The roar of steel still echoed through Dragon's Breath Valley while, unnoticed, Liu Xun reached for the most lucrative source of profit for the Han Empire: salt. Although the state monopoly on salt and iron was an ancestral system in the Han Dynasty, the actual control of salt wells and lakes across the land had long been in the hands of a complex web of powerful landowners and wealthy merchants. The salt they produced was yellow and bitter, and due to their poor purification techniques, it contained potent toxins. Yet the common people were forced to spend their fortunes on this necessity, known as 'bitter salt'. 'They hold the people by the neck to collect money, so I'll hold their lifeline,' Liu Xun chuckled in a secret room at the Chang'an Imperial Academy of Natural Resources, looking at a pile of inferior mineral salt transported from Shu. This salt was practically worthless to the people of the Han dynasty. Not only was it bitter and unpleasant to eat, but excessive consumption also caused stomach aches and vomiting. The powerful landowners focused only on sea salt and salt lakes, never imagining that hidden within these mineral-rich mountains and plains lay enough wealth to buy the entire Han Dynasty.
[System Command]: Initiate 'Chemical Engineering Side Quest: Mineral Salt Purification Method'.
Core steps: Dissolution and filtration; chemical precipitation (removal of calcium and magnesium ions); and recrystallisation.
Current bonuses: [Microscopic window] monitors the crystallisation process and [purity lock] ensures the finished product is as white as snow.
Liu Xun skilfully crushed the mineral salt and poured it into a large earthenware urn. Rather than using expensive spices to mask the odour, he added several simple precipitants that he had synthesised using system logic at the 'Internal Affairs Invention Bureau'. After stirring, the originally turbid, yellowish liquid gradually became as clear as a mirror.
"Fire! Crystallise!' As the charcoal fire crackled, steam rose from the pot. A layer of fine white crystals slowly covered the bottom of the pot, shimmering gem-like under the light.
'This... this is salt?' After being summoned to the secret room by Liu Xun, the Grand Minister of Agriculture stood frozen to the spot. He tremblingly extended his finger, dipped it into the snow-white crystals and put them in his mouth. There was no bitterness or gritty texture; only pure, intense saltiness with a hint of sweetness. 'Your Majesty, if this is salt, then what the people of the world have been eating until now is all mud!' The Grand Minister of Agriculture was in tears. He knew all too well the destructive power of this substance. While the curved plough had shaken the foundations of power, this white salt had robbed the aristocratic families of their treasury. 'I call it "Great Han Refined Salt".' Liu Xun brushed the powder off his hands, instantly switching his demeanour to that of a 'ruthless chess player'. 'From today onwards, the Academy of Natural Resources will establish a "Salt Industry Bureau", with the Agricultural Reclamation Corps responsible for salt mining. As for sales channels outside..." A wicked smile appeared on Liu Xun's lips. 'I will let the yellow salt in the hands of those powerful families rot and stink in their warehouses,' he said. Three days later, outside the largest salt shop in Chang'an, Ruifeng, the manager, who was married into the powerful Du family from Guanzhong, was instructing his employees to mark up the prices of buckets of yellowish bitter salt. 'Buy it or don't! All the salt in Guanzhong is in our hands. Think it's too expensive? Go and drink horse piss if you think it's too expensive!' The shopkeeper, with his large belly and fleshy face, exclaimed.
Just then, the red silk curtains at a shop across the street suddenly parted. Several men in the uniforms of the Agricultural Reclamation Corps carried huge sacks and shouted, "His Majesty has bestowed upon us 'Snow-like Refined Salt' in gratitude to the people! It's neither bitter nor astringent; it's pure and non-toxic, and it's priced at five coins per pound!"
"What? Five coins?" The onlookers erupted into an uproar. They knew that the Du family's bitter salt sold for at least thirty coins per pound. When a sack of snow-white, crystalline salt appeared, those who had been queuing outside the Du family's shop surged across the street like a tidal wave. 'This salt... this salt is really white!'
'Heavens! Is this really for human consumption? Only immortals would eat this kind of salt!' Disguised as Boss Su, Liu Xun mingled in the crowd, coldly observing the scene. His 'Eye of Insight' was monitoring the price fluctuations in Chang'an City in real time. Following the sudden emergence of 'Great Han Refined Salt', the previously stable salt price had plummeted within half an hour. Shopkeeper Du slumped at the entrance of his shop, watching the bustling scene across the street and knowing that his family was finished. Their stockpile of tens of thousands of dan of bitter salt had now become worthless. Even worse, not only had Liu Xun sold salt, he had also forced merchants to exchange grain or copper coins for the right to operate a white salt business through a 'salt ticket' system.
[System Notification]: 'Salt and Iron Monopoly' authority enhancement complete. The host's control over private capital has increased by 50%.
[National Fortune Value] has surged, unlocking the next stage: [Glass Manufacturing Technology].'Your Majesty, the powerful family heads have requested an audience. They say they are willing to hand over their salt wells and are begging Your Majesty to grant them a way out.' The Hidden Dragon Guard appeared silently behind Liu Xun and picked up a piece of white salt that resembled a shattered diamond. He examined it in the sunlight, his eyes filled with the cruelty of a predator.
'A way out? I gave them a way out right there under that curved plough. Since they didn't want it, let them slowly die of thirst with their empty purses." He turned and left, leaving behind a burly man whose price order had collapsed and was being rebuilt, and whose centre of power had shifted completely.
In this battle, Liu Xun didn't lose a single soldier, yet he used a handful of fine salt to inflict the greatest pain on the powerful clans.
There were no song and dance performances inside the Qilin Pavilion of Weiyang Palace; instead, a gigantic map, ten zhang long, stood before them. Drawn by the Imperial Academy using a secret method involving quicklime, this map depicted the vast expanse of the Han Dynasty. Liu Xun stood with his hands behind his back and his feet on the map, the crisscrossing red lines resembling pulsating veins. Below the main hall were officials, including governors of various prefectures, the Grand Minister of Agriculture and the Grand Master of Works. This was no longer a casual discussion of poetry, literature and etiquette; it was the first national infrastructure conference in the history of the Han dynasty.
'My esteemed ministers,' Liu Xun's voice echoed in the empty hall. 'I ask you: How much grain is lost when troops are dispatched from Chang'an to Shule?" The Grand Minister of Agriculture bowed and replied, 'Your Majesty, the mountain roads are rugged and the waterways difficult to traverse. Of the hundred dan of grain transported, often less than ten dan reach the border; the rest is wasted on feeding the troops and their horses along the way.' If I were to undertake this task, I would make the road as smooth as a mirror and as wide as a canal, allowing warhorses to gallop day and night and enabling grain to flow downstream.' Liu Xun abruptly waved his sleeve, pointing to the north-south backbone on the map — the Qin Straight Road. 'The First Emperor built the Straight Road to defend against the Hu, nomadic tribes. Today, not only will I build it, but I will also use the waste residue, lime and yellow sand from the Dragon's Breath Valley to pave a smooth road called 'cement', which will shorten the distance from Chang'an to the border by three-fold. 'To get rich, build roads first.' Liu Xun uttered this truth that transcends millennia. Though crude in the eyes of the ministers, it carried a chilling, penetrating message.
There were no song and dance performances inside the Qilin Pavilion of Weiyang Palace; instead, a gigantic map, ten zhang long, stood before them. Drawn by the Imperial Academy using a secret method involving quicklime, this map depicted the vast expanse of the Han Dynasty. Liu Xun stood with his hands behind his back and his feet on the map, the crisscrossing red lines resembling pulsating veins. Below the main hall were officials, including governors of various prefectures, the Grand Minister of Agriculture and the Grand Master of Works. This was no longer a casual discussion of poetry, literature and etiquette; it was the first national infrastructure conference in the history of the Han dynasty.
'My esteemed ministers,' Liu Xun's voice echoed in the empty hall. 'I ask you: How much grain is lost when troops are dispatched from Chang'an to Shule?" The Grand Minister of Agriculture bowed and replied, 'Your Majesty, the mountain roads are rugged and the waterways difficult to traverse. Of the hundred dan of grain transported, often less than ten dan reach the border; the rest is wasted on feeding the troops and their horses along the way.' If I were to undertake this task, I would make the road as smooth as a mirror and as wide as a canal, allowing warhorses to gallop day and night and enabling grain to flow downstream.' Liu Xun abruptly waved his sleeve, pointing to the north-south backbone on the map — the Qin Straight Road. 'The First Emperor built the Straight Road to defend against the Hu, nomadic tribes. Today, not only will I build it, but I will also use the waste residue, lime and yellow sand from the Dragon's Breath Valley to pave a smooth road called 'cement', which will shorten the distance from Chang'an to the border by three-fold. 'To get rich, build roads first.' Liu Xun uttered this truth that transcends millennia. Though crude in the eyes of the ministers, it carried a chilling, penetrating logic. 'Your Majesty, you mustn't!' the Imperial Censor wailed, kneeling. 'Repairing the straight road, cutting through mountains and ridges — this is an act of exhausting the people and wasting resources! The lessons of the Qin dynasty are not far off!' Liu Xun lowered his head, beginning his 'ultimate performance: the iron-fisted foundation builder'. Rather than raging, he walked over to the old minister and helped him up personally, his eyes flashing with a fanatical fervour that dared not be met.
'Qin perished because of tyranny, not infrastructure. Lord Zhou, the money I earn from selling salt and piling it in the national treasury is nothing but mouldy, lifeless stuff. But if it is spread across the ground, it becomes a continuous stream of taxes and an instantaneous cavalry force!'
Liu Xun turned abruptly, pointing to several places on the map and saying, 'I won't use local corvée labour; I'll use the "Great Han Agricultural Reclamation Corps"! 'They take my salary, eat my fine salt and wear my fine steel armour. Now, I want them to lay the foundation for everlasting peace for the Han dynasty!'
[System Command]: Initiate 'Major Infrastructure Project – Qin Straight Road Repair Project'.
Core technologies: Improved version of rammed earth (cement prototype), standard roadbed surveying method, pulley crane.
Expected effects: Increased strategic mobility in the north by 300% and reduced material losses by 80%. In order to silence the civil officials completely, Liu Xun ordered the Imperial Household Department to build a huge 'mud pit' outside the palace gates.
Liu Xun said to his ministers, 'Please look.' He instructed the craftsmen to pour a bucket of white-grey powder into a mixture of sand and gravel, add water and stir. Then he ordered a heavy iron-wheeled cart, weighing several thousand kilograms, to be parked on top of it. "This substance is called cement," he said. In just one day, it will harden like stone, be impervious to water and fire, and will not decay for a thousand years.' The ministers initially scoffed, but as the sun set and they passed the palace gates again, they found that the once soft mud had indeed solidified into a single, massive rock. The old ministers, trembling, tapped it with their canes, producing a clear 'ding-ding' sound. At that moment, all opposition vanished. This was no longer a dirt road built by human labour, but an iron chain bestowed by the gods. Liu Xun stood on the city wall, watching the first group of the agricultural reclamation corps carrying shovels and pushing wheelbarrows towards the northern border. A deep smile appeared on his face. Large-scale infrastructure construction would bring convenient transportation and the circulation of currency. "System, record this," murmured Liu Xun in his mind. "Silver from the national treasury will flow to the labourers. The labourers will buy salt and cloth, and the money will flow back to the national treasury. Once this cycle is running smoothly, the Han Dynasty will thrive." As the first shovelful of earth was turned over on the ruins of the Qin Straight Road, the 'Industrialisation Potential' section on the 'National Fortune Value' panel frantically changed from grey to blazing red.
Liu Xun knew that, once this vital artery was awakened, the Han Dynasty's will would swiftly crush any rebellion or foreign invader that dared rise to prominence along this smooth road. He wasn't building a road; he was building the first railway track to lead the Han Dynasty to global hegemony.