The most reckless man in the Ming Dynasty

Before going out,

The little girl also specially smeared a lot of mud on her body.

From this point of view, she looked no different from the little beggar on the roadside, wearing tattered clothes and being dirty.

Tang Hao saw this and didn't ask any more questions, because he knew the reason for this.

Regardless of whether there is some noble son from the salt farm or not, if the little girl is targeted, Liu Dashan and his wife will definitely not be able to protect her.

In this salt field, kitchen households like Liu Dashan are no different from slaves.

Their lives are not their lives.

No one cares about their life or death.

But, damn you, you still have to pay commission to the guards for using this stove?

Even if you are plundering people's wealth, even if you are lying on the shoulders of ordinary people to suck blood, what the hell have you done, is it too much?

Are you going to get a commission from using this pot and stove?

This is not about looking ugly, this is about forcing people to a dead end.

As far as I can see, there are thatched huts built on the tidal flats on the beach. This is the workplace where Zado cooks salt on the beach.

But it was not over yet. The woman directed Tang Hao to pour the prepared brine into the pot and started a new round of cooking salt.

For these children, they do not need to study or learn other skills because they do not have the qualifications.

"His brother, the road back is not smooth."

In other words, at the normal market price, if this sea salt is sold in the market, it should be sixty or seventy cents per catty. Better-quality pool salt and well salt can be sold for hundreds of cents per catty. As for the snowflake green that the dignitaries eat, Salt is sold for two hundred pence per catty.

The woman smiled and looked at Tang Hao's strong arms, feeling inexplicably at ease in her heart.

After turning around the hills one after another, we finally came to the seaside, and our view suddenly became wider.

"Basically, it's about four kilograms. If I'm lucky, it's five kilograms."

To put it bluntly, the interests of the country are the most important. If these salt-making methods are rashly changed, if it happens again like the Yongle Dynasty, resulting in a sharp drop in salt production and a sharp drop in the court's income, then who will bear this responsibility and who will leave this hole? To fill in?

One thing less is worse than one thing more, and one thing less is worse than nothing!

One cent of silver today is almost twenty coins.

Hearing her daughter's voice, the woman was immediately frightened, hugged the child in her arms, and looked around warily.

After hearing this, the woman looked at Tang Hao, her eyes full of caution.

However, the woman had to chop firewood alone, light the fire alone, and stir the brine in the pot from time to time. She was already sweating profusely from exhaustion, but she did not dare to stop, so she could only grit her teeth and hold on.

Anyway, it is these salt farm households who are suffering, what does it have to do with them, the court ministers?

The thick smoke from the seaside salt field cannot reach the capital, nor can it reach the Ming Dynasty!

It wasn't until midnight that they finally boiled two pots of salt and filled a whole jar.

This is not sucking blood and eating flesh, this is knocking bones and sucking marrow!

After working hard all day and letting his body be destroyed, he could only earn ten cents, which was not enough to pay the high salt tax!

This was Comrade Zhu Chongba's purpose, and he indeed achieved it.

Until the Ming Dynasty, this salt-drying technology was not further developed and promoted. In the early years of Yongle, the court began to try to abandon the pot stoves, build salt fields, and convert steaming to sun-drying. The result was that the production of salt was greatly reduced, and too many people The interests of the people were damaged as a result, so in the end they had to return to boiling salt as the main method.

In fact, after a lifetime of boiling with salt and burning with smoke and fire, their bodies have long been damaged beyond recognition. Like Liu Dashan, he is estimated to be only in his thirties, but he is as different as someone in his fifties. There was no difference between the people, and they seemed to have a short life span.

Tang Hao rubbed his sore waist and stirred things up with the woman all day long. If he said he wasn't tired, he would definitely be lying!

The woman carefully placed the jar, and then a smile appeared on her face.

The woman said slightly shyly: "This pot of salt is almost ready. Then you can take a rest and continue cooking the second pot."

Therefore, there is only boiling salt. When you open your eyes, you boil salt. When you close your eyes, you think about boiling salt. You will have to boil salt in this purgatory for generations to come!

Tang Hao also remained silent. He didn't ask any more questions, and just kept stirring the wooden stick in his hand.

The woman looked similar to Liu Dashan, both were dark and thin, and because of their height, they looked more like a bamboo pole.

However, according to the official records of the Salt Administration, each pound of salt in Huguang, Jiangxi, and Nanjing sold for three-quarters of a cent of silver. By the seventh year of Jiajing, every pound of salt sold for one cent and five cents of silver.

If you don't boil the salt, you won't be able to pay the salt tax demanded by the officials. The officials will arrest people and kill them directly, and their families will be destroyed.

When she noticed that no one was paying attention to her daughter, she pretended to be angry and threatened: "What are you doing here, kid? Be careful the bad guys kidnap you!"

If you are born as a kitchen household, you will be a kitchen household for the rest of your life, and your descendants will be kitchen households for generations. There is no way to change it, unless their whole family dies to relieve this purgatory pain.

Moreover, Tang Ritian was extremely tall and tall, and he looked like he was a good worker. This kind of man was very popular in villages and towns.

Seeing Tang Hao's tall and burly figure, the two rogues also had a look of fear in their eyes, and one of them even took out a dagger from his arms.

"His brother, that's a problem for you."

But even so, they still have to do it!

Ever since I was born, I have seen my miserable life at a glance. How unfair is this world?

As for the adults, there are even more things to be busy with.

"Not enough!"

This stove belongs to their family, and there is only one woman working hard on it at the moment.

Tang Hao strode forward, but suddenly the villain suddenly became violent and stabbed Tang Hao in the heart with the dagger in his hand. He still wanted to do something evil!

Tang Hao handed the sleeping daughter to the woman, and then walked towards the two rogues in silence.

"To pay the tax, we have to cook two pots a day."

The rogue was kicked three meters away, with several ribs broken. He struggled to get up from the ground, but he vomited a few mouthfuls of blood and couldn't stand up.

"It's my brother's turn to get rich. The older one should have some fun first. The younger one can't get in bad shape, otherwise it won't be worth anything anymore..."

During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the sun-dried salt method of "sun-exposure to make salt" appeared. However, due to immature technology, there were still more fried salt than sun-dried salt, and this was also to meet the court's demand for profits from the salt industry.

"Hey, I'm lucky today, the little one came out too!"

"careful!"

"Isn't she just a girl? After the two brothers are finished playing, I can play with you again...ahhhh!"

An hour, two hours.

Nannan pouted and argued: "Nanny didn't come here, it was dad who asked Nannan to bring eldest brother here for a walk. He will help our family boil salt from now on!"

In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the value of silver gradually increased, and one tael of silver was equal to sixteen qian, which was approximately 1,600 yuan.

Seeing these two scoundrels with lustful faces, the woman turned pale with fear and hurriedly hid behind Tang Hao.

Tang Hao held the little girl's hand and carefully observed the kitchen in front of him cooking salt.

It's just that these Zaohu villagers are all carved out of the same mold as Liu Dashan. They are black, thin and shapeless, and most of them are coughing constantly because of the billowing black smoke.

Sometimes they will be arranged to do corvee labor. Once they leave, they will be separated for life and death, and they may not be able to come back alive!

Before he even reached the beach, waves of sea breeze swept over him and hit him with the fishy smell of the sea. It was also mixed with some pungent smell, which made Tang Hao frown subconsciously.

After all, the precedent of failure is there. Only those who have enough to eat will consider these kitchen households and get their own career in vain.

With that said, Tang Hao stepped forward, picked up the wooden stick, and started stirring.

"Sister-in-law, how long does it take to boil a pot of salt?"

Before he could get up, Tang Hao strode forward and stepped on his chest. Ignoring the rogue's constant begging for mercy, he picked up his iron fist and punched it down one after another until white liquid sprayed on his face. Then he turned to look at the other rogue expressionlessly.

Tang Hao nodded when he heard this, and saw that the water in the pot was almost dry, and white and slightly yellow crystals had formed around the pot. This is the finished product of boiling salt.

What the hell is selling four pounds of salt for twenty cents?

"Boy, get out of here, don't ruin grandpa's good deeds!"

Before he could finish his slanderous words, Tang Hao rushed forward and kicked him hard.

If nothing else, just keep stirring like this. This pot of salt must contain at least five kilograms!

"Four kilograms?" Tang Hao smiled and nodded, "That's eight kilograms of salt that day. Is it enough to pay the salt tax?"

The woman tied the little girl to her feet with strips of cloth, and then she was chopping firewood beside her with confidence.

"The firewood alone costs several pennies to cook this salt. Four kilograms of salt can only be sold for twenty pennies at most. To use this pot and stove, we have to pay several pennies to the delivery man. So in real terms, we cook two pots of salt a day. , In fact, I can only earn about ten cents.”

The specific process is to scrape the salty soil from the seaside (and later use plant ash to absorb seawater) as the raw material for making salt, rinse it with water to dissolve the salt, and form brine. Then place the brine in an open container to fully dry, and burn firewood to heat and evaporate the water. Salt grains, this method is called "stewed and fried salt".

From the beginning of Susha's cooking of sea salt to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, sea salt was produced by boiling and frying for a long time. "Boiling the sea into salt" means "frying the sea salt".

There was just a big pot, a stove, and countless piles of firewood.

It is understandable that firewood is needed. If there is demand, there will be channels. Some kitchen households would rather go to the mountains to cut firewood and sell it to make money. They can also pay the salt tax. Then they can buy salt or pay money.

Tang Hao comforted him in a deep voice.

One pot lasts three hours, two pots last six hours, that’s twelve hours.

However, even so, they did not dare to stop what they were doing, and still stubbornly continued to make a living.

Therefore, these children have to stay next to the salt-cooking stove since they were young, watching with their eyes and doing it with their hands and feet!

Tang Hao keenly observed that most of these children had sallow skin, dark complexions, and looked malnourished, either because they were not full to eat, or because they had suffered from a series of diseases due to being exposed to the heavy smoke for a long time.

Even though he still held a dagger in his hand, he didn't even have the courage to swing the knife at Tang Hao at this moment.

After an unknown amount of time, the water in the iron pot gradually evaporated, and Liu Dashan's wife also began to be busy, shoveling the salt out of the pot and putting it into the jar, while the little girl struggled to hold the jar and tried her best. Help your mother as much as you can.

Seeing this, Tang Hao smiled warmly and whispered: "Sister-in-law, I am the eldest brother's cousin, Tang Ritian, who escaped from famine. From now on, leave all the salt cooking and labor at home to me!"

Under the leadership of the little girl, Tang Hao followed her to the place where salt is cooked on the beach.

"It will take at least three hours."

Perhaps for the convenience of construction, these rows of stove workshops are all built at the foot of a hill backed by the sea.

Along the foot of the hill, rows of hundreds of salt-boiling stoves were puffing out thick smoke.

The kitchen households in the entire village and town, both young and old, are busy non-stop. Even the children who are only seven or eight years old have to hold firewood and watch and learn from the side.

After all, a pound of salt is only five cents at most?

The lack of salt and food in Jiubianjun Town was so bad that a pound of salt could be sold for several hundred coins!

Although Tang Hao didn't know what the official price of salt was in the early years of Zhengde, he had been busy fighting with the civil servants and gentry, either in the military camp or following the little emperor, so he really didn't pay much attention to this matter. .

As soon as the wooden stick in his hand stopped, Tang Hao was stunned subconsciously.

The rogue was already frightened and stood on the spot.

But no matter what, the sea salt that Zaohu spends his life cooking can only be sold for a mere five cents a pound, which is really outrageous.

Then he picked up the sleeping little girl, and the woman picked up the jar filled with salt, and walked together towards the thatched hut they called home.

"Hero, spare your life! Hero, spare your life!"

Seeing this, the woman opened her mouth several times to say something, but when she thought about the difficult situation her family was in, if she had such a young and strong laborer, she might be able to get through it.

"Sister-in-law, don't worry, as long as I'm here, nothing will happen."

Popi fell to his knees on the ground with a pop, and kept kowtowing to Tang Hao and begging for mercy.

When the salt tax was mentioned, the woman's face suddenly turned bitter and she shook her head sadly.

Boiling salt means "cooking the sea to make salt." As early as the Yan and Huang Dynasties five thousand years ago, the ancients began to make salt. Susha was the first to make salt from seawater and was known as the "Salt Sect."

Hey, the Ming Dynasty is really comparable to those black-hearted electronics factories in later generations. Compared with those black-hearted coal bosses, it can be said that it is no less generous.

Tang Hao pretended to be relaxed while extracting useful information.

Using strict laws and regulations, these thousands of kitchen households were imprisoned in the salt fields, cooking salt every day and constantly cooking salt to satisfy the Ming Dynasty's demand for salt profits!

This world is so fucking disgusting!

The little girl pulled Tang Hao over and came to a stove.

How can a kitchen household survive in such a situation?

For a moment, Tang Hao was silent.

Some people picked up the brine from the brine pool on the beach; some were chopping firewood nearby because there was not enough firewood, and their children were responsible for lighting the fire; there were also some things that had been cooked on the stove, and the stove households happily put the yellow and a few pieces of it on the stove. The lumps of salt were shoveled out of the pot and packed in jars. This was their livelihood to pay taxes and pay official duties...

"Mom! My daughter is here to see you!"

"Then how much salt do we need for this pot of salt?"

But as soon as he finished speaking, two people rushed out from the shadows beside him.

The price of salt has always fluctuated. Normally, it is an official monopoly, and it is controlled in consideration of people's livelihood. However, due to certain natural and man-made disasters, the price of salt fluctuates greatly, and it varies in different dynasties, places, and times.

The woman said something worried, and reminded in a low voice: "Da Shan's body is broken. Someone is eyeing us and my mother, so we have been..."

Since then, no one has mentioned "wasting pots and stoves, building salt fields, and replacing cooking with sunlight".

"Big brother, get out of here!"

The mother and daughter were shocked, but it was too late!

The next moment, blood dripped!