Chapter Fourteen: The Unfamiliar Xiao Bing

  "Your Majesty, I beg to ask what is the trouble?"

  Zhao Kuangyi just smiled and didn't respond. He said: "Song Jiu, you're a scholar, the singing in front of Zhu's house is too unpleasant, it's better not to sing again."

  "Yes, and no one will go to his house to sing again." Song Jiu's forehead was covered with fine sweat. Not fear, but astonishment, this is even more trivial, just send a notification from the yamen, why must it be said directly from your mouth? Is it worth it?

  For the time being, Song Jiu's attitude still made Zhao Kuangyi somewhat satisfied. His face turned serious and he shouted: "Song Jiu, do you know your crime?"

  "I don't know."

  "This official asks you, for your own benefit, stirring up discord among the people on both banks of the Bian River, and forming a gang, what are your intentions?"

  The Song Dynasty had not only organizations like the Tuanhang, but also small groups called she. There were she for martial arts training, such as archery and staff fighting societies, as well as literary societies like the Red and Green Society, the Clear Sound Society, the Heroic Eloquence Society, and the Equal Clouds Society, among others.

  The scale is not large, and the connection between each other is relatively loose.

  The Song family established the shareholder system to fairly distribute the benefits, reduce conflicts between laborers in the river, and jointly resist the laborers in Hebei. But it was precisely because of the distribution of benefits that the originally loose team became closely connected, with a large number of people, reaching thousands, each one strong and robust.

  "Would you like to add more crimes..."

  It's hard to say whether they pose a threat to the safety of the Song Dynasty capital, but these laborers are willing to do tasks and earn money, who can instigate them to rebel?

  This is adding insult to injury, what's to be feared if there are no words?

  Zhao Kuangyi actually meant to say the previous sentence, stirring up discord among the people on both banks of the Bian River. Song Jiu didn't dare to speak out what he really thought, so he said instead: "Your Majesty, the people on both banks were originally not in harmony."

  "So you want them to be even more discordant? You, this nine, do you want the Song Dynasty to be peaceful or do you want it to be full of conflicts? This time it's because the government reacted quickly, if they had reacted slowly and lives were lost, could you have borne the responsibility?"

  One big hat after another was pressed down.

  Song Jiu's forehead was slightly sweaty, but his mind was still very clear. This king didn't seem to want to punish himself severely, otherwise he wouldn't be joking with him. He remained silent, looking at Zhao Kuangyi.

  Zhao Kuangyi said, "There is a way to resolve this. Hand over the drawings and I will set up similar structures on the north shore. The people of both shores will benefit and there will be no more fighting."

  Song Jiu finally understood that, in the end, it was the map that was crucial. It wasn't just a dispute between the two sides, but could also be used in other situations. Perhaps this future Emperor Taizong had already heard about the gathering of the people from Hebei, but didn't send anyone to persuade them, instead waiting until after the battle to speak up and demand his map back. Otherwise, how could the army have arrived so promptly? But Song Jiu was not convinced, and muttered again: "Your Majesty, this is my wisdom."

  It's ridiculous to talk about intellectual property rights in this era. If the emperor wants his subject to die, how dare the subject not die? Zhao Kuangyi has made it clear that he wants the drawings, and who dares not give them to him?

  "Alright, I'll give you 500 bolts of silk as compensation from me."

  He said, and ordered the bailiffs to take Song Jiu away to draw a picture of the scene.

  Not only must this kid be intimidated, but also quickly, as the Kaifeng Prefecture has been extorted by him two or three times. He's not just a craftsman, but also half a scholar-official, and there's no easy way to deal with him, which is why my brother often teases me about it. Can't let him extort us again.

  Song Jiuxin had a grievance in his heart, five hundred bolts of silk seemed like a lot of money, even if it was just the dividend, it would take at least several months to get five hundred bolts of silk. But this time, after receiving the imperial gift, everything else was gone, and even the shares in his sister's husband's family would be affected.

  What can Song Jiu say in front of Zhao Kuangyi? Hand over the drawings, and stare at Zhao Kuangyi with a wronged look in his big eyes.

  Zhao Kuangyi was so angry that he almost stormed out of the court. Song Jiu felt wronged, and Zhao Kuangyi was also furious, wanting to step down from the judge's bench and beat Song Jiu a few times. He forced himself to ask: "Is the painting clear?"

  "Your Majesty, I've drawn it clearly and added annotations."

  Zhao Kuangyi looked at the drawings again and seemed to understand, but he had been deceived once before... So he said: "I heard that you also teach your son how to make it at home?"

  It is.

  "In a few days, I will send several students from Guozijian to your home for study."

  Song Jiuyang felt even more wronged, and said: "You're going to take away everything, including my old roots." Zhao Kuanyi was stared at by him until he was speechless, and then said: "Don't look at me like that, I won't let them study for nothing. From time to time, I'll give you some brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones to help you."

  He also said, "Don't think that you have been wronged. Someone once evaluated your device and said that you have a twisted talent, but you ignored the most important factor, which is people. The laborers on the river can barely make it work properly, but they cannot solve the fundamental problem of the two rivers. If you want to rebel, will the imperial court allow you to do so? There are not many students in the Imperial Academy, and they are all sons of officials above the seventh rank. They come to your home to study, if you have the ability, this is an opportunity for you, which is a better reward than being given 5,000 bolts of silk."

  It's possible, but Song Jiu wasn't one to be easily fooled. He thought to himself: It's not necessarily a reward, but rather a few little ancestors have arrived! A real reward would be either money or the granting of an official title. However, what could he say? After thinking for a moment, he said: "Your Majesty, I don't want this reward. If it is indeed a reward, can you tell me which family that young girl belongs to and why they said I've stirred up trouble?"

  Zhao Kuangyi was so angry that he almost spat blood. This little guy not only had a thick skin, was greedy and daring, but also lecherous. He finally lost his composure and walked down from the public hall, came to Song Jiu's face, and kicked him with a cry of laughter: "Get out."

  Song Jiu could only "get out", as soon as he reached the door, Zhao Kuangyi said: "Song Jiu, that little girl is not someone you can afford to provoke, don't have such extravagant hopes."

  "Your Majesty, what about the young lady from that family?" However, Song Jiu saw Zhao Kuangyi was about to erupt and immediately fled, causing the yamen runners standing on both sides to lower their heads and secretly smile.

  ……

  Zhao Kuangyi's gift of money was not small, 500 bolts of silk, as long as Zhao Kuangyi did not deliberately give inferior silk, it would be worth at least 600 or more strings of cash.

  Five generations ago, the previous dynasties were all nonsense. It wasn't until the father-son duo of Zhou Weizhai and Chai Rong that they truly emphasized domestic governance. After Chai Rong came to power, he saw a large number of common people becoming monks and nuns, unable to engage in production. In a fit of rage, he demolished all temples, forced monks and nuns to marry and have children, and melted down temple Buddha statues into copper coins. However, even now, the Song Dynasty cannot be said to have truly recovered, including the newly acquired Jingnan and Hunan regions, with a population of only around 12 million households, not the over 20 million households that came later.

  The economy of the Song Dynasty was recovering, but it was far from the economic scale of later times. Zhao Kuangyin treated his ministers well and rewarded them generously, but the actual numbers were not as many as imagined, and only gradually improved afterwards.

  Of course, prices are also different, and now prices are equally cheap.

  From the perspective of Tokyo's highest official, the emergence of such a large gang, which is not controlled by the state, has indeed deepened the contradictions between the people of the two rivers. What Zhao Kuangyi did was not bad.

  The root of the problem lies in Song Jiu, and once the root is solved, the contradictions will disappear, and the court will also benefit. Putting aside Song Jiu's grievances, Zhao Kuangyi's ability to handle affairs can be seen from these two events.

  In April, swallows are still flying back and forth on the willows by the river.

  A faint white light rises from the river water, Kaifeng in winter will not make people feel happy, Kaifeng in summer will also not make people feel happy. Bian River, Wuzhang River, Cai River and Jinshui River bring developed water transportation to Kaifeng, but also bring a lot of water vapor, making the ground colder when it's cold and hotter when it's hot.

  What made Song Jiu most unhappy was the happiness of the northern shore's common people, watching the various pulley groups being assembled on the opposite shore, and listening to the cheers of the northern shore's common people. Without mentioning intellectual property rights, at least a reward of two or three thousand bolts of silk should be given.

  Five hundred bolts of silk may seem like a lot, but with loose hands, it can be used up in one or two years. And reasonably, at least half of the five hundred bolts of silk should be given to my brother-in-law. It's not too unjust to say that Song Jiu is greedy for wealth, but Song Jiu won't blindly crave wealth. He has a scale in his heart to measure what kind of money can be taken and what kind of money cannot be taken. Asking for two shares of 1% equity in a grand and open manner is because of the exclusive technology. Now that the drawings have been taken away by Zhao Kuangyi, they will be promoted to Hebei and then nationwide. Without technical advantages, taking this dividend again would make many people unhappy. Therefore, he gathered one hundred representatives to discuss and automatically proposed to withdraw from this equity. This is called knowing one's place.

  He suggested that a hundred people complained, but what could be done? The scale of the group beating was too large, and the imperial court's handling of it couldn't be said to be wrong. The river has its own way of thinking, and the imperial court has its own way of thinking. However, Song Jiu himself proposed it, and others were embarrassed to refuse. Moreover, Song Jiu taught students and even paid out of his own pocket at one point, so he rewrote the contract, retaining a 10% share of the profits, which was the same as Hu Lao Da's share. Furthermore, with Hebei also having a share, it meant that Song Jiu's income had been reduced by 80%. Seventh Brother-in-law was even more miserable; he had no skills and couldn't teach students, but gave face to Song Jiu and only got a 2% share of the profits.

  It's okay, I don't know if it was opposed by the ministers of the court, or if the summer harvest is about to arrive, or if the personnel have not been settled yet. Anyway, no students were sent from the Imperial Academy, but instead, more than 20 craftsmen were transferred from the official workshops to learn and manufacture at the same time. There were also several craftsmen selected by the people of Hebei themselves, and Song Jiuzhen even went to Hebei in person to organize and guide the installation.

  It's better this way, each has its own specialty. These craftsmen have been dealing with various instruments for years and months, and they can quickly understand how to make them with a little instruction. They may not understand the principles of mechanics, but they can quickly grasp how to manufacture. If it were students from the Imperial Academy who came, they would all be children of high-ranking officials, Song Jiuzi is their teacher, he wouldn't be afraid, but he might scare off other students, and it's not certain that they could learn well either.

  The imperial court was a bit neglectful this time, the value of the pulley lies not in the pulley itself, but in the principles of mechanics that Song Jiuzhou taught. However, who would have thought that the Analects are actually the king's way?

  Song Jiu could get a dozen or so taels of silver every month, which was obviously not enough to satisfy him. He supported his cheek with his hand and thought about it.

  At this time a pretty little maid came over and asked in a crisp voice: "Is the young master the Ninth Master?"

  "Yes, you are..."

  "My wife is Ah Ping, I'd like to invite you over for a chat."

  "What's with Ah Ping? Why did she invite me?" Song Jiu was somewhat perplexed.

  "Remember when we first met, you wore a dress with two embroidered hearts."

  The status of Song Ci in the Song Dynasty belongs to the network, popular songs, belonging to the art of vulgarity, with a low status. Especially in the early Song Dynasty, the tone was low and vulgar, even Li Yu, who is still doing well as an emperor today, could not write out famous phrases like "Spring flowers and autumn moons, when will they end?"

  But some singing girls, they have to sing, and when they sing, they must choose a small tune, however many of the small tunes are too vulgar, so when they sing, it's like they're losing their dignity.

  As a result, this little song quickly spread throughout the capital. If it weren't for Song Jiu's "ulterior motives", the impact would have been even greater.

  In the palace, there are also palace maids singing it, but Song Jiu is stuck in this remote corner by the river and doesn't know.

  Another question arises, Song Jiu is obviously teasing that little girl, saying she looks like a famous courtesan named Xiao Ping. Someone wonders whose courtesan Xiao Ping is. First, her price won't be low, beautiful appearance, too expensive for Song Jiu to afford, can only afford to tease once, then dream about it every day. Second, the brothel she's in is extremely luxurious, otherwise there wouldn't be words like "high-rise building with locked doors".

  Some people then look for this little Ping, if it's said that Zhang Ping and Li Ping are easy to find, such a popular name, in the capital city, there are only seven or eight Pings with fame. Which one is the little Ping in Lin Jiang Xian?

  There was a courtesan named A'ping from the north of Wai Bridge in the south of the city who couldn't sit still, and she sent her maid to ask questions.

  She is a Qing girl, whether she is a Qing girl or a turbid girl, no one knows, but she belongs to the kind of prostitute who sells art and not her body. She also has to entertain guests, sing and dance, she can't think of whether she has ever entertained a guest named Song Jiu, it doesn't matter if she has or not, as long as Song Jiu says so, her value will immediately double.

  Some of these maids can speak and some cannot, they just came to verify.

  Song Jiuyi thought to himself, "What kind of little thing is this? I'd better ask Yan Jidao about it." But Yan Jidao was still in his mother's womb, as were his father Yan Shu and uncle Fu Bian.