Princes compete for hegemony.

What does it have to do with ordinary and humble salt workers, who just hunch over and cook salt in exchange for a little bit of subsistence in order to beg for a bite to eat.

The high place of the salt well of the unraveling pool.

A Qin soldier was tying a flag of the Qin army to the derrick, and from now on, Li Yuan had ordered a team of soldiers to be stationed in Xie Chi to protect the safety of Yanchi, and this soldier who was tying the flag was obviously one of them.

The north wind howls in December.

Blowing the flag to hunt, Li Yuan raised his head and glanced at Zhongtiao Mountain at sunset, and suddenly there was a desolate feeling of the desert sunset, which was very strange, because the area around Jiechi was in the hinterland of the Central Plains, not in the vast and sparsely populated desert.

"Sima, how many young people can Hedong County recruit now, and how many of them know how to pick and boil salt?" Li Yuan asked while inspecting the damage to the salt well.

Sima Yin officially took over the burden of Hedong County Guard from Su Jiao a few years ago, compared with the rough man Su Jiao, Sima Yin, who was born in Hedong, was obviously more qualified for this position, and similarly, he also knew much more about the situation in Hedong County than the foreign monk Su Jiao.

"Wuhou, after several wars in Hedong, there are ten rooms and nine empty in the territory, many displaced people are stuck in Guanzhong and refuse to return, as for the salt workers who pick salt and cook salt, they were mostly killed by the rebel army back then, and very few can survive, it is really difficult to find it at this time." Sima Yin replied honestly.

Sima Yin, who was familiar with Li Yuan's temperament, knew that Li Yuan had actually obtained information from the Military Intelligence Department for a long time ago, and now if he didn't tell the truth, he was afraid that Li Yuan would order him to be dismissed.

"Why don't you bring in some experienced craftsmen first? Anyway, put up the shelves in the salt pan first, otherwise. It's been abandoned here, and it's not good to look at. Li Yuan commanded.

"But. This salt mining is a delicate job, and those rough people under my hands who are used to using sledgehammers are afraid that they won't be able to do it. Sima Yin said with an embarrassed face, the status of military construction is very important in the Qin State, and every military craftsman, his offering has a complete system, especially those Jishu exquisite master craftsmen, who are hidden by Sima Yin as a treasure.

"Sima. If the people in your military construction are rough people, then my Daqin will really be unnegotiable, there is no room for negotiation in this matter, the salt pond must be restored, otherwise, we have been subject to the Chu State, in case of a fight one day, this salt cut is a terrible thing. Li Yuan said.

The salt that Qin needs at present mainly comes from two directions. The most important one is the sea salt of Chu, located at the junction of Qi and Chu, several large salt farms are the places that produce the most sea salt, Chu salt adopts the traditional method of "boiling the sea for salt", and Shusha is also respected as the salt sect by the world.

The second source is well salt in the Bashu area. This basin between the mountains, because of the topography and landform, caused the accumulation of salt, and the Ba and Shu people have dug salt wells here since ancient times. Ba salt is also an extremely important material in the south, and its existence has also given birth to the splendid ancient Shu civilization.

Obviously, the supply channels in these two directions are for the current Qin State. It is far from enough, Chu Yan does not need to say, take precautions, Chu now has a request for Qin, and will not cut off the supply of salt, but if the relationship between the two countries changes, with the style of Xiang Yu and Xiang Tuo, it is very likely that the salt will be cut off.

As for the well salt, it is mainly difficult to mine jishu, the Ba people often have to go down to the underground to dig the salt, sometimes a landslide down, it is possible to bury all the salt with people below, and the more important thing is that the production of well salt is not high, and the output in some places is not proportional to the labor required.

In addition, the cost of transporting salt from Bashu to Guanzhong, this trip, the value of a load of salt has increased more than ten times, in comparison, if the Qin State can resume the mining of salt in the pond, then the cost of salt will be greatly reduced, at least in the transportation link, the loss will be much smaller.

Along the way, the position of the two people became closer and closer to the center of the salt pond, and through a ray of glow, Li Yuan could see that in the dilapidated shed, several white bones were lying on the cold ground, and it was very likely that a salt worker was killed by the Hedong army, and his body was left in the wilderness.

"Come on, go and clean up all the bones, then find a place to bury them, and then erect a stone tablet, and write the tomb of the Great Qin Salt Workers. In addition, General Gan Yong was given an order to leave a team of soldiers in Jiechi as an exclusive force to protect this water. Li Yuan thought for a moment and turned back to the pro-soldier who followed.

"No!"

The soldiers were ordered to go.

Resumption of pond salt production. The most important thing is to set up a team of experienced salt workers, Li Yuan invited Sima Yin to come, just to send a part of the craftsmen from the military side to participate in the supervision of the salt well. As for how to set up the salt well in the future, Li Yuan has not yet considered maturity, and at the same time, he also wants to hear more about Sima Yin's thoughts on the head snake.

"Wuhou, you can't even find a mouse in this salt well barrenness, isn't it too much to leave a military marquis's soldiers here." Sima Yin accompanied Li Yuan and asked puzzled.

"How? Sima, you say, if these salt wells resume production, and then the white salt piles up into a hill, this team of soldiers wants to protect this place from robbers, can it be done? Li Yuan glanced at Sima Yin and asked quietly.

"Bandits, in this Great Qin world, which robbers would dare to fight the idea of my Great Qin Army, unless they are impatient?" Sima Yinqiang said with a smile.

In Li Yuan's words, he understood the hidden meaning a little. In the two years that he ruled Hedong County, this fertile land, which was once prosperous and gave birth to the Spring and Autumn Five Hegemons of the Jin Kingdom, has become a ruin without people, and the present and past of Jiechi are just a true portrayal of a place in Hedong County.

Quwo, Xintian, Jinyang and other big cities in Hedong County have been turned to dust in the wars again and again, and the Sima family, as a wealthy family in Hedong County, has a great responsibility for conniving at Sima Mao as a disaster.

"Sima, you are not only a member of the Sima family now, but also the county guard of my Great Qin Hedong County and the master of military construction, I hope that you can see the long-term future of the Qin State, and see the day when the Qin State truly becomes the most powerful country in this era." Li Yuan took a long breath, and slowly said the expectations in his heart to the round of sunset sunset.

Be a man of your word.

In fact, it is very lonely, in many cases, you can't even find a person to talk to your heart, even if you are the person next to the pillow, you can't predict whether she will tell others your mumble after waking up.

Sima Yin is also a very early group of people who followed Li Yuan, although subsequently, he gradually faded out of the front line of the Qin army, but in terms of military construction and governance, Sima Yin's ability has been re-reflected, this time to Hedong County for the county guard, the Sima family behind him can be said to have contributed a lot.

For this family that lasted from the end of the Qin Dynasty to the Three Kingdoms and the Two Jin Dynasty of the Later Han Dynasty, Li Yuan was somewhat jealous in his heart, not to mention the celebrities of the Sima family, it was the snobbish practices of Sima Mao and Sima Yin in the past, Li Yuan had a bad impression of this family that had been inherited for hundreds of years.

Therefore, he wanted to beat the side drum on Sima Yin to urge him to put himself in his position, and not be confused by the so-called family blood relationship.

"Wuhou, don't worry, I'm sober-minded, those old guys in the family want to use me as a gunman, Sima Mao is dead, I, Sima Yin, will never be deceived. However, if Wuhou wants to resume the salt production in a short period of time, there is a shortage of funds and manpower, and the most convenient way at the moment is to let the Sima family participate, someone will contribute people, and there will be money to pay, and as long as the salt well is restored to produce salt, most of our difficulties will be solved. Sima Yin nodded solemnly and admonished.

His words were extremely solemn, Li Yuan saw his determination and trust from Sima Yin's eyes, and from what he said just now, it revealed Sima Yin's sincerity for the sake of Great Qin's state affairs.

"Sima, with your words, then let's work together once, and let those old antiques of the Sima family take a look, the current Daqin is not the plaything they imagined." Li Yuan smiled happily.

Salt is the lifeblood of a country.

If a person eats no salt, within ten days, he will feel weak, dizzy, and then he will be sick and die.

Li Yuan and Sima Yin hit it off, and they coincidentally hit the idea on the Sima clan of the Hedong clan, the closest wealthy clan to Xie Chi is the Sima clan, some of them have wealth, and they are the most suitable targets for beating, and it is even more coincidental that if Li Yuan wants to hit the idea of the Sima clan, even the excuse is ready-made.

At the beginning, the salt well of Jiechi was destroyed by Sima Mao and his troops, which is an ironclad fact, and now Sima Shi is funding people to restore the salt well, which is also a natural move.

In the next negotiations with the Sima family, Li Yuan and Sima Yin sang red face and white face, which made the old guys of the Sima family very angry, they had the intention to leave it alone, but they were a little worried about the retaliation of the Qin State, not to mention, once the salt well resumed production, the huge benefits that would be brought by it also made them very tempted.

Of course, such an important salt-producing place, Li Yuan will never be handed over to the Sima family, his bottom line is to give the Sima family a certain share, so that the Sima family can get some sweetness in the development of salt wells, which is also to introduce more business capital in the future and contribute to the infrastructure construction of the Qin State.

Salt wells in the pond.

It was the first attempt of the Qin State to restore the economy and invest in basic industries, and Li Yuan hoped that under the model of cooperation between Sima and Qin, other big businessmen could quickly follow up and set off a construction climax in various counties. (To be continued......)