In the thirteenth year of the Tianbao era: I became Yang Guozhong's eldest son.

"Ha ha ha ha……"

Tian Boyong suddenly let out a shrill and desperate laugh, filled with sorrow and resentment.

"Yang Xuan... don't be so smug... do you think you've won?"

Tian Boyong stared intently at Yang Xuan, his eyes flashing with a crazed light.

"Zhechong Prefecture...that's a pack of true wolves...they're a million times more ruthless than me! I, Tian Boyong, will be waiting for you on the road to the underworld...I'll be waiting to see the day they tear you to pieces!"

Yang Xuan ignored Tian Boyong's vicious curse.

He turned and walked out of the cell, giving a brief instruction to Pei Zhao outside.

"Give him a quick death. Tomorrow morning, post a notice saying that Tian Boyong committed suicide out of fear of punishment."

"Yes."

The cell door closed again, and after a moment, a dull thud came from inside, and then everything returned to silence.

The once invincible Tian family, the biggest local tyrant in Yaozhou City, was completely destroyed by Yang Xuan's scheme of using others to do his dirty work.

......

With the collapse of the Tian family, the power structure of Yanjing County underwent a complete reshuffle.

The county government took full control of the production and operation of Qing'ao Well.

The state government returned satisfied with the guaranteed return of 100,000 guan, and Yang Xuan finally cleared away the last visible obstacle hindering the development of Qing'ao Well.

Yang Xuan couldn't care less about those wolves from the Zhechong Prefecture lurking in the shadows right now.

What he needs to do now is to spare no expense to turn the five times potential output of Qing'ao Well into real money!

three days later.

Qing'ao Well.

This treasure trove, once tightly controlled by the private soldiers of the Tian and Hu families, has now completely changed owners.

Pei Zhao's salt guards took over all the checkpoints, and black flags representing the county government fluttered in the mountain wind.

In the center of the basin, the oldest well with the largest brine output, known as the "Old Dragon Well," is now surrounded by a large crowd.

Everyone was nervously anticipating something.

Old Huang stood beside a newly built, enormous winch. Although he only had one eye, his gaze shone with an almost fanatical light.

Behind him, a dozen or so shirtless, muscular salt workers were gripping the winch handles tightly.

Yang Xuan, Cui Shen, Han Jitong, and others stood not far away, watching all of this with bated breath.

"Put the bucket down!" Old Huang ordered.

A huge soft barrel, specially made of tanned cowhide and iron hoops, plummeted rapidly into the bottomless brine well via a steel cable.

This soft bucket has a capacity three times larger than the previous bamboo tubes, and it sinks into water very quickly, unlike bamboo tubes which float on the surface.

Less than half an incense stick's time later, the iron chain suddenly taut, making a crisp "clang" sound.

"rise!"

Old Huang suddenly swung his arm down.

"Hey ha!"

A dozen or so salt workers roared in unison and pushed the winch with all their might.

"Crunch—crunch—"

The gears on the new winch began to mesh and operate.

This winch, equipped with gears, greatly saves manpower, multiplying the strength of a dozen or so people.

In no time, the huge leather bucket filled with dark brown brine was pulled out of the well.

"Splash!"

As the mechanism was activated, the thick brine poured into the specially designed filtration pool next to it like a waterfall.

"Wow! What incredible speed!" Han Jitong slapped his thigh excitedly. "Before, using bamboo tubes and hemp ropes, it would take at least the time it takes for an incense stick to burn to carry a bucket of brine, and the capacity was small. This speed is simply amazing!"

Everyone who saw this couldn't help but marvel.

This is not finished.

The filtered brine flowed directly into the newly built, huge salt-boiling furnace next to the newly laid bamboo trough.

In the kitchen, Old Huang improved the structure of the fire channel and the iron pot based on the sheepskin blueprint.

Traditional stoves used to have uneven heating, which not only wasted firewood and charcoal but also made the salt taste bitter and turn black. Modern multi-stove stoves, on the other hand, not only have strong heat but also provide even heating.

As the fire roared in the stove, the braising liquid in the pot began to boil, evaporate, and crystallize.

Several hours later.

When the first batch of snow-white, fine salt was scooped out and piled on the bluestone slab in the center of the courtyard, everyone was astonished.

This salt is too white! Too fine!

They had never seen such fine salt before!

In the past, the coarse salt from Qing'ao Well always contained some mud, sand, and bitter impurities, and its color was yellowish and dark.

The salt in front of us was as pure and flawless as the first snow of winter.

Cui Shen couldn't wait to step forward, picked up a small pinch of salt with his fingers, and put it in his mouth to taste.

"No bitterness at all! It's pure, savory saltiness!" Cui Shen's voice trembled with excitement. "My lord, the quality of this salt is so high that it would be a sought-after premium product even in the East Market of Chang'an!"

Yang Xuan grabbed a handful of snow-white refined salt, feeling the fine granules slip through his fingers, and finally a genuine smile appeared on his lips.

In this era, technology, or rather core production technology, is the most unsolvable form of dimensional reduction attack.

Old Huang's blueprints and experience, coupled with the county government's generous investment, finally yielded the most fruitful results at Qing'ao Well.

"Old Huang, how much salt will this pot yield?"

Yang Xuan turned to ask Old Huang.

Old Huang used his one eye to estimate, then held up two fingers and said in a trembling voice, "Your Excellency, with this series of stoves and the new brine extraction equipment, operating non-stop for twelve hours a day, this one old dragon well alone can produce... two hundred dan of salt a day!"

"Two hundred loads?!"

Han Jitong gasped.

When the Tian family controlled the well, it could only produce fifty or sixty loads of coarse salt a day at most.

Now, not only has the quality improved by several levels, but the output has also increased by nearly four times!

"This is just one well," Cui Shen calculated quickly. "Qing'ao Well has more than thirty brine wells of varying sizes. If we replace them all with the new equipment... Good heavens, this isn't just a salt well, it's a mountain of silver!"

Yang Xuan took a deep breath, suppressing his excitement.

"Cui Shen, immediately arrange for manpower to work in shifts of twelve hours a day to produce at full capacity. All the refined salt produced should be replaced with the new anti-counterfeiting salt tickets and given priority to the small merchants who previously helped the county government, as well as Lei Laohu's caravan for transporting it out of the county."

"yes!"

"Furthermore," Yang Xuan turned his gaze to Pei Zhao, "now that you have the money, your knife should be longer and sharper."

"Pei Zhao!"

"Your subordinate is here!"

"I'll allocate another five thousand strings of cash to your secret stash!" Yang Xuan's tone was brimming with the arrogance of someone with deep pockets. "Go recruit men! Go buy horses! Go for weapons! I want you to expand these forty salt guards to three hundred! I want everyone in and around Yaozhou City who hears the name 'Salt Well Protection Army' to think twice about how tough they are!"

Pei Zhao knelt on one knee, his eyes shining: "Your subordinate obeys! I will never fail in your trust, my lord!"