Chapter 53: The Salt Fields

The next day, Zhai Xiaoshan was woken up by a shrill sound, he sat up from the kang and heard someone banging on the gong outside the wooden house, at this time the door was violently kicked open, and a guard of the Cui family rushed in and shouted: "You slackers hurry up, get dressed and go out to gather immediately, those who are late have no food, hurry up!" ”

Zhai Xiaoshan was sore, and the muscles in his legs were stiff. He struggled to get dressed, put on his shoes, and was the first to run out of the house. There were a lot of people gathered outside, and they were queuing up in a chaotic manner. Last night, the people who had been selected for the convoy were all placed together, and they didn't know each other well, so they didn't know where to stand, and they all ran around like headless flies.

The guards tried their best to straighten out the team, and An Dalang waved his hand, "set off", and took the lead to run up the mountain. The homeless people lined up in a long snake formation and ran after An Dalang. Zhao Zizhong pressed at the back of the team. Several guards of the Cui family patrolled back and forth on the mountain road, supervising the ranks of displaced people.

Zhai Xiaoshan ran slowly with the team, trying to move his stiff muscles. He knew that today's training would not be easy, and he should conserve his strength as much as possible. The mountain became steeper and steeper, everyone ran out of breath, and from time to time someone fell, and the people behind immediately helped him up and dragged him to the mountain.

The mountain air is cold, but it is very comfortable to inhale into the lungs, and many people are sweating profusely and wheezing profusely. When the top of the mountain finally arrived, everyone gasped for breath, and some people sat on the ground and said nothing.

Zhao Zizhong was the last to reach the top of the mountain, he discussed with An Dalang, and returned to the camp with a few guards.

After more than ten minutes, An Dalang shouted: "Now you run back to the camp, the first ten people have meat buns to eat, and the last ten people have no breakfast, start!" ”

Everyone rushed down the mountain, Zhai Xiaoshan didn't run desperately, he followed the middle of the team unhurriedly, and the speed of going down the mountain was very fast, someone accidentally fell down and rolled down the mountain road. The people in front of them dodged one after another, and for a while, the chickens and dogs jumped, and the scene was very chaotic.

Zhai Xiaoshan broke away from the mountain road and ran into the woods, he walked through the forest lightly, jumping up from time to time to jump over some obstacles. Someone saw Zhai Xiaoshan's actions and also ran into the woods.

Zhai Xiaoshan ran for about ten minutes before he came out of the woods, and he looked up to see that he was at the back of the camp. He ran quickly into the camp, walked through the middle of the cabins, and in a moment came to the open space outside the camp.

Zhao Zizhong was waiting for everyone with a few guards. Seeing Zhai Xiaoshan running out of the camp, he nodded, although this kid is a little thinner, he has a strong running ability and a very flexible mind, and he is a good seedling to be a scout.

The guard looked at the wooden card on Zhai Xiaoshan's body and wrote down the number. "You're the seventh to run back, and you'll be eating meat buns later." Zhai Xiaoshan is very happy, he hasn't eaten meat buns for six years, and it seems that as long as he works hard, he will definitely be able to eat meat regularly. He went to the side to rest.

After a while, eighty of them returned. Zhao Zizhong asked the guards to take the seventy people in front of him to dinner, leaving the last ten people to arrive.

These ten people were very depressed, Zhao Zizhong said seriously: "You still have a chance, it's just that you haven't eaten a meal, everyone has to train hard, there will be a test in three days, the worst ten people will be eliminated, I don't want it to be you." ”

These people had nothing to say, they all sat on the ground with their heads bowed, and An Dalang said in a sarcastic tone: "Look at your lack of ambition, you are similar to your mother-in-law." If you are a hero, you should train hard, so that you will have meat to eat, what's the use of sitting here worrying! ”

At this time, a group of centaurs came out of the camp. Boris was walking in front of the team, his tall body was particularly recognizable, and An Dalang shouted: "Old Bao, where are you going so early?" Have you eaten? ”

Boris quickly walked over and said to the two: "I have already eaten, now I will take someone to the beach to choose a place to build a salt pan, and get the salt out as soon as possible, it will be all money!" ”

The three of them all laughed, and Zhao Zizhong instructed: "You have to pay attention to safety, don't be too tired." Boris agreed, and continued his walk out of the valley.

Fan Jinchun, the leader of the guards, walked up and said with some concern: "Mr. Bao, do you think we can get salt?" Since ancient times, salt has been boiled, are we sure that we are doing this? ”

Boris said confidently: "It should be no problem, you have to believe me, we will definitely succeed, and then we will all make a fortune, so that everyone will have no worries about food and clothing for the rest of their lives." ”

The team soon left the valley and headed to the southern part of the island, where there were large tidal flats, ideal for salt pans. After walking for about an hour, we came to the tidal flats to the south, which were very open and had large reed fields. And near the sea, there was no grass, Boris pointed there and said: "Let's go there!" ”

The three carriages that accompanied it soon could not move forward, and the wheels sank into the dirt. Fan Jinchun commanded everyone to do their best, pushing and pulling the carriage out.

Boris asked everyone to clear the reeds from the road, and the homeless people began to clear the road with shovels, sickles, and hoes. After a difficult journey, we finally arrived at the beach with everyone's efforts. Many sat on the ground tired, gasping for breath.

Boris stepped on the ground, feeling a little soft, he called Fan Jinchun and a few guards, and said: "We want to find the hardest place possible, everyone go around and step on it, and tell me if you find it." ”

Everyone split up and searched for the tidal flats. Half an hour later, several places were found. Boris led everyone to experiment one by one and identified a place that was relatively close to the sea.

He had the homeless people work together to lift the millstone from the wagon, and he had the coachman unload the cart. With the cooperation of the crowd, several horses were tied to a millstone with ropes behind them, and Boris asked the coachman to drive the horses and drag the millstones back and forth on the selected ground.

The homeless people were almost rested, and Boris asked everyone to dig a ditch to the sea, which could be used to bring in seawater at high tide. Everyone lined up with tools and devoted themselves to the great cause of repairing the earth.

Time passed quickly, and it was noon in a short time. Several servants of the Cui family came to the beach with five homeless women and a carriage. They unloaded several cauldrons from the wagons, dug several pits in the ground, and dug a gap diagonally in the edge of the pit to add firewood.

When the pit was dug, the servants put the cauldron on top of the pit, stuffed some wood under the pot, and started to make a fire. Several women took out some vegetables and dried meat and put them in a pot, added some salt, and added water to prepare the soup.

The smoke rises, the flames lick the bottom of the pot happily, and after a while the water boils, and the ingredients in the pot tumble in the soup, giving off an enticing aroma. The servants brought down several large baskets from the wagon, lifted the sackcloth that covered the baskets, and filled them with steamed cakes.

Boris asked everyone to come over for dinner, and the homeless people, guided by the guards, lined up, and each of them received two cakes and a bowl of soup in turn, and went to the side to eat.

When they had finished eating, the servants and women drove back in the carriage. Boris sat down with the homeless people and chatted and told them some foreign anecdotes, and everyone listened attentively, and from time to time they let out some admiration.

After a break, Boris took everyone to work again. By evening, the ditch was largely completed. Boris ordered the work to be called a day, and everyone packed up their tools and drove the wagon to the valley, leaving a few bulky millstones on the seashore.

Back at the camp, the brothers met in the canteen, plus Cui Zhaorong, Fan Jinchun, and Hu Shuiyang, everyone exchanged a day's work, and raised a few questions, all of which were trivial matters, and everyone discussed and found a way to come up with a solution.

Wei Hongye said: "I walked a lot with Da Lei today, and found a suitable place to build a kiln on a hillside in the north of the island, which is very close to the wharf, which is convenient for transporting all kinds of raw materials, but it is far away from the camp. ”

Du Dalei said with a smile: "It's not a bad thing to be far away from the camp, at least the environment of our camp won't be polluted." ”

Everyone agreed, no one wanted to live in a place that was smoky. Zhao Zizhong said that he and An Dalang tossed enough about the quasi-guards today and prepared to continue tomorrow.

Na Zhe said that Yali Mountain is big, although Cui Xiaoniang, Fang Juniang and a few maids helped, but those children were difficult to manage, Hu Yidao and Tian Renfeng both moved, and only then did they shock a few big children.

Zhao Zi nodded emphatically, "Send a few disobedient children to me tomorrow, let them train with the escort team, and ensure that they will all obey after a few days." ”

Na Zhe was happy, and patted Du Dalei on the thigh, "The boss is smart, this method is good." ”

Du Dalei pushed Na Zhe, "Why are you slapping my thigh?" ”

"Didn't you say that it doesn't hurt to pat someone else's leg?"

The next morning, Boris set off with a team of salters. When he came to the sea, he asked the coachman to drive the horse and continue to run over the ground. He then had the displaced people pile up ridges around the compacted area to create a shallow pool of water to hold the seawater.

Everyone was in full swing, and by the afternoon, a boxy salt pan had been repaired. Boris told everyone to dig ditches to the salt pans and prepare to bring in the sea at high tide.

After a while, the ditch was connected to the salt pans. Boris had a gap dug in the ditch where the ridges were connected and waited for the tide to rise.

After waiting for about half an hour, some murky sea water slowly flowed from the ditch into the salt pans, and many people cheered, some hugged each other and shouted. The water level in the salt pans slowly rose, and in a short time it was more than a foot deep. Boris hurriedly called for someone to plug the gap, and everyone quickly plugged the hole with dirt. Boris breathed a sigh of relief, and the first step in drying salt was finally completed.