Chapter 1924

In fact, the thirty or so armed riders outside the convoy are just the local garrison and Luo Shengdong's personal escort. The two caravans at the end of the convoy also carry Gai Liangcai's men. Together, these teams,

The number of people was no less than those on guard duty inside and outside the Guest House last night. In terms of the number of participants in the operation, the security level was almost as high as that of a high-ranking official from Haihan.

Because Yinggehai is rich in salt, salt merchants from various countries often come and go. In order to ensure the personal safety of these wealthy people in the local area, relatively strict security measures have been implemented in prosperous areas such as ports and county towns. In the past, some people have tried to use very

He tried to get some money from these wealthy businessmen, but Luo Shengdong was originally a martial artist and had a ruthless side. Those who wanted to cause trouble in the local area were a stumbling block for him, and the consequences of being caught were relatively low.

It's miserable. After being paraded in the streets, they were basically sent to the Shilu Mine to work as coolies. I'm afraid it will be difficult for them to leave that place again in their lifetime.

It is actually not the first time for Luo Shengdong to provide security for foreign dignitaries who come to inspect, and there has never been any mistakes before, so he is still very confident in the measures he has deployed.

He didn't think there was any problem with Gai Liangcai's command. He was just a local official and he just had to cooperate with the other party in the past two days.

As for the two horse carriages parked next to the main road, they did not attract anyone's attention at all. Almost all of the seven local horse and carriage shops in Yinggehai use this standard horse carriage designed by the Ministry of Communications and built in large numbers in various places in recent years.

At least more than a hundred such horse-drawn carriages shuttle back and forth on this main road every day. In order to facilitate salt merchants to carry out trading activities, the salt field is actually a relatively open area, and there is no dedicated area like Tiandu Industrial Zone in Sanya.

level. Even foreign businessmen can enter and exit this area, and the most convenient means of transportation is horse-drawn carriages.

Of course, in areas where the products are relatively special, such as the production process that requires multiple refining and processing, and the market price of refined salt is very high, the production sites will still refuse to enter for the sake of technical confidentiality.

The two carriages parked on the roadside did not move at all. It was not until this large official motorcade passed by and almost disappeared from the end of the field of vision that Captain Xue gave an order in the car: "Follow behind, don't get too close.

Keep your distance!”

There is a short gun about a foot long stuck in his waist. This fire gun is said to be made in Spain. It can shoot through iron armor within three feet. It is really powerful. But what is a little troublesome is that the accuracy of this thing is limited.

You need to be very close to the target when doing it. If the distance is more than five feet, you can basically just hit by chance.

Apart from this firecracker, the only weapons other people in the group have are various cold weapons, and they are all short and capable, without long-handled weapons or heavy weapons that are inconvenient to carry. To be honest, Captain Xue

I didn't know much about this mission. I just saw from the gap in the car hood that the guards of the convoy were all carrying rifles. If we did this, our group would not even be able to receive a salvo from the opposite side, and they would all be defeated.

Precisely because he was aware of the huge gap in strength, he did not dare to issue radical orders at this time. If their whereabouts were exposed, he did not dare to expect that the group of people he led could escape from under the eyes of dozens of cavalry.

The only good thing is that there is only one main road here, and all the cars and horses coming and going take this road. Their two cars are hanging far behind, so they don't look obtrusive, and the terrain here is flat, so

Almost everything you see is large and small salt fields, and there are no obstacles blocking your field of vision, so it is not easy to lose track of the target.

After walking about three or four miles from the county seat, the official convoy turned onto a branch road leading to a village in the bay. There were still a few riders left at the intersection, presumably to guard the intersection and prevent other vehicles and horses from entering.

, so as not to block this slightly narrower branch road.

"Keep going, don't stop!"

Captain Xue seemed quite experienced in how to follow and follow. He immediately issued new instructions after discovering the movement ahead. If he stopped at this time, it would easily arouse the vigilance of the guards ahead. If he took the initiative to overtake the opponent's position, he would actually enter.

The psychological blind spot where the other party is wary makes it easier to hide one's intentions.

After passing the branch road, the two carriages continued forward for nearly a mile before pulling over again. Captain Xue fumbled and took out a monocular telescope and looked into the distance from the gap in the hood of the carriage.

Official team movements.

In fact, so far, he is still unable to determine whether the protagonist of that convoy is the North Korean who arrived here yesterday. This is entirely based on the inference based on this level of security. After all, in addition to the North Koreans, I heard that there are also a group of Haihans.

It is also a reasonable arrangement for officials to accompany him and dispatch a large number of local armed personnel to protect him. But in this way, such a strict level of security is not something that these people can easily challenge.

This is actually because the matter happened in such a hurry that there was no time to make thorough preparations. It was just reported that the crown prince of Joseon was preparing to leave Sanya for an inspection, and then he received the news that he would set out from Victory Port the next day. In such a short period of time, Captain Xue

The forces behind it want to organize a group of people in Sanya to follow behind and look for opportunities to attack the North Koreans. The difficulty can be imagined.

Although they temporarily built a boat and organized a group of desperadoes, even Captain Xue, who took the lead, was not sure about this mission. He didn't even know when and where to start. He could only take one step and see what happened.

step.

When they came out of Victory Port, they could barely keep up with the Korean fleet, but when they were approaching Yacheng, the fleet in front suddenly increased their speed, and their ship was pulled down. Hurry up and hurry up.

Finally arrived at Yinggehai at dusk. In fact, they didn't know whether the Korean fleet would dock here. They didn't feel at ease until they saw the two ships at the port. It was just that this group of people had no idea about Yingge.

Hai is unfamiliar with the place and cannot find the destination of his target in a hurry. He can only settle for the next best thing and wait for the target to appear.

Fortunately, although Yinggehai is large, its geographical environment is simple. As long as you guard the main road out of the county, you will basically not let the target escape. But the current problem is that the security measures taken by Haihan are extremely strict. Captain Xue

There was no chance to take action at the moment. He understood that if he continued to attack rashly in this situation, it would be the same as risking death, and it would be impossible to succeed at all. He could only wait patiently to see if things would turn around.

.

At this time, Li Bo and his party were not aware of the danger lurking nearby, and were visiting a local model salt farm under the leadership of Luo Shengdong.

"This is one of the earliest salt fields developed in Yinggehai, and it is also the first local salt field to implement mechanized irrigation!" Luo Shengdong proudly introduced the local achievements in salt field construction to Li Bo: "Your Majesty, please take a look at our salt field.

This kind of steam engine-driven irrigation device is used to pour seawater into the salt pond, and the efficiency is far more efficient than the previous use of manual labor. Come here, show me to the prince!"

Li Bo is no longer unfamiliar with steam engines. After going to the Sanya Municipal Library to refresh his knowledge, he even has a general understanding of the operating principles of this strange mechanical device. But for the heat energy of this thing that can burn coal,

It still feels very mysterious to convert it into seemingly endless kinetic energy. And the Haihan people are obviously experts in using this kind of mechanical device. Whether it is a sailboat, a train, or the device currently used to lift and fill seawater, they all use steam engines.

As a source of power.

Watching seawater being quickly poured into the empty salt pond through the lifting and irrigation device, there is no doubt that this is much smarter than the traditional lifting method of water pumping, and the efficiency is even different. As long as the steam engine has coal and fresh water, it seems that

It can run endlessly, but humans and animals do not have such lasting physical strength.

But Li Bo also thought of another problem. Haihan's extensive use of steam engines actually reflects the serious shortage of labor in this country to a certain extent, forcing them to use this seemingly complicated mechanical device to replace

Manpower and animal power. Although this thing is highly efficient, considering the cost and consumption during use, as well as the need for dedicated maintenance, its cost of use may not be cheaper than that of manpower and animal power.

And this is exactly the case. Even if the Executive Committee is bent on promoting industrialization quickly, the manufacturing capacity of steam engines is still slowly improving due to the shortage of professional labor, and the resulting high cost of use cannot be overcome for the time being.

Even in salt farms that claim to have no worries about money, mechanical lifting and irrigation devices like this are not deployed on a large scale. The reasons are on the one hand cost issues, and on the other hand the production capacity of steam engines cannot keep up with demand.

The Executive Committee wants to promote the use of steam engines in the industrial field, but at the same time ensure that the production technology is not leaked as much as possible, so that Haihan's technical advantages in this field can last longer. In this way, no matter it is

Both the production of steam engines and the training of related professionals must be controlled by the government, and its development speed is bound to be limited. In the past two years, Danzhou's academies wanted to train professionals in this field on their own, and Zhang Jinbao of Qiongxi Academy even

A group of people were recruited to conduct research in secret, but in the end they were stopped by the authorities and asked to cooperate with official arrangements.

Therefore, although Haihan's steam engine manufacturing and application technology is unique in this era, the speed of its large-scale promotion and application is actually not very ideal. Even salt fields with better economic conditions can only use this advanced device as a tool for future development.

One of the selling points to show off to visitors, rather than a truly popular production tool.

Of course, only a few Haihan executives know this kind of thing. In fact, even middle-level officials like Luo Shengdong are still sincerely proud of these black technologies. After all, this thing is unique to Haihan.

, even if other countries copied it, they would not be able to copy it. So when he introduced it to Li Bo, his sense of pride was not pretended, but truly came from his heart.

However, the process of Haihan-style salt production is not as simple as pumping seawater up and into the salt pond and then waiting for it to dry. In fact, the tide water in the bay must first be brought into the tide storage pool, because the tide water is collected from the tide.

The seawater obtained has a higher salt concentration and is easier to produce salt.

Yinggehai Salt Farm will select low-lying areas in the bay tidal flat area to build a tide storage reservoir. When the tide rises, the gate will be opened to naturally absorb the tide water, and when the tide falls, the gate will be closed. The role of the steam irrigation device is to store the areas where the terrain conditions cannot allow the tide to flow in on its own.

Pour seawater into the tide storage reservoir, or lift the seawater from the tide storage reservoir into the salt field.

The construction of these salt fields is not simple. It requires first turning the soil, drying, soaking in brine, and repeated compaction. According to different functions, it is divided into evaporation area, adjustment area and crystallization area. The final crystallization tank even needs to be used.

Brick or concrete structures to prevent leaks.

This production process seems simple, but in fact, each production link has corresponding technical standards, such as the standardization of crystallization concentration, which is the unique setting of the Haihan salt production method.

During the years when Luo Shengdong was a private salt dealer, he had to go in and out of Haihan's two salt fields near Victory Port several times every month. In fact, he gradually mastered these techniques. And later he also followed

Anxi, the director of the salt industry, has studied theoretical knowledge for a period of time and can be regarded as a semi-technical official. Therefore, when introducing the sea salt production process to everyone, he can really do it as smoothly as if he were familiar with it, and he can talk about all the details.

Come and explain in detail.

After listening to it for a while, Li Mu started to admire Luo Shengdong. It was obvious that this guy was not just a vain person. He was really capable of sitting in this position. He knew all the technical details of the salt production process.

In addition, he has also been in the private salt business for several years. People working under him must not dare to play any tricks to deceive him. Haihan chose such a person to take care of the largest salt-producing area under his control.

He must also have taken a fancy to Luo Shengdong's ability in the professional field.

But to be honest, Li Bo could only understand about half of the production details introduced by Luo Shengdong, and what he could really understand was probably one or two sentences out of ten. This made him think of Li Bo.

Xi had said to him before when discussing the study abroad major that there were some things not that Haihan didn’t want to teach, or that other countries didn’t want to learn, but that the overseas students sent there simply didn’t understand the courses and could only learn from the most basic

Learn the subjects bit by bit. Similar to some more advanced knowledge, the learning time may even take ten years. No one is willing to spend such a long time studying abroad. After all, people who come to study abroad all want to learn as early as possible.

If you want to return to your country to become an official and have to be a student in Haihan for so long, you might as well just become a naturalized citizen.
Chapter completed!