Jiang Sheng nodded, regained his composure, and mounted his horse. He said in a deep voice, "Let's go to Liangshan and find something. Then we'll find a place to stay as soon as possible. I want to study this plague."

The sound of horse hooves was heard, and the group quickly disappeared from the spot.

At the foot of Liangshan Mountain.

Yang Er dismounted and walked over, whispering, "Sir, the salt lake we discovered earlier is in the inner mountain. Horses can't go in. How about leaving someone to watch over it, and we'll go in with you."

Jiang Sheng hummed, "Yang Er, Yang San, carry the small water jar and follow me in. The rest of you will wait at the foot of the mountain. I might be gone for several days."

"Please be careful and try not to get close to the crowd to avoid contracting the plague."

"Yes, sir."

After saying that, the three of them flew up and flew towards the depths of the forest. When they were hungry, they ate some dry food. Before dark, they rushed to the inner mountain and found the salt lake that the spy had mentioned.

The lakeside is lined with white stones, and the water is a bit dark yellow and looks a bit dirty. There is no living thing in the salt lake, not even grass can grow.

Jiang Sheng picked up the salt stone on the ground. He called it salt stone, but in fact it was just layers of coarse salt formed on the stones by the lake after being washed by the salt lake and dried by the water. This kind of salt is generally used by poor people.

In Dagan, the salt mines were controlled by the imperial court. If Beihuang wanted to completely break away from the imperial court, the salt problem must be solved.

Yang Er picked up a piece, rubbed it with his fingers and put it in his mouth. He felt the bitter taste on the tip of his tongue and his face frowned.

"Sir, is this the salt controlled by the imperial court?"

"But a salt mine should be like a mine, but how can it be like a lake? And there is no living thing at all. It's really strange."

Jiang Sheng had seen this in a book in the bamboo house, and he understood it clearly. He explained, "Salt is divided into three categories: mountain salt, sea salt, and lake salt."

"The salt controlled by the imperial court is usually sea salt. It needs to be processed from seawater, and the fine salt is supplied to ministers and the royal family. Ordinary people mostly use coarse salt, which contains a lot of impurities."

"Mountain salt is small in quantity and hard to find. It's usually licked by wild animals to replenish their body salt levels. But what I'm looking for is salt lakes. Not only are they large in quantity, but they're also hard to detect."

Yang Er suddenly realized, "So that's how it is. But do we need to scrape off the salt and use it?"

Jiang Sheng shook his head, his eyes shining as he looked at the salt stone in his hand. The corners of his mouth lifted slightly with a hint of a smile: "No, we have to try to filter out the salt poison and see if we can make snow salt."

"Snow salt? It's the kind sold by the State of Yan. It's worth a fortune, and it's said to be as white as snow and tastes far better than the tribute salt."

"Yes, if I use the right method, I should be able to get it out. Now bring the small water tank over here, and let's try it as soon as possible. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can get out of the mountain."

Yang Er and Yang San lifted the small water jar.

Jiang Sheng built a fire, got some stream water and put it into the water tank, then put salt stone in it and started to boil it.

"Sir, why don't you use the water from the salt lake? Wouldn't it be more convenient if it has salt in it?"

"...Second, you have so many questions."

"Do you know what distinguishes high-quality salt from low-quality salt? It's the salt toxicity, or the amount of impurities. The fewer impurities, the whiter the salt."

Yang Er rolled his eyes and seemed to understand something.

I understand what you mean, sir. The salt in the salt lake is not as abundant as that in the salt rock, and it also has more impurities than the salt rock. If we use the water from the salt lake, I'm afraid it will take more effort to remove the impurities.

Jiang Sheng nodded, and the surroundings became quiet. The water in the salt lake is not drinkable, so there are naturally no small animals around.

As the water was boiled, a thin layer of crystals gradually appeared on the inner wall of the water tank. When I scraped it off and tasted it, it was still slightly bitter, but it was obviously much better than before, and it was quite effective in removing salt poison.

But the color was still slightly yellow, not the snow salt he wanted.

Jiang Sheng took out a booklet and began to write down something on it, such as how much water is needed for each piece of salt stone, how long to boil it, the color and taste of the salt produced for the first time, etc.

The records were very detailed, which made it convenient for him to ask people to make salt in the future. Naturally, he would try it himself and solve any problems directly.

The mountain spring water in the water tank soon dried up.

Yang Er hurried over, scraped the salt off the inner wall of the jar, then picked up the jar, rinsed it clean, and poured in mountain spring water to continue boiling.

This went on for several times. Jiang Sheng looked at the snow salt in the bamboo tube with a look of surprise. It was as delicate and white as snow, and it was obvious at a glance that it was not an ordinary product.

The Yan State has been making a fortune from snow salt in recent years. If his snow salt were to be used, it would directly replace the Yan State's snow salt...

This is also a way to weaken the State of Yan. We just need to be secretive and not let them find any clues, otherwise there will be a lot of trouble.

Yang Er and Yang San looked at the bamboo tube with burning eyes. They had seen salt before, but this was the first time they had seen salt so white without a trace of impurities. This was the real snow salt.

"Sir, I've seen the snow salt slaves from Yan State. They're obviously inferior to what you make. I wonder how much money you could make if you sold it."

Jiang Sheng's lips curled slightly, his eyes filled with determination: "Once my snow salt is released, the Salt Country's snow salt wealth will be cut off. That will be the time for us to make a fortune like crazy."

"It's just that this matter needs to be kept secret. It's best if you do it. You can change your face at any time and sell snow salt while moving around. Don't stay in one place."

The two said in unison: "Yes, slaves understand."

Yang Er looked at the salt lake that looked like stagnant water. It was like looking at gold. With this salt lake, they no longer had to worry about snow salt.

Jiang Sheng asked people to go hunting, and took away a small amount of salt stone while they were not paying attention. He planned to give his eldest brother a surprise after returning, so that he would have a stable source of money in the future.

If you want to make money quickly, you naturally have to make money from the powerful. Ordinary people have a hard time surviving, let alone buying snow salt.

Just as I had almost figured it out, Yang Er and Yang San also came back.

The three of them built a fire by the stream. After they were away from the salt lake, they could hear the croaking of frogs and the singing of birds near the stream, which was completely different from the dead silence of the salt lake just now.

"Sir, where are we going next?"

Jiang Sheng washed his hands and said softly, "Let's explore the inner mountains to see if there are any salt lakes. It won't be too late to go out of the mountains in two days."

Yang Er hummed, then luckily climbed up the tree and took down a bird's nest with several eggs inside. He asked respectfully, "Sir, do you want to eat bird eggs?"

“…I don’t want to eat.”

"Oh, all right then."

Jiang Sheng glanced at him and said helplessly, "Put it back. We have roasted rabbits, but why are we eating bird eggs? Three or two won't even fill our teeth."

As soon as he finished speaking, the ground began to shake. The three of them stood up and looked vigilantly in the direction of the vibration. After Yang Er put the bird back into the nest, he flew to the tree and looked into the distance.

There was a black mass running towards them. After seeing what it was, Yang Er's pupils suddenly shrank.

He flew down the tree with a panicked look on his face: "Master, something happened."