Twenty miles north of Dengzhou City.

Li Congyan stood on a dirt slope, and saw a building covering a wide area, surrounded by a wall about three meters high, which tightly surrounded the building, and only two gates, one south and one north, could be entered and exited.

Not far to the north of this building, there is a tidal flat that stretches for more than ten miles, and a large number of people are already digging square pits there.

Li Congyan looked at it from a high point and saw that there were two square pits, one large and one small, with the big pit about 10 square meters and the small pit 3 or 4 square meters, and there were more than 3,400 groups of such pits, covering an area of 7 or 800 mu, and almost the entire tidal flat was dug into a "fish scale."

These square pits are the "salt pans" used to dry salt, the large ones are called evaporation ponds, and the small ones are called crystallization ponds, which are specially used to dry seawater and precipitate sea salt crystals.

In China, sea salt has been available since ancient times. The most primitive method of preparation is the "decoction" method, which is fried with a plate and boiled with a pot, which is called "boiling sea for salt" in history. Later, after the continuous practice and improvement of the Chinese ancestors, it was gradually changed from direct decoction with seawater to decoction with marinade. The use of decoction to produce sea salt is not only low in yield, but also poor in quality.

After Li Congyan decided to make money by drying salt in seawater, he thought of the salt-drying method of seawater beaches in the Ming Dynasty.

This method was originally created by the salt people near Wudi Jieshi Mountain in the Ming Dynasty, according to the Ming Dynasty scholar Song Yingxing's "Tiangong Kaiwu * Zuo Xian Fifth" record: "Haifeng has a person who leads seawater directly into the pond to dry, and when it is condensed, it is swept without manpower. Same as salt solution. But when the salt is formed, it is very different from not borrowing the south wind. “

To put it bluntly, it is a method of extracting salt from seawater, commonly known as the "salt pan method". This method of drying salt requires the construction of salt pans on large flats along the sea. The salt pan is generally divided into two parts, namely the evaporation pond and the crystallization pond. First, the seawater is introduced into the evaporation pond, and when the water is evaporated to a certain extent by the sun, it is poured into the crystallization pond and continued to be exposed to the sun, and the seawater will become a saturated solution of salt, and the salt will gradually precipitate if it continues to be exposed to the sun. The crystals obtained at this point are the common coarse salts.

Then only this coarse salt needs to be transported to the sea salt workshop for fine processing, and a considerable amount of fine salt can be obtained.

At this time, the Haiyan Workshop had been completed, and the salt pans had been basically dug up, and more than 600 craftsmen had been recruited in the workshop, all of whom were registered in the Thorn History Mansion after examination.

According to Li Congyan's request, these more than 600 craftsmen and their families all live in the workshop, and no one is allowed to go out until the three-year contract expires.

Of course, Li Congyan's salary is naturally very high, after consulting with Chen Dongli, the wages of these craftsmen are as much as five times that of fellow craftsmen, and the Haiyan Workshop is also responsible for the food and clothing expenses of the craftsmen's families, such a place is already a paradise for ordinary craftsmen, even if they can't go out for three years, what can they do?

In addition, when Li Congyan designed the drawings of the workshop, he deliberately added supporting facilities such as a medical hall, a warehouse, and a wine store in the workshop, of course, these are all operated by the Assassin's Mansion, and the price is only the cost price, in order to firmly tie these craftsmen and their families to the workshop.

At this time, the salt field method of drying salt still belongs to Li Congyan's unique skill, whether it is an official or a private salt dealer, all of them are using the old method of boiling salt with seawater, which not only has a low yield but also poor quality, and cannot be compared with the fine sea salt produced by the salt field method.

Therefore, Li Congyan must strengthen his precautions, and at least create a "technological vacuum period" of three to five years, and the Assassin Mansion must make a lot of money in these few years. Li Congyan understands that with the passage of time, technology will definitely spread in various unexpected ways, but when the time comes, he will release other new technologies, so he naturally will not worry about being squeezed to the ground.

Li Congyan overlooked from a high place, and then rode into the workshop to inspect. Wu Conghan and Chen Dongli rode horses from left to right, and the brigade followed suit.

This time, Chen Dongli made up his mind to catch the carriage of the Thorn Mansion, so he naturally would not slack off, so he personally rushed here to preside over the operation of the Haiyan Workshop.

And Li Congyan has also officially appointed Chen Dongli as the director of the Haiyan Workshop, and appointed Li Si as the director of the Liuli Workshop. He also sent Wu Conghan to assist in the preparation of the Haiyan Workshop, and Li Ren to assist in the preparation of the Liuli Workshop.

Li Congyan handed over the management authority of the two workshops to Chen Dongli and Li Sisheng, but let Wu Conghan and Li Ren take care of the craftsmen and keep the work confidential.

"My lord, please see, this is the living quarters of the craftsmen, and there are seven workshops in total, all of which are separated from the working quarters of the workshops by a courtyard wall. The family members of the craftsmen are forbidden to enter the work area......"

"The workshop starts work at the beginning of the hour (about 7 o'clock in the morning) and ends at the third quarter (about 7 o'clock in the evening), according to the requirements of adults, all craftsmen eat regularly and rest regularly every day; The production process of Haiyan is divided into several steps, each craftsman is responsible for his own work, and the whole workshop runs like a wheel, day ...... day."

Li Congyan also formulated some management rules for the Haiyan Workshop and the Liuli Workshop, which have been revised by Wu Conghan and Li Ren, and all of them have been issued. These management rules are still very rough compared with the regulations of later factories, but they can already ensure the efficient operation of the Haiyan Workshop and the Liuli Workshop, at least some unnecessary losses can be avoided.

"Every three days, the workshop buys food and other supplies from Dengzhou and other places, and strictly checks people entering and leaving......

"That's very good."

Chen Dongli was very attentive and led Li Congyan to inspect the four places, and everyone went north out of the workshop and came to the salt pans on the seaside tidal flats.

At this time, a group of craftsmen are digging aqueducts in the tidal flats to divert seawater into the evaporation ponds.

Li Congyan took a closer look and found that there were small ditches between the evaporation pond and the crystallization pond, but these small ditches were also equipped with bamboo joints to stabilize the water output, which was not in his own design. In Li Congyan's earliest design, the dried seawater in the evaporation pond needed to be introduced into the crystallization pond with a bamboo tube.

"It seems that this is the result of the ingenuity of the craftsmen themselves, so it can save a lot of labor."

Li Congyan sighed at the wisdom of the craftsman at this time, and then deliberately said to Chen Dongli: "Master Chen has worked hard. I heard that the consumption of Yantian is huge, and the Chen family has added a lot of money and grain, but is there such a thing? ”

Chen Dongli said: "After the Chen family submitted the investment charter, it did add another 50,000 yuan, mainly to improve the facilities of the salt fields, but this money will not be counted in the capital, and it will not be counted in the future profits, please rest assured." ”

Li Congyan waved his hand with a smile and said, "I'm just asking, it's better to count these 50,000 yuan." This time, I pulled the Chen family to make money together, I contributed technology, the Chen family paid money, everyone took what they needed and was happy, but you can't let your Chen family suffer so much at the beginning of the business. ”

The reason why the Haiyan Workshop can have such a scale in a short period of time is that the Chen family has made a great contribution and invested almost all the family resources, which can be described as a desperate gamble. In this regard, Li Congyan naturally will not disappoint the Chen family, at least in terms of money, and must not let the Chen family feel at a loss, otherwise how will they cooperate in the future?

Chen Dongli saw that Li Congyan was very friendly, and as soon as his heart was relieved, he was no longer polite and promised with his hands.

"When will the workshop be able to produce at the earliest?"

Chen Dongli followed the caravan when he was a teenager, and the Chen family was a family of gate valves that started with business.

"Please rest assured that everything in the workshop is now ready, and when the first batch of seawater is in place, it can be crystallized, purified and other processes ......."

Chen Dongli pondered for a moment and said: "According to my estimates, the workshop can produce the first batch of sea salt within two months at the earliest, and the output, according to the current scale of the salt field, the output should be about one million catties per month." ”

Li Congyan calculated in his heart: At present, the price of official salt is about 200 yuan per catty, and the price of private salt is about 80 yuan per catty.

However, the quality of the sea salt produced in his workshop will not be bad, so although the price will be lower than that of official salt, it will never be like ordinary private salt, and the price should be about one hundred and fifty. Of course, this is just Li Congyan's own psychological price.

"How's the sales ready going?"

Chen Dongli said: "I have contacted the merchants and families who are familiar with each other in Qizhou and east of Yanzhou, and as long as the workshop has output, people from all over the country will sell it separately. ”

"And how do you calculate the price?"

"Tentatively set at 130 dollars a catty."

After Chen Dongli finished speaking, he looked at Li Congyan's face, and then added: "Of course, this is only a temporary price, if the quality of the sea salt produced is very good, I think the price can be increased by about ten yuan." ”

Li Congyan calculated slightly, according to this output, the workshop will have an income of 130,000 or 40,000 guan per month, and the Thorn Shi Mansion will be divided into 70,000 or 80,000 guan.

Of course, these are only gross profits, and they have not deducted labor and other costs, nor have they deducted the Chen family's upfront investment.

However, Li Congyan estimated that even so, the Thorn Mansion would be able to earn 40,000 or 50,000 yuan in the first few months, which was already very objective.

"Two hundred yuan a month for the soldiers of the new army, plus the salaries of officers at all levels, as well as various expenses for the logistics of the new army, the cost of raising troops for that month is ......"

Li Congyan breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, just the income of the Haiyan Workshop could already cover the expenses of the new army, and even there would be a lot of balance in the later stage, so he said: "That's good, I will send the account office over in a few days, although you and I are a cooperative relationship, it is better to be clear in the accounts." ”

Chen Dongli couldn't ask for it, so as not to be suspicious of each other, but also to avoid disaster for his own family, and said with a smile: "It should be so." ”

In the evening, Li Congyan prepared to return to Dengzhou City, and Chen Dongli and Wu Conghan sent each other.

Li Congyan left Wu Conghan to cook here for a few days, and when the account office came, he could return to the Assassin's Mansion.

Before leaving, Li Congyan said to Chen Dongli: "By the way, I heard that the Chen family is also a prominent family in Huangxian County, I don't know what about the children of the Chen family?" ”

Chen Dongli was excited for a while, and said with his crossed hands: "Qi Li Thorn History, my Chen family is just a small clan, and it can't be compared with those gate valve wealthy families. However, the children of the clan have always been diligent and studious, and the grass people also supervise every day, so ordinary small things can still be done. ”

Li Congyan laughed when he heard this, and said: "Now that all parts of Dengzhou are in ruins, it is estimated that it will not be long before the children of your clan have little things to do." ”

After speaking, Li Congyan rode away with a group of entourage guards, leaving Chen Dongli excited and unable to come back to his senses for a long time.