Ming Dynasty, starting from the empty seal case

Chapter 140 A piece of paper cannot hold up the Ming Dynasty!
Again!
This scene that Zhu Yuanzhang was extremely familiar with appeared again.

This kid, take one step and see three steps.

When we do some more things, the road ahead has been paved. No matter how we continue, it seems that we will return to the original path and then return to the current layout.

Even though he knew this, when Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the scene in front of him, he still couldn't connect it with the vast sea.

but.

Thanks to the previous treasure banknote case, Zhu Yuanzhang and his son, as well as Queen Ma, obviously knew that the other party was trying to see the big from the small.

"Artificial salt field? You mean... we can get a solution to the drying of sea salt here?"

"Your Majesty is watching."

Su Xian did not answer, but went directly into his preparations.

Zhu Xiongying, Zhu Chun, and Chang Sen were confused by the conversation just now, but they saw that Su Xian was finally ready to take action.

Su Xian first explained: "Eunuch Gao just said that there is very little salt in seawater. If you use the sun-dried salt method, the first point is a waste of time, and you will have to dry it until the year of the monkey."

Zhu Biao took the initiative and said, "When we came here just now, the water in this pool was just above the middle of the sand."

Su Xian nodded and said: "I put the low-grade salt that Eunuch Gao and others brought over just now into the sand pool that was set up, and then filled it with water to the height of an index finger. In one morning, the water has now been reduced. Two-thirds."

Su Xian then said: "Similar to this, you can actually make salt."

Su Xian nodded, that's exactly what happened.

Zhu Yuanzhang was dubious, but he still looked to the side and asked them to write it down quickly.

He had obviously observed it when he came, "And now, it's in the lower position."

Of course, as long as the next action can be explained clearly.

"If it can float completely on the water, it can make salt. If it is still in the water or underwater, it is far from meeting the standard."

Su Xian explained a few words casually, and then said: "Of course, as for why, these are what we need to learn in the study of physics in the future."

"It's very simple. When you boil salt, will the salt be taken away? At a certain temperature, water will turn into gas and float in the air, but salt will not."

I saw that Su Xian did not speak this time, but messed with the "salt field" like a nine-square grid placed at his feet a few times.

Su Xian conveniently threw some lotus seeds brought by Gao Fu next to him. The lotus seeds were immersed in the water and floated up after a while.

Zhu Xiongying also ran over, "I'm coming too."

And Su Xian directed them.

Thinking like this.

"Unfortunately, due to conditions, this is all we can do now, but as long as you can understand it."

They suddenly became excited, and Chang Sen was the first to say: "I'll do it!"

Since he nodded, it was obviously the first time he heard such a novel statement.

"It's been so long, has Eunuch Gao noticed how much less water there is here?"

But Su Xian couldn't explain it to them.

It was now noon, and although the sun was not as hot as it was right now, the brazier burning next to it could still provide some warmth.

"Some of the sand on the coastline has the ability to absorb salt. So if the salt field is really built, after the tide rises and recedes, the wet sand on the coastline can be scooped away together with the sea water."

This time, Gao Fu didn't wait for him to speak.

Instead, he continued: "As for when the salt content will be enough to make salt, it is actually very simple. You can estimate it by throwing some lotus seeds into the water."

"And I gather all the remaining water together. In this way, is there enough salt in this pool?"

While they were hesitating, Su Xian looked at the "salt water" that was scooped into the middle, and waited for a while again.

In fact, some people also wanted to ask this question, but they felt that it would be disrespectful to ask, so they held back.

When he first started making this "small model", Su Xian added a lot of water to try to dilute the salt. However, it was a model after all and could not be compared with the real sea.

After mentioning the Gewuyuan and looking at the unconcealed curiosity in the eyes of several princes and noble heirs, Su Xian achieved his goal.

A certain concentration of saturated brine will precipitate salt crystals.

"Then put it in a "sieve" made of bamboo slices, leaves, and branches, and then rinse it with sea water. In this way, you can also get brine with a higher salt content..."

"Then why not take the salt with you?"

Gao Fu nodded, that's right.

Zhu Yuanzhang and Empress Ma also looked puzzled.

Then he continued: "Actually, besides this method, there is also the simplest method."

Using sediment?

Hearing this, Gao Fu was stunned and suddenly realized, "It was the sun that took away the water vapor! There is less water vapor, but the salt content in it remains the same? If this continues, sooner or later it will become brine with enough salt."

Ok?
Hearing this, several people looked over one after another.

Su Xian had been talking for so long, and a lot of the water here had evaporated. Next, Su Xian asked Chang Sen and others to scoop the water from other palace cells into the middle pool.

At this moment, Zhu Xiongying blinked and asked subconsciously.

And the next step is the most critical step.

"Of course, such a simple salt is actually similar to current salt. Sea salt obtained by exposure to sunlight still contains impurities."

As soon as these words came out.

Empress Ma immediately realized that this should be the most crucial way for Su Xian to obtain "refined salt".

Even Zhu Yuanzhang looked at Su Xian intently.

The answer to this question is not at the beach, which requires the sea to experiment, but you can see it with your own eyes right now!
"How to remove impurities?" Zhu Biao couldn't wait any longer and asked directly.

"Use lime and plant ash!"

For those reasons, there is no way to explain the chemical reaction at this time. There may be elements such as iron, fluorine, sulfate, etc. in sea water. Adding potassium carbonate and calcium oxide can react with these elements, etc...

Some of these flashed through my mind.

Su Xian continued: "Adding lime and plant ash to the brine can not only absorb impurities, but also speed up the precipitation of salt crystals. The salt obtained is far more dense than the salt obtained by drying or even boiling. Pure.”

"After the impurities are removed, there will be no problem of poisoning."

While talking.

Su Xian did as he was told, directly pouring the lime and plant ash into the salt pond in the middle, and then stirred evenly, followed by the filtering and screening process.

"Of course, don't add too much when adding them. It's best to make a slurry in advance, then pour it in...just wait for it to dry!"

"Another way is to put lime and plant ash directly into the second sand selection process. In this way, the brine washed out can also be dried directly."

"When it reaches a certain level, salt crystals will also appear."

Su Xian was talking and doing it. Since he had done this process many times at home, Su Xian was familiar with it.

After taking the filtered salt water and choosing a new pool to dry or even bake it, visible to the naked eye, layers of fine white crystal sand have vaguely appeared at the bottom of the water.

Seeing this scene, Zhu Yuanzhang and his son couldn't bear it any longer and hurriedly came closer to watch.

I don’t know how long it lasted, until more and more salt crystals appeared.

Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't bear it anymore.

"No, it's too slow to dry. Now put them all on the iron plate and fry them as soon as possible. We want to see these new salts."

Obviously, what he is most concerned about is the method of purifying salt.

What they never expected was that this kind of thing was so simple, and there was no need to go through a lot of trouble before.

Lime and plant ash that can be seen everywhere can turn decay into magic?

And Gao Fu couldn't calm down at this moment.

He waved his hands quickly, and even took the father-in-law himself to find an iron plate, scooped the salt water into the iron plate, immediately put it on the brazier, and began to boil the water on a low fire.

As more and more water vapor evaporates, the white salt visible to the naked eye has occupied the eye sockets.

At this moment, even Gao Fu couldn't calm down.

Because they personally came here with the low-grade salt, and they also personally watched how Su Xian "wasted" all the salt and turned it into salt water. Then I saw this scene again.

At that moment, Gao Fu was so excited that he could not speak.

"Your Majesty... Your Majesty! It's amazing, it's amazing! What the slaves just brought was obviously low-grade salt, but now it's turned into high-grade salt, no! It's purer than the high-grade salt."

Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't bear to hear him continue to talk.

Wait until cool.

He asked his father-in-law to take out the refined salt, then he personally stretched out his index finger, dipped some salt, and then put it into his mouth.

"it is good!"

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes seemed to suddenly light up, "It's not as bitter anymore, it's pretty much the same as what we tasted last time."

"There really is such a way! There really is such a way 1"

suddenly.

He seemed to realize something and quickly turned his head to look around, "Your mouth..."

"Your Majesty, we didn't hear anything!"

On the other side, Chang Mao screamed in fright. The key to this method of turning corruption into magic is that it is so damn simple. If anyone sees it and spreads it, countless private salt dealers will probably follow suit.

By then, no matter how much better and cheaper private salt is than official salt, the national policy of salt introduction will be abandoned halfway.

For a moment, everyone quickly expressed their opinions.

Zhu Yuanzhang became silent instead.

Because he suddenly discovered that if refined salt was really produced on a large scale, this method could not be concealed at all, and many kitchen households would definitely know about it.

And if this happens, it will miss the country's plan!
"no!"

"No! We were happy too early!"

At this moment, Zhu Yuanzhang understood clearly, and he suddenly turned his head to look at Su Xian.

"If these methods are really used on a large scale, then the people of Ming Dynasty will indeed not have to worry about salt."

"But the court is going to be worried! We are going to be worried!"

Su Xian knew what Lao Zhu was thinking at this moment.

To know.

Salt introduction... is a national policy!

This national policy doesn’t just allow you to make more salt this year. The more salt you make, the better!

But it needs "quantification". As Zhu Yuanzhang said, the imperial court's annual salt production is ten times the number of people in the Ming Dynasty!
In this way, in addition to the five kilograms required by the common people each year.

There's still half of it.

It is for road losses, foreign trade, cattle, horses, sheep, etc., and storage needs.

But once Su Xian's method spreads.

So isn't private salt banned repeatedly?
More importantly, once good salt comes out, many people will inevitably trade privately with foreign countries. Tubo in the west, grasslands in the north, small foreign countries in the southwest...etc., the Ming Dynasty is equivalent to losing one hand and foreign countries. A means of making money through state transactions.

It’s even possible to let them grow older!

And if this happens, it might even destroy the shohiki system...

After thinking about it, Zhu Yuanzhang felt for the first time that he had made a mistake in asking Su Xian to explain to him the method of making salt.

Seeing Zhu Yuanzhang's reaction, Su Xian only thought about it briefly and came up with his thoughts.

In fact, not only him, but also Empress Ma had a hint of hesitation, and even Prince Zhu Biao frowned.

The method of extracting refined salt only gave everyone a moment of joy.

And then there was endless silence again.

Gao Fu carefully turned off the engine, then looked at the other father-in-law and signaled to retreat quietly.

The silence lasted for a very long time.

But Su Xian waited patiently.

The reason is simple, it is the fear of the unknown and the uncontrollable future. At this time, a helmsman is even more needed.

It just so happened that Su Xian was very small in everything right now, but he only had a very long-term vision for future generations.

I do not know how long it has been.

Suddenly, Zhu Yuanzhang spoke slowly, "You have thought of it too, right?"

He turned to look at Su Xian. As he had thought before, since this man had to take one step at a time and look at three steps, he had obviously thought about the possible consequences of the purification of refined salt.

"This is for business!" Su Xian said calmly.

"For the public?" Zhu Yuanzhang could no longer tell the difference. This was the first time he heard these two words.

He took a breath and let it out slowly, "Little child, do you know what a male is?"

"Compared with these salts, weakening the enemy and choking them is the best way to serve the common good."

"Once this salt-making method becomes popular, it will inevitably spread. Once it spreads, the imperial salt tax will collapse faster than what you mentioned in "Introduction to Salt"!"

"When the time comes, wouldn't your calculations be completely useless? Even foreigners know such a simple method, then my Ming Dynasty..."

"Your Majesty!" Su Xian interrupted.

He just said softly: "I, the people of Ming Dynasty, deserve such good salt!"

As soon as these words came out, Zhu Yuanzhang seemed to be touched by something, and his body was shaken.

But Su Xian knew better that the other party's hesitation just now was just confusion about the unknown and uncertainty about the future.

But fundamentally speaking, he is still the extremely confident Hongwu Emperor who rose from humble beginnings!

He is worried about future generations, but he is not worried about himself...

"Besides, Your Majesty also thinks too much."

"There are only so many places that produce salt. As long as the salt mines are controlled, most of the salt produced in the Ming Dynasty will still be decided by the court!"

"And if Your Majesty is worried about private salt, then the topic returns to the previous point - official salt must be better and cheaper than private salt!"

Su Xian repeated again: "Because I, the people of Ming Dynasty, deserve such good salt!"

"The imperial court participates in the setting of salt prices. Based on losses and salt taxes, it determines the market salt price that is most acceptable to ordinary people. Once the sun-dried salt method becomes popular, coupled with the success of refined salt production!"

"When the time comes, I, the Ming Dynasty, will not be worth three cents of silver and one pound of salt, nor will I be one cent of silver and one pound of salt!"

"But one centimeter of silver and one pound of salt!"

One centimeter is equal to ten cents.

This number obviously shocked Zhu Yuanzhang.

However, what Su Xian said next was even more shocking.

"Even if illegal salt trading becomes rampant again!"

"The Ming Dynasty could even pay five cents for a pound of salt and still make a profit!"

"Since then, the salt of our Ming Dynasty has no distinction between upper, middle and lower grades. It can only be divided into sea salt and lake salt. People can eat whatever flavor of salt they want."

As Su Xian's bewitching voice sounded, at this moment, Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao's expressions were extremely shocked.

"As for the foreign countries that your Majesty is worried about, their strength has been weakened..."

Next, Su Xian's voice sounded again, but it brought an even more shocking tremor to Zhu Yuanzhang's mind!
"Does Your Majesty think that... the Ming Dynasty can stand up in the late Yuan Dynasty, restore the Han Dynasty, drive away the Yuan people, and even reach as far as the Han and Tang Dynasties in the future!"

"Do you have to rely on mere salt?"

"His Majesty!"

Su Xian said again: "As it is said in "Salt Introduction", a piece of salt quotation cannot hold up the Ming Dynasty!"

"The lifeblood of our Ming Dynasty's military and state cannot be put on a mere piece of paper!"

(End of this chapter)