Choose Liu Bei at the start, I am the only one who knows the plot of the Three Kingdoms.

Chapter 375: Refining Fine Salt, Mount Nalanda

Five days later, Gu Rubing returned to Qingzhou with Zhang He, whom he met in Yuzhou. Before he even entered the house, he saw from afar his governor's mansion decorated with lights and colors. Two large festive lanterns at the door swayed in the wind. The original governor's mansion had now replaced its original plaque and hung the three words "Princess Lie's Mansion".

Zhuge Liang, Fa Zheng, Xi Zhicai, Liu Ye, Lu Su and other civil officials were waiting for Gu Rubing's arrival at the door. After seeing Gu Rubing dismount from his horse, they all bowed to congratulate Gu Rubing from afar. After all, the promotion from governor to king was of great significance.

"Congratulations, my lord. Congratulations, my lord. You finally got what you wanted."

Liu Ye bowed and said, his face showing joy that could not be concealed. Not only was Gu Rubing named the King of the Same Character, he also obtained the positions of governors of seven states for his seven generals. Now, there are a total of thirteen states in the world, and Gu Rubing alone occupies eight of them. How majestic!

"Hahaha, stop standing at the door, go inside and talk, go inside and talk."

Gu Rubing also smiled brightly. This trip to Xudu was a fruitful one. He also got some benefits from Cao Cao and learned that Cao Cao had already been transferred to a special military branch, the Mojin Xiaowei. In many situations, the importance of information is far higher than some material things.

In addition, Gu Rubing has modern thinking and knows the importance of information gap, so this time when he comes back, Gu Rubing is ready to show his skills. The first thing is to make money, and then spread out the tomb-raiding lieutenants, and at the same time send out his scouts. It would be a waste to have such a powerful special force to fight in the war.

Just like the tomb-robbing lieutenants, even at this critical moment, Cao Cao still did not recall them, and let them continue to rob tombs and do what they were supposed to do. Cao Cao had an army like this to plunder property for him across the country, and Gu Rubing wanted to build an intelligence network covering the thirteen states. No matter where they were or what the situation was, even if it was an important event in the southernmost part of Jiaozhou or the southwestern part of Yizhou, he must know within three days.

This would be a great test of Taishi Ci's ability. After all, the Captain of the Roving Crossbows, including the scouts before his job change, were all trained by Taishi Ci himself. Now, in order to organize such an intelligence network across the country, money is the most important thing.

Gu Rubing deliberately moved closer to Zhuge Liang and spoke in a low voice.

"I heard that the Prime Minister is worried about money matters recently?"

"Oh? My Lord, you know?"

Zhuge Liang was still a little surprised. After all, he learned from Fa Zheng that Gu Rubing just never cared about this, so he never mentioned it to Gu Rubing. Gu Rubing just smiled and kept it a secret.

"It's not just the Prime Minister who can predict the future."

Looking at Gu Rubing's smug smile, Zhuge Liang instantly understood what Gu Rubing meant, then shook his head and smiled.

"I'm afraid that will disappoint you, my lord. The money issue has been temporarily resolved. As for future matters, I will find a way. My lord, don't worry."

"Yeah, I knew it. You solved it. What? Solved it? How did you solve it?"

Gu Rubing looked at Zhuge Liang in surprise. Now many Yellow Turban reservists have been transferred to become regular soldiers. This means that the money needed will increase explosively, and it cannot be solved by small tricks. That's why Gu Rubing was so surprised.

"Yes, it's solved."

Zhuge Liang did not answer Gu Rubing's last question, but looked at Gu Rubing with a smile. His expression seemed to say, "My lord, you can also predict the future. Why not try it now and see what the solution is?"

Looking at Zhuge Liang who was teasing him, Gu Rubing did not feel angry at all. Instead, he was happy from the bottom of his heart, because Zhuge Liang in history was not a boring strategist, but an energetic young man. When Liu Bei and his subordinates were alive, they often laughed and joked together.

It was only after the Battle of Baidi City that Zhuge Liang became the prime minister recorded in history books.

"Hahaha, Prime Minister, please stop teasing me. How did you solve it?"

"My subordinates dare not."

Zhuge Liang smiled and bowed.

"Speaking of which, this matter is actually thanks to the Lord."

"Thanks to me?"

Gu Rubing became more and more confused. If he had told Zhuge Liang the principle of refining fine salt, and Zhuge Liang made a fortune with this and allowed them to overcome the difficulties, then it could be said that it was all thanks to him. But now he had not given anything, so how could it be thanks to him?

"Yes, my lord, please take a look."

As the two men were chatting and laughing, they had already walked to Gu Rubing's room. Although the plaque of the mansion had been changed, the interior of the mansion had not changed at all. While Zhuge Liang was talking, he pushed open the door. In the center of Gu Rubing's room, there were four huge boxes.

"My lord, why don't you open it and take a look."

Following Zhuge Liang's suggestion, Gu Rubing walked towards the huge boxes and opened one of them at random. The next moment, Gu Rubing was almost blinded by the golden light, as he saw that such a large box was filled with gold. He opened another one and saw the same thing, all of it was blinding gold.

After opening the other boxes one by one, they were filled with white silver, all of which were real gold and silver.

The two boxes of gold contained gold ingots weighing ten taels each. Gu Rubing made a rough estimate that each box contained about one thousand of these ten-tael gold ingots, and two boxes contained two thousand of them, which meant that the two alleys were filled with a total of twenty thousand taels of gold.

As for the silver in the other four boxes, the amounts varied, but Gu Rubing estimated that there were at least 10,000 taels of silver in one box.

Suddenly, 20,000 taels of gold and 40,000 taels of silver came into his account, totaling 240,000 taels of silver. Not to mention solving the urgent problem, he wouldn't have to worry about money for a few months.

"Where did all this money come from?"

Gu Rubing became more and more confused, but at the same time, he had a guess as to who sent the silver. After all, nowadays, the only one who could be so generous as to come up with so much silver was probably the current Emperor Liu Xie.

Looking at Gu Rubing's expression, Zhuge Liang spoke up to help him confirm what he was thinking.

"It was sent by His Majesty, and he also asked me to pass on a note to you."

As Zhuge Liang spoke, he handed a rolled-up note in his sleeve to Gu Rubing. The note was tied with a gold thread, indicating that no one had ever opened it. Gu Rubing took the note with a skeptical attitude and opened it. There was only one sentence on it, very simple.

"I hope the army will return to Luoyang soon."

These eight simple words expressed Liu Xie's earnest hope for Gu Rubing. He did not want Gu Rubing to go to Xudu to save her, but wanted to ask Gu Rubing to return to Luoyang. It can be seen that Liu Xie's character is indeed among the emperors in the late Han Dynasty. Looking at the note in his hand and the gold and silver that filled his room, Gu Rubing was deeply moved. This emperor really helped him a lot.

What Gu Rubing didn't know was that the court's finances and treasury had long been controlled by Cao Cao. All transfers of gold and silver had to be approved by Cao Cao, so Liu Xie had no way of withdrawing money from the already empty treasury.

These silver and money were the gold and silver given to his wife, now the queen, by the Han Dynasty when he married Fu Shou. Liu Xie gave all of it that could be given to Gu Rubing, truly doing his best and leaving the rest to fate.

"It seems that our Majesty has high expectations of me."

Gu Rubing said with a smile, and Zhuge Liang nodded solemnly.

"I didn't expect that. I originally prepared something to help the Prime Minister. Now it seems that it can only be the icing on the cake."

"Could it be that the lord also has talent as a businessman?"

Zhuge Liang was a little surprised, and Gu Rubing took out a piece of parchment from his arms and handed it to Zhuge Liang.

"There are two ways to refine fine salt. One is to refine sea salt, and the other is to refine mineral salt. Now that the Eight States have legitimately belonged to us, we can use this method to refine it."

"Fine salt? What is it? Refining? What does it mean?"

Zhuge Liang asked with some confusion. He had never heard of these two words. Not only these two, he found that his lord often said some special words.

"Well, fine salt is similar to official salt, but it is finer and cleaner. Refining means removing the impurities in the current official salt and making it purer."

After Gu Rubing gave a brief explanation, he waved his hand and asked someone to bring salt blocks, water, straw, a stove, and a clay pot.

Zhao Yun, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and others were also called to help. Zhuge Liang watched Gu Rubing busying around with great interest. He had never heard of or thought about fine salt before.

Gu Rubing first dissolved the salt blocks with water, then poured the brine into a clay pot, set up a stove, and started a hot fire. Gu Rubing first lit the straw, then took a handful of straw ash and put it aside. When he was in school, Gu Rubing learned that the potassium carbonate in the straw ash can be separated into calcium carbonate, magnesium hydroxide and other ions in the salt to purify the salt.

After watching Gu Rubing pour the straw ash into the clay pot and boil it, they became more and more confused. What was he doing?
Gu Rubing kept using a spoon to skim off the crystals floating on the surface. These were all water-insoluble substances separated from the straw ash. Zhao Yun stood by with a fan, fanning the burning wood until the salt water in the earthenware jar dried up. Only then did Gu Rubing stop. Then he took a spoon and scooped out half a spoonful of gray, tiny particles from the jar.

Everyone gathered around and looked at the half spoonful of gray particles in the spoon. They looked much smaller than salt blocks. Zhang Fei couldn't help but pick up a few particles with his fingers and put them in his mouth. In an instant, Zhang Fei's eyes widened. Everyone else also turned to look at Zhang Fei, waiting for him to speak.

“Such a fresh and salty taste.”

After hearing what Zhang Fei said, the others reached out and picked up some and put it in their mouths to taste. They felt a taste they had never tasted before bursting in their mouths.

“This salt is not astringent at all.”

Zhao Yun said with some surprise, and Zhuge Liang nodded on the side.

"Not only did it remove the astringency of salt, it also turned the original salt block into small particles like this. My lord is truly a god."

After Zhuge Liang finished speaking, he turned and looked at Gu Rubing.

"This salt is delicious, but it cannot be mass-produced, which means it will be very expensive. Ordinary people can't afford it. Only some princes and nobles are willing to buy it, but there are not many of them. Even if we sell it at a high price, the money we earn will definitely not be enough to cover the military expenses."

Gu Rubing smiled mysteriously and pointed at the parchment in Zhuge Liang's hand.

"Don't worry, Prime Minister. I am just showing you what fine salt is. If you really want to mass produce it, you definitely can't use this method. The parchment has written down how to extract fine salt in large quantities. Prime Minister, just go ahead and do it."

Zhuge Liang looked at the parchment in his hand, and then at Gu Rubing. This method of refining fine salt would surely make a fortune as long as it was spread. However, Gu Rubing gave the method directly to Zhuge Liang. This was enough to show that Gu Rubing trusted Zhuge Liang so much that he was no less trusting than Guan Yu and Zhang Fei.

"Don't worry, my lord. I will never let you down."

"Don't worry, I always trust the Prime Minister to do things."

As Gu Rubing spoke, he handed the half spoonful of fine salt he was holding to Zhao Yun who was standing beside him.

"You can use this salt to cook in the mansion these days. I'm sure the Prime Minister will have refined new salt by the time this salt is used up."

Compared to the leisurely life of Gu Rubing and his men, Cao Cao was much busier. He didn't have many war horses to begin with, otherwise he would not have agreed to cooperate with Han Sui. But now, the duck in his mouth flew away, and Cao Cao not only lost 5,000 elite armors and 5,000 war horses. If it was really lost, it would be fine, but this was a gift to Liu Bei.

Cao Cao did not dare to refuse to give it to Liu Bei, because he was well aware of the power of public opinion. If he did not give it to Liu Bei, Liu Bei might get unhappy and tell everything that happened that day, and his reputation would be ruined.

He had already prepared fine armor and war horses, but the reason he didn't send them to Yanzhou was that he was waiting until the last day to send them. This was Cao Cao's last stubbornness.

"I wonder how Xiahou Dun is doing in the Western Regions."

Cao Cao held a gold coin in his hand, which was constantly turning over in his fingers. This was his habit in his previous life when thinking about things. However, after coming here, all the copper coins were too small to be turned in his fingers. It was not until the tomb-raiding lieutenant brought him such a gold coin two days ago that he resumed this way of entertainment.

Xiahou Dun, who was deeply concerned about Cao Cao, had already rushed to the sacred mountain Nalanda of Shule State in the Western Regions with a dozen tomb-raiders. Nalanda Mountain was almost towering into the clouds. Xiahou Dun and his tomb-raiders had just arrived at the foot of the mountain when a man dressed as a lama came up and chanted a Buddhist chant.

"Amitabha, the donor is coming from the East?"

"Exactly."

Seeing the other party telling his origins, Xiahou Dun was not confused. They had been in contact with the Western Regions before, but the last cooperation failed to come true, so it had been shelved until now, when they went to the Western Regions again.

(End of this chapter)