Chapter Sixteen: Having a Clear Plan in Mind

  When Yang Bo arrived, the fight had already ended under Han Xiao'er's intervention, who seemed to have some prestige among the military households.

  "What's going on?" Yang Bo suppressed his anger and asked the several bruised men. No wonder the imperial court refused to use Xu Guangqi's salt reduction memorial, these military households had just relaxed a bit and started fighting and causing trouble. According to Bi Fengji, the scale of the two Huai salt fields was enormous, with tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of military households under their jurisdiction. If something were to happen, it would be disastrous. The only way to keep them in harmony was to exhaust them to death every day.

  "You say......" Yang Bo saw that everyone was silent, so he pointed to the nose of a soldier in front and said, "This man's eyes are red, his hands are black, one look and you can tell he's been working at the stove for a long time, smoked by the fire."

  "Go back, big, big man's words..." The soldier saw Yang Bo and said with a tongue that was slightly rolling: "It was Huang Erman from Yishan Village and Li Dali who started it first. They said we were lazy when cooking seaweed, they worked hard to cut wood, but the salt quota was the same, they felt cheated and spread rumors, we were angry for a moment and argued a few words, later...later..."

  The military household murmured and couldn't say anything more, they just looked at that group of military households with their eyes.

  "Huang Erman, Li Dali, come out and talk!" Yang Bo said sternly.

  Two people actually rolled out of the military household, it turned out that they heard Yang Bo's voice, Huang Erman was frightened for a moment, tripped on the uneven sand and rolled to Yang Bo's face along with Li Dali.

  Yang Bo took a look at the two men, both of whom were in their early twenties with pale and thin faces. It was hard to imagine where they got the leisure and pleasure to fight from. However, due to long-term logging on the mountain, their physique was quite robust, and their arms seemed to have some strength as well.

  "What's going on?" Yang Bo looked at the two embarrassed faces and couldn't help but hold back his anger for a moment.

  Yang Bo was surrounded by Han Kou and others in the middle, listening to Huang Er's account of the cause of the matter with a serious face. After listening for half a day, he finally understood the situation. It turned out that it was just some trivial matters. The military households in Ma Jia Tun were divided into two classes: those who cut wood felt that they had put in a lot of effort and should have fewer salt rations, while those who boiled seawater thought their work was not easy either, with rain or shine, smoke and fire every day. The two sides originally had some disagreements, and this time it was just a small explosion.

  Looking at Yang Bo's gloomy face, the soldiers in the courtyard were all drumming in their hearts. After all, the notorious hundred households had spread throughout Maojia Village, and no one knew how he would punish himself.

  "From today on, Ma Jiatun will no longer produce salt by boiling seawater, so there's no distinction between mountain and seaside salt makers." Yang Bo said slowly, "These past two days have been uneventful. If I were you, I'd definitely go catch some fish and shrimp to improve your lives."

  "As for those who fought today, as long as they participated...” Yang Bo's sharp eyes swept over the guys with bruised noses and faces: “As for you people, spend the next two days standing guard at the salt pool, so you won't have nothing to do. The matter earlier is settled like this. If anyone dares to stir up trouble again, regardless of whether they're in the right or not, just one curse will be fined one silver tael, and if they take action, five taels... That's it, everyone disperse!"

  When Yang Bo spoke, the several military households who were fighting felt a chill in their hearts. This trial hundred was really too black-hearted, even if they sold all these military households along with their wives and children, it wouldn't be worth five taels...

  When they saw the hundred households waving their hands, those military households who did not participate immediately dispersed. Today was the most leisurely day for them. Some people began to ponder in their hearts whether to listen to the hundred households and go to the seaside to catch some fish and shrimp, or to tidy up the abandoned fields, even if they just planted some small vegetables.

  "Need to find something for them to do..." Yang Bo thought to himself as he gazed at those dejected guys.

  Just then, Bi Fangji, who was inspecting the salt drying field on the side, suddenly ran over with a look of panic on his face. As soon as he saw Yang Bo, he didn't even have time to catch his breath, and pulled Yang Bo's hand to walk aside "Something big has happened!"

  "What's wrong? Don't worry, Father, take your time," Yang Bo comforted him patiently. Since taking office, he had never been at ease, having to make decisions on big and small matters, and he had become numb to the occasional minor incidents that occurred from time to time.

  "Alas, it's all because I didn't think it through earlier," Bi Fangji said with a somewhat heavy tone: "For convenience, I set up the salt-drying pool by the sea, which makes it easy to draw in seawater, but I forgot one thing..."

  Yang Bo heard this and suddenly felt a surge in his heart, blurting out: "Chao is going up!"

  "Yes, the tide is rising! I forgot about the tidal flooding at the seaside. If the seawater floods the salt pans, all our efforts will be in vain. Alas!" Bi Fangji looked self-reproachful.

  Yang Bo patted Bi Fangji's shoulder and said, "It's okay, this can't be blamed on you. It's my fault for not thinking it through. Now that regret is too late, let's think about how to make up for it instead."

  Yang Bo walked around with his hands behind his back for a few laps and had an idea in mind.

  "In that case, first use yellow earth and gravel to build a retaining wall around the salt pan, anyway, the tide won't rise too high, as long as it can block the seawater from flowing in, besides, the tide will recede eventually"

  Bi Fang thought for a moment, still with a worried look on his face. "This method is good, but it's only temporarily blocking the floodwater. The walls will collapse easily after being soaked for a long time. This isn't a perfect solution. In my opinion, it would be better to set up the salt-drying pool in a high place, but taking water that way would be time-consuming and laborious..."

  Yang Bo suddenly lost his smile and said: "Father, don't you think that these few salt drying ponds are enough?"

  Bi Fangji was somewhat surprised, this morning all the soldiers in Quan Tun worked together to get their hands dirty. These nearly thirty large salt pans, according to his rough estimate, each one could produce at least a hundred catties of coarse salt. Yet from Yang Bo's words, it seemed he still wasn't satisfied?

  "These are just the first attempts, if the method of drying salt is really effective, then all the places here can be utilized" Yang Bo waved his hand and drew a circle from the beach to the wasteland behind.

  "But... " Bi Fangji was intimidated by Yang Bo's ambition. "But, but that place is too high and it's so far away, how can we divert water over there and let the military households move past?"

  "That's easy, just build two waterwheels and you're done!" Yang Bo said with a smile.

  "Waterwheel? How come I didn't think of that! Hmm, it's a good idea. Set up a waterwheel by the sea and use hollowed-out tree trunks as aqueducts. It seems Bi Fangji had already thought this through." Bi Fangji stroked his beard with a smile.

  "Father, why don't we call one of these waterwheels 'Bifangji Waterwheel'?" Yang Bo turned his eyes around.

  "Huh?" Bi Fangji was momentarily stunned, after a pause he suddenly became excited: "Zhi Xian, can I really use my name? I must say, it's an honor for me..."

  After finishing speaking, Bi Fangji bowed deeply to Yang Bo: "Knowing that Xi'an has painstakingly helped me integrate into the life of local military households, how can Bi Fangji not thank him?"

  Yang Bo burst out laughing: "How about you pay half of the silver for making the water cart?"

  "Hmm? I suddenly think that it's more suitable to name the waterwheel after Zhī Xián..."