Duan Lun took a look at it and said with some embarrassment: "Your Majesty, I have never heard of this law minister. Is it really necessary to try it?"
Just kidding, the salt from the poisonous salt mine is poisonous. This is a known fact. No one has been able to solve it for so many years. He doesn't believe that Lin Xuan, a child with a yellow mouth, can solve it.
Duan Lun is Li Yuan's son-in-law and Li Shimin's brother-in-law.
Lin Xuan had just been granted a marriage and was still his niece-in-law according to seniority. So he was already speaking with some mercy.
"Try it first. According to the method, it's not troublesome!" Li Shimin said firmly.
He also didn't believe it, but at this time he could only choose to believe Lin Xuan.
"Yes!" Duan Lun bowed and left with the method of making salt.
Others were a little curious. They didn't know what Lin Xuan dedicated to Li Shimin.
And Li Shimin had no intention of explaining, and said calmly: "Put aside the money matter for now. The ideas I just mentioned are just family opinions. Let's talk about it. If there is anything else I haven't thought of."
When everyone heard that they could also participate in the reform of the imperial examination, they were very excited and expressed their thoughts and opinions one after another.
What Lin Xuan put forward was just a rough framework, and these people improved it with your words and my words.
…
"Your Majesty, I am so happy!"
More than an hour later, Duan Lun came back with a surprised smile.
Li Shimin suddenly stood up and asked, "Did it succeed?"
"It's successful. Please take a look at it, Your Majesty!" Duan Lun specially packed some in a bag.
Li Shimin ran over and took the bag without waiting for Li Mu to pick it up.
"Is this salt?" Li Shimin looked at the snow-white thing in his hand and asked with some uncertainty!
"What! Is this salt?"
"How is it possible? There is no white salt!"
Changsun Wuji and others heard Li Shimin's words and looked at the snow-white salt in his hands, and they were all a little unbelievable.
The salt of the Tang Dynasty is all granular and divided into three colors: yellowish brown, light yellow, and cyan.
This was the first time Li Shimin had seen this kind of salt that was as colored as snow and as fine as dust.
Duan Lun said with a smile: "Your Majesty, I followed the uncle's method of Jingyang County, and finally got such salt. I couldn't believe it at first, but after tasting it, I was sure that this is salt, and it is better than green salt."
of salt!”
After Li Shimin heard this, he immediately dipped his hand into a little salt and put it in his mouth.
Salty, very salty!
But Li Shimin burst out laughing: "Okay, very good! Lin Xuan, you have done a great job!"
Lin Xuan originally thought that Li Shimin was going to give him some kind of reward, but who knew that there was nothing more to come.
Although he was a little unhappy, Lin Xuan still smiled and said: "This is what I should do."
Changsun Wuji said: "Your Majesty, can you let me have a taste?"
"Haha, you all have a try!" Li Shimin laughed and handed the salt bag to Changsun Wuji.
"This is really salt."
"The most rare thing is that there is no peculiar smell. Even green salt has some peculiar smell."
After everyone tasted it, they all exclaimed!
Cheng Yaojin rolled his eyes and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, can you give me a few carts of such good salt?"
Li Shimin said angrily: "How many cars? Why do you need so much salt? Do you want to eat it?"
"Haha..." Everyone laughed after hearing this.
Cheng Yaojin didn't care about the ridicule of the crowd at all, he smiled and said: "Your Majesty, I can buy it with money!"
He thinks that the salt is so good, but the output must be small. If he doesn't make more now, he may not be able to buy it in the future. Anyway, his family has money now.
Yuchi Gong also reacted and said hurriedly: "Your Majesty, I also want to buy a few cars."
"Oh? Are you sure you want to buy it?" Li Shimin looked at Cheng Yaojin and Yuchi Gong with a half-smile.
How could he not know what Cheng Yaojin and his two men had planned?
But he remembered Lin Xuan said that the production of salt could meet the needs of the entire Tang Dynasty.
The other ministers were also ready to speak, but seeing Li Shimin's expression, they were too smart to speak.
Cheng Yaojin suddenly had a bad feeling, but he didn't find any problem. He nodded and said, "I want to buy it!"
Yuchi Gong also nodded and said: "I want to buy it too!"
Li Shimin smiled and said: "Such a good salt, it's not expensive to sell it for 300 cents per pound, right?"
Cheng Yaojin and Yuchi Gong shook their heads, "Not expensive."
It's really not expensive. Ordinary salt costs more than 100 Wen per pound, and the price of green salt is more than 300 Wen. It's really not expensive in comparison.
Li Shimin said: "Then how much do you want to buy?"
"I will buy a thousand catties!" Cheng Yaojin was afraid that Li Shimin would not sell if he bought too much, so he did not dare to say more.
As for how long he would have to eat so much salt, he never thought about it.
Just buy it and eat it slowly. It won't spoil anyway, and it can also be given as a gift.
Yuchi Gong also said that he would buy a thousand catties.
"That's it." Li Shimin muttered in a low voice.
He thought Cheng Yaojin and the others would buy tens of thousands of pounds.
Cheng Yaojin asked doubtfully: "Your Majesty, what did you say?"
Li Shimin quickly said: "I said that's it!"
Cheng Yaojin and Yuchi Gong felt that they had taken advantage of them and laughed proudly.
Seeing that the matter was settled, Fang Xuanling asked: "May I ask, Your Majesty, how much does this salt cost? What is the output?"
Li Shimin didn't know this and said: "Duan Aiqing, please tell me how much it will cost and how much it can produce."
Duan Lun cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty, gentlemen, the cost of this salt is similar to that of ordinary salt. As long as there are enough manpower, the output can fully meet the needs of the entire Tang Dynasty."
To produce salt, you put salt ore in a pot and boil it. After the water evaporates, it becomes salt.
Now there are just more steps of filtration and purification, and the cost has not increased much.
Ga!
The smiles on Cheng Yaojin and Yuchi Gong's faces froze, and they realized that they had been tricked by Li Shimin.
"Haha~" Li Shimin and other ministers laughed when they saw their faces.
"How can such a good salt cost the same as before?" Cheng Yaojin didn't want to believe it.
It's not that he cares about the money, he mainly feels that he has lost face.
"That's right, it can't be that cheap!" Yu Chigong said hurriedly.
Duan Lun explained: "The cost of salt is not high in the first place. It is just some labor costs. The reason why it is so expensive is because the output is too small and has nothing to do with the cost."
Cheng Yaojin and others have never paid attention to this. They always thought that salt was so expensive because of its high cost.
Now that Duan Lun explained, they realized that the cost of salt was not that high.
Changsun Wuji smiled and said: "Cheng Yaojin, you don't want to default on the debt, do you?"
Cheng Yaojin said angrily: "I have a lot of money, just a few hundred coins. Will I default on my debt?"
"Ha ha……"
Neither the monarch nor his ministers took this matter to heart. It was just a joke between the monarch and his ministers.
Fang Xuanling smiled and started talking about business: "I wonder how much your Majesty is planning to sell this salt?"
Li Shimin pondered for a while and said: "Most people in the world cannot afford salt. I couldn't do anything before. Now that we have the conditions, of course the cheaper the better."
Cheap means less profit, but it doesn’t matter if the quantity is large.
Even if you only earn a few cents per pound, you can easily make millions of dollars a year in profit.
"Your Majesty, Holy Ming!"
Li Shimin was very happy in his heart, but kept a calm expression on his face as he said: "The Ministry of Industry will calculate the cost and mass-produce it, and the Ministry of Civil Affairs will be responsible for sales, so that people all over the world can eat salt as soon as possible."
"I accept your order!" Duan Lun and Dai Zhou, Minister of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, responded.