The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 25 How many people did you kill?
View the sea salt fields.

Qi Jiguang and the twelve members of the Yuanyang Squadron stood in battle formation, oblivious to everything around them. They spoke and moved, like figurines placed in a cabinet.

The other eight mandarin duck teams were scattered around, each gathered in groups and chatted in low voices.

Zhang Dashu glanced at the squad of soldiers and whispered, "Look at the Heavenly Soldiers and Generals. They're much more powerful than us. Even after the battle is over, they're still in fighting stances without blinking. When will we be able to become as good as them?"

Captain Zhang Dalang chuckled and said, "Don't be silly. Mortals can't achieve that. Only heavenly soldiers and generals can be so awesome!"

After saying that, he turned to the cook Zhang Wazi and asked in a low voice, "Wazi, how many ears did our team just cut off?"

Zhang Wazi opened the bag and pulled out several bloody left ears. He counted them one by one, "One, two, three, four... Hey, brothers, we got four ears."

Everyone was delighted: "One ear is thirty taels of silver, four is... is... is how much is it?"

The entire team was illiterate and it took them a long time to calculate how much the four ears were worth.

After a while, the captain Zhang Dalang figured it out: "120 taels of silver. Nowadays, one tael of silver can be exchanged for about one string of coins, which means 120 strings of coins."

"what!"

The whole team laughed in satisfaction.

"Once this war is over, I can ask Brother Qian for my money."

The Zhangjiacun team cheered excitedly. Someone from the Yuanyang team nearby couldn't help but turn around and ask, "What are you guys laughing about?"

Zhang Dashu grinned: "Our Zhangjia Village team killed four enemies and can get 120 strings of cash."

The person asking the question fell silent for a moment...

But Zhang Dashu, this idiot, couldn't understand the atmosphere and asked stupidly, "What about you guys?"

The person asking the question groaned, "We killed the enemy, too."

Zhang Dashu: "Is it a lot?"

The person asking the question groaned again and said vaguely, "Anyway, they are coming."

Zhang Dashu: "How many are there?"

The person asking the question couldn't evade the question and said, "One!"

Zhang Dashu: "Haha, just one. Hahahaha, I didn't make much money."

The twelve men from the team next to them all stood up with dark faces and said to their team leader, Zhang Dalang, "We're going to beat up Zhang Dashu from your team. Don't stop us."

Zhang Dalang spread his hands helplessly: "Hit him lightly, kick his butt."

Then the laughter and Zhang Dashu's begging for mercy echoed throughout the salt field.

While the soldiers were having a great time, Yue Wenxuan was strolling around the salt fields with Madam Gong Er...

As they walked, he suddenly tugged at Madam Gong Er's arm, pulled her along, and slipped into the gap between two dilapidated houses. He went around to the back of a dilapidated thatched cottage and gently knocked on the back window. No one in the room answered, but Yue Wenxuan could hear the clatter of tables and chairs inside.

"Don't be afraid!" Yue Wenxuan tried to keep his tone as gentle as possible and lowered his voice, "I secretly went around to the back of the house and knocked on the window to ensure that no one saw me and no one knew I spoke to you. You don't have to worry about being retaliated by Mr. Wang."

The room remained silent...

Yue Wenxuan continued, "I'll just ask a few questions and then leave. Please answer them honestly. It will only benefit your family later, not harm them."

He spoke so kindly that the people in the room finally felt his kindness and mustered up the courage to speak: "Scholar, Queen, if you ask, I will definitely answer you kindly."

When Madam Gong Er heard the title of Queen, she raised her eyebrows and wanted to protest, but the True Lord was right beside her, so she didn't dare to act rashly and could only keep her mouth shut.

Yue Wenxuan: "How did the Guanhai Salt Field operate when it was previously managed by the Song Dynasty government?"

The man in the house hesitated for a few seconds and then replied, "Back when the saltworks were under government control, all the salt workers in the saltworks had to sell their salt to the government and were not allowed to keep it for themselves. The government paid us four cents per pound of salt."

Madam Gong Er's expression instantly darkened, clearly a stress reaction to the value of 4 wen.

The man in the house continued, "When the weather is good, I can make about ten pounds of salt a day and earn more than a tael of silver a month. But if the weather is bad and it keeps raining, then it's all over..."

Yue Wenxuan thought to himself: "Only a dozen pounds can be made in a day with good weather? So little?"
I quickly returned to the sandbox and did a quick computer search. According to the Complete Book of Salt Administration, during the Song Dynasty, coastal salt production still relied on the outdated "solar salting" and "ash pond" methods. Salt workers dug a pit about ten feet deep on the beach and laid wood ash at the bottom, using the ash's ability to absorb heavy metal ions to purify the sea salt. However, this method was extremely inefficient: a single ash pond could only produce a dozen pounds of salt per day, and the ash needed to be frequently replaced.

This low efficiency meant they could only earn a few dozen coins a day. If it rained, even that was gone. The situation was even more severe in the northern coastal areas. The saltworks in Liaodong could operate for less than five months a year. The situation in Shandong was slightly better, but only extended by one or two months.

Simply put, the annual income is about six to eight strings of copper coins.

Yue Wenxuan continued to ask, "After Mr. Wang took control of this place, how did he operate?"

The people in the room were silent, this time for a long time, at least ten seconds, before they cautiously replied, "After Mr. Wang took over, the price of salt was reduced to three cents per pound. And instead of paying directly, they will convert it into corn and flour mixed with sand."

Madam Gong Er was furious, and her stress reaction was even stronger than before.

Yue Wenxuan patted her shoulder gently, signaling her not to worry. "Okay, I'm done asking questions. You just hide in the house for now. We'll come back to talk to you after we kill Mr. Wang."

He took Madam Gong Er with him, walked out from behind the house, and sat down on the beach.

Yue Wenxuan sat very casually, but Madam Gong Er sat very uncomfortably.

She had originally been afraid to sit down and stood to listen to the "True Lord"'s lecture, but the "True Lord" patted the sand beside her, motioning her to sit down and talk slowly. She didn't dare disobey. She had no choice but to sit down next to the True Lord with caution and trepidation. Now her whole body was timid, and the slightest movement would make her jump.

Wenxuan Zhenjun gave people a gentle and kind feeling, without the feeling of being superior, which made Madam Gong Er feel a little better. She even secretly looked at the Zhenjun's profile, thinking to herself: Zhenjun's Dharma body looks so young and handsome.

Yue Wenxuan interrupted her wandering thoughts and said, "You heard what Yan Ding and I said just now."

Madam Gong Er perked up, knowing that the True Lord was about to talk about serious matters, and quickly straightened her face: "I heard it!"

Yue Wenxuan: "I noticed you were very angry several times just now, and you were about to lose your temper. You seemed particularly excited when you heard the numbers 4 and 3."

Madam Gong Er quickly said, "Your Excellency, the official salt shop charges 40 wen per jin. I was furious when I heard they only paid the salt collector 4 wen. Then I heard that Mr. Wang only paid 3 wen, and that he even paid with corn and flour mixed with sand. I was even more furious."

(End of this chapter)