Rebirth of Wu Ba Spring and Autumn

Chapter 384 The lifeblood of the country
"put!"

"Boom!"

On the huge warship, there are three-bow bed crossbows and trebuchets. As extremely lethal weapons, bed crossbows and trebuchets have also been trained by Wu Jun to a high degree of proficiency.

Following an order from the leading general, the bed crossbow fired huge arrows, and at the same time, the trebuchet also threw fireballs one after another.

This kind of fireball is mixed with flammable materials such as grease, sulfur stones, wolf dung, etc. If it hits an enemy warship, it is very easy to catch fire.

Needless to say, the arrows fired by the bed crossbow!

One arrow shot out, if the plank of the opponent's warship is not thick enough, it can completely penetrate with one arrow!
Let the enemy warship leak and gradually sink!

Immediately afterwards, the archers standing on the deck raised their bows and arrows one after another, and fired round after round of rockets towards the open space opposite.

There is no need for precise strikes, just fire coverage!
In Qingji's words, it is "the poor will crush the tactics, and the rich will cover the firepower"!
If there is not much money, the state finances will not be able to support it, and the country of Wu will not be able to vigorously develop the shipbuilding industry.

These warships one after another are like giants.

At this moment, Qingji, who was standing on the deck of the building ship, looked at the mound that had been almost flattened, feeling quite satisfied in his heart.

With such an invincible fleet, not to mention a showdown with the sailors of other countries, even traveling eastward to explore overseas islands is not difficult!
……

After finishing the trip to Zhufang County, Qingji's patrol team punted all the way out to sea again, sailing in the coastal waters for less than a day, and arrived at the seaside of Yanling.

There, it is the largest salt-making workshop in Wu State.

As the saying goes, relying on mountains to eat mountains, relying on water to eat water.

Just like Wu and Qi, they can earn a lot of money by relying on the profit of fish and salt.

As for the state of Jin, many salt ponds were mined in its early years, and the number of salt merchants was second only to that of Qi, but it was barely self-sufficient, and the quality was not as good as Qi's sea salt.

Most of the salt needed by people in the Central Plains countries was imported from Qi State!
Because after Guan Zhong's political reform, Qi State has made a great fortune in fishing and salt, and Wu State, who rushed to catch up for a while, really couldn't compete with Qi State.

Salt is an essential nutrient for the human body.

Human beings entered the agricultural era more than [-] years ago, and the way of life gradually changed from hunting to farming. Due to the lack of salt in the food, people could no longer drink blood to replenish salt as before, so people began to produce salt.

In ancient times, most of the salt production depended on sea water or salt springs, and inland areas did not rely on the sea and had few salt springs.

Salt often needs to be obtained from salt merchants who travel south and north. As long as the country falls into war and merchants cannot communicate, the inland areas will easily lack salt and the people will not be able to survive!
Therefore, salt is an important lifeblood and an important financial revenue of Wu State.

Qingji very much hoped that the quality of Wu's salt would surpass that of Qi's and be exported in large quantities to the countries of the Central Plains.

At this time, Qingji, accompanied by Zhisu Neishi Fan Li, Tingwei Botong and other officials, came to the salt-making workshop by the seaside of Yanling.

The salt-making workshop is composed of brine wells, brine ditches, various pits, large salt stoves, brine storage pits and stove sheds.

Qingji inspected and saw that the salt stove was composed of a workshop, a fire pit, a fire door, a large oval-shaped stove room, a long strip-shaped stove room, a flue, a chimney, and left and right brine storage pits.

The oval kitchen is relatively large in size, with an area of ​​nearly [-] square meters.

Some helmet-shaped utensils have a grass-mixed mud sheet attached to the bottom, and a grid frame is set up on the stove, and the helmet-shaped utensils are fixed on it in rows with grass-mixed mud. There are also several helmet-shaped utensils fixed together on the salt stove.

"I don't know what kind of craft is used to make salt in the workshop?" Qing Ji asked.

The person in charge of the salt workshop accompanying him replied: "My lord, our salt workshop uses the method of decocting salt!"

"The method of frying salt? What's the point of this?" Qingji became interested.

"Decocting brine has to go through several processes such as collecting salt, pouring brine and decocting."

"There are many ways to make salt. As far as I know, in addition to the method of frying salt, there are also methods of sun-drying, seawater making brine, etc. The method of making salt in my country of Wu is similar to that of the country of Qi."

"However, no matter in terms of output or quality, it is still not as good as the salt produced by the people of Qi. This has led to the fact that the salt exported by our Wu country can occupy a place in the world, but it is extremely difficult to compete with the salt produced by the people of Qi!"

With these words, all the people present nodded their heads slightly.

Selling salt is a very lucrative industry, so Wu Guo, like Qi Guo, implements the official system of salt and iron, and private sales of salt are not allowed, and offenders will be severely punished!
"Second and third sons, do you know what salt means to a country?"

Qingji said suddenly.

The accompanying ministers all looked at each other in blank dismay, pricked up their ears, and listened to Qingji's instruction.

Qing Ji said with emotion: "Like the Salt Lake in the east of the river, it is famous all over the world."

"In the past, Yao, Shun, and Yu all established their capitals in the east of the river. The capital of Yao was Pingyang, the capital of Shun was Puban, and the capital of Yu was Anyi. These capitals were all built near Yanchi!"

"The subsequent Xia and Shang dynasties both maintained a strong interest in southern Jin, which is the benefit of salt."

"In the land of the River East Salt Pond, the big river surrounds the front, the mountains block the rear, the valleys are intertwined, and the valley is full of bitterness and bitterness. It is not suitable for farming. However, why do those who occupy the River East Salt Pond often become the overlord of the world?"

Hearing this, Fan Li, the internal historian of millet, replied: "What the king said is very true. The benefits of salt are not only several times?"

"Salt is like millet. If people don't eat it, they will be exhausted."

"There are many salt ponds in the world, among which the Hedong salt pond is the most famous!"

"In the past, the feudal lords fought for hegemony, and the state of Jin was able to stand out and become the hegemony under Duke Wen of Jin. I am afraid that it has something to do with the benefits of having a pool of salt."

"good."

Qing Ji nodded slightly and said, "Because of the salt ponds in the Jin land, the country benefits and the king is happy. The Jin state is strong because of the salt, and has the benefits of the salt ponds, so it can dominate the Central Plains for hundreds of years."

"The state of Qi has the benefit of salt and iron. During the time of Duke Huan of Qi, he was able to respect the king and fight against barbarians, and he was the first to dominate! From this we can see that the benefit of salt is also there."

As far as Qingji knows, during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the salt produced in Hedong Yanchi was transported to all directions through a series of salt roads. It is said in history that "from Qinlong in the west, Fandeng in the south, Yan Dynasty in the north, and Zhou and Song Dynasties in the east".

It is self-evident how important salt is to the country!
In the pre-Qin, Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, salt, like other native products, was generally taxed at the place of production, or handed over to the country as a tribute, and the people of the country freely mined, transported and sold it. There is no special salt law at all.

Until the Spring and Autumn Period, Guan Zhongxiang, Duke Huan of Qi, promoted the benefits of salt and iron, and the state managed the production, sales and trading of salt, which opened the beginning of the Chinese Salt Law.

Its law is supplemented by the government-made salt, and the civilian-made salt is the main one. The government collects and sells the official, and the rent and tax are included in the government's monopoly salt price to increase the country's income.

However, during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, except for the state of Qi that monopolized salt, other vassal states still only taxed salt, but the tax rate gradually increased.

(End of this chapter)