Turbulent Times Chapter 935: God and Science
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If this Lian Zhongtao is worth cultivating and reusing, it is necessary to take advantage of this time to take a closer look at his abilities.
"My lord, please go this way."
Lian Zhongtao led the way and brought Wang Junlin and his party to the nearest place where salt was boiled in a salt field.
The first thing Wang Junlin saw was the potholes, which were filled with the sea water left by the previous high tide, but they were not used to dry salt, but to make mud...
Wang Junlin wanted to see Lian Zhongtao's ability to organize and coordinate, so he didn't come forward and let Lian Zhongtao organize it himself.
Because there is no master craftsman, Wang Junlin simply asked Dong Kang to order all the salt workers and slaves to rest today. Lian Zhongtao ran into the shack where the salt workers and salt slaves lived, and ran away after saying something Two or three hundred salt workers and salt slaves came out.
They are actually barefoot in the winter, carrying a toothed wooden rake, standing in the salt pan, and began to rake the ground in a criss-cross pattern, mixing seawater and sand, making it turn into a salt pan under the sun. The hardened lumps are sent to the rear one by one. These are the most common tasks of salt workers and slaves during the day. At this time, the prefect is watching from the side, as if they have been beaten with chicken blood. So it works very fast, and it's done in a while.
Lian Zhongtao came to Wang Junlin and said, "My lord, this is the first step in making salt. Every salt worker and salt slave knows it."
Wang Junlin nodded slightly, not too surprised, but Zhang Tiangang beside him looked at the hardened black mud, thinking what does this have to do with the white salt?
Lian Zhongtao then took Wang Junlin and his party to a ditch that is several miles long, and the ditch is still connected to a reservoir. Lian Zhongtao pointed to the ditch and said, "Master, it is said that this ditch has already been built. For more than 400 years, it was used to pour seawater into the reservoir through ditches during the tide, so that it was convenient to fetch water for decoction later, which saved the labor of carrying water.”
While talking, Wang Junlin followed Lian Zhongtao to a huge pond, which was actually a salt water pond.
Lian Zhongtao ran over, commanded more than a dozen salt slaves who had just been sent over in advance, put four blindfolded black donkeys on ropes and started to circle continuously, driving the waterwheel, continuously pouring the salt water in the salt water pool Seawater is extracted and passed to a filter tank behind.
After finishing these things, Lian Zhongtao ran over again and said, "My lord, this is the second step of boiling salt. The water wheel is the key. Previously, the masters prevented any salt workers and salt slaves from getting close to the water wheel. But the villain thinks that as long as you find a skilled craftsman and take a closer look at the waterwheel, it is not difficult to imitate it."
"Okay, the next step!" Wang Junlin nodded with a smile, glanced at the waterwheel, thinking that the wisdom of the ancients should not be underestimated, and the Sui Dynasty already had a waterwheel.
Lian Zhongtao quickly said: "My lord, the next fifth step is the core skill that those master craftsmen have seen most closely. But the villain already knows how to do it, so I will show it to my lord now. Please, my lord. Come with the villain."
The filter pond is actually the salt fields seen from a distance, and it is distributed in steps from top to bottom, which is somewhat similar to terraced fields. This is to carry out layer-by-layer flow filtration from top to bottom. The water inlets and outlets between layers contain the biggest secret of the master craftsmen of the saltworks. There are always salt guards here. Under normal circumstances, salt workers and salt slaves are not allowed to come here.
When Wang Junlin came over, several Yan Ding hurriedly saluted, but blocked Lian Shutao who was at the front, Wang Junlin frowned, Zhang Tiangang went up with a few guards, and then sent Yan Ding who was blocking the way. Tossed aside.
"My lord, the thing between the water inlet and outlet between the upper filter and the lower filter is actually a fixed bamboo basket with several layers of bamboo mats, and then regularly add bamboo and thatch, and finally put The salt-laden clay tablet obtained in the first step was placed in the middle."
As Lian Zhongtao was speaking, he had already instructed the salt slaves who followed him to put the hard clay tablet obtained in the first step on the position, and then continued to explain: "My lord, in this way, the water from the reservoir After the seawater brought in enters the filter tank, it flows from high to low. Before entering the next layer, it is first filtered through the water level difference, and then reciprocated one after another, until it is filtered five or six times before giving up. The whole time can be as short as one day. , It takes two days, and at the end of the bottom of the filter, you can get brine with a higher concentration! If you only rely on sun-dried salt, even in the hottest summer, this process will take 20 days at the fastest! "
Wang Junlin saw Zhang Tiangang and the other guards looking confused, so he knew they didn't understand why, Wang Junlin said with a smile: "The common things in this world can be roughly divided into two types, one is One is soluble in water, the other is insoluble in water, and salt is soluble in water, and the sand in the hard clay board together with salt cannot be dissolved in water, so the sand will gather when it enters the water. When the salt enters the water, it dissolves, but the water already has a salty taste, so the salt is in the water!"
After hearing this, the guards were thoughtful, but most of them were still confused. However, Lian Zhongtao seemed to be enlightened, with a look of enlightenment on his face. Although he used his good mind to secretly master the method, he actually knew it but didn't know why. At the same time, the prefect was startled as a celestial being, thinking that the prefect is indeed not a mortal, and he has never been exposed to the method of boiling salt before, but he has understood the truth after watching the process just now. And he didn't figure it out in the three years since he came to the saltworks. He believed that those master craftsmen who had their heads chopped off by the prefect and who had been playing for a lifetime were just like him, only knowing the method, not the principle.
Wang Junlin felt the eyes of Lian Zhongtao and all the salt workers and guards looking at him with admiration. As a 'god', but if we find out the process of this change, let people know that it is so, and take off the mysterious gauze, it is actually science, and after a long time, after being known by most people, this will become common sense .
After making the brine, Lian Zhongtao sneakily took out a piece of dark yellow wood the size of a palm and the thickness of a thumb from his arms, and carefully put the piece of wood in the brine, explaining: " My lord, this piece of wood is called Huangci wood, which the villain secretly found from the corpse of a master craftsman yesterday. If it floats on the surface of the brine, it means that the brine has reached a sufficient concentration to cook salt. If Huang Cimu sinks If it reaches the bottom of the water or is suspended in the middle of the water, it indicates that the concentration of the brine is not enough, and you need to continue to filter before you can boil the salt.”
Wang Junlin nodded and said, "That's right. I won't look at the boiler cooking salt in the back. You can clean it up now. Stay with me these few days and live in the post house!"