The three of them didn't stop too much. After eating something, they set off. The bumpy road was so bumpy that Huo Guang's stomach almost exploded for three consecutive days.
I rested at the post station at night. It must be said that the Han Dynasty spent countless time, energy and money in building such a long national road.
In the end, their destination was Jiao County, a small county located on the Jiaodong Peninsula. It is said that the fiefdom of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was in the Jiaodong area, so the national road was specially built here to help develop the area.
This place is still one day's journey from the salt field. From Jiaozhou, we continue walking southeast. There are no national highways anymore, only ordinary roads. There is no way for the steel horse to travel quickly, so it can only use the speed of an ordinary horse.
The final destination was the Saltworks. Huo Guang looked at the map and the approximate location seemed to be near Qingdao. Of course, the port city in this era was of little use and had not been vigorously developed. It was still very desolate.
After walking for a day and a night, we finally arrived at the salt field in Jiaodong.
There are three salt farms in this area, which belong to Jiao County. They have no specific names. The locals call it Qingyan Town. Hundreds of households work here. One of them is the Sang family's salt farm.
In such a small place, Sang Jin didn't have so many scruples. He lifted his hat and introduced it to Huo Guang: "There are three salt farms here. Our Sang family's salt farm is the largest. Half of the locals are in our salt farm."
Work, we are also paying the taxes at Shioto Gate."
People in the salt field need to pay more taxes because they have stable jobs and income, which is equivalent to the treatment of large companies.
Soon we arrived at the Sangjia Salt Farm, which occupies a large area. Boiling sea water requires space to dry the salt. Generally, drying is the main method, because cooking with fire consumes wood and costs money. If you dry it directly in the sun, it will reduce a lot.
expenditure.
Salt is literally free of charge in the salt field; transportation and storage are where the money is spent.
The person in charge of the salt farm is a descendant of the Sang family. It turns out that Sang Jin’s cousin is named Sang Bo, a young man in his mid-twenties.
Because the three people riding steel horses were particularly conspicuous, Sangbo took the three people to the salt farm first and introduced it to Huo Guang: "The Sang family produced an average of 120 shi of salt per day in this salt farm last year, and it is still expanding.
"Of course, the Sang family has more than just a salt farm.
"Yesterday, a letter arrived before you. It is a woodworking manufacturing drawing. I have ordered people to build it overnight. Fortunately, the manufacturing process is not complicated, and the first purification tool has been completed."
With that said, Huo Guang was brought into a completely enclosed room in the salt farm. A place had been arranged to prepare for the production of purified salt.
Huo Guang looked at the place and said, "Let a few of your most experienced and flexible workers come in."
The arrangements had been made, and Huo Guang stopped hiding when he saw the people coming in, and began to teach them how to make pearl salt.
First, the salt is dissolved into a saturated solution. In fact, these workers often know this step, but because they do not know how to filter it, they can only say that after dissolving, some visible impurities are removed. After this operation, the taste and quality of ordinary salt are not the same.
There is not much difference, only some high-quality salt needs to be done this way. It is a waste of time and cannot improve the quality too much, so the price cannot be increased.
But unlike them selecting impurities visible to the naked eye, Huo Guang started filtering. When the first filtration was completed, it was visible to the naked eye that there were many impurities on the filter cloth. He used a finer filter cloth again to filter those impurities that were difficult to distinguish with the naked eye.
Impurities are also extracted.
Then there was boiling. After boiling out the salt, Huo Guang looked at their incredulous eyes and used saturated salt solution to rinse the precipitated salt.
I don't understand it, I don't understand it, but I am very surprised.
While washing the salt with salt water, he said: "Don't look at the change in this step. It can effectively remove the bitter taste in the salt. This step is what makes the taste of pearl salt better than ordinary salt. It must be used to prevent it from dissolving.
Rinse with salt water, and after repeated rinsing several times, the pearl salt is completed.”
Huo Guang did not intend to teach them the principle. This principle obviously could not be explained as Huo Guang came up with it randomly, and the operation could be said to be discovered accidentally.
After an operation they couldn't understand, the pearl salt was completed. A group of salt workers were also shocked. They didn't expect that the pearl salt could be completed so easily. This kind of process can be easily stolen as long as someone sees it.
.
Sang Jin said in disbelief: "Aguang, is it that simple?"
"Yes, the basic process is like this. When filtering and cleaning, don't rush, you have to take your time." Huo Guang didn't hide it.
Sang Jin immediately realized that once someone leaked this kind of process, it would be made public immediately, and then their advantage would be gone.
The Sang family still has to rely on pearl salt to quickly occupy the market.
Sang Jin called all the workers present together and said earnestly that the production process should not be leaked. It could be said that it was a combination of kindness and power.
Huo Guang and Gan Fu were standing aside. Gan Fu asked curiously: "The process is so simple and easy to use. You only need to try it twice more to become proficient. Aren't you afraid that the Sang family will regret it?"
"Although it looks simple, I discovered the method by luck. With such a big family fortune, the Sang family can't just keep their word. The head of the Sang family still wants to save face."
"Face is not worth mentioning in front of money. It seems you don't understand businessmen very well." Gan Fu said in an insinuating way.
"Master Gan, I think you don't understand businessmen. The head of the Sang family will never break his promise."
"Why?"
"Because of my brother Huo Qubing."
"Just because of that?"
Huo Guang said patiently: "Businessmen talk about profit. As long as pearl salt can help the Sang family make money and occupy a large market share, he will not break his promise and will give me what he should give me, or in other words, he must give it to me."
, because in front of the huge amount of money, they feel that my brother will definitely care about it behind his back. If they break their promise, wouldn't this mean they are going against my eldest brother? The Sang family has a big business, and it is unreasonable to go against my brother. Do you think he dares? "
"But what if you can't make any money?"
"If you can't make money, just don't count me in the losses."
"You are really naughty."
"How about it, you are smart, do you have the idea of teaching me how to make a steel war horse?"
Gan Fu smiled and shook his head: "Only honest and simple people can learn to make mechanical creatures."
"If you don't want to be taught, just say so. Don't fool me." Huo Guang rolled his eyes at Gan Fu.
Gan Fu became interested: "Then I will test you again. If you want to expand the constant for such workers, you have to teach them the method. There are so many people talking about it, how can you ensure that the method is not leaked?"
"The leak will definitely happen, we just have to find a way to delay it for a year and a half."
As he spoke, Huo Guang looked at Sang Jin, who was earnestly discussing his interests with the workers. He walked up to her and knocked on the large filtering funnel beside her. Everyone looked towards him.
Huo Guang pulled a stool and sat down, and said to everyone with a stern face: "Pearl salt is the first project that I cooperate with the Sang family. I don't want any leaks or other problems. If, I mean if
, if pearl salt appears anywhere else on the market, I will not check, I will not ask, I will blame everyone here, all of you."
