Flourishing of the Ming Dynasty Novel - Chapter 10

Chapter 10 Dao Of Foundation (2)
Lu Zhen knew very well how powerful his identity as a Divine Envoy was. Once these fools saw the problem, the result would be hard to say, and even his life would not be saved. If they wanted to believe this, they could only do more to benefit the people of Rahab Clan and believe that they were indeed the messengers sent by Longevity Heaven to help them.

However, it was not easy to accomplish this. At least in the past few days, Lu Zhen did not have any clues at all. But now, after listening to Hezha’s words and tasting the stone, he had an idea.

“This stone was found near the tribe, right?” Lu Zhen looked at the other party and asked.

Hezha nodded. “That’s right. When we were grazing, we found that there were cattle and sheep who would lick the cliffs after eating grass. Someone was amazed to taste them. They found that the rocks were a little salty. We in Rahab Clan rarely got salt, so we could only use this rock instead.” As Hezha spoke, he looked greedily at the small jar in Lu Zhen’s hand. The refined salt inside was much better than the stone.

Lu Zhen nodded slightly, “Since these stones are salty, have you ever thought of turning them into edible salt?”

“How … how is this possible?” “Actually, we did have this idea when we discovered that the cliff rock had a salty taste. But no matter what we do, it’s still just sand and stones. It can’t be imported at all. At most, it can only be licked as it is now,” Hezha said with an expression of disbelief.

“If I said I could help you get salt out of the stone, would you believe me?” Lu Zhen’s eyes lit up as he stared at the other party and asked.

Hezha was stunned for a moment, but soon, his expression was filled with excitement. He immediately stood up from the ground and shouted loudly to the surrounding tribesmen, “Everyone, quiet down. I have something to say!”

Lu Zhen didn’t expect this person to react so fiercely and quickly, so he was unconsciously stunned. As for the other Meng people in Rahab Clan, they were also silent. The laughter and dancing stopped immediately. Everyone’s gazes looked over and stayed on the two of them. Even He Huer had a puzzled expression on her face.

‘”Our God Representative just told me great news. He said that he can help us get salt out of this salty rock! The problem that has been troubling us for so many years is finally going to be solved!” Hesha didn’t make a fuss and immediately announced, “Our God Representative just told me the great good news. He said that he can help us get salt out of this salty rock!”

Hearing what he said, the faces of the clansmen were filled with disbelief, but immediately, they revealed expressions of excitement and cheered loudly. At this time, their gazes towards Yang Zhen were filled with eagerness and reverence.

The lack of salt in the grasslands had indeed troubled them for too long. Even if they could go to the Central Plains to plunder it, it was impossible for them to obtain too much salt. As for trading salt with the Ming people, it was not something that poor small and medium-sized tribes like them could do. Therefore, the only thing they could do in these past few years was to suffer bitterly.

Now, it is too encouraging that someone can solve this problem of survival. If it was just an ordinary person who said this, they would still find it somewhat unbelievable. However, this was what the Divine Envoy said, and the situation was completely different. Almost everyone thought that this would be true.

At this moment, they, who had been suspicious of Lu Zhen, finally put down their prejudices and looked at him with fervent gazes from believers.

Being stared at by these people hopefully, Lu Zhen did not know what to do. At the same time, he was also complaining in his heart. How could he be so unable to hide anything? He had already said that he was 100% confident in what he had not completely settled?

In fact, apart from his excitement and his upright personality, the most important thing for Hezha to have such a reaction was that he needed to have such a contribution. If Lu Zhen could really help the tribe solve the salt problem, then as the person who brought him to Rahab Clan, his credit would naturally be enormous. Perhaps he could replace Mu Dai as one of the three elders.

Lu Zhen couldn’t see through this scheme for a moment, and he was already facing a big problem. He Huer had already walked over with a few important figures from the clan and looked at him with anticipation, “Divine Envoy, are you telling the truth? Can you really bring salt to our clan?”

“It should be possible, as long as these stones are by your tribe’s side.” Now, Lu Zhen had no choice but to brave it. This was also his chance to protect himself.

After a pause, he continued, “But I have lost my magic power, so I still need your help to get the salt out.”

“There’s no problem with this.” He Huer immediately waved his hand and said, “As long as it can bring salt to our tribe, all of us here are willing to listen to your orders.”

“That’s right, we are willing to obey the orders of the Divine Envoy!” The rest of the clansmen echoed. Only Mu Jia and a few others had gloomy expressions on their faces as they looked at the worries in their hearts.

Lu Zhen, who had no way out, had no choice but to stand up and say, “Well, I’ll bring someone over tomorrow to take a look. I hope everything will go as I wish!”

Hearing this, everyone cheered again.

A banquet ended after such exciting news. Many people in Rahab Clan were filled with hope for the future. They only wanted to come tomorrow and see how powerful the Divine Envoy was to bring them and the tribe the salt they needed.

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Lu Zhen jumped off the horse and looked up at the stone cliff that was several meters tall and stood alone on the grassland desert. Lu Zhen felt nervous for no reason.

He was called up early this morning, and then, accompanied by almost the entire Rahab tribe, he arrived less than five miles from their encampment and saw this cliff.

“This is it, God Representative. Our stones were all picked up here.” Hezha explained to him.

Lu Zhen nodded and walked forward. After carefully observing the cliff, he wiped it with his hand and put it in his mouth to taste. Sure enough, there was a hint of bitterness on it.

From the looks of it, this cliff rock was indeed filled with salt, or minerals that contained sodium chloride. For a liberal arts student, Lu Zhen’s understanding of chemistry had reached this level.

However, this did not hinder his judgement on the matter. As far as Lu Zhen knew, even in later generations, aside from synthesizing salt, most of the salt eaten by people was well salt and not boiled in seawater as some people thought. As for well salt, it was produced from minerals, and it looked somewhat similar to this cliff.

Of course, Lu Zhen could not understand the methods of extracting sodium chloride from minerals accurately in later generations, but he still had some memories of the separation, filtration, and other experimental methods he had done in high school. Moreover, he did not feel that the impurities left behind in the salt precipitated from the cliff stones would have much effect and harm. This was much healthier than licking stones like them, right?

Thinking of this, Lu Zhen did not hesitate any longer. He immediately called out to the Meng people who were already stirring, and asked them to dig out some broken stones and bring them back to the tribe.

Although they didn’t quite understand Lu Zhen’s intentions, they still obeyed his orders. After bringing back several hundred kilograms of broken stones, they picked up water from the nearby river, put up a pot, and put the stones inside to cook first.

Seeing that Lu Zhen had actually asked everyone to boil stones, even though others didn’t say anything, Hezha was a little worried. He found an opportunity to ask him in a low voice, “Messenger, is this really useful?”

“Don’t worry, as long as this stone is as I expected, you will definitely be able to use salt. However, there are still a few steps ahead.” Lu Zhen smiled.

After boiling like this for half a day, Lu Zhen looked at the water and saw that less than half of it was left. Only then did he let people go to the fire. Then, he ordered people to take out the stones inside, then covered a stack of gauze in his backpack on a bucket, and ordered people to slowly pour the boiled water onto it.

When the bucket was filled with water, there was a layer of sand left on the gauze. Lu Zhen threw it to Meng Ren to wash it clean. Then, he poured the bucket of water into another clean pot and let them continue to cook. This time, he meant to boil all the water dry.

The people of Rahab Clan naturally followed this series of orders without any mistakes. However, they felt more and more puzzled in their hearts. After doing so many things, they completely boiled the water dry. Wasn’t this a waste of time for everyone? It was only because Lu Zhen’s identity as a Divine Envoy was standing behind them, and everyone really hoped that they could really make salt, that they could temporarily endure it.

Their thoughts naturally fell into Lu Zhen’s eyes. To be honest, they were a little vague about whether this matter could be accomplished or not. As a result, he stayed at the side for the rest of the cooking process, refusing to leave. His eyes were fixed on the broken pot.

This is just a separation experiment for middle school students. The use of sodium chloride, a substance that is highly soluble in water, coupled with such means as filtration. As long as the stone really contained sodium chloride, some salt could always be extracted by this simple method of separation. However, if his judgement went wrong, it would be hard to say.

After adding firewood several times and boiling for more than an hour, the big bucket of water finally dried up completely. At the same time that he ordered someone to remove the pot, Lu Zhen rushed over and carefully examined the bottom and edge of the pot. When he saw the layer of tiny particles attached to it, he finally let out a sigh of relief. He had finally succeeded.

“This is salt.” Lu Zhen touched it with his finger and showed it to everyone.

He Huer and the others had already rushed over, and when they saw the particles on Lu Zhen’s finger, their expressions changed abruptly. Then, they reached out impatiently to touch some of them and put them in their mouths to taste.

Then, under the gazes of many clansmen, He Huer and the others revealed ecstatic expressions at the same time. After a long time, they cried out, “It’s salt. The Divine Representative really brought us salt!”

Lu Zhen looked at the cheering Meng people around him. He knew that he had completely established his footing in the Rahab tribe and convinced them that he was a Divine Envoy.

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Keep begging. . . . Ask for support. . . .