In this era, if salt is monopolized by one person, this person can easily become the richest man in the country and the invisible emperor.

If you think about it, you can understand why Taihe Pharmacy not only does business as a salt merchant, but also sells medicinal materials.

Both of these can be purchased in bulk by the court.

Private consumption is even higher.

Everyone knows that the easiest money to make is, of course, the imperial court's.

However, there are several types of salt, and not all salt that is mined can be eaten.

Like the highest grade salt, this white and fine salt is the best quality, but it is time-consuming and labor-intensive to process, so ordinary people cannot afford it.

The price that the imperial court ultimately set was just third-grade salt of very poor quality that ordinary people could afford.

The first grade is used by high-ranking officials in the imperial court, and the second grade is used by wealthy families.

The common people could afford third-grade salt thanks to the pricing set by the imperial court; otherwise, they would not even have access to third-grade salt.

Haha, it’s really a profitable business.

The relevant procedures were handled very quickly, taking less than an hour.

However, salt merchants are also divided into levels. Liu Feng has just become a salt merchant, so his documents are clearly written.

He was only qualified to sell salt in Youzhou and could not do business in other places. Once discovered, it would be considered smuggling. Not only would his qualification as a salt merchant be revoked, but all his assets would be confiscated and he would be exiled.

The document also stated the monthly quantities of various grades of salt that could be sold, which totaled three thousand shi.

The price is also very clear. Liu Feng is concerned about the price of ordinary edible salt. As for the high-end snow-white fine salt, he is not concerned because the amount used is too small.

Salt is different from other things. It needs to be included in every meal, but the amount used each time is only a small pinch.

When he saw the price on the document, he was shocked.

Salt is really expensive. Even the ordinary table salt used by ordinary people costs more than two taels of silver to buy one stone.

The lowest price is two taels of silver, and the highest price is three taels of silver.

But Liu Feng doesn't care about these things now. He won't make money from the hard-earned money of the common people.

When he finished all this and returned to the inn, Wu San Tong had already arrived with the Tiger Roar Army.

However, Liu Feng had no intention of going back directly.

"Do you still remember the location of the salt pan?"

Liu Feng asked.

"You're going to the salt fields?"

"yes."

Wu Santong nodded. He knew the exact location of the salt fields very well. As Liu Feng's father-in-law, he never questioned Liu Feng's arrangements too much.

Just obey unconditionally.

The leader of the Tiger Roar Army this time is Chen Buyi. Although he made mistakes before, he has grown rapidly since joining the Tiger Roar Army.

Secondly, the reason for asking him to come was simple. Among the several leading generals of the Tiger Roar Army, he was the only one who had time.

Wang Dingliu was busy training new scouts.

The two brothers of the Linghu family were busy training the troops, especially the new group of people who had just joined the Tiger Roar Army, and they still needed systematic training.

Otherwise, if you fight bandits once and then go to the battlefield, that won’t work. If you don’t understand the battle formations, you will be seeking death on a real battlefield.

As for Zhai Shanchuan, apart from following orders, he is really not capable of acting on his own.

Forget about Liu Lang, as he is busy training his own people all day long.

However, we cannot underestimate Chen Buyi. He has learned a lot of practical things while following Liu Feng in the war during this period, so he can handle such a small matter as picking up people.

After Liu Feng and Chen Buzhi explained the situation in detail, he handed the person over to Chen Buzhi.

Liu Feng turned to another route and traveled with Wu San Tong, along with several bodyguards and his maid and concubine Liu Yan.

The target is the salt fields.

Youzhou is mountainous, and the area around Youzhou City is even more mountainous. The salt fields are outside Youzhou City, not very far away in a straight line.

They rode fast horses and arrived in less than an hour.

When you get close to the salt fields, you can see from afar that the entire mountain is made into large platforms, which are where the salt is dried.

The sources of these salts are two-fold. On the one hand, they come directly from salt ore, which is ground and sieved, and finally dried and purified repeatedly through water.

Another source of salt is brine in the mountains, which is groundwater.

Boil them, add specific ingredients to allow them to flow and precipitate, and finally dry them to make coarse salt.

The best time to make salt is April and May, when the weather is windy and the sun is at the right temperature.

Although it is not yet the time for large-scale salt production this season, the workers are already very busy.

The season has begun to dry salt.

After the salt on the drying yards is dried, it begins to be sorted. First, the top layer is gently removed because it is dusty due to wind and sun exposure.

Next is the purest, snow-white refined salt.

After the refined salt is taken, the next step is the inferior salt. The refined salt with dust on it that is taken out at the beginning will be added to the inferior salt.

The last one is coarse salt. This salt not only contains the bottom layer of soil, but also has coarse particles and tastes extremely bad.

Different grades of salt have different audiences. The best ones are definitely consumed by dignitaries and the top group of people.

The second best kind of salt is for the average rich person, such as Liu Feng. This is the best kind of salt for everyone.

The worst coarse salt is a basic necessity for ordinary people.

Ordinary people would not spend a lot of money to buy fine salt, after all, their lives could not be guaranteed.

The reason why Liu Feng came to see these salt fields was because he wanted to cut off one of the legs of Taihe Pharmacy, and this was the starting point.

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