Chapter 45 Wow, he can actually refine refined salt!
"Sir, do you think this is a good idea?"

"Can I just work first and decide later?"

Wang Ben thought and said, "

"Both refined salt and seeds are very tempting. I think both are worth considering."

In fact, Wang Ben was still thinking about it and wanted to see with his own eyes whether those new crop seeds were really as magical as Ying Heng said.

He had seen the effects of refined salt, but he had not yet witnessed its effects on new food crops.

He is the kind of person who won't release the eagle until he sees the rabbit.

Ying Heng smiled and agreed: "No problem, you can arrange some personnel in the next few days, and then I will let Xuanwu contact you in detail."

"Remember, we must not only guard against the spies from the remnants of the six kingdoms, but also those from the Xiongnu and Baiyue, as well as a group of black-clad men of unknown origin."

"We must intercept them three miles away and not let them see the secret of our planting."

Wang Ben patted his chest, full of confidence.

"Don't worry, since I have accepted this task, I will definitely do it properly!"

"Little brother, our brothers have worked hard day and night for the past three months and are almost exhausted. Can you give me another bag of salt?"

Wang Ben tried to ask for some benefits without changing his expression, thinking that it never hurt to ask, and if he got it he would make a profit, but if he didn't it didn't matter.

Although he is thin-skinned, it is nothing for him to risk his life for his brothers. After all, it is not the first time.

Ying Heng stared at him and sneered for a moment, and when he saw Wang Ben was a little embarrassed, he waved his hand and said:

"Qingyi, go get him another bag of salt. You don't have to teach him a lesson this time."

"Hehehe! On behalf of all the brothers, I would like to thank Master Thirteen for his great kindness!"

Wang Ben was filled with joy and laughed heartily.

In his opinion, today was another tangible harvest.

He knew that as long as he met this young master, good things would happen, and he couldn't help but feel secretly happy.

Five hundred kilograms of grain seeds, plus a bag of refined salt that was deceived, who dares to say that our central army is incompetent?

Wang Ben was extremely proud.

But Ying Heng sneered in his heart, do you really think that my things are so easy to get?

Have you heard of the story of the boiling frog?

By the time you realize it, you can no longer escape from the net I have set!
At the same time, the conversation between Ying Heng and Wang Ben left the other three confused.

They could understand the issue of grain and seeds, and as for whether the army would obey Ying Heng's allocation of new grain, they could also roughly understand the boundaries of power involved.

The new ruler has not yet been decided, and even as regent, the Thirteenth Prince theoretically does not have the power to directly mobilize troops.

If not, he would be an emperor rather than a prince regent.

Even so, the Thirteenth Young Master was not an ignorant person. He knew very well that to be in charge of a country, he must hold military power.

Therefore, it was understandable that he used the new grain as bait to recruit the army's loyalty to him.

Perhaps, in the eyes of the two prime ministers and Meng Yi, this is also reasonable.

But what is refined salt?
The three of them looked at each other, confusion in their eyes.

Finally, Li Si was the first to break the silence and asked, "Sir, the refined salt you just mentioned to General Wang, is it table salt?"

Before Ying Heng could respond, Wang Ben's loud laughter rang out.

"Haha! Lao Li, you are really short-sighted. That is not ordinary salt, but high-quality refined salt, which is finer than the finest river sand!

Just a little lick and you’ll enjoy the salty and savory taste!
My subordinates who participated in the experiment seemed to have endless energy after eating a few meals!
This refined salt is indeed a treasure. I have never seen such excellent salt in my life!"

After hearing this, the three of them became even more confused.

They knew that there was a small bag of refined salt hidden in the treasury, which was exclusively for the consumption of His Majesty the First Emperor. The entire Qin could only collect a tiny amount in a year. "Sir, you just said that you could have a thousand kilograms of refined salt. Could it be that you have found a vein of refined salt?"

Ying Heng waved his hand and denied it. "There is no such thing as refined salt mine. It's just a simple method of purifying mineral salt."

"I will tell you in detail when I plan my business blueprint. The food problem has not been solved yet, so the matter of salt will be put on hold for now."

Mineral salt purification?

The three of them grasped the key in an instant, and even Wang Ben couldn't help but marvel inwardly.

Oh, goodness!

This kid actually figured out a way to refine salt!

Doesn't that mean that he has an endless supply of salt resources?

What a treasure trove, boy!

Thinking of this, Wang Ben couldn't help but shake his head and smile bitterly.

I dare not even think about it, how great it would be if I could ask him about how to make salt just like I asked him about ice-making technology.

But then Wang Ben rationally dismissed the idea.

Salt is different from ice. In today's era, salt is a valuable material of strategic level!
Indeed, refined salt was definitely an important strategic resource at the national level during this period.

Even though Ying Heng currently has limited manpower, he will never easily pass on the technique of purifying mineral salt.

This is a powerful secret weapon that must be used at critical moments.

At the very least, we must wait until the overall situation is stable and make sure that the people under our command are loyal and reliable.

Only then can they engage in the business of purifying mineral salt.

Otherwise, once this method is leaked, the consequences will be disastrous!

Therefore, Ying Heng did not continue to discuss the matter of mineral salt with them, but changed the subject.

"Let's stop here for the food issue. There is one more thing to do next."

"Come with me to the papermaking workshop and we will discuss how to set up a formal official papermaking organization."

When Wang Ben heard about papermaking, he had no interest at all.

He shamelessly asked Qingyi for a bag of salt, left happily, and claimed that he would go back to arrange for his subordinates to protect the farmland.

The other three scholars were all shocked when they heard about the papermaking project.

They had not yet recovered from the surprise of the purification of mineral salt, when the Thirteenth Young Master dropped another astonishing news - papermaking.

During the Qin Dynasty, the concept of "paper" did exist, but the so-called "paper" at that time was actually expensive silk that could carry words, called silk.

Even for royal nobles, silk paper was not available on a daily basis. It was only used on important occasions such as the emperor's will, the Fengshan ceremony, etc.

On a daily basis, the common people relied on heavy bamboo slips to learn and spread written words.

At this time, Li Si was the first to break the silence and asked, "The paper you are talking about, is it the silk used for writing?"

Feng Quji and Meng Yi were also full of curiosity about this.

Ying Heng did not answer directly, but smiled and invited them to go to the scene to watch it together.

"Come with me, and you'll know it after a glance."

Everyone came to a place dedicated to papermaking, and saw Lu Ban leading the craftsmen to operate step by step.

In addition to a huge piece of paper that Ying Zheng personally completed yesterday with his true energy, more bamboo raw materials were being processed and immersed in a mysterious limestone slurry.

Ying Heng only taught this method of preparing limestone slurry to Lu Ban, which can be said to be the key technical threshold in the papermaking process.

(End of this chapter)