Salt has been one of the most important commodities since ancient times, and it still plays a vital role in people's daily lives, including in modern society.

The reason why salt was scarce in later generations was because of the control of the imperial court.

On the one hand, salt was something that everyone had to eat, and it could bring huge taxes to the imperial court; On the other hand, because everyone has to eat salt, the poll tax through salt can avoid tax evasion.

You can choose to hide the population to avoid paying taxes, but these people who are underreported can't afford not to eat salt, right? Okay, then I'll raise the price of salt, as long as you eat salt, the money to buy salt has to include the poll tax. This is one of the reasons why private salt is cheaper than official salt.

While I was thinking, Bai Chong hurried over.

Bai Chong is also a member of the Bai clan in Guanzhong, although he has nothing to do with the Bai clan of Yixian County, but after all, he is from the Bai clan of Yixian County. Since I ordered the Bai family in Guanzhong to change their surname to "Bai", Bai Chong became Bai Chong, which is also a helpless thing......

After saluting, I looked at Bai Chong.

"How's the iron-smelting going?"

Bai Chong bowed and said, "Since I reported to Your Majesty last month, the output of iron has more than tripled this month. Now the main problem is not that the iron has not had time to be smelted, but that the ore is a little unable to keep up. The minister has ordered the county to recruit the people to mine, and the people's food and salary have been discussed by the right prime minister, and the effect will be seen soon. ”

I nodded, "Good." What is the yield of salt in my Daqin today? ”

Bai Chong responded: "About eight million catties a year." ”

Compared with the population of more than 30 million in Great Qin, eight million jin is really pitiful.

"Where is the main source of salt today?"

"The five coastal counties and the salt pond in the east of the river. The five coastal counties mainly produce sea salt, and the salt pond in Hedong mainly produces lake salt. In addition, there are sporadic well salts, but the production is negligible. ”

After listening to Bai Chong's words, I was a little dazed.

With current technology, it is almost impossible to increase the yield of salt on a large scale through technical means, let alone increase the yield of refined salt.

The coast is already a major salt producing area, and the salt of inland lakes can only be used by Hedong Salt Pond, that is, the modern Yuncheng Salt Lake. The other salt lakes are on the plateau, which is the territory of the Qiang people, and it is not realistic to take them down at the moment.

The only thing that can be developed is well salt.

"Who's in charge of the salt industry now?"

Bai Chong arched his hand and said: "It is the chief minister, because the production area of salt is relatively fixed and concentrated, so there is no separate official." ”

I thought for a moment and ordered, "When you go back, select three people for me and set up the chief salt officer separately." ”

"Two days later, I will give you a copy of the method of extracting the salt from the well. The main difficulty in mining well salt is that you can't find the salt well and you can't dig a deep well. ”

"Regarding the matter of salt wells, you ordered the main salt officials to go to Shu County, Qiongdu, and Yunnan to look for them, and I once saw in an ancient book that there are more salt wells in these places; As for digging deep wells, I will give you detailed explanations of the methods, including fixing the position of the well, opening the wellhead, lowering the stone circle, digging the large opening, lowering the wooden pillar, drilling the small eye, and repairing the well. ”

"Most of the mined salt is transported to all parts of Daqin through the Great River, Hanshui, Lingqu, etc. The other part was transported to Xianyang and Longxi through Yushui and Minshui, and I ordered people to set up the Gudao Salt Mansion in Gudao County, the source of Yushui, and this part of the salt was useful. ”

Bai Chong bowed and said yes.

After the order, I picked up the pen and paper next to me and prepared to write down the well salt mining in detail, when I suddenly saw that Bai Chong had not left yet.

"I'll order someone to hand it over to you after I've written the mining method, but is there anything else?"

Bai Chong held back for a long time, and whispered: "Your Majesty, the minister is brave, the rice, iron smelting, farming tools, and the well salt this time, Your Majesty said that they were all seen from ancient books, I don't know what ancient books they are?" ”

I looked at him in amazement.

Bai Chong hurriedly bowed his head: "Your Majesty, the minister has no other meaning, it's just that the minister likes to study the art of the organ since he was a child, and he wants to see this divine book." In addition, it can also share the worries of His Majesty. ”

I didn't doubt him, and I said helplessly: "The ancient books have long been lost, and they can't be seen, and I only remember them from memory." ”

Do I tell you that I have traveled from the afterlife and have my own knowledge in my head? I'm afraid you won't believe it if you say it, big brother!

Bai Chong hurriedly said: "It's the minister Meng Lang, Your Majesty forgives the sin, and the minister retires." ”

Looking at Bai Chong, who had withdrawn, I shook my head, it seemed that I would have to change my excuse in the future......

After thinking about it, I ordered Qi Juan to call Lieutenant Colonel Ling Wei Feng over.

After Wei Feng saluted, I took the cup in my hand and asked him, "You are in charge of lacquerware manufacturing, what do you think of this cup?" ”

Wei Feng didn't know what I wanted to do for a while, and said with some hesitation: "Back to Your Majesty, the lacquerware used for Xianyang Palace is the best, is there anything wrong with this cup?" ”

I shook my head.

"This cup is in good condition in lacquerware. It's just that this wooden cup is too light in the hand, and it will be knocked over if you are not careful, and if it is replaced with bronze, it is too heavy and not easy to use. In addition, except for soups, the plates and bowls for vegetables are all wooden, and the lacquer surface is time-consuming to make, and it will not take long to brush and the paint will fall off, and it is quite wasteful to replace. What do you think? ”

Wei Feng was even more confused, wood can't work, copper can't work, what does your beloved majesty want to do?

"What does Your Majesty mean?"

"I mean, how about switching to pottery?"

Wei Feng shook his head slightly, as if he wanted to shake the water out of his head.

"Your Majesty, it's not impossible to change to pottery...... It's just that the pottery is rough, and the minister is worried that His Majesty will not be used to it, so now he will only use the clay pot to boil water when he needs to keep it warm for a long time. ”

I recalled it carefully, picked up the pen and paper on the table, handed it to him, and said, "I said, you write." ”

It was too tiring to write with a brush, so I glanced at the Qiwan next to me, and I had to get used to letting him write for me in the future......

"Send people to the east of Pengze to find a gray or blue-gray stone, called porcelain stone, which can be molded by adding water after crushing......"

I gave Wei Feng a detailed description of the processing of porcelain stone, the configuration of raw materials for blank tires, the molding of carcass, the production and glazing of tire glaze, the grinding and processing of pigments, painting, full kiln, kiln firing, kiln opening, color seeing, etc.

"The pottery is made of porcelain stone, so it can be called porcelain. In addition, only the upper layer of porcelain stone can be used directly for firing porcelain. When the upper layer of porcelain stone is mined, it is found that the fired porcelain begins to be difficult to form and is not easy to mine, you can find a kind of soil on a mountain 200 miles east of Pengze. ”

"This kind of soil, which may not be known to the locals, is called kaolin. The proportion of kaolin mixed into porcelain stone powder can not only increase the molding rate of porcelain, but also save the manpower of porcelain stone mining. ”

"The porcelain that is molded should have a smooth surface, which is completely different from the roughness of pottery, and the pattern will be more delicate."

After I finished speaking, Wei Feng's palms were already sweating, and he wrote for a while before putting down the pen in his hand.

Seeing that his head was sweating, I smiled and said, "If there is anything I didn't hear clearly, I can repeat it again." ”

Wei Feng hurriedly bowed his hand: "The ministers have written it down, but they don't understand it very well." ”

I got up and looked at the process of his writing, and there was basically no omission.

"It's okay if you don't understand, just do what I tell you. When the first porcelain was fired, it was sent to Xianyang to see if it was what I wanted. ”

Wei Feng bowed his hand and retreated.

Back at Jiangzuo Shaofu, Bai Chong was in the hall to instruct Yanjing about it, and when he saw Wei Feng walking towards the side hall without squinting, he hurriedly stopped him: "Wei Feng? ”

Wei Feng came back to his senses at this time, and hurriedly saluted: "My lord." ”

Bai Chong waved his hand, he had a good relationship with Wei Feng when he was the right school commander before, and he didn't care about these details.

"What's wrong with you? Soulless? Your Majesty has rebuked you? ”

Wei Feng smiled bitterly: "No, I just feel that Your Majesty is really a god!" You know even what is on the mountain thousands of miles away! Immortals are nothing more than that! ”

Then the two of them withdrew from the others and began to discuss my miraculous operation with great interest......