Late at night, inside the city of Lizhou.

A three-entry compound is brightly lit, three steps and one post, five steps and one sentry, one by one black-clothed people press the handle of the knife, their eyes are staring coldly around, and their bodies exude a cold atmosphere.

The red candle in the main hall was beating, and a bald man sat upright, playing with a dagger in his hand, his triangular eyes flashed with fierce light, and he quietly looked at the few people sitting on both sides, all of them were wearing strong clothes, fierce and vicious, everyone was silent and the atmosphere was depressing.

After a while, the bald man asked in a cold voice, "Go and take a look, why hasn't the person who inquired yet?" ”

As soon as the words fell, a man hurriedly came in, hugged his fists and said, "Third master, the little one is back." ”

"Say, what's the situation?" The light mind asked excitedly with a fierce light in his eyes.

"Third master, our people have successfully mixed in it, they are all fresh faces, Shopkeeper Song doesn't know, it will never be exposed, the situation has been figured out, it is the people from the Protectorate Mansion who came to mine the salt mine, two directors, fifty guards, ten carpenters to renovate what, and some people build thatched houses, three hundred miners, and a few cooks."

"Only fifty guards?" The third master was a little surprised.

A bearded urn sitting below said in a loud voice: "Third master, just fifty guards dare to come here to mine, too arrogant, too arrogant, I don't know whether to live or die, the name of the protector may be useful in Chang'an, but it is not good to use in Lizhou, and our third master has the final say." ”

The third master waved his hand to signal the person who inquired about the intelligence to go out first, looked at a scholar dressed as a man below and asked, "Xiucai, you can tell me." ”

The man named Xiucai hugged his fists and said: "Third Master, the entire Shannan West Road and Jiannan Road salt industry belongs to the Third Master family, and Lizhou is the world of the Third Master, does the Third Master know why the Song family sent the salt mine to the Protector Mansion in the first place?" ”

"What do you mean?" The third master's eyes flickered.

"That's right, the third master is wise."

The man named Xiucai patted his ass first, and continued: "The Song family's business does not include the salt industry, and the salt mine is also compensated by others to the Song family, once the Song family is mined, it means that it is an enemy of the Sanye family, how can the Song family be the opponent of the Sanye family?" So I didn't dare to mine on a large scale for half a year, just a small fight, and the mined salt was only used for my own use, not for sale, but this beam was knotted after all, so the last time I entered Chang'an, I gave the salt mine to the protector, not only to make friends with the protector, but also to borrow a knife to kill, that is the old fox ......"

The third master interrupted impatiently: "Don't say these, just say what now?" ”

Xiucai was not annoyed, and said with a smile: "There must not be a grain of salt in Lizhou that flows out without the hands of the third master, otherwise the elders of the third master family may have opinions on the third master." ”

The third master's eyes were cold and he didn't answer.

Xiucai continued: "There is another point, the floods in the south of the Yangtze River, the bandits are continuous, the coastal line is in chaos, the salt cannot be transported, not to mention the lack of salt in Chang'an, the whole world will have a salt shortage, and it will not be long before the price of salt will skyrocket. ”

"Hahaha, well, it deserves to be Lao Tzu's staff, this plan is very good." The third master was overjoyed.

A cold man suddenly bowed his hand to the third master, and solemnly reminded: "Third master, after all, it is the Protector Mansion, and once it is tracked down in the future, it will be very troublesome." ”

The third master was not stupid, nodded and looked at Xiucai.

Xiucai had a Zhizhu in his hand, and smiled indifferently: "I heard that the bandits in Niufu Mountain are not having a good time, just release the news, they will definitely be tempted, let them take the lead, let's have a yellow finch behind, then the third master will lead the troops up, and he can also take the credit of suppressing the bandits, as for the salt, find a place to hide, and then talk to the outside world, just say that the rescue is too late, and the heroes of Niu Fushan will take the first step to transport it, and the third master will lead the troops to Funiu Mountain, and the gang of bandits will be served in a pot, and you can make another payment, the bandits in Funiu Mountain have been in the country for several years, and there must be a lot of family background, As for the salt, let's just say that I haven't found it, who can do anything about it? ”

"Hahaha, okay, this method is good, Lao Tzu is still the general of the Lizhou Mansion, in charge of 2,000 soldiers and horses in Lizhou, what is a little bandit? This is a great plan, but we have to calculate every step, we can't make mistakes, and we can't leave a handle, let's discuss it carefully. The third master said excitedly, his triangular eyes flashing with greed.

……

Deep in the mountains, inside the pits.

The sound of snoring was undulating, and piles of bonfires were dancing, licking the night and lighting up the surroundings.

In a cave, Qin Huaidao sat by the bonfire and closed his eyes to recuperate, his mind was full of lotus, a smile and a cheek, warm and warm, gradually, the figure of Li Xueyan appeared in his mind, and the corners of his mouth hooked a smile.

Su Dingfang was on guard beside him, more than 300 mining was outside, in case something happened, the consequences were unimaginable, the village guard team was divided into two, and they took turns to stand guard, and no one was allowed to approach easily.

Squinting for a while, Qin Huaidao didn't feel sleepy, motioned to Su Dingfang to come and sit down, the two chatted for a while, Qin Huaidao changed his words, and whispered: "It doesn't seem to be dangerous here, but you can't be careless, arrange two teams to go out every day to see who comes over to peep,

Claiming to make game, fruits, etc. ”

"Understood." Su Dingfang solemnly agreed, he was born in the military, so he naturally understood the importance of scouts.

The two chatted for a while about the next mining matters, ate some barbecue, Qin Huaidao came up sleepy, lay down by the bonfire, and fell asleep in Mihuhu.

Early the next morning, Qin Huaidao was woken up by the noise.

After eating something casually, Qin Huaidao came to the big pit outside the cave, and saw that many people were carrying four huge trees from above to the bottom of the pit, and when he went up, he saw that it was actually an iron birch with an unusually hard wood, this kind of tree is hard, and it is generally used to make axles, etc., and now it is used to make load-bearing columns.

There is a person in the wood, the pit on the stone platform has not been dug out, and when it is dug well, the iron birch is put into it as a pile, which is absolutely stable, and Qin Huaidao is completely relieved.

A day later, four large holes were dug into the stone platform, and the iron birch was put into them, erected, and then filled the gaps around with small stones, and the wood was stabilized, and the carpenters began to join the other woods, and in less than an hour the scaffolding was erected, and it looked very strong.

When digging a stone hole on the stone platform, someone built a reel on the ground, almost completed at the same time as the scaffolding, everyone at the request of Qin Huaidao, tied a stone weighing hundreds of catties with a thick hemp rope, easily pulled up through the rollers on the scaffolding, and then hung on the ground with a reel, the scaffolding and the reel were as stable as a rock, there was no sign of loosening, the test was successful, and everyone cheered.

Those who mined the rock salt also cheered, which meant that everyone didn't have to risk their lives to climb the rope ladder on their backs.

To be alive, no one wants to die.

Everything is ready, you can let go of mining, refining salt, the carpenters have finished their work, and they are ready to go back, but Qin Huaidao left everyone behind and asked everyone to help burn charcoal, of course, the salary is calculated separately.

In the era of underdeveloped science and technology, if you want to purify salt and remove impurities, charcoal has a strong adsorption of impurities and purification, which is the best material and is indispensable.

The carpenters were paid for their wages, and the carpenters gladly agreed.

Mineral salt is different from sea salt, it can be made directly in the sun, it needs to be boiled into water brine, and then evaporated water and then baked, and it is called green salt, which also contains certain impurities, but does not affect the edible, that is, the production requires a large amount of firewood, which is time-consuming, labor-intensive, and costly.

Qin Huaidao did not interfere in this link, and let everyone boil and make salt.

After the first batch of green salt was made, the charcoal was also burned and pulled over, and a separate cave was stored, which was designated as a forbidden place for outsiders to approach.

Qin Huaidao asked Su Dingfang and a member of the team to help him, made two earthen stoves in the cave, put a cauldron, poured the green salt refined by everyone into a cauldron, put the clean water of the underground river to melt it again, and then made a wooden barrel, partitioned it below, put fine charcoal, a thick layer, poured the melted salt brine into it, purified and filtered it into another cauldron, and continued to boil the dry water, leaving a fine snowflake salt.

Everyone was stunned when they saw this magical scene, staring at the snowflake salt, full of incredulity.

Su Dingfang twisted some with his fingers and tasted it, and exclaimed: "It's so salty, there is no other taste at all, young master, good means, let's do it?" ”

The members of the Zhuang guards were also eager to try, wanting to try it, but they didn't dare, they all looked at Qin Huaidao, full of eagerness.

Qin Huaidao understood everyone's thoughts, and said with a smile: "Try them all." ”