The cavalry team arrived, and they had already discovered the guards in the various villages along the way. The chapters were updated the fastest. These villages were no longer as lively as before, but there were only a small team of policemen left behind and were responsible for early warning. When the border market was built up in the future, these small villages would also become temporary supply points for the caravans coming to Huaihuang. The guards of these villages saw the appearance of the brigade of cavalry from afar. They were a little panicked at the beginning, but fortunately, Ling Yun's men and horses all held high flags with clear flags. The guards quickly recognized that the ones Yi and his personal cavalry in the tent, and the guard captain hurriedly took his brothers down the mountain to greet them.

Ling Yun comforted and rewarded these guards and finally gave each person one in return, which was a reward for their serious and loyalty to their duties.

Continue moving forward and pass by several counterfeit guard defense areas along the way, Salt Lake City finally appeared in front of you.

When Ling Yun was on the road, he had already sent a vanguard team to inform him, so as soon as he arrived outside the city, the guards, the hall master and the Yuhou in Salt Lake City had already left the city to greet him.

The Salt Lake City is built on the edge of the Salt Lake. The city is located on a slope by the lake, one side is against the lake and is also high. The terrain is very good. The entire castle is about two miles in circumference, a square shape, and each side is about half a mile long. Outside, the city is built with stone and soil, the city is two meters high, and four gates are built, among which the west gate is the water gate. There are women's walls on the city wall, protruding horse faces, city towers, corner towers, arrow towers, and even a small urn at the gate of the city, and a trenches were dug outside the city. This made Ling Yun very satisfied. The castle has good defensive capabilities.

The Salt Lake was originally a small town, but now it has replaced Baimabi as the central fort town here. The branch hall was Helanhong, one of the eighteen cavalry of Yanyun, and the guard was Liu Ying, the old subordinate of Ling Yun, and Tuoba Xiaodao, who once controlled the Tuoba family, now hangs the position of the city lord of Yanhu City. Helanhong, Liu Ying and Tuoba Xiaodao are in charge of Yanhu City. Liu Ying commands the troops, Tuoba Xiaodao is in charge of civil affairs, and Helanhong is in charge of criminal law. This setting is somewhat similar to Zhu Yuanzhang's separation of power over provinces during the Ming Dynasty. He manages soldiers, civil affairs, and laws, and supervises each other, so that the whole family will not be dominated by the rule.

"Liu Ying. I brought you a batch of longbows. You can take it over and get it to guard the Salt Lake. Let them train diligently." Ling Yun waved to Liu Ying over directly.

When Liu Ying and his three brothers went south with him, Liu Hu and Liu Bao were all killed in battle, leaving only Liu Ying. Ling Yun was always a little grateful to him. Therefore, when he arrived at Yanhu City, he was the first to talk to him, which was also to improve his status in the Salt Lake. After saying a few words to Liu Ying, Ling Yun turned around and talked to Tuoba Xiaodao and Helanhong. He Lanhong was also his old subordinate, so he didn't have to be so polite. However, although Tuoba Xiaodao, although Tuoba Hengdao is now committed to him, the Tuoba family's influence in the Salt Lake is still huge, and it was because of this. In the end, Tuoba Xiaodao became the city lord. At this time, Ling Yun had to be careful to win over Tuoba Xiaodao.

"Xiaodao. In just a short time, Salt Lake City has already reached such a scale. You are a city lord who is very dedicated and deserves to be commended and praised."

"The leader praised Xiaodao, but he was ashamed of being accused of being accused of being. There were tens of thousands of people in Yanhu City who built the Salt Lake City all day long, and he has only initially repaired the exterior walls so far. He is really ashamed of being a trust of the leader." Tuoba Xiaodao was advised by his father and knew that Ling Yun always looked gentle, but in fact he was very cruel, so he did not dare to be careless at all and did a very low posture.

After some greetings, Ling Yun led his troops into the city.

When you climbed the Salt Lake City Tower and looked at the white lake surface, you can see that in addition to the city, there are also many people outside the city, and those people are also members of Salt Lake City.

"Those people are collecting salt." Tuoba Xiaodao introduced that Salt Lake City is named because of the salt lake in front of it. The salt lake is a large salt water salt, which produces salt. In the past, the salt lake branch built a village here, and it was a good profit. Although after the founding of the Great Sui Dynasty, it did not sell salt for salt, and even did not charge salt tax, it was after all, outside the border. No matter how much salt is, there was a lot of Huai salt, salt removal, Sichuan salt, and green salt in the Central Plains, it could not be sold here. Most herders on the grassland took salt from these salt lakes scattered on the grassland.

Ling Yun listened carefully to Tuoba Xiaodao's introduction, and the more he heard, the more he frowned.

Baihai Salt Lake is very large and can be called the largest salt lake near the Bashang Grassland. For several years, since Murong Ke and Tuoba Hengdao jointly defeated their opponents, they have been controlling the salt production of this salt lake. However, guarding such a treasure mountain, the salt lake produces only about 30,000 stones of salt every year. With such a small output, Tuoba Xiaodao also said that he was very proud.

Ling Yun summed up a little. One person ate about ten kilograms of salt a year. The Tiger League alone consumed more than 10,000 stone salt a year. After calculation, the Tuoba family used to guard such a large salt lake, but in fact the annual output was only to supply about 200,000 people.

“How much is the salt here?”

"Ten coins per bull, always like this." When he said this price, Tuoba Hengdao's face was full of satisfaction. One bull coins of ten coins were sold, but the food was more expensive than grain. The food had to be cultivated in spring and harvested in autumn, but the salt was just taken directly from the lake. It was really easy to trade. Over the years, the Tuoba family has been able to earn thousands of coins from this salt lake every year. Unfortunately, the salt lake has now belonged to the alliance, and it is a pity.

When Ling Yun heard this price, he shook his head. The price of salt is really cheaper than the salt sold in the Tang, Song, Ming and Qing salt, but what he lamented was that the output of this salt lake was only 30,000 stones of salt a year, and the annual income was 3,000 guan. This is really begging for food with a golden rice bowl.

Think about it, a person eats at least ten kilograms of salt a year, and ten people eat about one stone, and ten 10,000 people eat ten thousand stones. If they can be sold to one million people, they will be 100,000 stones. Moreover, people in this era eat more salt than later generations, especially when they use salt pickles to cure meat to prevent damage, the demand is huge, and it is not a problem for a person to need two or three times the amount of salt. In such a large salt lake, the salt production is not a problem. As long as there are sales channels, the amount of salt can be sold. If you sell 500,000 stones of salt a year, you will have to have 50,000 yuan per bucket of salt.

He thought that this aspect could be improved. The salt produced in the salt lake now is the roughest salt, and there is no processing at all, so the salt price is very low. In fact, although the price of salt is twice the price of grain, a person has to eat several stones of grain a year, but at most it only eats dozens of kilograms of salt. The demand for salt is small, so even if the price is higher, it will not cost much. There is absolutely room for upward growth here. If the salt can be processed and the quality of salt is improved, it will not be a problem to increase the annual salt profit a few more times.

When Ling Yun thought that it might have been a big deal that could have been more than 100,000 or more yuan, but was eventually made by the Tuoba family with a business of thousands of yuan, Ling Yun suddenly felt a hint of sadness.

The other salt transactions are really profitable and profitable. Huaihuang is located at the junction of Hebei, Hedong and grassland. We yearn for reaching the East Turkic Khanate of Hetao, and to the east, Daxi, Khitan and other places, with Huaihuang as the center, there is a huge market around it with a large population. And their biggest competitors, Haiyan in Hebei, Huaiyan in Jianghuai, Salt Salt in Hedong, Well Salt in Shuzhong, Qingyan in Hexi, are all far away from the northern border. Salt products, like grain, are most limited by transportation distance. A long distance, the transportation cost will be high and the profit will be thin. Salt in the salt lake has a great advantage in selling nearby here compared to those salts. If the quality can be improved, it can even be sold to Hedong and Hebei in the south.

When you go out of the city and walk along the lake, you can see the salt harvester on the lakeside. They are completely the most primitive salt harvesting method. This salt harvesting method not only produces extremely low, but also has no quality of the salt produced.

This method of salt harvesting is actually similar to other places at this time. It is both natural crystals and is harvested. This primitive method of salt harvesting is also extremely afraid of rain and flooding. Once it encounters rain and flooding, it will have a great impact. He grabbed a handful of salt harvested, and the salt particles are uneven, all in size, and the color is black. It is a little bit bitter.

Ling Yun knew that the salt in the Central Plains, with the highest production and sales of Huai salt, followed by the salt removal in Hedong, followed by the well salt in Shuzhong and the green salt in Hexi. The salt production in these places has begun to enter the salt processing era. The salt they produce has begun to be divided into different levels according to the processing level, and will be sold at different prices. The high-quality salt is sold to the nobles and wealthy families. The price is high. The salt that has been processed is like white snow, and its taste is beautiful. Ling Yun remembers that the salt in Hedong Salt Pond was already collected by the Tang Dynasty.

The change is no longer the original method of harvesting and fishing, but the method of reclamation and watering and drying has been developed. This method not only solves the disadvantage of relying on the weather to harvest salt, but also greatly improves the quality of salt. By adding fresh water during the drying process, the salt quality is improved. Natural brine contains many impurities. Once it becomes salt, the particles will be crunchy, lack luster and have a bitter taste. However, using the new method to blend fresh water can eliminate impurities, making the salt particles hard and white, without a bitter taste, greatly improving the quality and taste of the salt.

Good salt can not only be sold at a higher price, but also to more customers. If you sell more sales, you will naturally make more money.

Ling Yun pondered that he had the most advanced salt lake salt production and processing technology at this time. This is the largest salt lake on the northern foot of the Yanshan Mountains. Can he cry with a golden rice bowl? Moreover, he also wants people, and he happens to have a large population. Now he has moved out of various villages, all of whom are idle.

Pull out these idle people and teach them advanced salt harvesting and salt processing techniques. Then they happen to be building a Huaihuang border market. At that time, these high-quality salts will be placed on the Huaihuang market, and are you still afraid of not having sales? Are you afraid of not making money?

After completion, this is a big deal with an annual output of more than 100,000 or even hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars, and it can even become one of the local pillar industries in Huaihuang Town.
Chapter completed!