Chapter fifty-six

out of salt

Capital

court.

"The southeast has just been flooded, and it's hot again. If you don't pay for food and money to build poor houses for the people—"

"The year before last, the drought in the northwest required money, and this year's severe heat in the southeast also required money!"

Hundreds of civil and military officials were fried together.

"At the end of summer at this time, after autumn, winter will begin. If all the money is used for disaster relief, the new soldiers this year will freeze to death on the battlefield!"

"—The warehouse is empty! Millions of silver have been used to buy knives—"

"His Majesty"

"His Majesty!"

Qin Biangao sat in the court hall, propped his forehead with one hand, looked at the hall with deep eyes, "The weather was good in the past years, why are there so many disasters suddenly this year!"

The officials started to quarrel again, and someone proposed to ask Si Tianjian for divination.

"Where is Si Tianjian?" Everyone chattered and turned their heads to search.

"Cough, shh, don't look for it."

"Si Tianjian has been sitting on the bench for several years, where can I find..."

Slowly, the hall became silent, and several noisy officials looked at each other in blank dismay.Everyone was arguing and forgot that Qin Bian didn't like metaphysics and witchcraft. Si Tianjian and the first division had long existed in name only. In the past two years, Si Tianjian had reported illness, and the illness lasted for two years.

Qin Bian shook his head helplessly: "Why is the national treasury so empty that it will be emptied to feed the flooded people?"

The Minister of the Household Department was obedient: "...Here, there is always a routine quarrel, otherwise, the treasury would have been empty."

Baiguan: "..."

"Report—Second Prince Junshan Pass Army Report—" Outside the hall, a messenger in armor suddenly came to report.

Qin Bian: "Biography."

The messenger rushed in holding the military report, and bowed towards the main hall. Qin Bian's confidant quickly stepped down the steps, took the letter, and handed it to Qin Bian.

In the main hall, there was a moment of quiet breathing.

Without changing his face, Qin Bian unfolded the military newspaper, put it aside for a while, and said, "There seems to be an earthquake thousands of miles away from Junshan Mountain!"

The court was in an uproar: "The barbaric area."

Qin Bian: "Thousands of miles apart, the Human earthquake happened half a month ago."

"Everyone, according to the footsteps, in half a month, the Human refugees will enter the customs along the border and flow into the Western Regions, Wuhu, Qinzhou and other places." Qin Bian said.

In the hall, everyone looked solemn, and at this moment, there was a question mark hovering in their hearts.

"Does the Eternal Border need additional troops?"

One month later, Jiangbei.

Since the old well was dug in the villa, running water seeped out of the well, first filling the courtyard flower pond, and then spreading along the canal. The well water can almost cover one-third of the villa, wherever it goesIt's cool and comfortable, and there are fewer mosquitoes.

Qin Jun was enjoying the cool in the waterside pavilion. Water accumulated in the canal at his feet. There was also a piece of ice in front of him. A small mechanism was made in front of the ice.The two wells can be completed as soon as possible, so that she can live a happy life with flowing water, water pavilions and singing platforms.

This month, Jiangnan had a bumper harvest of grain, and Yanyun Villa had no choice but to harvest all the green rice in order to catch up with the next season's sowing.The rice cannot be eaten, so it has to be turned into the soil and used to fertilize the land.

After harvesting rice like this, the people of June Palace also harvested a batch of peanuts in the gravel land on the other side of the villa.Qin Jun wore a hat every day, took off her skirt and tied it around her waist, either followed the palace people to the fields to catch rice flower fish, or ate peanuts washed by the palace people by the river.

Sometimes go to see the progress of salt well mining, cultivate new seedlings with the palace people, or go hunting in the mountains, play with squirrels with peanuts, work while eating, often get covered in mud from playing, and then act like a baby to Ji Si's black face.

During the hottest season, when the second season of rice is planted, the guards will open the sealed water injection port to let the river water pour into the field. If there is no water, the seedlings will be difficult to survive in this scorching heat. Fortunately, the second season of riceThe seedlings were sown successfully.

"Hot." Qin Jun said bitterly.

Ji Si leaned against the table, holding a volume of books in her hand, and glanced at Qin Jun when she heard this, "Princess is young, don't go to play in the water again these days."

Qin Jun: "... What book did you read?"

Ji Si unfolded the book and said, "Sun Wu."

Qin Jun asked: "Have you figured it out?"

Ji Si shook her head: "Talking about war on paper, I dare not talk about whether I have penetrated or not."

Qin Jun thought for a while, and ordered the guards to cut down trees. Together with Ji Si, they carved some wooden carts, wooden horses, and wooden figures. They dug river sand at the foot of the mountain, poured it into an empty room, and made a huge sand table.Ri and Ji Si demonstrated the art of war in the sand table with wooden carts and horses.

A sand dune is a city, and every time a soldier is defeated, the two will smooth out a sand dune.The two stand in ten cities each, and each confrontation wins or loses.

Half a month later, Qin Jun and Ji Si were obsessed with sandbox games every day, and when Jin Xiu came to report that the salt well was brine, Qin Jun was astonished and sent his horse into Ji Si's ambush formation, and turned his head in a daze: "what?"

"It's brine." Jin Xiu said.

Qin Jun: "..."

Ji Si: "It's brine."

Qin Jun stood up abruptly, tripped over a group of soldiers and horses, and quickly ran out with her skirt in hand, "Let's go!"

Ji Si followed Qin Jun, and the three of them headed for the back mountain together.

Two months later, as the well was drilled deeper and deeper, the length of the iron cone used to drill the well was no longer long enough. Later, there was not enough pig iron, so Qin Jun had to use a bamboo tube cut in half to bind the iron cone to deepen the well.The iron cone was extended for more than 20 meters, and this salt well with a depth of more than 30 meters was drilled.

Nearly two months later, the first salt well was finally completed.

The salt well is deep but not wide, the mouth of the well is only about the size of a bucket, and it gets narrower as it goes down, for the convenience of fetching water.Qin Jun had someone build a hollow iron cylinder in advance, which was thin and long. The two ends were hollowed out to seal the bottom. When fetching water, it was sunk into the well to let the well water submerge the top. After the brine was filled from the top of the iron cylinder,Pick it up, remove the cork at the bottom, and all the brine in the iron cylinder can be poured into the bucket.

Jiang Chaosheng gesticulated to get brine out of the well, but was stopped with a loud yell when he was about to remove the cork.

Qin Jun: "I'm coming!"

Ji Si hugged Qin Jun horizontally, and drove Qinggong to this place.

Jiang Chaosheng: "..."

Ji Si put Qin Jun on the ground and said, "The brine corrodes the flesh."

Qin Jun looked at it bluntly, "Just this time."

Ji Si pushed Jiang Chaosheng away and motioned to Qin Jun, "Come."

Jiang Chaosheng: "Promise!"

Qin Jun tore off the cork, and in an instant, Ji Si grabbed her waist and pulled her back. With a splash, water splashed everywhere, and the wooden barrel was filled with brine, rolling with snow-white foam.

The brine produced at one time is exactly the capacity of a wooden barrel.

"Hurry up, extract the salt room and burn the salt," Qin Jun was so excited that he was about to pick up the sleeves and skirts and follow to cook the salt.

Jiang Chaosheng said: "The salt room is stuffy and hot, Miss should take a rest and wait for the good news from the old man tomorrow!"

The rest of the salt cooking process is nothing more than boiling brine with fire to condense it into crystals, and then using Jiang Chaosheng's method to make the salt white as winter snow. Within three days, Qin Jun can eat the salt produced by his own villaup.

"Excuse me, master." Qin Jun saluted and lingered outside the salt room until midnight before returning to the villa to rest.

In the side room, Xiao Taozi looked around with the doors and windows open, lest someone would eavesdrop and peek, "Xing'er close the door soon!"

Qin Jun was thinking about something, but when she heard this, her thoughts were interrupted, and she asked casually, "What's wrong?"

Xiao Taozi and Xing'er looked at each other, and looked at Qin Jun with concern, "Princess, smuggling salt, isn't this trying to steal money from His Majesty and confront the court?"

Ji Si said: "This salt is sold to outsiders."

Xiaotao and Xing'er were stunned, "This...salt is sold to..."

Qin Jun smiled triumphantly, "When will the order arrive?"

Jin Xiu: "Those sent to Yanbian to deliver letters can return to Jiang Prefecture in at most seven days."

Ji Si leaned sideways by the window, and lazily said: "I will send people to Jiangnan tomorrow to prepare chariots and horses. Immediately the caravan will go out from Jiangnan and go around Jiangbei to avoid the prince's eyes."

The more Xiaotao and Xing'er listened, the more confused they became. They looked at Qin Jun for a while, Ji Si for a while, and then turned their eyes to Jin Xiu.

"What about the Xi Jiang assassins?" Jin Xiu asked, "Although the assassins outside the city have been lured away, if the remaining people in the city become suspicious, they will immediately jump over the wall and hijack the car... This salt may alarm the government."

Qin Jun: "Well, this is a problem."

Ji Si smiled and said, "I have a solution."

The author has something to say:

Thanks to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated nutrient solution during 2022-03-14 19:09:23~2022-03-15 19:22:10~

Thanks to the little angels of the irrigation nutrient solution: 44 bottles of Star Dew; 10 bottles of Coca-Cola; 1 bottle of K Love;

Thank you very much for your support, I will continue to work hard!