Chapter 2963 My Official Salt
Zhou Man returned to the backyard, fanning himself with a palm-leaf fan. He calculated the time Bai Shan would return, sighed, and called Wu Yue and the other two over, saying, "Pack two bags. We're going out tonight."
He added, "Put your things in order. If the prince comes to Beihai County, he might stay with us, so we'll have to move out."
Even Wu Yue and the others were a little nervous, "Is the Crown Prince coming?"
Zhou Man nodded and waved his hand, saying, "Go pack. Oh, and besides your official uniform, pack two sets of nicer clothes. Clothes make the man, and saddles make the horse. We can't let people look down on us now."
Since you want nice clothes, you also need nice shoes and good accessories to accessorize them. If you pack all these things together, you won’t be able to fit them in two bags.
Wu Yue said, "Madam, put it in a box and put it in the car."
Zhou Man rolled his eyes and nodded, "Good idea. Go and have someone prepare the carriage."
Bai Shan knew nothing at the moment. He was leisurely watching the salt being dried in the warehouse with his hands behind his back.
The dried salt was packed in fine linen bags and piled in the warehouse. To prevent moisture, a space about the width of a hand was separated on the ground with stones and wooden boards, and the salt bags were piled on top.
Bai Shan counted the numbers, compared them with the account book, and nodded slightly. There was nothing wrong with the accounts. According to the current salt price, if they sold the amount in stock, it would be enough to cover Beihai County's annual fiscal expenditure.
Salt really makes money.
Bai Shan reached out and patted the salt bag, sighing.
Zhou Liwei felt a sense of accomplishment and happiness every time he came to the warehouse. He couldn't quite understand his uncle's sigh, "Uncle, is there not enough salt?"
Bai Shan shook his head. "No, I was thinking, salt is something we use very little of on a daily basis, but it's an essential item for every household. But it's so hard to get such an essential item to the people at such a low price. How can this be a good thing?"
Zhou Liwei didn't quite understand, "Isn't salt always priced this way?"
From childhood to adulthood, it seems that nothing has changed.
Bai Shan said, "But now the cost of obtaining salt has decreased. Without boiling salt, the consumption of wood will also be reduced. As long as the climate is suitable and the manpower can keep up, we can dry sea salt on a large scale..."
Bai Shan paused, suppressing many words in his heart, and said, "I wonder what the price of salt will be by then?"
Zhou Liwei thought simply and said with a smile: "With more salt, it will definitely be cheaper."
Bai Shan didn't nod, but he didn't shake his head either. He glanced at his official salt bit by bit and left the warehouse with some satisfaction.
Zhou Liwei locked the warehouse and nodded to the soldiers guarding outside.
The two most important places in Dajiawa are the salt fields and the three large warehouses that have been connected, so Inspector Luo sent his confidants to guard them.
But only Zhou Liwei has the keys to the warehouse, and only Zhou Liwei can bring people in and out.
Bai Shan walked with him for a while, then looked back and said, "The salt works should have its own soldiers."
Zhou Liwei: "Ah?"
Bai Shan lowered his eyes to glance at him and shook his head. "For the long term, it's better to stagger the work. When the salt fields are full of people, you can select some of the farmhands to serve as guards, and they will guard the warehouses and salt fields together with Inspector Luo's soldiers."
"Of course, the primary responsibility for patrolling and defending still lies with Inspector Luo."
Zhou Liwei still didn't quite understand, and Bai Shan was just about to teach him some checks and balances when he heard the sound of hurried horse hooves.
He turned his head to look.
Daji recognized that they were runners from the county government, so he waved and called out to attract the two people who were still running towards the salt field.
When the two yamen runners heard the sound, they turned their heads to look, then immediately turned their horses around and ran over.
The two men were exhausted, and their horses were tired too. They jumped off and said, "Sir, a letter came yesterday from the Governor's Mansion saying that Governor Guo would come to our Beihai County in person. But today, they sent messengers again saying that a distinguished person has arrived from Qingzhou City and asked you to go to Qingzhou City quickly. Sir Zhou asked us to come and fetch you and tell you to return quickly."
The yamen runner finished speaking such a long speech in one breath and almost couldn't catch his breath.
Zhou Liwei didn't know that his uncle-in-law came to Dajiawa to avoid the governor. Upon hearing this, he immediately urged, "Uncle-in-law, then you should go back quickly."
Then he was curious, "Who is this noble person who is so anxious to ask you to go back?"
Bai Shan had guessed it and became happy. "You'll see me later. You stay here and take care of the salt fields. I'll be leaving now."
Zhou Liwei: "Can I see it too?"
But Bai Shan had already hurried to his residence and did not answer his question.
He took Daji and the accompanying yamen runners back to the county town on horseback, but they did not enter the city because it was already dark when they arrived at the city gate. Although the city gate was not closed, it would not be open for long.
Zhou Man had the carriage parked on the roadside outside the city gate. She sat on the shaft with her legs swinging. When she saw them coming at full speed, she immediately covered her mouth and nose with a handkerchief and waved to them.
Dust flew up. Bai Shan reined in his horse before approaching, looked at the horse and cart she had brought, and asked, "Are you going on a night journey?"
Zhou Man nodded. "Prefect Guo must be angry and guilty right now. We'd better go there early so as not to make things too awkward."
They will enter the city as soon as the city gates open tomorrow. Seeing how hard they work, Governor Guo will definitely understand that they did not deliberately stand him up.
Bai Shan thought about it and felt that what she said made sense, so he turned around and said to the yamen runners, "You can go back."
County Lieutenant Dong was also in the convoy. He really wanted to go to Qingzhou City with Bai Shanzhouman, but he couldn't, because County Magistrate Fang was in Qingzhou City at the moment. Beihai County must have people left to guard it. Otherwise, if the county magistrate, county magistrate and county lieutenant were not in the county government office, wouldn't Chief Secretary Song be in chaos?
As expected, Bai Shan saw County Lieutenant Dong and smiled slightly, saying, "The county government is entrusted to County Lieutenant Dong and County Magistrate Fang. By the way, where is County Magistrate Fang?"
There were too many people here, so County Lieutenant Dong couldn't tell him that County Magistrate Fang had gone to Qingzhou City to ask County Magistrate Lu for help. He could only say, "It just so happened to be a day off, so County Magistrate Fang took his family to Qingzhou City to do some shopping."
Bai Shan: "... Today is a day off, but tomorrow he has to go to the government office. Hasn't he come back yet?"
County Magistrate Dong looked at Bai Shan innocently, hoping that he could understand his eyes.
Bai Shan didn't understand it, but he guessed it in his mind and got a general idea.
Bai Shan's impression of County Magistrate Fang was that of a workaholic. The more work he was given, the happier he was, and he didn't mind the hard work at all.
Would such a person skip work and go shopping in Qingzhou City with his family?
It's good enough that he doesn't use his days off to work overtime.
So he must have gone to find County Magistrate Lu.
Bai Shan thought about it, nodded to County Lieutenant Dong, and instructed: "County Lieutenant Dong, please keep a close eye on the county government. We will be back in two days."
Upon hearing this, County Lieutenant Dong asked excitedly, "Sir, do you want to requisition the mansions of the wealthy families in the city for use?"
"No need," Bai Shan said after looking at him deeply, "Don't mess around. If you are coming, you can stay in the backyard of the county government office."
Whose property is being requisitioned?
From the Song family?
Is he mentally retarded to offer a big support to the Song family at this time?
Today I saw a new treatment method - autohemotherapy, it hurt so much
See you at 10pm
(End of this chapter)
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