Diqin Designer

Chapter 90 This Salt Making Method Cannot Be Shared with the People
Chun Yuyue congratulated Ying Zheng and said, "Congratulations, Your Majesty! Your Majesty's promotion of this plow is a policy of a sage king and will surely be admired by all the people!"

Seeing that it was Chunyu Yue, Ying Zheng had just heard the story of Li Shiqi from Li Nian yesterday, and had a deeper understanding of this group of Confucian scholars:

These Confucian scholars were not bad people, but they were too deeply influenced by the teachings of Confucius and Mencius, and they relied on benevolent government, Zhou rituals, and sage kings for everything.

Too lazy to pay attention to him!

Ying Zheng pointed to the salt on a tray held by an eunuch and said, "After we have enough food, we should eat better. If we want to eat better and more delicious food, please taste this salt."

A group of eunuchs holding salt dishes brought the salt to the ministers. Looking at the white salt in the dishes, the ministers were quite surprised.

It’s not because I have never seen salt of this quality before, but from what the king said, this salt seems to be able to be mass-produced so that everyone in the world can eat it.

The ministers stretched out their fingers, dipped a little in the salt dish and put it into their mouths. A salty taste immediately rushed into their tongues. This salt did not have that familiar bitter taste!

In fact, the odor is still there, but it has been reduced.

The salt used in Daqin today is mainly mineral salt, which contains a lot of impurities. According to the modern industrial production steps, it is necessary to add excess barium chloride, sodium hydroxide, and sodium carbonate in turn, remove the corresponding sulfate, magnesium ions, and calcium ions, turn them into precipitates, and filter them out.

Then add hydrochloric acid to remove excess hydroxide and carbonate, and finally evaporate and crystallize to evaporate the hydrochloric acid, leaving sodium chloride, which is table salt.

But in Daqin's current environment, where could Li Nian find barium chloride, sodium hydroxide and hydrochloric acid? He could only use another method that was applicable to Daqin - adding wood ash.

The main component of wood ash is potassium carbonate. Boiling it with the salt of the time can convert the magnesium ions and calcium ions contained in it into magnesium carbonate and calcium carbonate, which can then be precipitated and filtered out.

However, using wood ash is not as effective as using barium chloride and hydrochloric acid to remove impurities completely. But for this era, it is already a rare improvement.

After dipping a finger, some ministers seemed to be unconvinced and not afraid of the saltiness, so they pinched a small handful with their fingers and put it in their mouths.

It still has that pure salty taste, without any bitterness.

After tasting the salt, one of the ministers asked Ying Zheng, "Your Majesty, do you want to spread the method of making this salt to the world?"

Ying Zheng asked: "What's wrong with that?"

The minister said seriously: "Your Majesty is right to care about the people, but what is wrong is very inappropriate! Everyone in the world needs salt, and the profit of salt is more substantial and more stable than taxes."

"Farmers need to depend on the weather to grow crops, but salt does not need to depend on the weather. Therefore, I think this salt-making method should not only not be spread to the world, but should be strictly controlled and taken over by the Qin Dynasty."

Hearing this, Chunyu Yue could not help but jump out and said, "Shameless boy, you want the king to compete with the people for profit! The king is willing to implement benevolent policies for the world, but you want to ruin the king's good deeds, what is your intention?"

Although the Qin Dynasty also controlled the salt industry at this time, it was not as strict as the later salt and iron state-run enterprises, which were completely operated by the state. Instead, it allowed some salt and iron merchants to exist.

The Shu Zhuo family, the Cao Bing family, the Diao Jian family, the Cheng Zheng family, the Wan Kong family and others all became extremely wealthy by running salt and iron businesses.

The minister looked at Chunyu Yue and said coldly: "This salt-making method may be beneficial to the people if it is spread throughout the world, but it may not be beneficial to the Qin Dynasty, let alone the people! Doctor Chunyu is well-versed in ancient and modern knowledge, but he is also a shallow person!"

Chun Yuyue was so angry that his face turned red. Just as he was about to speak out a rebuttal, he heard Ying Zheng say, "Please tell me in detail."

He really didn't think much about what would happen if the method of making this salt spread out, and Li Nian didn't mention it when he gave him the method.

The minister explained his reasoning in detail to Ying Zheng, which was that salt must be monopolized by the state so that there would be a stable source of tax revenue.

The Qin Dynasty did not hold all the profits from selling salt in its hands, but allowed some salt merchants to exist: first, salt was not difficult to make, and anyone could make it as long as there was a source of materials. Instead of forcing many people to make salt secretly, it was better to allow a few to do so;

Second, the Qin Dynasty could not take care of the whole world, so it needed salt merchants to deliver salt to all directions.

Third, allowing some salt merchants to exist is conducive to the stability of the Qin salt industry. The salt merchants who are allowed will certainly not want other salt merchants to appear. Once I go upstairs, I will definitely pull out the ladder.

But times have changed now. The world has been unified, and those once recognized salt merchants can be eliminated. Should we keep them to continue to share the salt profits?

The minister was thinking hard about how to get back the salt merchants' permission to sell salt, but after much thought, he could not come up with any good solution.

Forcing salt merchants to obey through government decrees may make them obey, but it cannot make them truly convinced, nor is it justified.

The new salt that Ying Zheng brought out today gave him an idea.

What kind of salt do salt merchants sell?

It's green and tastes bitter and astringent.

But this salt is snow-white and has no bitter taste.

If you were a salt buyer, which kind would you buy?
All the Qin government needs to do is to produce enough of this salt to impact the entire salt market and seize salt buyers from the salt merchants.

If no one buys salt from salt merchants anymore, doesn't that mean that the salt business licenses once granted to salt merchants have been withdrawn in disguise?

The minister said: "I am not trying to stop the king from benefiting the people, but for the sake of the Qin Dynasty, this salt-making method cannot be spread out at least for now!"

After listening to the minister's statement, Ying Zheng and other ministers also realized the hidden problems.

Chunyu Yue opened his mouth, but finally sighed and said nothing.

Is it really a good thing that salt is completely monopolized by the Qin Dynasty?

Ying Zheng said: "In this case, I will follow your advice and not announce this salt-making method to the world for the time being."

He was going to ask Li Nian how the salt industry was regulated in later generations?
The minister said: "The salt making method will not be spread, but the salt industry will be the exclusive business of Daqin, and the people will be able to buy this high-quality salt in the future."

Many ministers shook their heads secretly. The words sounded good, but things were not that simple. Do you want the king to take things out again after they have fallen into his pocket?

Even if the current king has the guts to pay, what about the future king? Will he raise the price of salt and impose a heavier salt tax?
Seeing that the atmosphere in the hall was somewhat heavy, Ying Zheng said: "There are two more things I would like to invite you to taste. One is tofu, which is made from beans. Although it tastes like beans, it is not as hard to swallow as bean rice."

"Try it, everyone!"

The eunuchs carrying the salt dishes retreated, and another eunuch carried a tray and brought tofu and thirteen spices to the ministers of the Qin Dynasty.

When the ministers looked, they saw three things on the tray: a dish of green and white things, a dish of brown powder, and a pair of chopsticks.

The brown powder exudes a rich aroma, not a floral or grassy scent, but an enticing and appetizing smell, as if adding it to food would make the food taste even better.

(End of this chapter)