Chapter 29: This World is Too Dangerous (Part 1)

  Three more chapters and over 10,000 words are uploaded, seeking votes and collections.

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  "Then Ping, how did you come?"

  "Your Majesty is now the supreme ruler, and every word and deed must set an example for the people of the world. If you want to talk to your subjects, you can summon them into the palace, not in a tea house. I heard about it and hurriedly came from the government office to offer my advice."

  Song Jiuzhong looked at this person, a tall and thin man in his 40s, wearing a large purple official uniform. Without looking at the uniform, just by the tone of his conversation with Zhao Kuangyin and mentioning that he came from the Politics Department, it was clear that his status was not ordinary. Who was this person? Song Jiuzhong hated most about people in this era was their way of addressing each other, not using formal names, but rather nicknames or style names. For example, Fan Zhongyan, Wang Anshi, and Sima Guang were all unknown when mentioned by their formal names, but as soon as you said Xiweng, Jiefu, or Junshi, more than half of the people would be stunned. He looked at this middle-aged man, who was also looking at him with dissatisfaction.

  Song didn't dare to look straight, would rather offend a gentleman than a petty person. Under the intimidation of Zhao Kuangyin's majesty, it was awe-inspiring, even if one came from a later generation. However, he wouldn't be on guard against Zhao Kuangyin harming him, as his heart was ruthless and cruel, but he only focused on being an emperor, mostly not targeting ordinary civilians, unless they were plotting rebellion. These officials weren't easy to deal with.

  Zhao Kuangyin said: "Song Jiu, you go back first and bring the scholars here."

  "By order."

  Song Jiuxia got off the tea building and waited for a carriage. He asked a soldier: "Who was the official who just went up?"

  The soldier looked at him strangely: "Don't you recognize?"

  "How would I know?" Song Jiu said, having just met Zhao Kuangyin, who was also a minister.

  "He is Zhao's husband."

  "Zhao Pu..." Song Jiu was about to cover his mouth, then rubbed his temples. This old man claimed to be ingenious and cunning, but Song Jiu knew he was no ordinary person. He was the maker of national policies after the Song Dynasty, first was Chai Rong, then him, and only then came the Zhao brothers. It can't be said that they were good, Chai Rong valued martial arts, didn't he also value internal governance? In short, the national policies made by this person had more drawbacks than benefits. However, there are limitations to the era, it was precisely these national policies that accelerated the end of the Five Dynasties' chaotic situation. Specifically, he couldn't remember, even if he did, it would be useless, things in history books can only be trusted 70%, behind the scenes, there were too many things that historians couldn't see or intentionally altered and deleted, also impossible to record in history books.

  The guard called for a carriage, Song Jiu got on the carriage and went to the river to pull over the students.

  Three people upstairs were talking about this bet.

  "Four hundred and two million strings of cash."

  Now the arithmetic level is low, and it's mental calculation, which is more difficult to calculate. Zhao Kuangyi calculated for a good while and still got it wrong. It should be 4 million and 600 thousand yuan. He also said: "Can sell it to him."

  Zhao Kuangyi described the actual situation of that river dike, the Yellow River began to appear on the surface of the river, that is, the river bed was still higher than the embankment, which was fatal. Bian Shui was slightly better and did not have a river on the ground, but the Yellow River washed away a large amount of mud and sand, gradually raising the water level of Bian Shui. The water was small and good, but when the water was big, it would form a flood disaster, and later even the Eastern Capital was flooded. This river dike area is very small, although it is outside the East Water Gate, it is not worth spending energy and tense financial resources to manage it, so every ten years, three years are flooded, and the riverbank is full of reeds, only in some areas with higher terrain do people plant crops and vegetables. At that time, the population of the entire Song Dynasty was not large, and the land price was relatively cheap. In the suburbs of Dongjing, a good field cost less than one guan (a unit of currency), and a bad field cost only a few hundred wen (a smaller unit of currency). This is in the suburbs of Dongjing City, and the farther away from the city, the cheaper the land price.

  So Zhao Kuangyi said: "This kid is in trouble."

  Why rent it out at such a high price? With just one shout, he can buy an acre of land for 50-60 yuan and immediately take over all the land on this river island. It would only cost tens of thousands of yuan to take it all down.

  At this remark, all three of them furrowed their brows and fell into deep thought.

  Of course, no matter how clever they are, they can't think of the situation in Song Dynasty decades later. Although Song Jiu can buy it, once the Song Dynasty develops, such a large place will be privately occupied, which is too eye-catching. Buying it back won't work either, and it's easy to find excuses to take it back.

  The area is also incorrect. Song Jiuxiao said that the actual area of 27 to 29 hectares does not include the ineffective areas such as the reed forests and marshlands along the river, so the actual area is far more than 29 hectares. According to the "Dongjing Meng Hua Lu", from the East Water Gate to the West Water Gate, there are 13 bridges on the river, which means that the distance from Hongqiao to the East Water Gate is about 7 li. However, Song Jiuxiao repeatedly measured it with his feet and found that it was not 7 li, but had an error of about 5 li, including the curved roads and the distance between the Longwang River and the outer city wall, as well as some future roads to the southeast of Hongqiao. If calculated from the tip, the straight-line distance to the Longwang River is only about 5 li, with a width of about 3.5 li. Moreover, it is not a triangle but a fat trapezoid, with a southern straight line of about 2 li. If developed, the area can reach over 35 hectares. Two hundred wen coins, one hundred renminbi, for a 50-year operating right to one square meter on the banks of the Bian River outside the East Water Gate, including taxes, what's the difference between this and picking up big white vegetables?

  There is something in between that even three clever people can't think of.

  Zhao Pu suddenly said: "Your Majesty, this is too frivolous. If it spreads out, Your Majesty will leave a bad name in history books."

  Zhao Kuangyin said, "Zhen Ping, you don't understand. The reason I'm betting is not about the bet itself. This bet, I will lose 90% of the time. Although this kid is bold and quick-witted, if he didn't have confidence, he wouldn't dare to make a bet with me. But this is a high-stakes bet, a bet on my martial arts skills, my governance. The bet is not about who wins or loses, but whether I can retake Jiangnan within ten years, and create a country more prosperous than any previous dynasty."

  He looked out of the window as he said this.

  These two are not easy, the southerners are good at literature and commerce, but the northerners are stronger than the southern armies due to physical and weather reasons. In Chinese history, only Zhu Yuanzhang used Jianghuai soldiers to unify the country, that was to drive out the Tartars. The rest were all northern conquests of the south, but it's very difficult, Qin unified the world, after how many emperors' efforts, three kingdoms stood together, Cao Cao was powerless against the south, if not for Lü Meng killing Guan Yu, Cao Cao's rule would have been severely threatened. The sixteen southern and northern dynasties, how many northern states went south, were beaten back with broken heads and bleeding, if not for the southern dynasty being uncompetitive, even Yang Jian might not have unified the world. Only three people quickly collected Jiangnan, Liu Bang, Han Wu, Li Yuan and his son Li Shimin. That was still taking advantage of the country's collapse, local separatist forces were not strong at that time to recover Jiangnan, rather than now, local separatism has been going on for a long time.

  It's not enough just to have a good doctor, you also need a rich country to back up the 40.6 million yuan bill.

  Zhao Kuangyin said: "Zhen Ping, don't you understand? He is betting on my heavenly destiny, the fate of my country! Song nine, Song long, long..."

  Zhao Pu couldn't think of the value of Hezhou, and after hearing Zhao Kuangyin's sentence, he also had some doubts. However, he still didn't understand: "Your Majesty, this is more than 40 million strings of cash, if placed on that river island, it can be piled up to a height of one foot, and if placed in the national treasury, the court will immediately have the courage to fight a big war..."

  "Then he said that Bian River is a river of gold, so it cannot be measured with copper coins."

  Several people were frightened by this number and forgot about the bet itself. The premise of all this was that Song Jiu must win this bet.

  The horse carriage was faster than walking, but from the Pan residence to the riverbank was still some distance away. The three of them chatted about national affairs for a while before Song Jiu finally brought the ten students over.

  Not every student can be used, this is one of the best in mathematics and accounting among more than 100 students. Song Jiu originally planned to select a few from them, cultivate for a few more months, and hand over the management of accounts to the Hezhong Kuli Tuanhang. However, Zhao Kuangyin wanted to use it, and this decision was also cancelled. Following Zhao Kuangyin will have a better future, Song Jiu is not as sinister as Zhao Kuangyin thought.

  "Let's go downstairs."

  The emperor and his ministers walked down from the tea house.

  However, Song Jiu was Song Jiu, and the scholars were scholars. Ten scholars saw Zhao Kuangyin, each of them was so frightened that they trembled with fear, kneeling on the ground without daring to move.

  Zhao Kuangyi said in a low voice to Song Jiu: "This is what it means to be a subject."

  Song Jiu also said in a low voice: "Second Master Wang, if I were really like that, I'm afraid Your Majesty and you would not like it either."

  "I like you? Kid, go dream on."

  Zhao Kuangyin said: "You all stand up straight, Song Jiu told me you've learned some skills, let me take a look, don't make him disappointed."

  Everyone gets what they deserve. If you want to have a serious conversation with Song Ji, Zhao Kuangyin probably doesn't have that skill, but talking to these scholars has restored the dignity of the monarch.

  "Yes," said the ten students, standing up honestly.

  Zhao Kuangyin said: "Song Jiu, how can you compare?"

  "In order to show fairness, ten shops were selected by Your Majesty's people, but it's better not to choose small ones. Small shops may not even have account books."

  Zhao Kuangyin puckered his lips; this was something that didn't require him to show up in person, so he had Liu Gonggong lead a group of people to go find the store.

  Ten shops were quickly found, but ten shops were blown up, especially those accountants, they didn't know that there was a big gamble behind their backs, thinking that Song Jiu was bullying them, provoking their dignity, and also the emperor standing not far away watching. One by one, they cursed and scolded, clenched their fists, ready to slap Song Jiu's face.

  It's not about drawing lots by hand, but rather using an abacus to determine the winner. And what's unfair is that they use their own store's account books to challenge each other, so they can also lose? Go hit your head against a tofu and kill yourself!

  The competition has begun.

  First of all, it's the tools. One is the abacus, which hasn't been around for long, and even government accountants haven't fully grasped it, let alone ordinary people. But what's different is that these scholars bring a copy of "Zi Lin" with them, they don't recognize many characters, they're afraid of encountering unfamiliar characters and prepare to look up the dictionary to ask questions. This makes those accounting masters even more furious.

  Then there were the guards. Each shop sent a guard to watch, to show fairness and prevent each shop from bullying the scholars. Zhao Kuangyin wanted to go in and take a look, but Song Jiu blocked him at the side. Originally it was well calculated, but as soon as Zhao Kuangyin went in, the account houses near Pan's residence had seen many high-ranking officials and were old hands, so they were not much affected by the tension, but these scholars were no match for them.

  Time to settle accounts.

  Not only are the tools different, but the methods of accounting and bookkeeping are also different. Both Tang and Song dynasties used a single-entry method to calculate accounts, which is easy to learn and grasp. However, there are many drawbacks, it cannot comprehensively, completely and systematically reflect the transactions or events, nor is it convenient for checking and verifying the accuracy of account records.

  The method of accounting is progressing, and the emergence of the "four-column clearing method" has begun. Income - expenditure = balance. Song Jiuzhong heard that during the Song Dynasty, the four-column clearing method was developed: old pipes + new collections = opening minus real. But after touring around, no one was seen using it, perhaps the four-column clearing method appeared in the Song Dynasty, but later on.

  The account is a single-entry bookkeeping method. If it's a small shop, there's not much difference between single-entry and double-entry bookkeeping methods. However, Song Jiu said that it's better not to be small, so he chose ten shops with large scales. These account books can't just use one entry and one exit to calculate the accounts, how can they work? In order not to make mistakes, they had to carefully and slowly verify them.

  The accounting method taught by Song Jiuzhang is the more advanced Four-Legged Accounting Method, and the bookkeeping method is the Double-Entry Bookkeeping Method. Nowadays, students are still using the Four-Legged Accounting Method to calculate this outdated Single-Entry Bookkeeping account book.

  The account books were all taken out, not all the old accounts from previous years, but only the accounts for more than five months since this year. Some shops calculated their accounts quickly, once every ten days or once a month, while others were lazy and only calculated them once a season. The calculation was relatively fast, which is the most unfair part. However, Song Jiu tacitly agreed to the existence of this unfairness this time, and its unfairness was also a reasonable unfairness.

  These accountants need to have some confidence, but the lazy accountants are getting nervous. As soon as the accounting books were brought out, without Zhao Kuangyin by their side, the students felt at ease. They still had some rough edges and couldn't be considered complete newcomers. Song Jiuxiao's practical class not only gave them hands-on experience but also took them to the riverbank to do accounts for the laborers. Of course, they weren't as skilled as these old accountants, and even a few important characters still needed to be looked up in the dictionary. But what they were using was the most advanced accounting method in the world!

  Each store's accountant is using an abacus to calculate, the students are not in a hurry, first use the chalk brought to list the accounts on the blackboard line by line, it seems like... wasting time, at this time each accountant is still not nervous. After listing, the abacus is played, whether it is a waste of time now appears, that's what's called fast. In fact, if these students are asked to remember these accounts, they will become complex accounting methods and calculate faster.

  But it's still too early, we have to wait a little longer.

  The horse carriage left, Song Jiu took down three large pieces of paper and rolled them together.

  Zhao Kuangyin asked: "Song Jiu, why did you bring paper?"

  "Your Majesty, it is your subject's three bold conjectures."

  "Open and take a look."

  "Your Majesty, don't be in a hurry, I have brought it with me, but I think it's best if Your Majesty doesn't see it."