Wentang

Chapter 282 Salt and Iron
"How many times does the annual income double? Come on, what can I do?" Li Shimin said in surprise.

"Salt iron." Yue Shan said.

"Salt and iron franchise?" Li Shimin said disappointedly?

"No, not to mention iron, I am firmly opposed to the monopoly of salt. This will indeed increase the royal revenue, but the salt price will soar dozens of times, and it will be the common people who will suffer. And this will also raise a lot of wealthy people. Salt merchants in enemy countries should not engage in salt monopoly if they have other means." Yue Shan denied.

"Oh, it's not a salt and iron franchise, do you have other good solutions?" Li Shimin then regained his interest.

"Let's talk about iron first. You don't need to repeat the importance of iron. You can understand the importance of sages. Now my Tang Dynasty produces a serious shortage of iron, which is not even used by the army, and it is even more urgent for the people. Many farmers use wood for their farmland. Farm tools." Yue Shan talked eloquently:
"In this case, there is no need for the imperial court to engage in a monopoly. It only needs to increase the production of steel to obtain huge profits immediately. Moreover, with the increase in steel production, more troops can be armed, and farmers can cultivate more fields with iron farm tools. land……"

"I understand what you said, but smelting iron is not as simple as you think." Li Shimin shook his head and said.

Then he found that Yue Shan just looked at him and smiled, but didn't answer. At this moment, a flash of inspiration flashed, and he slapped his forehead and said regretfully:
"Oh, look, I'm confused again. I don't know if I have a treasure mountain. Your science book contains a brand-new method of smelting steel, and some iron ore locations. I just think about gunpowder. Give it to me. forget."

There are too many top-secret things recorded in the book of science, and it is absolutely impossible for Li Shimin to show it to outsiders.At most, it is which technology he is interested in, and he will make a separate copy for relevant personnel to study.

But he was most interested in gunpowder, and put most of his energy on it, so that he ignored other technologies.

"There is a large-scale iron mine at the junction of Wannian County and Lantian County. The saint only needs to send people to explore the specific location and build a large-scale iron smelting workshop in no time. At most three or two months, there will be another steady stream of income. To make up for the deficit in the national treasury." Yue Shan then answered.

A separate county was established at the junction of Wannian County and Lantian County in later generations, named Zhashui County.It was an accident that Yue Shan knew that there were iron mines here.

When Yue Shan browsed through the domestic gold and silver producing areas, he found that a place called Zhashui County ranked second in silver production in the country, so he took a second look.Then it was discovered that iron is produced here, and the largest siderite mine in the country is here.

At that time, I was just flipping through it and not specialized in research, and most of the content was forgotten.But he still remembered that it was rich in silver and siderite.I didn't expect that after time travel, this bit of knowledge would really come in handy.

In the early Tang Dynasty, silver was not yet a currency. Putting it aside for the time being, iron ore can be developed.And it's right next to Chang'an, which is very easy to manage and has great development value.

Li Shimin also immediately became interested, only to hear him applaud again and again: "Okay, okay, Cui Lan's suggestion is good. I will immediately order the Ministry of Industry to send people to find ore veins and build a workshop."

"Any other good ideas?"

"Yes, about table salt. The supply of salt is also in short supply. The Tang Dynasty is short of salt, and the whole world is short of salt. The imperial court does not need to engage in monopoly, as long as it can produce a large amount of salt, it can make a lot of money." Yue Shan said.

"You know where there is a salt mine, right?" Li Shimin said immediately.

"Of course. There is a huge salt mine, not only I know where it is, but everyone in the world knows where it is. However, I am the only one who knows how to extract the salt from this salt mine." Yue Shan pretended to be mysterious. .

"The salt mine that everyone in the world knows?" Li Shimin was a little puzzled.

Changsun Wugou's eyes lit up, and he explained the confusion for him: "The sea, right? Cuilan, do you know how to extract salt from seawater?"

"Your Majesty is really smart. It is the sea. Sea salt is inexhaustible, but the salt produced by improper extraction is not edible. And I just know a method to extract high-quality sea salt, and this method has almost no cost. "Yue Shan said.

"Why hasn't this method been written in science books?" Li Shimin asked.He reads that book every day and remembers every word.

Li Shimin didn't even suspect that Yue Shan was lying.After reading the science book, even if Yue Shan told him that he could create something that could fly in the sky, he would not doubt it.

"Science books are written casually, and I write whatever comes to mind. The technique of salt making was just remembered, so I didn't write it in." Yue Shan explained.

"In the future, if you think of something, write it in and present it to me. Don't hide it." Li Shimin nodded, but he didn't forget to remind him.

"Saint, don't worry, it's a disaster if I keep this thing, I will definitely give it to you when I think of it." Yue Shan said.

"En." Li Shimin nodded in satisfaction, and then said, "Tell me about your salt-making technique."

So Yue Shan told Li Shimin the Yantian method that appeared in later generations, and explained the method and purpose of each step in detail.

Even though he knew that Yue Shan possessed a relatively miraculous salt-making technique, Li Shimin was still very surprised when he heard that he could get salt by digging a few pits and putting some seawater in it and drying it in the sun for a few days.

In ancient times, there have been records of boiling sea salt, but the cost of boiling salt is too high, and the salt produced is bitter and poisonous.Gradually, not many people are doing this.Most table salt comes from well and lake salts.

However, Yueshan’s method only needs to be exposed to the sun to obtain coarse salt. Although the taste is not good and it is slightly poisonous, it is already edible.In the era when you can't even eat salt, some are good to eat, who cares so much.

If you want to be healthier, you can further refine it.

Re-dissolve coarse salt into water, then add plant ash solution, shell ash solution, lime solution...then clarify and filter the mixture and dry it again.

Although there will still be impurities, it is already a very pure salt in ancient times.In terms of quality, it is estimated to be slightly inferior to well salt.

Well, the quality of the well salt is indeed very high, there is no way around this.

Thinking of the quality of the salt, Yue Shan secretly made a decision.From now on, their family will only eat well salt, not even the sea salt they make themselves.

After getting the detailed Yantian method, Li Shimin was very excited, patted Yue Shan on the shoulder and said, "You helped me solve another big problem. I'm really glad that God (referring to Haotian) sent you to me."

"I'm also very fortunate to have met such a wise master as the saint." Yue Shan also praised him.

Should everyone carry the sedan chair? As long as everyone is happy.

"But one thing has to be guarded against. The Salt Field Law is not complicated, and you can learn it from a distance. If other salt merchants also learn it, it may affect the revenue of the court." Yue Shan reminded.

(End of this chapter)