Salt is more precious than life

  The bonfire was lit, casting a red glow on the faces of the people sitting around it. The men beside Yun Yan were soldiers from the Great Tang Prefecture, belonging to the Left Wuwei Army, but they were not combat troops, rather auxiliary troops responsible for transporting grain, military equipment and various supplies.

  The leader of the Han army was named Zhang Cheng, a team leader who commanded fifty soldiers and some civilians. Zhang Cheng was originally a farmer who worked in the fields during busy times and practiced martial arts during his free time. As it was customary for young men from Guanzhong to be good at martial arts, he had cut off two heads during the campaign against the rebel king of Chang Le, Young Liang, and was promoted to team leader due to his meritorious service. Since Young Liang's rebellion, the security situation in Longyou had deteriorated, and the Qiang people, who were no longer under control, would often attack grain transport teams, which is why Zhang Cheng was so vigilant towards Yun Heng.

  These people are all good, and Yun Ruo is very clear about this. When he saw Yun Ruo being a bit cold, Zhang Cheng took out his own clothes for him to change into. Fourteen-year-old Yun Ruo wearing Zhang Cheng's clothes looked ridiculously oversized. The two women who were following the team took the clothes away, removed the needle and thread, and altered them to fit Yun Ruo better.

  They went to Heifengkou to see their husbands, Zhang Cheng quietly told Yun Ye and winked at him, saying that they would only return after their bellies were big. After finishing speaking, he also slapped Yun Ye on the back of the head, telling the little kid not to ask about adults' business.

  Yun Yan's face was full of grievance, did I ask you, or did you just tell me on your own? The two women snickered and handed Yun Yan a white hemp cloth. Yun Yan looked left and right, unable to understand what it was for, "What's this cloth for, stop staring around".

  Zhang Cheng said, and then tore off Yun Hai's tattered clothes. In Yun Hai's mournful howls and others' loud laughter, he quickly wrapped a white cloth around Yun Hai's waist with a few movements. Only then did Yun Hai realize that the two shiny fat men were playing wrestling on the stage with this thing wrapped around them. After messing around for half a day, it was just this kind of thing, still learning from our ancestors.

  Wangcai was also bleating and laughing. Yunyan slapped him on the back of his head. He took out the smoked mutton that he couldn't bear to eat from his backpack, strung it up with a branch and roasted it over the fire. After a while, the oil dripped out and sizzled.

  The sound of satisfied sighs filled the air. The sense of satisfaction increased, and Zhang Cheng found a piece of wood, used a small knife to cut it into thin slices, took over their hands holding the flatbread, split it in half, put the meat slices inside, and made a delicious meat-filled pancake. He handed it to Zhang Cheng with both hands, who held the pancake with both hands, took a deep sniff, and his face showed a look of intoxication. Then his expression turned serious:

  "They ate in two shifts, one shift finished eating and the other was still eating." Then he handed the meat pie to the two women. The two women took the meat pie with ease, lowered their heads and started devouring it.

  Yun Yan smiled secretly, understanding that Zhang Cheng was afraid of poison in the meat, so after making a second pancake, he didn't hand it over to Zhang Cheng. "Uncle Zhang, I'm starving, let me eat first." He took a big bite, and the sheep's fat began to flow from the corner of his mouth, what a delightful experience!

  Zhang Cheng's face turned red or not, it was hard to tell in the dark. He reached out and patted Yun Er's head with a loud slap: "You little rascal has quite a few ideas." After that, he took his knife and started cutting the mutton, living up to his reputation as someone who made a living by the blade.

  In an instant, a lamb's hind leg was turned into a pile of meat slices under his knife. Zhang Cheng took a big bite of the meat pie, and Yun Ye even heard him let out a comfortable hum. Yun Ye couldn't help but shake his head and smile wryly, this is what meat pies are all about, if he were to make a few more dishes, he would be in heaven.

  "Huh? He let out a strange cry after swallowing the first bite. He pulled out a piece of meat from the pancake, licked it with his tongue, and looked at Yun Yan with some disgust. "Salt, you little brat, is this how you live your life? You put so much salt in it." As he spoke, he was about to hit Yun Yan, who covered his head and ran away. His large hand slapped him on the back, feeling like a whip, and Yun Yan tried to avoid getting hit as much as possible."

  "It's just salt, there's a lot of it." Yun Ye finished speaking and took out a small cloth bag from his backpack. The bag contained four or five catties of salt that Yun Ye had collected from several rock walls along the way. Zhang Cheng's eyes widened as he snatched the bag away, carefully opening it beside the fire to stare at the greyish-white powder inside.

  Yun Ye walked over, pushing him: "What's so good about salt?" The little brat actually had a good quality salt, and he dared to waste it like this. Zhang Cheng was thoroughly furious, seeing Yun Ye hiding behind the two women, unable to catch him, taking slow breaths, said: "You little brat, where did you get so much salt from?" Yun Ye was somewhat bewildered, the two women also tightly held onto Yun Ye's hand, anxiously looking at him.

  －－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－

  "There is a salt mine by the river, just dig it."

  "Nonsense! I know there's a salt mine by the river, but that's poisonous salt, you can't eat it. If you eat that salt, you'll get diarrhea and die, not to mention if you eat that stuff your whole body will turn purple. What I'm talking about is the salt in your bag, which is even better than official salt, where did it come from?" Zhang Cheng's eyes were already red as he loudly questioned Yun Yan.

  Yun Ye admired the ancients' spirit of trying everything, but eating salt was one thing, while consuming nitrates, phosphorus and potassium impurities from the salt mine was simply asking for death. Eating nitrates might still allow you to hold on for a while, but if you ate too much phosphorus and potassium without turning purple all over, that would be a strange occurrence. In later generations, Yun Ye had seen people supplementing calcium and iron, but never nitrates or phosphorus and potassium.

  "Uncle Zhang, how can salt be edible just like that? It needs to be crushed, dissolved, filtered, and analyzed. Only then can the crystallized salt be consumed by humans. Just like some poisonous herbs become non-toxic and even medicinal after special processing, this salt is the same. Everything in the world is prepared for human use, as long as we find the correct and suitable method. The art of salt production is just a small way. " Looking at Zhang Cheng's puzzled expression, Yun Heng knew that his previous words had fallen on deaf ears.

  "So you know how to extract edible salt from poisonous salt?" Not stupid, can summarize, and ask the key points without being fooled.

  "It's not that I'm telling you, it's just a small path." There was no need to bother the honest man, Yun Ye directly gave a definite answer. He tried to put on an air of superiority.

  No matter in past life or present, people who are beneficial to others, or bring benefits to others, can easily integrate into the crowd and be accepted by them. Yun Ye's top priority is to join the Tang Dynasty family, obtain a household registration, become a brick of the great feudalistic dynasty, anyway, even after a thousand years, one will still be a brick, and being a brick is just the same.

  Zhang Cheng's face was filled with joy, he wanted to speak but stopped himself, his face turned bright red from holding back, and he anxiously rubbed his hands. He paced back and forth in front of Yun Ye, like an old donkey pulling a millstone. His lowly status restrained his passion for knowing the secret formula. He couldn't make any promises to Yun Ye, as the technique of turning waste into treasure was too profitable, and it wasn't something that his small team could participate in. Yun Ye was a reclusive master, only revealing a corner of his abilities, yet already astonishing people with his heavenly skills; if he were to reveal everything, it would be an even greater wonder.

  "I am just a low-ranking martial artist, not worthy of knowing the secret formula. I beg of you, sir, to have mercy on us and allow me to report this matter to Commander Zhangsun, so that you may receive recognition from the imperial court. Your good deed will also be spread throughout the land."

  "Uncle Zhang, what kind of salt do you eat?"

  Zhang Cheng carefully took out a cloth package from his bosom, opened it layer by layer, and a walnut-sized yellowish-brown crystal appeared before him. Yun Ye picked it up and tasted it, aside from the saltiness, there were all sorts of strange flavors that made him feel like he was about to ascend to heaven or die, he picked up the water calabash and rinsed his mouth repeatedly, only then did the strange flavor fade away.

  "Is this salt or poison?" he said, and casually threw it away. As soon as he let go, Zhang Cheng, who had been staring at the salt block in Yun Ye's hand with eager eyes, quickly picked it up again like lightning. He wrapped it in cloth and stuffed it back into his bosom. His eyes were somewhat sorrowful, and he smiled miserably as he pointed to the crowd around them listening to their conversation.

  "Young master, you think everyone is like you, born with a silver spoon in their mouth, never having to work hard, only studying and not caring about anything else. Even if you're down on your luck now, you have the family's wealth to fall back on and live comfortably. Look at you, so talented and clever, understanding human relationships and etiquette. In two years, when you've grown up, wealth will be like a second skin to you, something you can't even imagine living without. That's just fate! We're not the same, our parents only taught us how to dig for food in the dirt, nothing else. The salt block you casually threw away is worth two years of hard labor for me. Ask them, how many have seen a large block of salt?" The several men on the side who were affected by the disaster all shook their heads, and the two women also lowered their heads in embarrassment.

  "Isn't it already the Zhenyuan era? How can the days still be so bitter?"

  "You don't know, sir, that the world has just been at peace for a short while. Without war disasters, people can barely make ends meet with wild vegetables and grains every day. In previous years, although salt was expensive, it was occasionally possible to buy a few taels, but in recent years, the Turks have invaded our borders year after year, burning, killing, looting, and doing all sorts of evil. The trade routes were cut off, and the salt from Shandong could not be transported here. The salt pools on the grasslands also couldn't be harvested. My Left Wuwei army has been stationed in Longyou for three years now, fighting every year, and lacking salt, we had to use vinegar as a seasoning, which made our soldiers' bodies weaker by the day. General knows that the Turks retreated from Yan River back to the grasslands, but our soldiers were too weak to pursue them. I heard that General was so angry that he broke his treasured sword and vowed to exterminate the Turks completely. Sir, you have a hidden skill, if you use it, we won't lack salt in the army anymore. After we recover and sharpen our blades, annihilating those Turkish dogs will be easy."

  Don't mind Zhang Cheng's seductive words for now, the rough man uses his cleverness in a straightforward and lovely way. The method is that it must be handed over to someone, but who to hand it over to is a big question. Zhang Cheng's superior's superior is called Cheng Chumou, who is the eldest son of the famous mixed-world demon king Cheng Yaoguang, currently serving as the Lan Prefecture's Zhēnghuì School Lieutenant, a standard official second-generation, generous and righteous, at the age of 18 he followed his father to battle on the battlefield for many years, and is a rare talent among the wealthy. Through him, presenting the method of offering salt can also be considered a shortcut to success, more importantly, it's said that old Cheng lived past the age of 100, an evergreen tree in the Tang Dynasty, never mind, first hug his thigh roughly and then talk about it later.

  He stood up, bowed to Zhang Cheng and the others: "Listening to your words is better than reading ten years of books. Yun Ye will remember today's teachings from Uncle Zhang and dare not forget them." It wasn't that he wanted to show off his knowledge, but rather he truly respected them. Putting aside General Cheng's oath, the other things he said shocked him. Good heavens! The prosperous era of Zhenguan was actually like this - wars, famines, everywhere. Zhang Cheng and the others' demands were so low, as long as they didn't have to fight, could fill their bellies, it was worth risking their lives for. What qualifications did people like me, who eat meat with a raised bowl and scold when putting down the bowl, have to be arrogant in front of them? Young master? Joke!

  With a loud noise, those men dodged to one side, and Zhang Cheng waved his hand like a spinning windmill: "We poor people can't teach you anything, Master. We're just talking nonsense. You are a talented person who will definitely become a high-ranking official in the future. It's already a great blessing for us to be able to get along with you."

  It seems that scholars have too much pressure on them. According to historical records, in the early Tang Dynasty, only one or two out of a thousand people were literate. Learning has never been something that ordinary people can afford, and the wealthy and powerful families controlled the gates of knowledge. In this era where education was not widespread, those who possessed knowledge had a higher social status, and it was these ordinary people who voluntarily elevated their status. This can be seen from Zhang Cheng's address to Yun He: "Little boy", "Stinky little boy", "Yun Lang Jun", "Gong Zi", and the title was raised step by step as he got to know Yun He better. Can they become high-ranking officials? They really dare to think, Yun He secretly laughed, are there even officials who can't recognize a single character? The Zhenguan era was an era where talents were everywhere, but for this small white-collar worker in the official circle, encountering Li Er, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, and Changsun Wuji was simply seeking death. Merchants? Even wearing silk was not allowed for these lower-class people, and in a feudal dynasty, having too much money was not a blessing, but rather a fat pig waiting to be slaughtered.