After nearly a week of exposure, the test field has initially shown results.
Xia Fan stepped into the crystallization pool at the bottom with bare feet, and the warm sea water immediately covered his insteps. Compared with the evaporation pool above, the seawater here is particularly turbid, covered with foam on the top, and dazzling waves are reflected below.
This reflection does not come from sea water, but from a thin layer of white crystals on the bottom of the pool.
Eunuch Li couldn't help but bend down, poked the dirt with his hand, and then put it in his mouth, "Salty, so salty! This is really salt!"
Although I don’t know why these salt grains can survive being soaked in water, the bitter salty taste is indeed a unique characteristic of sea salt. To be honest, when Her Royal Highness the Princess spent a sum of money to implement Xia Fan's idea, he was still worried. It was not a question of money. After all, most of the labor force was borne by His Highness's troops, and the actual expenses were not much. What he was worried about was that if it failed, it would damage the prestige of Her Highness the Princess.
Everyone trusts the princess, not the alchemist she hired - if Ning Wanjun fails because she trusts this person too much, then others will inevitably doubt that the princess knows people well. Money spent can be earned again, but prestige is not the same. It is difficult to make up for such intangible things.
Now that the salt fields are really drying out, a huge boulder in Eunuch Li's heart has finally been released.
He didn't understand the skill involved, and he didn't want to understand. As long as there was salt in the salt pond, even if it was sprinkled by Xia Fan himself, it would be better than failure.
As soon as the person got along, Xia Fan's appearance became much more pleasing to the eye.
This young man... is pretty good.
"Xia Fan, why doesn't this salt melt?" Li lifted his tail and walked to Xia Fan in two steps.
Xia Fan's eyes immediately shifted from the salt to the opponent's feet.
In a pool reflecting the blue sky and white clouds, a girl playing barefoot in the water faces each other and looks at the sea. It is a perfect picture in itself.
What's so cool about salt
Can it be compared to the fox demon
"Xia Fan?"
"Well, um..." Seeing the other party turn around, he quickly turned away his eyes and pretended to be serious, "Because water cannot dissolve salt indefinitely. When its salt content reaches the upper limit, adding salt to it will not Melted. This is also the principle of sun salt and boiled salt - the less water, the less salt it can hold."
"But there isn't much salt in the pool..."
"Indeed," Xia Fan replied carefully, "This pool is just to verify the craftsmanship. The size itself is too small, and it is the first pool of salt. It is normal to have less salt."
In addition, he also discovered many problems. For example, the height of the evaporation pool and crystallization pool can be lowered a lot, and it is best to complete a cycle in three days; another example is that pumping out water from a rollover has to be done manually. It is okay to say that there are few pools, but when the scale increases, the efficiency of the rollover will be a bit low. , it would be better to get a more convenient pumping device, etc.
But the pond has proven that this method can work, which is undoubtedly the most important thing.
Li stepped twice in the pool curiously, "Then how will the salt be collected in the future?"
"It's very simple, just like drying millet." Xia Fan said with a smile, "When it accumulates a lot, just use a wooden shovel to shovel it all the way."
The piles of white "salt mountains" piled up in the pool have always been the most spectacular scenery in the salt field.
"Xia Fan, come here!" Suddenly, Ning Wanjun's voice came from behind.
Everyone around them bowed their heads and said, "I have met Her Royal Highness."
Xia Fan noticed a strange face next to him.
Li, who also discovered this, quickly turned around and put his tail behind his back.
"Let me introduce, this is Mo Yun, the head of the Machinery Bureau of the Ministry of Industry." Ning Wanjun said, "She has known me a long time ago and is not considered an outsider. She happened to be passing by Jinxia this time, so she will stay here. For a few days.”
"And he is the newly promoted officer I mentioned, and he is also the author of the book that you admire so highly."
"Master Xia, I have long admired your name." Mo Yun cupped his hands and said.
"Both each other." Xia Fan also returned the greeting.
The other party was slightly startled.
"By the way, he knows nothing about bureaucratic etiquette. It just so happens that the Privy Council doesn't care about this, so you don't need to pay attention to his strange behaviors." Ning Wanjun said with a smile.
It can be seen that the princess is in a good mood.
Xia Fan looked at the other person curiously - it can be said that Mo Yun is a woman who definitely does not meet the aesthetics of this era. Not only is she tall, she has slender knuckles, and her facial features are also upright. If it were a man, it would naturally be extremely suitable, but if it were a woman, the evaluation would obviously not be that high.
But in Xia Fan's era, Mo Yun was undoubtedly a beautiful girl with very personal characteristics, with a taste of Western Region style, and the plum red lip gloss also proved that she did not want to regard herself as a man.
"It turns out that there are also female officers in the Ministry of Industry." Xia Fan took the initiative to build relationships, "I wonder what kind of research Mr. Mo usually does?"
"This involves Qi Guo's secrets, please forgive me for not disclosing them."
Unexpectedly, the other party would chat to death as soon as he opened his mouth.
The princess was also a little surprised. She remembered that Mo Yun was not an unsociable person.
"Master Xia, I would like to ask, is that book about arithmetic... really written by you?"
Although he had long known that the other party was young, Mo Yun was still surprised when he saw him in person - this person named Xia Fan was too young and looked almost like a princess. How could you write such a rigorous and logical arithmetic tutorial without the refinement of time and experience? If you want to judge whether he is deceiving the world and stealing his reputation, the breakthrough point is undoubtedly this book.
"no."
Xia Fan quickly replied.
Mo Yun and the princess were both stunned, "No?"
"That's right, I can't make up so many things if you ask me to. Just recalling them is enough to give me a headache."
"Then who wrote this book?"
"If my master had not come to Jinxia, I would definitely say that he taught me. Unfortunately..." Xia Fan spread his hands helplessly, "I don't know, anyway, it was imprinted in my head from the beginning."
If he really wanted to break it down, it would inevitably involve his origin, so he simply blamed it all on the occult.
But what Xia Fan didn't expect was that the princess suddenly showed a nonchalant expression, "I see... This makes sense."
Wait, do you really believe this
Mo Yun found it incredible. If the other party insists on saying that she wrote it, then she can still find loopholes to make the other party contradict himself, so that His Highness can discover the truth. But he just put the matter aside in one breath, as if he didn't care about the honor of "author" at all - you must know that as long as this book is circulated, it will definitely be a famous work in history. In addition to power and money, officials do not do anything for it. Leave a good name
What’s even more incomprehensible is that the princess actually believed it!
This time all her temptations got stuck in her throat.
Seeing that the atmosphere was a bit tense, Ning Wanjun took the initiative to change the topic, "By the way, how are the results of the Yantian test?"
"The situation is pretty good. The first batch of salt has been precipitated, but the amount is a bit small. Do you want to go take a look?"
"Of course," Ning Wanjun said enthusiastically, "This is the future of Jinxia City."