"The city of Tuka is too salty," said the archon Emir with a joke in front of the guests who had come from afar, "so I like fresh water, a whole pool of fresh water." ”

Bradch smiled politely and sat down on a stone bench in the garden, guided by the chamberlain.

Unlike the consuls of other cities, the emir preferred to entertain guests and conduct official business in well-manicured gardens.

In the middle of the garden is a rectangular cistern in which distilled water from the salt mill flows through pipes, flowing but not overflowing – a hidden outlet that carries excess water away and sends it to other parts of the city where fresh water is needed.

Since the water and outlet pipes are equipped with special strainers, the reservoir also houses some edible fish. The garden is surrounded by lush shrubs, and a faint scent of plants fills the air.

"It's really a great place to think. Feeling the peaceful and tranquil atmosphere in the garden, the desert elf secretly admired.

As the master of this place, while the attendant served the guests a thirst-quenching drink, the emir spoke, "I have read the official documents and personal letters issued by the dragon Pasha, and the city of Tuka has always been warm to friends who can help us with the sale of lake salt. However, the quantity of purchases mentioned by Your Excellency is not small, and even if I mediate it, due to the practice of the Salt Industry Guild for more than a hundred years, we must first charge you about one-third of the fee as a deposit. ”

After listening to the archon's reasoning, Brach first showed his understanding, and then asked the accompanying members of the delegation to hand over the greeting gifts that Quest had prepared.

"Extract the star iron to forge its edge, and gather the blazing sun to think its light. The enemy is difficult to reach and is hesitating day by day, and he should be the king of the elves with a sword. He chanted softly, "The dragon Pasha has heard that the archons like to collect, I wonder how much this elven golden sword can offset the deposit?"

Instead of asking "if you are willing to spend money on collecting", but directly asking "how much is the price" - this is the precautions that the young blue dragon specially instructed the desert elves before leaving - it is a very simple, but also very effective communication skill.

And the reaction of the emir was not unexpected by Quis.

Delicate arabesque-like openwork jaws with an ancient style, a pale golden translucent blade, and a hilt made of the teeth of an extinct ancient Megalodon...... Relying on its appearance alone, the Elven Golden Sword attracted the attention of this great collector.

"Be careful with this weapon," seeing that the Archon subconsciously wanted to touch the golden sword, Blatch reminded him, "This sword is currently known to have two enchantment effects, 'Sharp Technique' and 'Charm', and for some historical reasons, my compatriots are quite sensitive to it. But it's for these reasons that it's also a very good collector's item. ”

A smile appeared on the emir's face, "I'm good at keeping collectibles," he blinked, "and it's notoriously fair when it comes to assessing the value of collectibles." ”

There was no bargaining session for ordinary merchants, and the great collectors, who were both consuls and aristocrats, assessed a decent price for the Elven Golden Sword.

After successfully completing the visit, and with the emir's certificate of privileged procurement, the envoys left the consul's mansion - according to the law of the United States, in order to prevent the various city administrators from "communicating too much", the envoys of other cities could not stay in the consul's residence in their own city unless they obtained the consent of the pharaoh.

The group walked to the Salt Guild Hall, where most of the merchants who bought salt from the lake gathered to eat, and not only did the guild provide good food, but the merchants could also sleep in the long rafter hall, which was the hospitality of the first guild in Tuka City.

It was still early in the morning, and only a few merchants who were on their way at night rested on the thatched beds in the corner of the hall, and the fragrant oatmeal porridge was boiling in the cauldrons, and the merchants who came to eat it could take a bowl for themselves.

The members of the Nome envoys had just eaten their food in the consul's mansion, and only a few people, including Brach, had taken bowls of oatmeal.

The desert elf took a sip, "It is worthy of the city of lake salt." I thought to myself as I swallowed oatmeal porridge with refined lake salt and sprinkled with dried berries.

"What can I do for you?"

At the behest of the emir's consul, soon after the group entered the Salt Guild Hall, a guild deacon wearing a blue and white striped burqa arrived to meet them.

There are people in the DPRK and China who are easy to do. With a special person in charge of docking, the envoys were immediately busy without delay: several senior caravan guards followed the deacon's acolytes to the mercenary guild to recruit men to take care of the goods, while Brach and several merchants with experience in purchasing lake salt followed the deacon himself to the salt factory's warehouse with the certificate of concession purchase.

Located in the northwest corner of the city adjacent to the salt lake, the salt plant is fed directly into the salt works by means of a ditch that connects the salt lake. The area of the entire salt plant is close to one-fifth of the city, and it is divided into four parts: salt drying plant, salt boiling plant, refining plant and warehouse.

The water from the salt lake is dried in the salt drying plant to become a more concentrated salt brine, which is then taken by workers in brine trucks and transported to the salt boiling plant for reprocessing.

Originally, the fuel for boiling salt was the aquatic vines in the salt lake that relied on halophilic bacteria. Later, because it was discovered that the inside of these plants could be refined to produce a better quality and better tasting pale pink lake salt, coal imported from nearby coal-producing cities was used as fuel for boiling salt.

By the time Brach and the others arrived at the salt factory, the first batch of brine from the day's salt mill had been fed into the boiler for boiling salt, and smoke was already rising from the chimneys that were much higher than the other tower-like buildings in Tuka.

Perhaps due to a large customer, or perhaps for a special explanation by the consul, the deacon of the Salt Industry Guild was very attentive to lead the purchasing representatives of the delegation to visit the process of salt production.

He grabbed a handful of "coarse salt" from the salt boiling plant to the refinery and handed it to Brach and others: "Compared with the sea salt produced by the northern sea, the quality of the lake salt in Tuka is undoubtedly much better." Even if the coarse salt has not been refined, after grinding, it is not much different from the quality of the salt in the market. ”

Seeing a few businessmen with experience in purchasing lake salt twisting, sniffing, and tasting with approval, the deacon looked very complacent, and he then continued: "But this is not enough, excellence is the consistent requirement of the Salt Industry Guild for salt factories, and these coarse salts will also be sent to the refining plant for final treatment - it needs to be filtered, screened, and ground...... After a series of very strict processes, it will be sent to the hands of the merchants who come to purchase. ”

However, when the envoys expressed their desire to purchase a large amount of pale pink lake salt, the deacon showed a slightly "difficult" look.

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Sogou