Rise of a Lonely City: From Exiled Prince to Ruler of the Nine Provinces

The lingering charm of "The Night Banquet" still echoed in the minds of the envoys from all directions, and Han Yuan's soft power had quietly won people's hearts.

However, Xiao Chen's gaze had already shifted from the clinking of glasses at the banquet to another battlefield concerning the national economy and people's livelihood—salt.

Salt is "the general of food and a great treasure of the country".

Hanyuan is located in the northern border region and does not produce well salt. In the past, it relied heavily on imports from Northern Yan and the Central Plains, which were expensive and often subject to the control of others.

Although some salt was acquired through trade and confiscation, this was ultimately not a long-term solution.

With the "salt and iron monopoly," salt was of paramount importance; without salt, the people would be powerless and the army would lack morale.

Therefore, while the furnaces of "Black Mountain Iron City" were blazing, Xiao Chen had already ordered the establishment of a "salt industry base" on "White Beach," a hundred miles east of Zhenbei City, relying on the inland salt lake.

However, the traditional method of "boiling seawater to make salt" consumes a huge amount of firewood, is inefficient, and produces bitter salt, with production far from meeting demand.

"Your Highness," Yang Shen, the chief clerk in charge of salt affairs at the Ministry of Works, reported with a worried look, "'Baitan' Salt Lake is large, but it follows ancient methods. Even if all the forests within a hundred miles are cleared, the monthly salt production is only about ten thousand catties, and the quality is poor, with high costs. Many veteran salt workers say that this place... is not a good place for salt production."

"Not a good location?"

Xiao Chen looked at the scattered intelligence Night Owl had gathered from Jiangnan and the coast, and at the vague memories in his mind about the "salt-making method," and a slight smile appeared on his lips. "That's because they don't know how to use it. Issue an order to gather all the salt workers at 'White Beach.' I will teach them a new salt-making method."

At the "Baitan" saltworks, hundreds of salt workers, shirtless, toil under the scorching sun, sweating profusely as they "boil the sea" in huge iron pots.

Thick smoke billowed, and the heat was oppressive. The salt workers' faces were dark, their hands covered in burns and calluses, and their eyes were numb.

Leading the group were three "master craftsmen": Chen Laogen, Liu Laowai, and Sun Quezi. They were the "technical authorities" of the saltworks, possessing ancestral salt-making skills. They were stubborn, conservative, and implicitly considered themselves the "ancestors of the salt industry," and were quite dissatisfied with the newly arrived young manager, Yang Shen.

"Lord Yang," Chen Laogen said, puffing on his pipe and glancing sideways at Yang Shen, who had come to announce the "new law," "salt boiling, that's how it's been done since ancient times. And that... 'salt drying' you mentioned?"

He scoffed, "Spread the brine on the ground and let the sun bake it? It'll turn into a muddy mess! And the salt? Does salt fall from the sky?"

"that is!"

Old Liu chimed in, "The prince doesn't understand salt production and has been deceived by scoundrels. Our ancestors have always done it this way; changing the ancestral methods will incur divine retribution!"

Yang Shen was young, and he was so angry at these old hands that his face turned pale, but he was helpless.

These veteran salt workers control the crucial temperature and timing of adding brine. If they slack off or even sabotage the saltworks, the salt field will be paralyzed immediately.

Just as the two sides were deadlocked, Xiao Chen, accompanied by several students from the Department of Chemical Medicine of the Academy of Natural Sciences, traveled lightly to Baitan.

"Greetings, Your Highness!" The salt workers hurriedly knelt down.

"Get up, all of you."

Xiao Chen waved his hand, his gaze sweeping over the simple salt-boiling shed and the shimmering salt lake in the distance. "Chen Laogen, Liu Laowai, Sun the Cripple, tell me, isn't boiling salt bitter?"

"bitter……"

Chen Laogen answered instinctively, then straightened his back, "But for the Prince, for Han Yuan, it's all worth it!"

"fart!"

Xiao Chen suddenly shouted, startling Chen Laogen, "What I want is salt, not your bitterness! What good is bitterness? Can bitterness produce more salt?"

He walked up to a boiling pot of salt, scooped up some crystals with a spoon, tasted them, and then spat them out with a "Pah!": "It's bitter and astringent, and there are so many impurities! Is this your family's ancestral craft?"

"Your Highness, this..." The three old salt workers blushed.

"From today onwards, the salt-boiling method is to be stopped!" Xiao Chen declared decisively.

"Your Highness! You mustn't!"

Laogen Chen knelt down with a thud, tears streaming down his face. "The ancestral laws must not be abandoned! If the salt supply is cut off, what will the army eat? What will the people eat?"

"I have a better way."

Xiao Chen ignored them and turned to Yang Shen and the students of the Institute of Natural Sciences, ordering, "Proceed according to the plans and transform the salt fields!"

Students from the Academy of Natural Sciences had already drawn up a detailed "planning map of the salt fields for drying on the beach" based on Xiao Chen's "guidance" and combined with the topography, climate, and brine concentration of the "white beach".

Sluice gates and tidal canals were built to introduce high-concentration brine into the salt fields.

The salt pans are divided into "primary evaporation pools," "intermediate crystallization pools," and "advanced crystallization pools." The brine flows through these pools in sequence, gradually increasing in concentration through natural evaporation by sunlight and wind.

In the high-concentration brine pool, the salt naturally crystallizes and precipitates out, settling to the bottom of the pool.

The crystallized salt is scraped together using a specially made wooden rake and piled up to form a "salt mountain".

Thousands of engineers and displaced people were mobilized to launch a massive "salt field battle" at "White Beach." New tools and materials such as manual digging, ramming machines, and cement were widely used, resulting in extremely high efficiency.

Chen Laogen and his two companions watched coldly, sneering inwardly: "Nonsense! Utter nonsense! You think you can get salt by digging so many holes?" They even secretly conspired with a few close followers, preparing to "trip them up" at a crucial moment.

The salt field construction was entering a critical stage, and the advanced crystallization pools were about to be filled with the final high-concentration brine. That night, the moon was dark and the wind was high.

Three dark figures crept furtively to the edge of the crystallization pool. They were none other than Chen Laogen's prized apprentice, Zhao Da; Liu Laowai's son, Liu Xiao; and Sun Quezi's nephew, Sun Ergou.

They were bribed with large sums of money by spies from the Central Plains to contaminate the crystallization pools with "bitter brine," causing the new method to fail completely.

"Quick, pour the contents of the bucket back in!" Zhao Da whispered.

Just as the three men lifted the wooden bucket, torches suddenly blazed all around them! Dozens of Night Owl elites, armed with steel knives and crossbows, surrounded them like ghosts.

Xiao Chen, Yang Shen, and Chen Laogen, who had been "invited," emerged from the shadows.

"Master...Master!" Zhao Da and the other two were ashen-faced. The wooden bucket crashed to the ground, spilling its dark, bitter brine all over the floor.

"You wretched creatures! You..." Chen Laogen was both shocked and furious.

"Chen Laogen," Xiao Chen's voice was icy, "is this the disciple you taught? Is this the 'ancestral law' you uphold?"

"Your Highness, spare me! I... I didn't know!" Chen Laogen knelt down with a "plop" and kowtowed repeatedly.

Liu Laowai and Sun Quezi were terrified and begged for mercy repeatedly.

"I will not kill them."

Xiao Chen's words startled them. "I want them, and all of you, to see with your own eyes how this salt is extracted from this muddy soup!"

The next day, the sky was clear and the sun was blazing. Xiao Chen ordered the final high-concentration brine to be poured into the advanced crystallization pool.

The clear brine shimmered with a slight yellow hue under the sunlight. Chen Laogen and the others were forced to stand by the pool, staring wide-eyed at it.

One hour, two hours... Under the scorching sun and gentle breeze, the brine evaporated silently, and the water level gradually dropped. At the bottom of the pool, a layer of fine, white, crystalline particles began to appear.

"That...that is..." Chen Laogen's voice began to tremble.

The particles are becoming more numerous and thicker.

At noon, when the sun is at its strongest, the bottom of the entire crystallization pool is covered with a thick layer of snow-white "salt sand"!

Under the sunlight, it reflects a dazzling light, and from a distance, it looks like an endless snowfield!

"Salt...it really is salt..."

Old Liu muttered, "So...white...so delicate..."

He had boiled salt his whole life, and he had never seen such pure salt!

"Collect the salt!" Xiao Chen gave the order.

The salt workers, carrying wooden rakes, walked into the salt ponds and gently scraped, piling up large swaths of salt.

In less than half an hour, small "salt mountains" were piled up along the edge of the pool.

"Oh my god..."

Sun the Cripple knelt down, "This...is this some kind of magic? No firewood, no pot, just drying it like this...and it produced so much, such good salt?"

Looking at the mountain of snow, at the shimmering light in the sunlight, and then at his own hands covered in burns and calluses, Chen Laogen suddenly burst into tears.

"Your Highness!"

He turned to Xiao Chen and kowtowed three times, his forehead bleeding from the force of the blows. "I was blind! I was foolish! I deserve to die!"

"The ancestral methods... the ancestral methods have made us suffer our whole lives, only producing that bitter and astringent stuff... The Prince's method is a true miracle! It's a life-saving method! It's a method that allows everyone in the world to eat good salt!"

"Your Highness, I am willing to serve you to the death! I am willing to spread this salt-making method throughout the world!"

Liu Laowai and Sun Quezi also knelt down and wept bitterly, swearing allegiance.

They knew that their skills were worthless in the face of this "salt drying method".

Their pride was utterly crushed. But at the same time, they also saw a brighter path ahead.

The success of Baitan Salt Field was like a storm that swept across the entire Hanyuan region.

The solar salt production method increased salt output from tens of thousands of kilograms per month to tens of thousands of kilograms per day!

Moreover, it is of excellent quality, white in color, fine in grain, and pure in taste.

It does not require a large amount of firewood, and the manpower is greatly reduced, with costs only one-tenth of those of the salt-boiling method.

Chen Laogen and others became the most active promoters of the "salt drying method," and their personal testimonies were more effective than any order. Salt lakes and saline-alkali lands within Hanyuan were transformed into salt fields.

Hanyuan has achieved complete self-sufficiency in salt, no longer subject to the control of others. The abundant salt not only ensures the needs of the military and civilians, but also serves as a strategic resource to regulate the market. Even the revenue from the "salt and iron monopoly" has become another major pillar of Hanyuan's finances.

Standing atop the highest salt mountain in "White Beach," Xiao Chen looked down at the boundless, dazzling white salt fields and felt a great sense of accomplishment.

"Yang Shen," he said to Yang Shen beside him, "look, did this salt fall from the sky?"

"No, Your Highness."

Yang Shen said excitedly, "It comes from the Prince's wisdom and the power of investigating things!"

"It comes from the courage to not stick to conventions and to break the 'ancestral laws'."

Xiao Chen said, "Remember, in the Cold Abyss, nothing is unchangeable. As long as it makes the people live better and the country stronger, we'll even tear a hole in the sky!"

"yes!""

The salt fields, as white as snow, not only solved the salt problem in Hanyuan, but also represented a liberation of thought.

It tells everyone with facts that in the Cold Abyss, "ancestors" are not shackles, and "authority" is not the truth.

Only through continuous innovation and breakthroughs can we achieve national strength and prosperity.