novelSusiti Chapter 13 Where is the blue sky? Where is the law?
Chapter 13 Where is the blue sky? Where is the law?
Winter has passed and spring has arrived, and all things are reviving. With Qingming Festival approaching, spring plowing is about to begin. Li Xuan began the final preparations for the formation of his entourage—producing counterfeit salt.
Dissolve coarse salt in a pot of boiling water, stirring carefully with a willow twig until completely dissolved. Don't be afraid of the heat; while it's still hot, slowly pour the pot of salt water into a funnel lined with several layers of gauze. The steaming, clear salt water flows slowly through the funnel into a special earthenware pot.
Li Chang carefully and evenly sprinkled the wood ash into the earthenware pot according to the pre-weighed amount, and then slowly stirred it with a willow branch to ensure that the wood ash and the solution were fully mixed. When the mixture became turbid and the ash could not be seen, he used a funnel covered with gauze to filter it a second time.
At this stage, it is actually the standard process of refining salt. Although it is complicated and confidential, there have been families who have mastered this method since ancient times.
After collecting the refined salt solution, Li Xuan kept it warm over a low flame, then gently added a secret medicinal liquid to the solution using a porcelain spoon. Once the liquid and salt solution were fully mixed, Li Ji was left to watch the fire. Li Xuan and Li Chang repeated the process.
Under the gentle heat, a cluster of salt crystals, faintly shimmering with a bluish light, gradually precipitated onto the surface of the water. No matter how many times he had witnessed it, Li Ji was always captivated by the mysteries of the changes in all things. Seeing that only a shallow layer of solution remained, Li Ji immediately lifted the earthenware pot and placed it on a cotton pad filled with reeds, letting the residual heat from the bottom of the pot dry the liquid. Even if it couldn't be dried completely, it would evaporate completely within a day.
After more than ten days of back-and-forth work, the six shi of coarse salt transported back before the New Year was finally refined into more than five shi of refined salt. What's even more amazing is that this is not just ordinary refined salt, but the supreme treasure among refined salts - green salt.
This was a family heirloom passed down to Li Xuan from his father. As long as he possessed this knowledge, the reputation of a spendthrift would never fall upon him. As for how his father, who worked as a salt official in Hailing, obtained this secret recipe, Li Xuan had no idea.
Blue salt gets its name from the faint bluish sheen it emits when piled up indoors. It originates from salt lakes in the remote Shuofang and Liangzhou regions. Legend has it that these salt lakes were nourished by the azure air of the heavens for millions of years, forming those pools of blue salt. During the Dayu Dynasty, blue salt was the most expensive of all types of salt, a luxury item that the royal family and nobility had to use.
The present-day Yu Kingdom is located in the south, isolated from the northwestern mountains and passes. For decades, the land has been divided, ravaged by war. Trade routes from Yumen Pass have long been severed, and the border defenses of Guanzhong have retreated step by step to Fengxiang Prefecture. The salt trade has been severely damaged; not only the Yu Kingdom, but even the Zhou nobles who nominally control Guanzhong in the north do not have free control over salt production.
Given its status as a luxury item, the price of salt in the State of Yu was naturally unreasonable. In Jinling City, a dou (a unit of dry measure) of salt cost over one hundred guan (a unit of currency), and it was often difficult to find even at that price.
Because Li Xuan's "green salt" was handmade, even with their utmost care and the processes optimized as much as possible, the products were still categorized into several grades based on their effectiveness. The best grade was almost indistinguishable from the real thing. The lower-grade products could be sold at a discount to lower-ranking officials, helping them keep up with fashion and cultivate an air of refinement.
After all, unless you are a professional who deals with salt year-round, the average person cannot distinguish the differences between the different grades.
After more than ten days of hard work, depending on the quantity of different grades, Li Xuan could earn between six hundred and one thousand guan.
The amount of money was considerable, but he was even more timid, not daring to sell all the salt at once. Before Qingming Festival, Li Xuan took Li Chang to visit his "old friends" to sell twenty bushels of salt first.
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In the creaking carriage, Li Xuan and Li Chang sat in Li Hua's carriage caravan. They were in Guangling City today to deliver goods to a customer. Two bushels of salt were neatly stacked in a row of bamboo tubes, buried under the silk cloth of Li Hua's carriage as they swaggered into Guangling City.
Two dou (a unit of dry measure) is roughly equivalent to thirty jin (a unit of weight). To safely transport such a large quantity of salt, Li Xuan's expired travel permit wouldn't be enough. Fortunately, as a local, he had a way of doing things, and connections led him to various places.
Li Hua was a well-known merchant in the city and had long been familiar with the city's defense system. Leveraging Li Hua's reputation, Li Xuan openly brought goods into the city.
After entering the city, Li Xuan and Li Chang quickly packed up the bamboo tubes in Li Hua's shop, carried them on their backs, and stealthily blended into the alleys of Guangling City, silently moving from backyard to back door of wealthy households.
"Knock knock knock, knock knock knock"
"Hey bro, you're here!"
"Here it comes! This year's new stock, still carrying the pure essence of the heavens. Offering it in sacrifice will surely bring divine assistance."...
When Li Xuan did business with the people in the city, he didn't accept copper coins, but started with silver ingots. He would open a special wallet, carefully collect the silver bars, seal them, and tuck them into a hidden pocket inside his clothes. He would also wear a satchel to conceal his identity and display his Hailing Supervisor's waist badge. Who would have thought that the two of them were smuggling salt in Guangling City?
After putting away their money, the two brothers walked out of the alley with smiles on their faces. Suddenly, a funeral procession came by, and Li Xuan grabbed Li Chang, who was grinning from ear to ear.
The two people stood holding their breath, heads slightly bowed, just like the neighbors and passersby on either side, all of whom were sending off the deceased soul with public etiquette.
"Waaaaah, my dear wife, you died such a terrible death..."
A man pulled the hearse step by step toward the city gate, calling out to his deceased wife's spirit as he went, his words filled with obvious grief and helplessness. Those around him were deeply moved; they all wept, bidding farewell to the departed soul and weeping in fear of the perilous and dark world they could not escape.
Only after the funeral procession disappeared at the street corner did the street come alive again. People discussed it with sympathy, using phrases like "how tragic!", "how despicable!", and "King Qi!"
Li Xuan asked an old man curiously, "Sir, may I ask what's going on here? I overheard you talking for a bit, and it seems like there's something wrong with it."
The old man sighed and said, "What else can we do? A scourge has come to our Guangling City. It's that guy from the garrison headquarters, a real scoundrel. He's always out on the streets snatching young women and wives. Anyone who goes to ask for their dowry back gets extorted. These beasts are inhuman. Look, nine out of ten women they take in don't survive. It's not even Qingming Festival yet, and there have already been four deaths this year."
Li Xuan exclaimed in shock, "Isn't anyone going to do anything about this? Guangling is the Eastern Capital, and going back further, it was the capital of the Great Wu Kingdom. Their family started in Guangling and made their way to Jinling. How can they be so crazy?"
The old man, who had undoubtedly lived through that era, sighed, "Child, you're still young. You haven't seen what it means for ordinary people not to fight against officials. Let alone ordinary people, daughters of officials' families have already been killed and thrown out. Alas, what can be done? Nowadays, families with some means are sending their daughters and wives out of the city. It's tragic."
Li Xuan and Li Chang were both somewhat frightened. The atrocities that had previously only been briefly mentioned in historical records were laid bare before them. The two boys were chilled to the bone by their cruelty.
Seeing the two children turn pale with fright, the old man quickly pulled them back to their senses: "Young men, don't think about it anymore. If you have any sisters or wives, send them out of the city to avoid disaster. The King of Qi is a nobleman; he can even pick and choose the girls based on their beauty, weight, or appearance."
His men have all gone astray, acting recklessly and indiscriminately. They'll take anyone, even if the King of Qi doesn't want them. Anyone targeted not only has to swallow their anger but also pay tribute, supposedly as dowry money. They'll force the husband's family to pay tribute, no matter whose daughter-in-law it is. It's utterly unreasonable!
Li Xuan and Li Chang quickly thanked the old man, supporting each other as their legs trembled. The familiar city streets suddenly seemed difficult to traverse. A chill ran through them, and they felt a cold wind blowing through the city; they dared not linger for even a moment.
After hurrying past a few intersections, Li Chang suddenly grabbed Li Xuan and said, "Brother Xuan, look, isn't that Aunt Wang?"
Li Xuan was startled, thinking that Aunt Wang had also been arrested. Following Li Chang's gaze, he saw that it really was Aunt Wang. Her face was smeared with ash, her head was down, her back was hunched, and she was hurrying along carrying a basket of vegetables.
Li Xuan sighed, "Sigh, even Aunt Wang was quite frightened. Since we've run into her, let's escort her for a while."
Li Chang thought for a moment and suggested, "Why don't we stop Aunt Wang and ask her employer if they need salt? We've visited most of the wealthy families in Guangling City, so we don't know which family Aunt Wang works for."
Li Xuan thought it made sense. Seeing that Aunt Wang was about to walk away, he quickly took Li Chang to chase after her. But the route Aunt Wang took seemed increasingly familiar to Li Xuan, so he slowed down and looked around. It seemed like he had been to this area before?
As they turned the corner, Li Xuan saw Aunt Wang enter a familiar house, and he suddenly realized where they were. Li Chang stared at the house, feeling a sense of familiarity: "Brother Xuan, have we been here before? I think I remember."
Many memories flashed through Li Xuan's mind. He silently turned and left. No wonder Aunt Wang took such good care of his business, no wonder she cared so much about him and Li Chang, always asking if their lives were hard. If it was Uncle Feng and Aunt Feng asking, that would make sense. And then there was Niao Niao, who used to always play with him.
Since Uncle Feng and Aunt Feng cared so much about him without revealing their identities, they must have their reasons. He gripped the silver ingot in his hidden pocket, the icy touch jolting him awake. The Feng family's courtyard wall was so close, yet it felt like a fortified border. Yes... now I'm just a commoner selling smuggled salt. If I rashly acknowledge them, those who have their eyes on the Feng family will be holding knives to the Li family's necks in the next second.
He whispered to Li Chang, "This is Uncle Feng's house, the same Uncle Feng who used to have a very good relationship with Father. No wonder Aunt Wang cares about us so much."
Li Chang remembered that he had come to the Li family with his father back then and had received quite a few trinkets as gifts from Madam Feng. Overjoyed, Li Chang pulled Li Xuan aside and suggested, "Since we've run into them, let's go pay them a visit. Uncle Feng and Aunt Feng are back, so Miss Niaoniao must be back too."
Li Xuan shook his head and explained, "When visiting elders, especially when we younger generations do so, we must first send a visiting card and wait for the elders to arrange a time. Only after everything is convenient can we go to their door to pay our respects. Uncle Feng and Aunt Feng care about us so much, yet they refuse to meet us; it must be somewhat inconvenient. Let's go home first, and when the time is right, Uncle will definitely send someone to deliver the message."
Li Xuan assumed that Feng Daoji must be busy with something, or that his family's situation in Guangling City was not yet stable, and he was not busy with his own affairs. As a long-time ally of the Guangling Li clan, it would have been no problem for Feng Daoji of the Guangling Feng clan to find a way to arrange a meeting with Li Xuan. Therefore, Li Xuan never expected that Feng Daoji was deliberately avoiding him.
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A few days later
"Brother Xuan, look, these are all brand new goods that we just got from the craft workshop. The tung oil on them is still fresh." At the training ground of Li Family Town, the militia captain led Li Xuan to inspect the newly arrived "old weapons".
Li Xuan took down a lance, flicked it to carefully feel the balance point and the vibration of the lance, and carefully checked the fixed connection. As for the material of the shaft, he could tell as soon as he picked it up.
Li Chang inspected the hard bows and arrows. The hard bows were standard issue in the army, weighing one stone and two dou (a unit of volume), and the arrows were ordinary iron-tipped goose-feather arrows.
After testing everything, Li Xuan expressed his satisfaction and immediately paid in full. The captain was overjoyed; after all, it was a big deal, and he could make over ten strings of cash from this transaction—a windfall.
After paying, Li Xuan said to the captain, "I wonder if you can get some throwing spears? Arrows don't last long, but throwing spears are more durable. We're not a regular army, so if we encounter bandits, a volley of throwing spears should be enough to drive them away."
The captain laughed heartily, "Brother Xuan is clever; great minds think alike. Our militia thinks the same way. Putting aside everything else, our Li Family Town has already achieved self-sufficiency in throwing spears. Every soldier in our militia may not know how to shoot arrows, but they must be proficient in throwing spears. Come, come, follow me. I'll take you to the warehouse to select the best throwing spears. They're all ready-made; there's no need to place an order. You can take them away today."
As Li Chang sailed away from Lijia Town, his mouth never stopped agape. In the boy's eyes, so many sophisticated weapons meant power and dominance.
Seeing Li Xuan's noticeably depressed state these past few days, the excited Li Chang couldn't help but ask, "Brother Xuan, what are you thinking about? You've seemed unhappy these past few days."
Li Xuan said, "I'm thinking about that King Qi."
Li Chang was startled and said, "Oh dear, Brother Xuan, that Prince Qi is too powerful. Don't be foolish enough to fight him. The two of us can't even get close to him."
Li Xuan said irritably, "I understand. Although we've both mastered martial arts, he's surrounded by elite armored soldiers. How are we supposed to assassinate him? I think there still needs to be a law in this world. You see, without the law, life becomes unbearable. Guangling City is like a dead place. We need to take this batch of weapons back and find a few more brothers to gather around. In this damn world, I feel uneasy without anyone by my side."
Li Chang didn't understand Li Xuan's thoughts, but simply echoed, "That's right. Now, the wealthy families in Guangling City aren't very enthusiastic about buying salt. Many families have simply moved out of the city. It's making it so that we can't even find anyone to sell our salt. The law is indeed very important."
Li Xuan was amused: "Selling smuggled salt is also against the law!"
Li Chang laughed loudly, "Oh, really? Then let's disregard the law!"