Chapter 1106 Heading to the vast grassland

Looking at the piles of salt mountains in front of them, Gu Ji and Tian Hong both felt a shudder.

You have to know the importance of salt, it is self-evident.

Although the Han tribe now has currency that can be used to trade various commodities, if you really can't come up with money, you can also use salt to trade, which is not even comparable to food.

After all, if you don't have food, you can still eat other things to fill your stomach, but if you don't eat salt, what can you find instead?

To a certain extent, salt actually has the same value as currency.

Because it is a necessity for human survival, not a necessity for life.

Although there is only one word difference, it also highlights its importance.

Without salt, people can't survive.

Gu Ji and Tian Hong naturally understood this truth. The two looked at the piles of snow-white salt mountains in front of them, as if they saw piles of coins.

These are all money!

How did the Han tribe get salt out of the sea water?

Thinking of this, Tian Hong simply asked directly.

"Brother Ye An, do you know how this salt is made from seawater? Is there really so much salt in this seawater?"

Ye An was unable to answer this question. He only heard Luo Chong say that sea salt is made from seawater, which is probably done by drying it in the sun, but he didn't know exactly how it is done.

"I don't know either, but since we are here to visit, let's just go and see it."

The governor of Xianfeng County was the Shang elder of the Xin tribe, Niu Wei, who was instigated by the Han tribe. Later, after Zhudao became Qiongzhou Island, Luo Chong made him the governor of Xianfeng County.

However, Niu Wei did not come when they visited the salt field this time. The two tribe leaders from other tribes who came to visit did not need to be personally received by the governor, so he only sent a clerk to help them with trivial matters.

Ye An said something to the clerk, and the group entered the salt field to begin their visit.

"Ladies and gentlemen, our salt field is the latest generation of salt drying field. Before the Han tribe ruled this place, the Xin tribe also dried salt, but the labor intensity of the workers was very high, and a lot of people were employed, but the output of salt was very small, which was basically equivalent to God's gift.

"However, since our Han tribe took over the salt field, we renovated the salt pond here and installed many advanced mechanical equipment, which greatly improved the productivity. Under the same good weather, we use fewer people, but the salt production is several times that of the past, which is simply not comparable to that of the Xin tribe at that time.

"Come with me, come here and see!"

As he said this, he took Gu Ji, Tian Hong and others to the highest level salt pond, next to the pumping station, and pointed to this largest salt pond and those steam-powered water pumps.

"Please look, this is our first-level salt drying pond. The steam-powered water pump here is connected to a very thick rubber tube, and the other end of the tube extends all the way to a water collection ship in the sea.

"The water collection ship will first pump the clear seawater into the ship for the first level of filtration, and then pump the filtered seawater into the first-level salt drying pond above."

"Filter? What does that mean?" Gu Ji asked puzzled.

"Filtering means that when the seawater is pumped up, it will contain a lot of impurities, such as small stones, sand, shells, oysters, or small fish, shrimps, and octopuses in the sea, which will be pumped up by the water pump. If these things are not screened out in advance, then they will be directly pumped into the salt pond, and the salt that is subsequently dried will be very impure." The clerk explained hurriedly.

"Oh, so that's what you mean, go on, go on. "Gu Ji nodded, as if he had suddenly realized something.

"Well, there are also several water pumps on the water-collecting boat below. They will first pump the seawater into the water tank in the boat. After a simple filtration, the water in the water-drawing tank will be pumped into the water supply tank. Then the large water pump above us will directly pump water up from its water supply tank.

"After the water is pumped up, it will be directly placed in this primary salt-drying pond. This pond is paved entirely with cement and is very flat. The water will be exposed to the sun here for a day. If it is summer, the exposure time will be shorter, usually about half a day in summer.

"When the water in this pond evaporates to only half of it, it becomes brine with a heavier salt content. At this time, the brine will be discharged into the secondary salt-drying pond and continue to be exposed to the sun. The water will then be further evaporated, leaving the salt, and then it will be introduced into the tertiary salt-drying pond.

"As the cycle goes on, the seawater pumped up will be exposed to less and less sunlight, and the water will become saltier and saltier. Generally, after being exposed to the sun in the fifth or sixth level pool, the salt inside will be crystallized.

"But we have now mastered a faster method, which is to concentrate the brine with extremely high salt concentration in the fifth level pool, and then spray it directly on the salt mountains. In this way, the water in the brine will become saltier and evaporate faster.

"But the leader said that this is only one of the reasons. I heard that there seems to be some crystal nucleus reason. It roughly means that adding some salt to the brine with extremely high salt concentration is equivalent to implanting crystal nuclei in the brine, which can make the salt in the brine crystallize faster. I don't understand this very well. I heard that only the microscope in the Northern Research Institute can see it."

The clerk took them on a tour and pointed to various facilities to introduce them to the situation, as well as the process of drying seawater salt.

In the distance, someone was indeed spraying water on the salt mountains with a rubber hose.

The man pinched the mouth of the hose to make the brine more pressurized, and then sprayed water directly into the sky above the salt pile.

When the brine sprays out, it is still a thin column of water, but when it sprays into the sky and draws a parabola to fall down, it has become a stream of water drops, like rain, evenly pouring into the salt pan below.

The white salt in the salt pan is also shining, which is the result of the reflection of water droplets in the sun, but such raindrops will soon be evaporated by the sun's light, and finally a new layer of white salt will be precipitated.

The precipitation speed of such salt is very impressive, much faster than directly placing it in the pool and exposing it to the sun, automatically precipitating sodium chloride crystals, at least ten times faster.

Gu Ji and Tian Hong watched for a while and understood the whole process of making salt from seawater. They were both amazed. They didn't expect that seawater could be turned into piles of salt mountains after such processing steps. It was really enviable.

At noon, several people had lunch with the workers at the salt field, and inquired about the living standards of the workers at the salt field. When they passed by the salt field again in the afternoon, they found that the thin layer of salt field they saw in the morning had increased by at least two or three times in thickness after repeated watering and exposure to the sun.

The two people couldn't help but gasp when they saw such a scene.

My goodness, this method can produce salt so quickly? !

Such a large piece of land, at least several acres of salt fields, has increased such a thick layer in one day. How much salt was produced?

No matter how much salt was produced, it was quite surprising to the two people, even Ye An. Although he was the leader's guard and had heard Xia An mention the matter of drying salt many times, this was the first time he saw it with his own eyes. It would be a lie to say that he was not shocked at all.

Especially since he was from the Han tribe, he knew the importance of salt. After all, his family had to spend money to buy salt. When he saw so much salt, he would involuntarily convert it into currency, and then guess how much money the salt here could be exchanged for. Then he would be shocked by his own thoughts and results and gasp.

But it was over after watching it. It was impossible for them to make salt by themselves.

The group left Xianfeng County and continued to head northwest. The last stop of their trip to Qiongzhou Island was Jiahai County, which was located at the northwest end of Qiongzhou Island and was only separated from the mainland by a bridge.

And the main reason they came here to visit was the construction site of the cross-sea bridge in Jiahai County.

With Ye An's help, the two of them came to the shore of the strait in Jiahai County without any obstacles. The first thing that caught their eyes was the giant cross-sea bridge.

They walked along the main road on the shore and directly onto the reinforced concrete bridge deck. When they walked for about three kilometers, the bridge broke. In front of the broken bridge were artificially cast bridge piers, but the bridge deck had not been installed on them at this time, which made people feel very surprised.

How did the Han tribe build such a magnificent super building? It feels that it is not an exaggeration to call it a masterpiece

of nature, right? Humans actually mastered the ability to move mountains and fill the sea? Isn't this something that only gods can do?

"Brother Ye An, do you know how these smooth and neat huge stone pillars are erected? Or how they grow?" Gu Ji asked curiously.

"Of course I know. Actually, you know it yourself. This is the reinforced concrete you saw in Qi'an County. The workers will first build a dam on the underwater reef, which is a stone mountain hidden under the water. They will use sandbags to surround a basin in the sea water, and then use a water pump to drain the water inside. At this time, they will send workers to dig deep wells at the location of the bridge piers.

"After the well is dug, the bundled steel keel will be inserted into it, and then a casting model will be enclosed outside with wooden boards. Then, sand, gravel, cement, and fresh water will be mixed into a mud-like concrete in a certain proportion, and then something will be poured into the wooden shell. While pouring, vibrate it to vibrate out the bubbles inside.

"The bridge piers are poured higher and higher in this way, and steel bars and concrete are added to them continuously, and then they are poured one by one.

"In fact, the method is very simple, but the resources consumed by this bridge are astronomical figures, which are exaggerated and unbelievable. So many bridge piers require so much steel and concrete, and these are still transported from the north. You should know how difficult this is, right? "

Ye An said with a surge of emotion as he looked at the waves that kept washing the reefs on both sides of the bridge.

Every time he saw this unfinished bridge, whether in photos or in reality, it would always bring him a great shock.

Gu Ji nodded when he heard this, and he understood the principle behind it. But the more they understood it, the more they could feel the strength of the Han tribe.

Let's not talk about other things first, but to be able to meet the demand for building materials such as steel and concrete on time, it requires unimaginable strength.

The Baiwu tribe still can't make steel by themselves, but the Han tribe has already started to use steel as the skeleton and cement powder to fill the building, and so many building materials are transported from the north to the south and overseas on time, which is really amazing.

After chatting for a while, Tian Hong looked at the bridge deck under his feet and began to ask curiously again.

"Brother Ye An, the bridge piers were cast from the wells on the ground. I can understand this, but how is the bridge deck above fixed?

"I see that there is such a big distance between each group of bridge piers. It should be difficult to cast concrete, right?"

"No, no, no, this bridge deck is also cast with reinforced concrete, but when making the casting shell, a large scaffolding called scaffolding is used.

"This thing is installed through two modified ships. First, the ship is parked under the bridge pier where the bridge deck is needed, and then someone climbs to the top of the mast and waits for the top of the pier.

"At this time, both parties cooperate highly to build a sturdy scaffolding between the two piers through the high platform on the ship, which is the shell for casting. After the shell is built, put the prepared steel keel into it, and finally cast it.

"For this super large project, those people don't know how many things they modified, such as this kind of ship specially built for scaffolding, there are also sand ships specially used to transport sand, and there are also several ships with steam engines and mixing drums on board, which are specially used to provide mixing concrete. "

Ye An once again introduced the situation and construction methods here to the two.

Usually, the three constructions that Luo Chong pays the most attention to are the capital, the industrial layout in the south, and the very important cross-sea bridge.

As long as this bridge can be built and opened to traffic in the future, it will definitely be a great feat in the world and the entire human history.

At this time, a small boat with two masts was gradually approaching them not far away.

It was a ship that had been contacted in advance to take them to the other side.

Ye An showed the token of the Jinwu Guard to confirm his identity, and then took them down the rope to the boat, and then sailed smoothly to the other side.

It was not until they were sitting on the boat and heading to the other side that Gu Ji and Tian Hong realized how wide the strait was. Even taking a boat takes so long, so how long is this bridge?

When the group successfully landed from the dock on the mainland side, they were not far away from the grassland.

(End of this chapter)