Chapter 103 - 99: Salt Well
"Oh, a Salt Well."
Qin Ziwen let out a small sound of surprise. ’A Salt Well is an excellent thing to have.’
’Zhang Bo used to have a monopoly because of his Salt Well, raising prices all over the place. Now I have one too.’
’With this, I can cure any game I catch without worrying about running out of salt.’
The Salt Well didn’t have a large footprint, requiring only a 2x8 meter area.
The stone quarry, however, required a much larger area. Like the iron mine, it needed a 10x10 meter plot of land.
He went to the mining area off to the side.
This area had originally been created using a 20x20 Sand Expansion Card.
The top-left and top-right corners were now filled by two 10x10 mines. The congee shed occupied the bottom-left, leaving a large, empty plot in the bottom-right corner.
He mentally activated it.
When the light faded, a sunken patch of ground appeared before him.
From a distance, it looked like a hollowed-out inkstone. The central area was sunk one to two meters into the ground, enclosed by uneven earthen slopes still covered in weeds and loose dirt.
The most striking feature was the bluish-gray granite half-embedded in the earth at the center.
Nearby stood a large, crude wooden table with two baskets on it.
Walking closer, he saw that the baskets were filled with chisels, hammers, and crowbars.
There were also three sturdy, sheet-metal wheelbarrows for transporting the quarried stone.
’Now I have three resource sites: a coal mine, an iron mine, and a stone quarry.’
’But the main problem is still a lack of workers.’
’Right now, the main workers are still Qin Ziwu and Li Tieshan. They only come over to mine for a bit when we need iron for forging. The rest of the time, the mines just sit idle.’
’What a waste.’
After inspecting his new quarry for a moment, Qin Ziwen moved over to the congee shed and used the Salt Well Card next to it.
The light faded.
A long, low structure appeared. The first part was an earthen well one and a half meters in diameter.
The well was covered by a small rain canopy. A crooked wooden pole rested across the mouth of the well, with a worn wooden bucket tied to one end by a hemp rope.
He approached the well, and a briny, acrid smell immediately hit him.
He squinted, peering inside. The Salt Well was deep, and at the bottom lay the brine.
Shifting his gaze, he saw the salt-drying beds next to the well.
They looked like feeding troughs for pigs, except these were perfectly square, measuring two by two meters.
The ground of the drying beds was covered in a layer of semi-dry, yellow earth. Qin Ziwen had seen videos about ancient salt-making methods before. He knew the process: draw the brine from the well, pour it into the drying beds, and let it bake in the sun. Once the water evaporated, the layer left behind would be the crudest form of salt, which wasn’t edible.
To the right of the drying beds was a large cauldron.
It was used for a second round of boiling and purification. Only after this second purification was the salt barely edible. Because it was rich in minerals, it had a greenish tint, which was why it was called green salt.
He used Insight on the Salt Well.
[Level 1 Salt Well: Level 1 Rapid Evaporation, Level 1 Rapid Purification]
’This Salt Well is like the Blacksmith Shop,’ Qin Ziwen mused. ’It won’t just produce salt on its own. To get the most value out of it, I need someone with the right skills.’
’Of course, a Salt Worker isn’t the same as a Blacksmith. A Blacksmith needs skill and strength. A Salt Worker needs strength and experience. As for mining... that’s just pure, back-breaking labor.’
He looked toward the congee shed. ’Since I’m short on people, could I recruit some of these refugees?’
He started a pot of congee, and soon, two vagrants arrived together.
It was a man and a woman, both sallow and emaciated with hunger.
"Do you know how to produce salt?"
"Sir, I’m a farmer."
"I know how to farm," the two said hurriedly.
Qin Ziwen waved a hand, dismissing them.
𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶
"Huh? Sir, isn’t this a congee shed? We’re so hungry. Can we please have a little to eat?" Like ravenous ghosts, the two clutched at the wooden posts, their faces etched with desperation.
Resigned, Qin Ziwen ladled a bowl of thin congee for each of them.
After finishing, they wanted more, licking their lips as they stared at the fragrant white congee in the pot.
Qin Ziwen’s expression darkened. "Du Yu."
Hearing his name called, Du Yu hurried over.
At the sight of the burly Du Yu, the two panicked and quickly scurried away.
This was the first time Qin Ziwen had seen with his own eyes how the refugees from the congee shed disappeared.
They ran a few steps to the side, their bodies gradually turning transparent. Ripples spread out around them, and then they vanished from sight.
’These Cards... they really are something else.’
"Sir, so you were handing out congee." Du Yu glanced around and added a word of caution, "These vagrants have all been driven from their homes. A few are fine, but if too many gather, there’s no telling what they might do. You must be careful, Sir."
Qin Ziwen gave Du Yu a curious look. "You know about this sort of thing?"
Du Yu’s voice was grave. "I’ve seen vagrants riot before, looting congee sheds and clashing with Officials."
"Alright, I’ll be careful," Qin Ziwen said.
"I’m looking for skilled workers who know how to produce salt," Qin Ziwen said, pointing to the nearby Salt Well. "It would be a shame to let this go to waste."
Du Yu understood. "Ah. Sir, the professional Salt Workers from the saltworks are usually from hereditary salt-producing families. They’re registered, so they rarely become refugees. However, some villages dig their own simple wells, and the villagers will produce salt in their free time when they’re not busy with farm work."
Three more groups of people came and went, but none knew how to produce salt. Just as the small pot of congee was nearly empty, a man finally arrived who had experience. He was a skilled worker who had drawn brine and boiled salt in his village, but he was old—fifty-three, to be exact.
Because of his age, Qin Ziwen decided to also keep the younger man traveling with him.
"What are your names?"
The man who’d been kept replied without a second thought, "I didn’t call for anything, Sir."
"I’m asking for your name!"
"Oh! Right. I’m called Da Zhuang."
"This old one is Liu San."
"Alright. You said you know how to make salt. You two can stay here and do that every day. I’ll provide all your meals."
Liu San immediately dropped to his knees. "Thank you, Sir!"
Da Zhuang stared blankly for a second, then seeing Liu San on the ground, he quickly knelt as well. "Thank you, Sir!"
"Get up. No need to kneel. Let me ask you, with the two of you using this equipment, how many jin of salt can you produce for me each day?"
Liu San hesitated. "Sir, we can probably produce twenty to thirty jin of crude salt. If you want the twice-purified green salt, it would only be about ten jin."
’That’s a lot.’
Liu San puffed out his chest. "We can do even more! The process has three steps: drawing the brine, drying it, and boiling it for purification. There are only two of us. If we had two more helpers, we could double the daily output! However... boiling the salt uses a lot of firewood, Sir..."
"Don’t worry about firewood. I’ll take care of it."
Qin Ziwen now understood. If Zhang Bo’s Salt Well was the same type as his, then with a full crew, he was likely producing forty to fifty jin of crude salt per day.
’That guy must have produced hundreds of jin of crude salt by now. He must be rolling in it.’
"Alright, I’ll go recruit two more helpers. You two can get started."
Qin Ziwen then picked out two more vagrants who looked honest. When they learned he would provide all their meals in exchange for working as Salt Workers, the two were overcome with gratitude.
Turning away, Qin Ziwen began to calculate in his head. ’Now that I have the Salt Well, I’m not short on salt anymore.’
’That means I need to start planning my hunting expeditions.’
’While I’m still in the forest where game is plentiful, I should stockpile as much meat as possible. I don’t want to wait until I reach the Gobi Desert, where the only prey will be scorpions and Western diamondback rattlesnakes—creatures with barely any meat on them.’
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