After Li Yao washed his face, Meizi ran over and shouted, "My lord, the meal is ready, let's go eat!" Seeing that Fuchuan and Zhuang Xiaomeng were also there, he said: "Two sisters, the meal is ready, let's go eat, this time it's a wild pheasant stewed with mushrooms, and a big spoonful of refined salt is put in, it tastes good!" ”

Seeing that Meizi was so enthusiastic, Fuchuan knew that Li Yao definitely didn't do anything to Meizi. So he said, "Sister, let's go!" ”

Li Yao heard that the pheasant stewed with mushrooms hadn't been eaten for a long time, so he hurriedly chased: "Hey, wait for me!" ”

It is worthy of being a village in the mountains, cooking is bold, and a large pot is set up in the open space, in which wild pheasants are stewed, and the smell of this smell makes you have an appetite!

This time the meal was still accompanied by the old patriarch, Li Yao ate a bite of wild pheasant, and it was really fat, Li Yao praised: "The game in this mountain is not ordinary, the meat is fragrant and tender, and it makes people have a great appetite!" ”

The old patriarch said modestly: "Master Hou, you are a nobleman, you have never eaten anything, you came all the way to us, but we let you eat pheasants, I really wronged you, but now the village is not rich, I can only entertain you with some game, don't mind!" ”

Li Yao waved his hand and said casually: "Old patriarch, what you are talking about, it's all a family, don't see outside!" ”

When the old patriarch heard this, he then looked at Meizi and said with a smile: "Yes, a family, haha, a family!" ”

As soon as Li Yao thought of the matter of making salt, he asked, "Old patriarch, are you ready for the matter of making salt?" ”

The old patriarch nodded and said, "I have discussed with the people in the village, there are more than a hundred people who can come to make salt, and I plan to use the two hundred taels of silver you gave to buy a few horses, and then set a carriage, which will also save manpower!" ”

Li Yao said: "Old patriarch, the two hundred taels of silver given to you are for you to improve your food, and I will give you the money to buy horses in two days, so you can go to the town now with peace of mind and take a few big fat pigs, so that the people in the village can eat and drink enough, and then you will have the strength to work!" ”

After listening to Li Yao's words, the old patriarch sighed: "Master Hou, you are really a noble person in the whole village!" The village has been poor all its life, and now with your support, our village should be a big change! ”

Li Yao said: "Old patriarch, don't worry, as long as the village makes salt well, I guarantee that the village will change greatly in a year!" ”

Looking at the old patriarch's grateful expression, Li Yao was really a little sorry, a pound of salt is five hundred Wen, even if a hundred people produce a hundred catties of salt a day, it is also fifty taels of silver, Li Yao is really making a fortune!

Li Yao said to the patriarch: "Old patriarch, you must prevent others from knowing that our village is making salt, without strong strength, the method of salt making cannot be saved!" If other outsiders know about it and have bad intentions, then our village will suffer! ”

The old patriarch nodded, "This is my province, I have already thought of this, I plan to make salt in a fully enclosed way, only a few people can master the technology, and the rest of the people will do some chores, such as knocking stones and transporting stones!" ”

Li Yao nodded and said, "Old patriarch, you have done a good job, it is indeed easier to focus on a few people who have mastered the technique." Old patriarch, you let it go, if you have money or something, if you don't have enough money, ask me! ”

Li Yao is not going to sell the salt made here, Li Yao wants to use this village as a salt-making base and store all the salt produced. for the later consumption of the army.

And even if you take it out and sell it, it's not particularly easy to sell, because buying and selling illicit salt is illegal at any time, Li Yao doesn't want to cause trouble now, so he can only wait for the future, if he can fully occupy Yiguo and become the controller of Yiguo, he can sell the salt produced here!

The matter of salt is almost the same, although Li Yao doesn't know what kind of salt is eaten in the army, but it shouldn't be too good to think about it, after all, Li Yao has 100,000 troops and 800,000 peasants, if they all eat coarse salt, then Li Yao can't afford to raise it.

Of the 800,000 peasants, Li Yao had to pick out at least 400,000 people as auxiliaries, although in history, the ratio of regular army and auxiliaries was one to two, and it stands to reason that it was enough to bring 200,000 auxiliaries by himself, but Li Yao was afraid that there would be fewer people to bring him, and there was no way to maximize the occupation of the territory that was fought in the future.

When the time comes, if you have 500,000 troops, you will definitely be able to defend the territory you have conquered.

Yiguo is not a country with a particularly large number of people, although there were many great rules in the previous dynasties, and Yiguo was able to develop rapidly, but because of geographical restrictions, the development speed is not particularly fast.

To put it bluntly, Yiguo is not very large, and among many countries, it is even a lower-middle country, with only more than 50 county seats, and the population is only seven or eight million when it is full.

Yiguo is in danger, there are no miracle moves, he can't attack at all, and he can use explosives to open the way, and it is estimated that Li Yao is the only one in history.

Now as long as the blind man comes back, Li Yao can set off, according to the time estimate, Li Yao will come back tomorrow.

It seems that two guards will need to be sent to pick up the blind man tomorrow, although the guards left a very secret mark along the way, but after all, the blind man is not alone this time. Shen Hezhi and 100,000 taels of silver, but there is no way to walk the mountain road!

After eating, Li Yao asked, "Old Patriarch, where is the place where salt is mined in our village?" ”

The old patriarch said, just behind the mountain!

Li Yao said: "Then the old patriarch, you take me to have a look!" ”

The meal was almost finished, so the old patriarch got up and went to find a few villagers to lead the way, while Li Yao took Fuchuan and others to follow behind.

The old patriarch was right, it was indeed behind the mountain, but on this mountain road, Li Yao walked for more than an hour, looking at the mountain and running a dead horse, it didn't look particularly far, but the actual distance was really scary!

Finally reaching the destination, Li Yao looked at the white rocks all over the mountains and fields, and exclaimed in his heart: "Even if these salts are mined for a hundred years, they can't be mined!" "Fortunately, this is in the mountains, and ordinary people can't touch it, which makes Li Yao take a big advantage!

Zhuang Xiaomeng asked, "Master Hou, is the salt we usually eat from these white stones?" ”

Li Yao said with a smile: "It's not, the salt we usually eat is basically well salt, the salt concentration there is high, you can eat it without too much filtration, and there is also a kind of sea salt, after exposure to the sun, the salt is extracted, but this kind of salt is not much different from the black granular salt of the old patriarch's house, and if you eat too much, you will have an accident!" As for the natural salt mines, only the nobles can enjoy them, and the salt there is much more precious than coarse salt! ”

After listening to Li Yao's explanation, Zhuang Xiaomeng said enviously: "Master Hou, you know so much!" ”

Li Yao smiled: "Haha, compliment, compliment!" ”

Fu Chuan sneered: "It's just grandstanding!" ”

Hearing Fuchuan's words, Li Yao thought to himself: "This little girl, it seems that she will be rectified in the future, otherwise it will be difficult to manage in the future!" ”