Chapter 286 The Problem of Salt and Cotton Clothes

"Ah."

Looking down at her, Wei Chengyi placed one hand behind his head and stared at the ceiling. "As early as half a month ago, I received news from the Imperial City that the Emperor already knew that the military power of Chenzhou had fallen into our hands. The reason why he did not take action during this period was that he could not spare so many people, and he was also afraid of Master and the others. I was originally wondering what he would do next, but I didn't expect that he would be waiting for us here."

At this time in his previous life, the peasant uprisings in Quanzhou and Taizhou had already been suppressed, and the emperor only needed to worry about the wars in Binzhou and the Eastern Territory. But in this life, the peasant uprisings in Quanzhou and Taizhou are still raging under his intervention. Even if they are suppressed, they will soon revive. Not to mention Binzhou, where the rebels won three consecutive battles. As for the Eastern Territory, the situation is better than in his previous life because of his full support for Chu Liang. But these are enough to give the emperor a headache. It is estimated that most of the remaining Dragon Shadow Guards have been sent to those battlefields, and it is impossible for them to be sent to Chenzhou to die in waves as before.

However, the emperor was really ruthless. Cutting off the supply of salt and iron was equivalent to cutting off their lifeline. If they were not short of iron, they would not even be able to make weapons at this time. How could they continue to practice fighting? And salt. People would have no strength without salt. If they could not find a large and stable supply of private salt, they would always face the crisis of salt shortage.

"The Dog Emperor!"

Cursing angrily, Shen Xiangwan sat up wrapped in a quilt: "Buying private salt is not a good idea. Not only is it expensive, but the supply is not necessarily stable. What's more, we don't want a small amount. We must find a way to solve the problem once and for all... By the way, are there any salt mines in Chenzhou?"

Halfway through his words, Shen Xiangwan suddenly looked at him with shining eyes. Salt is not only found in the sea.

"Salt mine?"

Wei Chengyi was stunned for a moment, then frowned and said, "Don't make trouble, eating mineral salt will kill you."

It's not that he didn't understand what she meant. It was precisely because he understood that he was helpless. Many people had eaten mineral salt before, and without exception, they all died. The imperial court had expressly stipulated that common people were not allowed to eat mineral salt. If any profit-driven merchant sold mineral salt, his entire family would be executed. Therefore, almost no one dared to touch mineral salt.

"Who told you that eating mineral salt will definitely kill you?"

Leaning over and poking his frowning brow, before he could protest, Shen Xiangwan continued, "It is true that consuming mineral salt directly can kill people, but I have a method of refining mineral salt that can remove the toxins in it and turn it into pure white salt. If there is a salt mine in Chenzhou, we can solve the problem of salt shortage and will not be strangled by the dog emperor in the future."

"really?"

Wei Chengyi sat up suddenly, his eyes shining. As far as he knew, there were many salt mines not only in Chenzhou but also in other places. If they could really turn waste into treasure, then they would no longer have to worry about the salt problem.

"I'm not the type to joke about such things."

Nodding in response to his inquiring eyes, Shen Xiangwan leaned over and leaned on his chest: "I will teach you the method of refining mineral salt tomorrow, and you can also arrange people to find salt mines."

"it is good."

Holding her with one hand, Wei Chengyi nodded with a smile, not doubting whether her so-called method of refining mineral salt was really feasible. He trusted his daughter-in-law 100%. Even if she said that pigs were flying in the sky, he would subconsciously look up instead of doubting what she said.

"The military affairs should have been dealt with by now, right? When will you be back?"

After the two lay down again, Shen Xiangwan asked casually while resting his head on his arm. As early as the end of last month, the Wei family army had exceeded a hundred thousand people in size. They had also stopped recruiting soldiers and were now in intensive training. The reason why Wei Chengyi had not returned was not because there was a problem with the army, but because the gap in military supplies was too large and he was needed to take charge of the dispatch.

"This year, the country has either been hit by floods or droughts. Resources are very tight. We are fine with weapons. We have found enough iron ore. We just need to smelt it. With your strong support, we have no shortage of food. The most troublesome things now are the war horses and the cotton clothes that the soldiers need to wear in winter. The court has already started to control the former, and even the people are having trouble buying the latter. There is still a shortage of nearly 50,000."

No matter what it was, Wei Chengyi would not hide it from her. As long as she asked, he would tell her everything he knew.

Shen Xiangwan nodded vaguely, and after a moment's hesitation, he said, "You guys continue to think of ways to buy war horses, and leave the cotton-padded clothes to me."

"Ok?"

Hearing this, Wei Chengyi frowned slightly: "The gap in the cotton-padded jacket is too big, we..."

"Have you forgotten that my space can be used for planting?"

Before he could finish, Shen Xiangwan looked up at him with a smile, "As for cotton, if we plant it now, we can harvest it in ten days at the latest. Tomorrow, let No. 1 draw you a blueprint for a loom. Have someone build it as soon as possible in the next few days. After the cotton is harvested, we will start weaving it right away. Since we can't buy it, we will be self-sufficient. We must not let the soldiers train in the cold."

After her space was upgraded to level nine, the area was large enough. She only needed to grow one season of cotton, which should be enough to fill their gap. As for the war horses, she was powerless to do anything.

"it is good."

After she said that, Wei Chengyi suddenly understood. Potatoes, sweet potatoes and corn have been planted in the space, especially corn. Although its yield is not as good as potatoes and sweet potatoes, the dried corn kernels can be stored for several years without going bad. It is very suitable as a reserve food for the army. He even forgot that other things can be planted in the space.

"By the way, how is Seung Hyuk?"

In a blink of an eye, their eldest boy has been in the military camp for several months. Seeing that he hasn't come back yet, he should have adapted to the situation, right?

"Not bad, I can now lead the team in training."

Speaking of his younger brother, Wei Chengyi couldn't help but smile a little. He suffered a lot when he first went to the military camp. I heard that he almost cried, but he got used to it slowly. A few days ago, he looked at him from a distance and found that he was already in good shape. However, if his father and brothers were still alive, they would feel distressed when they saw this scene, right? At the beginning, it seemed that his mother didn't let him join the army, but in fact, his father and brothers didn't want him to set foot on the battlefield again. They just hoped that he could be a carefree young master, but they didn't want...
"Let him come back during the Chinese New Year. Although Mom doesn't say it, she still misses him very much."

Not long ago, she accidentally saw Zhao Yuping quietly asking about Yuan Xiu’s military camp.

"Ah."

Wei Chengyi nodded and did not refuse. No one knew his mother better than him. She was probably worried to death.

"Go to bed early, we'll be busy tomorrow."

As she spoke, Shen Xiangwan yawned and snuggled into his arms again. Wei Chengyi stopped talking and just pulled up the quilt to cover her naked body. After her breathing became steady, he leaned over and kissed her forehead before hugging her and closing his eyes.

【End of this chapter】

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