Four elder brothers take the script of salted fish

Before entering the new barracks, you can hear the loud slogans of officers and soldiers from a long distance.The neatly lined up recruits, who are full of energy, are training in an orderly manner under the guidance of the general. As Kangxi and his party walked in, the recruits showed a hint of excitement, a hint of shock, and unconcealed joy.

The emperor is here! ?

All the recruits held their heads high, with a touch of excitement in their brows and eyes, but also a little restlessness.The leading general was a young man no older than 30 years old. Seeing the enthusiastic response from the soldiers, he quickly turned around and led a group of recruits to kneel on one knee to say hello.

The young general has a good appearance, perhaps due to his many years of martial arts practice, his tall stature and his heroic appearance made Kangxi and his party shine.

Kangxi ordered everyone to continue training, and watched with great interest.Seeing this, the morale of the recruits was greatly shaken. They all blushed and tried their best to show themselves in front of the emperor. They drank loudly, waved their fists vigorously, and their valiant and high-spirited appearance really made Kangxi Smile knowingly.

The leading general was also well informed, and did not stop the recruits from showing their careful thinking in front of the emperor at all. They even specially arranged for a few recruits who were excellent in training on weekdays, so that they could compete in a real battle with real guns.

The recruits who got the chance were even more excited.

They stepped forward one after another and fought fiercely without any reservations. Kangxi was very happy with these outstanding recruits and rewarded three winners one after another.

This time it can be said that the crowd is excited.

Afterwards, the new recruits who came on the field became more excited one by one, and each one was more ruthless in their strikes.

Especially this group.

Seeing that the saber was about to cut off the arm of another person in front of him, Kangxi's pupils shrank, and just as he was about to let the guards step forward to stop him, he saw the general flying forward, holding the back of the saber tightly with both fingers. .

Ding sound.

The big knife held by the recruit was actually broken in half!

The recruit took a sharp step back.

He just felt a burst of fear at this moment, watching his colleague who fell to the ground break out in cold sweat.The recruits looked at the general gratefully, but the general didn't have the gentle and tolerant appearance just now, and blasted a group of recruits back with a cold face.Seeing that the group of recruits entered the camp like quails, he turned around and came to confess.

How could Kangxi blame him?

Not only did he not blame him, but he also called the general over.Kangxi looked him up and down, and asked abruptly, "Shi Aiqing, which son is this?"

Shi Lang, who followed behind, took a step forward.

He didn't even look at the general, and replied respectfully: "Report to the emperor, this is Shi Shiji, the fifth son of this servant."

Kangxi nodded casually.

A flash of deep thought flashed in his eyes, as if he mentioned it casually: "No wonder I feel familiar, you and your second brother are quite similar."

Immediately signaling Shi Shiji to step back, Kangxi smiled and said to Shi Lang: "Mr. Zhuo is a good teacher, and the children are all outstanding."

Shi Lang looked serious.

He watched the slightly embarrassed fifth son leave in a hurry, thinking for a moment in his heart.But before Shi Lang could reply, Yinzhen on the side couldn't help pulling Yinti's sleeve robe and muttering: "Is it my brother's illusion? Why did my brother think that Shi Shiji's face was not very good-looking just now?"

Especially when Khan Ama mentions his resemblance to the second brother.

Yinzhen asked in a low voice, "Who is his second brother?"

A smile flashed in Yinti's eyes.

He lowered his voice and muttered: "Brother Wen Zhong's second elder brother Shi Shilun is now an official in Jiangsu, has Yinzhen seen him before?" It stands to reason that he would never forget it.

Yinzhen thought for a while and shook his head.

Yinti had no choice but to introduce in detail: "Shi Shilun, ahem, he is also known as Shi Buquan."

"...?"

"People often say that Shi Shilun's eyes are crooked, his hands are curled up, his feet are lame, and the door is sideways. The so-called incompleteness of the five elements is also called Shi incompleteness."

Simply put, it's ugly.

To put it simply, Shi Shiji also looked down on his elder brother, and he didn't want to be judged as ugly and unrefined like his elder brother.

After a pause, Yinti changed the topic: "Although Shi Shilun looks mediocre, he is upright and careful in doing things. He has an excellent reputation after being an official for only two years, and he is a good official."

Yinzhen frowned, and his words inevitably became vicious: "The most important thing about being an official is to be honest and fair. For the country and the people, what does it have to do with appearance? If you are not happy about this, then Shi Shiji's ability to be an official will be limited. So far—"

"Ahem." Kangxi glared at Yinzhen.

"Si elder brother is right." Shi Lang was personable, but it was Yinzhen who suddenly remembered his existence - when he said bad things about the other party in front of the other party's father, he quickly shut up and pretended that he did not exist.

"Wen Xian (Shi Shilun) is good at literature, and his talent in martial arts is not as good as his brother or younger brother. Wen Zhong (Shi Shiji) is good at literature and martial arts, and he has been favored by slaves and Fujin since he was a child, but he has a proud temper. If you want to ask the emperor to use him as a civil servant, now it seems that you have to wait a few more years to train hard." Shi Lang said unhurriedly.

Although his voice sounded flat, Kangxi could hear the bitterness and unwillingness inside.Shi Lang wanted to pave the way for his sons, but Shi Shiji was unwilling to follow the path given by his father.

"At his age, it's normal for him to be proud and impatient."

Kangxi waved his hand: "At the age of 20, I will attack you at the age of [-]. Master Ke Peng and Taiwan. After discussing meritorious service, the left governor will be transferred to the minister. This talent is one of the best in the imperial court. In addition, Mr. Zhuo is in good health. It's still too late to teach|teach for two years."

Shi Lang respectfully responded.

It's just that his heart is heavy, the behavior of the fifth son is too impulsive and reckless, if it is purely to show the excellence of the recruits, it is still unnecessary, no wonder he will be rejected by the emperor.

Shi Lang had a lot of things on his mind.

He made up his mind to educate his sons well in the future - the soldiers of the Fujian navy are not soldiers of the Shi family, but soldiers of the Qing Dynasty, the emperor!

What happened to Shi Shiji was just a small episode among the group.

Kangxi walked all the way to the swimming pool outside the recruit camp, which was much bigger than the one in the Navy Admiral's Mansion.

This scale made Yinzhen's eyes and mouth into three O-shaped, excitedly bouncing around to check.Yinti grabbed it seriously: "This is not the pool of the Admiral's Mansion, it's much deeper and you have to be careful."

The training here is for warriors who conquer the sea, and even the practice of water skills is much stricter—or in the eyes of the generals, it would be good to prepare a pool for recruits to practice in advance, and they should go to the sea to give them A kick on the butt, falling into the water like a dumpling, isn't that enough to learn to swim?

Only then did Yinzhen stabilize his mind, and looked along the pool one by one.

The two pools on the last side were not filled with water, and white powder shone on the dark brown stones...

Look familiar?

Yinzhen squatted and looked at the body for a while, and couldn't help reaching out his hand to touch some of it: "Isn't this... salt?"

"Of course seawater can have salt when it's dried."

"But... this salt looks extremely white?" Hearing the sound, Kangxi couldn't help walking over.Surprisingly, the bottom of the empty pool was indeed covered with a thin layer of salt, and the white color was actually much better than mountain salt.

Yin Zhi was stunned.

He pointed at the salt in the pool in a daze: "...then why do you need a salt merchant? How much salt is there in such a big sea?"

The symbol of ￥￥ appeared in Yinzhi's eyes.

At first glance, I thought it was possessed by the fifth elder brother Yinqi.

How much money do salt merchants make?

The salt merchants who have inherited from their parents are just one of them. They rely on monopoly to grab huge profits.There are also salt transporters who are responsible for purchasing (salt merchants can only sell to corresponding) salt farm merchants, and responsible for transportation and sales.

Of course, the biggest head of profit is the general merchant.

Most of them are closely related to the government, monopolizing the distribution channels of salt across the country, wantonly lowering the buying price and raising the seller, and the salt workers and ordinary people at both ends are the targets of exploitation.If these general merchants can be passed on for two or three generations, they will be able to become rich and powerful, and there are not a few people who are called emperors in one place.

Who doesn't look at the profits in this area.

Kangxi's brows were tightly frowned, and he couldn't hide the surprise in his brows and eyes: "I remember that the color of sea salt is darker and the pieces are bigger, but the one in front of me..."

No matter how you look at it, they are all snow-white salt flowers!

Even Shi Lang had never seen it before, looking at other places where the water splashed, but he didn't see such salt grains - it seemed like a miracle given by God.

Yinzhen was thoughtful along the way.

The whole audience looked at the swimming pool to change the water, but he didn't pull back his train of thought. When he left the camp, he saw Yinzhen's uneasy appearance. Kangxi asked them to take them to the nearby salt field to find out.

Sea salt can be obtained by brine and drying in the sun.

Yinzhen looked at the light yellowish gray salt with extremely large particles, but he couldn't connect with the white salt flower just now.Of course, the sea salt produced by the salt farm is only for the consumption of the surrounding people, and it cannot be sold as a commodity at all.

Yin Zhen's face wrinkled into a ball.

When he returned to the admiral's mansion, he was still pondering, even squatting in the pool thinking.

Where is the problem?

The pool in the Navy Admiral's Mansion was slowly drained, and new water rushed into the pool again... Yinzhen stared at this scene, feeling a thought flash through his mind.

He was in a daze.

After a long time, Yin Zhen jumped up suddenly: "So that's it - that's it!!!"

He turned around and ran towards the room with big strides, shouting loudly: "Ama Khan - Ama Khan - Ama Khan!!!"

Kangxi: ...

He looked at Yinzhen whose forehead was covered with beads of sweat, and handed over the iced mung bean soup in his hand: "Take a sip and calm down."

By the way, Kangxi took a sip by himself.

The mung bean soup made by the imperial concubine is a treasure not to be missed. The taste of finely beaten mung beans mixed with grains makes people unable to stop eating, and the light sweetness is even more refreshing.

Kangxi drank happily one sip at a time.

As for Yinzhen, how could he drink mung bean soup and meditate now? He looked at Kangxi with bright eyes, and clapped his hands on the table vigorously: "Khan Ama! My son already knows where the problem of sea salt is!"

Kangxi: "Pfft—cough cough cough!"

After finally stopping coughing, he couldn't help but looked at Yinzhen in shock: "What did you say? What did you say was the problem with finding sea salt?"

"Yes."

"... What are you talking about?"

Yinzhen spoke confidently: "Khan Ama, the seawater pools in the new barracks are the same as the pools in the admiral's mansion. The water is cleaned every three or four days. The salt that has dried or fallen from the soldiers passes through. After repeated seawater fusion and evaporation, some of them are gradually purified."

Kangxi looked at him in disbelief: "You mean as long as you keep drying yourself, you can have...?"

Salt has been one of the most important sources of national income since ancient times. The Huaiyang generation's tax on salt can be as high as one-third of the annual tax.Even though selling salt is an official business and requires paying high salt taxes, there are still salt merchants and even ordinary people selling salt privately.

If there is an inexhaustible supply of salt, it means that salt merchants will no longer monopolize the source and price of salt, and salt will become a sharp sword that truly belongs to the imperial court, and it will develop under control like grain. Possibility, Kangxi's breathing accelerated slightly.

Yinzhen nodded heavily: "That's right."

Kangxi still felt a little unbelievable - if according to what his son said, wouldn't this salt be like a pie falling from the sky?Thinking that it was just an experiment, Kangxi made a decision: "I will send people to try it immediately."