Zhang Shi nodded, and after thinking for a moment, he felt that he could use these three people. He then removed his mask and showed his true face.

"Ah, it's Boss Zhang Shi!"

Cheng Xiaobai recognized Zhang Shi immediately and was so excited that he almost shouted himself hoarse. Zhu Dachang's heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally settled down. After all, in their minds, Zhang Shi had always been a humble and friendly person.

Wang Wu also breathed a sigh of relief and joked.

"Boss Zhang Shi, so you were just making fun of us. If we had known it was you, we wouldn't have been so panicked."

Zhang Shi smiled, looked at the three who were completely relaxed, and took out some food and water from his backpack and handed them to them.

"We're all old acquaintances, just kidding. You can use this port as a rest stop from now on. The island has everything you need, and you can contact the person in charge directly if you need supplies."

Wang Wu was also moved, took another look at the island, and then made a suggestion to Zhang Shi.

"To be honest, our freight business is just getting started, but it's incredibly popular. There are countless people coming and going every day. If you set up a sea station here, you could make a fortune."

Before Wang Wu could finish speaking, Zhu Dachang interrupted him in a deep voice.

"There are some risks. The people we receive are a mixed bag. We might end up with Zhang Shi's enemy forces one day, and it would be a real problem if the island's coordinates were exposed."

Zhang Shi chuckled, glanced at the surrounding fleet, and then waved his hand.

"The idea of ​​a post station is excellent. I will expedite its implementation. I'll ask you all to help me spread the word, and you'll reap the rewards. As for Brother Zhu's concerns, rest assured, no one will dare to cause trouble here."

The three exchanged glances, and seeing that the person in charge had no objections, they nodded in agreement, thus reaching a verbal cooperation.

At this moment, Zhao Feng also boarded the boat. He overheard the conversation and looked at Wang Wu and the other two, asking with a puzzled expression, "Your business is really doing well, but I have a question. Aren't you afraid of encountering bandits with ill intentions when there are only three of you?"

Zhu Dachang pointed at Wang Wu and smiled slightly.

"Hehe, it's not like I haven't run into some clueless people, but Brother Wang has taken care of them all. If you want to make a living like this, how can you not have some martial arts skills to rely on?"

Cheng Xiaobai added.

“Our team actually consists of more than three people. The others are busy with other things at the base camp. Today we took on a delivery job, which is why we only sent the three of us.”

Zhang Shi added the three as friends and then saw them off.

Zhang Shi had actually had the idea of ​​a rest stop in mind for a while, but he had temporarily shelved it due to concerns about the current survivors' insufficient purchasing power and lack of transportation. Unexpectedly, he encountered Wang Wu's team today, so Zhang Shi went with the flow and partnered with them, starting a travel agency business. After all, no one ever complains about having too much money.

"Brother Feng, I'm leaving the post station to you. We'll locate it next to the port."

Zhao Feng gave a thumbs-up and responded decisively.

"Don't worry, leave it to me!"

After saying that, he went to the research center, gathered a team of craftsmen, and mobilized a batch of resources, preparing to first survey the terrain and draw up the design drawings.

The news from the post station would take some time to spread, and they had plenty of time to make preparations. Zhang Shi wasn't in a hurry; what he was anxious about was something else entirely: their salt reserves were running low.

The number of people on the island had exceeded one thousand. After Zhang Shi controlled the number to this level, he stopped recruiting. On the one hand, too many people consumed too many resources and the supply was not enough. On the other hand, management was also a troublesome matter.

Zhang Shi received a sea salt extractor during yesterday's check-in. It can reliably extract a small amount of salt every day, but the amount of salt is only enough for a very small number of people.

Zhang Shi remembered that a person's daily salt intake requirement is about 6g, so a thousand people would need 6kg. Currently, the price of salt on the market is already ridiculously high, and even a wealthy survivor like Zhang Shi wouldn't want to be ripped off. Therefore, Zhang Shi started thinking about salt production again.

Zhang Shi recalled his knowledge about salt extraction, only to find it all came from short videos or literary works, and he wasn't sure how reliable it was. He first led his men to dig a large pit on the shore, then covered it with burlap before introducing seawater. They then evaporated the seawater through sun exposure and heating, causing some white crystals to naturally precipitate out, forming the coarse salt used by ancient people.

Zhang Shi took out a small piece of the crystal and tasted it. It was indeed salt, but it tasted bitter, probably because there were still many impurities in it.

After thinking for a moment, Zhang Shi added several sieves and linen cloths to the inlet of the salt pit, and also added some charcoal, which effectively filtered out most of the impurities.

The salt produced this time was noticeably whiter and the granules were finer. Zhang Shi tasted it and found that although it still had a slightly bitter taste, it was no longer unpalatable.

Ge Dalong was drawn over by the commotion and, seeing that he was making salt, he also offered his advice.

Zhang Shi was initially satisfied with the preliminary improvements to salt production, but after listening to Ge Dalong's explanation, he realized that this was far from the best solution.

To obtain salt with higher purity and better taste, further purification processes are needed. Therefore, the two decided to utilize the island's existing resources to try and build a more complete salt-making system.

First, they organized craftsmen to build a series of small evaporation ponds along the coast. These ponds were divided into primary evaporation ponds, secondary evaporation ponds, and refining ponds according to their size and function. The primary evaporation ponds were used to initially evaporate seawater and reduce its water content; the secondary evaporation ponds were used to further concentrate the salt and increase the saturation of the brine; and the refining ponds were used to allow the brine to slowly crystallize under specific conditions through more precise control in order to obtain higher quality salt.

To improve the purity of the salt, Ge Dalong also instructed the craftsmen to lay a thin layer of fine sand and gypsum in the refining pool. These substances are byproducts of the mining area and can absorb some impurities while promoting the orderly growth of salt crystals, resulting in more uniform and delicate salt particles.

As for deeper filtration and optimization, it's not possible under current conditions. However, with just these few processes, the purity of the salt is significantly increased, and at least in terms of taste, it's not much different from salt produced by a sea salt extractor.

With the major problem of salt solved, Zhang Shi was in high spirits. With the stable development of the salt industry, the island's economic development path had expanded, and selling salt would become another profitable avenue.