"Your Majesty." Youwei screamed in distress.

Li Ji looked furious: "Where does the salt in the capital come from?"

This thing is known: "Your Majesty, since the first emperor. The feudal towns have stopped paying tribute, and the salt ponds in Hedong are all controlled by Li Keyong, the king of Jin. The king of Jin ordered a ban on the export of salt and iron, and the salt in the capital has always been very tight. Most of them are smuggled by canals. ”

Li Ji understood that the salt and iron system of the imperial court was in vain, and the salt and iron of the whole country were not controlled by the imperial court at all.

Nowadays, the feudal towns are only superficially obedient, and most of them have paid tribute to the imperial court, but salt and iron have always controlled and strictly prohibited the outflow.

Among them, most of the sea salt is controlled by Liu Rengong and Yang Xingmi, the pool salt is controlled by Li Keyong, and the Sichuan Jingyan is controlled by Wang Jian. And there is no salt production land around Luoyang, and this salt alone is choked by the throat of the feudal town.

Don't look at this little table salt, the ancients valued it the most. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty once attributed salt and iron to the official camp, which greatly increased the taxes of the imperial court.

If the human body is not replenished with salt for a long time, it will be exhausted, and the people will not be able to farm, and the soldiers will not be able to fight.

In a short period of time, the imperial court will not be able to control the right to operate salt and iron, unless these feudal towns are destroyed.

It is not a one-time effort, not to mention that the imperial court does not have this ability now. Even if Li Ji has the ability to destroy the feudal town, his own strength will be greatly affected.

At present, there is only a policy of softness, and the feudal towns are temporarily appeased. When they are really strong and the feudal towns do not defeat themselves, it is not too late to clean them up.

"Brother Zhu, is there saline-alkali land near this Luoyang City?" Li Ji asked suddenly.

This Zhu Youneng heard a little: "Yes, there are poisonous salt mines."

Li Ji was overjoyed when he heard this: "Where is the poisonous salt mine?"

Zhu Youneng was taken aback, this kid didn't have a fever: "Those are poisonous salts, and people will die if they eat them."

Li Ji smiled: "I have a way to make you eat undead."

Although Zhu Youneng admires Li Ji very much, if he can turn the poisonous salt that can eat the dead into table salt, he doesn't believe it.

Zhu Youneng scoffed: "Brother Li, persuade the peasant envoy Han E to manage the 300 hectares of land a few hundred meters to the east, there is a poisonous salt mine, which is bitter and astringent, and no one wants it." Brother Li, if you have a way to turn that poisonous salt mine into edible salt, I will exempt you from land rent for two years. ”

"It's a deal! Whoever repents is a dog. Li Ji shouted.

When Zhu Youneng heard this, he immediately became suspicious again. This kid can't really do anything to turn poisoned salt into edible fine salt.

Too many strange things happened to Li Ji, from the gunpowder that blew people up to the fireworks, to the food crops that were strangely shaped and could be eaten. And the 20,000 pigs, plus the transparent thing called glass that was refined from the West Mountain......

The more Zhu Youneng thought about it, the more scared he became: "That, that Brother Li, brother, I just said it casually, but it's not accurate."

Li Ji glared: "Why, a manly man, he is full of words, and the words he says are a spit and a nail." If you, Zhu Youneng, speak like a fart, then this bet can not be counted. ”

Zhu Youneng was squeezed by Chi Guoguo, and he began to regret it: "You, didn't you say that whoever repented was a puppy, Lao Tzu repented, Wang!"

Li Ji was drinking water, and he almost choked when he squirted out.

Zhu Youneng is so cheeky, the dead pig is not afraid of boiling water: "Wang! Woo Woo ......"

Li Ji: "You won."

In fact, Li Ji knew that the poisonous salt was nothing more than the heavy metals in it that seriously exceeded the standard.

The purification method is not particularly difficult, and requires certain processing processes, such as filtration.

To filter out the toxic impurities in the coarse salt, the coarse salt that you eat is because the magnesium chloride exceeds the standard, so the taste is very bitter. After processing and purification, we can get the coarse salt we usually eat.

"Your Majesty, it's time for us to leave for the palace." Youwei reminded.

It will be Empress Dowager He's birthday in a few days, and Li Ji should indeed go back earlier.

However, when Li Ji heard that there was a salt mine, he became anxious again: "Okay, let's leave early tomorrow morning." Brother Zhu, let's go and see that poisonous salt mine. ”

Zhu Youneng was stunned for a moment: "Let, why don't we go back to the capital?"

"What are you going to do, I haven't seen this salt yet, wait until I make refined salt for you to see!" Li Ji tore off a rabbit leg and gnawed it: "Fragrant!"

Zhu Youneng immediately rushed over: "I'll taste it."

Luoyang, Beijing,

Empress Dowager He's birthday is imminent, although Empress Dowager He has repeatedly ordered routine frugality, the courtiers still dare not slack off.

After all, this is the first time to celebrate the Queen Mother's birthday, and he didn't agree to sacrifice to the temple when Zhu Wen was there. Now the Queen Mother's birthday is a great celebration for the whole world.

But since the Queen Mother can't say that she is extravagant, then try to be frugal. The imperial court can be frugal, but the feudal towns cannot.

The Queen Mother only said that the imperial court should be thrifty, but she did not say that the feudal towns should be thrifty. So the three provinces of Menxia, Zhongshu and Shangshu reconsidered, and a holy royal proclamation was announced to the world, the queen mother had a big birthday, and the vassal king paid tribute.

These feudal towns were all shocked by Li Ji's resolute behavior, and on the occasion of the Queen Mother's birthday, they didn't hurry up to pat their ass.

For a time, various feudal towns sent envoys to Luoyang, one to congratulate the birthday, and the other to inquire about the reality of the imperial court.

You can't come to celebrate your birthday empty-handed, and the feudal towns have brought all the good things they can get on their own territory. Some are even more for comparison, or to show their strength, a cart of gifts brought to the capital by the messenger.

The Praetorian Guards of the capital waited for the rest of the day, all in order to create an appearance of a powerful soldier, which made the envoys of the feudal town fearful.

The tens of thousands of Praetorian Guards are really scary, and the current Praetorian Army is no longer the new recruits of the past. After the big battle with Zhu Youwen, coupled with the hard training of the usual, they were all radiant and their morale was high.

And the Queen Mother's birthday, it is inevitable that there will be amnesty for the world. There were more guests in Luoyang City, and it became more lively. The bad guys are also all dispatched to maintain law and order in the capital.

At this time, Li Ji did not rush to the palace, but took Zhu Youneng and others to their crop fields.

Persuading the peasants, Han E led people to greet him in the field early, and Li Ji was overjoyed when he saw the crops that were growing well.

Don't look at the fact that there is no fertilizer in this land, but it is still very strong. The only thing is that there are more weeds.

It's not that Han E is not diligent, more than 300 acres of land. In this era, there are no herbicides or the like, and often a rain falls, and the field is barren with grass.

At this time, Han E had to lead people to weed desperately, often one side had just been removed, and the other side had grown again.

Fortunately, the ancients were all hard-working and hard-working, and they couldn't finish it with a lot of strength. Except for Li Ji and Zhu Youneng and others, who felt that farming was hard work, everyone else felt that this work was very easy.

The corn has entered the ripening season, and the corn is now very tender and is just right for cooking and eating.

"Han E, pick some tender corn for me. Pick up a cart and send it to the palace, I want to feast the ministers on the birthday of the Queen Mother. ”

PS: Thanks for the tip for killing a cow.