CH 3

Three days later, the servants in the castle’s recognition of Xia Zuoyi reached a new high.

When the reputation value finally increased to 20 points, he immediately exchanged the “Seawater Salt Drying Method And Detailed Illustration”.

【Ding, the exchange is successful. The download is in progress… Download complete, “Seawater Salt Drying Method And Detailed Illustration” has been saved in the stickman universe mailbox for the host, and can be read at any time.】

—There are only three pages of “Seawater Salt Drying Method And Detailed Illustration” and the detailed location map of the natural asphalt mine on the list.

Xia Zuoyi used the time to sleep at night to study it thoroughly, then start to make some preparations for how to unobtrusively produce sea salt.

After Xia Zuoyi moved the alchemy laboratory to the attic, he spent almost half of his time in it every day. Even in the castle, it was spread that the young Earl could hardly resist the charm of alchemy, and began to indulge in it like the old Earl.

The kitchen is busy preparing lunch for a while.

The two cooks were talking in a low voice. The young Earl was so willful that he didn’t want to eat porridge, bread and fruit. Today, the young Earl asked the chef for a bottle of salt shaker.

“Chef Phillip is going to die of grief, he had only two salt shakers left, and he didn’t dare to stop them…”

“What does the young Earl want to do with the salt shaker?”

“Who knows, probably because of curiosity. The day before yesterday, the young Earl also asked me how much a bottle of salt can cost…”

Just then, Chef Phillip knocked on the bowl and yelled, “What are you dawdling about! Quickly load the plate! Can you afford to delay the Earl’s meal?!” 

The cooks didn’t dare to talk any more and moved quickly.

After lunch, Xia Zuoyi returned to the attic.

After proper arrangement, the attic has taken on a new look. The experimental equipment and utensils are neatly placed in cabinets, and some objects that should avoid light are placed in shady corners.

“Udit, do you know how salt is obtained?”

Xia Zuoyi sat in the chair, swinging his legs gently.

He seemed to have a lot of curiosity about the origin of salt. His caramel-colored eyes are bright, he turns the new salt shaker back and forth in his hands, and the coarse salt grains rustle in the bottle.

Udit, “Through boiling the salt, my Lord. Use wooden pipes to transfer the brine and boil it in a square iron or lead pot.”

“The salt shaker in your hand is sold by Nagabi Chamber of Commerce to various places.”

“Nagabi Chamber of Commerce?”

Xia Zuoyi looked at the picture engraved on the salt shaker—two neatly dressed men standing face to face, one with coins in his hand and the other with goods, trading.

Obviously, this is the emblem of the Nagabi Chamber of Commerce.

Udit, “The Nagabi Chamber of Commerce belongs to the Anas Empire.”

“There is the largest salt lake in the Anas Empire—Betala Lake. Because of this, the Nagabi Chamber of Commerce almost controls 60% of the salt sales channels.”

Salt is a necessity, and selling salt is even more profitable.

The Nagabi Chamber of Commerce had the secret support of the royal family of Anas Empire so the price of salt remained high.

This is also why Chef Philip feels distressed to death for Xia Zuoyi asking for three or four cans of salt.

“Is boiling the only way to obtain salt?”

“I think so, my Lord.” 

“What about drying in the sun?” 

Xia Zuoyi seemingly inadvertently pointed to the long table by the window.

There are four half-meter square shallow-bottomed wooden pools on the long table. All the salt before was poured into the pools to dissolve slowly.

Looking back today, the amount of water in the wooden pool that was first poured salt decreased, and even smaller pieces of salt condensed.

“The alchemy handbook left by my father records his process of searching for the presence of metals in seawater, it also mentioned that salt particles would appear when the seawater evaporated to a certain extent in the sun…”

Xia Zuoyi held the salt shaker in both hands, with two short legs cleverly joined together, tilted his head and said innocently, “Udit, can we try drying seawater in the sun to get salt?”

“If you have salt, you can sell it. Then I’ll have a lot of money.”

Matt Desinia did leave behind an alchemy manual, and his long indulgence in research did not lead him to nothing.

At least looking for metals in seawater is true, but it’s just a failure in the end.

In the alchemy manual, Xia Zuoyi forged some records about salt drying in seawater.

In recent days, the servants in the castle naturally thought that the young Earl began to be interested in alchemy, read the alchemy manual left by the old Earl, and were curious about how to obtain salt.

Udit, “Naturally follow your wishes.” 

The craftsmen were summoned to the castle, and after constant discussions and adjustments, they finally succeeded in building a large-scale and complete salt drying field on the east coastline of Cogit Sea.

When Xia Zuoyi decided to test the feasibility of drying salt in seawater, many servants were skeptical.

How can salt come out of seawater?

The young Earl must be fooling around…Look, after failing, he won’t be tossing about it anymore.

However, as time went by, they began to find that things didn’t work out as they thought they would.

The servants watched helplessly as the seawater was introduced into one pool, evaporated after a period of sun exposure, and then transferred to another pool for further sun exposure.

After waiting for another period of time, white particles gradually precipitated from the seawater.

“Salt, it’s salt!” 

The first exclaimed in disbelief.

They can’t believe that they can get a huge amount of salt just by relying on a few pools.

Although the quality of the salt currently obtained is relatively rough, after further processing and purification, the refined salt is even more delicate than the salt bought outside.

What’s more, it’s needless to say about the manpower and material resources expended to boil salt.

But the salt drying in seawater depends on the “sun and wind” from the beginning to the end, and the “cost” is almost negligible.

Chef Phillip looked at the ten cans of refined salt in front of him and cried again.

This time he cried with joy.

After the “experiment” was successful, Udit mentioned to Xia Zuoyi the necessity of “salt control” for the royal family.

The royal family cannot let go of the huge benefit of “salt”.

Although salt can be sold in the chamber of commerce, it has to be secretly controlled by the royal family.

In the current situation of Wissas, it’s like a bird with not yet full wings, no matter how much it spreads its wings to cover it, it’s impossible to protect the “treasure” behind it.

Furthermore, Xia Zuoyi’s original plan was to present the method of drying salt in seawater as a “gift” to the King, in order to obtain the territorial rights of Pal Mountain.

The Cogit Sea can’t move.

At best, Xia Zuoyi gave up most of the benefits of selling salt to the King, and the salt production would still be carried out in Wissas, which is equivalent to returning to his own hands after a turn.

You can get more by initiating to give away than to be forced to give up.

Forever.

Xia Zuoyi is sure to develop Wissas into the main channel and important city for controlling the sale of salt in the Kingdom of Gadaat.

Xia Zuoyi, “Udit, I want to go to the royal city in person.” 

With the golden light of the morning sun and the call of seabirds, the Desinian motorcade set out for Keys, the royal city of Gadaat. 

The banner of thorns and roses fluttered on the top of the carriage, followed by the craftsmen who built the salt field, and a small team of knights at the front and back to ensure the Lord’s safety.

After crossing Pal Mountain, the nearest territory adjacent to Wissas is Fort Comoy.

The Lord of Fort Comoy is also an Earl—Beavis Elliott.

He is in his prime.

They’re both Earls but Fort Comoy is richer, larger, and more populous than Wissas.

Even Earl Beavis Elliott had a brave cavalry in his hands.

When passing by Fort Comoy, Xia Zuoyi deeply realized the gap between the two cities.

He’s a little sour.

After passing through three big cities, they arrived at the royal city of Keys.

The scope of the Gadaat Kingdom is not very large, and the time spent on the road is not much.

After entering the royal city, he soon got the opportunity to meet the King.

The old King, Duke Paige, had a distant relationship with Xia Zuoyi Desinia.

The cousin of the previous King was married to the grandfather of Xia Zuoyi Desinia.

The old King is about the same age as Xia Zuoyi’s father, and there is already a prince and two princesses under his knees. He likes beautiful people, has no achievements or faults in government affairs, is a gentleman, and is not cruel.

It can be said that the character of the old King Duke Paige is also in the consideration and plan of Xia Zuoyi.

When Xia Zuoyi entered the royal hall, the old King was discussing political affairs with the Chancellor of the Exchequer Bass Richards. Seeing him come in, the old King raised his hand, and Bass Richards stood aside but did not leave.

Old King, “What gift did you bring?”

“Your Majesty, the gift is here.”

Xia Zuoyi presented a roll of parchment, which recorded the salt drying method in seawater and the test results.

The old King was slightly surprised and asked the waiter to take the gift.

He remembered after the unexpected death of Matt Desinia he sent people to give his condolences.

Xia Zuoyi Desinia’s sudden arrival made him confused. After reading the contents on the parchment, this doubt began to turn into a huge surprise.

He even stood up from the throne with a look of excitement.

“Your Majesty?” Bass Richards frowned and asked.

The old King calmed down and gave the parchment in his hand to his favored chancellor, “Richards, come and see.” 

Xia Zuoyi also turned his head curiously.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, with brown hair and green eyes, a stern face, raised eyebrows and a broad nose, looked unkind.

After reading the content on the parchment, except for a momentary surprise that flashed on his face, he immediately calmed his emotions, and a pair of sharp and bright eyes stared at Xia Zuoyi.

“Are you sure this is real and feasible?”

Xia Zuoyi, pretending to be frightened by him, nodded a little timidly, “Yes, I also brought the salt after the experiment.”

Udit presented the salt shaker in his hand.

The old King could not wait to take it from the waiter.

He opened the cork of the bottle containing refined salt and poured snow-white salt into his palm. After watching carefully, he twisted some salt and put it into his mouth. He’s even more delighted, “It’s salt!”

The salt shaker was handed over to Bath Richards.

After confirming, Bass Richards asked Xia Zuoyi some questions.

—It’s nothing more than “how did you discover it” and “who else knows”… “What do you want by offering the method of sea salt drying to the King”.

Xia Zuoyi answered “truthfully” one by one.

When it came to the last question, he clasped his hands in front of his chest, two blushes appeared on his white and tender cheeks, and he said with a little bit of shyness, “I want to expand my territory a little bit.”

The author has something to say:

Xia Zuoyi: Look at me, I’m silly, white, and sweet.