Qingkou Prefecture adjoined the Qing River estuary. Apart from its seaport, the vast coastal stretches were exceptionally well suited to salt evaporation, in both terrain and sunlight.
Thus, apart from the provincial capital, Qingkou Prefecture's jurisdiction consisted of a long, narrow strip extending down the coast, encompassing most of the salt fields to facilitate salt administration.
Nearby were supporting workshops that processed brine and the like.
The Salt Gang's headquarters and branch halls had, in fact, been established along this region.
It could be considered a gang spontaneously formed by people involved in the salt industry to band together.
The salt fields were so extensive that the authorities could not possibly supervise every aspect.
The Salt Gang could also control considerable profits from wastage, illicit salt, and so on.
But without salt licenses, dealing solely in illicit salt was certainly a business that could cost them their heads. Thus, the Salt Gang could only sell its illicit salt to salt merchants, naturally at low prices.
Fortunately, this was also a "business without capital" for them, so at least the Salt Gang's middle and upper ranks lived quite comfortably.
Even the Salt Gang's Chief Hall Master was an expert in the Embrace the Elixir realm...
The saline soil left vast stretches of the coast almost barren. In some workshops, people could be seen continually pouring brine into vats.
Many men worked bare-chested in the salt fields, constantly turning the contents of the divided plots with rake-like tools. Others dug channels with hoes to bring in seawater.
These people also counted as Salt Gang members, much like the low-ranking canal workers of the Grain Transport Gang. Everywhere, those at the bottom could still only do this exhausting, backbreaking work.
Lin Hao followed Zhang Shuwen and the others, watching these people with sun-peeled