Chapter 42: The True Little Person

  "Are you sure?" Zhao Kuangyi asked hesitantly.

  He really didn't think of it, including his elder brother, and thought it was just a small desert island. The area wasn't big either. It was flooded three times in ten years, and the water overflowed once a year. There were also few civilians. If Song Jiu hadn't signed the contract, seeing that Song Jiu had some confidence, the court could have helped Song Jiu relocate these civilians elsewhere. No one thought of this grave.

  Twenty students looked at Song Jiu with suspicion, not knowing what Song Jiu and Zhao Kuangyi were talking about. It seemed like a big deal, but digging up ancestral graves wasn't impossible. Originally, before the outer city was expanded, many tombs were located within the current outer city area. When Emperor Taizong of Song saw that the inner city was crowded and the outer city also had many commoners living there, he issued an edict to expand the outer city, turning it into a city. Except for some meaningful tombs, such as the tomb of Shan Xiongxin in the eastern part of the city, which were preserved, the common people's tombs could no longer remain within the city walls. They were all relocated to the suburbs, and some were even moved quite far away. This was a necessary measure for expanding the city walls. Could the Second King agree to dig up someone's ancestral grave for something that Song Jiu didn't know about?

  Song Jiuyi did not think of it either.

  The imperial examination is hopeless, can't be an official, now it seems possible to be an official, but what's the point of being a loose official? Song Jiu wants to be a happy businessman.

  It's not easy, first of all, it takes a lot of money for capital, R&D, production, land, and housing. Even if the product is made, it's not necessarily profitable. The countries that produce diamonds don't make much profit, on the contrary, the people are suffering, while the countries that process and sell diamonds are prosperous and take away most of the profits. This is what sales channels are all about. Song Jiu has no money and no people, how can he have any sales channels?

  Song Jiuyi was worried and couldn't relax, so Yu Ping invited him to be a guest. He went, and the Beiwazi brothel in the Song Dynasty's capital city ranked among the top three. Yu Ping had a place there, which meant she also had a place in the entire capital city. However, the decorations were just that. It's not hard to understand that the eastern part of the city had been fighting for decades until Zhou Wei became emperor and things started to improve during Chai Rong's time. The city began to flourish, but it was only comparable to Wu Yue Hangzhou, Southern Tang Hongzhou, Jiangning, and Later Shu Yizhou. Due to Chai Rong's emphasis on commerce, many wealthy people appeared in the capital, but they were just local tyrants and couldn't be considered nobles, including the entire city's taste. This development would happen quickly, and in another ten years, it wouldn't be the same. For now, it wasn't possible, but for Song Jiuyi, it was an opportunity.

  Opportunities are there, but still the same old problems: where is the capital, where are the connections, and where are the business channels?

  Zhao Kuangyin summoned him and spoke in a very casual tone, mentioning religion. Song Jiu was curious and asked if there were the three chess bets with Chen Yun. Coincidentally, he saw more than a dozen princes sneaking up to the tea house to take a look. Their fathers had gone to battle with swords, but they were idle in the capital, what to do? For thousands of years, Chinese tradition has been that parents should work hard for their children, otherwise, they are derelict in their duties. Even if he came to apologize himself, so many second-generation ancestors gathered to watch the excitement, it's unimaginable how boring they were.

  Song Jiu immediately thought of one thing: connections!

  Among capital, connections and business routes, connections are the most important! When Zhao Pu does business, does he need capital? Does he need business routes?

  He thought of the sandy islet again and made a bet with Zhao Kuangyin.

  Then he took a dozen or so second-generation ancestors to sign the contract, and when they returned, they saw this group of tombs. There were nearly a thousand ancestral graves, with only a few hundred unclaimed ones. The wind and rain had worn them down to the ground, and Song Jiu finally realized it was a trouble.

  At that time did not express, must draw.

  The first painting is a bridge. National interests must be put first, and the court will provide some mutually beneficial assistance to itself. The second painting is to let the court see hope.

  Song Jiudao said: "Can the two kings go to the back hall to see these two paintings?"

  "What kind of back hall is this, what kind of system is this!"

  "The two princes, this is also a discussion of state affairs, although it's a bit small, not asking about the case." Song Jiuxiao said with grievance, logically speaking, he should move a small chair for himself to sit on and avoid taboos? Moreover, does the Song Dynasty have such strict rules at this time?

  "If it succeeds, it won't be a small matter of governance; if it fails and gets out, it will be the biggest joke in the world, and at that time, even annihilating your entire family won't be able to alleviate Your Majesty's anger."

  "I know, I won't say."

  "Bring it here."

  Zhao Kuangyi took over the two paintings and, despite his harsh words, turned around to examine them in the back hall.

  After a while, he turned around and looked at Song Jiu with suspicion: "Song Jiu, can it be done?"

  "Look, the second king, its construction difficulty is not even comparable to that of the Rainbow Bridge," Song Jiu pulled out a few papers from his pocket, with diagrams and various mechanical formulas drawn on them. Zhao Kuangyi couldn't understand any of it, took a glance, and threw them back at Song Jiu in frustration. Song Jiu continued: "It's right next to the east end of the Rainbow Bridge, with this added, plus the Rainbow Bridge, if you stand on the opposite bank and look, what a beautiful scene it will be?"

  Zhao Kuangyi's eyes grew distant as he thought, "If only it could be built, a strange and wondrous heavenly shop, with the added bonus of a Double Rainbow Bridge... it would be the most beautiful sight in all of Beijing." He became so lost in his daydreams that he snapped back to reality with some irritation. "Drawing is easy," he said, "anyone can draw palaces in the sky, but who can actually build them? And as for a Double Rainbow Bridge and a massive main shop... I hear you also want to set up an academy - how much money will all this cost?"

  "Two big kings, Double Rainbow Bridge is the first painting, Zhengdian is the second and third paintings, Shuyuan may be one or two paintings, and there are fifteen or sixteen more paintings behind..."

  This bet cannot be made public, and both parties are somewhat ambiguous in their words.

  Song Jiuzhen moved the Double Rainbow Bridge nearly 400 meters back from its original position in "Clearing Up the Riverside Scene", also taking into account the width, as the empress dowager had to have a main road for north-south traffic. The further back it went, the longer the road would be, occupying a large area, which Song Jiuzhen was reluctant to do. Moving forward towards Bian River was too wide, although some parts of Bian River outside the capital city were as wide as 50-60 meters, making bridge construction more difficult. Therefore, taking advantage of the terrain, he built the Great Rainbow Bridge on the west side of the original Rainbow Bridge at a narrow point in history. Although the water flow here was rapid, it did not have the impact of Nanbian Water, and should be more conducive to navigation than the location of the original Rainbow Bridge. It just so happened that the tip of the sandy island was cut off, about 40,000 square meters, or 70 mu in size, which Song Jiuzhen used as a main store. However, the entire sandy island had an area of 3,900 mu, how much area could a college occupy?

  "What a big tone!"

  "Is the Second Master referring to the Academy or the Wealthy Family?"

  "Got it!"

  Yesterday, I told two doctors that knowledge can be far away from politics, but it cannot be far away from the country. The Taiyi Academy is too high-minded, and the capital city should be a center for politics, military affairs, culture, entertainment, economy, commerce, and education. I dare to say that the country has only established one Imperial College, and only recruited dozens of noble children, which is too narrow-minded. To promote cultural education and governance, we should establish another academy to allow more students to learn how to become good officials. This is a national academy, focusing on cultivating official talents. My academy or schoolhouse cultivates small Taoist talents, who may become great craftsmen, minor officials, or accountants. Neither of these academies has emerged yet, and the court may not necessarily listen to my suggestions. However, if they emerge, their nature will be different from that of the Taiyi Academy, and neither of them is reclusive in nature; instead, they exist to serve the country.

  "Too expensive?"

  "It's not necessarily about the Imperial Academy, this is my idea. Because it is the Great Way, I call it the Imperial Academy, which is a political academy. My academy is a miscellaneous academy. Education is a major national affair, and the two princes asked, I will explain. As for my money and silk, I think that Your Majesty, the two princes, and Minister Zhao and several other senior officials should be thinking about the Great Way, opening up the great way of eternal peace. What I am thinking about is how to take advantage of Your Majesty's wisdom and the collective efforts of the ministers in this excellent opportunity to transform a desolate area into a bright pearl. If I were to think about opening up the great way of eternal peace, that would be called being overly ambitious. If the two princes were to ask me how to conjure up wealth and silk, that would be called not distinguishing between what is important and what is not."

  "You little scoundrel, you don't want to say anything, and yet you're so clever." Zhao Kuangyi finally couldn't help but burst out laughing. He continued: "But it's really hard to achieve eternal peace, Qin Shi Huang said one generation, two generations, and the result was that the country was destroyed in three generations. How about this, I've heard that you've made a new and unusual fruit, roughly for serving at this main store in the future?"

  "That's right."

  "Moving the tomb is no trivial matter, it's not something that this official can decide on. You prepare some gifts, and this official will bring them along with the painting to the imperial palace, and ask His Majesty to make a decision."

  "No, bringing pictures is okay, but bringing fruit is not."

  "Hey kid, what did you say?!"

  "Two great kings, I studied the fruit to improve the service of our shop, and when the business is good, we can pay that money...and also bring benefits to the fellow villagers in the river who are familiar with me."

  Upon hearing this sentence, twenty students cast aside their fear and stood up straight.

  "The fruit is brought to the palace, what more can be enjoyed? Everyone has a natural tendency towards indulgence. Once or twice, and gradually this enjoyment becomes a habit. Tomorrow, there will be even more people who will offer rare delicacies to satisfy Your Majesty's taste buds, beautiful women and precious treasures to satisfy Your Majesty's visual pleasure, and repair the palace to satisfy Your Majesty's hearing. At that time, what difference is there between Your Majesty and the ruler of Southern Tang? Therefore, I said before, whether it is music, chess, calligraphy, painting, poetry, or mathematics, if used correctly, it is correct; if used incorrectly, it is incorrect. If Your Majesty is a wise ruler and the ministers are virtuous, I am confident that we can turn that place into a pearl to adorn the capital. But if Your Majesty is like the ruler of Southern Tang, even with one million taels of silver, I would not dare make such a promise." Song Ji looked at Zhao Kuangyi with a "firm" expression, but in his heart, he was secretly worried that the Zhao brothers were not too cruel in their governance. If it were Emperor Huizong of Song, they would have already handed over the formula.

  "You're saying that even ordinary people can eat that fruit, but Your Majesty cannot."

  "Yes, wanting to be a good emperor requires self-discipline and discipline of others, setting an example for the world, it will be very bitter."

  Zhao Kuangyi stared at Song Jiu, also seeing the fine sweat on his forehead, thinking that it took a lot of courage to say this, but he didn't back down, and instead smiled, saying: "You really have many shortcomings, but His Majesty and I have always been very indulgent towards you, do you know why?"

  "I don't know."

  "You may be greedy, but you have some bottom line, though sly, not too vicious, not a gentleman, but also a not bad little villain. I hope you will keep it well in the future, don't let His Majesty down, don't let this official down."

  "Yes," Song Jiu said with a smile, being a little villain is just fine, being a gentleman is so tiring, no way, I won't do that.

  "But this matter will be troublesome, so in a few days, I'll let you take you to Xiangzhou Iron Pit. If you can think of a way, it will be easier for His Majesty to say something later. If you can't think of one, I estimate that moving the tomb will be very difficult."