Hedong Salt Pond, Cao Zhen was sweating when he inspected here, and the saline-alkali wasteland was full of ravines for draining and storing salt brine.

The ravines are vertical and horizontal, and the salt ponds near and far are different due to the different concentrations and angles of the salt water, which can be described as colorful and magnificent.

The precipitated and excavated salt slag is piled up on the edge of the narrow salt pond, and the salt slag salvaged in batches is piled up in an orderly manner, and the cross-section presents a stable trapezoidal shape.

Therefore, the salt water sedimentation tanks are juxtaposed, and on the side are salt walls built by salt blocks.

Salt is in short supply everywhere.

Even Cao Zhen stepped on the whitening salt layer under his feet, not because there was such salt in the soil, but because the wind blew the salt wall, and the snowflake-like salt flowers flew down everywhere and left in the soil.

And because of the frequent rainfall, these salt flowers are firmly cemented with the soil.

Where exactly the salt in the salt pond comes from, no one can say.

For generations, the people of Yanchi have drained the brine in this way, and introduced the brine layer by layer into the salt pans and sedimentation tanks for salvage...... It's as easy as scooping rice out of a rice soup.

When Cao Zhen came, it happened to be windy, and the salt flowers in the entire Yantian area were full of fog and white, and the flying salt grains hit his face and stinged.

He covered his face with a veil and continued to inspect the salt walls stored in the Yantian area, which were finished salt that could be transported and sold to the outside world.

And so the salt pans are in the counties around the salt ponds...... There are many of them, all of them are strong and strong, and the people open pits to divert water, and this water accumulates more and more, and salt brine will be formed as the water evaporates.

Layer by layer drainage, filtration, drying, precipitation, and salvage, salt production is completed.

Therefore, there are many salt ponds and salt pans, and the difference is only between the government-run and the powerful and private, or the difference in the scale of the salt pans, or the quality of the salt.

The salt pond that is usually referred to is the salt pond of the official camp; To the people who eat salt in the world, the salt pond is the salt pond.

At present, the salt pond has to supply Yedu and meet the needs of the Luoyang and Guanzhong regions, so the workload is very large, and the abandoned salt pans in the past have to be dredged and used.

Due to the corrosiveness of salt and alkali, the laborers here mostly wear straw sandals or bare feet, and the barefoot coolies are often bare-shouldered, wearing only a pair of boxers on their bodies, and even poorer coolies wrap a crotch cloth around their waists.

The labor of the salt ponds was generally short-lived, so every stone of salt produced was blood-stained.

Cao Zhen came to a salt wall built by the salt base, raised his foot and stepped on it with a muffled sound, and the salt wall was majestic and steady.

Cao Zhen's boots trampled on the salt wall, and with the blessing of his huge weight, the fine salt particles rolled down and rose in the wind.

It's a pity that such a good salt will be reduced to the enemy's thing.

Even if you pee on the salt before transporting it, you can't dispel the hatred in your heart, and it is reasonable for the hard-working salt workers to add some ingredients to the salt.

He personally inspected the salt stored in the salt pan before going to see Zhao Yan, the guard of Hedong County, who was a person who cherished his life and would not go to the salt field to absorb salt.

In the Yanchi Office, Zhao Yan paced back and forth with his hands behind his back, different from the fat Cao Zhen, Zhao Yan has become thinner and thinner over the years.

Even if he goes out to lead the troops, his body can't support a set of armor.

Since the decisive battle of Eagle Mountain, he has often had nightmares, tossing and turning at night and finding it difficult to sleep, so he has to find something to distract him.

In the past few years, his children have prospered, but his health has become more and more deteriorating.

It turned out that I couldn't sleep because of fear, but now I have to worry about the fate of my children.

What Sima Yi did was not excessive?

After decades of ups and downs in the troubled times, Zhao Yan didn't think there was anything wrong with slaughtering the city...... It is precisely because of the Han army and the Beifu that it seems that there is a problem with the slaughter of the city.

Slaughtering the city is the fastest and most effective way to solve the problem, and the Cao Wei forces in the land of the four wars are destined to kill and injure the enemy's living forces from the moment they make their fortune. Tsinghua

Otherwise, if it is located in the Central Plains, sooner or later it will capsize in various tug-of-war wars.

Only by destroying the enemy's manpower as much as possible in each battle and emptying the opponent's manpower can you turn around and fight the new enemy without being disturbed by the old enemy.

As for dividing the troops to occupy the territory of the place, and to unite the manpower of the other side...... It is a pity that when the heroes are competing in all directions, this kind of division of troops is the way to die.

So there is really no way, if Cao Wei's forces want to rise, they must adopt the method of slaughtering cities and forcibly relocating the population.

If we think about these problems and look back at the various large-scale massacres in the development of Cao Wei's power, we can face them calmly.

The early days of Cao Wei's expansion were the most difficult, so the killing was the most crazy...... These have nothing to do with Zhao Yan, he took refuge in Jingzhou at that time.

And his hatred with Beifu comes from two aspects, mainly what he did when he served as the protector of Guanzhong.

At that time, Ma Chao counterattacked Liangzhou, and Xiahou Yuan led his troops to expedition against Ma Chao, and the war fell into a period of confrontation. Ma Chao's command is dominated by the Qiang Qiang armed forces, lacking logistics background, and will become weaker and weaker when he falls into a confrontation.

But Xiahou Yuan's supply came from Guanzhong, which was also very difficult.

At that time, it was Zhao Yan who gave Xiahou Yuan strong support, and used all kinds of means to coax and intimidate at the same time, providing Xiahou Yuan with 20,000 soldiers before and after.

Later, Zhao Yan supported Cao Cao in the Hanzhong battlefield and transported more than 10,000 soldiers.

So Ma Chao hated Zhao Yan very much, and the people in Guanzhong also hated Zhao Yan.

When Zhao Yan served as the protector of Guanzhong, Cao Cao had only pacified Guanzhong for a few years?

Every time Zhao Yan sends a soldier to the front line, it means that a family is ruined; At the same time, every time he sent away a batch of soldiers, Cao Wei's rule over Guanzhong was stronger.

Cao Pi was forced to death by Ma Chao on the occasion of formal surrender, and when Ma Chao led the army to cross the river to participate in the decisive battle, it was bound to be like killing a god...... It is absolutely difficult for the officials of the Wei State to be good.

And he has a big enmity with Ma Chao, with Ma Chao's temperament, he will definitely let his family die completely.

The entire Guan Sergeant and the people hate themselves, and there is really no way back.

Zhao Yan sighed in his heart, waiting for Cao Zhen's arrival with a sad face...... At this point in front of him, he still has to provide salt to the Han army and government soldiers in Guanlong and Luoyang, how can he be calm about this kind of weak country without diplomacy?

When Cao Zhen came, he saw the flying horses in the army leading the horses to stand in front of the office, the wind was blowing, the two white negative feathers on the back of the flying horses were blown obliquely, and the flags on the flagpoles and spears held by other guards and standard-bearers were also hunting.

Wang Sheng, the guard general, was holding a heavy lacquered wooden barrel in his hand, and was looking at Cao Zhen with a frightened gaze, Cao Zhen asked unhappily: "What is the matter?" ”

Wang Sheng glanced at the flying horse, and the flying horse knelt down on one knee and held the front-line official document in both hands: "General, Pei Hujun's handwritten letter is here." ”

Cao Zhen stepped forward to catch the letter, walked to the government office, and asked Wang Sheng, who came up, "What is it in your hand?" ”

"Yes...... It is the first rank of Sima Zhongda's second son. ”

Wang Sheng followed into the hall of the government office, paused and hesitated to answer.

Zhao Yan happened to hear this, and asked in surprise: "Is it really the son of Zhongda?" ”

Cao Zhen frowned, untied Pei Qian's handwriting, glanced at it and handed it to Zhao Yan, who hurried to him: "It should be true, I'm afraid it has something to do with the matter of Liaodong." ”

Zhao Yan took the letter and read it carefully with wide eyes, his thin body trembled again and again, his eyes widened and widened, and suddenly he seemed to think of something, his eyes suddenly widened, and his body trembled violently as if he was shocked.

Then, under Cao Zhen's shocked gaze, Zhao Yan's whole body curled up, and he fell to the side in a daze.

The letter paper fell to the ground, Zhao Yan clenched his heart tightly with both hands, his round eyes fell to the ground, and he turned his head to look at Cao Zhen with difficulty, his lips trembling and he couldn't make a sound.

Cao Zhen squatted down with difficulty to listen, and could only hear Zhao Yan's whispering, which was quickly obscured by the whistling wind outside the house.

The subordinates of the two came up and watched Zhao Yan lying on his side, only his legs twitched and spasmed from time to time.