Datang: What's wrong with my fief being a billion points larger?

Chapter 53 Sea Salt
Congratulations to the host for completing mowing the lawn and obtaining five contribution points. The host now has a total of 100 contribution points.

New task released: Build Hikvision New City. Completing it will earn you 1,000 contribution points.

The daily task is open. If you are tired of today's task, take a rest. Rest for two hours. You will get five contribution points if you complete it.

Li Yuanji looked at the tasks issued by the system and even put aside what he wanted to do. He stared at the new task. One thousand contribution points, how much would that be?

Li Yuanji quickly opened the item exchange column. He found that there were really a lot of things that could be exchanged for these 1,000 contribution points. Building Haikang City? Isn't he building it now?

Li Yuanji felt that this task was really suitable. Think about it, it has been almost half a year since the first task, and now he has only reached a hundred contribution points. With ten or five contribution points a day, his scalp is almost numb. Now the system is generous once again, giving out a thousand contribution points.

As for how long it would take to build Hikvision, Li Yuanji was very confident that it would only take one year at most, and by next year, the task would be completed.

In addition to this daily task, although the contribution points seem small, when accumulated, it is not a small amount. Li Yuanji was so moved that he almost cried. Can this be considered as the clouds finally clearing and the moon appearing?

After being excited for a while, Li Yuanji was still smiling foolishly. Not only this new task, but also the tasks released as daily tasks, can get five contribution points by resting for two hours. What's the difference between this and getting something for free?
It is certainly gratifying to get rewards for hard work, but it is even more gratifying to get rewards without doing anything.

Li Yuanji went straight back to where he lived, took out the rocking chair he had made, covered it with silk, and then lay down on it.

Then he opened the exchange column in his mind and prepared to exchange the things he liked. In a few breaths, he found it, then clicked on the exchange, confirmed, and the exchange was successful. The contribution points were reset to zero at once, and Li Yuanji got what he wanted.

What Li Yuanji exchanged was the salt-making method, which was to extract sea salt. Although he knew a little that sea salt was extracted from seawater, he didn't know the details. He had no choice but to exchange it.

Salt is a good thing. Why is it a good thing? Not only is the salt nowadays the coarse salt mixed with impurities, but more importantly, there is no tax on salt nowadays.

This system began in the Sui Dynasty. In the third year of Kaihuang in the Sui Dynasty, which was 583 AD, Yang Jian abolished the tax on salt. This policy lasted until the first year of Xiantian in the Tang Dynasty, which was 712 AD. Due to economic problems, Li Longji began to collect taxes on salt.

Throughout the dynasties, that is, during this period, salt was not taxed. In other dynasties, salt was the major tax source.

For a full 129 years, more than a century, there was no salt tax. Isn’t that scary?
However, if the salt tax was not levied, look at the development of the Sui Dynasty and Li Shimin's Zhenguan Reign. There is really no harm without comparison.

When talking about the Sui Dynasty, everyone thinks of Yang Guang, but who knows about Yang Jian’s achievements?

If we compare Yang Jian's achievements with those of other emperors, they are not much different, especially in terms of population. Even at the peak of the Tang Dynasty, the powerful Tang Dynasty did not have as many people as the Sui Dynasty at its peak. Yang Jian, in particular, was an emperor who unified the country.

Li Yuanji had nothing to say about the fact that the Sui Dynasty could develop to that point even though there was no salt tax.

Li Yuanji looked at the salt-making method above. There are three other methods for refining sea salt. Li Yuanji's eyes lit up. Whether it is air drying, sun drying, or evaporation and crystallization, Li Yuanji felt that they could all be used in this place.

After getting the method of refining sea salt, Li Yuanji did not take action immediately. However, he did not forget that he still had daily tasks to complete.

He waited in great excitement for two hours. When the message "daily task completed" appeared, Li Yuanji instantly jumped up. He had been wanting to start work for a long time, and now he could finally do it.

"Shufang, thank you Shufang!"

Li Yuanji arrived at the military camp and started calling Xie Shufang from a distance. Xie Shufang also ran quickly to Li Yuanji, but before he could say anything, Li Yuanji's voice came.

"Shufang, take your men to the beach immediately and pick out a relatively flat place for me, then seal it off directly. No one is allowed to go there without my order!

The people you bring should bring weapons, especially crossbows. If there are people coming from the sea, they should be kept here! " Xie Shufang's heart sank. If Li Yuanji was like this, something big must have happened again. Then Xie Shufang went down to prepare.

"I will organize the personnel right away."

After a while, Xie Shufang brought three thousand soldiers to Li Yuanji.

"My king, everything is ready."

Li Yuanji nodded.

"Okay, let's go straight away."

The army immediately left the camp, came to the seaside, and began to explore the terrain. After nearly two hours, Li Yuanji finally chose a good place.

However, now that the location has been chosen, problems have arisen regarding digging the salt pond: there are no shovels. To make them, there is no iron, and the steel made by the craftsmen here is of poor quality.

Li Yuanji was helpless and began to ponder. He then touched the soil with his hand and found it was relatively soft. Then Li Yuanji had an idea.

"Shu Fang, leave the army here and find another place with solid soil to set up camp. Send people to patrol here day and night. If there is an emergency, they must be able to provide support here as soon as possible."

After giving the task to Xie Shufang, Li Yuanji returned and immediately called a few carpenters. He also asked people to find some wood. Li Yuanji began to instruct the carpenters to make a wooden shovel, but this wooden shovel was different in that it had a lid on it.

In addition to the iron cattails, he asked carpenters to make a lot of wooden barrels and large wooden basins. In addition, Li Yuanji also found some bamboo and asked people to start weaving bamboo sieves. This bamboo sieve will be used to filter the crystals when the time comes.

Li Yuanji did this not only to facilitate digging, but also to obtain crystals from the salt pond later. After all, the crystallized salt in the salt pond cannot be eaten directly.

After finishing it, Li Yuanji immediately asked someone to go to the beach with a wooden shovel. After arriving, Li Yuanji asked Xie Shufang to take the people and start working.

Li Yuanji also started digging with a wooden shovel. Fortunately, there were many people, and in more than an hour, twelve salt ponds were dug out. Almost all of the flat area was dug up.

Li Yuanji looked at these salt ponds and smiled with satisfaction. He could already imagine how much salt these twelve salt ponds could provide him.

Xie Shufang on the side looked at these large pits which were neither deep nor shallow, and was very confused. He couldn't understand why Li Yuanji made these, especially why he had to send 3,000 soldiers to garrison them and sent people to patrol day and night. Was he paying so much attention just for these large pits?
At this time, Li Yuanji's voice came again.

"Shu Fang, the pond has been dug, but it's not finished yet. I know you have a lot of questions in your mind, but I won't tell you yet. I'll tell you after it's done. Now you lead people to dig a ditch to bring seawater into the pit we just dug."

Upon hearing this, Xie Shufang became even more curious, and immediately took his men to start digging diligently. After a while, all the waterways were dug through, and the sea water flowed into the pit along the dug ditches.

Only when the sea water in the pit was parallel to the sea water in the canal did Li Yuanji speak.

"Shufang, take people to fill all those ditches with soil. Go quickly and make sure the seawater in the pit is not connected to the seawater outside."

Although Xie Shufang went to work quickly, he was even more confused in his heart. What was the purpose of digging through and then blocking it up?
Fortunately, Uncle Xie didn’t know. Before the water pump was installed, this would have been repeated over and over again.

(End of this chapter)