Fall in love with the technology tree [Three Kingdoms]

"Wow-wow-wow-wow--" The waves beat rhythmically on the black reef.Different from the fine-sand coast filled by the Yellow River silt in later generations, today's Qu County coast is jagged with strange rocks, and several cliffs look very dangerous.

The only flat place is at the mouth of several rivers, where scattered fishing boats occupy part, and two dilapidated wooden long embankments occupy a piece of land.And on the reef farther away, there are smoky salt kettles scattered one after another.

Boil with salt.Branches and leaves, soggy and salty, were thrown into the fire, and puffs of black smoke rose.This is the most primitive way of cooking salt, cooking in a small pot, the efficiency is low and the crystals are not white enough.

Zhuge Liang squatted upwind, covered his mouth and nose with a wet cloth, and then fanned desperately with a cattail fan to maintain the temperature of the fire.His handsome face was pitch black, and the original white and tender appearance could not be seen.Only when the sweat flows down from the forehead can there be white marks.

Ah Sheng sat on a pile of damp straw, his sleeves rolled up to his upper arms, tied with cloth strips, holding a copper spoon in one hand, slowly stirring in the salt pot.

"Wow-wow-wow-" The tide beat rhythmically, and time seemed to stand still.

Suddenly, the wind changed direction.The soot blows towards Cao Sheng.Ah Sheng couldn't help being choked. "Cough, cough cough." She covered her face with a wet cloth and coughed twice.

"Cao Zi, are you okay?" Zhuge Liang quickly dropped the firewood in his hand and reached out to help her.

Ah Sheng shook his head, threw two pills into his mouth, and suppressed his cough.She still sat on the straw and stirred her brine.The wind returned to the prevailing southeast, and she removed the last grain of sand from the salt pan.

So Zhuge Liang returned to his original position. He simply didn't care about getting dirty, and sat down cross-legged, adding firewood to the small salt pot.The world returned to silence, only the sound of the tide hitting the shore and the sea wind whistling, as if it had never changed.

The sun was setting, and the blue-purple night was covered with stars. Yuzhou Mountain on the sea looked like a black giant sleeping next to the red-dotted bonfire.The cooking of salt was still going on, and the black smoke had drowned the night.

"Cao Zi, I'm a bit cold." Zhuge Liang said.

A Sheng took a small branch in his hand: "Go and add a coat."

"I don't want to wear clothes, my body is so sticky, it seems like a layer of salt is hanging on it." The half-grown child acted like a baby.

"Be obedient, go add clothes, don't catch a cold."

"I want to rely on Cao Zi." The dirty Xiao Liang groaned and came over, wrapped the corner of A Sheng's big cloak around himself, and then sat down on the straw pile.The rock they were on was a little higher, and the waves couldn't hit it, but it had a kind of condescending comfort.

Ah Sheng sighed, but didn't push him away. "You really aren't afraid of me at all."

"Cao Zi, I'm hungry." Zhuge Liang grabbed Master's arm, "Cao Zi, my hands are so sore."

"Don't lean in, I'm full of sweat."

"I also smell of sweat, I don't dislike you." Zhuge Liang sniffled, "Cao Zi, why do we have to boil the salt ourselves?"

"Because Qu County is not suitable for salt production."

"You're fooling me again." The young man's eyelids were twitching. "Mi Zhu said that Qu County has boiled seawater for salt since ancient times. It has a long and unverifiable history. If this is not suitable for salt production, where is it suitable for salt production?"

"The climate and sunshine are suitable, but there are many reefs near the sea in Qu County, there are many peaks on both sides of the port, and there are few tidal flats, so it is impossible to build a large brine pool. However, the port is really good. The Yuzhou Mountain on the sea is a natural screen. Thousands of sails and hundreds of boats can be accommodated within the screen."

"Qu County is not suitable for salt production, but only for a port...then where can it produce salt?" Zhuge Liang half-opened his eyes and rubbed his cloak.

"Yandu in Guangling County of Xuzhou, Fuyang in Bohai County of Jizhou, Yuyang in Youzhou, Zhuya in Jiaozhou..." Large-scale sun-dried salt farms can be established from Budai in Liudao to Kaohsiung.

"So why did we come to Qu County to cook salt?" Zhuge Liang asked, he was obviously sleepy, he was biting a question, as if he had been wronged.But it was indeed wronged, and a layer of skin was sunburned off his neck.

"I want to sit on the beach and listen to the tide, I want to wait for a long time, I want to sweat on my back, I want to feel pain in my hands and feet, and then I know that life is not easy."

Ah Liang fell asleep at some point, curled up on the rough straw.

Ah Sheng took off his cloak, wrapped the child tightly, and adjusted him to a comfortable sleeping position. Then she lowered her hands and watched the fire go out little by little.

When the rising sun of the next day illuminated the waterfall in Yuzhou Mountain, a layer of white-yellow crystals formed at the bottom of the pot. "It's salt, it's salt." The black reef was filled with the excited cry of a tsundere child.

Zhuge Liang spread out a barely dry sackcloth, and with the help of Cao Sheng and a guard, scraped off the pitifully small layer of coarse salt bit by bit.The salt grains stuck to the cloth, and almost half of it was wasted, but he was so distressed that he hurriedly put the cloth bag away.

At this moment, he realized that he was not wearing a robe with wide sleeves, and he didn't even have a pocket to put things in, so he could only carry the salt bag in his hand. "Cao Zi...sprinkled a lot...and got a lot on the cloth, and when it's in the pot, there won't be much left..."

Ah Sheng took his hand that didn't hold the salt bag: "Are you hungry? Go back and eat."

Zhuge Liang has been hungry for a long time, but he has a good foundation since he was a child, and he is still alive and kicking after a day of starvation.Compared with the stomach that has no feeling, he is more concerned about his salt: "We have been burning for a day and a night."

"This is the first time to cook salt, and it will be better in the future."

Zhuge Liang curled his lips and said "Oh" reluctantly.

He didn't ask the soul torture of "Why do we boil salt ourselves", which is where he is qualified compared to other children.

Mi Zhu had already prepared a banquet in the mansion.The yokan from last night was already cold and turned into mutton jelly.Cut into pieces and dipped in soy sauce, it is a delicacy that people who cook salt can't imagine in their dreams.

In addition, there are boiled purple shellfish, deep-fried sea crabs, and sea vegetables mixed with vinegar, which are seafood dishes that will not be outdated even after 2000.

"I'm really ashamed to eat such a hearty meal in the morning." A Sheng said this when he took his seat.

Mi Zhu went back warmly and politely: "On the first day in Qu County, I asked Mr. Zhonghua to cook salt at the seaside for a whole day, and he didn't eat anything. That's what I should be ashamed of."

"I did it arbitrarily, but it's hard for you to do." Ah Sheng got up and served Zhuge Liang a bowl of corn porridge, and asked the maid to deliver it to his table, and then filled another bowl for himself, and continued talking to Mi Zhu, "But this house is deep, and it looks the same from Luoyang to Xuzhou. My eyes always want to see some real scenery."

Luo Chi heard the strings and understood the elegance, and explained to the confused Mi Zhu: "Every time Mr. Zhonghua goes to a place, he must first look at the sufferings of the people. Whitewashing the peace is what she hates the most."

Mi Zhu suddenly realized, and cupped his hands and said, "Mr. Zhonghua's benevolent heart is a blessing in the world. Qu County is close to the sea, so although we can't live without it, we still have some sufferings by the sea. As long as Mr. Zhonghua asks, Zhu Zhi will say nothing." .”

Ah Sheng smiled and waved his hands: "Let's eat first, after dinner, let's go back to the beach."

Hearing what she said, Zhuge Liang stretched out his chopsticks and picked up three crab legs.He had just taken a shower and changed into new clothes. He was afraid that he would change back to short brown and sweat again later.

When he was just washing up, he begged Cao Sheng for a bottle with a glazed cork.It is colorless, transparent, and crystal clear. There is half a bottle of coarse salt in it. When the sun shines on it, the section of the salt crystal glistens, with different shades, which is indescribably beautiful.He hid the salt shaker in his precious book box, but Zhonghuagong didn't say anything when he saw it.

In fact, Zhuge Liang is able to know his own extravagance. Cooking salt in a mess is just hard work for him. But it is the result of sacrificing one's life, working from dawn to dusk, and can only barely eat one's hunger.

For example, Zhu Weng, an old salt man who got acquainted with them three days later, supported himself and a granddaughter by relying on this skill.

At that time, Ah Sheng was wearing a pair of plain poor trousers, sitting on the shore covered with rocks and shells, watching Zhu Weng pour soybean juice into the salt pan.

"This way, the salt will freeze quickly." Zhu Weng was black and thin, and his ribs and abdominal muscles could be seen through his tattered clothes.He must be under 45 years old, but he looks like someone buried up to his neck.The old Yanmin didn't talk much, except for the necessary explanations, he had no other words.

And his granddaughter is also a black and thin little leather monkey with shiny black skin and a few small white teeth showing when she smiles.She is only as high as an adult's waist, and she can help carry water and start a fire, and she is at ease in the smoky environment.

Zhuge Liang stood behind Cao Sheng, watching Zhu Weng's movements. "Are those saponins also added to salt water?" He asked suddenly.

"Add soy milk, add saponin, five catties of firewood and one catty of salt. If it's like your day, ten catties of firewood can't burn half a catty." The old man didn't talk much, but Zhuge Liang had a myocardial infarction.

"I don't understand these..."

"Do it all."

"..."

"Salt people, all do this."

"..."

"Hundreds of years, old Fangzi."

The old man is a good man, he is the nemesis of the brat, Ah Sheng couldn't help laughing: "I looked around, and the salt cooked by Zhu Weng is the whitest."

"When I was young, I went to Yanchang to study."

"Yandu belongs to Guangling County." Mi Zhu, who finally found an opportunity to show off, took the opportunity to introduce, "That is the resort of sea salt. There are dotted with large and small salt farms, and every family cooks salt as a business. In the past, the imperial court had a salt official in Yandu, so that was a real thing. Needless to say, the quality of the official salt of the Eight Classics. Not only the county town is named after salt, but even roads, rivers, and ferries are named after salt."

"The Mi family also sells salt?"

Mi Zhu, who was told by A Sheng, admitted very happily: "I bought it from Yandu and sold it to various places. I have a certificate of official salt at home, but occasionally I also bring some private salt. The official family is the official family, and scattered salt households also You have to eat, don't you?"

"So those in Qu County are considered private salt?" Zhuge Liang asked.

"Our salt production here is not high, so we just make a small contribution to supply the surrounding villages. If it weren't for the fact that there are no strong laborers in the family, who would come to eat the pain of cooking salt in a small pot? Zhu Weng used to be a fisherman, Because both my son and daughter-in-law died at sea, and my granddaughter was too young to be separated from her, that's why..."

Although Mi Zhu seemed to be quite scheming about Liu Bei, but after getting in touch with him, he found that he was a fairly honest businessman.Judging from the fact that he can casually tell about the family situation of a fisherman, it is not difficult to understand why he is loved by people in his hometown.

During the conversation, the salt in Zhu Weng's hand was about to come out of the pot, and a kilo of snow-white salt was filled in the basket made of fresh bamboo slices, and the fragrance of bamboo wafted in the hot air.From the perspective of manual production, it is already a remarkable quality and efficiency.

Mi Zhu was already smiling when he saw such a good quality: "I bought them all, just to make two marinated lamb legs for Mr. Zhonghua. Zhu Weng, cook two more pots and make it three catties. Hurry up, I will double the usual amount." price."

"No." The old Yanmin refused without thinking, two words.

Mi Zhu choked.He finally found out that he was at the bottom of the food chain.

"The day after tomorrow, April [-]th, Ah Yu, come home."

Mi Zhu was stunned, and then his face turned pale.