of Sili sent someone to pass the order, saying that he would also recruit people to help the wind and build the Yiwu. This matter has made the king suppress for two days, and I am afraid that the prime minister will be questioned if it is too late. ”

Zhang Liao waved his hand: "How can there be people with him, delay first, and then catch some Baibo prisoners." ”

Biqiu Xing hurriedly said: "Now there are many rumors in the county that Jun has beaten Liu Huan, the captain of Sili, if he offends him again because of this matter, I am afraid he will take the opportunity to ask the guilt......"

Zhang Liao grinned: "What are you afraid of, I was Sima, I dared to beat him and catch him, if he didn't know each other, he dared to come to Hedong, and he would be beaten again!" When the time comes, let Xiangguo send someone to take him back. ”

Biqiu Xing's cheeks twitched, and Guo Jia laughed.

Zhang Liao changed the topic, pointed to the wasteland and said: "This piece is dozens of miles in circumference, extremely flat, so it will be used as a tuntian land." ”

The best effect of tuntian is to concentrate on a piece of land, which is easy to manage, and will not be chaotic with other self-cultivated land, this place is very suitable, most of the land is barren, and a small number of self-cultivated land is also easy to relocate.

However, seeing that such a large area of wasteland had not been sorted out, Zhang Liao couldn't help frowning.

His decree has been down for nearly a month, and it is said that the next act is long overdue, so why is there no movement here now? (To be continued.) )