World-Ending Demon Emperor
Chapter 168 - 168 122 Great Harvest!

168: 122: Great Harvest!

Create miracles again!

168: 122: Great Harvest!

Create miracles again!

Previously, Suo Lun’s understanding of Chaos Stone Island was only rather superficial.

Now that he had actually arrived here, he found the natural environment to be even better than he had imagined, with very little rain throughout the year and high conditions for sun exposure.

Although it was the end of summer, this place was located in the southeast, where even at the end of autumn, temperatures remained around twenty to thirty degrees Celsius.

And with the constant sea breeze all year round, salt could be produced in nearly every season.

Therefore, building a saltworks here could not be more ideal.

Suo Lun was an arts student and not very knowledgeable about science and engineering.

His understanding of salt fields came from a chance encounter.

As an art student, he needed to travel around to sketch from life.

Perhaps because he felt that his mind was not broad enough, he particularly liked open places like grasslands and seashores.

Once, he came across a large salt field by chance.

The sight of the sparkling white salt, reminiscent of pristine snow, moved him deeply.

Consequently, not only did he paint at the salt field, but he also took many short films.

However, at that time, his focus was all on the visual impact—the spectacular nature of the salt fields, how the white salt appeared like snow, and the amazing moments of salt crystallization.

He hadn’t really paid much attention to the structure of salt fields or the theory behind salt production.

So much so that now, as he planned the salt field, he had to strain his memory to recall the scenes from that time, and even rely on his imagination.

But the so-called salt production was more about breaking through with a concept, and it wasn’t based on deeply complex theories.

All it involved was channelling seawater into ponds, with one pond leading to another, divided into evaporation ponds and crystallization ponds, each subsequent pond being more concentrated with brine.

For the final crystallization, it seemed you had to wait for the salt to settle, the brine to rise, and then drain away the water, perhaps?

He also vaguely recalled something about refining the crude salt at the end, to make it pure white.

It seemed to involve recrystallization, with the addition of alkali or something?

And the final crystallization pond had to be protected from rain and the base had to be impermeable to leaks, among other things.

Basically, Suo Lun wrote down everything he could think of and arranged a reasonable construction schedule for the entire salt field.

Regarding salt field yields, Suo Lun had a rough understanding that modern Earth’s salt fields could yield tens of thousands of tons annually from ten thousand acres.

Even in the nineteenth century, the yield could be several thousand tons.

And how much salt field could be opened up in the northern part of Chaos Stone Island?

More than a hundred thousand acres!

So, even with the most backward methods, the final yield would also reach tens of thousands of tons.

…

When Suo Lun proposed changing from boiling salt to producing it by evaporation, the salt slave leaders in attendance didn’t say anything, but they couldn’t believe it in their hearts.

This new master before them was completely fanciful.

For over a thousand years, since their ancestors, salt had always been boiled, and they had never heard of producing it by sun-drying.

Besides, how could the sun possibly dry up seawater and produce salt from it?

It wasn’t just the salt slaves in attendance who were skeptical; even the family samurai leaders like Suo Mu couldn’t quite bring themselves to believe it.

However, since their master had already performed too many miracles, though they dared not believe, they also dared not doubt.

Yet they couldn’t help but think, if salt could be produced with the sun, why had no one ever done it before?

But Suo Lun did not need them to believe right now.

As the supreme master, even if it was all for naught, at his command, the hundred families of samurai and over a thousand salt slaves had no choice but to obey unconditionally.

“I know you do not understand and are full of doubts, but that is not important, you just need to follow orders.” Suo Lun said, “Do you hear me?”

“Yes!” Both the family samurai leaders and the salt workers’ leaders shouted in unison.

“I order that starting today, we will open the first batch of experimental salt fields, covering a total area of five hundred acres, which must be completed within twenty days.” Suo Lun issued his order succinctly, “Can it be done?”

The family samurai leaders and the salt workers’ leaders present had no concept of what five hundred acres of salt fields entailed.

But at their master’s command, they had to complete the task, whether it was possible or not.

“Yes!” All replied in a resounding chorus.

Of course, the so-called five hundred acres of salt fields sounded like a lot, but most of them required only the digging of a large, flat pit.

The most challenging part was the final crystallization pond; to prevent seepage, it needed to be lined with flat stone.

Following that, Suo Lun began a detailed division of labor.

There were a hundred family samurais on the island and over one thousand five hundred salt workers.

Suo Lun divided them into a hundred small teams and ten large groups.

A samurai would lead fifteen salt workers, forming a small group.

Each higher-ranking samurai managed ten small groups.

The construction tasks were specifically assigned to each small group.

Some were responsible for digging channels, some for excavating salt fields, others for transporting soil, and some for quarrying stone slabs.

In short, each group had a clear division of labor and a clear task, with punishment reserved for any group that failed to complete their assignment.

This division of labor meeting lasted a full day and a half.

Fortunately, these family samurais had received high-level education from a young age and were nearly well-rounded in both arts and martial skills, so managing a dozen salt workers was a breeze.

And these salt workers were slaves by origin, not particularly clever, but they followed orders unconditionally.

Therefore, these teams were the most rational and perfect combination possible.

…

On the third day, Suo Lun still allowed the over thousand malnourished salt workers to rest for a day, along with some strength recovery training.

On the fourth day, although the salt workers had not fully recovered, at Suo Lun’s command, the whole of Chaos Stone Island entered a construction frenzy.

Everyone was mobilized, with over a hundred family samurais and more than a thousand adult salt workers.

The remaining elderly and weak salt workers were tasked with logistics and cooking.

The entire northern part of Chaos Stone Island was transformed into a bustling primitive construction site, with everyone sweating profusely and laboring fervently.

Moreover, under the command of over a hundred high-quality samurais, everything was orderly.

These family samurais had an almost obsessive pursuit of honor.

Even though they didn’t know what their master intended with these salt fields or whether the so-called sun-drying method would work,

But they only knew one thing: the lord’s orders must be carried out, even if they didn’t understand them.

If they failed, they would have to review their actions publicly and face their master’s punishment, which was completely unacceptable.

On that solitary mountain on the south bank of the Nu River, to wash away their reputations, they were even willing to die.

Now, for the samurai’s honor, they were driving every saltworker to the brink of madness and personally handling the most difficult part of the work…

Those thousand or more saltworkers had long since been tamed to the utmost, completely understanding only obedience to commands.

Moreover, under the lure of three meals a day, every one of them worked as if their lives depended on it.

Furthermore, this place was all saline-alkali soil, with loose earth, making the digging of the ponds a simple task.

The hardest part was the final evaporation pond, which required stone slabs to be laid underground to prevent seepage.

But in the Chaotic Stone Peninsula, if there was nothing else, there was an abundance of stones.

At that time, it was the samurais with dragon strength’s turn to take the stage, wielding greatswords plated with black gold worth hundreds of Gold Coins and cleaving the rocks to produce smooth, perfect stone slabs.

…

In this relentlessly insane working condition, in just thirteen days, the one thousand six hundred or more people managed to carve out the first batch of five hundred acres of experimental salt fields.

Though very crude, they lacked none of the necessary features or ponds.

The final evaporation ponds were all paved with smooth stone slabs, tightly fitted together without gaps.

This was the power of the collective.

In fact, everyone present didn’t know what the master was up to, and they couldn’t truly believe that these so-called salt fields could produce salt.

But they still finished Suo Lun’s task much earlier than scheduled.

After the first batch of salt fields were established, most of them immediately went on to cultivate the second batch.

A hundred stayed behind to start making salt on these fields for the first time.

At Suo Lun’s command, taking advantage of the high tide, dozens of people broke the channel to let the sea water into the evaporation pond.

Watching the surging water flowing into the evaporation pond, Suo Lun murmured to himself, “My Gold Coins, my base, all come from here.”

And so, the first salt making in Suo Lun’s territory officially began!

All the people on Chaos Stone Island were constantly on alert because the success or failure of salt making was a matter of life and death for the Suo Family.

…

As time passed day by day, these hundreds of saltworkers followed Suo Lun’s orders precisely, drawing brine into the new ponds.

They kept on filtering, evaporating, and drawing in new sea water.

Despite many mistakes along the way, mostly due to Suo Lun’s own erroneous orders, everything proceeded in an orderly fashion through trial and error.

In just under ten days, the brine with the highest concentration finally entered the final evaporation pond.

These evaporation ponds, which were the focus of everyone’s effort, were all constructed with flat stones.

The success of salt production hinged on the coming days.

Even Suo Lun couldn’t help praying in secret, pleading for it not to rain, because he hadn’t prepared enough waterproof cloths to cover the ponds and a rain would mean all his efforts had been wasted.

Whether it was due to some favor from the heavens or simply because it didn’t rain here, the skies remained clear with not a drop of rain in the following days.

The sunbathing conditions during these days were extremely good, not to mention the complete lack of rain.

The sun blazed down, and the sea breeze howled.

The temperature each day was at least around thirty to forty degrees Celsius.

Midnight was the coolest time of day and the best time for the saltwater to crystallize.

The salt slowly settled to the bottom as the brine rose to the top.

“Drain,” commanded Suo Lun, and dozens of saltworkers immediately used bamboo tubes to drain the floating brine into the trenches that had been dug next to it.

Would they successfully produce salt, successfully crystallize it?

The life or death of the Suo Family hinged on this.

Therefore, throughout the salt-mine, there was an intense tension so tangible it was suffocating.

Suo Ning Bing and Ye Jingyu were so tense they couldn’t sleep, disregarding Suo Lun’s urging, they sat by the evaporation pond all night.

It was as if by doing so, the heavens would sense their earnestness and grant Suo Lun’s success.

Not just Suo Ning Bing and Ye Jingyu; other samurai and saltworker leaders, despite having to work early the next day, all waited by the evaporation pond.

The wait was agonizing.

“I’m going to sleep now, wake me up when the salt crystallizes,” said Suo Lun before heading towards the small castle.

As for Suo Ning Bing, her beautiful eyes were fixed on the evaporation ponds, refusing to go back to sleep.

…

Suo Lun was sleeping soundly when Ye Jingyu’s excited and overjoyed voice woke him.

Looking up, he saw that dawn was just breaking.

“The salt has come out, really, the salt has come out,” exclaimed Ye Jingyu, her voice shaking with immense excitement and joy.

Suo Lun immediately got up and ran towards the salt field.

By then, the edges of the evaporation pond were crowded with people, and inside the pond, dozens were continuously pushing salt.

Driven by wooden paddles, layers of snow-white salt piled up, more and more, ever increasing.

All the people surrounding the salt field were completely astonished.

So, it turned out that the sun really could produce salt; this was how it was done.

Instantly, the samurais and saltworkers of the Suo Family looked at Suo Lun with an eye full of boundless fanaticism.

Once again, their master had performed a miracle.

Dozens, driven by mad joy, began to harvest the salt in the crystallization field.

Four hours later, the final yield was in, stunning everyone completely; it was simply too incredible!

This wasn’t merely white plain salt; it was like gold coins gleaming with luster.

…

Note: The first update is here; I have to travel far today, so the second update might have to wait for the car ride.

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