Chapter 140 Tomorrow will definitely be Saturday
What was initially thought to be a disastrous 20/80 split turned out to be a win-win situation for everyone. The salt miners and commoners of Lingzhou, the Song soldiers under Fusu's command, the imperial court, the counties of Yunzhou, and the Liao army led by Di Qing were all quite satisfied. The only ones who might shed tears were probably the central government of Western Xia.
However, out of caution, Fusu stayed at the factory near the salt mine for a few more days. Unexpectedly, he received a report from the Song army: several former leaders of the salt mines, after surrendering to the Song Dynasty, were still abusing their power and frequently resorting to beatings and corporal punishment.
Upon hearing this, Fusu immediately stopped and, using his traditional skills as a white dragon fish costume, hid in the shadows to observe. He discovered that these supervisors were even more lawless than the one who had reported them. Every day during the settlement, they openly deducted from the salt mine workers' share and even mocked, "You think you can get such a good deal?"
Fusu was so angry that his fair face turned pale, and he slapped his knee with a loud "smack".
They had finally managed to motivate the salt miners and establish a good initial impression of the Song Dynasty. What if a few bad apples spoiled the whole bunch?
But taking them down would also be easy.
Fusu didn't say much, but with a single order, those few he had personally witnessed abusing the workers were all bound tightly. In front of all the workers, Fusu announced: "You bunch of rotten apples, go and live with the prisoners."
Even though the stewards cried out in despair, it was to no avail. Instead, it aroused Fusu's suspicion: Why did they dare to bully others when they had no support whatsoever? Didn't they know that times had changed?
But then he thought, perhaps that's just how people are. Aren't the Liao and Western Xia dynasties still asleep? And the Qing dynasty, over eight hundred years later, took decades to awaken. Those who can't distinguish between the major and minor kings are destined to be swept away like ashes.
After cleaning the salt mine, the atmosphere became much cleaner, and Fusu's mood improved considerably. However, his companions kept tugging at his sleeves, reminding him repeatedly, "Home, home..."
Fusu stared wide-eyed, bewildered: What home? Whose home?
oh!
Scenes from many TV dramas flooded his mind, and he suddenly realized what was happening.
So it was the home of those managers.
Even Song soldiers were among the laborers, and they dared to blatantly embezzle funds. Under Li Yuanhao's rule, they must have been even more lawless. One wonders how much of the salt miners' hard-earned wealth they kept hidden in the homes of these few corrupt officials?
Even though Fusu was mentally prepared, he was still greatly surprised when he went to search the place. No wonder, no wonder the salt mine workers acted as if they were getting a great deal when he proposed a 20/80 split. In the past, did they ever get even a single share of their labor's produce?
The truth will shock everyone: a seemingly insignificant manager of a salt mine in Lingzhou, Western Xia, actually possessed more wealth than the Crown Prince of the Great Song Dynasty.
Get rich, get rich, get rich! All the ill-gotten gains have been made.
Apart from real estate such as houses and gardens, all other supplies, such as food and cloth, were distributed locally to the salt miners and the people of Lingzhou. The salt was transported back to the Song Dynasty or to the front lines such as Shuozhou and Wuzhou. This allowed Di Qing's soldiers to enjoy a luxurious life with three meals a day with plenty of salt.
Di Qing even wrote: "Your Highness, now that we're eating refined blue-white salt, our Song soldiers are even more energetic. There's even some left over, which we've sold to the counties where we're stationed. Some Liao soldiers have even secretly disguised themselves as local residents to buy it."
Is that so?
Fusu was startled and replied, asking: "Did you sell it?"
"Of course we sold it," Di Qing replied. "Under the guise of selling salt, we thoroughly investigated the Liao army's situation. Not only did they not notice anything amiss, they even begged us to go to their Liao army and sell them some salt at a lower price."
Don't they have salt to eat?
That's not all. They not only lacked salt, but they couldn't even afford two meals a day. Even the strongest cavalrymen are nothing but empty shells without food. Some soldiers even tried to pawn their horses to us in exchange for some food, hoping to desert.
Fusu was dumbfounded.
However, this further proved Di Qing's judgment to be correct. Indeed, the initial idea of waging a protracted war against the Liao Dynasty was right. Before long, this hastily assembled army would disintegrate from within.
At that time, the Song Dynasty only needs to deliver its long-prepared strongest blow to easily win the victory. Riding on its momentum, it will be no problem to take over several prefectures in succession.
After reading the report, Fusu was no longer worried.
It's quite a coincidence that it seems every time they managed to pull off a winning move, the key was related to supplies.
The capture of Yunzhou was motivated by the act of providing the local people with cotton-padded clothes, allowing them to maintain their vitality even in winter, which directly led to their rebellion. Later, the use of honeycomb briquettes opened up several breaches in Shuozhou and Yingzhou. The opportunity to extract intelligence from the Liao army this time was through the use of bluish-white salt.
Well, it does fit quite well with the stereotypes about the Song Dynasty. However, isn't it a brilliant move to subdue the enemy without fighting and reduce soldier casualties?
After reading Di Qing's letter, Fusu was completely relieved about the situation at the front. With Di Qing's abilities, as long as supplies were plentiful, the Song army would not panic and could even proceed gradually. All he needed to do was keep transporting salt to the front lines.
Now that things had mostly stabilized at the front lines and in the salt mines, Fusu reverted to his old ways and started thinking about another matter—how to optimize the quality of the Qingbai salt.
Although the quality of Qingbai salt has jumped to the top among the salt produced in the three countries with just one natural evaporation process, it is still a little different from the crystal clear, snowflake-like salt that Fusu ate in his previous life.
But if the place of origin is already top-tier, is there still a chance to improve the process?
Fusu's first thought was the multiple purification method. The process was simple: dissolve the finished bluish-white salt in water again, evaporate it until crystals precipitate... repeat this three or four times, and the finished product will be no different from the food-grade sodium chloride from his previous life.
But he only tried it once before rejecting the idea. The reason was simple: Lingzhou was severely short of water. Most people lacked sufficient drinking water, so why would they use such precious water resources to refine salt?
The nobles of the Western Xia in the past might have done so to demonstrate their nobility. But Fusu would never have done so.
Another method involves adding sand and charcoal to the initial brine. This helps to remove initial suspended impurities. Unfortunately, like the previous method, Fusu rejected it after trying it once.
The reasons are exactly the same. Where does charcoal come from? Trees. But the Western Xia was located in the northwest, which was desperately short of large areas of trees.
Both of these methods would be fine in salt fields by the sea, but they are out of the question in Lingzhou. It's a real pity.
It seems I still need to go and see for myself. Fusu thought to himself.
The salt mines of Lingzhou mainly consist of large, exposed rocks rich in sodium chloride. Their presence indicates the presence of nearby salt lakes and underground salt mines. Unfortunately, current technology prevents their extraction; however, the amount of exposed rock alone is more than enough to support the populations of the three kingdoms.
The most arduous part of the entire salt mining operation is transporting large rocks to the vicinity of the water source.
Fusu noticed that almost every worker on this production line bore the marks of sun and wind on their faces, their elbows and knees particularly tanned. This was a testament to their arduous labor. This was also one of the least technically demanding jobs, leading to the most ruthless exploitation.
He surveyed the area, taking note of what he saw and heard. Perhaps providing each worker with some protective gear and a small cart would be better?
Next comes the process of dissolving rocks near the water source to produce brine. The water source is a rare freshwater river in Northwest China, with a relatively friendly environment, and this work line is also the most crowded and bustling.
Most of the Song Dynasty soldiers worked here, working enthusiastically and happily for the future production of salt.
They first diverted river water into a large pool filled with rock salt deposits. Countless people stood around the pool, holding large nets, scooping up the insoluble material that had sunk to the bottom.
The slightly turbid brine that overflowed from the large pool was once again introduced downstream and diverted into dozens of large stone pots, where it was constantly stirred by people along the bank.
It is said that vigorous stirring can speed up the drying process of the brine. The resulting crystals after drying are the brine exported to various countries.
Fusu: "..."
He knew the steps would be rudimentary, but he hadn't expected them to be this rudimentary. He glanced at it briefly and could already think of countless ways to improve it. Didn't the Western Xia people think of that? Of course they did; they simply relied on the top-quality salt mines to manufacture it.
But Fusu was unwilling; his people were eating salt produced using such a crude method. It would make them sick!
He didn't call a halt, but immediately left the salt mine and went to Lingzhou City. He summoned the officials who had surrendered to the Song Dynasty, ordered them to post a notice at the entrance of the government office, and instructed the clerks to spread the word: unlimited collection of wood ash, which could be exchanged for salt and grain.
An equal weight of wood ash can be exchanged for an equal weight of grain, or a quarter of its weight in salt.
Wood ash is convenient for fertilizing soil or as a cleaning agent. In the countryside after the autumn harvest, it's everywhere; you can grab a handful. It's not something precious.
The people of the Song Dynasty said they could use it to exchange for grain? Were they crazy?
Whether the people of the Song Dynasty had gone mad or not, the people of Lingzhou didn't know, but they knew that if they didn't take action, they would obviously be crazy. So, ever since the notice was posted, the Lingzhou government office was surrounded by a throng of people, all coming to inquire about the news.
Half an hour later, the first person to try it exchanged a sack of wood ash for the same weight of grain, and then the entire Lingzhou was completely set ablaze.
Those with stoves at home dug them up, and those with land in the countryside dug up their fields; no one wanted to miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. For several days in a row, the ground near the Lingzhou government office was a dark, murky expanse, covered with scattered traces of wood ash.
Most of the salt miners had families living locally, so they naturally heard about it. They didn't think the wood ash had anything to do with their work. It was just a pity that they were stuck at work, unable to move, and unable to exchange it for food.
Once this idea came to mind, after a few complaints between the two sides, they were mocked by Song Jun, who was working with them: "Hasn't His Highness received enough salt? One can't take advantage of everything, can one?"
The workers thought about it and realized it made sense. So they became even more focused on their work. By putting more effort into their work, they could make up for the difference in the wood ash they hadn't gotten before.
—Until that day.
The young prince of the Great Song Dynasty, whom they regarded as almost a saint, ordered his soldiers to drag dozens of densely packed sacks over. Upon opening the sacks, they found they were all filled with wood ash. Several other soldiers, holding wooden shovels, were about to scoop the wood ash into a huge pool of dissolved salt.
No, no, no, no, no! Will this even work?!
Wood ash is ash! It's dirty! How could you add it to the salt lake?!
Most of the salt miners closed their eyes, their faces betraying their pain. But they seemed used to it. They had experienced far too many times how a single absurd thought by a high-ranking official could shatter their good life.
A few people tried to stop them, but when the well-trained soldier raised his wooden shovel, they looked at his strong muscles and silently shut their mouths.
They watched helplessly as the salt ponds were polluted by large amounts of plant ash, and the brine flowing into the next pond turned black... No, how did it become clear?
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Author's note: Tomorrow will definitely be Saturday, and I'll stick with it until the end of the National Day holiday. I'll post 4 [doge head with rose in hand]
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