After Transmigration: Building a Kingdom in Turbulent Times

Zhao Kuan stood silently.

Fu Tinghan understood immediately, "You can’t find craftsmen?"

Zhao Kuan sighed, "Chief of Staff, this isn’t an excuse; they really can’t be found."

Right now, every matter in Qingzhou is more pressing than researching the salt-drying method. The Great Jin isn’t lacking salt; it’s just a bit expensive, and he thought the start could be delayed.

However, with Fu Tinghan personally coming over, and how much the Great General values him, it seems there’s more to the salt policy.

Zhao Kuan went over the people he could use in his mind and said, "I have people searching for craftsmen skilled in salt boiling in all counties."

Currently, most places still obtain salt through wood-boiling.

But, boiling salt requires skill; it’s not just about pouring water into a pot and blindly burning fire, which is why they need technicians.

Of course, for Fu Tinghan, boiling salt isn’t difficult, but time is tight now, and he really doesn’t want to recruit newcomers and teach them one by one.

However, due to the ravages of war, people are wandering everywhere across all provinces, and most registered craftsmen are not in their original locations, making it indeed difficult to find them.

Fu Tinghan thought for a moment and said, "Continue searching for craftsmen for the time being, and also find me a hundred trustworthy, strong young men; I’ll teach them how to boil salt and dry salt."

Zhao Kuan agreed but expressed skepticism about Fu Tinghan’s written method, "Chief of Staff, can sea water really be dried to produce salt?"

Soon, the two craftsmen Zhao Kuan found gave him an answer, "Sea water can indeed produce salt when dried, but it can’t be consumed; eating it is deadly."

Of course, it’s not immediate death, but they’ve lived by the sea for generations, and their ancestors occasionally discovered that sun exposure would leave white grains on the beach, recognizable as salt upon touch.

Thus, ancestors secretly tried drying sea salt, only finding it bitter and unpalatable, with consumption eventually leading to poisoning and death.

So, they refused to dry salt.

But, Fu Tinghan insisted on drying salt.

Between the craftsmen and Fu Tinghan, Zhao Kuan naturally trusted Fu Tinghan, so he directly handed over the two craftsmen he painstakingly found, along with the selected hundred young men, to Fu Tinghan.

Fu Tinghan then took them to live in a deserted small fishing village by the sea, which was convenient, with flat and open beaches and Guangzhou next door.

Sun Linghui, hearing that Fu Tinghan had arrived, immediately selected another hundred young men and brought them to him.

Regardless of whether the salt-drying method works, turning them over to Fu Tinghan to learn skills is never wrong.

What Qingzhou has, Guangzhou also wants.

Watching Sun Linghui bring people directly across the boundary into Qingzhou, and Fu Tinghan also opening several salt fields next to the beach for experimentation, Zhao Kuan couldn’t help but say, "Governor Sun, why rush so? The salt-drying method hasn’t even begun yet."

Sun Linghui smiled, "I’ve never doubted Minister Fu’s capabilities."

Zhao Kuan glanced at the slightly curled corners of Fu Tinghan’s mouth and cursed silently, "Flatterer," then immediately said, "Third brother-in-law, I trust you too."

The curve of Fu Tinghan’s mouth rose further, his brow and eyes filled with smiles, "I need some things; I’ll trouble both inspectors to help me find them."

He was also fair, giving each person the same piece of paper, its contents identical to the formula they’d received when leaving Chen County, specifying various strange and peculiar items, like heavy spar, not uncommon by the sea and found abundantly in coastal rocks.

Fu Tinghan said, "These items are not precious, and will be needed in large quantities later, so the more the better."

Zhao Kuan and Sun Linghui exchanged a glance and nodded in agreement.

So busy, Fu Tinghan’s arrival here not only didn’t reduce their workload, it increased it.

The two went off to arrange things, feeling somewhat troubled.

Fu Tinghan then began leading people to build salt fields.

He led the group through the river banks, setting up a structure in each salt field to increase the contact area between brine and air, expand the evaporation area, and enhance evaporation.

To avoid future disputes between Qingzhou and Guangzhou, he treated each equally; each hundred sent had their place in their own salt flats; even the number of developed beach plots was the same.

It wasn’t really a good season for drying salt, as temperatures were dropping, Fu Tinghan knew his primary focus was research.

Fu Tinghan led the young men to dig trenches by the sea; at high tide, seawater would flow into those trenches, and opening the salt field gate allowed it to flood the fields.

Qingzhou and Guangzhou have little rain, lots of sunshine, and strong winds, so despite slightly lower temperatures, under the sun and wind the seawater evaporates rapidly, especially with Fu Tinghan having people stir it regularly to increase the contact area with air, speeding evaporation.

Brine from one field is transferred to drying in another, freshly leveled and filled with seawater; as brine thickens in the second field from evaporation, it’s moved to a third, while second field’s drying progresses further... 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

In this way, the hundred people assigned from each side were kept busy, rapidly producing gray and pale yellow crystals in the salt fields.

Hearing about it, Zhao Kuan rushed over to see, visibly thinner after twenty days, with his beard covering half his face, making him look darker.

Fu Tinghan also darkened, but managed to maintain his appearance without becoming nearly unrecognizable like Zhao Kuan.

Zhao Kuan squatted by the field, grabbing a handful of piled sea salt, asking, "Is this ready?"

Fu Tinghan glanced at him, "Not yet, it’s coarse salt; I need to dissolve and filter out impurities."

Fu Tinghan used two methods to filter coarse salt: one involved dissolving coarse salt in a prepared material and then drying it into salt; the other was dissolving in water, stirring, filtering, and re-crystallizing.

He wanted to see which method was faster and better, perhaps combining the two.

Seeing the hills of coarse salt piled in the salt fields, Zhao Kuan was amazed, "If this dried salt can be consumed, won’t salt prices... drop dramatically?"

Zhao Kuan’s heart trembled, sensing a potential upheaval in the world.

And Qingzhou and Guangzhou may become embroiled in the vortex.

Brushing off the salt from his hands, Zhao Kuan seriously told Fu Tinghan, "Chief of Staff, if you need anything in the future, just tell me; anything I can find, I’ll get it for you."

"Should I send you another two hundred people? I see there’s a lack of manpower in the salt fields; over there it’s such a large area, the seawater there should also produce salt."

Fu Tinghan could even make glass; isn’t drying salt simpler than glassmaking?

Zhao Kuan felt his previous confidence in him wasn’t big enough; he could be more generous.

"If two hundred people aren’t enough, I’ll recruit more for you; just say how many you want, and there will be."

Fu Tinghan asked, "Our grain and provisions have been delayed for two days; if another two hundred come, can you sustain them?"

Zhao Kuan wiped his face, "I’ll have people send the provisions to you; those for additional recruits will also be replenished."

He gritted his teeth, he could sell some belongings and buy grain from passing merchants if necessary.