In April of the seventh year of Jiayou, Bianliang, Tokyo, in the middle of the imperial city.

Just a few days after the palace test, Cai Daxianggong, who was sick at home, died and died.

Cai Daxianggong is a veteran of the two dynasties, an important minister of the country, an official honest and honest, known for his uprightness, and two sleeves are clean, there are no children and no daughters under his knees, there is only one wife, and he depends on each other.

It was still the imperial court that came forward to take care of the aftermath for Prime Minister Cai.

Some time ago, although Cai Daxianggong was pressing step by step, and even once in the court, he told Emperor Jiayou to succeed the clan and establish the prince early, although Emperor Jiayou was a little reluctant to see Cai Daxianggong, and even once saw him upset, but he also knew that Cai Daxianggong was dedicated to the court and the world, and there was no selfishness.

After all, in the heart of Emperor Jiayou, Cai Daxianggong has been with him for decades, and he is a rare minister of the humerus, the arm of Emperor Jiayou, a monarch, a confidant, and a friend.

But now it'······

Emperor Jiayou is a person who attaches great importance to feelings and has an extremely kind heart, how can he not grieve in his heart.

For several days in a row, Emperor Jiayou couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, and tossed and turned.

The world is full of fragrant flowers in April, the peach blossoms in the mountain temple are in full bloom, and the flowers in the imperial garden are also in full bloom, Emperor Jiayou is in a bad mood, and the queen Cao is worried about his body, so he pulls Emperor Jiayou to the imperial garden for a walk to enjoy the flowers, relax and relax.

Emperor Jiayou and Cao's husband and wife have been married for decades, and they have a deep relationship, so they naturally understand Cao's intentions, so the two chatted in the garden.

One of the two is the Ninety-Five, the current emperor, and the other is the queen of the world, and the conversation is naturally a major event of the family and the country.

Suddenly, a young chamberlain walked lightly to Emperor Jiayou's personal officer, covered his mouth with his hand, and whispered a few words in his ear.

The old officer's expression changed slightly, as if he had heard something quite surprising, and when he carefully confirmed with the little chamberlain and got a positive answer, the old chamberlain found a gap for Emperor Jiayou and Empress Cao to talk, and came up.

"Your Majesty, eldest lady, there is news from Quanzhou over there in the Imperial City Division!"

"News from Quanzhou?" Emperor Jiayou was stunned for a moment, then thought about it, and when he raised his eyes to look at the old internal official, he asked, "Is it Wang Chong's news?" ”

"Your Majesty Shengming!" The old internal official smiled and bowed and saluted: "The salt farm built by Wang Tongju a month ago has already dried sea salt, and Wang Tongju wrote the charter of the salt drying method into an excerpt, and handed it over through the Imperial City Division, followed by two jars of new salt from the salt farm a month ago. ”

As he spoke, the old official sent the fold handed by the chamberlain to Emperor Jiayou.

Emperor Jiayou was a little excited, couldn't wait to finish reading the excerpt, turned his head again and asked, "Where is the person who came now?" ”

"Waiting outside the temple!" The old official said.

"Announce him here, I have something to ask him personally!"

"No!" The old internal official bowed his hand and bowed, and immediately walked to the side and gave orders, and immediately a little inner servant ran to pass the word.

Before long, the messenger from Quanzhou had already arrived in front of Emperor Jiayou.

"The lowly Imperial City Division visited Jia Bing, met Your Majesty, and met the eldest lady!"

"No rudeness!" Emperor Jiayou couldn't wait to ask: "Wang Tongju said in the excerpt, how much do you know about the method of diverting sea water to dry salt?" ”

"I don't dare to say that I know very much, but since Wang Tong sentenced someone to build a salt plant, he has been following Wang Tong's judgment, and often reciting the book "Salt Drying Law" written by Wang Tong, and I have been exposed to the law of drying salt, from beginning to end, all the steps have basically been seen in the salt field."

"Wang Aiqing said in the compromise, twenty-four acres of salt fields, a total of 11,243 catties of salt crystals and 627 yuan?"

Jia Bing said: "Back to Your Majesty, it is indeed so much, Wang Tong said that because it is the first time to make salt, the skills of the salt workers are still relatively unfamiliar, maybe in the future, after the skills are skilled, the output can be improved, and it is not known!" ”

"What about the precipitated salt? Grab it and let me see it! Emperor Jiayou couldn't wait.

A middle-aged waiter next to him immediately brought up two jars about the size of coconuts.

Jia Bing said: "Your Majesty, the clay pot is filled with salt crystals formed after drying the seawater, which has not yet been processed, the particles are larger, and there are more impurities, it is coarse salt.

The porcelain jar contains the coarse salt dissolved and precipitated again, and after filtration, the precipitated refined salt has fine salt grains, and the salt taste is relatively pure, and it is almost impossible to taste the bitter taste. ”

Emperor Jiayou wanted to try it himself, but was stopped by Empress Cao, and Li Neiguan next to him immediately stepped forward with a smile and took the initiative to ask for it, wanting to taste it for Emperor Jiayou first.

Li Neiguan tasted coarse salt first, scooped out a little with a spoon, poured it into the white paper, bent the white paper into a channel, poured into the mouth, the coarse salt was bitter, although there was a salt taste, but there were too many impurities.

"It's salty, but it's a little bitter."

After Li Neiguan said his feelings, he tried the refined salt again, and his face suddenly showed a little shock.

"The saltiness is pure, and there is no bitterness! It's no worse than the finest green salt used in the palace! ”

"Really?"

In fact, just by looking at the color, you can see the difference between sea salt and ordinary coarse salt.

Emperor Jiayou couldn't help but taste it himself, and he couldn't help but be shocked in his heart, and immediately asked Jia Bing to explain to him the process and reason for drying salt, but although the messenger remembered the steps of drying salt, and there were annotations in the album, but some words and sentences, principles, Jia Bing couldn't explain clearly, and Emperor Jiayou couldn't understand it for a while.

can only sigh with emotion: "Wang Zihou is the youngest, but he is a rare talent!" ”

"If this law can be promoted to the world, it is really a blessing for the court and a blessing for the people!!"

"Your Majesty Mingjian!" Jia Bing suddenly said: "Wang Tongju once said that the method of drying salt seems simple, but in fact it is complicated and harsh, and if there is a slight mistake or omission, the quality of the salt may be far from the same.

At this moment, the salt workers in the No. 1 salt field in Quanzhou Bay have come into contact with the salt drying industry for the first time.

But if there is only coarse salt, it will be restored one by one according to the atlas presented by the general judgment, and it will be no big problem! It's just that coarse salt contains too many impurities, and it is harmful to the human body if eaten for a long time! ”

"At the end of the atlas, a copy of the development plan of Quanzhou Salt Works for the next three years is attached, please see it!"

"Quanzhou salt farm development plan for the next three years?" Only then did Emperor Jiayou notice that on the last page of the album, this plan was written.

"Spread my will, promote Quanzhou to sentence Wang Zhong as the doctor of Chaosan, reward 100 gold, 100 acres of fertile land, 10 horses of silk, and concurrently Quanzhou salt and iron envoy, the general leader of Quanzhou salt affairs, and the rest will be sent as before!"

When this holy decree was transmitted to Quanzhou, it was already May, and Zhizhou Chen Jun was stunned, and those rewards were just enough, but Wang Chong, this kid, came to Quanzhou for less than a year, and this grade was almost the same as Chen Jun.

That is a state of salt, if it was before, Chen Jun naturally did not pay attention to it, but now with the establishment of the salt farm, the income that the salt industry can bring in a year is definitely far more than the wealth of Quanzhou, such a big political achievement, but unfortunately now it is Wang Chong's, which is called how Chen Jun does not taste in his heart.

Fortunately, at this time, the three big ships that went south of the Jihai merchant have returned to Quanzhou, and the three big ships have all returned with full loads, all kinds of treasures of gold and silver agate, all kinds of spices of dipterocarp musk, high-quality sandalwood and so on.

The three ships full of goods brought at least tens of thousands of yuan of income to the Jihai Merchants.

In the Danbi Building, Chang Song raised his wine glass and said to Wang Zhong with emotion: "This time it can go so smoothly, thanks to Zihou's chart, if it weren't for the guidance of the chart, I don't know how many hours I would have to drift on the sea!" ”

Wang Chong's sea chart, marking is not only the regional route so simple, but also the output of various places, customs, customs, etc., marked very clearly, Changsong and others follow the map to arrive at a place, know what the people in that place like the most, what they can use and what they can exchange for the rare things that are abundant in the local area.

Before leaving, Wang Chong said that the chart was very old, but it was handed down from his teacher, and he was not sure how accurate it was.

But it turned out that the nautical chart provided by Wang Chong was extremely accurate, especially the detailed map of each area, which was very detailed and almost unbiased.

Wang raised his glass and said, "It's good to be useful!" ”

Changsong admired Wang Chong more and more, he was only slightly older than himself next year, but his knowledge was far beyond his reach, especially the sharpness of his eyes, if it wasn't for Wang Chong's invitation, the Sheng family estimated that even if it was passed into his hands, he would not consider the matter of going to sea for trade.

After only one trip, the profits brought by it caught up with the Sheng family's income for a year, and this was because it was the first time to go to sea, and for the sake of safety, the Sheng family only bought three sea boats.

Chang Song, Wang Chong and Sheng Wei talked about what he had seen and heard all the way south, the customs and customs of various places, and the things he encountered, his expression was a little excited, and the smile on his face was almost unbroken.

At the same time, in Tokyo City, the Sheng family, in early March, Mrs. Sheng took Minglan mother and daughter to the north by boat from Youyang and returned to Tokyo.

Because I was not in a hurry, and all the way north was mostly against the current, so the speed was not fast, and I went to Yangzhou on the way, inspected the Wang family's industry, and it took a total of nearly a month before and after, and I returned to Tokyo in early April.

In Shou'an Hall, Sheng Hong told Mrs. Sheng that Wang Zhong was praised by Emperor Jiayou, not only promoted to a higher rank, but also had an errand of Quanzhou salt and iron envoys, holding real power, and I don't know how many red eyes were caused to Mrs. Sheng.

When Mrs. Rao Shisheng heard this, she couldn't help but feel surprised: "He has only been in Quanzhou for half a year, and he has done such a big thing?" ”

Sheng Hong said with great emotion: "Zihou is talented, has the ability to never forget, and has been taught by a famous teacher, and he is rich in five cars, even his son may not be able to catch up with him!" ”

Sheng Hong is now just a petty official from the fifth grade, hanging an idle post, and has no rights, although the Beijing officials are more expensive than the local officials, but the sudden promotion and reward of the official family is not to tell the Manchu Dynasty civil and military, although Wang Chong is now far away in Quanzhou, but now it is almost Jane in the emperor's heart.

The official family personally ordered the promotion of a six-rank petty official, but it has never been one, but it is also extremely rare.

"My son has worked hard in the officialdom for more than ten years, and he is only a small five-grade person, and his son is not just a newcomer, and at the age of the weak crown, he has reached the fifth grade, and his future future is unlimited!"

Old Mrs. Sheng said with some worry: "I'm afraid this matter may not be as good as you think!" ”

Sheng Hong was stunned for a moment, and asked puzzledly, "What does mother mean by this?" ”

"Salt and iron since ancient times, is the lifeblood of the imperial court, since the previous dynasty reformed the salt policy, the status of salt affairs has become more and more important, and now the dynasty is in charge of salt affairs, either princes and nobles, or when the dynasty is a big member, the relationship between the two is intertwined, I don't know how many courtiers are involved, how many families!"

"What a heroic figure Fan Wenzhenggong was in the past, in the end, it was not the result of dying in office and dying in a foreign land, let alone Zihou!"

The old lady's words, Sheng Hong's heart froze, and he immediately came back to his senses: "What my mother said is very true, Zihou is too young, if the credit is too great, the achievement is too high, it will inevitably cause people's eyes, and the matter of salt affairs is very widespread, and if you can't keep it, you will move the interests of which family······"

At this point, Sheng Hong suddenly felt a sense of helplessness.

Mrs. Sheng said: "You don't have to worry so much, things haven't come to this point yet!" It's just that Zihou is a little younger, so you have to tell him well. ”

Sheng Hong's busy hand should be: "The rafters that come out are rotten first, and the way to be an official lies in one relaxation!" If you blindly come out on top, it will inevitably overshadow the limelight of your colleagues, who won't say anything on the surface, but what you think in your heart, it's hard to say!

The son wrote to Zihou, telling him not to blindly stand out, but to pay attention to Tao Hui. ”

Sheng Hong left, she was already eleven years old, and Minglan who had gone up a lot walked to Mrs. Sheng's side.

"Did you hear it all?" Old Lady Sheng asked lightly.

Minglan nodded and said, "Hmm! Heard it! ”

"Hey!" Old Mrs. Sheng sighed, grabbed Minglan 's hand, and said with emotion: "It's a good thing to have a big ability, but if the ability is too big, it's hard to say!" ”

Minglan is no longer the simple and ignorant eight-year-old child of the past, she has been reading books with Zhuang Xuexue for a few years, and she has been exposed to the old lady Sheng, and Minglan has become more and more mature.

But it was precisely because she was mature that Minglan could understand the meaning of Mrs. Sheng's words.

"I haven't been to the village for a long time, tomorrow I will bring your little lady and Brother Dong, let's go and see Wang Li's family!" Old Lady Sheng suddenly said in a changed voice.

"Listen to Grandmother!"

Minglan smiled and grabbed Old Lady Sheng's arm and said with a smile.

As Wei Shuyi followed back to Tokyo, he vacated a small courtyard in the northwest corner of the house for Wei Shuyi and Changdong to live in.

Changdong, who is more than two years old, can already say that he can walk, can eat by himself, and is quite well-behaved and sensible, especially his eyebrows and eyes, the longer he grows, the more he looks like Sheng Hong, and there is a bit of Wei Shuyi's softness, Sheng Hong also loves this young son, and often goes to Wei Shuyi's courtyard to see his son, and by the way, he has a good time with Wei Shuyi, who has recovered.

Maybe it's out of guilt, and maybe it's the relationship between Wang Chong and Minglan that Sheng Hong lived in Wei Shuyi's courtyard for half a month, although Wei Shuyi didn't say that he could let go like Lin Yushuang, he could play any novel tricks, and he was even a little conservative.

But men are like this, they eat too many wild flowers, and a beautiful and pure house flower like Wei Shuyi is especially sweet and attractive.

Wei Shuyi is not like Wang who talks with a gun and a stick, nor is he like Lin Yushuang who can talk about poetry and lyrics with Sheng Hong, and stroke the piano to make Xiao, but he is better than being considerate, gentle and virtuous, and empathetic, he will never ask Sheng Hong, Sheng Hong will take it when he gives it, Sheng Hong will not give it, and she will not take the initiative to ask for it.

is neither humble nor arrogant, coupled with Wei Shuyi's previous experience, as well as his lively and lovely, well-behaved and obedient son Changdong, but it made Sheng Hong's heart feel guilty that he had never felt before, and he felt that he couldn't stand Wei Shuyi's mother and son, so he naturally changed his law and wanted to compensate Wei Shuyi's mother and son, and the number of times he went to Wei Shuyi's courtyard naturally increased.

Now although Lin Yushuang has won Sheng Hong's favor again, the Sheng family's middle feed is still firmly in Wang Ruofu's hands, unless Wang Ruofu makes a big mistake, otherwise, Lin Yushuang is afraid that it will be impossible for him to be a housekeeper in this life.

The power of the housekeeper director was lost, and the property in her hand Sheng Hong was only partially returned, the key is that now the people of the Sheng family know that the future husband of the six girls, their future sixth aunt, is not only valued by the lord of his own family, but also his official position is not low.

What's more important is that since the last incident, the remaining old people are either in the old lady's room or under Wang Ruofu's hands, Lin Yushuang and even the people under Changfeng and Mo Lan have been replaced, although these people listen to Lin Yushuang and them, but if they want to sacrifice their lives and forget their lives to work for Lin Yushuang, it is not so easy.

However, Lin Yushuang has always been a very means, and very forbearing, and willing to let go of her sub-figure, even Sheng Hong was coaxed by her, and it was only a matter of time before she wanted to win over these subordinates.

Otherwise, when she was in Yangzhou, how did she fight against Wang Ruofu, you must know that Wang Ruofu's maiden family is a real scholarly family with hairpins for generations, not the current Wang Chong.

In the final analysis, it also lies in Sheng Hong's attitude, in the past, Sheng Hong was biased towards Lin Yushuang in everything, and even many things, without Lin Yushuang opening his mouth, Sheng Hong would make a good excuse for Lin Yushuang as soon as possible, what delicate, kind and the like.

It's just that after experiencing the fact that his son was almost suffocated to death in the womb, the iron-clad fact was placed in front of him, although Sheng Hong never wanted to believe it, but for the sake of his children, he could only restrain his preference for Lin Yushuang.

If Wei Shuyi and Changdong both died in Yangzhou as in the original book, I am afraid that the direction of the Sheng family's back house at this time has already recovered to the same as the original plot.

Therefore, although Lin Yushuang was angry about Sheng Hong's behavior of often running to Wei Shuyi's courtyard, he had no way to take Wei Shuyi.

Lin Yushuang knew in her heart that as long as Wei Shuyi was still in the Sheng family, Sheng Hong would always have a thorn in her heart, but she couldn't take Wei Shuyi.

Lin Yushuang understands that the opportunity to quietly kill Wei Shuyi has passed, and whether it is poisoning, framing, or creating an accident, it will inevitably fall into the trap, and finally implicate Lin Yushuang himself.

And as long as Lin Yushuang does it, even if Sheng Hong likes her again, I'm afraid that he will be reluctant to deal with her.

has been with each other for nearly 20 years, Lin Yushuang really knows Sheng Hong too well, and what Sheng Hong cares about the most in his heart is the Sheng family!

It's just that after knowing that Wang Chong was praised again, and was promoted to an official, and received many rewards, Wang Li also sent several brocades rewarded by the official family to the house, and even Wang Ruofu got one, but there was no her Lin Yushuang, Lin Yushuang couldn't help but smash a new set of tea sets, two vases, an incense burner, and two books that Mo Lan was reading, which were also snatched by the angry Lin Yushuang and torn to pieces.

Especially after knowing that Sheng Hong went to Wei Shuyi's courtyard again, Lin Yushuang was directly angry and about to ascend to heaven with three souls, and the seven spirits were out of the sheath.

The entire Lin Qi Pavilion was up and down, all of them were silent, and the female envoys and mothers-in-law waited carefully, not even daring to breathe.

Even Mo Lan didn't dare to touch Lin Yushuang's tiger whiskers at this time.

At the same time, the remote courtyard in the northeast corner of the Sheng family was full of laughter.

Thousands of miles away in Quanzhou, Wang Chong is also not idle.

With the passage of time, the number of salt drying gradually increased, the proficiency of the old salt workers gradually increased, and the newly recruited salt workers gradually became familiar with the various processes of salt drying.

The sergeants from the two command battalions of the Xinghua Army, except for some sergeants stationed around the salt works, the rest of the sergeants were all arranged for the establishment of the new salt works.

Since March, the salt field has produced more than 100,000 catties of salt, and they are all high-quality refined salt, so much refined salt poured into the Quanzhou market at once, and the original salt market was broken all at once.

Due to the limited output, Wang Chong and Chen Jun decided to supply Jinjiang and Nan'an counties first, first popularize sea salt in Jinjiang and Nan'an counties, and then gradually popularize sea salt throughout Quanzhou after the production goes up, so that the people of Quanzhou can eat delicious and cheap refined salt.

Most of the food eaten by ordinary people is private salt, and these private salts are naturally not good quality refined salt, and the price ranges from more than ten to twenty or thirty yuan, and the price is not high.

The quality of official salt is naturally better than that of private salt, but the price of official salt is too high, especially the well salt produced in Shu, not to mention the complicated production process, it is not easy to transport it from Shu to the Central Plains, and the price has naturally remained high.

The price of salt produced in ordinary salt places is not low, but there are also many impurities in it, and the taste is naturally not easy to say.

The newly launched sea salt in Quanzhou Salt Farm, although the particles are slightly larger than ordinary refined salt, but the color is white and translucent, and it is much better than ordinary official salt just for its appearance.

Not to mention the price!

(End of chapter)