"Taking fire under the cauldron?"

Solve the root cause of the salt problem?!

What a loud tone!

As an emperor, he still can't think of any good ideas. Nian'er is just a housewife, so what good ideas can she come up with?

Zheng Nian'er didn't see the flash of disapproval in Emperor Yongcheng's eyes, and she began to speak carefully -

"The reason why aristocratic families dare to fight against the imperial court is because they dominate the world's salt fields, salt mines, etc., and each of them has the secret recipe for making salt."

"They monopolized the world's salt. Not only did they gain huge wealth through this, they also gained the confidence to resist the imperial court!"

Although Zheng Nian'er is not familiar with government affairs, she is familiar with time-traveling online literature.

Whether it is a story about a man's struggle or a story about a woman's romance, as long as they travel through the Sui and Tang Dynasties, they will make use of a skill only available in later generations - salt making.

"If Erlang wants to break the family's monopoly and completely eliminate the salt policy, he needs to come up with salt of better quality and lower price!"

Speaking of this, Zheng Nian'er paused deliberately.

She wanted to see Emperor Yongcheng's reaction.

Emperor Yongcheng:......

That's it?

Don’t I know that if I want to compete with others, I need to show the minimum number of trump cards?!

But the problem is, he doesn’t have it!

It was because there was no better way to fundamentally shake the family's monopoly that Emperor Yongcheng settled for the next best thing and prepared to impose a salt tax.

As a result, we ran into another group of bold local tycoons!

Seeing Emperor Yongcheng's disdainful and angry look, Zheng Nian'er was not angry at all.

There is no way, she is a time-travelling woman, and the knowledge she possesses in her mind is thousands of years ahead of this era.

She felt that what she took for granted was magical magic for the natives.

Emperor Yongcheng would question it and even think that she was talking nonsense.

Zheng Nian'er had a plan in mind, met Emperor Yongcheng's gaze, and said slowly, "Erlang, I once saw a method of making salt in an ancient book."

"No need to bother and spend money cooking it in a big pot, just dry it and you can get better and cheaper salt!"

Zheng Nian'er said this while secretly smiling bitterly.

Yes, she also experienced an "ancient book joke" that was used to death by the time travel predecessors.

There is nothing we can do about this.

Although the ancient book plot is vulgar, it is really useful. It is also the only excuse that can explain how Zheng Nian'er, a boudoir girl who has lived in the inner house for a long time, knew the secret method of making salt that amazes the world!

Zheng Nian'er doesn't need anyone else, she and Emperor Yongcheng grew up together.

Emperor Yongcheng cannot be said to know her "well", but he is also very familiar with her life trajectory and growth status.

And Zheng Nian'er has always had maids and servants around her.

Even if she wants to use another vulgar "grandpa" joke, she doesn't have enough conditions.

So, it’s a story from an ancient book. Although the Zheng family was born into slaves, the more they lacked something, the more they wanted it.

After relying on the Hu family to make a fortune, Zheng Youliang, a humble farmer who didn't know a few Chinese characters, paid a lot of money to collect some books from the people.

Of course, these so-called "ancient books" that Zheng Youliang bought were basically from Xibei.

But what Zheng Nian'er wanted was just a reason, not any ancient books.

If Emperor Yongcheng continued to ask her for the originals of ancient books, she could also argue that they were accidentally lost, or that the bamboo slips were too old and were directly damaged!

"Drying? No, no need to cook?"

Emperor Yongcheng finally listened and no longer had a disapproving, questioning and dismissive attitude.

As a person who lived in the palace all year round, Emperor Yongcheng had no chance to experience the people's sentiments and understand their livelihood among the people.

However, fortunately, he has a good gentleman like Feng Shou.

Feng Shou did not agree with the late emperor's behavior of promoting the concubine and suppressing the legitimate son. In his mind, he always regarded Emperor Yongcheng, the empress' legitimate son, as the future prince.

Therefore, when teaching Emperor Yongcheng, Feng Shou did not just teach the Four Books and Five Classics blindly. Instead, he would intersperse some short stories of folk sufferings and tell a lot of common sense about the national economy and people's livelihood.

Feng Shou didn't want to raise a stupid emperor who said, "Why don't you eat minced meat?"

Well, okay, although Emperor Yongcheng was still stupid in other ways.

But on basic issues of people's livelihood, Emperor Yongcheng still had basic knowledge.

For example, he knows that the current mainstream method of making salt is just one word - boiling!

Put the salt brine into a large pot, set up firewood and charcoal fire, and cook vigorously.

The water is dried out, leaving the salt crystals, which are then purified through a series of processes.

And this "series of craftsmanship" is the secret recipe that the family holds in hand.

Without these steps, even if the salt is cooked, it cannot be eaten directly. Ahem, it can easily kill someone!

What the aristocratic family monopolizes is not only salt fields and salt mines, but also these secret recipes.

If there is a secret recipe, Emperor Yongcheng also wants to circle a beach, make salt, and sell salt.

But the problem is, he didn't!

Now, when he suddenly heard about another method of making salt that did not waste iron pots, firewood and other tools, Emperor Yongcheng found it incredible, but he was still moved.

"Yes! You don't need to waste any iron pots or firewood. You only need to use the power of nature to get the best sea salt!"

Thanks to some online textual writers who wrote about the party, when writing novels, they expressed some craftsmanship in great detail.

For example, how to dry salt, how to cultivate salt fields, how to dry it, how to filter it... Zheng Nian'er didn't even need to look up the information, he could understand it clearly.

She saw that Emperor Yongcheng really listened to her words, his eyes full of excitement and eagerness, and Zheng Nianer was secretly proud.

She did not continue to talk about it, but carefully explained the method of drying salt.

Finally, she said proudly, "Erlang, when you make better and cheaper sea salt, those aristocratic families will no longer be able to choke you!"

"The imperial court does not need to worry about them respecting their 'salt' and deliberately using salt to embarrass the imperial court and Erlang!"

In fact, Zheng Nian'er was quite lucky. In the face of Emperor Yongcheng's "reforms", those local tycoons only resorted to brutal and violent resistance to taxation.

He did not use a more extreme and deadly trick - cut off the salt directly!

They hold in their hands all the salt fields and salt mines in the world.

If they sincerely wanted to teach Emperor Yongcheng a lesson, they could completely cut off the supply of salt.

Without salt on the market, let alone ordinary officials and people, even ordinary people would be dissatisfied and riot.

If the control is not good, "civilian chaos" may occur.

Since ancient times, "officials force people to rebel" has never been a good word.

And as the emperor who leads all of this, he is the undisputed "faint emperor".

Although it is not possible to cause chaos in the world just because of a salt, after all, the aristocratic families just want to teach the little emperor a lesson, and do not really want to cause turmoil in the world.

They will stop in time and let the market return to normal as soon as possible, and the people will be reassured.

However, Emperor Yongcheng's prestige as emperor would be completely wiped out, and his "pro-government" would become a joke.

"..." After listening to Zheng Nian'er's words, Emperor Yongcheng did not rush to react.

He remained silent. After carefully digesting those words, his face finally showed ecstasy.

"Haha! Okay! Okay!"

Emperor Yongcheng was so excited that he only walked in circles in the hall.

After going around several times, he stopped in front of Zheng Nian'er, with a pair of eyes looking at his little green plum as if looking at a peerless treasure.

"Nian'er, you, you are indeed my good wife!"

Emperor Yongcheng hugged Zheng Nian'er into his arms, wishing he could pick her up and spin her around in circles.

Ahem, as for why he didn't succeed, Emperor Yongcheng refused to admit that he couldn't hold it.

He is only a fifteen-year-old man, and he is pampered. How can he have such brute strength?

In the end, Emperor Yongcheng could only express his inner joy and gratitude by patting his lover's back with his big hands.

"Hurry up, Nian'er, what reward do you want? I'll give it to you!"

When his mood improved, Emperor Yongcheng became extra generous.

Before the experiment of drying salt was successful, he was eager to reward the heroes.

"...As long as I can help Erlang, I will be satisfied. I don't want anything, as long as Erlang always loves me and loves me!"

Zheng Nian'er heard the word "reward" a little harsh.
To be continued...