Actually, salt production does not have much of a technical barrier. It mainly involves just a few steps: dissolution, filtration, purification, and crystallisation.
That afternoon, cart after cart of rock salt blocks were pulled into the workshop, and by the next day, when they were sent out, they had turned into cart after cart of snow-white, fine edible salt.
After all, it was the first time using rudimentary methods for batch production, so Jin Feng was not sure if it was truly safe. After the first batch of salt was made, he did not immediately sell it externally but sent it to the warehouse instead.
Then he randomly scooped some samples, cooked a few bowls of wheat porridge, and fed them to dogs that had been prepared in advance.
After feeding them continuously for three days and confirming the dogs showed no abnormalities, he had the kitchen make a few small pots, then found several old soldiers and female soldiers, including himself, and they ate it for two days straight without noticing any discomfort. Only then did Jin Feng notify the Jinchuan Chamber of Commerce to come over.
Because of promoting soap, the Jinchuan Chamber of Commerce had set up branches in all counties under Guangyuan Prefecture and was still expanding to several surrounding prefectures.
However, these matters were all handled by Tang Xiaobei, and Jin Feng had not inquired much.
The person who came was a female shopkeeper, like Luo Lan, one of the first batch of slave girls Tang Xiaobei had bought. Jin Feng had once trained them, but there were quite a few people at the time, and he had not seen her again afterwards, so he did not remember her name.
After this period of experience, the female shopkeeper had long honed her skill of reading people. Without waiting for Jin Feng to speak, she proactively introduced herself: “Mr Jin, I am Zhong Ling’er, currently in charge of the chamber’s affairs in Guangyuan Prefecture and its subordinate counties.”
Guangyuan counted as Jin Feng’s base camp, and Tang Xiaobei handing the Guangyuan market to Zhong Ling’er showed her high regard for her.
Jin Feng silently remembered Zhong Ling’er’s name, then led her into the warehouse.
After accumulating for several days, the salt in the centre of the warehouse had already piled up like a small mountain.
A group of workers wearing full protective clothing and masks were filling burlap sacks.
If it were his previous life, such rudimentary filling conditions would probably have been shut down by the health supervision department long ago.
But in Da Kang, Jin Feng doing this was already absolutely conscientious.
The production conditions at seaside salt factories simply could not compare with Xihewan.
The most prominent position on the burlap sacks was written in large characters “Xihewan Refined Salt”, and below the large characters was a line of slightly smaller text: “Let the people afford safe salt”.
These words not only increased the recognisability of the Xihewan salt factory but also represented a kind of expectation from Jin Feng.
It was really too difficult for the people of Da Kang to eat salt. Even in the relatively affluent Xihewan, women still counted salt grains when cooking.
Many people suffered from hyponatremia because they could not intake enough salt over long periods.
This also led many people to secretly eat rock salt despite knowing it was poisonous.
Soap and black knives could already bring Jin Feng enough money, and high-efficiency looms were gradually being installed in the Xihewan textile factory, which would be another large fixed income.
The current Jin Feng was not very short of money. If the salt production process spread and could drive down salt prices in Da Kang, letting ordinary people afford edible salt, Jin Feng would definitely do it without hesitation.
But Jin Feng knew too well the greed of salt merchants. After they obtained the process, the greatest possibility was not to lower prices but to raise them.
After all, salt produced by this process was better in both appearance and taste than before.
“Sir, is this the salt made by our Xihewan salt factory?”
Zhong Ling’er pointed at the huge pile of refined salt like a small mountain in front of her, eyes wide in surprise: “The appearance is too good, isn’t it?”
She could not believe this salt was made from rock salt.
Stepping forward a few steps, she dipped some salt with her finger and put it in her mouth: “The taste is good too, no strange flavour at all, much better than green salt!”
Zhong Ling’er, being selected by Tang Xiaobei, naturally could read, write, and calculate.
In Da Kang, only girls from wealthy families had such treatment, so Zhong Ling’er had seen the world.
Before her family declined, it was even more prosperous than Tang Dongdong’s family.
The salt she ate from childhood was naturally not the blackened coarse salt of ordinary people but a refined edible salt called green salt, which many princes and ministers also ate.
In Zhong Ling’er’s view, the salt in front of her surpassed green salt in both appearance and taste.
“Sir, I have one more question I want to ask…”
Speaking here, Zhong Ling’er hesitated a bit.
After all, she was not very familiar with Jin Feng and was worried that asking this question would make him angry.
But rock salt being poisonous was deeply ingrained in people’s minds, and manufacturing or selling poisonous salt was a major crime, so Zhong Ling’er had to ask.
Jin Feng could tell at a glance what she was worried about and said with a smile: “If you want to ask if it’s poisonous, you can rest assured about that. Da Liu, A Die, and I started eating this salt four days ago, and up to now we haven’t felt any discomfort.
Moreover, from yesterday morning, all the salt in the factory canteen has been switched to this, and everyone in the factory has eaten it for over a day without discovering any problems.”
Hearing Jin Feng say this, Zhong Ling’er let out a long breath of relief and asked: “Sir, how much will our salt sell for per jin?”
“Ten wen per jin.”
“Ten wen per jin?”
Zhong Ling’er almost jumped up.
Because of the court’s indulgence and the salt merchants’ greed, salt prices in Da Kang had been driven very high.
The black coarse salt pulled by salt merchants cost one hundred wen per jin, and refined green salt sold for even three hundred wen per jin.
In Zhong Ling’er’s view, with the quality of Xihewan refined salt, it could definitely sell for more than green salt.
But Jin Feng told her it would only sell for ten wen per jin?
Zhong Ling’er really could not understand and even suspected she had misheard.
“Yes, ten wen per jin.”
Jin Feng nodded again.
Before establishing the Xihewan salt factory, Jin Feng already had a clear market positioning in mind.
Using soap and black knives to earn as much money as possible from the rich, Jin Feng had no psychological burden at all; instead, it felt like robbing the rich to help the poor.
But salt was a daily necessity, mainly targeted at ordinary people. If priced too high, what difference was there between him and those salt merchants?
The cost of salt production, averaged per jin of salt, was really too low.
Even selling at ten wen per jin, Jin Feng’s profit still exceeded half.
The area near the salt mine could not be cultivated; it was completely barren mountain. Plus, with the Xichuan Mu signboard, the Guangyuan prefectural guard only symbolically collected a few hundred taels and contracted all the mountain tops near the salt mine to Jin Feng.
According to Jin Feng’s estimate, the storage volume of that salt mine was at least in the tens of millions of tonnes, a few hundred taels was almost like spending nothing.
Jin Feng’s salt production costs were mainly labour, transportation, and daily equipment wear.
These were negligible for the salt factory.
Even if sold a bit cheaper, Jin Feng would definitely not lose money.
The reason for pricing at ten wen was that he worried excessively low prices would cause unnecessary panic buying and hoarding by the people.
Da Kang had no plastic bags; salt could only be stored in jars and would soon deliquesce.
