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

Chapter 58 It’s destiny!
Li Yuanji was full of excitement. Producing salt meant that his business could also set sail. Now these crystals were no longer just crystals, they were all money, good things that could be exchanged for other resources.

After Xie Shufang brought all the wooden barrels and shovels, he brought another 500 people from the camp. They began to dig out the crystals in the salt pond and put them into wooden barrels. When the barrels were half full, the soldiers next to the barrels lifted them onto the carts and transported them to the river.

Li Yuanji didn't dare to put too much in, for fear that the barrel would overturn, which would not be worth it.

When the first batch of truckloads of crystal salt was transported to the river, Li Yuanji followed.

"Uncle Fang, I'll leave this to you. After digging out the crystal salt, fill the salt ponds with sea water as before."

Xie Shufang responded excitedly. In his opinion, it was a miracle that sea water could turn into salt.

Li Yuanji came to the river and started giving orders directly.

"Minghe, put all the wooden basins in place, have someone pour the crystallized salt from the barrels into the wooden trays, stop when they are half full, and then pour water into the basins."

The next step is to wash the crystallized salt and filter out other impurities to make the salt purer.

Yu Minghe started to act according to what Li Yuanji said. Li Yuanji directed everyone on the side. After washing with water, Li Yuanji asked someone to bring a bamboo sieve. Fortunately, Li Yuanji was also a craftsman and could make it.

Even in later generations, only a small number of older people in rural areas can weave this kind of gadget. Most people no longer know how to weave it.

Li Yuanji placed the crystallized salt on the bamboo sieve. Because the bamboo sieve was very thin and the surrounding woven fence was very shallow, not too much crystallized salt could be placed on it. The next step was to dry the crystallized salt in the sun to remove moisture before proceeding to the next step of separation.

Today the weather was good, so Li Yuanji put some of the crystallized salt outside to dry, and put some of it into the furnace room that had been prepared to dry it.

This furnace room is built with a small stove to generate heat, which increases the temperature in the room and achieves the purpose of drying and crystallizing the salt. Li Yuanji only prepared one room. There was no other way. He lacked iron, so he only built a few furnaces.

It took a whole day to complete the task. Fortunately, there were many people around, so we managed to finish the task in one day.

The crystallized salt put into the furnace room had also dried. Li Yuanji then used a bamboo sieve to sift it. The small-grained salt leaked through the small holes in the bamboo sieve, and the coarser salt remained on the bamboo sieve and was then put into another wooden basin. This way, the salt particles would be of uniform size.

After everything was completed, Li Yuanji ordered people to stop working. The furnace room could only be used the next day. After dark, nothing could be seen. Even if a lamp was lit, the lamp oil would be too hot.

Xie Shufang and Yu Minghe beside Li Yuanji stared at the salt Li Yuanji had prepared, and touched it carefully with their hands, unable to calm down their excitement.

"My lord, is this really salt? It's too white and too fine. Can I have a taste?"

Li Yuanji looked at Xie Shufang and Yu Minghe and immediately smiled.

"Try it if you want. How much salt can you two eat? If you can eat it as a meal, I will allow you to eat it as long as you can eat it."

Xie Shufang and Yu Minghe both laughed, but Yu Minghe was much more reserved.

The two men couldn't wait to grab a little and put it in their mouths. Yu Minghe was fine, with just a little bit, but Xie Shufang grabbed a little more. Not long after it entered his mouth, a mask of pain appeared on Xie Shufang's face.

Xie Shufang really didn't expect that this salt was saltier than what he usually ate. It was so salty that he felt like his tongue was not his own. He wanted to spit it out, but he couldn't bear to swallow such good salt. He wanted to swallow it, but it was really hard to swallow. His whole mouth felt a little unbearable.

Yu Minghe on the side was much calmer. After swallowing hard, he began to look for water. The expression on his face told Li Yuanji that although Yu Minghe was better, it was only a little and very limited.

Li Yuanji took out two water bags, and the two of them drank immediately. After a while, Xie Shufang felt that he was finally alive. Li Yuanji was really speechless. He had seen someone eat salt as a dish.

"Are you stupid? You know you're in pain, but you're not going to vomit? Instead, you're twitching there."

Xie Shufang was speechless for a while, but after a while, he felt much better.

"Your Majesty, you don't know that this salt is even saltier than the salt we ate before. I can't bear to spit it out, fearing that it will be wasted. After all, this is such good salt."

Li Yuanji held his forehead with his hand. Why did he feel that this man was hopeless? Where did the salt come from? Xie Shufang could be said to know it best among the crowd. He even saved such a small amount of salt. Li Yuanji didn't know whether to say that he was thrifty or naive.

Just then, Wang Xuance and others came over.

"My lord, I heard that you are making new salt. We are very curious. Is this the new salt? The quality is so good, each grain is separate."

Wang Xuance and others looked at the salt, looked over and exclaimed in amazement.

Li Yuanji looked at these people and smiled.

"Okay, all of you try it and see how it feels compared to the previous salt."

Upon hearing this, several people grabbed a small bit and started to taste it. Xie Shufang and Yu Minghe considerately prepared water for everyone. Soon, all the prepared water was used up.

Wang Xuance and the others came to their senses and immediately looked at Li Yuanji.

"Your Majesty, this salt is a divine object! May I ask how you made it?"

Li Yuanji laughed even more widely when he heard this.

"This salt is OK, it's made from seawater."

Several people were stunned when they heard this. Made of sea water? Were they still asleep or was Li Yuanji talking nonsense?
Afterwards, Xie Shufang explained it to a few people, but he only gave a brief explanation and everyone immediately understood.

Wang Xuance was the first to react.

"Your Majesty, this miracle should be publicized to show that your Majesty is destined to be a noble man, and more importantly, a noble man who will lead Lingnan to prosperity. The people of Lingnan must all know about this!"

Wang Xuance was extremely excited. Li Yuanji was now in Lingnan. Although all the states had surrendered on the surface, in reality, that was not the case. The army still had more than 20,000 soldiers in the back to protect the baggage and the elderly, children, women and children. The city was also being developed and built, so Li Yuanji had no troops to do anything else.

In Wang Xuance's eyes, this miracle of salt was a great opportunity to enhance Li Yuanji's prestige. Although doing so would not make everyone willingly submit to Li Yuanji's rule, it would at least make those neutral people more determined to support Li Yuanji.

Especially since Li Yuanji wanted to develop Lingnan, with such a miracle, as long as it was properly promoted, Li Yuanji's prestige in Lingnan would be so high that even Feng Ang could not compare with Li Yuanji.

Everyone listened to Wang Xuance's words, first looked at Wang Xuance, and then looked at Li Yuanji with fiery eyes. This was destiny!

In the eyes of these people, the salt made by Li Yuanji is a miracle. He is the man chosen by heaven, the one destined by heaven!

(End of this chapter)