Damn! Being looked down upon, Yun Ye’s heart turned ice cold. Throughout thousands of years, no matter how things changed, even if you threw them onto Mars, the temperament of officials remained the same—self-righteous and overly clever. Were these traits hereditary too? The School Commandant’s actions instantly made Yun Ye lose all interest in doing anything. So be it, I’m just a speck of dust drifting beneath the vast sky—why should I meddle in so many idle affairs?
With this thought, he removed the backpack from Wang Cai’s back, took out the salt pouch, divided some for himself, and placed the rest in the hands of the trembling woman. He shouldered his pack and led Wang Cai toward the exit.
Zhang Cheng, covered in mud, was still rolling under the barrage of fists and kicks, but when he caught sight of Yun Ye about to leave, he scrambled over on hands and knees and tightly hugged Yun Ye’s legs. “Young Master, you can’t go! Please have mercy on us fighting men!” Tears and snot streaming down his face, he screamed hoarsely toward the School Commandant: “Commandant, I’ll stake my head on it—Young Master Yun can definitely extract edible salt from the brine salt!”
Looking at Zhang Cheng at his feet, the anger in Yun Ye’s chest could no longer be contained. He kicked Zhang Cheng aside and strode up to the School Commandant’s face: “Apologize to Uncle Zhang, or else even if you chop off my head, you can forget about learning how to extract salt!” After speaking, he stared coldly at him.
The School Commandant calmed down instead, and said slowly: “Last night at the third watch, two soldiers rode fast horses back to the city. Knocking on the gates at midnight—this was a first for us here in Longyou. We had to use hanging baskets to hoist the two men up the city walls before learning that someone could extract edible salt from brine salt. I immediately reported this overnight to the Grand General of the Left Martial Guard. When the Grand General learned of this matter, he was overjoyed. If this method succeeds, not only will the army no longer lack salt, but the Qiang rebellion could be easily quelled. We could even sell salt to the Tuyuhun—their conflict with Tubo is essentially over salt. This way we can make them a buffer state for our Great Tang. So I rushed out of the city under the stars, bringing all the equipment you needed, riding hard to get here, only to encounter a child spouting wild claims. How could I not be angry? Zhang Cheng falsely reported military intelligence—a crime punishable by death. I’m beating him now only in hopes that when the Grand General sees I’ve already punished him, he might be spared death. And you still dare to be stubborn?”
The coldness in Yun Ye’s eyes diminished slightly. Though this fellow was detestable, his heart wasn’t bad—he knew to protect his subordinates. Coming from a military family, he wasn’t lacking in methods either. But his aristocratic face that looked down on everyone made Yun Ye extremely displeased. To gain benefits without paying a price just wouldn’t do.
“Zhang Cheng has been kind to me. No matter what your reasons, your humiliating and beating him cannot quell the anger in my chest. I’ll make you a wager—if I can’t extract salt, Yun Ye will offer up his head. But if I do extract it, you must let Zhang Cheng beat you, and you cannot fight back. How about it?”
The School Commandant was stunned for a moment, then immediately said with firm resolve: “As you wish. If you cannot extract salt, I will personally behead you to fulfill your oath.”
Yun Ye chuckled and ignored the School Commandant’s sour face. He turned and walked to Zhang Cheng’s side, examined him to confirm there were no serious injuries, and finally relaxed. Zhang Cheng, looking like a panda, was still grinning at him—his face was beyond recognition.
“Where are the things I asked for?”
“They’ll arrive in half a shichen.”
“Why is it that Longyou doesn’t lack salt, salt mines aren’t hard to find, yet you’ve never tried to find a method to produce edible salt from them?”
“Brine salt is poisonous.”
“Even snake venom has antidotes—surely there must be a way to detoxify brine salt?”
“You can’t have soldiers eat salt once and detoxify once, can you?”
Hearing such an absurd answer, Yun Ye nearly fell over. He looked at the imposing School Commandant before him with the gaze one would give an idiot. He decided not to discuss with him any problem even remotely related to science, because that would be the greatest injury to himself.
The carts arrived. The supplies were abundant—in addition to sieves for salt-making, iron hammers, iron chisels, hemp cloth, charcoal, wooden buckets, iron pots, there were even five hand-cranked stone mills. After careful inspection, everything needed was present.
Turning his head to look at the School Commandant, he said with a smile: “Salt is but a trivial matter. Having witnessed your intelligence, I believe you’ll have many matters to ask of me in the future. I’ve always been petty—if you have requests in the future, you’ll need to let Zhang Cheng beat you once. One matter, one beating. Fair prices for all.”
The School Commandant restrained his subordinates whose anger was rising, and clasped his hands: “I’m beginning to believe you can produce edible salt now. As long as the brothers no longer lack salt, what does it matter if Cheng takes a beating? This official hopes you win.”
Going downstream along the river for less than five li, there was a salt mine. School Commandant Cheng brought three hundred men, each one a hulking brute. The road was difficult to traverse and large carts couldn’t pass, so the several carts of supplies were divided among them and carried. Yun Ye and the two women led Wang Cai walking in the middle. In less than a shichen, they arrived at the salt extraction site.
With one command from School Commandant Cheng, a field about two mu in size was immediately leveled. After setting up camp and placing the equipment, School Commandant Cheng’s eyes turned toward Yun Ye.
“School Commandant, your strength is astonishing—why don’t you knock down some salt ore?” Such strong laborers shouldn’t go to waste.
School Commandant Cheng, suppressing his anger, grabbed an iron hammer and with two clanging strikes, a large chunk of salt ore tumbled down.
“Watch the process carefully. I’ll only do this once.” Ignoring the murderous glares of those burly men, Yun Ye took a small hammer and carefully broke the large salt ore into small particles, about ten jin worth. He called over Zhang Cheng and poured the salt ore into the mill’s opening. Zhang Cheng hand-cranked the stone mill, and brownish ore powder slowly overflowed from the mill’s edge. Yun Ye collected the powder into a wooden bucket, added water, and stirred with a wooden stick to fully dissolve the salt into the water. Once the solution was saturated, he poured it into another wooden bucket covered with double-layered hemp cloth. Before long, the hemp cloth was covered with grayish-black ore slag. Removing the hemp cloth, the solution in the bucket had turned brown—the color had lightened, but there were still many impurities. He covered another wooden bucket with four layers of hemp cloth and filtered again, leaving behind a pale red solution.
Seeing that the impurities had been filtered clean, it was time to detoxify. Yun Ye took over a huge funnel and instructed Zhang Cheng to crush the charcoal. Before Zhang Cheng could move, School Commandant Cheng had already rushed forward and smashed the charcoal to powder—the changes in the solution had probably given him confidence in success. Yun Ye wrapped the charcoal pieces in four layers of hemp cloth, stuffed them tightly into the funnel, found a stand, fixed the funnel on the stand, and poured the solution into the funnel. Before long, a pale cyan solution slowly flowed out. He scooped up a handful to taste—not bad, only salty flavor, no bitterness. Although some salt was lost in the process, he could guarantee the boiled salt would be completely edible. Yun Ye set up a cooking pot and poured the solution into the pot to boil. Only then did he stand up—his back was sore. Was making a bit of salt easy?
“Will it work?” School Commandant Cheng asked in a trembling voice as he watched the solution bubbling and churning in the pot.
Yun Ye understood clearly how terrifyingly profitable salt was in the Great Tang. The ancients said, possessing jade is a crime—if he didn’t share this knowledge, it would likely be a path to disaster. One mustn’t be too greedy. Now he needn’t worry—with any luck, there might even be rewards. School Commandant Cheng had probably already forgotten about getting beaten.
“Will it work? Remove the ‘question’ from that question, would you? The boiled salt will be better than what I used to eat, no different from cyan salt.”
School Commandant Cheng shuddered. Cyan salt—that wasn’t for eating, it was for cleaning one’s mouth daily with a willow twig, costing at least five hundred wen per jin. Even though his family was considered wealthy, only the few masters used this cyan salt.
The water in the pot gradually evaporated completely, leaving behind a thick layer of cyan-tinged hard crust at the bottom. Removing the firewood, Yun Ye broke off a piece from the pot and tossed it in his mouth. “Mm, not bad. This is what salt should be. Uncle Zhang, throw that stuff of yours in the river.”
Before Zhang Cheng could taste it, School Commandant Cheng had already broken off a fingernail-sized piece and put it in his mouth. Even though it was so salty his face twitched, he was reluctant to spit it out—he wasn’t afraid of turning into a bat. The rest of the soldiers, seeing the method was effective, swarmed toward the salt wall. Those without iron hammers used their knives to hack at it randomly, with Zhang Cheng being the most frenzied.
The School Commandant wanted to speak with Yun Ye but saw Yun Ye eyeing him sideways. He thought to himself: This youngster really is petty. But those with real skill are all like this. I was indeed rash earlier. Thinking of this, he clasped his hands: “Young Master’s great talent—Cheng Chumo is impressed. I was blind and unreasonable earlier—please be magnanimous. As for the wager, I, Old Cheng, will pay up right now. Zhang Cheng, get over here!” As he spoke, he removed his armor and helmet.
Only then did Yun Ye discover this bastard was only sixteen or seventeen years old. As a military officer, he trained his body daily, so his physique was robust, yet the youthful inexperience on his face was fully exposed.
Zhang Cheng shuffled over hesitantly, moving sideways. Watching this made the fire in Yun Ye’s heart rise—he pushed him next to Cheng Chumo.
“Beat him!”
Cheng Chumo stood tall and straight, his stance neither here nor there—the bearing of a master. Zhang Cheng timidly circled around Cheng Chumo, now throwing a punch, now a palm strike, now a powerful eagle claw—but would you actually hit him already!
Cheng Chumo was probably getting impatient too: “Are you gonna fight or not? If you don’t make a move, I’m gonna beat you again.”
Zhang Cheng’s legs went weak and he knelt down again, saying through tears and snot: “You might as well beat me again—I really don’t have the guts to beat you.”
Hearing these words, blood rushed straight to Yun Ye’s head. He wanted nothing more than to bury this fellow directly with a shovel. Forget it—the status hierarchy ingrained in the bloodline over thousands of years wasn’t something he could overcome.
Cheng Chumo walked toward Yun Ye while saying to Zhang Cheng: “It’s you who won’t make a move, not me reneging on the debt. Let’s be clear so it doesn’t ruin my reputation.”
“Brother, how did you know this method?”
“My honored teacher taught it to me.”
“A senior expert! Please, brother, introduce me—I’ll immediately send someone back to Lanzhou to prepare generous gifts, and have my father personally go pay respects!”
“Are you certain you want to meet my teacher?”
“If I don’t pay respects to such an expert, wouldn’t that cause me to regret it for three lifetimes?”
“You only need to take a knife and slit your throat—then you’ll probably meet my teacher very soon.”
“Brother, what do you mean by this?”
“It means my teacher has already passed away. If you insist on meeting him, slitting your throat is your only option.”
“Alas, Heaven is unjust! For such a worthy talent to die young is truly one of humanity’s great regrets.”
This bastard—full of words of regret, his face wrinkled like a bun, yet the excitement in his eyes completely betrayed him. Yun Ye decided to go look at the salt and ignore this inconsistent bastard.
The salt was scooped from the pot—about two or three jin of it. This was much more efficient than boiling seawater. Sixteen jin of ore yielding three jin of salt was already quite good. Cheng Chumo took it and weighed it in his hand. “Three jin, good. This entire salt mine—wouldn’t it yield several million jin of salt? Haha, our great army will never again suffer from salt shortage. Brother Yun, please accept Cheng Chumo’s bow.”
“The great army fights for the nation—we Great Tang men cast aside even life and death, so what does a mere salt-making method amount to?”
“Fine fellow!” Cheng Chumo heavily slapped Yun Ye’s shoulder once. “You, this brother, I, Old Cheng, accept. When we return to Chang’an, I’ll introduce you to the other brothers—all first-rate good men.”
Taking Cheng Chumo’s slap felt to Yun Ye no different from being hit with a hammer. While grimacing in pain, he still had to accept his goodwill—this was truly too difficult.
</document_content>
</document>