Dad, open the door. I'll bring your mistress back for you.

"Miss Mo is still the Empress of the Palace, why should she be afraid of him?"

As soon as Shen Chuning finished speaking, Yun Zian's face darkened two shades at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Shen Chuning secretly stuck out her tongue.

Butler Mo explained, "Miss Shen, you don't know that you were forced into the palace to save the master from prison. The master has always felt that he owed you something, so he doesn't want to act under the title of Consort Hui in the palace, for fear of causing trouble for the queen."

Shen Chengwu sighed, "What's the name of the salt envoy? I'll try to find some connections in the capital."

"Wait a minute, Butler Mo just mentioned the favorite concubine of the eldest prince? What's the surname of the salt envoy?" Shen Chuning suddenly asked.

If she remembered correctly, Feng Yucai's elder sister seemed to be the favorite concubine of the eldest prince. Is this eldest prince so fond of favoring people?

"The Censor's surname is Feng." Butler Mo replied.

"The family of Lord Feng, the Vice Minister of War." Shen Chengwu reacted.

……

"Master Feng, we are from the Mo family's Tonghai Salt Field."

"I've already released your people. Keep a close eye on them. If you do it again, or if the higher-ups catch you, I won't let you off so easily."

"Yes, yes, we will definitely pay attention to it. It's just that Tonghai Salt Field has not been in production for more than ten years, and now everything is not going well. You have been the salt envoy for so many years, so please find a way out for Tonghai Salt Field." Yun Zian said as he handed Lord Feng a few silver bills.

Lord Feng opened the banknote, looked at the denomination on it, and stuffed it into his sleeve with satisfaction.

"If you ask me, closing the door is the best way out." Lord Feng smacked his lips.

"It's not that easy. If we can't pay the salt by the end of the year, we'll be sued."

Lord Feng twirled the ring on his finger and curled his lips. "Can't pay the salt? That's easy. Buy refined salt from me. 45 taels of silver a barrel. That will allow you to pay the salt, and you don't have to worry about my men secretly selling contraband salt."

Yun Zi was relieved and understood that Lord Feng was probably the biggest private salt dealer.

Butler Mo wanted to say something, but Yun Zian shook his head at him.

"Lord Feng, may I ask you some questions?" Shen Chuning suddenly said.

Master Feng glanced at Shen Chuning and said impatiently, "Where did you come from, little girl? Have you grown your hair yet? You come here to meddle in the affairs of adults. Go home and embroider."

Shen Chengwu saw that Lord Feng spoke disrespectfully to Shen Chuning, and clenched his fists to prepare to argue.

Shen Chuning pulled her aside.

"I have a jade pendant here, which I think is very suitable for Lord Feng, and I want to give it to you." Shen Chuning took out a jade pendant with cloud pattern from her purse.

When Lord Feng saw the jade pendant in Shen Chuning's hand, which was warm and flawless, his eyes lit up and he quickly ordered someone to take it from Shen Chuning.

When he took a closer look, his smile froze on his face. "How...how did you get the jade pendant of a direct descendant of my Feng family?"

Shen Chuning brushed off the dust on her body. "Of course it was given to me by someone else. Otherwise, how could I have stolen it? I wonder if Master Feng can answer some of my questions now?"

"Of course, Miss, please ask me anything. I will tell you everything I know." Lord Feng said respectfully, and then returned the jade pendant to Shen Chuning.

Shen Chengwu saw the change in Lord Feng's attitude and looked at Shen Chuning thoughtfully.

"Sir Feng, may I ask if someone tipped you off when you arrested the smugglers of salt this time?" Shen Chuning asked.

"There was no one leaking the information. It was just discovered during routine inspections." Although Lord Feng spoke with confidence, his eyes were evasive.

"Oh?" Shen Chuning played with the jade pendant in her hand.

"Well, let me put it this way. Some people don't want you to open a salt field here." Lord Feng sighed. "This Tonghai Salt Field has been run by the Gu family of Tonghai County for many years. Most of the salt workers have signed contracts with the Gu family. If you rashly take over, they will definitely cause trouble."

"But we got the salt permits for the Tonghai Salt Field. Isn't it said that the salt permits for the Tonghai Salt Field haven't been sold for more than ten years? How could it be run by the Gu family?" Shen Chuning said.

"Miss, you don't know that the Gu family is the father-in-law of the deputy salt transport envoy. Even if there is no salt permit, they can still earn this money."

Shen Chuning thought of what Lord Feng had said just now: he had salt for sale. "Lord Feng, you're not clean in there either."

"Hey... hey... it's just to make a little money. There's nothing I can do. They are all my superiors. If I don't go along with them, I will either lose my job or my head." Lord Feng said awkwardly.

"Thank you, Lord Feng, for telling me this."

"Listen to my advice. This Tonghai Salt Field is a hot potato. Let's get rid of it if we can."

"The salt permit is already in my hand. What can I do?" Shen Chuning said helplessly.

"That's right. Then replace those cooks with your own people as soon as possible, otherwise something bad will happen sooner or later. I can cover it for you this time, but if you replace me, I won't be as easy to deal with as you."

……

Several people returned to Tonghai Salt Field with sad faces.

Shen Chuning carefully observed the salt-making process and couldn't help but ask, "Do we have to use this method of drying ash, soaking brine, and boiling salt with grass? It seems time-consuming and laborious, and it's extremely dependent on the cook. If we change people right away, I'm afraid it won't be possible to get it up to speed in a short time."

Yun Zian smiled wryly and replied, "Using this method to make salt, the cost per barrel is as high as forty taels of silver, and the salt administration is only willing to buy it for twenty taels of silver per barrel."

Hearing this figure, Shen Chuning opened her mouth in surprise and asked in disbelief, "Isn't the Salt Administration just robbing us? How could other salt fields agree to such a price?"

"There's nothing we can do. Only the Tonghai Salt Field has such a high cost of salt production. The cost of a barrel of salt at the nearby Beihuai Salt Field is less than three taels of silver." Yun Zian's tone was full of helplessness and sighs.

Shen Chuning frowned and asked, "Then Tonghai can't usually borrow the salt production method of Beihuai Salt Field?"

Yun Zian sighed, "I've tried it before, imitating their technique of expanding the soil and soaking the brine, but the results were not ideal. The brine was cloudy, and the color of the salt was very dark, which didn't meet the standards."

Shen Chuning frowned, "I remember Shandong also produces salt."

Yun Zian shook his head helplessly. "The Mohists have tried every method you can think of. They imitated Shandong and built earthen ponds, but the soil here is loose and they always leak, making them unable to hold brine. Even if they switched to building brick ponds, the same problem still exists. So for now, they can only stick with the old salt-making method."

After thinking for a moment, Shen Chuning consoled him, "But fortunately, Uncle Mo has gone to Japan to learn new salt-making techniques. I've read in the Records of Mountains and Rivers that the soil in Japan is similar to ours, so their salt-making methods might be helpful to us."

Yun Zian sighed and nodded in agreement: "I hope so."

"I think I have an idea!"