Cultivation of chastity

Chapter 177 Salt Fields Under Development

If it weren't for the fact that these days are so sad, Su Lie doesn't want to move his barracks either, there is no other way, the days are too sad.

It's not that the imperial court embezzled Su Lie. In fact, the military system of the Tang Mansion determined that under normal circumstances, the Tang Dynasty would not raise soldiers, and basically spread all the cost of raising soldiers to ordinary people.

At the same time, the Tang Dynasty also had a recruiting system during the Zhenguan period. When Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty conquered Goguryeo, not only the government soldiers, but even a large part of them came from the recruiting system.

It’s just that the scale of the recruitment system in the Zhenguan period was not large, and these people mostly existed as generals’ personal guards or other professional soldiers with fixed occupations, and their main duties were grassroots officers.

After all, even if the generals of the Tang Dynasty were good generals, when the government military system determined their targets, most of the soldiers in their hands were soldiers they didn't know, and they might even be recruits.

And if you want to quickly organize this group of people, there is only one person who can do it in China for 5000 years, called Han Xin.

Therefore, a general Sima or general usually trains a small group of soldiers, no more than 3000 at most.

Although these people are just small soldiers in normal times, when all kinds of government soldiers are really recruited from the people, these people will immediately be expanded into team leaders one by one, teaching the government soldiers recruited by the people to quickly integrate into the army.

And the common people are also happy to quickly integrate into the army, because the average life expectancy of the ancient common people may not reach 30 years old. For them, it is very worthwhile for them to put their lives on the battlefield to fight for a bright future.

This was also the Zhenguan period, and even in the later Gaozong Wuzhou period, although the bottom of the Fubing system was constantly destroyed, for the people below, this was more or less a way to get ahead, so although the Fubing system declined, it did not die in the end.

But since Li Linfu came out, in order to maintain his own power, he proposed to reuse Hu General as Jiedushi, which blocked the original communication channel between the army and the court.

Let the Hu people become Jiedu envoys, and the Han commanders can no longer be generals and prime ministers, which directly blocked the last breath of the military system.

Because the upper limit of the Fubing system was directly blocked, no matter how hard the soldiers struggled, they could not reach the upper level.

To put it simply, this system could barely survive, but because of Li Linfu's actions, this system cannot continue.

Because the army did not communicate with the imperial court, the water pipes that originally circulated in both directions were forcibly broken, leaving a radish and a hole in the upper ranks of the army, and all of them were foreigners.

This made the Han people unconvincing and even more difficult to accept. It simply trampled on the sense of honor of the Tang people.

At the bottom, the land equalization system was constantly destroyed by the aristocratic families, and the land allocated to the common people was continuously eroded. This system naturally died.

However, fortunately, the imperial court directly came up with the second new system, which is the recruitment system.

And Tang Xuanzong's ability to come up with this system was naturally not something that Tang Xuanzong thought of immediately.

In fact, this system appeared in Zhenguan, Gaozong, and Wuzhou, but usually this system is only a supplement to the Fubing system.

Solve the problem that the soldiers recruited by the Fubing system cannot quickly form a battle and complete the organization.

And the government soldiers registered in Youzhou now are the embryonic form of the relatively elementary recruitment system.

To put it simply, these government soldiers received unified training, received the salary from the imperial court, counted as formal workers, and lived professionally.

But although the imperial court supported them, it would be unrealistic to expect much.

Even the Fubing in Chang'an area, at most, they are only full when they eat a big pot of rice, but if they want to eat meat, they must be on some festivals or when it is worth celebrating. Under normal circumstances, it is enough to eat enough, eat well Don't even think about it.

Even so, if you want to become a government soldier with an editorial record in the imperial court, at least in this era, I don't know how many people are vying for it.

It's not just for the sake of having enough food, but these people with official establishments have made meritorious deeds on the battlefield so that they can be promoted.

After all, work is a temporary job, and medals are awarded to regular workers. This is almost ancestral, and it is difficult to avoid it even in the Zhenguan Dynasty.

Except for Xue Rengui's white horse and silver spear, which suddenly attracted Li Shimin's attention and made his way to the top.

But the reality is that very few people really stand out from the soldiers step by step, not to mention becoming a famous general, even becoming an ordinary general is rare.

Of course, having said that, Su Lie chose to move closer to Li Tai because there were so many twists and turns.

Because military training costs a lot of money, even if it is just training a small number of government soldiers, Su Lie also understands that if he wants to train these Youzhou government soldiers to become elites, the cost is unavoidable.

And the imperial court will definitely not give this sum of money, because the annual expenses of the imperial court are stipulated.

Even if he applied to the higher authorities, apart from scolding, he probably wouldn't give himself half of it.

But for Li Tai, he is really rich, and not only rich, but also supplies!

Su Lie witnessed with his own eyes that Li Tai renovated Zheng Guoqu, and even ate chicken leg and duck soup in Zheng Guoqu for several months.

So even if he still has to eat coarse rice in the barracks, Su Lie believes that as long as Li Tai is given time, the soldiers under his command can still eat meat. For Su Lie, this is enough!
Li Taiwei breathed a sigh of relief as Su Lie led Youzhou soldiers to station near the small Tianjin village.

After all, in Youzhou, with such an armed force by his side, his sense of security is naturally much higher.

With Li Tai's return, Li Chunfeng appeared in front of Li Tai with dark circles under his eyes.

"Chunfeng, you haven't slept for a few days?" Li Tai couldn't help but look at the dark circles under the eyes of Li Chunfeng's face.

"It's only two days!" Li Chunfeng said calmly, then handed over a drawing to Li Tai, and said:

"King Yan, come and take a look at this! These days, I personally went to the tidal flats, measured the ebb and flow of the tide, and designed these salt fields. Come and see them first!"

Li Tai took the design drawing that Li Chunfeng gave him, and said curiously:

"Does the first salt field have to be this big? It almost occupies half of the tidal flat."

"The most important thing in the first salt pan is the initial precipitation of impurities, so it doesn't make much sense to separate small salt pans.

If the impurities in the seawater need to be directly processed in the future, they can also be processed directly in this salt pan at one time. "

Li Chunfeng explained to Li Tai, "And each of the salt fields opened a lot of gates to release the preliminary treated seawater to the required salt fields, and then subdivide them.

After all, King Yan, you have developed the sun-dried salt method according to the law of the sun and the law of water.

But as we become familiar with and explore the laws of salt, we will definitely be able to improve efficiency in the future, and some methods can also be carried out directly in the Great Salt Field.

If it is difficult to control the quantity, it is okay to send water through the gate to the small salt field for slow processing! "

At best, Li Tai knows the method of drying salt, but from theory to practice, the people below need to try it slowly.

Anyway, it's not that I can't accept failure. Not to mention, the steam engine I want has not yet been transformed into a value worthy of such an investment!

"Since this matter is entrusted to you, you will be fully responsible. I believe you can do it, and you can try any method.

But leave room for correction, because we are still figuring it out.

Experience or something, was originally tried out from experiment after experiment! " Li Tai said to Li Chunfeng.

When Li Chunfeng heard Li Tai's words, he didn't say anything more, but said to Li Tai:

"Chunfeng intends to concentrate manpower to complete this large salt field first, and then set up small salt fields one by one to build an industry and put the salt ponds into use."

"You go!" Li Tai said, "If you need manpower and material resources, go to Baihe to get them, and I will give you full authority!"

"Chunfeng will fulfill its mission!" Hearing Li Tai's words, Li Chunfeng was extremely moved.

With the appearance of this planning map, Li Chunfeng also began to dispatch manpower and began large-scale land reclamation activities.

Gao Jifu from Youzhou also sent people here one after another. These people were either ordinary tenants or rangers from Youzhou.

Ordinary tenants were fine. Li Tai's way of directly distributing food and money for houses quickly made these ordinary tenants choose to stay.

After all, working in the landlord's house does not have such benefits, but the ranger has some complaints.

But with Li Chunfeng in charge, nothing major happened after all. Su Lie and Youzhou government soldiers were stationed in Tianjin Village, and their voices could be heard going out to exercise every now and then.

And although Li Tai doesn't have a supporting cattle and sheep industry yet, he can still buy some mutton from nearby Youzhou to the barracks every week to improve the food for Su Lie's troops.

This made these people have a good sense of Li Tai, and they did their best to protect Tianjin Village.

However, Su Lie knew that to Li Tailai, these were just a small amount of money, and he was still looking forward to the day when he would eat meat every day, then he would be able to train his soldiers to death, and directly train them to be elite.

The government soldiers naturally also found that since their general came to this small Tianjin village, the corners of his mouth showed a frank smile from time to time, but looking at the shepherds sent by Tianjin small village every week, he somewhat understood.

However, Li Tai didn't have the heart to pay attention to these soldiers of Su Dingfang, because all his attention was on the Yantian.

After all, this thing is the means chosen by him to break the situation. Whether he can produce coarse salt is very important to him.

To be honest, the ancient salt industry was an industry that consumed a lot of human resources. Don’t you see that the wealthy clans who were able to rebel in ancient times accounted for a large part of the salt industry, and the advantage of sea salt over land salt is in the consumption of human resources.

Restricted by ancient productivity, land salt such as salt lakes and other places can of course dig salt fields and build border fields according to the sun-salt method. The brine in the salt fields is introduced into the border fields and evaporated by the sun and wind, thereby increasing field production. area.

Even after the rough salt is made, the secondary treatment is carried out by high-temperature distillation or brine reconciliation, which can crystallize the fine salt that is as white as snow, which is at least more convenient than the sea salt produced in the ocean in terms of secondary treatment a lot of.

Even Li Tai now knows that there are various metal ions in sea salt, and it is very troublesome to deal with. Basically, it can only be washed slowly with brine method, which can only reduce the content, but cannot really completely remove it.

But Li Tai understands better that if he wants to completely control the salt industry and overthrow the common people's salt jars so that the common people can eat not only table salt but also refined salt, he can only rely on sea salt, at least not land salt now. .

The first one is the output. As long as the coastline is within reach, it can basically be used as a salt site.

Of course, as the best salt production location, it must be carefully selected, but at least it is much less difficult to mine than the inland salt lake salt wells.

The second is the transportation of salt, because the cost of water transportation is much lower than that of land transportation.

In a relatively closed inland lake, short distances can still be solved by land transportation, but long distances still rely on the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal that runs through the north and south.

The sea salt is basically in the entire water system, and it can be transported through canals to all parts of China from south to north. This advantage is almost crushing for mineral salt.

To be honest, if the second point is mentioned, the salt ponds in some inland areas can compete for the surrounding market to some extent, but after the third point, even the salt in the inland areas can hardly survive without protection.

That is, the sea salt uses the change of the gravitational force of the moon to cause the tidal phenomenon. The tide causes the sea level to rise and fall periodically, and the huge energy generated by the seawater fluctuation and tidal flow.

Referred to as tidal energy.

Utilizing the ebb and flow of the tide, the seawater is sent into the salt pan, which saves manpower to the greatest extent.

For the people of the times, the ocean is almost endless. At least in the absence of more advanced productivity, the seawater brought by tidal energy will far exceed that of artificially guided brine, liberating human productivity to the greatest extent.

Of course, Li Tai also understands the disadvantage of sea salt, that is, the metal content in sea salt is higher than that of land salt, and the quality of the produced product is lower than that of land salt.

However, under the premise of satisfying the salt needs of the people all over the country, if you want to completely overturn the salt jar, then in this era, the ocean is the only choice.

After all, the production process of sea salt can be continuously improved. The larger the production cost of sea salt, the more advantageous it is over land salt.

So Li Tai would choose Youzhou, and even Haiyan to break the game.

Because my purpose is not only to make money for myself, but more importantly, to prepare for the overthrow of the national salt price in the future.

Therefore, Li Tai still attaches great importance to Li Chunfeng's salt drying project.

However, Li Tai also knows that drying salt is the same as planting crops. It is not something that one wants to produce results tomorrow.

Even if I have completely built the entire salt field and want to ship the salt, it will take at least four to five months.

Not to mention that the salt field is still under construction, and no one knows how much repairs will be needed in the whole process. The real first batch of salt shipments may have to wait until the end of this year!

"Tsk tsk, this project takes so much time. I'm afraid I'll have to wait until the first batch of salt is shipped. Should I visit the local family in Youzhou and find a way to get them to pay for it!" Li Tai's eyes couldn't help A bit shady.

It's nothing, because there is no stable source of money in Youzhou, which makes Li Tai panic, always looking for something to do with quick money!
(End of this chapter)