The medical concubine is blessed with good fortune and her husband's life is prosperous. The mo

If she had to go to see the harbor and be captured by the Tatars, then even if she created a mountain of salt, the gain would not be worth the loss.

Dong Su specially told the team to visit the harbor to find a sea area where the harbor can be built, and then to fish out some sea fish, seaweed and the like from the shallow sea area and bring them back.

The coast of Youzhou is not like Minzhou or Lingnan, where fishermen live, and there are salt fields and seaports. There are very few people in Youzhou even in the plains where land can be cultivated.

The coastal area is a barren land. In the past few years, when there was peace with the Tatars, there were still some fishermen going fishing. In recent years, it has been completely deserted and completely uninhabited.

After the team set off, Dong Su streamlined the poisonous salt detoxification technique and asked Lu Yunzhou to make assembly line tools, so that the salt production rate would be higher.

But soon we encountered a new problem, and that was the last step. Boiling the brine required too much firewood.

A small team is needed to deliver firewood to the house every day. It is very unsafe to go to the mountains and forests outside the city to cut firewood, and it is very easy to encounter a Tatar team.

More importantly, burning with firewood is not a long-term solution! It is easy to cut down the mountain forests. People in this era have no environmental awareness.

You can’t live without Dongsu!

She didn’t want Youzhou to be severely desertified a thousand years later. Historians found out that when King Ling and Princess Ling were in Youzhou, they cut down the nearby mountains and forests by boiling green salt...

Sin, sin! Chopping firewood is fun for a while, but you won’t be able to grow it back for a hundred years!

Hearing the princess's strange thoughts, Yue Jian said that he didn't understand, but he was used to it.

Ling Moxiao smiled the whole time and said to Dong Su seriously:

"Don't worry, madam, if you turn poisonous salt into green salt, your name will go down in history and enjoy a reputation for thousands of years. No one will scold you for such a trivial matter as chopping firewood."

Dong Su glanced at him and couldn't explain this to him. You told an ancient person that trees will be much more expensive than salt in the future!

People will think there is something wrong with your brain.

She doesn't want to and can't change other people's thinking patterns. She doesn't argue or defend. It's more important to solve the problem at its root.

What else can be used to boil the brine besides firewood?

Biogas? Ferment manure into biogas? It's too difficult and unrealistic.

gas? Find oil, refine it into gasoline, and then turn it into gas?

It's so whimsical that unless you have a golden finger, it won't be possible for hundreds of years with current technology.

That leaves coal.

She first asked Jia Si, is there coal in Youzhou?

After hearing her description, Jiasi said happily: "The princess is talking about coke, right? There is some, but coke is not as useful as firewood!"

Soon Dong Su understood why people didn’t like to use coke. It was not as convenient as firewood. It was also poisonous and boring to the point of poisoning. It was also incombustible and easy to extinguish. It was also very heavy and produced a huge amount of smoke when burned dry.

Some people who have no firewood will go to the mountains to dig some coke to use. In winter, it is often heard that the coke is poisoned and the whole family is killed.

There was no shortage of firewood in the military camp, so no coke was used.

Shen Dongsu soon understood the reason. The coal they dug out was impure and could not be made into flammable briquettes. There was no matching coal stove, so it was naturally not easy to use.

She hurriedly asked Jia Si to send people out of the city to get a batch of coal and then get a batch of loess to sift out the sand.

Looking for Lu Yunzhou again, she drew the style of the coal stove and asked Lu Yunzhou to make it.

Following the filter in front, there is also a coal stove. Lu Yunzhou thought for a moment and then asked:

"Is this also for food?"

Shen Dongsu nodded: "Of course!"

Lu Yunzhou: ... Princess Ling came to Youzhou just to eat, right?

At this time, Shen Dongsu heard the blacksmith ask Lu Yunzhou, "It's not easy to beat such a round iron cylinder!"

This is what the princess wants, and they don't dare to make any mistakes, so it takes a little longer.

Shen Dongsu sensed something was wrong and asked them: "How did you make this round iron cylinder?"

The blacksmith's face turned red and he gestured stammeringly. He first heated the red iron, hammered it over and over again, and then hammered it into a cylinder shape...

Even though she had never blacksmithed before, Dong Su could tell something was wrong. What she saw in the documentary was much simpler than this.

Then the method of rolling the molten iron into iron sheet and then making it into a cylinder was explained.

The blacksmith was stunned for a moment. If the person who said this was not Princess Ling, he would have thought that she was either a fool, or they were treating her like a fool for fun.

He blushed and said, "Can this iron sheet be rolled out like dough?"

"What kind of rolling pin can roll molten iron?"

Dong Su laughed and gestured like a blacksmith:

"Of course you don't roll it by hand, you use a grinder! There are two iron rollers with a hopper on top. Pour the molten iron in and turn the roller, and the molten iron turns into iron sheet little by little..."

She explained in detail the appearance of the iron roller she had seen in the documentary. The blacksmith was still confused, but Lu Yunzhou's eyes lit up.

But what he wanted to ask more was: "Where did the princess learn about this method?"

Shen Dongsu turned around and saw that this expression was familiar to her. It was the typical reaction of a technology geek when hearing about new technology.

If she wanted to say that she read it in a book, she would probably have to change from a spy to a thief and try every means to steal the book from her.

He said, "Listen to what others say."

Unexpectedly, Inspector Lu became even more enthusiastic, and his nose widened a lot: "Who did the princess hear this from?"

Shen Dong raised his eyebrows: "You don't want to think that the person who knows this method might be your senior brother, right?"

This suddenly blocked Lu Yunzhou's retreat. He was anxious and embarrassed, and stammered like a blacksmith:

"I just want to get acquainted with this powerful man!"

Shen Dongsu couldn't help laughing, then you have already met, the powerful person is the real princess!

But of course she couldn't say that, and pretended to be helpless and said: "He travels all over the world, and I don't know where he is now."

"No, what you want to do now is to make this coal stove, instead of asking where you learned this technology?"

Lu Yunzhou then calmed down his emotions, cupped his hands and said, "Thank you, Princess, for your advice! I will try to make that iron sheet right now."

Ling Moxiao came back in the evening and heard that the princess wanted coke again today and asked the Ministry of Military Industry to make a stove.

Ling Moxiao's mood improved instantly. When the little girl asked for something, it meant that there was another 'big gift' to be given to him!

During dinner, he asked Dong Su with a smile, what are you planning to do if you want coke? Are you going to use coke to boil salt?

The coke is very smokey. If this is the case, then move the salt-making workshop to another location.

Dong Su blinked his eyes and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, wait a little longer. When the coke and stove are ready, Your Majesty will know how useful the coke is!"

While waiting, it happened to be that on Friday, Youzhou City officially opened the market.

Ling Moxiao was going to the military camp in the morning and said he would come back in the afternoon to accompany her to the market. She wanted to go in the morning, so she asked Jia Si and Yue Jian to accompany her.

Shen Dongsu really wanted to go to the market, not just shopping, she wanted to see the situation of the merchants in Youzhou City.

She hasn't replied to Jiang's letter yet, but she just doesn't know what kind of business can be done in Youzhou.

As a result, this visit made her very disappointed. In addition to the large number of people, many people from outside the city came into the city with dry goods to exchange for necessary daily necessities.

As for the trading model, ordinary people actually want to barter instead of copper coins.

After all, the reason is that they are too poor, they lack daily necessities, and there is no place to buy things even if they need copper coins, so it is better to barter.

Only when enough supplies have been exchanged and there are extra goods, will copper coins be asked for.

Merchants asked for copper coins, but they also accepted barter, but the price was severely suppressed, and the common people could not even think of getting a bargain from the merchants.

In addition, there was another business that made her feel extremely uncomfortable, and that was slavery.

The poor people at the border could not even sell their sons and daughters, so they had to take advantage of the market day to come to Youzhou City to sell them.

However, according to her observation, very few people sell their sons and daughters, and most of them are sin slaves.

Many criminal slaves who were sent to the border gates did not know the process and ended up selling them on the market with labels.

She was not so kind-hearted that she was possessed by the Holy Mother and bought all these slaves.

Buying and selling slaves is a legal business these days. She bought them all today, and there will be a batch next Friday.

Just like the beggar cowering in the corner of the city wall, if you give him a few pennies for a steamed bun, you can save him for a while, but you can't save him forever!

The common people are living such a miserable life. The root causes are foreign invasion, troubles caused by nobles, harsh government, and border turmoil.

If we don’t solve the problem at its root, there will always be living people inserting bids for sale, and orphaned children will become beggars...

She just looked at the slave market with compassion and indifference. Those slaves' eyes were so poisonous, and it was immediately obvious that she was of noble status.

He deliberately wanted to show off in front of her, pulling the slave over to show her her teeth, hair, hands and feet.

The slaves were expressionless, their faces were like wood, and their eyes seemed unable to move.

Yue Jian and Jia Si were both ready, but the princess couldn't bear it and bought these dozens of slaves back to her house.

As a result, Shen Dongsu just looked at it for a while, then turned to leave.

Shen Linzhong, who came with her, asked her in a low voice with a heavy voice: "Don't you want to buy a few?"

Dong Su knew that the eldest brother was remembering that he had sold himself into slavery, so he smiled softly and said:

"There is no shortage of people in the palace. How many can we buy? If we buy them all today, there will be more and more expensive slaves next time."

What she has to do is find a way to solve the problem at its root.

Without diamond means, don’t give to the heart of a Bodhisattva.

Regarding her reaction, Jia Si agreed very much and explained to Shen Linzhong:

"The servants of the palace have to go through many layers of screening, and it's easy for spies to sneak in here."

But Shen Linzhong knew that his sister didn't mean this.

For the rest of the trip, everyone was in a heavy mood.

Until Ling Moxiao came back and heard the whole story, he did not comfort Dong Su. Compared with other border towns, the situation in Youzhou is relatively good.

At least after he came, there were far fewer people who froze to death, starved to death and were killed by foreigners.

He could understand Dong Su's mood, just like his own mood when he saw the situation in Youzhou when he first came here.

Change is easier said than done!

However, he will definitely change!

Not only Youzhou, but also the whole of Daxia.

Ling Moxiao said softly: "There is also a market outside the city. I will accompany you to see it."

Dong Su was confused: "Is there one outside the city?"

Aren't there often small groups of Tatars outside the city? Jia Si sent people to look for coal and mine salt, and they all brought a troop of soldiers and horses.

"This market only opens once every half month. It's for trade with foreigners."

Shen Dongsu had long heard that in addition to Tatars and Han people, there were also various foreign ethnic groups living in Mobei.

They were bullied by the Tatars just like the Han people, and the whole family hid in the mountains and forests to avoid trouble.

Now she got excited, changed into riding clothes, and led a team of personal guards out of the city with Ling Mo Xiao.

Before leaving, Ling Moxiao specially asked Jia Si to bring some salt, not the precious green salt, but ordinary yellowish brown salt blocks.

Shen Dongsu didn't ask why. Anyway, she knew the reason when she got there.

Going out of the city to a remote forest, she found that the market was just like an underground black market, a small trading area.

There are very few foreigners coming and going, but all of them are strong and young.

His eyes were extremely alert, as if something was wrong, he would run away.

It was April, and they were still wearing leather clothes, carrying bows on their backs, and axes on their waists. They didn't have any decent weapons.

Carrying various wild animals on his back, most of them were robes, wild wolves, wild boars, rabbit skins and fox skins, as well as piles of precious medicinal herbs.

But they piled them on the ground like turnips and cabbages.

Shen Dongsu took a fancy to those herbal medicines at a glance and saw that some of them were sold in pharmacies in Chang'an or Guangzhou and were very expensive and in small quantities.

But here they are piled on the ground like a pile of wild vegetables, which makes me feel extremely distressed.

She also found a rare wild orchid among a pile of herbs. When she picked it out, the alien threw it away with a look of panic.

He talked a lot, and a personal guard translated: "He said he accidentally mixed in the weeds, it was not intentional."

It was obvious that Ling Moxiao also recognized the orchid. The nobles of Chang'an loved flowers and fragrance, and an orchid like that put in a delicate porcelain vase could be sold for dozens of taels of silver.

The orchids in Chang'an were so delicate, but here they were just like wild grasses in the mountains.

Shen Dongsu wanted all the herbs and asked the man how much they cost.

As a result, he gestured with his fingers, stretched out his hands first, then hesitated and stretched out another hand, repeating the same word.

The guard explained: "He said he wanted two catties of salt. If there is no salt, he would need five catties of pickles."

At that moment, Shen Dongsu was not surprised that he had taken advantage of it, but instead felt a sense of sadness.

Why? Seeing this stranger, she thought of Grandpa Shen and Father Shen. They used to dig herbs, cut mugwort, pick wild chrysanthemums, etc. in the mountains.

After a hard day's work, everyone is very happy to earn three or five cents to go home.

People at the bottom, whose labor is so cheap, live a difficult and painful life.

At this time, the man said something again.

The guard didn't want to explain, but when the princess looked at him, he still said it: "If there is candy, I can exchange it for a pound."

Then I heard him mutter: "We are also short of sugar. Where can I get sugar for you?"

Shen Dongsu still didn't give him a lot of salt or sugar out of kindness, so she gave him two kilograms of salt and replaced all the herbs as he said.

Her bold transaction made other foreigners bold and sent over the herbs they brought.

They also only wanted salt and no money. Only one person pointed at their clothes and said something.

It didn't take Dong Su, the bodyguard's translator, to understand that he wanted cloth, cotton, enough to make a full set of clothes.

Dongsu and his party didn't bring any cloth, but there were other Han people who did, so Yue Jian exchanged more than ten cents for a piece of cloth dyed with indigo, and then exchanged herbs with the foreigner.

Those foreigners who brought game instead of herbs felt regretful. If they had known they would have brought herbs with them today.

The next market will be held in half a month, and the family's salt supply is almost exhausted.

Finally, with a wave of his hand, Ling Moxiao replaced all the game meat with salt.