The next day, Ye Chen asked Bai Feng to take him to the beach to see the boiling salt, although he didn't have to enter the salt industry, but at least he could produce it for his own use, and he could also save a lot of money.

Dahan did not implement a monopoly on salt at this time, but it was once a monopoly after all, so the salt industry has a great relationship with local officials, which is why Ye Chen has never dared to enter the salt industry.

The salt industry and the local officials are inextricably linked, if you rush in, there will inevitably be a fierce conflict, and if you are not careful, the Ye family will be besieged or even destroyed.

The Ye family can deal with a certain official, or even a few officials, but there is no way to deal with a group of officials, you must know that these officials are all from a family and have a very great influence, no matter how strong the Ye family is, it can't be hard at the same time with a group of families.

When I came to the beach, I saw a group of people boiling water, the seawater was poured into the pot, and then boiled dry, after the boil was dry, the surface of the pot would condense layers of white salt, because the salt content of the seawater was not high, and the water in the pot could only get a little salt.

Piles of people on the beach are boiling seawater, which is quite spectacular. Ye Chen saw that many people were blackened by the smoke, and some people simply went to catch a few fish and grilled the fish while boiling salt.

"Zimo, how much salt can so many people boil in a day."

"It's just a few loads of salt, just enough for the county."

Ye Chen shook his head and didn't say anything, in fact, he had a more efficient salt drying, but he had been thinking about whether to enter the salt industry, after all, the profits of the salt industry were too great, most of the salt industry was monopolized by the imperial court, and the Han Dynasty also implemented the monopoly of salt and iron during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and it was only when Emperor Guang of the Han Dynasty changed the monopoly to taxation.

Although it was not a salt and iron monopoly at this time, the salt industry was still closely related to the government, and the rest of the people did not dare to move it easily, unless it was smuggling.

If it is known that Ye Chen has made salt on a large scale on the seaside, then I am afraid that seventy or eighty percent of the officials of the entire Han Dynasty will come to snatch or get a piece of the pie, and then the Ye family will probably be doomed.

Ye Chen asked people to lead a few horses, and walked along the seashore on horseback with Bai Feng and a few soldiers from the guard battalion.

The salt drying method was invented in the Ming Dynasty, although it was relatively late, but this technique is not difficult at all, it is nothing more than to find a relatively flat tidal flat, introduce seawater, and then let the sun dry.

During this process, the salt content of the seawater will continue to rise, and the concentration will become larger and larger, and after a certain extent, it will be poured into another pond and the salt will be precipitated.

After searching for more than two hours, Ye Chen found a very large tidal flat by the sea, which was a very ideal salt drying field.

Dig some ponds on the tidal flats, and when the tide rises, the water will naturally fill all the pools, and then these pools will be fenced off, and when the tide is high, new sea water will not come in, and the sea water will naturally be slowly dried.

Looking at this tidal flat, Ye Chen said to Bai Feng beside him: "Zimo, I have a way to produce salt on a large scale, and the cost is dozens or hundreds of times lower than now. ”

Although Ye Chen said it was very plain, but in Bai Feng's ears, it set off a monstrous wave, salt is definitely the most profitable industry at the moment, because it is a necessity, like food, you can't eat it.

Salt has always been relatively expensive, that is, the yield is too low, and now it is generally used to boil salt, which requires a lot of fuel and a lot of manpower.

Ye Chen said that it can be produced in large quantities, and it can also greatly reduce costs, Bai Feng knew how much profit there was when he heard it, although Du Kang wine made money, it was far from being comparable to the salt industry.

Bai Feng said excitedly: "Lord, really? Great, all the problems of the Ye family have been solved. ”

What would Bai Feng say is because Ye Chen's biggest problem now is that he doesn't have enough money, if he can come up with a large sum of money, then all the big problems of the Ye family can be solved.

After listening to Bai Feng's words, Ye Chen's face was still very calm, and he said slowly: "Yes, the salt industry is a profiteering industry, and even a big country is moved. ”

Listening to Ye Chen's words, Bai Feng was shocked in his heart, and immediately knew that things were not so simple, otherwise, with Ye Chen's consistent thunderous character, he would have sent someone to start taking action a long time ago, but now there is no movement.

Bai Feng is a smart person, he didn't expect it before, as soon as Ye Chen said that he would know what the problem was, so he slowly calmed down from the excitement.

"Lord, what the wind thought just now is too simple, this salt industry is too involved, it really can't be cautious, at least not at the moment." After speaking, Bai Feng looked at the sea with a pity on his face, there is a huge wealth hidden in this sea, but he can only see it but can't take it.

"Do it, you have to do it, just do it secretly." Ye Chen finally made this decision.

Bai Feng thought about it, it's okay to do it secretly, but it can't be bigger, but at least there will be some income, and the income is not small.

"Now the fleet is under construction, it will take shape in a few months, and our naval army will also start training, otherwise we will not be able to sail the ship out then." Ye Chen suddenly jumped from the salt industry to the fleet, and Bai Feng didn't react at once.

"We are going to build a naval army, and the number of personnel is set at 1,000 at present, 500 people will be drawn from the guard battalion, 500 people are being recruited, and the guard battalion will be replenished with 5,000 men. Then this water army will be put here to train. After Ye Chen finished speaking, he pointed to a tidal flat in front of him with the horsewhip in his hand and said.

Hearing this, Bai Feng understood, it turned out that Ye Chen wanted the guard battalion to produce salt, the guard battalion was absolutely loyal, and it could definitely be trusted, and it was most suitable to use the guard battalion to do this.

"Lord, what exactly should I do?" Bai Feng didn't know how to dry salt, so he could only ask Ye Chen.

"The salt will be handed over to the guard battalion to produce, I don't need to look at this method every day, the guard battalion can train while producing, and it won't affect much. And secretly build some warehouses here, and the salt produced is temporarily placed here, except for our Ye family's own use and sale to the grassland, we will not sell it to the public for the time being. ”

"These salts are stored first, and when they are sold depends on the timing, and hoarding a certain amount may be of great use in the future.

”

After listening to Ye Chen's words, Bai Feng was impressed, and felt very fortunate that he chose Ye Chen to recognize the lord, this lord not only knew a lot, but also had a very strong ability to grasp the general trend.

A person who does great things needs to have a sense of the overall situation, and can know how to use people, Bai Feng is very at ease with his subordinates, and dares to entrust his subordinates with important tasks, so that his subordinates can exercise well, and attach great importance to cultivating talents, and try to create opportunities to cultivate their own talents.

This is what a lord, the ruler of a power, needs to have.

"Lord, our Ye family also needs a lot of salt, no matter what, this can save a lot of expenses."

"Well, the most important thing in this matter is secrecy, the escort battalion does not need to have any suspicion, but the surrounding area of this place must be fenced, and ordinary people and future ships cannot approach here."

Once this matter is leaked and confirmed, then the Ye family will cause a big disaster, and now there is only one county, thousands of soldiers and horses, and there is no way to withstand the counterattack of many families.

The few people next to him were all soldiers of the guard battalion, and there was no doubt about their loyalty, so Ye Chen did not shy away from it, and his conversation with Bai Feng did not avoid them.

Next, Ye Chen gave Bai Feng a detailed introduction to how the salt drying method is drying, in fact, it is very simple, it is nothing more than making pieces of salt fields, like farming, separating the land into pieces, the difference is that crops are planted in the farming fields, and seawater is put in the salt.

The principle of the salt drying method is very simple, it is nothing more than using the sun to evaporate the seawater, and wait until the seawater reaches a certain concentration before transferring it to a place where the salt is specially precipitated.

Therefore, Ye Chen and Bai Feng made it clear after most of the hour, and most of the talk about this half hour was how to do a good job of confidentiality.

Bai Feng is a smart person, so he can naturally understand Ye Chenjiang's things, after all, these things are not difficult to understand.

"My lord, this place is very critical, and a careful and capable general must be sent to guard it, after all, this place is very critical, and I can't stay here often." After Ye Chen finished speaking, Bai Feng made a request.

Bai Feng's words were very reasonable, Ye Chen hadn't taken them into account before, but he would also think about them when they actually operated. Although Guan Yu and Tai Shici are very suitable, they should not move lightly, the guard battalion is the Ye family's Dinghai Divine Needle, and the combat power must be guaranteed, and the combat power of the two of them in the guard battalion will be greatly improved.

Then the next thing is to choose among the few young generals, and after thinking for a while, Ye Chen has a suitable candidate.

"Let Li Ren come here as the main general, and Lu Wolf as his deputy. Li Ren was one of the first 500 guard battalions, and when he first started training, he showed good ability, this person has foresight, knows strategy, and understands the overall situation; And Lu Wolf has outstanding strength, the Ye family is the most powerful except for Yun Chang and my eldest brother, and he also joined the guard battalion very early. ”

In fact, Ye Chen didn't say one thing when evaluating Li Ren, that is, Li Ren is absolutely loyal to the Ye family, his elder brother is Li Qing, and he was also reused by Ye Chen, who was responsible for making fertilizer at the beginning, and later reused him when Yejiabao was built and recruited by the homeless, and now Li Qing was sent to manage the entire Tuntian work in Yuxian County.

"Well, my lord, the two of them can work together, with the two of them here, I believe that the work here is completely fine." Bai Feng also knew some of the main figures of the Ye family very well, and as a military advisor, he had to understand them before he could help the lord make reasonable suggestions.

The matter was settled like this, and Bai Feng would naturally arrange the rest of the things, Ye Chen, as the helmsman, just grasp the direction, this time it has been a few days since he came out of Yuxian County, the situation here is basically clear, and he has the bottom in his heart, explain Bai Feng, Ye Chen will go back the next day.

How many days have come out, Wu Xian, the Ye family's base camp, is not there, there will definitely be some things delayed, but it will not be a big deal, if it is a big event, Old Man Ye will not care, and small things will have little impact on the overall situation of the Ye family.