Tang Dynasty: After living together with Chang Le, Li and his companion were dumbfounded.

Two more days passed.

Lu Chen discovered a new problem.

The reason was simple: he cooked a dish, and after Li Lizhi ate it, she casually said something.

"Why isn't your salt bitter?"

Lu Chen was clearing away the dishes when he heard this and paused.

"Is your salt bitter?"

"Not all salt is bitter." Li Lizhi thought for a moment. "Good salt has only a slight astringent taste, while bad salt is both bitter and salty, and has a strange taste."

"What kind of salt does the imperial kitchen use?"

"Qing salt. It's transported from the Northwest. It's better than regular salt, but not that great."

Lu Chen put down the bowl.

"Could you get me some salt from your area to take a look at?"

"Salt?" Li Lizhi asked, somewhat surprised. "What do you need this for?"

"curious."

Li Lizhi glanced at him but didn't ask any further questions.

When she returned from the palace the next day, she brought a small porcelain jar with her.

"The salt from the imperial kitchen."

She handed the porcelain jar over from the dividing line.

Lu Chen took it and opened the lid.

The jar contained some grayish-white particles.

The color is uneven. Some are grayish, some are yellowish, and some even have a faint bluish tint.

The particles are large and irregularly shaped, resembling coarse sand from a distance.

It's completely different from the snow-white, fine refined salt on modern supermarket shelves.

Lu Chen pinched a few grains with his fingertips and placed them on his tongue.

His brow furrowed the moment he entered the mouth.

salty.

bitter.

astringent.

The three flavors are layered together.

It does have a salty taste, but it's completely overwhelmed by the bitter and astringent flavors.

The bitterness was a very deep bitterness. It wasn't the kind of bitterness you get from traditional Chinese medicine; it was more like the taste of some kind of mineral.

The astringent taste lingers on the tongue for a long time.

Lu Chen spat out the salt.

I rinsed my mouth twice with water.

"this one?"

His tone was somewhat incredulous.

"This is still considered good," Li Lizhi said from across the dividing line. "The salt that ordinary people eat is more than ten times worse than this. Some salt is as black as charcoal ash, and it leaves your mouth bitter all day after eating it."

Lu Chen fell silent.

He studied basic chemistry.

The bitterness of salt comes from magnesium chloride and magnesium sulfate—both of which are present in large quantities in coarse salt.

The astringent taste comes from calcium sulfate and other impurities.

The reason why modern refined salt has only a pure salty taste is because it has undergone a series of processes such as dissolving, filtering, and recrystallizing to remove all these impurities.

However, the salt produced in the Tang Dynasty did not undergo any purification process at all.

It's done once it's dug out of a salt mine or boiled from seawater and it forms clumps.

All the impurities are inside.

It has everything: bitter, astringent, and strange-tasting.

This kind of salt is not even good for seasoning; it's torture in itself.

No wonder the dishes in the Tang Dynasty were rather bland.

It's not that the cook didn't want to add salt.

The salt was just too unpalatable.

Adding too much will make the whole dish bitter.

Lu Chen placed the porcelain jar on the table.

I stared at that pile of grayish-white particles for a long time.

My mind started rummaging through things.

The production principle of refined salt is actually simpler than that of white sugar.

Crude salt dissolves in water.

Filter out insoluble impurities.

Add an appropriate amount of alkali to convert magnesium chloride and calcium sulfate into water-insoluble precipitates.

Filter it again.

Finally, it evaporates and crystallizes.

What comes out is refined salt.

Pure, salty, snow-white, and delicate sodium chloride.

What about the raw materials?

Coarse salt was plentiful in the Tang Dynasty. Salt mines, salt wells, and sea salt production were enormous throughout the country.

Natural alkalis are abundant in the salt lakes of the Northwest. The Tang Dynasty people called it "stone alkali" and used it for washing clothes.

The filter cloth and charcoal used are readily available, just like those used in sugar production.

Needless to say, the pot and stove are also essential.

In other words, the production process of refined salt could also be completely localized in the Tang Dynasty.

The cost is also so low as to be negligible.

As for profits, Lu Chen closed his eyes briefly.

salt.

In any ancient society.

These are all the most important strategic materials.

none of them.

People can live without sugar.

But you can't go without salt.

White sugar is a luxury item, sold to the high-end market.

Salt is a necessity, and it's sold all over the world.

everyone.

every day.

Every meal.

If refined salt is introduced...

Lu Chen's fingertips began to feel slightly numb.

The profit margin is even larger than that of white sugar.

Much larger.

Because the market for white sugar was limited. The number of people in the entire Tang Dynasty who could afford an ounce of gold for a box of sugar cubes was extremely small.

But salt is something that people need to eat.

From emperor to beggar.

None of them can escape.

He suddenly opened his eyes.

He was about to speak, but then swallowed the words back.

Because he suddenly thought of a problem.

A very serious problem.

Salt is not sugar.

Sugar was a novelty in the Tang Dynasty. No one had ever done it before, there was no established pattern of interests, and it could be sold however one wanted.

But salt is different.

Salt and iron.

Salt and iron.

Salt and iron have been mentioned together since ancient times because these two things are the foundation of national tax revenue.

The salt industry in the Tang Dynasty was regulated by official salt laws.

Salt merchants held a monopoly in the private sector.

Behind the salt merchants were five prominent families and seven powerful clans.

Lu Chen's excitement cooled down considerably.

He leaned back in his chair.

He quickly went through the bits and pieces of information that Li Lizhi had mentioned before in his mind.

Salt from the Tang Dynasty. From production to transportation to sales, every step was overseen.

The powerful families controlled the largest salt mines and salt wells.

Most of the salt merchants in the area were front men for powerful families.

Although the imperial court nominally had salt laws, their enforcement was inconsistent, and in reality, the salt profits in many places were completely squandered by powerful families.

This is a metal plate.

Stepping on it would be tantamount to starting a war with the entire Shijia Group.

Even Emperor Taizong of Tang couldn't crack this iron plate.

A new player selling white sugar dares to venture into salt?

Lu Chen remained silent for a long time.

The pile of grayish-white coarse salt granules sat quietly in the porcelain jar.

It was as if they were mocking him.

"What's wrong?"

Li Lizhi, seeing his strange expression from across the dividing line, asked him a question.

"Nothing. I was just thinking about something."

Lu Chen waved his hand.

He did not tell Li Lizhi about the refined salt.

It's not that I don't trust her.

I haven't thought this through yet.

Bringing it up rashly will only cause unnecessary trouble.

We need to come up with a foolproof plan.

A way to promote refined salt without directly jeopardizing the salt industry.

Lu Chen picked up the jar of coarse salt and put it in the drawer.

Lock it.

He should think about this some more.

---

Three days.

Lu Chen thought about it for three whole days.

He researched a lot of information over those three days.

About the salt industry in the Tang Dynasty, about the five surnames and seven noble families, and about the ancient salt administration.

The more I investigated, the more my scalp tingled.

The importance of salt in ancient society far exceeded his imagination as a modern person.

Throughout history, countless wars, deaths, and kingdoms were fought and destroyed because of salt.

Countless.

Emperor Wu of Han saved up enough money to fight the Xiongnu through the salt and iron monopoly.

Wang Mang's reforms to control the salt trade resulted in widespread chaos.

During the late Tang Dynasty, salt taxes once accounted for more than half of the country's fiscal revenue.

Salt is the ancient equivalent of petroleum.

Whoever controls salt controls money.

Whoever controls money controls the world.

Therefore, the five surnames and seven prominent families clung tightly to the salt industry and refused to relinquish their claim.

This is their lifeline.

If you touch their candy, they'll just be unhappy at most.

You touched their salt—

They will kill you.