Chapter Fifty-Nine: Seven Paintings

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  The graves were relocated together, and Zhao Kuangyi felt a bit relieved. He was discussing the properties of objects with his subordinates. Song Jiu taught and experimented at the same time yesterday, and finally answered nearly a hundred questions, which could at least give listeners some basic understanding of the relevant knowledge of object properties. A relatively new and strange subject, a relatively ancient and weird subject.

  Just then, a yamen runner rushed in to report: "Your Honor, something has happened on the Imperial Street."

  The street is a key location in the imperial city, what's going on? Zhao Kuangyi didn't even ask what was happening, and he rushed over with a group of yamen runners. It wasn't anything major, just a lot of people gathered around to watch paintings. But this gathering did cause trouble. The imperial corridors on both sides of the street were very wide, about 30 steps or over 40 meters wide, roughly the width of two highways. Normally, there wouldn't be any problems, and even during the Lantern Festival, many performers would put on shows in the middle of the corridor, with many small vendors set up on either side, and pedestrians wouldn't get blocked. But although there were a lot of people, they were moving, if they didn't move, it wasn't a holiday, how many pedestrians would be on the imperial street in one day? In the end, it got congested.

  It's blocked now.

  Song Jiu's painting is out, and it's announced that the bread will be given away, so many people will come to see it. Zhao Kuangyi knew this, but blocking so many people is not right either.

  He led the yamen runners to disperse them, but he himself stood frozen in front of several paintings.

  Seven new paintings have been created.

  The authentic painting of the wharf has another draft in Zhao Kuangyi's hands, which also made some changes, but it was not placed at the beginning. The beginning is mainly about the affairs of the imperial court. Moreover, the number of paintings represents its importance, three paintings! The first painting is a distant view, with thirty-two large cranes, and behind them are strange temporary warehouses. The second painting is a close-up of the crane, which also marks some dimensions. The wharf is not on the Bian River, but rather a long, fifty-step-wide, forty-step-deep recess was dug inside, with one of the recesses as the center of the painting. On either side are two cranes, and in the middle, a very large riverboat is coming out from inside. Two other riverboats, one larger than the other, are entering from left and right. On the shore, there are three boats docked, including a 20,000-dan cargo ship and two 1,000-dan riverboats, which are unloading goods. On either side of the shore, there are two cranes each, but the style of the crane is different from those on the Bian River in the city today. They are taller and larger, with steel latticework arms instead of wooden ones. Between the central axis and the arm, there is a large wheel-shaped iron axle. Underneath the arm, there are four iron wheels placed on a high platform. It's unclear why they were designed this way, but it may be that they can lift heavier loads and turn more easily. However, since no actual objects have appeared, it's hard to judge. Nowadays, there are no 20,000-dan cargo ships on the Bian River either; this is just a hypothetical scenario. In the future, when ships make progress, all the flying bridges on the Bian River will become bridges, and large riverboats will be able to enter the capital city. According to the first painting, there are a total of eight such recesses.

  Below is a brief description: with sufficient workers, operating day and night, large and small ships are paired up, and at least 400,000 tons of cargo can be loaded and unloaded per day on one dock. Eight docks can unload over 3 million tons of cargo, which isn't that much. In the Song Dynasty, a single floating crane on the Huangpu River could unload over 10,000 tons of cargo in a day. This large dock, including warehouses, covering an area of over 500,000 square meters, is equivalent to the unloading capacity of a single ordinary floating crane in later times. But it's not fair to compare this era with the Song Dynasty. If we do, the Song Dynasty would be very pitiful.

  Just barely enough goods unloaded to satisfy the imperial court.

  This was not something Zhao Kuangyi could understand for the time being. In the future, it would be just grain, with at least 80 million dan (a unit of measurement) transported from Bian River every year, and sometimes several hundred million dan. It wasn't just grain, but also other goods like salt, tea, metals, cloth, charcoal, grass, and all sorts of daily necessities. Many of these goods were seasonal and had to be unloaded within a short period of one or two months.

  Zhao Kuangyi saw the differences, no iron chains, but replaced with steel cables. At that time, there were only steel cables, which made Zhao Kuangyi think for half a day. There are also different places, the road surface is gray, and the mud can't be seen. This gray color is like the high chimney of Song Jiu's house. Another difference is that the dock is in a recessed slot, which will not affect the navigation of the Bian River. Another thing Zhao Kuangyi didn't think of was that when the ship sailed past, it would break through the water flow. At that time, there were no diesel engines, but the Bian River was relatively turbulent outside the East Water Gate. If sailing downstream at a similar speed, the force of the water flow could break the mooring rope. There is a recessed slot, and the force of the water flow weakens, making it safer for ships to berth and load and unload cargo.

  What made Zhao Kuangyi most satisfied was that Song Jiu took out nearly a quarter of the area of Hezhou to build a dock for the imperial court, and just this one point can show that although this kid is greedy, he knows his limits.

  Looking at the third painting, on the south side of the recessed groove are various warehouses, lined up very neatly. It's not suitable as a storage warehouse, and the imperial court wouldn't possibly place supplies outside the city. This is a temporary reserve warehouse, occupying a small area, lined up very neatly. However, unlike national warehouses, it resembles a long shed, with several small pictures drawn on the edges. The ground is still that gray-colored ground, with various goods stacked up in rows because there's no mud, making it relatively clean. There are also two small pictures, which are diagrams of two roads: one road leads to the Great Rainbow Bridge, and the other road leads to the Hu Long River. On both sides of the road, there are all sorts of strange buildings, but they can't be seen clearly because the picture is small.

  Few people understand the meaning of it, and few people look at it. The focus of onlookers is on the four paintings below.

  The fifth and sixth shops were Song Jiu's Zhengdian.

  The fifth picture is still a distant view, located at the sharp end cut out by the Double Rainbow Bridge, and the real store is at the very tip. There are three blue sails below, under which is a boat, not a real boat, but a building. To the west are flowers, grass, trees, and various sail-like buildings, and then comes the Double Rainbow Bridge, with its strange yet beautiful architecture, plus the reflection of the bridge, if it were really built by Song Jiu, it would be the most beautiful place in Tokyo.

  The sixth painting is also a small picture, the three sails are not real sails, but the style of the building, below which are connected, divided into three layers, and on the three-layered corridor, there are many seats and elegant rooms. In the middle is a large hall, not the usual kind of hall, and below it is the Bian River, with several floating bridges leading to it, forming an island in the river. The island is decorated beautifully, with dancing girls performing a strange dance that I have never seen before, but it seems very elegant. Guests sitting on the corridor seats can see the performance on the island. Additionally, the tops of the three sails are not connected, and are divided into two layers of private space, where one can sit and gaze out at the distant scenery of the Bian River.

  Then there are some small maps, and buildings, a large cylinder car, using the turbulent water flow at Hongqiao to power it, pouring water into a high platform water tank for sedimentation, and then sending it to various places in the store through pipes. One is for use, and the other is also a view.

  Two small swimming pools, one for men and one for women. The men's side has a mural, with people wearing strange clothes playing inside. The women's side is not painted, it belongs to private space. There is also an activity hall, downstairs is a kind of table tennis, some noble sons are using paddles to hit the ball, several servants standing on the side smiling and holding back their laughter. Upstairs there are tables with people sitting around playing two kinds of cards that have never been seen before, servants serving tea and fruit, and a songstress singing quietly. These buildings are also sail-like, hidden among green trees, just like many small boats sailing east from Double Rainbow Bridge.

  There are also some outdoor activities, on a sandy area with a net in the middle, several people playing two kinds of balls that I have never seen before. The rest have many umbrellas, under which there are tables and chairs, and many people sit there drinking tea, eating fruit, and enjoying the scenic view of the Bian River. At the edge is a parking shed and horse stable, but those were not drawn in detail. Then there is an even smaller painting with various delicious foods, including bread.

  It's not necessarily possible to build it up, but once it's built up, relying on this design, it can also be listed as a regular store in the capital city!

  Many people are looking at these two paintings, but there are even more people looking at the next two paintings, so they get stuck in front of these two.

  The location between Hongqiao and Dock.

  Similarly, the first is a distant view, in the middle of which is a small lake, not large in area, with people rowing small boats, flowers, grass, trees, fake mountains, and some equipment, these devices need to be seen on each of the eight small pictures.

  The eighth picture is a collection of small pictures, with a physical science museum, but it's not just about explaining physical science knowledge, the main focus is on performance. There's also a water world where kids can play in the water, and they've set up some bumper boats for visitors to bump into each other, as well as water guns and other small toys. Some strange-shaped structures have been built, with people telling stories about children, and then building playgrounds based on these stories. There are also things for adults to play with, such as a very tall tower that pulls the swings over, where people sit on the swings and push off with force, it's not just swinging, people can even flip through the air several times, and many other fun things.

  This has attracted people's attention, but it is not the main reason for onlookers.

  The most exciting game is not a super swing, but going up to heaven!

  The painting is unclear, a person sits on a strange object, the object floats in the clouds, the scenery below is very small, and the person on top is screaming. There are ropes on the object, but what's above is not painted. Also, people jump down from mid-air, clearly depicted, very high off the ground, and the jumping people are also screaming.

  It was these two small pictures that attracted everyone together and caused a "traffic jam".

  Zhao Kuangyi looked at him in dismay.

  He had also made many contacts and witnessed the wonders of the material world, but how did this person go to heaven and jump down from such a high place?

  Zhao Kuangyi left a few yamen runners to maintain order, but the crowd was too large and the streets were completely blocked. He returned to Kaifeng Prefecture in great puzzlement. However, more and more people came to watch, each thinking it was unbelievable, because Song Jiu had announced bread in front of Xiangguo Temple, and when they saw the bread, some thought of Song Jiu, and even more people said that Song Jiu was making a big fuss.

  Not only that, but on the second day, Zhao Kuangyin received many impeachments from his officials.

  They were unaware of the inside story, and the relocation of the tomb was not a small matter. The imperial court's explanation was unclear, and it was said that a pier and school would be built on the riverbank. The pier had been drawn up, and the Rainbow Bridge had been drawn up, leading people to believe that the imperial court planned to build an amusement park and a regular store.

  The technique is not considered, only thinking that once the construction is completed, it will cost a lot of money. Your Majesty, you cannot learn from Yang Guang, or else the country will perish.

  Zhao Kuangyin received these impeachment memorials, didn't know what to say, so he personally went out of the palace and ran to the front of these eight paintings to take a look. It turned out that there were only eight paintings, but behind them, there was at least one more academy! He also got dizzy from looking at it, didn't know how Song Jiu came up with this. Firstly, it was money, secondly, various techniques, especially the person flying up to the sky and then jumping down... Previously, he had comforted the officials in the imperial city, saying that the court might embezzle national treasury silk to build bridges, docks, and academies, but other things were unrelated to the court. That would be an experiment, it wouldn't take a single penny out of the three departments and the inner storehouse. Maybe it was just an idea, maybe it would come true, even if it did, it would still be a place for the people to have fun, not a place for him to enjoy himself.

  He ate a bun by himself, which was stolen by his second brother. Moreover, these luxurious games are not suitable for the old emperor.

  He spoke vaguely, and the minister was very dissatisfied. When asked about it, Zhao Kuangyin became angry and shouted: "I am the emperor, you dare not to speak jokingly! If I say that I did not embezzle money from the Three Departments and the Imperial Treasury, but used it for my own enjoyment, why don't you believe me? Do you think that when people build houses in the countryside, I won't allow them to be built?"

  This was a progressive place in the Song Dynasty, including height. In the Tang Dynasty, height was highly valued. If the height of a civilian building exceeded that of an imperial palace, it would be considered a violation and could result in demolition or even decapitation. However, during the Song Dynasty, as long as you had the skills to build it yourself, the height of the pagoda exceeded that of the Imperial Palace's Daxing Hall by over 20 meters.

  Yan Chen still did not give in, and Zhao Kuangyi was also depressed. He then asked Zhao Kuangyi to ask Song Jiu how people could ascend to heaven. If it couldn't be done, not only would the bet be withdrawn, but he would also be punished for spreading heresy!