Hua Lin chose to boil salt instead of the relatively low cost of drying salt, naturally he has his reasons, the first is the objective conditions, salt drying needs good weather, blazing sunshine, both of which are not available in Yishan, he found on his first visit to Shuanghe County, Shuanghe County is warmer than Jiming Village, this warmth is not because of the power of true immortals like Qingzhou City, but purely geographical reasons- The area around Shuanghe County has only been governed by the Immortal Family for a short period of two hundred years, and it has been considered a territory of little value for these two hundred years, purely as the first warning line to prevent the Yi people, no matter which Immortal Family will not put any resources here, let alone change the climate for it.

And Yishan is colder than Jiming Village.

The poor families in Jiming Village can still rely on firewood and grass to avoid the cold at night, while the people of Yishan have to rely on the warmth of the fire pond or the body temperature of livestock at night, which also leads to the fact that even if the two sides live in the same thatched hut, the indoor layout is very different. In Jiming Village and other houses outside the mountains, in the center of the house is often a square table that doubles as an altar, which is the most expensive furniture in ordinary people's homes after the bed (if they can afford it) to worship ancestors and other gods, and displays incense burners and several valuable ornaments that the master's family is proud of. In the middle of the house, their ancestors and gods were either placed around the fire or believed to be suspended from the fire to absorb the aroma of the offerings. The women baked cakes and cooked by the fire, the men sharpened their knives by the gods, and at night, the masters and slaves gathered around the fire and relied on the blessing of the fire god to survive the cold nights of Yishan.

It was only at night when they attacked the slaves that they left their cherished fire, put on thick cloaks made of coarse wool, and passed to each other gourds full of wine, and survived the cold of the night. Outside the mountains, a young man would be considered a good candidate for night guard if he didn't drink a drop of alcohol, but in the mountains, he might freeze to death on the first night.

Because of these differences, Hua Lin chose the path of boiling salt, but the benefits of boiling salt did not stop there.

The terrain in the mountains is relatively flat, and there is actually a lot of land that can be cultivated, but the agriculture of the Yi people is almost equal to nothing, they hardly know what watering is and what is fertilization, and when they want to reclaim a piece of land, they will set fire to the mountain, then sow the seeds, and then go home, and give the rest to their beloved Guru god to deal with, and then wait for the harvest season to harvest (if possible) the harvest. This extensive business model has resulted in a small population and insufficient land, even less in view of the border areas that they have abandoned because of each other's raids.

Years of war, while feeding slave traders and warlords like Paigang Toast, have also destroyed the prosperity that might have existed in the entire Isan. Many of the weaker forces close to Paigang Toast's territory had to move to more desolate and remote areas to escape the plundering of Paigang Toast, and the land they had cultivated was not a place where Paigang Toast could safely send slaves to farm, and he knew that they could return at any time and retaliate by taking the slaves he sent to farm. He must wait for him to completely destroy all the surrounding forces before he can send slaves to work on these lands, and he must also send capable samurai and priests to protect them from the occasional expedition sent by other Tusi who pass by.

Therefore, sending people to cultivate these lands is really a huge cost and risk for Pagang Tusi, and the harvest is pitifully drudgery, and it is no wonder that he would rather spend a lot of money to invest in his priest's daughter or other capable samurai, but let a large area of land be wasted. There are a few capable samurai, who can be sent out to plunder, and then control the slave trade, and hold the profits firmly in their own hands, so why bother with agriculture?

The decay of agriculture made it necessary for them to rely on constant warfare and plundering to alleviate their demographic pressure.

Now all Hualin has to do is to reverse the cycle entirely.

The vegetation needed to boil salt is a huge expense elsewhere, but it is not a problem at all in the mountains, not to mention the steep peaks, which, thanks to their poor field management, can harvest enough for a whole year in their own fields!

In the past, all they needed was strong warriors who could plunder for the Tusi, so they could kill one, two, three or more slaves who they seemed worthless at will just for the sake of "Liwei", not only for the sake of suppression, but also because their harvest was limited, and the number of slaves plundered often exceeded the number of people they could feed, and the result of killing a few slaves was nothing more than a few small slaves who starved to death, and they would not suffer from a shortage of labor. Now they were overwhelmed by the hard work assigned by their new masters, so that the old slaves, who had once been considered "old dogs" (meaning ready to be killed), now had a modicum of status—they were supposed to be able to boil salt for their own use.

Hua Lin gave them to boil salt, is soaked in brine bamboo pot, this kind of bamboo pot is not as easy to use as an iron pot, even after treatment will still burn, must be under the close supervision of the stove keeper in slow heat to boil the brine, if they still uphold the kind of loose style in the past, cooking for a year will only get a pile of burnt bamboo without salt, in this case, the old slave who has no physical strength and patience also has a value.

Of course, the most valuable of all the products is the boiled salt, salt is the king of all flavors, because the other is just taste, salt is related to everyone's life, not only people have to rely on it to have strength, but also livestock also rely on salt to get fat, food to rely on salt to taste, heart to rely on salt to beat. By putting salt in the barn, the owner does not have to hunt down his pigs and sheep with a bow and arrow, and the pigs and sheep who voluntarily return to the pen will leave the best thing in the barn, the manure. With salt, Gala Cave was able to gain more from agriculture, animal husbandry, and trade than Paikon Tusi had plundered around.

Paegon Toast blinked, he was still a little skeptical.