To the southwest, less than 50 miles away from Angeup Castle, the huge Angeup East Pond sits here. It is more than 60 miles long from east to west and 56 miles wide from north to south, and it is actually the largest salt lake in the interior of China.

Hedong salt pond, has a long history, can be traced back to the pre-Qin period, over the years, Hedong with its salt profit to drive the economic and cultural development of the county, the size of the salt pond per year to produce hundreds of thousands of catties of salt, become one of the important economic sources of the national government.

The Later Han Dynasty restored the salt and iron monopoly system from Emperor Zhang, bringing a large amount of financial revenue to the Han Dynasty, but after Emperor He, the salt and iron monopoly system was abolished and a tax system was implemented. The private production and sale of salt was allowed, which naturally gave the opportunity to local families, and the large and small salt ponds in various places were divided among the local families.

Hedong Salt Pond is the first salt pond in the north, and in the territory of Xia Kingdom, there are salt ponds like Taiyuan Jinyang and Yanmen Tower, but compared with Anyi, the difference is not a star and a half. Such a "treasure mountain" has long been coveted by the families, and now the salt profits in Hedong are divided by the big and small families, but when the Xia army came, Liu Yuan gave an order, and it was all returned to the Great Xia government, and there was no discussion to talk about.

In the north of Dongchi, there is a salt supervisor Xiaoyi, which is a place for the nearby salt workers. More than 10,000 salt workers made salt here, and due to the war, the production of salt in Dongchi has decreased a lot in recent years, which has caused the price of salt to soar and made the families who control the salt pond make a lot of money.

Now that the Xia army is coming, hundreds of overseers composed of the original family's private soldiers are killed, surrendered, and fled. By the time Liu Yuan arrived, the order had stabilized, and Liu Yuan sent Li Le to lead a thousand and five foot soldiers to be responsible for the deployment of defenses here.

The town was obviously well cared for, the narrow streets were very clean, and many salt workers' families were forcibly driven over by Li Le to welcome King Xia.

didn't blame Li Le for disturbing the people, Liu Yuan looked out on the car, mostly old and weak, all of them were yellow and thin, and they fell to their knees with fear, not daring to look at Liu Yuan's car. It wasn't until the sound of the king's car was far away that he dared to look up secretly, and he could only see the tail of the king's car under strict guard.

"The salt benefits in Hedong are so great that it is unimaginable, how can the Han people here be so poor?" Beside Liu Yuan, Liu Heng asked with a little doubt.

Hearing the eldest son's question, Liu Yuan's eyes flickered, and he asked rhetorically, "What do you think?" ”

Liu Heng pondered for a while, and replied with a little uncertainty: "Is it because of the impact of the war, and the income is not good?" ”

Liu Yuan was noncommittal, turned his head and asked Liu Yu and Liu Cheng on the other side: "What do you think?" ”

Liu Cheng's eyes rolled, first lit up, and then retracted, glanced at Liu Heng and Liu Heng, touched his head, his face was a little red, and he bowed his head and said to Liu Yuan: "Erchen is stupid, he seems to have gained, but he can't think of why." ”

Liu Yuan frowned slightly, his eyes narrowed slightly, and before he could speak, Liu Yuan next to him smiled slightly: "Erchen thinks that this huge salt profit has been taken up by the wealthy families in Hedong. They used their labor with these salt workers what the nobles of the steppe used slaves. It is rare for a slave to get a full meal, how can he have the ability and courage to get his hands on the old man's meal. ”

When Liu Yuan heard this, he smiled and chuckled: "Jue'er's words are good! ”

After getting Liu Yuan's affirmation, Liu Jue smiled, glanced at the two brothers beside him, and the corners of his mouth were slightly raised. Liu Heng clenched his fists and turned his head away. Liu Cheng "suddenly realized", nodded twice, and then fell silent is golden.

After staying in the salt prison for half an hour, he went to the Dongchi Salt Field under the leadership of Li Le. He came to see this treasure land.

When he arrived at the location, Liu Yuan got out of the car and was shocked by the boundless salt lake. On several salt mountains, there are white flowers, the color is not particularly bright, and it is mixed with foreign substances, but it is enough to make people sigh. Along the lake, a lot of salt farms have been opened, piece by piece, the salt workers are silently carrying out the salt making process, next to the Xia soldiers patrolling and monitoring.

"Li Le, you did a good job!" Seeing that everything was in order, Liu Yuan said to Li Le: "Do the salt workers resist? ”

"Back to the king, our army has come and killed a lot of traitors and oppressed the salt people. And a lot of food was distributed to them, how could they resist! Li Le said to Liu Yuan with joy in his eyes.

Liu Yuan nodded, and ordered Li Le to summon a salt worker to come forward and question. In a few moments, a middle-aged salt farmer was brought into view, with a thin body, dark skin, and a pile of calluses on his hands.

"Meet King Xia!" The old salt worker kowtowed more than once, and was very afraid.

"Get up and talk back!" Liu Yuan said softly: "How long has the old man been working here?" ”

"The villain's family has been salt farmers for generations, and the villain has been making salt here since he became an adult, and now he has been a salt worker for decades, and my two sons are also salt workers."

"In this way, it is an experienced old salt worker who is better than salt making, and he is not an ordinary laborer?" Liu Yuan looked at him and said lightly.

Speaking of this, there was a hint of gleam in his eyes, and he replied: "Not to mention anything else, the villain is a little confident in the way of salt making!" After speaking, seeing Liu Yuan staring at him with interest, his heart suddenly tightened, and he consciously said more, fell to the ground, and was uneasy.

Liu Yuan pointed to the old salt worker and said to Li Le: "In the salt matter, a veteran salt worker like this can be relied on as an arm!" ”

Li Le naturally understood what Liu Yuan meant, and immediately said, "The minister understands!" Liu Yuan mentioned this casually, and Dongchi Yanchi had an additional Han supervisor.

"King!" At this time, Li Le took advantage of Liu Yuan's good mood and said: "The minister is a martial artist, and he is really not good at the way of salt affairs. Here, you can only do the work of patrolling and guarding, and please ask you to have another person in charge of the salt matter, so that the last general can return to the army! ”

Liu Yuan's expression moved slightly when he heard this, he didn't expect that this Li Le was self-aware, and waved his hand and said: "Gu has sent someone to transfer Su Shuang to come to Hedong in person to deal with the salt matter, and after he takes over, you can return to the army!" ”

Li Le naturally didn't know what the official position of the transfer envoy was, nor did he know who Su Shuang was, but when he heard that Liu Yuan had already made arrangements, he gave up his hand and said, "King Xie!" ”

Wei Qi, the long history of the Xia King, also came with him this time, following Liu Yuan's side, silent.

"What a great place!" Liu Yuan sighed, and suddenly asked Wei Qi: "Bo Qi, how much did your Wei family occupy before Dongchi Yanli?" ”

Hearing Liu Yuan's question, Wei Yuan's heart tightened, met Liu Yuan's gaze, and responded in a deep voice: "Yicheng!" ”

"That's a lot!" Liu Yuan said with a smile: "Such a huge benefit, now that it has been taken into the official mansion alone, have you ever been willing to give it up?" ”

Of course, I can't bear it, many people in the Wei family are dripping blood in their hearts. Wei Qi's expression was not moved, and he replied: "The benefits of salt and iron are related to the national economy and people's livelihood, and it is natural to collect them for national use, how can the minister be reluctant!" ”

Wei Qi's words were beautiful, as if the huge benefits were not worth mentioning. When Liu Yuan heard this, his eyes were playful, he turned his back, sniffed the faint salty smell wafting in the air, and stopped talking.

Wei Qi was behind, looking at Liu Yuan's back, and sighed slightly in his heart. This Xia King is not easy to deal with.

After riding a horse along the Dongchi Salt Farm, Liu Yuan took people back to Anyi. The three brothers of Liu Heng were left behind, and each of them was allocated a salt farm, hundreds of salt workers, and a deadline of three months, responsible for managing salt production affairs.

This can be regarded as a small assessment of the three brothers. The three of them also knew in their hearts that they would say goodbye to Liu Yuan and stay in the Dongchi Salt Farm for several months.