Chapter 350: Salt of Sand

Waiting for the time that Xia Fan arranged, Kong Xuanzi leaned over to the servant and said in a low voice, "Master Chi, why didn't you just say it at the beginning? That was obviously a great opportunity."

In the past five years, he accompanied the servant to explore many cities, and the number of times he was able to meet the local chief officer was few and far between. Even if he spent money to meet him, he had almost no chance to reveal his identity. Because the other party's attitude was unclear, he had to rack his brains just to test each other. The conversation often went smoothly when he was disguised as a big businessman or a child of aristocratic family, but once he mentioned monsters, the progress would become extremely difficult, not to mention marriage.

Obviously, in the prosperous era of Penglai, monsters could still coexist peacefully with humans, and the favor of dragons was a good thing that most people wanted.

"I-I think this kind of big thing really can't be rushed." Chi replied stiffly, "On the surface, he really has no prejudice against monsters, but no one knows what he really thinks."

"What is in your heart, you can understand it when you spend time together..."

"Are you looking for a husband or am I looking for one?" Chi glared at the servant.

Kong Xuanzi shut up tactfully.

"Actually, if you think about it carefully, we know nothing about him, don't we?" Chi folded his arms and said, "This person's hometown, life, background... why he had a falling out with the Privy Council, and how he was appreciated by the princess. I don't even know if he is married or has a marriage contract. This kind of thing... still needs to be observed for a while."

You didn't say this when you decided to leave Penglai Island.

Kong Xuanzi complained in his heart. At that time, everyone expressed their concerns, but didn't you say confidently that no one could refuse your proposal and this honor? Even if the other party is married, it's a matter of divorce and remarriage. In short, there is no scruple.

However, this resentment was quickly thrown behind him.

After all, the outside world is very different from what everyone thinks. The setbacks suffered by the servant in five years may be more than the past hundred years. It is not easy for her to persist until now after experiencing all kinds of blows.

As a person raised by Long, Kong Xuanzi will support Chi no matter what decision she makes.

Chi was lost in thought as she looked at the crowd on the street.

She suddenly remembered what Xia Fan had said, hesitated for a moment, and tried to untie the cloth wrapped around her head.

As this action spread, in addition to her beautiful hair, there was also a pair of forked horns - compared to the features revealed by her eyes, this pair of blunt horns shaped like deer antlers was undoubtedly much more eye-catching.

Then, she crossed the gate of the courtyard wall and stood in front of the stone steps of the Affairs Bureau.

Soon someone noticed the difference on her head.

This discovery spread like a trickle, and more and more eyes were cast on her.

But no one showed panic or fear.

What Chi felt most was curiosity and scrutiny.

There were also people with good intentions, but there were not so many of them.

There were also some incomprehensible whispers, such as "It's not wolf ears this time", "Did the Affairs Bureau change people to lure people into the trap again?" But in general, people did not reject or hate her because of her inhuman appearance, as if the appearance of monsters on the street was not a rare thing.

What he said... was actually true.

"Master Chi, Jinxia said the carriage is ready." The guard's voice interrupted Chi's thoughts.

She nodded, "Let's go."

...

Xia Fan led the group through the East Gate and came to the salt field production area.

The snowy season and the gray sky caused the output of the salt field to drop to the lowest point. There were few working figures in the flat and white pools, but these square pools still gave visitors the most intuitive visual shock - the scale of the new salt field is almost ten times that of the salt boiling field, and the white land stretching for miles can be seen as far as the eye can see.

The convoy stopped at an open space, and Xia Fan introduced to the people who got off the carriage, "This is Jinxia's new salt field. The salt it currently produces can meet all the needs of the people of Shenzhou. Winter does have a certain impact on the open-air production area, but we still have the No. 2 production area to ensure basic supply."

Chi did not see any traces of firewood burning. The first impression here was clean and tidy. The white bottom of the pool looked like snow at first glance, but a closer look revealed that it was a layer of condensation like ice crystals.

The problem is that salt production is a large-scale industry that requires a lot of manpower to maintain. There are not even a few people here. Can they really produce enough sea salt?

"My lord, look at your feet!" Kong Xuanzi suddenly said in surprise, "It seems that the sand is not covered with snow."

Chi looked down and immediately discovered this situation.

She squatted down and pushed away the cold snow. She saw that there were many white particles mixed in the brown and yellow sand and gravel, and snow could not penetrate the surface of the sand into these gaps.

Could this be-salt?

She tried to pinch a small piece and put it in her mouth. The salty taste immediately melted on the tip of her tongue.

It turned out to be true!

The other servants also made the same move.

"No way, they actually let the salt be sprinkled on the ground?"

"Look at the edge of the pool, it seems to be all salt!"

"This is too wasteful."

"If these salts are sifted out of the sand, they should be able to fill several sacks."

There was a discussion in the team.

Chi walked up to Xia Fan and said with a hint of blame, "Although I don't know how you make salt, you are a little too lax in management. You may not care about a few bags of salt, but for ordinary people, one bag is enough to meet the needs of a family of three for decades. When a little bit accumulates, it is the salt expenditure of hundreds of thousands of families."

Xia Fan didn't expect her to say that, and was a little surprised for a moment, "It's not that I want to waste it, but this method of making salt will inevitably let the salt seep into the earth. Instead of spending energy to screen them out, it's better to make a new batch."

"Excuse me, Lord Xia, how much is the price of salt in Jinxia City?" Kong Xuanzi asked with a bow.

"Coarse salt is ten coins per ounce. The price of refined salt is higher, temporarily set at five hundred coins per ounce."

"Is it expensive?" Chi turned around and asked.

"It's quite cheap." Kong Xuanzi shook his head. "The price of salt in other places is basically around 60 or 70 wen per liang, which is almost six times the difference. But this refined salt..."

"It is currently only promoted as a gift and has not yet been sold to the people. After the tour, I can give you a few bottles to taste." Xia Fan smiled, "Now let's go to the steaming plant first."

The so-called steaming plant is the No. 2 production area of ​​the salt field. The moment they stepped into the factory door, everyone was shocked by the scene inside.

The huge pool was filled with steam, making the temperature inside as hot as midsummer! Hundreds of workers were busy here. They only wore a single piece of clothing and used long wooden paddles to stir back and forth in the pool. The moment the wooden paddles were pulled out of the water, some salt flowers could be seen hanging on them.

To boil such a large pool of water, the fire must be strong, but everyone didn't see a single flame. It seemed that this brick boiling pool had incredible power and could generate high temperature to boil the salt water!

The stacking area at the other end of the factory dispelled the last doubts of the people of Penglai.

There were more than ten "salt mountains" there, each nearly one floor high. People treated it the same way as gravel, gathering it with shovels, putting it in bags with hoes... A lot of salt was scattered on the roadside and stepped on by people at will. Such an attitude can only mean one thing, that Jinxia City does have a lot of salt in excess.

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