Chapter 81: Refining refined salt!

After chatting for a few more words, Li Zhao stood up and said goodbye, took Baimo and others to leave Zhou's shop, wandered around the West Market for a while, and entered another large salt shop.

Seeing a customer entering the store, a young man hurried over to entertain him: "This little customer, what do you want to buy? The Bashu fine salt in our store has the first-class color and taste."

"No need, weigh five hundred buckets of coarse salt for me!"

"What, coarse salt?"

"That's right, it's coarse salt!"

Guanzhong is relatively rich, and is close to Bashu and Hedong, so most people eat fine salt and fine salt. Only a very small number of poor families who cannot afford to take off their pot will have no choice but to choose coarse salt!

Li Zhao was dressed well, like a handsome young man. He didn't want to buy the cheapest coarse salt, which surprised the young man. Could it be that there was a guy with a golden and a broken silk?

However, those who open the door to do business only ask what the customers need, and don’t ask too much about the rest. The young man picked up a wooden bucket and weighed it quickly...

When people in the Tang Dynasty traded goods not in units of weight, but in units of volume. The most commonly used weighing tool is Dou, and Dou can be divided into large and small:

Big bucket = 6000 ml, which is generally used to weigh rice, wheat, millet, etc.

Small bucket = 2000 ml, which is generally used to weigh daily necessities such as salt, wine, vinegar, etc.

Now in Guanzhong area, a small bucket of coarse salt costs 200 cents, while a large bucket of high-quality white rice costs only 20 cents.

This shows how big the price difference between salt and rice is, and how rich the profit of selling salt!

Several young men started working together, and quickly weighed five hundred buckets of coarse salt and put them in a few large sacks.

Li Zhao paid the money and asked the white buns to the nearby livestock market. He bought a ox cart for 15 jin and rushed to the front of the salt shop. Then he directed everyone to carry several large sacks of coarse salt, and bought wooden buckets, funnels, gauze, and some quicklime in the west market, which were also placed on the car.

Someone asked, is there any quicklime in the Tang Dynasty?

Don’t worry, the ancestors of the Chinese nation were very smart. They mastered the technology of firing quicklime as early as the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty and used quicklime for construction. By the Sui and Tang Dynasties, quicklime became a popular thing, and the output continued to increase, so it was not difficult to buy it!

"Master, why did you buy so much coarse salt? This thing is so unpalatable. You can only pickle pickles or feed livestock."

"Don't worry, wait a moment, and see me make a little trick for you."

"What trick?"

"Haha, a little trick that can turn coarse salt into fine salt!"

"ah!"

Baimo knew very well that Li Zhao had no friend who sold fine salt at all. Now that he heard what he said, he immediately understood that his master had found a way to make money.

"Do you four know that there is a place near Chang'an City that is hidden, safe and has enough space?"

"There is such a place near the villain's residence."

"Oh, where do you live?"

"Twelve miles northwest of the city - a bad village."

"Okay, go see!"

Twelve miles northwest of Chang'an, it was originally the former site of Weiyang Palace in the Han Dynasty.

According to literature records, Weiyang Palace covers a vast area, with Xuan chambers, greenhouses, coolness, Qilin, Jinhua... There are more than 40 large buildings, pavilions, towers, mountains, rivers, and magnificent.

Unfortunately, more than 900 years have passed, the Han Chang'an City has long been transformed into a ruin, and the once magnificent Weiyang Palace has also become a poor and broken village, with more than 200 families living in, most of which are bad people and their families, so it is named: bad village.

Liu, Miao, Wang and Wei lived under a dirt slope, with only four thatched huts and a spacious yard, without even serious bricks and tile walls, and barely building a circle of fences!

Moreover, all four of them are bachelors, and they don’t have wives and children, which is easy to deal with.

Interestingly, there is a hole under the soil slope, and the entrance is relatively narrow, so it can only be used by two adults side by side. However, after walking for more than ten steps, the space inside suddenly became larger. Even if you sit for fifty or sixty people, it doesn’t feel crowded. It is well ventilated, warm in winter and cool in summer, and there are no snakes, insects, rats and ants!

What's even better is that there are a large number of trees near the entrance, so if you don't walk closer, you won't be able to find a dark hole here!

Liu, Miao, Wang and Wei also accidentally discovered this dark cave. After a little cleaning, a wooden fence gate was set up at the entrance of the cave, and some food and debris were often stored in it, so it was used as a warehouse!

Under the guidance of the four, Li Zhao came to the cave and after a little inspection, he was quite satisfied with the situation here.

"Okay, bring in all the things we purchased today."

"promise!"

Liu Yidao, Miao Erjian, you two get some wood ash and carry a few buckets of water."

"promise!"

Although they didn't know what Li Zhao was going to do, everyone faithfully executed the order and moved all kinds of things into the cave.

Everything is ready and the trick is beginning!

Step 1: Take five dou of coarse salt and pour it into the bucket, stir evenly with a small wooden stick, so that it completely melts, and then lets the impurities such as mud and sand sink to the bottom, and then drain the upper layer of clear liquid into the second wooden bucket!

The second step is to make quicklime into lime milk, pour it into the wooden barrel according to the ratio, and use chemical reactions to precipitate the toxic magnesium chloride in the brine, and then pour the clear liquid into the third wooden barrel!

The third step is to pour a small amount of wood ash (containing soda ash) into the wooden barrel, and use chemical reactions to precipitate several impurities such as calcium chloride, barium chloride, etc., and then pour the clear liquid into the fourth wooden barrel.

Step 4: Wrap charcoal with gauze and put it in a funnel, filter the liquid repeatedly, and finally pour it into an iron pot to boil...

After half an hour, all the water in the iron pot was dried, and a layer of salt as white as snow and fine as sand appeared at the bottom of the pot. Whether it was purity or color, it was even better than the fine salt sold in the salt shop!

Li Zhao also called the weighing weight. Five dou of coarse sea salt turned into four dou of fine salt, which lost about one-fifth, indicating that there was a lot of wasted during the refining process. However, considering that the tools were too backward, it was understandable.

The trick is over, and there should be applause at this time!

Unfortunately, there was no applause, only a few people who were stunned and trembling all over, especially Liu, Miao, Wang and Wei, who were too excited and fainted one after another.

Li Zhao was so scared that he pinched the human race again and pushed the uterus to death. After working for a while, he finally woke up the four people. It was just a simple chemical purification experiment. If he had lost several lives, it would be worth it.

After several cycles, Li Zhao had a lot of funds, which solved the funding problem of bad people's organizations!

What to do next?

Recruiting personnel, expanding production, allowing wealth to continue to expand like a snowball, and then monopolize the entire salt market?

A big mistake!

The proposal to expand production was firmly denied by Li Zhao, and he solemnly warned the four guards and three sentences:

The first sentence: Keep it confidential!

Second sentence: Keep it confidential!

The third sentence: Keep it confidential!

If production is expanded, a large number of people must be recruited, which means that the secret of refining refined salt will be leaked soon. What are the consequences?

A great thinker once said a famous saying: If capital has 10% profit, it will be guaranteed to be used everywhere; if there is 20% profit, it will become active; if there is 50% profit, it will take risks; for 100% profit, it will dare to trample on all human laws...

Refining coarse salt into fine salt, but the profit of 20 times will it attract the covetousness of many greedy people and then develop a murderous intention?

In that case, Li Zhao, Bai Mo, Bai Sun Rat, and the four guards... will probably die without a place to bury them.

Therefore, before having enough self-protection capabilities, the business of refining refined salt must not be expanded or even leaked.

Maintaining the status quo, making money in a low-key manner, and ensuring safety is the king!
Chapter completed!