Qin Manor.
Qin Mo stayed in the side courtyard.
Under Qin Mo's command, the servants set up an iron pot, and a large piece of salt was placed in a wooden basin beside it.
This was the mineral salt that Qin Mo had asked his guards to find. It was known as poisonous salt in the Great Tang. The common people would not eat it. Only wild animals would eat a little to replenish their salt.
The mineral salt in nature contained many impurities and toxic metals. The people of the Great Tang were helpless against it, but to Qin Mo, it was an extremely simple matter.
Qin Mo instructed the butler to crush the salt mine, then poured it into the water and stirred it. The clear well water immediately turned turbid purple.
"Young Master, this is poisonous salt. You can't eat it.”Butler Qin Wen was absolutely reliable. It was impossible for Qin Mo to personally make salt. Otherwise, his energy would be completely absorbed and he would have no time to do other things.
"Pour it into the bucket." He covered the top of the bucket with two layers of linen and poured the turbid solution into it. A layer of mud-like substance was left on the linen.
This was a poisonous mineral that did not dissolve in water.
The water in the wooden bucket was much clearer.
"Let's filter it again."
Qin Wen followed Qin Mo's instructions and filtered it again. The solution had become very clear, much clearer than water.
The last step was to filter it with charcoal. Qin Mo used his hand to taste the solution. There was no bitterness anymore. It should have been filtered clean.
The next step was to boil it. After 15 minutes, the water was boiled dry, and what was left in the pot was fine salt that was as white as snow.
"This is salt!" Qin Wen excitedly dug out a piece and put it into his mouth. It was so salty that he frowned, but he couldn't bear to spit it out.
"A document! Do you remember the steps to make salt?" Qin Mo planned to let Qin Wen take charge of salt production.
He didn't have the energy to do it himself.
"Don't worry, Young Master! This old servant will definitely not let the secret method of salt production be leaked!”Qin Wen patted his chest and promised, looking as if he would live and die with the secret technique.
Qin Wen had served Qin Mo's family for three generations, so there was no doubt about his loyalty.
With him hosting the event, Qin Mo felt assured.
However, this method of making salt was too simple and could not be maintained for too long. Qin Mo did not treat it as a long-term way to make money.
It could only be said to be a windfall.
" I've already bought a salt mine and will set up a salt factory in my fief. I'll allocate 300 people for you to use. If it's not enough, go and recruit more people. Salt production will be done by loyal and reliable people, but you can hire some workers to dig and transport salt.”
Coincidentally, the salt mine was located in Lantian County, not far from Qin Mo's fief. Thus, Qin Mo had already gotten Ma Zhou to buy it. A large salt mine that was over ten thousand mu only cost a few hundred strings, and Lantian County was still in high spirits.
As long as the manpower was in place, they could start work at any time.
"Yes, sir!" Qin Wen agreed.
Qin Mo put away the fine salt and ordered the servants to take away the wooden bucket, iron pot, and other items. He then asked the butler to look for them.
The cement factory had expanded a lot, and there were many workers.
In the evening, the cunning old man came to Qin Manor. Old Qin asked the servants to call Qin Mo over for a chat.
The cunning old man went straight to the point." Now that the imperial court has encountered a difficult problem, His Majesty and the officials of the imperial court are all in a bad fix. I want to see if you have any solutions?”
Qin Mo asked," What's the problem?”
The cunning old man said," Guanzhong is short of salt now. The people don't have salt to eat and their bodies are getting weaker. Do you have any way to solve this problem?”
Before Qin Mo could say anything, Old Qin started to chime in." Duke Zhao, many of the officials in the imperial court have no ideas. How could Qin Mo have any ideas? Moreover, His Majesty had already sent people to transport salt from Shandong.”
Old Qin naturally had good intentions. He was worried that Qin Mo would not know the severity of the matter and take responsibility for it.
Qin Mo smiled." What a coincidence. If it was something else, I really wouldn't be able to do anything about it. But if it's lacking salt, it's just a piece of cake."”
"Really?" The old man was overjoyed. "I told His Majesty that you might have a solution, but Fang and Du, as well as His Majesty, refused to believe me.”
Qin Mo smiled." This is a small matter. It's not worth mentioning.”
After saying that, he remembered that he had been carrying the fine salt that he had brewed earlier, so he took it out.
The fine salt was wrapped in white paper. Qin Mo opened the paper bag." What do you think this is?”
"This is green salt?" The cunning old man dug out a piece with his finger and put it into his mouth. He did not mind the saltiness." This green salt is as white as snow. It's top-grade."”
Old Qin didn't try it but asked,"What are you showing us the green salt for?”
He knew Qin Mo's character. He wouldn't shoot without thinking. Since he took out the green salt, there must be a reason.
"Uncle understands me the best." Qin Mo smiled and said," This is mineral salt. You can have as much as you want!”
"Puff!" The cunning old man was so scared that he spat out the salt in his mouth. He even spat out his saliva and rinsed his mouth with tea while cursing," Kid, are you trying to kill me?”
Qin Mo looked at the old man's panicked expression and said innocently," Uncle, why do you say that?”
You don't know that mineral salt is poisonous?" " Are you trying to sell the poisonous salt to the people?" the old man scolded.”
The way he looked at Qin Mo started to turn sour.
Qin Mo rolled his eyes and said," This is green salt. I extracted it from mineral salt. It's non-toxic and cleaner than the green salt in Chang 'an.”
"You can extract blue salt from poisonous salt?”The cunning old man looked at Qin Mo in surprise.
"This is just a small trick, not worth mentioning at all.”Qin Mo said humbly.
The purification of salt was indeed very simple. It could not be compared to artificial rainfall.
The cunning old man picked up the paper bag and looked at the green salt inside. After a long time, he said," Green salt is too expensive. The common people can't afford it. Could it be that coarse salt is made from salt mines?"”
The price of salt in Chang 'an rose three times a day. The price of coarse salt had reached 300 wen, and the price of green salt had reached 1300 wen.
"This request is a little difficult." Qin Mo spread his hands. After dissolving, analyzing, filtering, and boiling the mineral salt, it was green salt. He really could not make coarse salt.
"Green salt is too expensive.”Old Qin shook his head and sighed.
They could have solved the problem of salt shortage in one fell swoop, but who knew that it would be for nothing in the end.
Looking at the two old goods, Qin Mo was speechless." If I sell my green salt at a lower price, the commoners will be able to afford it.”
The cost of extracting green salt from the salt mine was very low.
However, Old Qin and Old Yin naturally didn't know about these things.
Old Qin asked," How much?"
Qin Mo thought for a moment and said," Thirty coins!”
"What is it? Thirty coins?" The two old fellows shouted loudly.
Seeing their reactions, Qin Mo hurriedly said," Is it too expensive? I can still lower it!"
Qin Mo didn't know much about the price of salt in the Tang Dynasty. If they said it was expensive, he would just lower it. Anyway, the cost was very low.
" It's not too expensive," the old man said faintly." It's too cheap."”
Old Qin was also shocked." How much is the cost of your green salt?”
"I didn't! About a few coins!" Qin Mo casually reported a number.
The old man's eyes lit up." Can I get involved in this business?”
Qin Mo smiled and said," I can sell my green salt to you for 30 copper coins. How much you want to sell is your business.”
"Good! It's settled then."
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