Datang: Showdown, your father and I are Li Shimin

Chapter 35 Refining Refined Salt
Pei House.

A few servants rushed into Pei Ji's study with sweat profusely, and said out of breath, "Master Pei, we...we have already taken back all the salt nearby, and spent all the money you gave Yes, and the price of salt has risen to eighty coppers a bucket."

These people leaned on their knees one after another, panting heavily.

Pei Quan said with a worried expression on the side: "Master Pei, if we collect so much salt, will there be any problems then?"

Pei Ji put one hand behind his back and stroked his beard triumphantly with the other, and said with a smile: "Humph~ You are short-sighted and can't see the long-term benefits. Now it has risen to eighty cents a dou, let's buy it and wait until it rises to one When it costs a hundred pennies, if it’s sold, it’s a lot of money.”

"Besides, we are still spreading smallpox in secret now, and salt will only become more and more scarce. Even Dr. Sun said that salt water is the key to treating smallpox. We store up salt, not only can we use it, but also pay a fortune." Big fortune."

At this time, a few servants who went out to buy salt said: "The young one is on the road, and I saw the servants of Changsun Wuji Du Ruhui and his family also collecting a lot of salt, and the shopkeepers of several restaurants around are also collecting salt. Sir, look... ..."

"Tun!" Pei Ji shouted with fanaticism on his face, "I'd like to see if his eldest grandson's family is rich or my Pei family is rich! Give me all the money in my family. Take as much as you want, I will make it impossible to find a single grain of salt in Chang'an city!"

In the south of Chang'an City, there is an abandoned mine somewhere.

Wei Zheng stood outside the mine with more than [-] soldiers in plain clothes.

A carriage also slowly stopped in an open space near the mine.

This time it's just a test, as long as non-toxic salt can be extracted, that's enough.

Wei Zheng looked up, and there were red, yellow or gray lumps of rock salt everywhere in the mine.

This stuff is poisonous, everyone knows it.

The soldiers behind Wei Zheng looked at the abandoned mine and immediately started talking about it.

Xu Feng, who was standing at the back, poked his head out: "Recently I heard that smallpox can be cured by using salt water. Is your Majesty going to take action on this poisonous salt?"

"It is said to be washed with salt water. This thing is poisonous. It should be fine if it is washed with water, right?" Ma Dai frowned, and poked his head out of the crowd curiously, looking at Wei Zheng in front of him and a large piece of rock salt that looked like gems.

When Xu Feng heard Ma Dai's words, he glanced at him speechlessly, then he struck Ma Dai with the handle of a knife and said, "Wash the wound with arsenic to see if you are dead or not?"

At this moment, Wei Zheng suddenly turned his head and looked at the dozen or so soldiers, all of them immediately shut their mouths: "Come here, a few people, put everything away."

The small officer who was the temporary chief quickly waved to the people in the front row, and moved the things on the carriage to the ground.

Looking at the things built, several soldiers thought they were cooking, and they couldn't help talking about it.

Wei Zheng commanded several soldiers to break up the surrounding salt ore, throw it into the pot, and pour water at the same time.

Over time, a large pot of salted soup begins to boil.

All the soldiers below looked at Wei Zheng's operations with bewildered expressions.

Immediately afterwards, Wei Zheng grabbed another jar from the car, poured the white liquid in the jar into the pot, and soon a lot of froth appeared. The super bamboo colander picked up the froth one after another, and continued to pour the white liquid , After repeated several times, the originally turbid brine became clear now.

A few fascinated soldiers around Wei Zheng couldn't help asking: "What is this thing that has such a miraculous effect?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he realized that he shouldn't ask nonsense, so he quickly shut his mouth.

Wei Zheng raised his head and glanced, this method must be mastered by them sooner or later, otherwise it will be impossible to mass produce, so he said: "This is soybean juice, this thing can remove impurities, you must remember what you did today, and you can't tolerate any mistakes. , and, don’t spread it to outsiders!”

The soldiers froze for a moment, and then stared at Wei Zheng's movements solemnly,
Immediately afterwards, a cloth bag filled with bamboo charcoal was placed in the middle of a clay pot with two large ends and a small middle, and the salt water was injected from one end and filtered again with bamboo charcoal.

What flowed down again was almost transparent salt water.

As the pot continued to boil, there was a lot of white steam, and the salt water in it became less and less.

Gradually, some white crystals started to separate out at the bottom of the pot.

Wei Zheng's eyes lit up immediately, and he thought to himself: It looks like it's done!
After waiting for a while, almost no water stains could be seen in the whole pot, and it was removed from the fire and placed on the ground.

After cooling down, Wei Zheng pinched a pinch of snow-white salt grains from the pot and rubbed them slightly.

The salt grains fell like snow.

"This is also salt? It's so clean!" Several soldiers around praised it again and again.

Wei Zheng stuck out his tongue and wanted to taste it, but Shi Chang quickly grabbed Wei Zheng: "Please don't, Mr. Wei! What if there is still poison?"

A look of worry appeared on everyone's faces.

Wei Zheng looked at the crowd, and pointed at a soldier casually. The soldier's face turned pale immediately, and he almost knelt on the ground in fright.

"You go find a living creature!"

After hearing this, the soldiers let out a sigh of relief and ran towards the outside of the mine.

Although there are a few horses here, they are all treasures. If it is really poisonous, poisoning a horse is a serious crime.

Not long after, the soldier ran over with a puppy in his arms. Wei Zheng sprinkled a pinch of salt on the ground, and the puppy licked it clean.

Seeing that the puppy hadn't vomited for a long time, Wei Zheng squeezed out a handful and put it to his mouth to taste.

The moment the salt grains entered the mouth, a clean salty taste hit my taste buds immediately.

Wei Zheng looked at the fine grains of salt in the pot with bright eyes, and his finger pointing at the pot trembled excitedly: "Come on! Try it! The taste of this salt is really good!"

"Obey!" A few soldiers looked at Wei Zheng with shining eyes, dipped a bit of the letter in doubt, and put it on their lips.

The soldiers behind him also stepped forward and dipped some salt grains out of curiosity. They did not eat them immediately, but instead looked at them carefully: "Okay! These salt grains are actually cleaner than snow!"

After saying that, he stuffed it into his mouth without hesitation.

"hiss--"

Almost everyone gasped in surprise, looking at Wei Zheng and the grains of salt in the pot with glowing eyes.

Even the salt in the imperial court is not as pure as one-tenth of this salt grain!
From the appearance, this salt is pure and transparent, with few impurities, and it is extremely white, like white snow.

From the taste, apart from the salty taste, they even feel a little sweetness, without bitterness or other weird smells.

Compared with the large grains of coarse salt that were either gray or blue, this refined salt is much better!
Moreover, this refined salt seems to have a stronger salty taste than coarse salt.

Wei Zheng looked at each soldier with shining eyes, and said with a smile, "How does this salt compare to ordinary food?"

"Okay! Great! It's a pity that after tasting this salt, I don't know if I would like to eat coarse salt again in the future." Several soldiers said in unison.

One of the smarter soldiers suddenly brightened his eyes and said: "Wei Xiang, if we refine this kind of salt here, can you share some with me?"

Shi Zhang glared at him immediately: "Even if this salt is exploited extensively, you and I cannot afford it. I think only His Majesty is qualified to eat this salt."

Wei Zheng laughed and stroked his beard: "Think about it, everyone, this salt is not only edible for His Majesty, as long as you are willing to mine it, everyone can eat this salt. Eat it!"

All the soldiers knelt on the ground excitedly: "The emperor is holy! Wei Xiang is bright!"

"But!" Wei Zheng's face turned dark suddenly, and he became serious: "Although you may mine here in the future, you are not allowed to bring out the refined salt privately, and you are determined not to spread any information to the outside world. News about refined salt! Otherwise, you will be killed without mercy!"

The soldiers raised their heads in fear, looked at Wei Zheng's serious face, and nodded quickly.

"In a short period of time, this salt cannot be interviewed for the time being. Only His Majesty and the people who mine this salt mine can eat it. You are blessed. Moreover, as long as you refine the salt quickly enough, His Majesty will naturally reward you well. "

Under Wei Zheng's warning with sticks in one hand and candy in the other, all the soldiers shut their mouths firmly, vowing not to leak any news.

Wei Zheng left them here to build a larger salt refining pool first, and the final evaporation process does not need to use fire at all, it only needs to evaporate naturally with the sun, so it can save a lot of resources.

After repeatedly explaining to the soldiers, Wei Zheng carefully filled a cloth bag with refined salt as fine as snow, got on his horse and galloped towards the imperial city.

(End of this chapter)