After Li Si came in, he said in detail that he wanted to follow Huo Guang, because Huo Guang had mentioned to him once before that he wanted to recruit him.

Judging from his previous performance, Li Si is still a reliable person, Huo Guang has a good impression of him, and now that Ah Hao is gone, Huo Guang is lacking a guy who can do it.

But unlike his trust in Ah Hao, Huo Guang only thinks that Li Si is reliable, and he doesn't know if he is really reliable, so he still has to do the salt refining himself.

"Tomorrow you come to work in the salt shop, the salt will be sold according to the marked price, the main thing is that all sales must be recorded in the account, my father is a young man, we can't evade taxes ourselves, simple bookkeeping is no problem."

Li Si nodded.

Huo Guang's current salt shop sells a certain amount of pearl salt every day, and ordinary salt is no longer sold, so in fact, the transaction is very simple, just to make some money for daily expenses, according to Huo Zhongru's spending habits, basically the daily money has been used up before it arrives at home.

Although the mosquito's legs are small, they are also meat, and Huo Guang still has to maintain its operation.

took Li Si to get acquainted with the salt shop, and asked him to open a store to sell salt, and there was still an endless stream of people who wanted pearl salt, and the salt shop of the Sang family maintained the same price very tacitly, covering all the pearl salt business in Xiahe County.

Li Si was a little frightened at first, but gradually became acquainted, this work is much simpler than his carpentry work, and he doesn't even need to pay any physical labor, just weighing, collecting money, keeping accounts, and there is only so much pearl salt every day, and it is basically completed in half a day.

And Huo Guang gave him a salary of 400 yuan a month, which is definitely a high salary, he works as a carpenter, day long, and he can't earn this number in a month.

This steady stream of money came in to dazzle Li Si, but he knew that this was not his money, the Huo family was now a big door, and the salary he gave himself was also very high, and he was not tired of work, if he had a crooked mind, he would go to prison, and his family would be affected.

The honest and conscientious Li Si is doing his job conscientiously.

Huo Guang saw that Li Si was more satisfied, so he returned home to continue to make steam engines and continue to plan the blueprint of the horseless world.

The pistons, the connecting rods, the steam compartment, the pipes that inlet the steam, the pressure relief valves, and the inside will be smooth enough.

After a period of continuous polishing, Huo Guang now has a rough understanding of the structure of the steam engine, and after the parts are made, he begins to assemble, and any place that needs to be welded is to use Qi, and he feels that he is a human-shaped electric welding.

And imagined that if it could be molded with molten iron at one time, then the tightness of the steam engine could be said to be almost perfect, of course, he didn't have this ability yet, so he did the parts assembly first.

When it was time for dinner, Huo Guang's first steam engine was built.

Huo Guang was very satisfied and introduced the steam engine to Huo Zhongru: "Father, this thing, as long as water and coal are added, the wheels can be turned." ”

Huo Zhongru held the rice bowl and looked at this iron lump carefully, he didn't know what the concept of this thing was, it seemed to be a pile of iron, but it seemed to be a little unusual.

Men always have an innate longing for industrial machinery products.

Huo Guang began to show that the coal began to boil water, and as the temperature rose, the steam passed through the pipe in the confined space, pushing the piston to start moving.

And Huo Guang did a reciprocating piston at one time, and the catheter passed through the movement of the screw plug, passing through the catheters on both sides, and there was a shunt device in the middle.

With the continuous heating of the piston and the continuous work, the connecting rod is driven, and the connecting rod drives the wheel, and the visible wheel begins to rotate.

As the wheels turned, Huo Zhongru was also surprised.

"That's what you think of when you look at boiling water?"

"That's right, Father, as long as you improve it a little, make four wheels, and put it on the ground, you can run."

"Isn't that really a horse-free way?" Huo Zhongru became curious.

Huo Guang nodded seriously.

"Oh no, wow, is this thing running fast?"

"It's fast, and it's just a matter of adding coal and water."

"It's not like a steel warhorse."

"But he is very simple to make, you see I have refined it in the past few days, although it is not a finished product and has to be polished and improved, but I can make it as a beginner scholar, this threshold is much lower, the mechanical creature of the steel war horse, except for the stylist, no one else can make it, even if I am not a scholar, you have seen these parts, any scholar can do it."

Huo Zhongru was happy: "My son is smart, if this thing is made, won't it be able to sell for a lot of money?" ”

"Father, there's still a long way to go before it can be put into use."

Huo Guang thought about it again, the steam engine is more suitable for making trains, trains need a lot of iron, and this Han Dynasty has a large amount of iron left by predecessors, theoretically it should be able to be made.

Such a big project, not in a hurry, you can take your time and continue to polish the steam engine first.

Huo Zhongru said worriedly at this time: "Ah Guang, what you said before is to set the rules for the merchants in the county, how to set the law. ”

During this time, Huo Guang has been busy with other things, but Huo Zhongru, a young man, still wants to investigate tax evasion and evasion, and when he becomes an official, he wants to do something for the people.

"Father, do you really want to check the salt tax?"

"Not only the salt tax, but also other taxes, I have to check, these days I have visited a lot of places, the high-ranking families are extravagant and wasteful, but the ordinary people only have food and clothing, and these ordinary people still have a lot of taxes, the high-ranking families have escaped a lot, I think this is not good, and the contradictions are getting deeper and deeper in the long run."

Huo Guang looked at Huo Zhongru with an appreciative expression, although Huo Zhongru was out of tune and had no score in doing things, it did not prevent him from being a good official who wanted to do things for the people.

"Father, it won't be long before pearl salt will occupy the market, if Father really wants to manage the salt tax, then start with pearl salt, monopolize the entry channels of pearl salt in the name of the county Shaofuyuan, all salt merchants have to buy salt from you, add the salt tax to the salt price from the source, and let the subordinates take on the work of the salt gang."

Huo Zhongru looked at Huo Guang in surprise: "Start from the source?" Isn't that just a salt shop in the county? ”

"It can be understood in this way, but the county does not interfere in retail, and the salt in Xiahe County is all done by the stick gang to do this transportation, and we can ensure that all the salt is posted and all taxes are collected."

"Maybe Father can think bigger, the salt of the entire county is monopolized."

"Ah Guang, follow me to see the county guard tomorrow."