? In the southwest of Yunzhong County, Jin State, and on the right side of the "Ji" shape of the Yellow River, there is a county name called Xianyang. This place is completely different from Xianyang, where the capital of the Great Qin Empire is located hundreds of years ago.

The word "Xian" in the word "Xian" in the capital of the Qin Dynasty means all and common, which means that this place is sunny and very bright all day long; Xianyang in Yunzhong County is much smaller than that in the Qin Empire's capital Xianyang. Except for the people living nearby who know that there is such a place name, few people in the world know about it.

The reason why this small county was named Xianyang by the Han Empire is that it is because its territory is full of salt water lakes and saline-alkali land, and the water that ordinary people eat is salty and astringent braised, so it is named.

Similarly, there are desert areas in Shuofang, Wuyuan and other counties in Jin State, and there are many geology similar to Xianyang County. There are some small lakes hidden in some deserts. The lake water is salty and hard to drink, and it is called the Dead Lake by nearby nomadic people.

Since the Taifu decided to produce a large amount of fine salt in March, these places that were originally unknown and even people were unwilling to stay suddenly became lively. With the help of the Yellow River, many wooden paddlefish with shallow drafts planted a large number of tools and honeycomb coal balls. They went up against the Yellow River and came to the vicinity of Xianyang, where they unloaded a large number of honeycomb coal stoves, large pottery jars and many cylindrical honeycomb coal stoves.

According to Zhao Xing's instructions, the State of Jin mobilized officials who studied in the first scientific and technological examination of the Chinese Business School and Minerals to conduct detailed exploration records on areas rich in brine and salt ore in the country to form a comprehensive report guiding the development of the salt industry in Jin. After receiving the order, these officials took action separately to conduct exploration in various directions of the State of Jin, and conducted detailed statistics on small salt ponds and freshwater lakes that they personally believe have the value of mining reserves.

The final data shows that the salt mines near Xianyang County have rich reserves, relatively concentrated distribution areas, dry and rainy climate, which are suitable for large-scale salt production. Therefore, a large number of salt production tools and materials were transported northwards by mobilizing troops.

According to Zhao Xing's memory, there was a Dongsheng Shenfu Coal Mine in northern Shaanxi, which was rich in high-quality coking coal. After this mineral exploration, traces were discovered by officials of minerals. It turned out that Dongsheng Shenfu refers to a triangular zone connected by three places, Dongsheng, Shenmu and Fugu, which is at the northernmost end of Shangjun and the northwest end of Xihe County. According to the place name at that time, this area was located in Meiji, where the former Southern Xiongnu royal court was located, and the area of ​​the Xiongnu Zhonglang General Mansion and Guluo City.

The returning clerk, someone reported to Zhao Xing with some black coal stone excavated from the local soil layer, which attracted great attention from Zhao Xing. For this kind of reserves, it can only be used as a high-energy fuel at present, and only Zhao Xing understands its strategic value. Behind the continuous expansion and increase of Jin State Steel Plant, is a high dependence on high-quality coal mines.

It can be said that without high-quality steel, there would be no Jin State as strong as today; without the coal mines with abundant reserves in Bingzhou (spanning the two major coal-producing areas of Shanxi and Shaanxi), there would be no large amount of steel produced. In the final analysis, without coal mines, there would be no Jin State far ahead of other states in the scientific and technological strength.

Since there are salt mines and salt ponds not far north of this large coal mine, it is even more convenient for Zhao Xing to use a honeycomb coal stove to cook salt, because the inexhaustible coal stone is the most important guarantee for cooking salt.

Considering that Xianyang is surrounded by areas where Huang Xuan, Yan Sheng and Yao Xing live together, it is obviously inappropriate to conceal the secret salt making here by these three tribes. Therefore, Zhao Xing generously invited Hu Cheer, Yan Xi (the Chinese name of Tu Xi from Yan Sheng people) and Ulan to Jinyang City. Under the personal administration of the Prime Minister Liu Dai, a meeting on the distribution of salt making interests of each tribe was secretly held.

Hu Cheer is Zhao Xing's brother-in-law, Wulan is Zhao Xing's brother-in-law, and Yan Xi is the leader of Zhao Xing's loyalty to Zhao Xing for the rest of his life. The three of them came to the meeting not to talk about conditions with Zhao Xing, but to listen to Zhao Xing's arrangements for future work with peace of mind. For them, they were not worried that Zhao Xing would deliberately favor which of the three tribes or Han people, because Zhao Xing was the co-lord of the three tribes and the Han people in Jin State, and the palms and backs of their hands were flesh, so they would definitely not be able to do something unfair.

In the end, Zhao Xing distributed the output obtained by the future four tribes after they participated in salt production as follows: the Han tribes were divided into 60%, the Yaoxing tribe, the most populous tribe, the Yansheng tribe, who suffered the most severe snow disaster, and the Huang Xuan tribe, who is now rich, has 10%.

Regarding this distribution plan, Hu Cheer, who had the least profit, took the lead and expressed his no objection and firmly supported and supported it. Naturally, the other two people would not say anything more. In fact, everyone knew very well that Zhao Xing could think about the three tribes in the north in the face of such a huge profit. All salt making tools were provided by the Han people, and the honeycomb coal balls used for salt making were also produced by the Han people. The three tribes of Huang Xuan, Yan Sheng and Yao Xing only needed to send some tribe members who could endure hardships to help with their work, and they could get white salt salt. Where can I find such a good thing?

After setting the distribution ratio, everyone's enthusiasm suddenly rose. Huang Xuan, Yan Sheng and Yaoxing promised to send 5,000 strong, hard-working and hard-working tribes to eat and live in the salt making field in the future, obeying the management and division of labor of the newly formed Jin State Salt Maker Office officials, and boil salt together with 10,000 Han skilled laborers.

Starting from May, the 50,000 honeycomb coal stoves produced by Wohu Steel Factory were successively transported to Xianyang Salt Field, and a large number of cylindrical honeycomb coal balls and 200,000 large casseroles arrived.

Before these salt-cooking tools and fuels had completely arrived at the Xianyang Salt Field, the first batch of salt-making workers had assembled and witnessed the omniscient Taifu how to use small wooden pieces to lit black coal balls in the honeycomb stove, then put the large casserole above the coal stove and poured the brine into it. Before the water was about to bottom, water was added again. It was not until three-inch thick salt particles condensed at the bottom of the casserole and crystallized that they lifted the casserole, replaced the briquette and put a new casserole to continue adding water to boil salt.

The entire salt cooking process is very simple and clear. All the workers who visited and studied on the spot became familiar with it only after one look. After Zhao Xing explained the key links such as how to control the heat to prevent the casserole from being burned, how to maintain ventilation to prevent soot poisoning, how to master the time and time to inspect and add brine, the workers couldn't wait to get busy. In just two days, everyone cooked shiny "snowflake salt".

After half a month of trial operation, Xianyang Salt Field entered the stage of high-speed production. Rows of tops were topped, and ventilated salt boiling factories were built on all sides. One by one, the pottery official roads connecting the salt pond and the salt yard were laid. Kettle water trucks that drew brine from the salt pond were towering on the lakeside. Trucks of exquisite snowflake salt were sealed and then flowed down the Yellow River channel by boat and were secretly transported to the treasury of Jin, Youzhou and Liangguo.

By the end of May, when the salty salt that Jin had originally reserved was finally consumed, the "snowflake salt" cooked by Xianyang Salt Field had already been on the market in large quantities, completely filling the gap after Jin State stopped purchasing salt from the Anyi Salt Field in Hedong.

When Taishi Ci led his team south to Qingzhou in mid-June, the first batch of exported "snowflake salt" in Jin State was transported to Qingzhou Gaotang and Xuzhou East China Sea with ships. Although the quantity did not hit the salt ponds specialized in the imperial court, because of its whiter and more delicate craftsmanship, it immediately won the market among the wealthy families in Qingzhou and Xuzhou.

When it was July, because the weather was hot and the production of Xianyang salt farm reached its peak, and the salty salt secretly reserved by Jin State could already impact the entire Dahan salt-making industry. Considering that the Chouhu Merchants Exhibition had not yet concluded, Zhao Xing delayed the time for launching a salt price war to August.
Chapter completed!