Night fell. Si Chen lived alone in the small courtyard and locked the door.
The core technology could not be leaked!
The refined salt purification materials and equipment that Sun Dafu, Zhao Xin, and the others had bought were already piled up in the courtyard.
After Si Chen returned to the marquis shop during the day, he specially called two marquis out of the city to look for that kind of red rock mountain wall. He scraped off a few catties of saltpeter and sent it to the small courtyard.
Saltpeter was the raw material for Si Chen to purify refined salt!
There were many saltpeter mines around Chang 'an, but because the salt was very bitter and poisonous, the few aristocratic families who controlled the coarse salt business did not extract salt from the saltpeter mines. They took salt from the salt well, then boiled it into bittern, evaporated it, and dried it to form coarse salt blocks. However, there were few salt wells, so the output was not high. The salt production process was also poor, so the quality and purity of the salt could be imagined.
As for the boiled sea salt, it was not yet on a large scale. It was made by the sea people and then collected by the government. After tax, it was transported to various places by merchants with salt. The production was extremely small, and it was only enough for the coastal areas to eat.
Therefore, Si Chen used the saltpeter mine as a raw material to extract pure refined salt. The cost was low, the output was large, and the quality was excellent. There was no need to say anything about its market competitiveness!
Si Chen set up two iron pots and followed the "refined salt purification flow chart" given by the system. He dissolved, filtered, added materials, and carried out a series of chemical reactions, sulfur removal, nitrate-removal, and so on. Finally, he evaporated and crystallized. He worked until midnight and finally refined a bowl of crystal particles that were as fine as snow.
He pinched a little with his fingers and tasted it. It was salty!
Pure saltiness!
This was the purest and most harmless salt in the Great Tang.
Si Chen put half of the salt in a small cloth bag and carried it with him. He was prepared to go to the county jail tomorrow to fish Li Wang out and then persuade him to join them.
……
The next day, Si Chen first went to Wuhou Shop to check on the day and assigned the patrol officers who were on duty for the day.
Not long after he entered the Martial Marquis Shop, a carriage came from the street outside.
The driver was a burly man. He parked the carriage in front of the Martial Marquis Shop and respectfully opened the door. He helped a dignified man in embroidered clothes out of the carriage.
The man in embroidered clothes was Li Er.
He had suffered a beating the last time, so this time, he had brought an expert from the Thousand Bull Guard with him as a coachman to protect him. Not far away from the street, there was a group of Thousand Bull Guards disguised as commoners patrolling the streets.
For safety reasons, he should have brought the number one expert of the Thousand Bull Guard, Hong Cheng. However, Hong Cheng had shown his face at the Wannian County Office before, so Si Chen definitely knew him, so he didn't let him come.
This time, Li Er was prepared to contact Si Chen as a businessman, Li Wang, to find out more about him. People would often not be on guard in front of their own kind who did not pose a threat. It was easy to reveal some of their true thoughts.
The burly man walked forward and asked Marquis Wu, who was on duty in front of Marquis Wu's shop,""Excuse me, is Captain Si here? My master wants to pay him a visit."
The Marquis on duty went in to pass the message. Si Chen heard that someone was visiting and came out to receive them.
When she went out to take a look, she was amused. It was Li Wang.
I was just about to look for you!
Si Chen went up and said with a smile,"So it's Brother Li. Why did you come out so quickly?”
Si Chen's attitude was very enthusiastic when he wanted to rope the other party in.
Li Er's face darkened when he heard that. What did he mean by " coming out so quickly "? Wasn't this exposing his shortcomings?
Was there such a way to greet people?
Return "Brother Li" to me. I am the emperor of the country. Who is worthy of calling me brother?
However, he came today to befriend Si Chen and take the opportunity to have a private conversation to confirm if this person was worthy of his heavy responsibility. He could only suppress the unhappiness in his heart and smile awkwardly with a straight face."My family paid enough bail to the county government and doubled the compensation for the loss of the owner of the noodle shop. Therefore, the county magistrate released me in advance.”
Si Chen stroked his chin and nodded. He looked at Li Er and said,"Then your family must be very rich.”
In the Tang Dynasty, there was a system of bail pending trial. The Tang Law clearly stated that if one did not confess after being tortured, they would be released on bail. However, for Li Er, who was guilty of a crime, it would take a lot of gold to bail him out.
Li Er smiled faintly.”
The entire world was the land of the king. His family was indeed very rich.
Si Chen glanced at the coachman behind Li Er and continued to laugh."Brother Li, you brought such a burly guard to look for me. Don't tell me you want to get back at me for that day?”
"Place?" Li Er was slightly stunned. He understood that it should mean 'face', so he quickly explained," Captain Si misunderstood! I came here today purely to admire Captain Si's character. He is impartial and fearless of power. Therefore, I want to be friends with Captain Si.”
"Make friends?"
Si Chen was happy again. It was good to make friends!
He stepped forward and grabbed Li Er's shoulder. This action caused the Thousand Bull Guard expert behind Li Er to tremble and almost attack.
Li Er himself was relatively calm.
When he was the King of Qin, he ate and slept with his soldiers. He was not sensitive to physical contact such as putting his arms around his shoulders. However, he was a little puzzled. Why was Si Chen so enthusiastic towards him today?
Could it be that my identity was exposed?
Si Chen put his hand on Li Er's shoulder and walked to the restaurant diagonally across the street. As he walked, he smiled and said,"You businessmen always like to make friends. However, I also admire you very much. One look and you can tell that you're a very upright person. I'll make friends with you! Let's go, I'll buy you a drink."
Li Er also had the same thought in his heart. After all, a drunk man speaks the truth, so he smiled and said,"I should be the one to invite Captain Si."
Si Chen didn't argue with him and asked casually,"Brother Li, last time you said that you have some relationship with the royal family. Is this relationship strong enough? You have to answer me honestly.”
Li Er was stunned when he heard this. Could it be that Si Chen wanted to use his connections?
Good, I've indeed tested it out!
He seemed to enforce the law impartially and be impartial, but he was actually a thief behind the scenes and used his power for personal gain!
In order to verify his guess, Li Er directly replied,""Our relationship is not bad. That person is an uncle of mine and is very close to the Saint.”
It could reach the heavens? This relationship was solid!
Si Chen couldn't help but hug Li Er's shoulder even tighter."Brother Li, I really admire you more and more! No, the word 'friend' can no longer represent the deep friendship between you and me. Why don't we just call each other brothers?”
"I'm an official, and you're a businessman. Although you're older than me, our statuses are different. How about you call me Brother Si?”
(In the early Tang Dynasty,"brother" referred to both father and brother. In the Tang Dynasty, the safe way to address an elder brother was "brother")
"What?"
Between the two of us, who is superior and who is inferior, tell me clearly!
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]