Chapter 41: Digging Up Ancestral Graves (Part 2)

  Thank you to all book friends for your rewards, evaluation votes and update votes, as well as recommendation votes and collections. This book was uploaded on the 29th and published on the 30th, with 140,000 words in 12 days, making it the fastest updated book on Qidian's new book chart during this time period. It may fall off the new book chart in seven or eight days, so starting from next week, I ask everyone to use their recommendation votes to support me a bit.

  =========

  "Dig up an ancestor's grave?" All twenty students' mouths were wide open in shock.

  "Yes, how dare I dig up someone else's ancestral grave? Who knows, if I move a single spade of earth, they might fight me to the death. This matter is better handled by Erda Wang."

  "Will the two kings agree?"

  "Go and take a look around, let you see more of the big world, so that in the future you can have the demeanor to educate your children."

  Song Ji took the two paintings and led the twenty students to Kaifeng Prefecture. The twenty students walked with strange smiles on their faces, discussing with their families last night that Song Ji had said nothing yesterday, but he mentioned conscience, and staying would not be in vain. By next March, it would have been a year, and they should have made some progress, although they didn't expect much high returns. There was one standard, which was Zhu San's monthly salary of five guans. They didn't expect to get five guans, after all, the other party was a true juren who had passed the imperial examination, not counting those from the Later Zhou Dynasty. Throughout the Song Dynasty, there were only sixty-three jinshi, and there were also various subjects, but it was difficult to pass them, and even if one did, their future prospects wouldn't be great. It was better to focus on studying in the book house for a few more years to make the imperial court value them more. There weren't many juren either, only about two thousand nationwide. But that was an indicator, at least with a monthly salary of three or four guans. That was enough to support their families.

  Never thought there was a 32-yuan bill, and it's triple the limit!

  Everyone was very satisfied with this contract, but then they heard that the second king would dig up his ancestors' graves. This matter was a bit strange, and one by one, strange smiles appeared on their faces.

  Arrived at Kaifeng Prefecture, Song Jiu was also a minor official, and the yamen runners did not dare to be slow, and went in to report.

  Zhao Kuangyi also had something to look for Song Jiu, but he couldn't call him over all the time. If he did, this little brat would surely come knocking on his door, and that would be perfect. Let Song Jiu in.

  Song Jiuxu made a courtesy call on Xuezhi, and Zhao Kuangyi asked: "What brings you here again?"

  "There are two things that trouble the two great kings."

  "Say."

  "The first thing is to make a contract, and ask Erda Wang to be the witness."

  "Also asking me to be a witness for the contract?"

  "Two great kings, I heard that Your Majesty and the ministers discussed what is most important in the world. Minister Zhao said that the sky is big, the earth is big, but the truth is the biggest, which deeply gained your approval. But what is most important among all things in the world?"

  "What is most important?" Song Jiou's status was low, and Zhao Kuangyi didn't guess. If it were a high-ranking official asking this question, Zhao Kuangyi would definitely answer: the people, the system, the country, culture, or something else.

  "The two great kings, the most important thing is talent. With talent, everything else follows." Song Jiu said as he handed over the contract.

  Zhao Kuangyi opened it and said: "Song Jiu, you have a big private heart, actually thinking of taking the twenty best students as your own."

  Song Jiuyi shook his head secretly, it seemed that he couldn't fully trust those who had crossed over. Those people were really something, emperors and generals, all of them worshiped at his feet. It wasn't that easy to achieve, just look at this Song Taizong, whose IQ was at least twice his own. As for the matter at hand, Song Jiuyi did have a private motive, but it couldn't be said that he was entirely unreasonable. After all, these talents were cultivated by him, so there was no need to mention it, or else he would be asking for trouble.

  "Your Majesty, I'm afraid not," he said. "If an edict were issued to slaughter all the mother hens in the country, what would happen? In a year's time, which is neither fast nor slow, by September, the deadline will have arrived. I made a promise that after a year, these students would be released together, and the excellent ones would be selected for use by the imperial court, while the rest would enter the households of merchants to work as accountants or managers. But what could they learn in just one year? I'm still learning myself, let alone them?

  Many people have asked for expansion, saying that they will donate funds to build schools, but who can teach them besides me? Although they stay behind, can they cultivate more talents for the country? Can it be said that I have a private motive?"

  Zhao Kuangyi may be right, but the key is his personal feelings. This kid has always been like this, otherwise Big Brother would have used him long ago, and still expect him to be selfless?

  Looking at the contract again, it was indeed a contract for him to be the witness of the Kaifeng Prefecture Governor: "Song Jiu, what ability do you have to pay such a large number of students 32 taels of salary every month? Moreover, this compensation of one million taels of losses is even more bizarre!"

  "Second Master Wang, if you can't even afford this salary, how will you pay the money in the future?" It's not good to mention gambling debts in front of students and yamen runners.

  "Can you really build that bridge?" Zhao Kuangyi obviously didn't want to discuss it any further, asking what was on his mind.

  "However, speaking of bridges, I would like to make a request to the two great kings: can 400,000 catties of iron be allocated to me each year?" So many buildings require steel, which is not excessive even if calculated in tons, only about 200 tons. However, it seems that iron mines are scarce during the Song Dynasty, and without the cooperation of the court, it would be difficult to accomplish."

  "Four hundred thousand catties of iron, what a big tone you have! Do you know how much iron our dynasty can produce in one year?"

  "Two great kings, how would I know?"

  "Last year, the imperial court's total output was less than two million catties, what qualifications do you have to get 400,000 catties?"

  "No way," Song Jiu said, stunned. He had read a book about the construction of railways in the Song Dynasty and couldn't figure out how they managed to build them back then. Although he was familiar with engineering, one kilometer of railway required 500,000 tons of steel, not to mention multiple railways. The Song Dynasty's jin was close to 600 grams, but that was still an unimaginable amount - 850 million jin of steel. How on earth did they build this railway?

  Zhao Kuangyi looked at his bewildered expression, if he hadn't seen his students here, he would have gone down and kicked Song Jiu a few times.

  Song Jiuyi said: "It's not that there is no way, Second Master Wang, can you allow me to take a look at a certain iron pit?"

  "Are you going to dig up iron?"

  "I won't dig mines, but maybe I can come up with a good idea."

  "What's the solution?" Zhao Kuangyi immediately concentrated his mind. At present, iron cannot be widely used in construction, first without concrete, second without welding, but its uses are also very extensive. First of all, it is armor and weapons, a set of armor weighs around 50 kilograms, but this iron must undergo repeated hammering, the actual loss of iron can reach over 100 kilograms. This is for military use, and there are also civilian utensils, farm tools, kitchen utensils, hardware, small to a nail. Two million kilograms of iron, only over 1,000 tons, not enough for the Song Dynasty. Placed on the grasslands, often two or three iron pots can be exchanged for a cow or sheep. Iron in the Song Dynasty is also very expensive, one kilogram can reach 30 wen (a unit of currency), which can be exchanged for a dou (a unit of volume) of high-quality rice!

  Is ability important?

  "I don't know, I have to think about it after reading it."

  "If you have a way to increase iron production, I can make a promise to you that the Emperor will grant you an additional official rank."

  "The two great kings, the difference between the eighth rank and ninth rank is not big, I just want the court to provide 400,000 catties of iron per year, even if it's 300,000 catties, otherwise I won't be able to handle the rivers and mountains on that side."

  "Go ahead, but this must be increased by over a million catties."

  "Two big kings, one million catties."

  "No depreciation, no labor cost?"

  "I didn't mean to buy it..." Song Jiu didn't want to say any more. Fortunately, Zhao Kuangyi wasn't a businessman, or else he would definitely be a big swindler.

  "Will that bridge use a lot of iron?" Zhao Kuangyi was somewhat puzzled, as there were many bridges in the Song Dynasty, stone bridges, wooden bridges, and even small earth bridges, but what did they have to do with iron?

  "It requires a lot of iron, not just iron, but also steel... There are many technical difficulties in between that need to be studied."

  "Accusative case?"

  "It's it, but there are other places that use iron, I just ask the court to provide a large amount of iron for me. As for the bridge, it can be built, and even later on the Bian River, such a high-bridge flying bridge can be renovated, which is convenient for navigation. However, starting everything from scratch is the most difficult, once construction begins, I must ask the court to provide some craftsmen, as well as other support. After the Double Rainbow Bridge is completed, I will give all the technology to the court. Of course, during the construction process, the court can send officials to inspect and send craftsmen to learn."

  "It will cost a lot of money," Zhao Kuangyi looked at the contract in his hand again, with only twenty students to support afterwards, and he had to pay out nearly 10,000 yuan per year. Where would this money come from? Unbelievable!

  "Yes, it's just a drop in the ocean on the riverbank, and there are more places to spend money, but these silver ingots have their own way of being resolved. Please ask the two great kings to notarize this contract."

  "By the way, there's something else?"

  The students listened in confusion, Song Jiu hung up the painting, most people thought it was someone who painted for fun, some people looked at it for a while, and some didn't look. It wasn't widely spread, and the news was blocked in the river, so twenty students hadn't heard about it, so they couldn't understand what the two were talking about. But when Zhao Kuangyi asked the second question, some students perked up, "Mr. Jiu is awesome! He's going to ask Er Dawang to dig up someone's ancestral grave, how can we not care?"

  "The two great kings, it's not easy for that agreement to be fulfilled smoothly."

  "It won't be easy for you if you're wronged, that's an offense against the king."

  "Yes, but two big kings, it can achieve is a miracle, especially I want money no money, want status no status."

  "Do you just want to drag Lang Jun from the Su, Pan, Han and their families down into the water?"

  Song Jiulang let out a long sigh.

  "What's wrong?"

  "I heard the people by the river say that Your Majesty's obtaining of the world was due to heavenly fate. What heavenly fate? This is wisdom! Your Majesty and the two great kings have a hundred, a thousand times more wisdom than ordinary people. It is only because of this that you have ascended to the throne as the ruler of the world, and the two great kings have reached the highest position among men. But it's too difficult to deal with the two great kings, they can see through me at a glance even before I've done anything."

  "You little scoundrel, don't try to curry favor with me, I won't stop you from doing so. Anyway, they're idle all day long, taking them along to do some things will actually bring peace to the capital, as long as you don't overdo it." Zhao Kuangyi said seriously, but these words sounded quite pleasant in his heart...

  "It won't be long, maybe in a few years, they'll thank me for it. Second Master Wang, let's get back to the matter at hand. Once this is achieved, not only will it set an example for the imperial court and increase its revenue, but it also has far-reaching significance that can broaden people's horizons. Moreover, many technologies involved in this process can be applied to military, civilian, and other fields, making it a truly significant endeavor. Except for some luxury goods, I'll hand everything over to the imperial court."

  "What luxury?"

  "It's just an idea, it hasn't been developed yet, I don't dare deceive you, nor do I dare deceive the two great kings."

  "You...! As expected, you're despicable!"

  "It's a pity that it can't be said, a gentleman's word is like a team of horses, once spoken, it cannot be taken back."

  "Are you a gentleman?"

  "Isn't it a virtue for one to be true to their word?"

  Zhao Kuangyi was speechless. No wonder Zhao Pu didn't let him enter officialdom. If this kid entered officialdom, it would be a great show to watch in the imperial court.

  "But it requires the imperial court to cooperate continuously."

  "It's impossible."

  "Why is it impossible? For example, when repairing bridges, workers are needed to assist. When dredging the Bian River, without considering my personal interests, can't the imperial court do it?"

  "Clearing the canal water?"

  "It's an idea, but I'm not ready to say it yet. For now, there is a crucial matter at hand. The riverbank wants to become one of the richest areas in the capital, so development is necessary. However, there are many graves on the riverbank, which is the biggest problem. Therefore, I want to ask Your Majesties to issue an order to relocate these graves all at once."