The village chief explained, "There are very few outsiders in our village. Everyone is very scared of you coming in so many at once. Please don't mind."
"It's okay." Zhou Jiaojiao nodded. "Then how do you usually go out? We need to arrange for someone to go to the county to pass on the message, and then someone will come to pick us up."
"There's a mountain road leading out, it's very convenient. Any half-grown kid in the village knows the way."
Zhou Jiaojiao thanks you in advance.
She followed him to the village chief's house and learned about the situation in the village. She found that life in the village was particularly hard. The food they ate was all made from various seafood sauces. Being able to have brown rice and coarse noodles was considered a good condition.
"The food is nothing. The most expensive thing is salt. We used to cook with seawater, but the villagers who ate it got sick and some even died. After that, no villagers dared to cook with seawater anymore."
Zhou Jiaojiao slapped her head and suddenly remembered something important.
Making salt from sea water!
"Village Chief, no need to entertain me. I'm going to look around." Zhou Jiaojiao made up an excuse. "I've never seen a beach before."
"Then I'll let my eldest grandson take you around for a walk, and don't let anything happen." The village chief was also afraid that if he didn't provide a good reception, the people in the yamen would be angry, especially since Li Huwei and others were carrying weapons, which made the villagers very wary.
"This is my eldest grandson Qi Hai."
"Hello, thank you for your help." Zhou Jiaojiao nodded with a faint smile.
Qi Hai was not very old, only about thirteen, but he was tall and thin, which was in line with the tall height of northerners. He smiled shyly and led the way. "Miss Zhou, Brother Chu, where are you going?"
"Just take me to the beach."
Qi Hai said "oh", not understanding what was going on, but obeyed very obediently.
Zhou Jiaojiao quickly walked around the coast, pinching the mud on the ground from time to time. In fact, as soon as she got off the boat, she found that the characteristics of this place were very obvious. It was a silt coast, that is, a mud beach.
"I need someone to do me a favor."
After looking around, Zhou Jiaojiao was very happy. Isn’t this place suitable for drying salt?
The most suitable method for producing sea salt is the salt field method, which requires constructing salt fields on flat seashore mudflats in areas with high temperatures and sufficient sunlight.
The salt fields are divided into steaming ponds and crystallization ponds.
During the monthly high tide, seawater is introduced into the evaporation pool of the salt field. When it evaporates to a certain extent through exposure to the sun, it is then introduced into the crystallization pool and continues to be exposed to the sun. As time goes by, salt crystals gradually appear in the seawater.
This is called coarse salt.
Sea salt can be produced in larger quantities than well salt.
The Great Chu Dynasty had not yet invented the method of making sea salt, resulting in very high salt prices. In addition, there were wars, disasters everywhere, and government chaos. Even Youzhou, which was under the charge of General Xie, was short of salt. In other places, the price of salt was even higher.
Zhou Jiaojiao told Chu San about the Salt Field Method.
Chu San went to Guard Li that day to ask for some help in digging the salt fields.
In order to let the prince see the effect.
Zhou Jiaojiao had two salt fields dug, one large and one small. The smaller one would produce results faster, and as for the larger one, she naturally didn't want to waste time and thought she could make it all at once.
There is strength in numbers.
The salt pans were soon dug out.
However, the seawater is brought in only for use at night.
Chu San took this opportunity to use the space to collect seawater and then poured it into the salt fields. With his cheating method, the salt fields were filled in less than an hour, and everyone could finally go to rest.
In the next few days, Zhou Jiaojiao watched the sea salt being dried and the water vapor being evaporated over and over again.
The prince would watch with her from time to time.
"Miss Zhou, can the sun alone really dry up the seawater in these salt fields?" The prince was skeptical.
Zhou Jiaojiao wiped the sweat from her forehead and said, "Your Highness, look, the weather is very hot, especially at noon. It's not hot enough to go out. Your Highness, it's better for you to wear a hat, otherwise you will get sunburned."
"It is very hot, much hotter than in Yuzhou." The prince nodded.
"Yes, so we can make sea salt from it. Just watch."
The prince was very curious and received a letter from General Xie urging him to go to Youzhou to protect him, but the prince refused.
Although he said he didn't believe it, he was very much looking forward to it in his heart. He felt that Zhou Jiaojiao would not be joking. But if she succeeded, he would not have to worry about lack of salt anymore!
After seven or eight days of exposure to the sun, the seawater in the small salt field decreased visibly, and crystals appeared. There was also sand mixed in it, and it was not pure white. Even so, when the crystals appeared, they still attracted many people to come over and see.
It was the day when Zhou Jiaojiao ate a lot of seafood and achieved seafood freedom.
A thick layer of crystals finally appeared in the crystallization pool in the small salt field.
"Everyone come and see, there really is white powder appearing, it looks like salt."
"Ah, ugh, ugh, so salty."
"Don't eat it, you're stupid, who knows if you can eat it."
"Pooh, pooh, pooh."
"Spit it out quickly and come over here to drink some water."
Zhou Jiaojiao had already arrived at the small salt field with the prince and others.
"Your Highness, this is just crude salt. It's not edible yet. It needs to be filtered and purified again. My husband has already prepared the tools I need. I'll take a bucket of salt back to the tent. Do you want to watch the purification process?"
The prince nodded quickly. If he hadn't been taught not to show his joy on his face, he would have laughed out loud by now.
However, the counselor next to him was laughing so hard that he was choking.
At the same time, he couldn't wait to ask Zhou Jiaojiao why she was successful.
Zhou Jiaojiao explained that people had already walked into the tent. A set of purification tools were all there, and the next process was very simple.
"This salt is so white!" The counselor held the salt in his hands, wishing he could eat it all in one bite, cherishing it very much.
The prince could see it quite clearly. His eyes fell on the set of purification tools. "The salt I used in the palace before was also this white, but it was tribute salt. It required a very difficult method to extract, so it was very expensive."
"But now if we have this set of tools, wouldn't purification be easy?"
"Your Highness, this is true in theory. However, the purified salt needs to be added with a trace element, otherwise people will easily get sick, um, the kind that causes a swollen neck." Zhou Jiaojiao tried her best to speak in words that they could understand.
The counselor nodded, "I've seen it!"
"Isn't this disease actually a difficult and complicated one? It can actually be treated? And can we even know the cause?"
"Of course, difficult and complicated problems can be solved."
"I want to send a message to General Xie!" The prince's focus was clearly on the salt fields. "Miss Zhou, thank you so much. If it weren't for you, we definitely wouldn't be able to solve our salt problem."
Zhou Jiaojiao said with a smile, "Your Highness, if you can ensure that the people have access to salt, then my efforts will not be in vain."
The prince nodded sincerely, "No problem."
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