Wu Dake was a little confused by one sentence, and the old fisherman next to him also asked a little unhappily after hearing it: "Your Excellency just now, you have already said that the way of raising fish will definitely not work, what are you going to do to build this fish pond, can you let me wait to open my eyes?" ”。

Xiao Zheng unfolded the picture and said: "The things produced in this pond are worth more than fish farming, and this pond produces salt."

"What, sir, you said that this pond produces salt?!" Wu Dake was stunned when he heard this.

"My lord, don't fool me, an old man who is about to sink into the ground?" The old fisherman on the side also asked with trembling lips regardless of etiquette.

"I, Xiao Zheng, dare to fool anyone, but I don't dare to fool the people!" As soon as the words fell, a cheer immediately rang out.

Pointing to the picture, he explained to Wu Dake: "The fishermen all know that this sea water is salty and cannot quench their thirst, and to put it bluntly, there is salt in the water. This pond is used to dry salt, when the tide is high, let the sea water flow into the pond along the sluice gate, then close the sluice gate, and then let the sun shine directly, and wait for the water to evaporate is brine, and then dry it is salt."

"My lord, is this salt so easy to get?" Wu Dake was a little unconvinced.

"It's not easy at all, but I know that this will definitely work, and the specific method needs to be explored by you and someone."

He turned his head and said to the old fisherman: "Old man, this matter of repairing the pond is more troublesome, and you still need to recruit manpower, this time you don't have to do labor, everyone comes here to work here for five hundred yuan a month, bring livestock over twice, and eat three meals a day."

"Don't worry, who will be stupid if they don't do this job!" Hearing such good conditions, the old fisherman patted his chest excitedly.

"Let's get a pond out first, try to see if it works, don't go all of them, in that case, it will really cost the people and money," Xiao Zheng reminded.

"My lord, don't worry," Wu Dake turned his head before Xiao Zheng finished speaking, and ran towards the people.

"Folks, get to work!" Wu Dake's voice came from afar, and people in their forties rushed excitedly on the beach.

Ten days later, Xiao Zheng rushed over from Hangzhou again, and when he saw Xu Jingzong, his face was darkened by the sea breeze, and when he saw Xiao Zheng, he was talking and laughing with the people who were working, this guy is very popular, at least on the surface.

When Xu Jingzong saw Xiao Zheng coming, he excitedly pulled him to the edge of the pond, went down the steps to the edge of the salt pond, pointed to the water and said, "My lord, look at the bottom of this pond!" ”

At this time, there was already a layer of white crystals at the bottom of the pond, and I rubbed my hands with my hands, and I obviously felt a rustling sensation in my palms.

"My lord, the weather has been beautiful these days, and it hasn't rained for half a month, is there salt underneath?"

Pointing to the crystals at the bottom, Xiao Zheng said: "Lao Xu, let people shovel these things out and dry them on the stone platform above!" ”。

A dozen fishermen shoveled the crystallized salt onto the stone platform with wooden shovels.

Looking at the sun overhead, the winter in Jiangnan is just past the rainy season, the sky is not hot, the sun is not shining, the air is very dry, it is a good season for water to evaporate.

After lunch, when we went to the pond, all the salt on the table was lumpy, and although it looked a little blue, it was definitely salt.

Xiao Zheng picked up a small piece and licked it with his tongue, it was no different from the taste of salt in later generations, there was no astringent feeling, and his heart suddenly had a bottom.

"My lord, this is salt? This salt is so simple to dry? A young fisherman on the side asked excitedly.

As soon as he finished speaking, he was kicked in the ass.

"Simple?! Simple: There are no adults here, how can you still buy salt from salt dealers at a high price? Idiot! The old fisherman on the side pointed at the young man and scolded angrily.

"This salt can't be eaten yet, first grind this salt into powder with a stone mill, and then find some livestock to test it for a while to see if it is poisonous, and then give it to people when it is confirmed that it is okay," Xiao Zheng explained to everyone.

"Is this salt still poisonous?! The quality of this salt is so high that people have never seen it, and it must be sold at least one liter when it is sold on the market! Don't say it's not poisonous, it's just a little old man to try it! I'm getting old, and my life isn't worth a few dollars! Several old fishermen shouted excitedly at Xiao Zheng.

was so angry that Xiao Zheng pointed at a few old men and couldn't speak.

"My lord, you just let them try, I believe you, this salt will be fine!" Watching the salt powder of Baihuahua flowing out of the stone mill, Xu Jingzong also said with some excitement.

He knew too well the profits of this salt, and now that he saw that this salt was made out by Xiao Zheng like this, he knew that he had picked a cornucopia again.

"Actually, I'm also too worried, this sea salt has a benefit over well salt, that is, it can cure diseases and treat goiter," Xiao Zheng said with a smile.

"My lord, what is this salt for? What false line? Zheng Xuanli asked confusedly.

"Get out! This salt contains something that cures galls! It's the 'big neck' disease! Xiao Zheng said to Zheng Xuanli angrily and funny.

"Oh!" Zheng Xuanli scratched his head and said.

"My lord, what you said really reminded Xiao Lao'er of something, the villain has been to the north and the mountains before, and has seen people with that kind of disease, but no one really has this disease on this seaside!" The old fisherman on the side said happily.

"That's it! There are those things in the fish you eat that can ward off the disease. The old man, you can dry salt in the future, and this salt pond can be built more depending on the situation! In the future, I will send people to come here regularly to collect salt, rest assured, it will be more profitable than you go out to sea to fish and farm! ”

"My lord, do you mean that these salt pools will be under my care in the future?!" Wu Dake twisted his face and asked Xiao Zheng in a trembling voice.

"You don't care about me under your rule?" glanced at Wu Dake, who was excited, and said.

"In the future, these people are workers in the salt pond, and I will send people to collect salt, and 20% of the profit here is given to these people every year! Your county has been poor for so long, it's time for people to live a good life! Okay, I want to tell you how to do it in the salt field in the future, now the air is dry, the sunshine is long, the evaporation is large, the yield of salt is high, and it is not good to dry salt in the rainy season. But this salt pond must be built as soon as possible, and we must go back as soon as possible."

"I'll wait for Lord Xie!"

Including Wu Dake, hundreds of people knelt in hulala, and many people cried.

There is a different wilderness on the edge of the West Lake in Hangzhou, when Xiao Zheng built and sold nearly 100 buildings in order to raise money to build the academy, the number of the villa is eighty-eight, although it is winter now, the courtyard is still full of flowers, the garden inside has a unique charm, and the magnificence is elegant. The most impressive thing is that there is a pavilion in the middle of the courtyard, if the pavilion alone is not enough at all, it is not strange, but this pavilion is all surrounded by transparent glass, which is rare in Jiangnan.

Ba Zhongshi, a big salt merchant in Shuzhong, was lying on a soft couch, and when he sold this villa, he asked the housekeeper to bid 12,000 yuan at once, and in the end no one dared to ask for the price, and the house was taken into his arms.

Sitting on the second floor and watching the scenery by the lake, the newly accepted concubine room on the side was gently bringing the wine to his mouth, and the wine opened his mouth to his lips, and he half-squinted at the beautiful concubine's heart.

Just as he seemed to be asleep, he heard the sound of someone hurrying up the stairs.

When I opened my eyes, I saw my housekeeper carrying a paper bag in his hand and walked up with a serious face.

"What?" Ba Zhongshi asked with a displeased expression.

"Boss, our salt sales have dropped by 10% during this time," said the housekeeper.

"Selling salt, this is inevitably an off-peak season, maybe the road is not easy to walk in winter, salt sellers are reluctant to go far, and there is nothing to drop sales, and the price will be raised by 10% in the spring."

"It's not such a proprietor, look at this!" After the housekeeper finished speaking, he handed the paper bag in his hand to Ba Zhongshi.

I opened the paper bag with a puzzled expression, and the snow-white salt foam inside was revealed.

Ba Zhongshi dipped his finger in his mouth and smacked it and said, "The quality of this salt production at home has improved again."

The housekeeper stomped his feet and said, "Boss, this salt is not our family's property!" ”

"What did you say?" Ba Zhongshi bounced up from the soft couch at once.

"Say! What the hell is going on? Ba Zhongshi grabbed the butler's clothes by the collar and asked.

"Owner, during this time, I found that our salt sales fell by one percent, and I didn't pay attention to it at first, until now the sales are still declining, and the villain is alert. When I got to the market and asked the original salt seller, they said that there was a new source of goods, which was much cheaper than ours, and they would not enter our salt in the future. There are also some who have a good relationship with us, although they did not directly ask for the goods, but they also proposed to let us reduce the price, and the salt in your hand was bought from our opponent's store."

"Do you know who buys this salt again?" Taking a deep breath to stabilize his mind, Ba Zhongshi asked.

"Selling this salt land is..., it's a local merchant in Hangzhou," the housekeeper said hesitantly.

"You talk nonsense! This salt is in the Central Plains and the land south of the Yangtze River, except for my Ba family, there is no second one! Ba Zhongshi roared angrily.

"The owner, this salt is being sold by local merchants, and people are letting it out, and the output will only increase in the future."

"What is the background of these merchants?"

"Both are people from the Hangzhou Chamber of Commerce, I heard that this method of making salt was invented by Xiao Zheng, the current governor of Jiangnan, and it is said to be taken from the seawater.

"Xiao Zheng's method of making salt?" Ba Zhongshi only felt that his throat was dry, so he picked up the wine in the pot and poured two sips.

In the past few years, he has heard and witnessed what Xiao Zheng has done in Jiangnan, but the wealth of the Ba family has given him great confidence and proud capital, coupled with the unique resource advantages of Shuzhong merchants, so that he has always scoffed at Xiao Zheng's approach in his heart.

He never thought that Shangguan, who he had always despised him, would be able to avoid his family's method of making salt and give him a salary.

If this kind of salt is sold, according to the price that the housekeeper said, it will not take two years, and it is entirely possible that the salt of his Ba family will be driven out of Jiangnan and even the Central Plains, and how much profit there is in this salt He Ba Zhongshi knows too well.

Thinking of this, the wine I had just drunk turned into a cold sweat and flowed out.