Chapter 375: Refining Fine Salt, Mount Nalanda

Five days later, Gu Rubing returned to Qingzhou with Zhang He, whom he met at the border of Yuzhou. Before he entered his home, he saw his state pastoral residence decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations from a distance. Two large festive lanterns floated in the wind at the door. Shaking, the original plaque of the Zhou Mu Mansion has now been replaced with the words Prince Lie's Mansion.

Zhuge Liang, Fazheng, Xi Zhicai, Liu Ye, Lu Su and other civil servants were waiting for Gu Rubing's arrival at the door. After seeing Gu Rubing dismounting, they all held their hands to congratulate Gu Rubing from a distance. After all, he was from the state. Mu's promotion to the title of King of Side by Side is still very valuable.

"Congratulations, lord, congratulations, lord, you finally got what you wanted."

Liu Ye bowed and said, with uncontrollable joy on his face. In this line, Gu Rubing was not only named the one-word King of Side by Side, but also secured the positions of the seven state pastors for his seven generals. Now, all the people in the world have Out of the thirteen states, Gu Rubing monopolizes eight states, what a majesty!

"Hahaha, stop standing at the door, go in and talk, go in and talk."

Gu Rubing also smiled brightly. This trip to Xudu was full of success. He also got a wave of autumn wind from Cao Cao, and learned that Cao Cao had already transferred to Mojin Colonel, a special military unit. , in many cases, the importance of intelligence is far higher than that of some materials.

Coupled with Gu Rubing's modern thinking, he knew the importance of information gaps, so when he came back this time, Gu Rubing was ready to show off his skills. First, he would make money first, and then spread the golden captain around, and at the same time use his scouts Also branch out, it would be a waste to follow such a powerful special unit to fight.

Just like Captain Mo Jin, even at this critical moment, Cao Cao still did not recall them, but still let them continue to rob tombs and do whatever they were supposed to do. Cao Cao had an army like this that searched for property all over the country for him. Ru Bingze wants to build an intelligence network covering thirteen states. No matter where it is or what the situation is, even if it is an important matter that occurs in the southernmost part of Jiaozhou or the most southwesterly part of Yizhou, he must deal with it within three days. Know.

This is a great test of Taishi Ci's ability. After all, Colonel Younu, including the scouts before his transfer, were all trained by Taishi Ci. Now if we want to organize such an intelligence network all over the country, first of all, money is the most important thing. important.

Gu Rubing deliberately approached Zhuge Liang and whispered.

"I heard that the Prime Minister is worried about money recently?"

"Oh? Master, do you know?"

Zhuge Liang was still a little surprised. After all, he learned from Fazheng that Gu Rubing just never cared about this, so he never mentioned it to Gu Rubing. Gu Rubing smiled and gave it up. .

"It's not just the prime minister who can predict the future."

Seeing Gu Rubing's proud smile, Zhuge Liang instantly understood what Gu Rubing meant, then shook his head and smiled.

"I'm afraid I will disappoint my lord. The money issue has been temporarily resolved. As for the future, I will find a way. My lord does not need to worry."

"Well, I knew it. You solved it..., what? Solved it? How?"

Gu Rubing looked at Zhuge Liang in surprise. Now many Yellow Turban reservists have been transferred to formal soldiers. This means that the amount of money required will increase explosively. It is not something that can be done in a small way. Solved, that's why Gu Rubing was so surprised.

"Yes, solved."

Zhuge Liang did not answer Gu Rubing's last question, but looked at Gu Rubing with a smile, his expression seemed to say, the Lord can predict the future, why not try it now and see what the solution is.

Looking at Zhuge Liang who was making fun of himself, Gu Rubing not only did not feel any anger in his heart, but he was sincerely happy, because Zhuge Liang in history was not a boring counselor, but a dynamic young man. When Liu Bei and his subordinates were still alive, they often joked together.

It was only after Baidi City that Zhuge Liang became the prime minister recorded in history books.

"Hahaha, Prime Minister, please stop teasing me. How did you solve this problem?"

"My subordinates dare not."

Zhuge Liang smiled and cupped his hands.

"Speaking of which, this matter is actually thanks to my lord."

"Thanks to me?"

Gu Rubing became more and more confused. If he had told Zhuge Liang the principle of refining fine salt, and Zhuge Liang had made a lot of money with it, allowing them to tide over the difficulties, it could be said that it was thanks to him. But now he didn't give anything, so why did he just take TOEFL?

"Yes, please take a look, my lord."

While the two were chatting and laughing, they had already arrived at Gu Rubing's room. Although the plaque in the mansion had been changed, the inside of the mansion had not changed at all. As Zhuge Liang spoke, he opened the door and stood in front of Gu Rubing. In the center of Bing's room, there were four huge boxes.

"My lord, you might as well open it and take a look."

At Zhuge Liang's suggestion, Gu Rubing walked towards those huge boxes and opened one of them. The next moment, Gu Rubing almost blinded himself because of the golden light. He saw that in such a big box, It was all gold, and when I opened another one, it was the same, all gold.

After the other boxes were opened one by one, there was a lot of white silver inside, all of which were genuine gold and silver.

The two boxes of gold contained twelve taels of gold ingots. Gu Rubing made a rough estimate. Each box contained about a thousand gold ingots of 10 taels each. Two boxes equaled two thousand, that is. This means that these two alleys contain a full 20,000 taels of gold.

As for the silver in the other four boxes, they vary in size, but Gu Rubing estimates that each box must be at least 10,000 taels of silver.

Suddenly, 20,000 taels of gold and 40,000 taels of silver came into the account, totaling 240,000 taels of silver. Not to mention solving an urgent need, within a few months, there was no need to worry about money.

"Where did all this money come from?"

Gu Rubing became more and more confused, but at the same time, he also had speculations about who sent the money. After all, nowadays, the only one who can spend so much money so generously is the current emperor Liu Xie. .

Looking at Gu Rubing's expression, Zhuge Liang opened his mouth to help him confirm what he was thinking.

"It was sent by His Majesty. He also asked me to deliver a note to you."

Zhuge Liang said, and handed a rolled-up note in his sleeve robe to Gu Rubing. The note was tied with a gold thread, indicating that no one had opened it. Gu Rubing was skeptical. I took the note and opened it. There was only one sentence on it, very simple.

"We hope the army will return to Luoyang as soon as possible."

These eight simple words express Liu Xie's ardent hope for Gu Rubing. He does not want Gu Rubing to save Xu Du, but wants to return to Luoyang with Gu Rubing. This shows Liu Xie's character. , indeed among these emperors at the end of the Han Dynasty, they were the best.

Looking at the note in his hand and the gold and silver filling his room, Gu Rubing was deeply moved. This emperor had indeed helped him a lot.

What Gu Rubing didn't know was that the internal finances and treasury of the court had been controlled by Cao Cao for a long time. All gold and silver transfers had to be approved by Cao Cao, so Liu Xie had no way to make money from the already depleted treasury. Call money.

These coins were the gold and silver that the Han Dynasty gave to his wife, who is now the queen, when he and Fu Shou got married. As long as they could be given to Gu Rubing, Liu Xie gave them all. Really. We have done our best to obey fate.

"It seems that our Majesty has high expectations for me."

Gu Rubing said with a smile, while Zhuge Liang nodded solemnly.

"I didn't expect it. I originally prepared something to help the Prime Minister. Now it seems that it can only be the icing on the cake."

"Could it be that my lord still has talent as a businessman?"

Zhuge Liang was a little surprised, but Gu Rubing took out a piece of parchment from his arms and handed it to Zhuge Liang.

"There are two methods of refining fine salt, one is to refine sea salt, and the other is to refine mineral salt. Now that the land of the Eight Prefectures has legitimately belonged to us, we can use this method to refine it."

"Fine salt? What is it? Refining? What does it mean?"

Zhuge Liang asked with some confusion. He had never heard of these two words. Not only these two words, he also found that the lord often said some special words.

"Well, fine salt is similar to official salt, except it is finer and cleaner. Refining means removing the impurities in the official salt and making it purer."

After Gu Rubing gave a brief explanation, he waved his hand and asked someone to bring salt blocks, water, straw, a stove and an earthen pot.

Zhao Yun, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and others were also called to attack. Zhuge Liang looked at the busy Gu Rubing with interest. Xiaoyan, he had never heard of such a thing before, and had never thought about it.

I saw Gu Rubing first dissolve the salt blocks together with water, then pour the salt water into the earthen pot, put the stove on, and turn the heat to dry. Gu Rubing lit the straw first, and then took a handful Put the straw ash aside. When he was in school, Gu Rubing had learned that the potassium carbonate in the straw ash can separate the calcium carbonate and magnesium hydroxide plasma in the salt to purify the salt.

After watching Gu Rubing pour the straw ash into the earthen pot and boil it, several people became more and more confused. What was he doing?

Gu Rubing kept using a spoon to lift up the crystals floating on the surface. These were insoluble substances separated from straw ash. Zhao Yun held a fan at the side and fanned the burning firewood until After the salt water in the earthen jar was boiled dry, Gu Rubing stopped, then took a spoon and dug out half a spoonful of gray particles in the earthen jar, one by one.

Everyone gathered around and looked at the dusty particles in the half spoonful, which looked much smaller than the salt blocks. Zhang Fei couldn't help but stick a few particles with his fingers and put them into his mouth. In an instant, Zhang Fei Fei's eyes widened, and the others quickly turned to look at Zhang Fei, waiting for Zhang Fei to speak.

“So fresh and salty.”

After others heard Zhang Fei's words, they all reached out and stuck some into their mouths to taste. Everyone felt that a taste they had never tasted before exploded in their mouths.

"This salt is not astringent at all."

Zhao Yun said with some surprise, Zhuge Liang nodded aside.

"Not only does it remove the astringent taste of salt, but it also turns the original salt blocks into these small particles. My lord is really a god."

After Zhuge Liang finished speaking, he turned to look at Gu Rubing.

"Although this kind of salt is delicious, it cannot be mass-produced, which means that the price will be very expensive. Ordinary people can never afford it. Only some princes and nobles are willing to buy it, but there are not many of them. Even if we sell it It’s very expensive, and the money you make is definitely not enough to keep up with the military expenses.”

Gu Rubing smiled mysteriously and pointed to the parchment in Zhuge Liang's hand.

"Don't worry, Prime Minister, this is just for me to show you what fine salt is. If you really want to produce it in large quantities, you definitely can't use this method. The method of how to refine fine salt in large quantities is written down on the parchment. Prime Minister, just let it go. Just do it.”

Zhuge Liang glanced at the parchment in his hand, and then at Gu Rubing. As long as this method of refining fine salt was spread, he would definitely make a lot of money. However, Gu Rubing directly gave the method to Zhuge Liang, which was enough. It can be seen that Gu Rubing has great trust in Zhuge Liang, no less than Guan Yu and Zhang Fei.

"Don't worry, my lord, I will definitely not let you down."

"Don't worry, I always feel confident when the Prime Minister does things."

As Gu Rubing spoke, he handed the half spoonful of fine salt he was holding to Zhao Yun who was standing aside.

"In the past few days, this salt will be used for cooking in the house. I believe that after all the salt is eaten, the prime minister will have refined new ones."

Compared with Gu Rubing and the others, Cao Cao was much busier. He didn't have many war horses, otherwise he wouldn't have agreed to cooperate with Han Sui. But now, the duck's mouth has flown. Cao Cao has not lost 5,000 fine armors and 5,000 war horses. If they are really lost, then that’s it. These are given to Liu Bei.

Cao Cao didn't dare not give it to Liu Bei, but he knew the power of public opinion. If he didn't give it to Liu Bei, and he would be unhappy and reveal all the things he had done that day, his reputation would be ruined.

He had already prepared fine armor and war horses. The reason why he did not send them to Yanzhou was because he just waited until the last day before sending them there. This was Cao Cao's last stubbornness.

"I wonder how Xiahou Dun is doing in the Western Regions."

Cao Cao held a gold coin in his hand, and the gold coin kept turning in his hand. This was his habit when he was thinking about things in his previous life. However, after he came here, all the copper coins were too small and could not be turned in his fingers. Until the first two It was only after Colonel Tianmo Jin sent him such a gold coin that he resumed this form of entertainment.

Xiahou Dun, who was deeply concerned about Cao Cao, had already rushed to Landuo Mountain, the sacred mountain of Shule Kingdom in the Western Regions, with more than a dozen captains of Mojin. Mount Landuo almost reached the clouds. Xiahoudun and captain Mojin had just arrived at the foot of the mountain. A man dressed as a lama came forward and chanted the Buddha's name first.

"Amitabha, did the donor come from the east?"

"Exactly."

Seeing the other party telling his origin, Xiahou Dun had no doubts. They had been in contact with the Western Regions before, but the cooperation failed to be negotiated last time, so this has been stranded. Until now, they have returned to the Western Regions.