Chapter 165 Yes, the Prince (asking for monthly tickets)

"You came just in time."

When he saw Feng Qing, Li Xiang grabbed the method of drying salt on the table and handed it to Feng Qing: "This is the specific method of drying salt. Take it and take a look, and then promote it to all parts of Dengzhou."

"Drying salt?" Feng Qing took the paper.

What an extraordinary name! The word “sunbathing” successfully whetted Feng Qing’s appetite.

"Most of Dengzhou's land is saline-alkali land. It's better to turn it into salt fields for drying salt." Li Xiang said with a smile: "The salt produced by drying will be purchased and sold by the Governor's Office, and it can also become an income for the people."

Hearing Li Xiang's words, Feng Qing immediately took them to heart.

"Okay, I'll do it right away."

"No hurry, you should settle your family first." Li Xiang said with a smile: "No one lives in the west courtyard of the Governor's Mansion, so why not let Feng Changshi live in the west courtyard."

"This...isn't appropriate?" Feng Qing asked hesitantly.

It is said that a clean magistrate can earn one hundred thousand silver coins in three years, but Feng Qing, who was the magistrate...had no spare money at home.

He basically used the remaining money to buy new clothes or to supplement his family expenses. He wanted to buy a house in Penglai County, but he really couldn't afford it.

But you still have to be polite.

"What's inappropriate? As the Chief Secretary of the Governor's Office, isn't it normal to live in the Governor's Office?" Li Xiang said with a smile.

"Then I will respectfully obey your command." Feng Qing did not say much and immediately accepted this proposal which would allow him to save some money.

Finally, he waved to the woman behind him.

"This is my daughter Yingying." Feng Qing introduced his daughter to Li Xiang again. "My wife died early, leaving only this daughter like you to depend on for life."

Feng Yingying bowed to Li Xiang.

"I've met the prince."

"Yeah." Li Xiang just glanced at it, then nodded and said, "Let's settle down first."

There are only five people in Feng Qing's family. Besides him and Feng Yingying, there is only an old servant couple and a maid.

After Feng Qing settled down, Li Xiang asked him to go to various counties and start working on the salt fields.

Li Xiang was not idle either. He would run to Su Dingfang whenever he had nothing to do.

His words must be useful. Now Su Dingfang and others are not only training in land combat, but also in water combat.

"Are you having any difficulties during training?" Li Xiang stood at the bow and asked Su Dingfang.

"It's not difficult." Su Dingfang replied immediately.

Li Xiang smiled and pointed at Su Dingfang.

"Don't hide any problems. Speak up and then solve them. That's the right thing to do."

Before Su Dingfang could answer, a burst of shouting and cursing came from the other side.

The three men looked back and saw a lieutenant kick a soldier in the stomach with a powerful spinning kick.

The new recruit took several steps back and sat down on the ground.

She looked quite young, and felt very aggrieved after being kicked, tears immediately came out.

"It's not okay to educate soldiers like this. Our navy is a civilized force." Li Xiang frowned and looked over there.

After all, I have been influenced by modern society and I don’t really see this.

"Liang Youde!" Pei Xingjian roared.

The captain who was about to chase heard Pei Xingjian calling him, and did not dare to be negligent. He glared fiercely at the new recruit who was still wiping tears, turned around and ran over here.

"Let me ask you, what were you doing just now?"

"General, that new soldier is too stupid. How can he hold the knife like that?"

As he spoke, Liang Youde stretched out his hand and compared the way the new recruit held the knife.

"If you swing your sword like this in a military formation, you will hit your comrades next to you."

Li Xiang asked: "But he is a new soldier after all. Aren't you afraid that he will have some psychological trauma if you do this?"

Upon hearing this, Liang Youde glanced at Li Xiang, then at Pei Xingjian, and did not dare to answer.

"This is our Prince of Hengshan." Pei Xingjian said.

Hearing that it was the Prince of Hengshan, Liang Youde quickly crossed his arms and said, "Prince!"

"No need to be so polite." Li Xiang nodded.

"Your Highness, you don't know that some of these soldiers are really stupid. If we don't use some powerful tactics on them..." Liang Youde was still very angry when he spoke.

"That won't work either." Li Xiang said with a straight face, "You're being a little too cruel. Didn't you see that you kicked him and made him cry? General Su and General Pei can treat you as a brother, so can't you treat them as brothers?"

"Of course. If I didn't treat them as brothers, why would I care about them?" Liang Youde cried out in grievance.

"Beating, scolding and corporal punishment are definitely wrong. In the future, if there are disobedient children like this, it's okay to kick them a few times." Li Xiang compromised.

"Yes, Prince." Liang Youde replied with his chest puffed out.

"Oh." Li Xiang sighed.

Pei Xingjian immediately asked, "Prince, what's wrong with you?"

"Nothing, just some sentimental things." Li Xiang smiled and said, "I originally wanted to build our navy into a civilized and powerful force, but it seems like a long way to go."

"Don't worry, Your Majesty. I will never allow such situations to happen again in the future!" Su Dingfang promised.

"That's not necessary. We should proceed step by step." Li Xiang thought for a while and said, "How about this, in a few days I will invite some poor students to the army and teach them how to read."

Su Dingfang and Pei Xingjian looked at each other. Although they didn't understand what the prince meant, they nodded in agreement.

I am still thinking, learn characters?
Not to mention the point of learning characters, how can these soldiers have any enthusiasm for learning cultural subjects?
"Captain Liang, take this opportunity to talk to them." Li Xiang raised his chin towards the more than 200 new recruits over there.

Liang Youde was also confused, but he still carried out Li Xiang's order happily.

Li Xiang and his two companions also walked over, and as expected, they heard someone ask, "Captain, we are soldiers who risk our lives to fight for our lives. What use can it be to us if we learn to read?"

"This is the order of the Prince!" Liang Youde said.

Then he felt someone's hand on his shoulder.

Looking back, it was Li Xiang. "Prince," he said with his arms crossed.

"Well, let me talk to them." Li Xiang said in a gentle voice.

He walked over, looked at the man who asked what was the use of learning culture, and asked with a smile: "What is your name?"

"Wang Gensheng." the man replied.

Li Xiang nodded and asked, "Do you want to be a general?"

"Your Highness, you are joking. I am not fit to be a general..." Wang Gensheng scratched his head.

Li Xiang smiled and asked, "Do you know why you are asked to learn culture?"

"I don't know." Wang Gensheng answered truthfully. The others also shook their heads, looking puzzled.

"I let you learn culture so that you won't be a soldier for life," Li Xiang said. "You don't need culture to fight on the battlefield with your head on your waist. But when the day comes when you become a general, if you can't read a single word, can't tell the position of a plaque when it falls down, and can't even read the military newspaper, won't you miss the opportunity to fight?"

"Can we become generals too?" Wang Gensheng asked hesitantly.

"The Tang Dynasty's military merit system clearly states that if you achieve a certain level of success, you will become a general." Li Xiang patted his shoulder and said, "Remember, a soldier who doesn't want to be a general is not a good soldier!"

"A soldier who doesn't want to be a general is not a good soldier?" Wang Gensheng repeated, his eyes getting brighter and brighter.

"I understand, Prince," he said loudly.

Li Xiang nodded and said to the people in front of him: "In a few days, I will invite some teachers to the army to teach you how to read."

"Next month, I will hold a literacy contest in the army. Three winners will be selected from every 200 people. The person with the most literacy will be rewarded with a cow and a sheep; the person with the second most literacy will be rewarded with a cow; and the person with the third most literacy will be rewarded with a sheep!"

When they heard that there was a reward and that three people would be selected from two hundred people, everyone's eyes widened.

In their view, generals and the like are all illusory, but cattle and sheep are real things.

"In addition, the winners will have another literacy competition. The top three this time will be promoted to lieutenants!"

On the same day, Li Xiang sent people everywhere to invite young men from poor families to teach in the Dengzhou Navy. At first, some people were reluctant to teach this group of talented people, but under the incentive of two strings of cash a month, they all expressed that it was their duty to help the Prince of Hengshan share his worries.

The teaching activities were also carried out smoothly, and the soldiers' enthusiasm for learning was extremely high. After all, this was a double incentive, and it was tangible, and who wouldn't want cattle and sheep?
In fact, Li Xiang's idea was very simple. The navy would have artillery in the future, and since the emergence of artillery, there has been a discipline called artillery science...

Of course there are further ideas, but they are not yet mature.

By June, Silla's envoys kept sending envoys to the court, requesting the Tang Dynasty to send troops to help.

The Tang Dynasty was not in a hurry and was very patient.

After all, Goguryeo and Baekje have only conquered more than 20 cities of Silla even though they have joined forces.

However, if we send out troops rashly now, by the time we reach Goguryeo, it will be freezing cold, which is not appropriate.

However, the Tang Dynasty was still sincere enough and gave Silla all the support except for the actual help.

Feng Qing was also very efficient. He took his people with him and worked for nearly two months, and finally got some progress on the salt drying in the salt fields.

However, the implementation was only in Wendeng County. After all, Feng Qing had served as the county magistrate of Wendeng for twenty years and had some prestige.

But the situation in the other three counties was not satisfactory. Before seeing the salt being dried, who would think that this thing was really reliable?
Sun-dried salt? It doesn't sound very reliable. Can white salt be dried out just by exposing it to the sun?

dream!

Sun Delong, the successor county magistrate of Wendeng, was considered Feng Qing's confidant and was also doing his best to help him promote the business.

But the people were forced to develop salt fields, and they inevitably had complaints.

After all the effort and time, who knows if it will succeed?
It was hard enough to perform corvée labor, but I didn't expect that in addition to corvée labor, I would also have to work in this so-called salt drying field.

The people of the other three counties, as well as the landlords and bureaucrats, were all waiting to see Feng Qing make a fool of himself.

Li Xiang’s promise a few days ago to let the people of Dengzhou drink meat soup was based on this?
The holy Emperor Hui of Jin at least knew... ahem, he couldn't say more, as it would be taboo.

The people of Wendeng County are now holding their breath. Some people really believe in Feng Qing and think that the old county magistrate will not cheat them. They work hard to develop the salt fields, but the majority of people have a lot of resentment in their hearts.

You can't blame them. It's just that people from the surrounding counties come here every now and then to mock them for daydreaming. No one can stand it.

After the salt fields are finally built, it’s time to start drying the salt.

Fortunately, the weather has been good recently, with sunny days in a row, so the salt can be produced quickly.

The people of Wendeng went from being skeptical at first to being half-believing and skeptical, but finally, when they saw the white salt being dried out in the salt fields, they all celebrated.

Who would have thought that it was so easy to dry salt out?
Although preparing the brine is a little troublesome, this job is much easier than working in the field!

When you farm, you have to worry about the harvest, pests, floods or droughts - what about salt fields? You just leave it there to dry.

Harvest? Guaranteed harvest regardless of drought or flood; Pest? Who would want good insects to run into the salt... As for floods? We can dry the salt after they pass, so we don't have to worry about a few days' delay; What? You mean drought? Damn, isn't drought a good thing for us to dry salt?

After seeing the white salt being dried in the sun, the people no longer complained, but instead became even more enthusiastic.

When other counties saw that the people of Wendeng had actually dried salt, they became jealous and regretted not listening to Feng Changshi and following Wendeng County to dry salt.

After Li Xiang sent people to various villages in Wendeng County to purchase salt on behalf of the Governor's Office, the envy of the counties was raised to a new level.

There is no other reason, because Li Xiang guaranteed that no matter how much salt is produced, the Dengzhou Governor's Office will purchase it uniformly according to the current price, and there will be no malicious price-cutting incidents.

The government's credibility was still guaranteed, especially after Li Xiang really managed to produce salt using this unpopular method.

The officials in Dengzhou who were originally watching the excitement all felt their faces swell up three or four feet high.

This face was slapped and it made a loud noise!
What is most abundant on the seashore is saline-alkali land. When you dig salt fields, you will find white salt.

The most barren land suddenly became a treasure land.

The prince's idea of ​​making it possible for the people of Dengzhou to afford broth might actually come true!
If all the people in Dengzhou could afford to drink broth, wouldn't that be even more awesome than the Three Dynasties' rule?
With such remarkable achievements, they...

Thinking of this, the officials in Dengzhou also became jealous.

On the other hand, they also sent people back to their families to develop salt fields and become rich together with the Prince of Hengshan.

Li Xiang wrote two letters, one to Li Shimin and the other to Princess Gaoyang.

In the letter to Li Shimin, he talked in detail about the salt-drying here and asked for his instructions on the issue of the tax distribution based on the acreage of salt fields.

Writing a letter to Princess Gaoyang was simple. The housekeeper would eventually send people to buy salt and then sell it all over the country.

(First update sent)

(End of this chapter)