On the way to escape famine, my parents divorced

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Although the soldiers who were not selected were unwilling, the entire selection process was open and fair, and everyone could see how difficult the selection process was and how high the standards were.

No matter how jealous they were, they could only accept it and work hard in secret, hoping to be selected in the next round.

Li Shiyue was standing on the command platform in the Xuanjia Army's training ground, looking at the two hundred elite soldiers below who had been selected through four rounds of rigorous competition.

Although they looked exhausted, they stood ramrod straight, their eyes burning with a fierce desire to achieve great things.

"You are the sharp teeth and claws of the Xuanjia Army!"

Li Shiyue's voice, delivered with her inner strength, was clear and powerful, instantly spreading throughout the entire training ground.

"From this day forward, you will undergo the most rigorous, arduous, and unique training!"
Every drop of your sweat will forge merit on the battlefield of the future!

Every sacrifice you make is to protect the people behind you!

Li Shiyue suddenly raised her voice and shouted, "Tell this general, are you afraid of hardship? Are you afraid of death?"

"Don't be afraid! Don't be afraid! Don't be afraid!"

The roar of two hundred people in unison was deafening.

"it is good!"

Li Shiyue's gaze swept over the crowd below the stage. "From this day forward, the 'Mysterious Armor Warriors' and 'Mysterious Armor Dark Blade' special operations battalions are officially open!"

In the days that followed, specific areas along the coast of Jian'an Prefecture and the nearby deep mountains and dense forests became the whetstones for these two emerging forces.

The training of the "Black Armor Warriors" is extremely arduous.

They not only need to continue improving their swimming skills, but also need to learn and hone their boat handling techniques.

The boat evolved from a single-person canoe into a small fishing boat that could accommodate multiple people, and then Li Shiyue found several large fishing boats through Yan Jiuniang's connections.

Of course, the three modified modern steel fishing boats and the five "spiritual motors" that Li Shiyue had were still safely stored in her system inventory.

Now is not the time to bring these out.

As for the "Mysterious Armor Dark Blade," it vanished like a ghost among the jungles and mountains.

Their training focuses on wilderness survival, camouflage and stealth, mapmaking, intelligence gathering, and assassination techniques.

In the small group chat of Li Shiyue's mental trading system, all her friends shared information about "special forces" training methods in their own worlds.

Li Shiyue meticulously selected training methods from both modern special forces and ancient or futuristic technological worlds, choosing those that aligned with her era, and thus devised a hellish training program for these soldiers.

This includes ensuring that soldiers can find food and water in extreme environments;

Able to use the terrain to hide oneself;

And it can deliver a fatal blow to the enemy as quickly as possible under any conditions.

Li Shiyue also specially divided them into two groups, with one group simulating Japanese pirates, and the two groups fought against each other to train their combat capabilities.

Training is brutal, and elimination still occurs.

Some people will drop out because they cannot adapt to the high-intensity training, while others will stand out due to their outstanding talent and rapid progress, becoming candidates for captain.

But training is not just about enduring hardship.

At the end of each month, Li Shiyue would hold a small "skills competition" in the army.

The competition will test boat handling speed, swimming ability, and multi-person team combat.
Competitions include jungle raids, archery skills, and small-group tactical battles.

The winner will not only receive extra meat and silver rewards, but also a bronze token with the character "Li". The more tokens you collect, the better items you can exchange for in the Xuanjia Army in the future!

As a result, everyone in the special operations battalion was in high spirits, and everyone was very motivated to strive for first place.

Of course, while the 'Xuanjia Elite Warriors' and 'Xuanjia Dark Blades' were undergoing rigorous training, the more than one thousand ordinary soldiers in the Xuanjia Army camp were also undergoing daily training. All of this was in preparation for future attacks by Japanese pirates, to protect the territory and its people.

Just as Li Shiyue was wholeheartedly devoted to the Xuanjia Army, the salt fields built along the coast of Jian'an finally produced their first batch of sea salt!
After nearly two months, some encouraging results have finally been achieved.

Li Shiyue rode his horse with Sun Xiaoliu and Chen Yong to the salt fields by the sea.

Under the scorching sun, seawater flows slowly through a series of salt ponds, eventually crystallizing into snow-white sea salt.

Piles of sea salt, like small mountains, filled the newly built salt warehouses, shimmering with a delightful light in the sunlight.

The snow-white, crystal-clear sea salt on the ground, when picked up and examined closely, was of far superior quality to the soil salt and well salt commonly found on the market today.

The only thing that can be compared to it is probably the snowflake salt produced in the salt lake controlled by Xie Mingyue of Youzhou.

Li Shiyue looked at Li Yu, who was noticeably three shades darker from the sun, and praised him repeatedly with a beaming smile, almost calling him the greatest merchant of all time.

The praise from Li Shiyue instantly made Li Yu feel that all the suffering and hardship she had endured over the past two months had been worthwhile.

"General!
The salt-making method I obtained from the general is truly remarkable!

Li Yu and Li Dalang have practically lived by the sea for the past two months.

He personally witnessed the salt fields along the coast gradually develop from nothing to something. He even personally tried making brine using a special brush and wearing wooden clogs.

As salt crystals gradually formed in the salt fields, Li Yu's admiration for Li Shiyue deepened.

With such a low-cost and high-efficiency salt-making method as solar salt production, how could one not make a fortune?

"This method only requires some manpower when first building the salt fields."

"After that, all we need to do is train a few skilled salt workers to make brine," Li Yu turned and pointed to the rows of salt fields outside the salt warehouses, which had only been built a month ago, and said, "A thousand acres of salt fields only require twenty or thirty people!"

Li Shiyue, of course, knew just how good her salt-making method was.

So, faced with Li Yu's excitement and agitation, she calmly nodded and asked a question—how long will it take before this salt can be dumped in large quantities?

Jian'an was sparsely populated and its local population could not consume much salt.

Salt was a strategic resource and an important source of revenue that was strictly controlled by successive dynasties.

Looking at the sea salt in the salt warehouse, Li Shiyue already had a plan in mind.

She needs silver, a lot of silver, to support the Xuanjia Army, build ships, and buy equipment from the system.

To Li Shiyue, this pure white sea salt was like pure silver.

After returning to Jian'an City from the salt fields by the sea, Li Shiyue immediately summoned the mechanical golden eagle in the garden of the governor's mansion.

A secret letter that Li Shiyue had written in the study was rolled up and placed in a copper cylinder on the golden eagle's claw.

This letter was addressed to Yan Jiuniang, who was in Jiangnan at the time, accompanying Yan Xuefei, who had just given birth, during her postpartum confinement.

Along with the letter was a purse that Li Shiyue had tied to the golden eagle's other claw, containing a handful of sea salt that she had just grabbed from the salt warehouse.

In the letter, Li Shiyue detailed the production and quality of Jian'an sea salt and proposed a bold plan to Yan Jiuniang: "...the salt production is abundant, of high quality and low price."

However, Jian'an is located in a remote corner, and sales are not smooth.

I urge you, Ninth Sister, to devise a plan to secretly establish a sea salt trading network in Jiangnan, Henan, and even the capital, with the help of your family's merchant caravan.

They could use the guise of grain or cloth merchants to actually sell salt.

We'll split the profits 50/50.

Jiu Niang, please remember, this matter must be handled with caution. Avoid confronting the local official salt authorities and initially focus on infiltrating the market with low prices. (End of Chapter)