The sixth section of the procedure is silent

  Damn it! Being underestimated, Yun Yan's heart turned cold. For thousands of years, no matter how things changed, even if he was thrown to Mars, the official's temperament remained the same - self-righteous and self-proclaimed cleverness. Were these traits also inherited? The county lieutenant's actions made Yun Yan suddenly lose interest in doing anything. Whatever, I'm just a drifter under the sky, why bother with so many idle matters. Thinking of this, he took down the backpack from Wang Cai's back, pulled out a bag of salt, and divided some for himself, leaving the rest in the hands of the trembling woman. He put on his backpack, led Wang Cai out, and walked away. Zhang Cheng, covered in mud, was still rolling around, but saw Yun Yan leaving and crawled over to him, tightly hugging his legs. "Young master, you can't leave! Have mercy on us poor fighters!" Tears streaming down: "County lieutenant, I guarantee with my head that Young Master Yun will definitely be able to extract edible salt from the salt brine!" He shouted loudly at the county lieutenant. Looking at Zhang Cheng at his feet, Yun Yan's anger in his chest could no longer be controlled. He kicked away Zhang Cheng and strode to the county lieutenant: "Apologize to Uncle Zhang and offer compensation, otherwise you can chop off my head but I won't tell you how to extract salt!" After finishing speaking, he coldly stared at him.

  The lieutenant colonel calmed down and said slowly, "Last night at the third watch, two soldiers rushed back to the city on horseback, knocking on the gate at midnight. This was the first time in my life as a military officer in Longyou that I had to use a pulley basket to lift them up onto the city wall. Only then did I know that someone could extract edible salt from the brine. I reported this to the Left Guard General immediately, and when he heard about it, he was overjoyed. If this method succeeds, not only will our army no longer lack salt, but we can also easily quell the Qiang people's rebellion. We can even sell salt to the Tuyuhun, who are fighting with Tibet solely for control of the salt trade. This way, they can become a vassal state of Great Tang. So I rushed out of the city overnight, bringing all the equipment you needed, and arrived here quickly, only to see a child speaking loudly and boastfully. How could I not be angry? Zhang Cheng's crime of falsely reporting military information is unforgivable. Now that I have punished him, I hope that when the general sees it, he can spare his life. You still dare to speak defiantly?"

  The cold intent in Yun Ye's eyes slightly dissipated. This guy, although despicable, wasn't all bad; he knew how to protect his subordinates and didn't lack means when it came to taking revenge. However, his arrogant face as a noble made Yun Ye extremely displeased. You can't get benefits without paying the price.

  "Zhang Cheng has a favor to me, you humiliate and beat him up, no matter what the reason is, it cannot calm down my anger. I make a bet with you, if you can't take out the salt, Yun Ye will offer his head, but if you can take it out, let Zhang Cheng beat you up for a while, and you are not allowed to fight back, how about that?"

  The county lieutenant was taken aback for a moment, then said resolutely: "As you wish. If the salt is not retrieved, I will personally behead you to fulfill your vow."

  Yun Yan smiled and ignored the school lieutenant's ugly face, turned around and walked to Zhang Cheng's side, checked him out and saw that he was not seriously injured, so she put her mind at ease. The panda-like Zhang Cheng still had a big smile on his face, this face could no longer be looked at.

  "What I want is..."

  "Punctually at half past the hour,"

  "Why is it that in Longyou there is no lack of salt, and the salt mines are not hard to find, yet you have never tried to find a way to produce edible salt from them?"

  "Soy sauce is poisonous,"

  "There are antidotes for snake venom, but is there no way to counteract the poison of Luoyang salt?"

  "Can't let the soldiers eat a salty meal and then detoxify once?"

  Yun Ye almost fell over when he heard such a thunderous answer, and looked at the majestic school officer in front of him with an idiotic gaze. He decided not to discuss anything related to science with him, because this was the greatest harm to himself.

  The carriage arrived, and the goods were very rich. In addition to the salt-making sieve, iron hammer, iron tongs, hemp cloth, wood charcoal, wooden bucket, iron pot, there were even five hand-cranked stone mills. After careful inspection, everything was complete, not a single item missing. Turning his head to look at the school lieutenant, he smiled and said: "Salt is just a trivial matter, I've seen your intelligence, and I believe you'll have many more requests for me in the future. I'm a stingy person, if you have any requests in the future, you'll need to let Zhang Cheng beat you up once, one beating per request, no joking."

  The county lieutenant restrained his subordinates who were furious, and clasped his fists: "I now somewhat believe that you can produce salt, as long as the brothers no longer lack salt, Cheng Mou's beating is nothing, this official hopes you win."

  Along the river, less than five miles away, there was a salt mine. Commander Cheng brought three hundred men, each with a robust physique, but the road was difficult to walk and large carts could not pass through. Several large carts of supplies were divided among them, and they set off. Yun Heng and two women accompanied Wang Cai in the middle, and before an hour had passed, they arrived at the salt production site. With a single order from Commander Cheng, a flat area of about two acres was immediately leveled out. After settling down the campsite and arranging the equipment, Commander Cheng turned his eyes to Yun Heng.

  "Commander, your divine strength is astonishing! Why not knock down some salt mines instead? It would be a waste if such great labor goes unused."

  Cheng Xiao Wei suppressed his anger and swung his iron hammer with two loud clangs, causing a large chunk of salt ore to fall down.

  "Watch the process, I'll only do it once." Yun Ye ignored the murderous gaze of the group of strong men and carefully crushed a large piece of salt ore into small grains with a small hammer, about ten pounds. He called out to Zhang Cheng, who poured the salt ore into the stone mill. Zhang Cheng started turning the stone mill by hand, and the brown mineral powder slowly flowed out from the edge of the stone mill. Yun Ye collected the mineral powder in a wooden bucket, added water, and stirred it with a wooden stick, allowing the salt to fully dissolve in the water. When the solution was saturated, he poured it into another wooden bucket covered with two layers of hemp cloth. After a while, the hemp cloth on top was covered with grayish-black mineral residue. Removing the hemp cloth, the liquid in the bucket turned brown and its color lightened, but there were still many impurities. He filtered it again through four layers of hemp cloth on another wooden bucket, leaving behind a pale red solution. The impurities had been filtered out, and now it was time to remove the toxins. Yun Ye took out a large funnel and instructed Zhang Cheng to crush some charcoal. Before Zhang Cheng could act, Cheng Xiao Wei had already crushed the charcoal into powder, probably because the changes in the solution had given him confidence in success. Yun Ye wrapped the charcoal powder in four layers of hemp cloth and stuffed it into the funnel, squeezing it tightly. He found a rack and fixed the funnel on it, then poured the solution into the funnel. After a while, a pale blue-green solution slowly flowed out. He scooped some up to taste, and it was fine - only salty, without any bitterness. Although some salt had been lost in the process, he could guarantee that the resulting salt would be absolutely edible. He set up a wooden stove and poured the solution into a pot to boil. Only then did he stand up, his back sore from bending over. It wasn't easy to make salt, after all.

  "Will it work?" Cheng Xiao Wei asked, looking at the solution bubbling and churning in the pot. Yun Yan was well aware of the terrifying profits of Da Tang salt. As the ancients said, "Holding jade is a crime." If word got out, it would be a path to disaster. One couldn't be too greedy. Now there was no need to worry, and if things went wrong, there might even be rewards to be had. Cheng Xiao Wei had probably already forgotten about being punished.

  "Can it be done, take away the 'ma' character? The salt that has been simmered out is better than what I originally ate, and it's not different from Qing Yan at all." Cheng Xiao Wei trembled slightly, Qing Yan, that's not for eating, it's for rinsing your mouth with a willow branch every day, at least 500 coins per catty, even in a wealthy family, only a few masters use this Qing Yan. The water in the pot gradually evaporated and cleaned up, leaving a thick layer of hard shell with a greenish color on the bottom of the pot. Remove the firewood, break off a piece from the pot and put it in your mouth, "Hmm, not bad, this is salt, Zhang Shu, throw that thing into the river."

  Before Zhang Cheng had a chance to taste it, Cheng Xiao Wei had already broken off a piece the size of his fingernail and stuffed it into his mouth. Although his face was contorted in distaste, he didn't dare spit it out, nor did he fear turning into a bat. The rest of the soldiers saw that this method was effective and swarmed towards the salt wall like a hive of bees. Those without iron hammers used their knives to wildly hack away, with Zhang Cheng being the most frenzied of all.

  The lieutenant wanted to talk to Yun Ye, but saw Yun Ye looking at him with a slanted gaze. He thought to himself: This kid is indeed narrow-minded. However, those with abilities are often like this. Earlier, it was I who was reckless. Thinking of this, he clasped his fists together and said: "Young Master Yun's great talent, Cheng Chu Mo respectfully admires. Earlier, it was this official who was blind to the situation, unreasonable, and hopes for your forgiveness. As for the bet, I, Old Cheng, will pay up immediately." He then removed his armor and helmet. Only then did Yun Ye notice that this rascal was only sixteen or seventeen years old. As a military general, he had been training his body every day, making it strong and robust, but his face still showed an air of youthfulness. Zhang Cheng slowly made his way over, looking at Yun Ye with a gaze that made his anger rise, and pushed him to Cheng Chu Mo's side, saying "Beat him up." Cheng Chu Mo stood tall and upright, his feet shoulder-width apart, exuding the demeanor of a master. Zhang Cheng timidly circled around Cheng Chu Mo, sometimes throwing punches, sometimes slapping, and sometimes using his powerful eagle claw, but you're actually beckoning to him. Cheng Chu Mo was probably fed up as well: "You're not even moving your hands, are you going to hit me or not? I'll beat you up myself." Zhang Cheng's legs went soft again, and he knelt down, sniffling and tearfully saying: "It would be better if you just beat me up some more, I really don't have the guts to hit you back." These words made Yun Ye's blood boil with rage, and he wished he could bury this guy alive. Forget it, the gap in social status that had been ingrained in his blood for thousands of years was not something he could overcome. Cheng Chu Mo walked towards Yun Ye while saying to Zhang Cheng: "It's you who didn't move your hands, not me being lazy, make it clear so as not to tarnish my reputation."

  "Brother, how did you know this trick?"

  "Teacher's teachings"

  "Senior fellow, please introduce me to your brother. I'll send someone back to Lanzhou with a generous gift and ask my father to pay his respects."

  Are you sure you want to see the fortune teller?

  "If such a noble person is not met with reverence, would it not be a lifelong regret?"

  "Just take a knife and cut your throat, I reckon you'll see your family teacher soon."

  "What's the meaning of this, brother?"

  "It means the family master is already ancient history, you insist on seeing him, there's only one way left - to lose your head."

  "Alas, heaven is not blessing us. Such a talented person died young, it's indeed a great regret for the world."

  This bastard, full of regretful words, his face twisted like a bun, but the excitement in his eyes completely betrayed him. Yun Ye decided to ignore him and not bother with this hypocritical bastard.

  The salt was scooped out of the pot, about two or three catties in weight. This is much more efficient than boiling seawater to produce salt. Sixteen catties of mineral water can produce three catties of salt, which is already quite good. Cheng Chumo took it and weighed it, "Three catties, great! With this piece of salt mine, we can produce several hundred thousand catties of salt. Haha, my army will no longer suffer from a lack of salt. Yun brother, please accept a bow from me."

  "Our great army fights for the country, we men of Great Tang consider life and death as nothing but a trifle, what is this trivial matter of salt production laws worth mentioning?"

  "Good fellow, Cheng Chumo patted Yun Ruo's shoulder heavily and said, 'This brother is recognized by old Cheng. When we return to Chang'an, I'll introduce you to the other brothers, they're all top-notch good men.' Yun Ruo felt that being hit by Cheng Chumo was no different from being hit by a hammer, and he had to endure his kindness with a forced smile, which was really too difficult."