Be an emperor from drawing cards

Chapter 173: The Law of Well Salt, Tang Law and Yonghui!
Seeing that no one objected, Bu Zhi was quite satisfied and had a bit of a smile on his face.

Also, whoever refuses such a good thing is a fool!
"Then I would like to thank you all for your support to the imperial court."

A group of tribal leaders quickly replied.

"Master Bu, what are you talking about? It is our blessing that the imperial court is willing to support us. If we refuse, we will really not distinguish between good and bad."

"That's right, that's right, these good deeds are your Majesty's reward for us. This thunder, rain and dew are all your grace."

Seeing that these tribal leaders had placed themselves in a very upright position, Bu Zhi felt even more satisfied. He stroked the short beard that had grown under his chin and said:
"This silver mine is mainly the imperial court's share. What I want to say next is related to the hundreds of thousands of people in Jiaxing Prefecture and the daily lives of the people under your rule."

Wu Kun rolled his eyes, recalling what Bu Zhi had just said, and couldn't help but blurt it out.

"Master Bu, are you talking about the well salt?"

Ever since Wu Kun was subdued by His Majesty, he has really shown great affection to me, and this compliment is truly a good one.

Looking at Wukun, Bu Zhao nodded with a smile.

"Exactly well salt."

A tribal leader asked doubtfully: "But Master Bu doesn't know something. We have been mining rock salt for generations since our ancestors, but I have never heard of this well salt."

Salt is the most basic necessity for people and an indispensable material to maintain normal economic life in society.

Because salt is related to people's livelihood, its status in ancient times was even higher than that of oil in modern times.

It can be said that one tael of salt is worth one tael of gold.

The so-called rock salt in his mouth refers to a translucent crystalline ore containing a large amount of salt.

The process of mining rock salt is to dig tunnels in the mountains or underground, use manpower to mine out the salt-containing rocks, then crush the rocks to dissolve the salt inside, and finally extract the table salt.

Although this method is time-consuming, labor-intensive and extremely dangerous, in order to maintain the survival and development of the tribe, people have to risk their lives to mine salt in the pits.

Before mentioning salt, Bu Zhao had made a lot of preparations for today, and he was even more prepared for the doubts of these tribal leaders.

At that moment, he smiled and asked:
"Chief, I'm not going to talk about the difficulties and dangers of collecting rock salt for people in your tribe. I just want to ask, how does this rock salt taste?"

When asked about this, the faces of all the tribal leaders present fell down.

of course?

Bitter and astringent, hard to swallow!
Not only that, but occasionally people would be poisoned, and the witch doctors in the tribe couldn't figure out why.

Bu Zhi smiled slightly, he had known this for a long time!

With the technical level of these barbarians, being able to precipitate table salt from rock salt is already their limit.

As for further processing and purification, it would be a embarrassment to these barbarians!
"I have invited experts from the Mo family to dig wells to extract the salt from the rock salt and make table salt."

After Bu Zhi finished speaking, he clapped his hands gently.

Soon, two government officials entered the hall each holding a bag of salt.

"How about you guys take a look at the quality of this salt?"

Bu Zhi smiled and made a "please" gesture.

When these tribal leaders heard this, they opened the bags and what they saw were grains of snow-white salt that were as pure and white as snow, so white that people couldn't take their eyes away.

Wu Kun's throat rolled a few times, and Fang boldly asked:

"Sir, may I have a taste?"

Bu Zhao nodded and said nothing.

With Bu Zhi's permission, Wu Kun stretched out two fingers, carefully picked up a handful of salt grains, and put it into his mouth.

Suddenly, a salty taste filled the entire mouth.

But apart from the salty taste, the bitterness is so minimal that if you don't taste it carefully, you won't be able to detect it at all.

Wu Kun blurted out two words.

"Good salt!"

Seeing Wu Kun like this, the other tribal leaders didn't care much. They all followed Wu Kun's example, pinched the salt grains and put them in their mouths to taste.

The next moment, their eyes widened.

Since the day they were born, have they ever eaten salt that was so pure and had almost no odor!

Seeing the expressions of these people, Bu Zhao gently stroked his beard and asked with a smile:
"how?"

"Sir, is this the well salt?"

Some tribal leaders couldn't believe it.

"If I want to deceive you, why do I need to spend so much effort?" Bu Zhao snorted coldly. Seeing the other party's face showing shame, Fang said slowly, "I am carrying out your majesty's wishes and hope to form a good relationship with you for generations to come. I want to cooperate with you, take this business, and at the same time improve the lives of your people and let them know the benevolence of my great Chu. If you are not willing, then just pretend that I have not said anything about this today. As for Don’t mention cooperation again, I’ll just ask others for it.”

"My lord, I have misunderstood. This is absolutely not what I meant."

Lian Bu Zhi wanted to go back on his word, but everyone suddenly panicked and began to plead for mercy.

"That's right, how can we not know that your Excellency is considerate of us? I hope that Your Excellency will have enough to spare him this time. If he dares to do this again, I will personally tie him up in front of Your Excellency without Your Majesty's action. Just let the adults handle it!"

Bu Zhao at this time, in the eyes of these tribal leaders, is a living boy who delivers wealth.

If this person is pissed off, where can they find such easy money?

"Forget it, for your sake, I will spare him this time."

After beating these tribal leaders, Bu Zhao stopped and got down to business.

"I will let Mr. Wu explain it to you in detail about the well salt."

After saying that, he nodded to the staff beside him.

The staff walked out of the lobby, and not long after, a Mohist disciple wearing ocher clothes appeared in front of everyone.

"Everyone, my surname is Wu. I have only one Chinese character in my name. I am trusted by His Majesty and hold the position of director of the Ministry of Industry. This time I came to southern Xinjiang to promote well salt according to His Majesty's decree."

As Wu Hui spoke, he cupped his hands in the direction of Shenjing.

It turned out that when Zhao Yu was browsing the Mohist classics that Du Yunshan sent to the palace, he accidentally saw the method of well salt in them.

After becoming emperor for nearly a year, Zhao Yu naturally understood the importance of the salt industry to the court and the people, so he sent Wu Hui, the most adept at this method among the Mohist disciples, to Miao territory to promote the method of well salt.

After hearing that Wu Hui was personally sent to southern Xinjiang by the emperor, everyone realized how seriously the Chu court attached importance to this matter, and quickly stood up and saluted Wu Hui.

After the two parties met, Wu Huifang briefly introduced the method of well salt in a language that these tribal leaders could understand.

It turns out that to make well salt, you must first build a salt well.

It is also very difficult to successfully dig this salt well.First, you need to find an experienced craftsman to determine the location of the well, then use a mouth-shaped iron awl to drill holes in the stone layer in the stone mountain, then cut the bamboo in half, wrap it around the handle of the awl and drill all the way down. If the bamboo is not long enough, Continue until the deep rocks are ground into powder, and then use hanging iron clamps to take out the gravel, then the well is considered successful.In order to prevent the well wall from collapsing easily, the well head is only the size of a bowl.

Inside the well, large bamboo with knots removed is wrapped with hemp rope on the outside, putty is applied on the inside, and the first socket is tied together as a casing to prevent the well wall from collapsing and fresh water infiltrating.

Hang tangerines on the well, set up a turntable, and the cattle pull the turntable to lift up the brine in the well, and finally put it in a pot to simmer it to make the well salt, which is as white as snow.

After listening to Wu Hui's simple explanation, everyone present, even Bu Zhao who had heard it several times, was astonished.

Some tribal leaders who originally wanted to go home and open salt wells after hearing this, had no choice but to give up.

There is no other reason. The technology and craftsmanship involved are extremely complicated. The tribe alone cannot handle the straight-shaped drill bits required for drilling wells, let alone other things.

"There are warriors in each tribe, and I am going to hire them to dig salt wells for the court. You can also invest money to join, but there is only one. The salt from the well must be in the hands of the court. However, although it is an official camp, the leaders can also join it. Among them, a maximum of [-]% of the profits will be allocated. As a price, you need to send people to inspect the areas where the salt wells are mined. What do you think?"

Seeing that all the leaders had digested Wu Hui's words, Bu Zhi just offered the government's conditions.

Salt and ironware are related to the foundation of a country, so the official management of salt and iron is an unshakable national policy.

At this point, there is no room for bargaining.

As for hiring warriors from these tribes, it is because these skilled hands with internal strength can dig salt wells faster and better than ordinary workers.

At the same time, Bu Zhi also wanted to use this to subtly transform these people into the court's manpower.

With the previous example of the silver mine, these tribal leaders agreed without much thought.

For them, this was the imperial court's property, and now that they could get a share of it, it was already a great blessing.

…………

In the Zihuan Hall, Zhao Yu was flipping through the memorials from Jiaxing Mansion. He couldn't help but flick the paper and exclaimed:
"In just two months, Buzi Mountain gathered experienced salt workers and brave tribal warriors to successfully dig nearly a hundred salt wells in Jiaxing Prefecture. According to Wu Hui's prediction, this salt well can be opened regardless of rain or shine. You can get three kilo of salt a day, which is about a thousand kilo a year. These more than [-] salt wells alone can produce [-] kilo of salt a year, and this is just the beginning!"

You know, in this day and age, salt is extremely expensive.

Even in peacetime, the price of one stone of salt is as high as [-] yuan.And one stone of rice, no matter how good the quality is, costs less than a hundred dollars.

This means that one stone of salt can be exchanged for at least eight stones of rice!
These [-] stones of salt, converted into grain, are equivalent to one million stones.

And this is just the initial output.

As time goes by, the production of salt will become higher and higher.

The final result was that the price of salt in Jiangnan plummeted, allowing more people in Dachu to eat cheap salt.

In the past, a stone of salt cost [-] yuan. In the future, it may even cost [-] yuan, or even [-] yuan.

No matter which era, scientific and technological progress is accompanied by a great increase in wealth, and those who ultimately benefit are the people at the bottom.

Although Bu Zhi did this, it seemed that the court had lost money, but in fact, the court followed the path of large quantity and large sales. It can only be said that it made less money, but it was impossible to lose money.

For Zhao Yu, it doesn't matter even if he earns less, because the people of Chu have benefited from this policy and their physical fitness has been improved in all aspects.

This means that the imperial court can recruit better sources of troops and gain a slight advantage in the competition with other countries for hegemony.

Such advantages accumulate little by little, and they become an absolute victory, and the wheel of history rolls forward, and whoever stops and crushes the general trend of the world!

Zhao Yu handed the memorial in his hand to the middle-aged man sitting solemnly beside him and said with a smile:

"Zhengze, take a look at Buzishan's methods."

The man whom Zhao Yu called "Zhengze" took the memorial with both hands, read it carefully, and said, "Your Majesty really has a keen eye for talents. Just by looking at the subtle and silent means of moisturizing things, you can tell that Lord Bu has the talent of a prime minister."

He had to sigh like this.

Among the first three promoted by His Majesty, Bu Zhao proved his ability with this skill. Zhou Rui, the Minister of Household Affairs, regarded Zhuge Jin as his successor and trained him all the time. Although Yu Fan said It stinks, but he is also a treacherous minister who is appreciated by His Majesty, ah no, a remonstrating minister.

He had to admit that just looking at the treatment of the barbarian tribes in this memorial, with his own temperament, he couldn't be as calm as Bu Zhao.

Is that okay?
Zhao Yu secretly thought.

This Bu Zhao was the prime minister of Wu State after Lu Xun. Before that, he served as the governor of Jiaozhou for nearly ten years. He killed Wu Ju, shocked Shi Xie, put down rebellions, built city walls, and shocked southern Xinjiang.

Now it can be regarded as revisiting the "old place", how can we not get it at our fingertips?
However, there was something in Liu Zhengze's words.

Zhao Yu smiled and nodded at the other party with his hand.

"Zhengze, you said that I have a keen eye for recognizing talents, but you also praised yourself for it."

This person is none other than the talent Zhao Yu summoned through Chenka [Tang Lu Yonghui] not long ago—Liu Rengui and Liu Zhengze!
[(White) Chenka: Tang Lu Yonghui]

[Card Description: Among the generals of the Tang Dynasty’s Eastern Expedition, Liu Rengui was the only one who had both civil and military talents! 】

[Card effect: After use, you will get the famous minister Liu Rengui. 】

Liu Rengui, courtesy name Zhengze, was a prime minister of the Tang Dynasty and a famous general.While guarding Baekje, he became famous all over the world for rescuing Silla and defeating the Japanese and Baekje coalition forces in the Battle of Hajiangkou.

70 force, 92 command, 84 military strategy, 90 political strategy, 89 wisdom, 85 literature, 91 charm, 89 morals, 20 ambition, 85 loyalty, 400 intimacy, 500 influence, 37 age, origin: commoner, character: perseverance .

Characteristic 1 [Poor family background]: He was born in poverty, but his childhood experience made him mature mentally precociously, with wisdom +5, morality +5, and ambition -5.

Characteristic 2 [General and Prime Minister]: When serving as a civil servant of third rank or above, wisdom +5, political strategy +5, literature +5, national tax revenue increased by 3% per year; when serving as commander of an army, command +5, wisdom +5 , the morale of the soldiers under his command +10, and the combat power increases by 10%.

Characteristic 3 [Proud and Pretentious]: After Liu Rengui takes up a third-grade official position or above, the chance of being impeached by the court increases by 20%.

Characteristic 4 [Foreign Nemesis]: As the commander-in-chief of an army, when fighting foreigners, the morale of his soldiers will be +20, their combat power will be increased by 20%, and their movement speed will be increased by 10%.

"I don't dare to praise Your Majesty. But if I and Lord Bu are in a different place, even if the methods are different, I am confident that I can do no worse than Lord Bu."

Facing Zhao Yu's words, although Liu Rengui's attitude was still respectful, there was a hint of arrogance in his tone.

Another one who is as proud as Wei Wenchang.

Although Zhao Yu thought so, he didn't take it seriously at all. He laughed and said: "Zhengze is very brave. Okay, I will wait and see and wait for that day."

After a pause, he continued:

"However, before that, Li Hanlin should draft the imperial edict for me to summon Lu Shilang and others to lead the army back to the capital."

Like Du Yu and others' initial treatment, Liu Rengui was also appointed as a Hanlin bachelor by Zhao Yu. While being prepared for the emperor's consultation at any time, he also had the responsibility of being ordered to draft imperial edicts.

Now counting the time, the Jin envoy must have conveyed his wishes to Qi.

No matter how much the monarchs and ministers of Qi objected to the conditions they proposed, they had to bow their heads obediently in the face of the pressure from Jin and Chu.

Therefore, Lu Yian and others, who were the first to lead troops to support Guan Haocang's troops, could also lead their troops back to Shenjing City.

It just so happens that I would like to take advantage of my birthday in the near future to reward these heroes one by one.

"Sir, obey the order."

Liu Rengui said in response, and then he started writing at his desk.

(End of this chapter)