Chapter Thirty-Five First Painting (Part 2)

  Due to the times, the pace of life for people in the Song Dynasty was relatively slow, at least slower than that of later generations. There were many places to spend leisure time, first and foremost being strolling and shopping on the streets. The markets of the Song Dynasty gradually disappeared, replaced by twenty or so large and small commercial centers, with shops lining the streets.

  The second is the entertainment venue, where people go to watch various performances by artists in the pleasure quarters, and those with lust go to brothels. The third is strolling in gardens, as there are countless public and private gardens in the capital city, some of which are open and others not. Those that are not open cannot be entered no matter how much money one has, while those that are open will never charge an entrance fee. The imperial street is undoubtedly one of the top choices.

  In mid-May, the peach blossoms have fallen, but the lotus flowers have not yet bloomed. However, the scenery is still breathtakingly beautiful. These trees were planted during the time of Chai Rong, and now they are lush with branches and leaves. When the summer breeze blows, the green shadows sway back and forth, and amidst the fragrance of the lotus leaves, one can see countless green pears, peaches, apricots, as well as yellow and red plums swaying in the tree leaves.

  If the branches are close by, greedy children will pick the half-ripe plums and put them to their mouths, eating while making a sour face.

  The weather is hot in May, and this year there is an extra third month of summer, making it even hotter.

  But it hasn't reached its hottest point yet.

  There are many people strolling around, and at the end of the imperial street is the majestic Xuande Gate, behind which lies the Imperial City, where ordinary people are not allowed to enter. Someone saw a painting on the wall of a house on the imperial street.

  It's a kind of bridge that has never been seen before, with curves on top and curves underneath.

  This is the first advertisement painting pushed out by Song Jiu, four painters were asked to go home, you don't ask for anything beautiful, any artistic conception, just ask for realism and three-dimensional sense to paint this bridge, which is different from the Rainbow Bridge in later generations.

  The Rainbow Bridge in the "Along the River During Qingming Festival" painting is located at a point where two rivers converge, about ten to twenty meters away from this point. There is a sharp mouth here, which shortens the distance of the bridge and reduces the difficulty.

  But after the bridge frame, a new problem emerged - water!

  The Hongqiao Bridge is about 30 meters long, which is sufficient. In the Song Dynasty, the shipping industry developed, but the largest river ships were only about 20,000 dan (a unit of measurement), not exceeding 1,000 tons. The width of the ship would not exceed 13 meters, and such large ships rarely entered the Grand Canal and Bian River, mostly operating on the Yangtze River. In the Bian River, ordinary ships are usually below 500 tons.

  However, this length is a problem. The Bian River is definitely not just 30 meters wide, and the widest point can reach 300-400 meters. Due to the compression of the city site, it becomes narrower as you approach the city, and the length of the bridge is less than 20 meters. Historically, choosing a location to build a bridge that saves length but converges two waters will produce whirlpools when the water flow collides with the embankment, making the water flow change unpredictably, rather than flowing smoothly downstream. Adding to this, the river becomes narrower and then it's like a scene from "Clearing after Snowfall on the River", where facing Rainbow Bridge is no big deal. But this water doesn't listen, it crashes violently, making boats hard to control, so people on the boat are tense while steering, and pedestrians on the bridge are anxious and shouting loudly. The advantages are that the difficulty of building a bridge decreases, and costs are saved. The disadvantages are that it is not conducive to navigation, and the riverbank is neglected.

  After several investigations, Song Jiu moved westward by about 400 meters, increasing the bridge's span by at least six or seven meters. He also had to build a rainbow bridge on the Nanbian River, which was gradually losing its function. Who knows, if the Northern Song Dynasty hadn't perished, two hundred years later the Nanbian River would have been completely filled in and become flat land, but building the bridge would have cost twice as much! However, there are more advantages: the river island is enclosed, and two large and small rainbow bridges stand majestically on the river surface. The scenery will be incredibly beautiful! At that time, tourists who come to visit can bring in a fortune for the river island every day.

  Others are not painted, only two bridges of imagination, and sailboats dotted, a bright moon in the sky, reflected in the water, is two bright moons, a beautiful double bridge picture.

  It's just a painting, without any description, ordinary people never thought of the desolate river beach outside Dongshui Gate, and one by one curiously asked: "Where is this bridge?"

  Where is it? In Song Jiuhai's mind!

  However, dozens of particularly clever people saw its significance, including the Zhao brothers. After hearing about it, Zhao Kuangyin sent a painter to copy it and brought it into the palace for circulation.

  That day, Song Jiu used his fingers to draw a picture with tea water, which was not clear at the time. Now it has become a real painting, and all the officials immediately thought of its significance. In the past, they were all flat bridges, and the height of the bridge holes was insufficient. There were large ships in the Yangtze River, but they could not enter the Grand Canal. However, the larger the ship, the more cost-effective it is, and the lower the cost. Low costs can enrich the national treasury or reduce the people's taxes, and also reduce labor. This significance is not trivial. It is a small path, including pulleys, but even Zhao Pu had to admit that although it was a small path, it was used correctly. If large-scale pulleys were set up, only in the four canals of the capital city could save more than 2,000 laborers per year. It would not be exaggerated to say that nationwide, it could save 20,000 or 40,000 laborers. The capital is the starting and ending point, occupying at least 20% of the country's transportation, which is also remarkable. Saving 10,000 laborers can also be invested in production, not only reducing the burden on the people but also creating more wealth for the country.

  Is it possible for significance to be achieved?

  There is a single-hole bridge, Zhaozhou Bridge. Many bridges in the Song Dynasty were modeled after the technology of Zhaozhou Bridge. Not to mention the small hole for flood discharge, just talking about the bridge surface, it is still a flat bridge like the state bridge. The Song army trained its navy extensively at Jinming Pond, but how could those warships get out? All masts, cabins and other structures had to be removed and then reassembled after passing under the city bridges. It was very troublesome.

  No matter how troublesome it is, it can be built. Now this rainbow bridge or flying bridge is like a bright moon hanging above the river, with an arc flying over the river, and the technical difficulty will increase by ten times. Therefore, both the monarch and his ministers are somewhat suspicious.

  Few people know the truth.

  Ordinary people can't find this Double Bridge, thinking it's just a painting, loving to paint however they want, even painting gods and ghosts. How many ordinary people have seen real gods and ghosts?

  Some people want to take a look if it really appears, while others just glance at it and then forget about it.

  Apart from these big shots, there is also a group of people who know. Fu Zhao Shou and Luo Yan Huan's son Luo Gui, as well as Han Chong Xun's son Han Chong Ye, the three of them ran to Song Jia, but Song Jiu was not there, he was on the riverbank building a house with craftsmen and scholars.

  This will be the core technology of Song Jiu's future, so the house is built very strangely. At this time, the Song Dynasty had immature glass techniques, which were unbearable to look at, so they changed to burn glaze, and glass was not expected. There was no cement, but other things could be used as substitutes. The courtyard wall was built very high and large, with a mixture of glutinous rice flour and lime on top, inserted with many sharp irons, iron nails, and iron caltrops, which were also very expensive. Let Li Tiejiang forge them at will, just to make the top pointed, the sharper the better. To prevent someone from climbing.

  At the same time, on the roof, there was a second defense, with a layer of iron mesh spread out, and many animal traps, mouse traps, and caltrops were set up. Don't even think about prying open the tiles to get in, under the eaves was the third defense, huge iron locks, and the windows were also bricked up with iron bars. Even Song Jiu had planned to set up some mechanisms inside the house in the future.

  The three of them looked at each other in confusion and asked: "Jiulang, what are you doing?"

  It's not as tense as in the imperial palace.

  "Lu Da Lang, Han Er Lang, Fu San Lang, didn't I say that we should make this river islet the most beautiful and fun place in the entire Song Dynasty?"

  "What's the relationship with this house?" Siu Sau Muk looked at the various "hidden weapons" on the roof and asked numbly.

  "To make it happen, some technology is needed, and this technology will be developed here. How can I not take it seriously?"

  What technique is worth your excitement? The three of them couldn't help but take another look at the strange wall, and Xiang Zhao Shou's forehead was already beading with sweat. He asked about the main issue: "Jiulang, did you commission that painting on the imperial street?"

  "I've rented out all those walls, if it's not my paintings whose are they?"

  "Can that bridge really be built?"

  Fu Zhaoxu's father, Fu Yanguang, was retired at home, but no one could underestimate the Fu family. The nine brothers of the Fu family were all high-ranking generals leading troops, and they were also related to Zhao Kuangyi by marriage. Their home often received visits from noble guests, including their son-in-law Zhao Kuangyi, who wasn't very close to them. These people liked to form alliances through marriage, such as when Zhao Kuangying married his daughter off to the son of Wang Jianqi, and Luo Gui arranged a child betrothal with Wang Jianqi's younger daughter. They were all relatives! If they couldn't get military power, they would get wealth and nobility. Wealth meant money, while nobility referred to another kind of status, high-ranking official positions, as well as alliances through marriage.

  So Xuzhao Shou often heard these big shots discussing this bridge in the past few days, otherwise he wouldn't have thought that this bridge was so important.

  He came to a river islet, and the painting was again from Song Jiu's hand. Immediately thought of Song Jiu building this double rainbow bridge on the river islet.

  Song Ji nodded.

  Someone in his previous life had imitated this rainbow bridge, he went to see it and saw the force diagram of its various parts, understanding a little about the principle. The difficulty lies in that the bridge used reinforced concrete, which did not exist at that time. As for how to put the principle into practice and make it real, some skilled craftsmen who are good at bridges need to be invited to assist. But the problem is not big.

  Why is the first painting Double Rainbow Bridge, Song Jiu also thought of its benefits, no matter how much money he pays to the court in the future, relying solely on this bridge, if there are any troubles in the future, the court will support him.

  "Can it really be made?"

  "If this bridge can't be built, it will be even more difficult later on. Fu Sanlang, this is just the first painting, and there are still nineteen more massive paintings to come!"

  "What are those nineteen pieces?"

  "I told you before, you'll know once it's out."

  "No way, I have to say it."

  "I'd rather die than say."

  "Go and drink," said Han Chongxun.

  "I can't drink today, I still have to go back and write those three formulas."

  The answer was announced by Dr. Zhang, but Dr. Zhang was very unhappy about it. However, after this incident, Dr. Zhang and Song Jiu no longer spoke to each other in the same condescending manner as before. Song Jiu wondered if Zhao Kuangyin would have guessed such an outcome. It wasn't that Song Jiu didn't respect them, but rather they took themselves too seriously. Song Jiu's educational background was not as high as theirs, his official position was not as high as theirs, and his reputation was not as great as theirs, let alone his age. But now Dr. Zhang felt guilty, and as long as Song Jiu didn't overstep his bounds, the academy would no longer have serious conflicts.

  "Where is Pan Jialang?"

  "You're still thinking of Pan Lian'er? But there's a piece of not-so-good news."

  "What news?"

  "I heard that General Pan's former subordinate Ai Jiang Zhang Bing sent someone to propose a marriage between his son Zhang Zhao and the Pan family, with Tian Dama somewhat agreeing."

  Song Jiu was stunned, originally he thought it would be difficult to marry Pan Lian'er, if Zhang and Pan's families were engaged, he had no hope at all, and couldn't help but ask nervously: "Have the two families agreed on the engagement?"

  PS: There is also a young Zhang Bing from Anhui, who was only 12 years old at that time. Da Zhang Bing was a military general.