Chapter 2970 Salt Field
He walked forward and stared at the bottom of the water. He could see something different. Unlike ordinary paddy fields, there was something white underneath the water, but it wasn't mud, but it didn't look like salt either. The prince looked at Bai Shan suspiciously, "Is that salt down there?"
Bai Shan took only one look and said, "This is the first time the seawater has been dried. It's probably only been in the water for two days, so the effect isn't very obvious. Your Highness, let's go a little further ahead. It seems that the crowded area over there is collecting salt."
The prince looked forward and saw that there was indeed a crowd gathering in the distance, but he was not in a hurry to go over and just walked along the ridge of the field.
He looked at each field one by one, and as he looked he discovered differences.
Going down the ridge of the field, there was a wide ditch on the side with water flowing slowly in it. The prince went forward to take a look.
He glanced at the ditch, then at the salt pan beside it, and thought, "Is this sea water?"
"Yes," Bai Shan explained, "When the tide rises, seawater will flow into the ditches, which connect the first salt pan in each row. When the salt crystals and brine are dried out, we will sieve them and put them into the second pan."
The prince walked to a field and asked, "Like this one?"
This is a salt pan where you can see large salt crystals at the bottom of the water. The water is almost dry, but there is still a shallow layer of water on top.
The prince squatted down and reached out to scoop up a handful of salt from the field. Some of the salt slowly melted and slipped through his fingers...
He twisted it and tasted it with his tongue. It was very bitter salt, but it was indeed salty.
Governor Guo and others who followed behind the prince were in a daze and had not yet come to their senses. They had many questions in their hearts, the first of which was, what were these square pieces of land used for?
I heard Bai Shan meant drying salt?
Aren’t fields used for planting?
Isn't salt meant to be cooked?
The officials looked down at the salt fields at their feet and were speechless for a long time.
The prince washed the salt off his hands in the salt field, and Eunuch Wu quickly took out a handkerchief to wipe his hands.
The prince wiped it twice nonchalantly and looked at the last field in the row.
Bai Shan immediately said, "That's the second salt field where the salt crystals are dried in the sun, melted with water, and then filtered and dried. It's also the last salt field. We compared them, and the salt that's filtered twice and dried is no worse than the salt that's boiled."
In order to save firewood when boiling salt, they only filter it once, and the salt is more bitter and darker than the salt they dry out.
The prince nodded slightly and led his men forward.
Zhou Liwei was squatting beside the salt pan, rubbing the salt crystals that had been pushed toward him, checking their quality. A farmhand nearby glanced behind him several times, making sure he was right, and then quickly said, "Master Zhou, the county magistrate is here again."
Zhou Liwei glanced back, but couldn't see the person clearly. "That's impossible. He just left yesterday."
The farmhand squinted his eyes and looked at it, then confirmed: "It's the county magistrate, no doubt!"
Having received the notice from the soldiers, Inspector Luo, who was patrolling the mountainside, came running with his men. As they passed the salt fields, they called out to Zhou Liwei, "The county magistrate has arrived, and he's brought many high-ranking officials with him. What are you still standing there for? Go and greet him."
When the soldiers found him, they told him that among the people brought by the county magistrate, there was not only one wearing a red official robe, but also one wearing a purple robe, and the county magistrate was following behind the man in the purple robe.
When Zhou Liwei heard this, he immediately stood up and ran over there with Inspector Luo.
After running for a while, they finally met the prince halfway.
Inspector Luo didn't recognize the Crown Prince, but he figured it wouldn't be wrong to salute, so he raised his hand to salute. However, Zhou Liwei, who had already seen the Crown Prince's face, couldn't help but exclaim, "Your Highness?"
The Zhou family had never seen the emperor, but the prince and princess were fortunate enough to have seen him.
Although he had rarely seen the prince, Zhou Liwei still tried hard to remember his face since he was such a distinguished figure.
Inspector Luo never put down his raised hand. His knees softened and he fell to his knees on the ridge of the field with a thud.
Seeing this, Zhou Liwei, who had originally planned to bow to the end, could only pull up his trouser legs and kneel down, and kowtow to the prince together with Inspector Luo.
The prince was very pleased with their respect, and the smile on his face became even wider. He raised his hand and said, "Stand up."
He passed by Inspector Luo and looked Zhou Liwei up and down. He felt that he looked familiar, but he couldn't remember who he was, so he asked, "Do you know me?"
Zhou Liwei subconsciously looked at Zhou Man behind the prince.
The prince also glanced back at Zhou Man, and suddenly realized, "I was saying you looked familiar. Your eyes look a lot like Zhou Man's."
Zhou Man said: "He is my second nephew."
The prince nodded slightly and asked, "What is he doing at the salt works now?"
Bai Shan replied, "Be a steward."
He said bluntly: "My energy is limited, so let him help me."
The prince nodded slightly and asked Zhou Liwei, "Are they harvesting salt over there? How much salt can be harvested from one field? How often can it be harvested? How much manpower is required?"
Zhou Liwei was a little nervous, but fortunately his uncle had asked these questions when he came before, and his account book was pretty good, so he could answer them one by one.
The prince was mentally prepared, so he didn't show any expression. However, the officials behind him who had been listening all the way couldn't help but look at the salt fields on both sides of the ridges. They didn't pay much attention to the road and almost fell into the fields.
When they arrived at the salt collection area, the farmhands were in short clothes pushing salt in the salt fields. The wooden shovels were sharpened and about one meter wide. After putting them down, they pushed forward, and the salt crystals in the salt fields were pushed together, more and more, and by the time they pushed the salt to the front of the prince and his friends, there was already a small pile.
Even the crown prince was stunned for a moment, not to mention the ministers behind him, who all opened their mouths wide.
Governor Guo thought of something and his eyes turned red. He turned his head to look at Bai Shan.
Bai Shan stood behind the prince, waiting for them to come back to their senses.
The prince squatted down and grabbed a handful of salt to look at it. He twisted it carefully, and the salt grains fell one by one. It was quite fine, at least finer than the ordinary salt sold on the market.
The prince said to the people behind him, "Come and take a look too."
Tang He and others were waiting for the prince to say this. As soon as he finished speaking, several people crowded forward to touch the salt, squatting in rows and occupying one side of the salt field.
The farmhands looked at it helplessly, and when they saw Zhou Liwei signaling them to continue, they turned around and continued to shovel salt, ignoring these ignorant officials.
The censor was a little skeptical that the salt was sun-dried, so he looked at the salt field behind him and saw that it was full of water, without any trace of salt.
No, it’s not that I didn’t see anything at all. This water was obviously different from ordinary water. It seemed to be a little turbid and white.
He stretched out his fingers and stirred the salt pan, then put it in his mouth to taste it. It was very salty...
The censor wavered between suspicion and belief, but finally decided to see for himself. He said to the prince, "Your Highness, I would like to stay in the salt field and see how the salt is dried."
Unless he saw with his own eyes that salt was produced by drying out the seawater in the fields, he would never believe it.
See you at 11pm
(End of this chapter)
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