When Xia Fan met the princess's people, his first impression was that these people were not ordinary.
They were actually able to stand in a row while waiting, instead of being scattered into a few scattered piles. Although they may be taller or shorter, they are all basically strong, with obvious muscle outlines visible on their arms - in an era of underdeveloped agriculture, muscles were a luxury.
Judging from physical standards, these people undoubtedly exceeded Xia Fan's expectations.
"Were they soldiers?"
"You have a good sense." Ning Wanjun smiled, "Didn't you ask me to call people over last time? They are. Although these people are best at rushing into battle to kill people, when there is no war, they will also Wielding a hoe. It requires centralized management and keeping secrets. After thinking about it, I feel most at ease using them."
Sure enough, the third princess's trump card was the army she had been in. Xia Fan thought to herself that on the surface she could not control the Qi Kingdom border army, but secretly she could use it to cultivate her own power.
"How many people can you gather?"
Probably because this question was too sensitive, Ning Wanjun stared at him for a while with squinted eyes. Just when Xia Fan thought that the other party would not reveal it, she let out a breath and said, "Three or four thousand should be fine. But I can't possibly bring them Use them all to produce salt. Long-term work will reduce the combat ability. Giving you a hundred people is the upper limit."
"I think so too." Not only did Xia Fan not mind, but he agreed with it.
Salt is the core of Jinxia's development, but force is the basis for ensuring development.
If the other party can answer this question, it has proven her trust and determination.
With this support, Xia Fan also felt a lot more relaxed.
"Then without further ado, let's get started now."
…
Regarding the concept of the salt farm, Xia Fan had already drafted it in his mind.
He not only inspected the coast several times, but also asked local fishermen about sea conditions, tidal patterns, and the weather in recent years. He concluded that the shoal outside Jinxia City is a good place for salt baking. From May to late October each year, light and rainfall are very stable.
This is also due to the flat terrain of this area, the sea breeze can blow directly into the inland, and the temperature changes can be traced. If you go a little further south, the situation is quite different. For example, Gaoshan County is blocked by a mountain range. Hot and cold air changes frequently, which not only makes it easier to bring rain, but also makes it rain much more suddenly.
The Wang family's salt farm is also on the beach, but because it relies on firewood and other fuels, its location is closer to the inland dock side. And this wide beach is about 30 to 40 kilometers long, so he can pick out a sparsely populated area.
"Let's choose the test site here."
After leading the team for almost half an hour, Xia Fan stopped in front of a natural sand slope.
"I don't know what to do. You have the final say on this matter." Ning Wanjun motioned for her subordinates to gather around. "If you have any requests, just tell them and they will implement them."
Although they had never seen this person before, the princess's words were like military orders, and everyone's eyes turned to Xia Fan.
Xia Fan thought about it for a while and said loudly, "Everyone, we are going to open a salt farm here."
"I heard that you all worked as farmers when you were in the army, and what you have to do here is no different from plowing and reclaiming wasteland. First, we have to create several flat areas on the hillside. Each flat area does not need to be too big. But there must be masonry sealing around it, which can be used to hold water. Secondly, there should be a gap between the flat fields, and it should not exceed half an arm. It looks like the terraces in the south... "
He slowed down his speech and tried to explain the task in the simplest terms so that everyone could understand what he was going to do next.
The principle of drying salt is not complicated, but there are still many details worth studying. If it is not mastered well, the efficiency will be greatly reduced, and it will even be difficult to produce salt. Because of this, sea salt has been boiled for a long time.
Although Xia Fan has never been to a salt farm, he has seen many related pictures - due to the advancement of productivity, many small salt farms have gradually transformed from production bases into local landscapes. The vast white salt land and the blue sea water meet on the horizon. It always makes people feel the emotion of human beings transforming nature.
What he has to do now is to reverse the production process based on the principles he knows and the impressions in his memory.
The most important point of a salt drying farm is to separate salty seawater of different concentrations to increase the production speed of each round and reduce manpower requirements.
When the sea tide rises, the saltworks must open the gate to collect water, introduce natural raw materials into the water storage canal, and use water trucks, manpower, etc. to pour the seawater into the topmost pool. Wait until the water evaporates to a certain extent, then let the seawater flow into the pool below, and then repeat the process.
As the steps are lowered, the concentration of salt water in the pool will become higher and higher until coarse salt is precipitated. After the water is released into the pool above, new seawater can be injected immediately until a cycle is formed.
It is now early September, and he hopes to complete the verification test before October and officially put it into production before the end of autumn. Even in winter, Jinxia City will not become a world of ice and snow, and the reduced efficiency can be fully compensated by expanding the scale.
In addition, there is no essential conflict between the sun salt method and the boiled salt method. High-concentration salt water will only be more convenient when boiling. He even planned to erect a salt boiling plant near the salt pond to achieve round-the-clock production.
Of course, Xia Fan didn't pay attention to the Wang family's production experience at all. The backward technology of burning firewood and boiling water was embarrassing to mention. In addition to using solar energy, there is also a more intuitive energy that can be used - alchemy.
This was also the inspiration brought to him by his previous electromagnetic gun research.
As long as a short circuit is formed, the current can heat the conductor to a very high temperature in a very short time. If copper strips are laid under the salt boiling pool and then shocked, wouldn't it be an ancient electric water heater
By then, let alone boiling salt, it would probably be easy to boil a pond of water dry.
The only problem is that he needs to recruit a few hard-working alchemists.
Xia Fan does not intend to act as this "heating source" himself.
He doesn't know if those candidates who received his invitation letter will come to Jinxia City... He couldn't help but think to himself.
…
"Clang!"
With a crackling sound, the car body shook violently and suddenly stopped moving forward.
"Unlucky!" the coachman cursed, and then opened the curtains with an apologetic expression, "My lord, I'm sorry, I just didn't notice that there was a pothole on the road, which broke the axle. Otherwise... I'll refund the money. You, would you like to find another carriage?"
Sitting in the carriage was Mo Yun who came from Gyeonggi Province.
Accompanying him were two of his own attendants.
She originally wanted to return to Jinxia with the princess's bodyguard, but the other party still had a secret letter that needed to be delivered as soon as possible, so the two had to start the journey separately. She was not good at riding a horse and the journey was long, so she chose to hire a car. Unexpectedly, she encountered such an accident halfway.
Mo Yun frowned and walked out of the rickety carriage - just as the coachman said, one of the wheels of the carriage was crooked and it was obvious that it could no longer run.
This is the official road leading to Shenzhou. People will pass by from time to time. There is no safety problem. It's just that the passing vehicles often carry people and goods. It's not easy to encounter a carriage that can pick them up. so easy.
"How far is it from Jinxia?" she asked in a low voice.
"I estimate it's about two days' journey."
It's really not a good sign for her that such a problem occurred when she was halfway through the trip... Mo Yun thought to himself.