In Hedong County, the southern end of Anyi County, on the bank of Yanchi, Zhang Liao, Guo Jia and others are checking the Yanchi.

The Hedong Salt Pond is divided into two large ponds, one is in the northwest of Jie County, called Jiechi, twenty-five miles from east to west and twenty miles from north to south. The other is at the southwest end of Anyi County, fifty-one miles from east to west and six miles from north to south, and one hundred and fourteen miles from north to south. It is actually a large saltwater lake.

The salt in Hedong Yanchi started to produce salt since the Three Emperors and Five Emperors. To this day, the salt produced here has been exported to Bingzhou in the north, Guanliang in the west, Luoyang in the south, Jizhou in the east, and Yanzhou in the east.

In the fourth year of Wuyuanshou in the Han Dynasty, Sang Hongyang and others used the words of "San and Hongyang" to promote the benefits of salt and iron. The salt officials in the world were 28 counties, and Anyi in Hedong were the leader. Then many emperors came to see the salt pond in person.

Salt has been a necessity for human survival since ancient times, and the importance of salt ponds is naturally self-evident.

Just as Guo Jia made his plan to choose Hedong to gain a foothold. In addition to the advantage of the geographical advantage, a big factor was the Yanchi. After mastering the Hedong Yanchi, he almost just took the land to collect money, and was able to control the salt affairs of the prefectures and counties on all sides of Hedong in exchange for the food, horses and weapons he needed.

The water of the salt pond is not frozen in winter. The salt pond is surrounded by salt beds. The water in the salt pond is stored, which is specially used to dry salt.

The side of the house explained the process of salt drying to Zhang Liao: "The salt workers reclaimed the land on all sides of the salt pond, and diverted water to fertilize it, and the water consumed salt. Every year, the bed was reclaimed in February, and the water was fumigated in April, and the sun was fumigated in summer, and the south wind was turbulent. The salt plate was formed, which was smooth and strong. The water on the board was about three inches, and the waves swelled, and the board was grained. It was called Doudi salt. If it was light rain, the color was brighter and the salt quality was better. It was suitable to pick it in time. If it was heavy rain, the salt would dissipate again. The cold ponds in autumn and winter were dry, and salt could not be produced. Sometimes, the nitrogen and alkali were mixed and the taste was not correct. Therefore, it ended in August and got more than one million stones of salt every year."

Zhang Liao couldn't help but nodded repeatedly. He thought that the salt pond in Hedong could be exposed at any time. Now, after hearing what Xiaoqiu Xing said, he realized that this cycle is also very long and calculated annually, which is quite difficult.

He asked Wuqiu Xing again: "What families control the Yanchi now?"

During the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, he attacked the Huns from a distance, which cost a lot of money. In order to gather military funds, he implemented the official salt and iron camp and gained the benefits of mountains and seas. However, after Emperor Wu of Han's death, Huo Guang assisted in the administration, and under the promotion of the powerful family, he restored the private salt and iron camp. In the Later Han Dynasty, an emperor tried to restore the official salt and iron camp, but he could not resist the forces of the aristocratic family and ended in failure.

Today, the salt pond is controlled by local wealthy families, while the imperial court only sends salt officials to collect salt taxes.

Zhang Liao knew that there were too many forces mixed in the salt pond, and as a local in Hedong, Wuqiu Xing should know more.

Sure enough, Yuqiu Xing's expression was quite solemn: "There are more than 30 salt ridges here, including Hedong, Henan, Hongnong, Bingzhou, Guanliang and even Hanoi."

When Zhang Liao heard this, he couldn't help but frown. More than 30 powerful families... If he had taken the means of violent elimination directly, he would probably have been surrounded by enemies immediately. The Hedong prefect would probably not be able to do it.

"What families are there?" he asked again.

Xu Qiu Xing pondered: "Originally, there were Yuan clans in Runan, but now they were occupied by Dong clans in Lintao. In addition, there are Yang clans in Hongnong, Dou clans in Fufeng, Dou clans in Geng clans in Anding Huangfu clans in Wuwei, Hu clans in Yang clans in Jingzhao, Wei clans in Jin clans in Du clans in Fengyiji clans in Xingyang, Zheng clans in Henei, Zhen clans in Zhongshan, Wang clans in Taiyuan, Wei clans in Hedong, Fan clans in Fan clans in... But now the Fan clans in Wei clans have been swept away by the lord and temporarily taken over by the county government."

Damn, so many flies!

Zhang Liao couldn't help but want to pat his forehead. He pondered for a while and looked at Wu Qiuxing: "What if they took their salt ridge back to the official camp?"

Wuqiu Xing hurriedly said, "The official camp of salt and iron competes with the people for profit. If you are the emperor, you may lose your heart. You should think twice!

"Fight for profit with the people?" Zhang Liao snorted: "For two hundred years, we have been implementing private salt and iron. We have not seen the people's wealth. Instead, we have made those powerful families rich. What are the benefits of ordinary people?"

The lifeline of a country like salt and iron should not be controlled and monopolized by the powerful families, otherwise it will only make the power of aristocratic families stronger, which is not a good thing.

Wu Qiuxing said again: "This is a national fortune. If the envoy takes action, he will probably be held accountable by the emperor."

Zhang Liao raised his eyebrows. This is a problem. The time is not yet right now. Once Dong Zhuo dies and Guanzhong loses control, he can act completely independently.

At this time, Guo Jia said, "Wei and Fan families have a considerable share. After they were deprived of their family property, their share in Yanchi was accepted by the county government. The envoy could strengthen the control of the name of prime minister. Although there was no name for the official camp, it was actually the official camp."

Zhang Liao grinned. This method is good. Guo Jia said it was obscure, but in fact he had to use Dong Zhuo's name to forcefully control Yanchi first, so that Dong Zhuo could be a bad reputation. I'm afraid that there are not many nobles and powerful men to question Dong Zhuo at present.

If Dong Zhuo asks about himself, he can say that the Hedong treasury is empty and he has to support the war and can only control the salt pond. With Li Ru and Tian Yi's suggestions, Dong Zhuo will probably not be too accountable.

Moreover, he did not think about the official and private sectors of Yanchi in the future. The drawbacks of the separate official sector are not small, the output will be reduced, and the private sector will have greater problems. He thought of the salt in later generations, but in fact, there was no complete official sector in later generations, but only joint ventures.

But no matter what, Yanchi is determined to win, and even if he is enemies of those aristocratic families, he will do whatever he wants.

Seeing that the sky was getting darker, he waved his hand: "Go! Go to Jie County to take a look."

...

Jie County is located west of Yanchi and adjacent to Yanchi, so its status is very important. The origin of Jie County is quite interesting. Ancient books record that Huangdi killed Chiyou in Zhongji, and Chiyou's limbs and heads were different. Chiyou's blood entered the pond and turned into brine. This was the salt pond. Because of its corpse, it was called Jie.

Zhang Liao naturally did not believe that Chiyou's blood-forming salt pond was that the real cause of Hedong Salt Pond was that it was a sea area billions of years ago. Later, after the changes in the land, the geology of the salt pond was formed. However, Chiyou and Huangdi fought here, which reflected that the former Huangdi tribe and Chiyou tribe were mostly fighting for the salt pond.

There are many fields in Jie County. They headed west for dozens of miles. The terrain was extremely flat, with fields and dense forests on both sides, but many fields were deserted.

Seeing this large deserted field, Zhang Liao couldn't help but sigh.

The disasters caused by the war were extremely serious. A large number of strong soldiers were recruited into the people, which not only increased the consumption of food and grass, but also reduced the source of food and grass. Famine would come sooner or later.

Wu Qiuxing seemed to know Zhang Liao's idea and said: "Xie County is adjacent to Yanchi. Most of the people in this area are hired by powerful people to engage in salt drying and transportation. Moreover, after the emperor moved the capital to Chang'an, officials came here to recruit civil servants, went to Zhongtiao Mountain to the south to cut wood and repair the Chang'an palace. In addition to Jie County, there are also nearby Hebei, Dayang, Puban, and Fenyin counties. Many civil servants were recruited. Every household was left with only the elderly, weak, women and children, so there were more farmlands."

Zhang Liao frowned and said, "It has been more than half a year since the emperor moved the capital to Chang'an. Could it be that the palace has not been repaired yet?"

Wu Qiuxing hesitated and whispered: "The Chang'an palace has been repaired, but the Prime Minister Dong is going to build a fuwu in Fufeng Mei County, so all the people have sent it there."

Dock?

Only then did Zhang Liao remember that Dong Zhuo had done this, he couldn't help but sigh and shook his head.

When the Meiwu is close to the junction of Guanzhong and Liangzhou, Dong Zhuo built the Meiwu, which means that all his ambitions are lost, he is only ready to enjoy it and leave a way out.

In fact, in history, Dong Zhuo built Meiwu, Gongsun Zan and Yijing, and Yuan Shu built palaces all went to decline. He lost all his ambitions and had no vision, so how could he be invincible?

At this time, Wu Qiuxing said again: "The day before yesterday, the Sili School Captain sent someone to pass on the order, saying that he would recruit civil servants to build a fufeng wu. The envoy has been suppressed for two days, and I am afraid that the Prime Minister will be punished."

Zhang Liao waved his hand: "Where are the people with him? Let's delay first, and then catch some Baibo prisoners."

Wuqiu Xing hurriedly said, "Now there are many rumors in the counties that the envoy once beat Liu Xiao, the captain of the Sili school. If he offended him again, he would probably take the opportunity to sue..."

Zhang Liao grinned: "What are you afraid of? I dared to beat him up and catch him for Sima. If he doesn't know the truth and dares to come to Hedong, he will beat him up! Then let the Prime Minister send someone to take him back."

Wu Qiuxing's cheeks twitched, while Guo Jia laughed.

Zhang Liao changed the topic and pointed to the wasteland and said, "This area is dozens of miles in a radius, extremely flat, so it will be used as a place for military farming."

The best effect of military farming is to be carried out in one area, which is easy to manage and not to be chaotic with other self-crowned lands. This area is very suitable. Most of the land is deserted, and a small number of self-crowned lands are also easy to migrate.

However, seeing that such a large area of ​​wasteland has not been sorted out, Zhang Liao couldn't help frowning.
Chapter completed!