"put!"

"Boom!"

On top of the huge warship, there are three-bow bed crossbows and trebuchets. As extremely lethal weapons, Wu Jun also practiced the bed crossbows and trebuchets to perfection.

Following an order from the leading general, the bed crossbow fired a huge crossbow arrow, and the trebuchet also launched fireballs one after another.

This kind of fireball is mixed with grease, brimstone, wolf dung and other flammable materials. If it hits an enemy warship, it will easily catch fire.

There is no need to go into details about the crossbow arrows shot by the bed crossbow!

If an arrow is shot out, if the planks of the opponent's warship are not thick enough, the arrow can completely penetrate it!

Let the enemy warships leak water and then gradually sink!

Immediately afterwards, the archers standing on the deck drew up their bows and arrows, and launched rounds of rockets towards the open space opposite.

It’s not necessary to strike accurately, just cover it with firepower!

In Qing Ji’s words, “If you are poor, you will crush them with tactics; if you are rich, you will be covered with firepower”!

Without too much money, the national finance could not support it, and Wu State could not vigorously develop the shipbuilding industry.

The warships one after another are like giants.

At this moment, Qingji, who was standing on the deck of the building ship, looked at the mounds that had been almost flattened, feeling quite satisfied in his heart.

With such an invincible fleet, not to mention competing with the navigators of other countries, it is not difficult even to sail eastward and explore overseas islands!

…

After finishing their trip to Zhufang County, Qingji's patrol team sailed all the way to the sea. After sailing offshore for less than a day, they arrived at the beach of Yanling.

There is the largest salt-making workshop in Wu State.

As the saying goes, you can rely on mountains to eat mountains, and you can rely on water to eat water.

Like Wu and Qi, they can make a lot of money from fish and salt.

As for the Jin State, they mined many salt ponds in their early years. The number of salt merchants was second only to that of Qi State, but they were only barely self-sufficient, and the quality was not as good as Qi State's sea salt.

In the past, most of the salt that people in the Central Plains countries needed for their daily needs was imported from Qi!

Because the Qi State has greatly prospered in fishing and salt since Guan Zhong's reform, the Wu State, which has been catching up for a while, really cannot compete with the Qi State.

Salt is an indispensable nutrient for the human body.

More than 10,000 years ago, human beings entered the agricultural era, and their lifestyle gradually changed from hunting to farming. Due to the lack of salt in food, people could no longer replenish salt by eating hair and drinking blood as before, so people began to produce table salt.

In ancient times, most of the salt production relied on seawater or salt springs. Inland areas were not close to the sea and had few salt springs.

Salt often needs to be obtained from salt merchants who travel south and north. As long as the country is in war and merchants are blocked, the inland areas will easily lack salt and the people will have a hard time!

Therefore, salt is an important lifeblood and an important financial revenue for the State of Wu.

Qing Ji very much hoped that the quality of Wu’s salt would surpass that of Qi’s and would be exported to other countries in the Central Plains in large quantities.

At this time, Qingji, accompanied by officials such as Fan Li, the governor of Su Nei, and Boyi, the Tingwei officer, came to the salt-making workshop on the beach of Yanling.

The salt making workshop is composed of brine wells, brine ditches, various pits, large salt stoves, brine storage pits and stove sheds.

Qingji made a tour and saw that the salt stove consisted of a workshop, a fire pit, a fire door, a large oval stove, a long stove, a flue, a chimney, and left and right brine storage pits.

The oval kitchen is larger in size, covering an area of ​​nearly 20 square meters.

Some helmet-shaped utensils have pieces of grass-mixed mud stuck to the bottom, and a grid is set up on the stove. The helmet-shaped utensils are fixed on top with straw-mixed mud in rows. There are also several helmet-shaped utensils fixed together on the salt stove.

"I wonder what kind of process is used to make salt in the workshop?" Qing Ji inquired.

The person in charge of the salt-making workshop who was accompanying him replied: "Your Majesty, our salt-making workshop uses the method of frying salt!"

"How to fry salt? What's the trick in this?" Qing Ji became interested.

"Decoction of brine requires several processes including collecting salt, rinsing with brine and decoction."

"There are many methods of making salt. As far as I know, in addition to the method of frying salt, there are also the method of sun-drying, the method of making brine from sea water, etc. The method of making salt in our country is like that of Qi."

"However, both the output and quality are not as good as the salt produced by the Qi people. This means that the salt exported by Wu State can occupy a place among all the countries in the world, but it is extremely difficult to compete with the salt produced by the Qi people!"

At these words, everyone present nodded slightly.

Selling salt is a very profitable industry, so Wu State, like Qi State, implements a government-run system of salt and iron, and private sales of salt are not allowed. Violators will be severely punished!

"Second Son, do you know what salt means to a country?"

Qingji suddenly said.

The accompanying ministers all looked at each other and pricked up their ears to listen to Qingji's instructions.

Qing Ji said with great enthusiasm: "Like the Salt Lake in the east of the river, it is famous all over the world."

"In the past, Yao, Shun, and Yu all established their capitals in Hedong. Yao's capital was Pingyang, Shun's capital was Puban, and Yu's capital was Anyi. These capitals were all built near the salt pond!"

"The later Xia and Shang dynasties both maintained a strong interest in southern Shanxi, which was the benefit of salt."

“The land of the Salt Pond in Hedong is surrounded by rivers in front, mountains in the back, and valleys are intertwined with rivers and brine. It is not suitable for farming. But why do those who occupy the Salt Pond in Hedong often become the overlords of the world?”

After hearing this, Fan Li, the governor of millet management, replied: "What the king said is absolutely true. How many times more beneficial is salt?"

"Salt is like rice and millet. If people don't eat it, they will feel weak."

"There are many salt ponds in the world, among which the Hedong Salt Pond is the most famous!"

"In the past, princes fought for hegemony. The fact that the Jin State stood out and became the overlord during the reign of Duke Wen of Jin probably had something to do with the benefit of having Chi Yan."

"good."

Qingji nodded slightly and said: "Because of the salt ponds in Jin, the country benefited from the king's happiness. The Jin Kingdom was strong and prosperous because of salt, and benefited from the salt ponds, so it was able to dominate the Central Plains for hundreds of years."

"And Qi State has the advantage of salt and iron. During the reign of Duke Huan of Qi, it was able to respect the king and repel the barbarians, and was the first to dominate! From this we can see that the benefit of salt is also there."

As far as Qingji knew, during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the salt produced in the salt ponds in Hedong was transported to all directions through salt roads. It is known in history as "from Qinlong in the west, to Fan and Deng in the south, to the Yan Dynasty in the north, and to the Zhou and Song Dynasties in the east."

It goes without saying how important salt is to the country!

In the pre-Qin, Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, salt, like other local products, was generally taxed at the place of production or turned over to the state as tribute. The people of the country were free to mine, transport and sell salt. There was no special salt law to speak of.

By the Spring and Autumn Period, Guan Zhong, Prime Minister of Qi Huan Gong, promoted the benefits of salt and iron, and the state regulated the production, sales and trading of salt, marking the beginning of the Chinese Salt Law.

His method was supplemented by government-produced salt, and people-produced salt as the main one. Officials closed the government and sold it, and the rent and tax were included in the government's monopoly price of salt to increase national revenue. Qi became rich and powerful and dominated the princes.

However, during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, except for the State of Qi which had a monopoly on salt, other vassal states still only taxed salt, but the tax rates gradually increased.

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