C53

Le Hedang was very rich, but he did not even know how much money he had. The title 'Youzhou's God of Wealth' was not something that could be casually called. The house that he lived in was more than ten acres wide, if ranking the entire Youzhou, his house would only be second to the Marquis House, and he would be able to rank second in the Youzhou in terms of scale.

This was the first time Gongsun Xu entered the living room of the Le Mansion after his rebirth. He originally thought that he would see a magnificent living room, where a large group of maids and servants bowed down to serve him. The living room was large, but the decorations were simple. The desks and cushions were not old, the walls were empty, and the paintings were not as elegant as those of the merchants.

Le Hedang nodded to the butler standing at the entrance of the living room, who walked out and clapped.

Not long after, a dozen or so maidservants came in with a black lacquered tray. They placed a plate of delicacies on the table in front of the three and left the three of them to wait upon them. Just like the Marquis of Ji's Mansion's usual dishes, a lot of Stir-Fried Vegetables also appeared in the Le Mansion's dishes. Compared to those steamed vegetables in bowls or cauldrons, the appearance of these dishes was clearly much better.

Ku Le looked at the few plates of fried food that had an alluring smell, and his eyes immediately opened wide. There were rumors that the most delicious dishes in the Youzhou were the fried dishes that were passed down from the Marquis of Ji's Mansion, but unfortunately, he had never had the chance to taste them, which made him deeply regretful. Now that the legendary dish, Stir-Fried Vegetables, was right in front of him, how could he not salivate?

"Please!"

"Please!"

After being modest, Ku Le picked up the chopsticks first and swept across the dishes on the table like a whirlwind.

After drinking for three rounds and eating for five times, Le Hedang sighed: "My son, Le Liu, is fourteen years old this year, but he's extremely mischievous. He likes to fight with the chickens and dogs, and even stepped into brothels, which gives me a headache. It was said that Zhao Zirou was good at altering the situation. Is it true that you're teaching your disciples? "

By the time Hua Tuo came to the Ji County, Hua Chan and Zhao Yun's marriage had already been set. Naturally, the Godly Doctor Hua would give his all to diagnose and treat Zhao Feng's illness, and's condition was quickly relieved. Not long after, Gongsun Xu proposed to establish a marquis University Hall to accept young men from wealthy families in Youzhou. The marquis Hall would pay for all the expenses, and would be appointed as a teacher. This move could not only win over the hearts of the people, but also make them use the disciples of the families as hostages. Gongsun Zan immediately agreed to it, and very quickly, they set up a courtyard to be used as a school.

Back then, at the Wuhuan of Liaodong encampment at the southern foot of the Great Wasteland Mountain, Gongsun Xu had asked Kurna to send his son, Ku Si, to the Marquis Hall to study. The next day, Ku Si was sent to the Ji County and handed over to Zhao Feng. In just a short span of three to five days, Ku Si had progressed from being an illiterate person to being able to recite a few classical segments of the discourse. It was said that the progress of the other children had also been very obvious, thus Zhao Feng's reputation had quickly become prominent.

Actually, Le Hedang wanted his son, Le Liu, to enter the academy grounds was something only he could say, but the reason why he wanted Gongsun Xu to talk about it in a serious manner was because he wanted to convey a sense of intimacy and respect to him — — The matter of the White Horse Camp's main drill grounds could not be hidden from everyone. When Le Hedang heard about what had happened on the drill grounds, he was so regretful that his intestines turned green. , who was currently the one who paid the most, could only grin from ear to ear. If Le Hedang wanted to pay again, he could not even find an excuse, and his daughter Cui Er had promised him, so he was unable to imitate Li Yizi and Liu Weitai.

In the face of Le Hedang taking the initiative to express his goodwill, Gongsun Xu bowed and smiled, "Uncle, don't worry, this nephew will definitely take the matter of Brother Le Liu to heart."

"Hehe, then thank you, nephew." Le Hedang nodded, and after persuading him with a cup of wine, he indifferently asked, "I heard that nephew is going to move White Horse Camp to the east side to move his nephew to that great wasteland called Tianjin, right?"

Gongsun Xu put down his cup, nodded and said: "Yes, uncle. What can I do for you?"

"Hehe, your thoughts are quite dexterous. The number of new things that you can produce cannot meet the demand. This old man has often told people that if this nephew were to act in such a lowly manner, then he would definitely be the next Master Tao Zhu. " Le Hedang flattered him for a while, then cut to the chase, "Ji County City can completely accommodate White Horse Camp, even if it's my nephew who expanded White Horse Camp to thirty to forty thousand people, it would still be easy. Since that was the case, my nephew still insisted on moving to the wasteland and Tianjin. I dare to ask, aside from trying to train our troops in secret, does nephew have any other intentions? "

"Haha, uncle really has good taste!" Gongsun Xu laughed and gave a thumbs up, thinking that this Shang Jia was indeed a person with keen sense of smell, with just this little bit of clues, Le Hedang could already guess that he had other intentions for moving to the army camp.

"There really is one!" Le Hedang was ecstatic, he took the wine pot and pretended to come over to toast, and then whispered into Gongsun Xu's ear: "Can this nephew reveal some information in advance?"

Gongsun Xu looked at Ku Le who was currently immersed in eating, extended his finger and dipped his finger into the wine cup, writing the word 'Salt' on the table.

Le Hedang's eyes flashed with greed, salt!

Gongsun Xu moved the White Horse Camp to Tianjin for salt! Everyone knew that there was salt in the sea, but it was very difficult to extract. The salt that was extracted from the sea was also very bitter and astringent, and it was often poisonous. People often heard of people dying from eating sea salt.

Could it be that Gongsun Zimin could refine a lot of salt from the ocean? That seemed to be the only explanation. Otherwise, how could this brat do such a useless deed? If Gongsun Xu could really refine a large amount of salt, no matter how good it was, as long as it did not poison anyone to death, he would quickly become one of the richest people in the world!

In the early days of this dynasty, the people of Xixi (Dongtai, Jiangsu Province) began to boil salt from the sea water and gradually grasped a way to produce sea salt that could be eaten without worry. Gao Zu, Liu Bangfeng's favorite nephew, Liu Yuanwang, was King Wu, and his background included Xixi. Liu Yuanshan relied on the sea salt produced by Xixi, and quickly became one of the richest princes in the world. In the end, too much money caused his ambition to expand, causing his rebellion, and he was defeated by the famous general Zhou Yafu and lost his life in the Yellow Springs.

After the death of Liu Fei, Wu quickly abolished. For the next few hundred years, the method of cooking salt in the West Stream was firmly grasped in the hands of the imperial government. Anyone who wanted to covet it would be dealt a powerful blow. It wasn't until the chaos of the yellow cloth that a large number of people were killed and abducted by the people of Western Stream Salt Clan, and only then did the method of cooking sea salt fall into the hands of a small number of people. One of them was the former Eastern Sun County Commandant (Jinhu, Jiangsu), the current Xuzhou Farmer, Chen Deng and his son, Chen Gui and Chen Deng were able to quickly become one of the richest people in the entire Xuzhou.

Salt could bring about sudden profits. No matter whether it was Chen Deng or the other dukes or tyrants who had their own methods of cooking salt, they all guarded against this secret strictly. Outsiders that wanted to get close to the salt field would have to command their great army to kill their way in. Even though they didn't have to worry about food or drinks and their families were with them, only their corpses could be carried away after they died.

Because of the strict protection of the owner, the key trick of seawater cooking salt did not spread. This was also one of the main reasons why the price of salt remained high. The northern lands were vast, but not a single duke could boil salt in the sea. They could only buy salt from the south and bitterly endure their opponent's high price.

After the shock in his heart subsided, Le Hedang asked softly: "What is the best quality of the goods?"

"Qing!" Gongsun Xu softly spat out one word.

It was actually comparable to Qing Yan! Le Hedang almost did not dare believe his own ears. How was this salt? It was clearly a pile of copper coins!

"Really?" Le Hedang asked in a trembling voice.

"Seriously!"

"As expected?" Le Hedang took a deep breath, as he held onto his chest to confirm.

"As expected!" Gongsun Xu nodded, and toasted Le Hedang with the bottle of wine.

In Gongsun Xu's previous life, he had cooked salt with seawater before. The method was to first let the seawater vaporize, then separate out the coarse salt and the liquid that contained many different poisonous metals, then add in some alkali to remove the impurities. Finally, after filtering and purifying the crude salt multiple times, it would become usable salt. Gongsun Xu was not worried about the question of whether or not there was enough alkali, as the "Zhou Li Yang Doctor" had its own problems: using salt to nourish the veins, in truth, meant alkali, which was a very common type of soda powder in the future generations. From this, it could be seen that the Chinese people often used alkali during the Zhou Dynasty.

The sea salt is much easier to dry than the sea salt. All you have to do is pile up the salt field, and then 'those who bring the sea water directly into the pond to dry. At this stage, by filtering and purifying again and again, one would be able to obtain decent quality salt.

Le Hedang downed the cup in one gulp, and the bottom of the cup lit up, then he prepared to fill it up for Gongsun Xu.

Gongsun Xu hid the bottle of wine by his side, and laughed modestly: "How would I dare ask uncle to pour some wine for me? This nephew will do it himself. "

"Haha …" Le Hedang's expression froze for a moment, then he forced out a laugh. "Does nephew think that this old man is not qualified to drink this cup of wine?"

Gongsun Xu said indifferently: "This nephew doesn't dare! However, I wonder if uncle's cup of wine is too heavy? "

Le Hedang knew what he meant when he heard his, and decisively promised, "This old man's cup of wine will be twice as heavy as Li Yizi's cup of wine!"

"Haha, since that's the case, this nephew will thank uncle very much!" Gongsun Xu laughed as he stretched out her bottle of wine. Once Le Hedang had filled it up, he raised it and solemnly said, "Uncle, please be at ease. In the future, this nephew will definitely return a glass of wine to you."

Bringing out the high quality sea salt was not a problem, the key thing was how to quickly sell it to the big sized men. Le Hedang was undoubtedly the most suitable person to do this. Moreover, Le Hedang had been friends with Gongsun Zan for decades. So, they could be said to be trustworthy. Last time, although Le Hedang only spent one hundred thousand points, it was a normal thing for people to do. After all, Le Cui Er did not follow him, so being able to pay one hundred thousand was already considered a big favor, and Gongsun Xu would not be a strange person. He was more willing to let Le Hedang take out his own money to 'sponsor'.

Le Hedang heaved a sigh of relief, and immediately smiled: "Haha, this old man naturally believes in nephew! I am also really looking forward to drinking that goblet of wine which my nephew has toasted to me! "

Ku Le raised his head and looked at Le Hedang and Gongsun Xu who were walking around in a daze, toying with each other for a long time after drinking a cup of wine, he cursed in his heart: "Chinese people are just not straightforward enough, to talk so much nonsense while drinking a cup of wine!"