Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 36

Unknowingly, after everyone's discussion was over, Chao Buzhi and Li Gefei separately found old friends and made friends to defend Li Ruobing. Li Ruobing said a few words, and had nothing else to do, so he left the house with Chao Buzhi.

On the way from Li's Mansion to Taixue Zhaishe, Zhao Xingde felt a little depressed, only felt that the night wind was rustling, with a sense of desolation, and the hurried passers-by on Bianjing Street seemed small and indifferent .

When he was about to reach Taixue Zhai, he heard voices behind him.At first Zhao Xingde was in a trance and didn't pay attention, until the person yelled several times, Zhao Xingde turned around and took a closer look, it was Zhao Bo who was selling gambling coupons by the Jinming Pool.

This person is a cousin of Zhao Xingde in Bianliang, who was once deeply addicted to gambling, and was almost cut off by someone. Zhao Xingde paid off the gambling debt for him, thinking that he had no other relatives in Bianjing. Advise him to quit gambling.Today, taking advantage of the official's opportunity to watch the dragon boat race and military parade at Jinming Pool, he sold gambling coupons to make a profit, but Zhao Xingde asked him to do it.

Zhao Bo put his hands in his arms, saw Zhao Xingde turned around, and said: "Brother, stay a step." He walked a few steps to catch up, looked around vigilantly, and then lowered his voice: "Brother's win Qian Fazi really worked, selling tens of thousands of gambling coupons in the past few days, but the cavalry army upset the tiger-wing navy to win the bid, and the final payment was only a hair of nine cows. This time, they earned a total of 350 taels Seventy coins." As he spoke, he wanted to hand over his hand to Zhao Xingde.

"Sold so much?" Zhao Xingde took a deep breath. The second thing he didn't expect was that this guy who was addicted to gambling didn't abscond with the money. He raised his hand to stop him, "The money I won this time It’s also your hard-earned income, so take it as my gift to you, go home and buy some farms, marry a daughter-in-law, and live a good life.”

But Zhao Bo said: "Brother, don't chase me away. I haven't seen enough of the beautiful world here. If my brother doesn't dislike it, I'm willing to follow my brother from now on. I'll do whatever I want." He took out the money that had been exchanged for the transaction from his bosom, and stuffed it into Zhao Xingde's hand.After Zhao Xingde had no choice but to accept it, he frowned again and said, "Only this Dragon Boat Festival bidding has earned so much money, don't make excuses next time, and sell gambling coupons. With my brother's ingenuity, even Jinshanyin And the sea won back."

Zhao Xingde frowned, shook his head and said, "It's best not to do this gambling coupon business again."

Zhao Bo poured a ladle of cold water on his head, and asked in bewilderment: "If you have money, you don't make money, but why?"

Zhao Xingde looked at the Bianliang people who were hurrying around, then looked at the tall mansion not far away, and said with a sigh: "In this world, how powerful is it and what are the benefits, we are in Bianjing There is no one to rely on. If Jinshan Yinhai really comes here, I am afraid that I will die for some reason. This time the gambling ticket business was successful, and we made a lot of money, but if there are two or three more huge profits, I am afraid that someone will have a wrong idea, or even It's going to cause us great trouble."

What this era pays attention to is "going out of rituals into punishment".On a large scale, scholars, farmers, businessmen, and businessmen all have their own positions. On a small scale, everyone has certain rules for their daily behavior. Some are clear, while others are vague. For the overstepping, although the penalty does not expressly convict, "surpassing the etiquette" is a "crime" in the first place. The government and powerful people can just fabricate a crime, and they can punish the common people in Shengdou to ruin their families and fortunes, making life worse than death.

Because of this, even though Zhao Xingde has insight beyond the age of thousands of years, after coming to this world, he can only be an ordinary person who follows the rules, and he has to study hard for a fame.But today's incident taught him a big lesson, even if it is an official position and fame, it can't stop people with more power than you from attacking you. In the whole world, only the emperor is the biggest, but the position of the emperor is the target of public criticism. The emperor must guard against the people of the world.

Zhao Bo was taken aback for a while, then shook his head and sighed after a long while: "My brother taught me the lesson."

Zhao Xingde heard that he was unwilling to speak out, so he took out a stack from the handbook that Zhao Bo gave him just now, without looking at the number, and handed it to Zhao Bo, saying: "There are tens of thousands of ways to make money, and there is no rush. You And find a legitimate business in Bianjing where you can inquire about all kinds of news, and you have to take good care of yourself when you are away from home."

He looked up at the gloomy sky in the distance, seemed to be talking to Zhao Bo, and seemed to be talking to himself: "Mochou is in a difficult moment, and the road ahead is still wide. There is no such thing as a general, and a man should be self-reliant."

What happened later was not what Xingde expected today. Ten days later, the Zhongda Casino in Bianjing City launched various gambling coupons. After arriving at the court, the official Zhao You and the prime minister Cai Jing were very happy that the government had added a way to make money. Since then, the gambling coupons have been listed as a monopoly by the government. Most of the backers were imprisoned.And because Zhao Bo ran away with one blow, he was not implicated, and because of this, he admired Zhao Xingde even more.

After making an appointment with Zhao Bo on the time and place for the next meeting, Zhao Xingde went all the way back to Taixue Huazhang Zhaishe, but was grabbed by Chen Dong and shouted: "Yuanzhi, why did you come back, there is something important, something important , His Majesty personally gave the topic, and the students of Shangshe made a policy discussion on the topic of 'Connecting the Four Seas, Huaiyuan Country', and submitted it three days later, and the emperor personally reviewed the papers and evaluated them."

"It's just a routine school exam, so there's no fuss." Zhao Xingde shook his sleeves, picked up a scripture indifferently, and said with a curled lip.

Chen Dong shook his head and said: "This time is not ordinary. In the past, most of the topics were written in the scriptures, which were not easy to use, but this one is in line with current events. Obviously, it is something that the emperor pays attention to. If this strategy is well done , not only the grade in the assessment is high, but if you have the opportunity to become an official, you may even get the attention of the emperor, and you will be able to rise to the top!"

Zhao Xingde was full of thoughts, but he heard Chen Dong say again: "At the beginning when Emperor Taizu visited Luoyang, Zhang Xianqi, who was still a commoner, blocked the ten strategies for governing the country on the road. Emperor Taizu praised his talent after reading it. I won a Jinshi in the imperial examination, and all the way from the official to the prime minister are inseparable from this policy. In my life, I have read thousands of books and traveled thousands of miles. It’s not a day when I was a farmer and went to the Tianzitang. This is an opportunity. What a great opportunity!" Chen Dong said as he hurried out.

The speaker is unintentional, but the listener is interested. Chen Dong's words made Zhao Xingde think differently. If he can attract the attention of today's emperor with a policy theory, and even be called to face the king to report the pros and cons, does that also mean that he can have The opportunity to exonerate Li Ruobing from the crime.Even if it doesn't work, if you can get the attention of the officials and become an official, you can count as having some capital to stand up for. It's better than being a Confucian now, who is powerless when encountering things.

"Where did the other students go?" After thinking for a while, Zhao Xingde looked around, there was no one else except Li Rui who was still holding a volume of Book of Changes and studying like no one else.

"They all went to the Chongwen Museum to borrow local chronicles of Haiguo." Li Rui laughed, "These guys don't even know anything about Penglai, Fangzhang, and Yingzhou, let alone those unheard of barbarian countries."

"Then why is brother Dongyan still in the house?" Zhao Xingde said while taking out a pen and paper thoughtfully, he was determined to try his best to follow this theory.

Li Rui closed the book, closed his eyes slightly, and said, "I don't want to be here." Seeing Zhao Xingde's posture, he said with a little surprise, "Yuanzhi was not so keen on fame in the past, why did he turn around today?" temper?"

Zhao Xingde shook his head and sighed: "To tell you the truth, Brother Li, I originally planned to be a free and unrestrained person, and even thought about finding a paradise to be alone, but it's a pity that the tree wants to be quiet but the wind doesn't stop."

"Really?" Li Rui nodded thoughtfully and said, "If Yuan Zhi wants to impress the emperor with his articles, he must hurry up. Most of the Chongwen Museum contains history books of the Central Plains. There are not many local chronicles of Haiguo, but there are many of them. It is rumored, if you start too late, you will not be able to find any supporting books." He paused, took out a yellowed volume from the bookcase, and said with a smile: "At the beginning, I wanted to visit overseas fairy mountains. However, I have collected a copy of "Illustrated Classics of Sea Kingdoms" written by Yu Xi, a native of the Xia Kingdom, which lists the names, locations and customs of [-] overseas barbarian countries, do you see if it is suitable for use?"

"Thank you." Zhao Xingde took the album, flipped through a few pages, and found that it was of great benefit to him.When he had never studied in the Imperial College, he had planned to seek fame and fame in the Juren, and then become a maritime merchant for profit, so he was familiar with the general situation of Song State's trade with overseas countries, as for the Nanyang area. Resources and customs, as well as the strategy of managing the sea, he has more knowledge of later generations than others. What is needed at this time is precisely such a reference book on the understanding of overseas countries by contemporaries as a comparison material , Think carefully, and conceive a policy that can impress the emperor.

Three days is not short, not long, during this period, Zhao Xingde lived in seclusion like other students in the Imperial Academy.For three whole days, some of the eunuchs and supervisors in the same dormitory bit off pen holders, scratched their ears and scratched their hearts, grabbed the ground with their heads, and asked others to grab knives. They were all extremely busy. There is Zhao Xingde's peace of mind, sometimes holding the "Hai Guo Tu Jing" borrowed by Li Rui while reading and thinking, and sometimes writing a few letters by hand and throwing them into the letter paper tube beside him.

Even Chen Dong, who was also busy preparing a strategy, couldn't stand his leisurely appearance.

"Yuan Zhi, no matter how conceited you are with your brilliant pen, but this assessment is no small matter, you should use some energy to make a fuss with your heart."

That day, Chen Dong just finished writing the first draft of the policy theory, and excitedly took it to discuss with Zhao Xingde, but Zhao Xingde's calm appearance really annoyed him.

"Who said I didn't have the energy to write an article?" Zhao Xingde raised his eyelids and patted the paper tube next to him, "I'm about to ask Brother Shaoyang for advice."

"Huh?" Chen Dong opened the lottery curiously, and saw that there were already * sheets of paper inside. He picked up a few sheets and flipped through them, and the messy handwriting caught his eyes: "Practice settlement, follow the customs, the same words, Emphasis on Huayi." Chen Dong laughed and said, "This has nothing to do with 'Tonghai Road, Huaiyuan Country'." Zhao Xingde ignored him, but just looked down at Chen Dong's policy, and Chen Dong had to read it. After reading it, there is something new and I can't stop.

According to Zhao Xingde's policy theory, since the sea route is far and unpredictable, it is difficult for the imperial court to directly control the overseas barbarians, so it is better to restrain the sea kingdom by canonizing the vassal state or appointing a governor, which is the strategy of "restraining the distant country".At the same time, vigorously encouraging the people in the southeast, where there are many people and little land, to colonize places overseas that are suitable for farming is the strategy of "reclamation".

According to the differences in climate and resource endowment, the items that induce the production of various sea countries gradually become heavier, while other necessary items cannot be self-sufficient, making them more and more dependent on sea trade. This is one of the "different products" Policy.When the sea country's dependence on sea trade deepens, it only needs to restrain the important sea and land passages, and the Song Dynasty can control the trade between the various vassal states and colonies, and control the rise and fall of these small overseas countries. "Of the policy.

To clamp down on commercial routes, the Song Dynasty must expand its merchant fleet and build a powerful navy. This is the strategy of "building sea power".At the same time, the Great Song Dynasty can also use its superior sea power to continuously "harass" the hinterland of the Liao Kingdom by using the sea as a road. Policy.

Because the customs of the barbarians in various places are all kinds of strange, if they are forced to educate them according to the etiquette of the Central Plains in a short period of time, I am afraid that it will cause a big backlash, so Zhao Xingde proposed the strategy of "following the customs".However, taking advantage of the fact that the barbarians have no written language, they strive to promote the use of Chinese characters and Chinese as the official language by the government and the upper class, which is the policy of "same writing".

After the implementation of the first two policies, there will inevitably be a difference between people who are closer to the culture of the Song Dynasty and people who tend to maintain the local culture in the vassal state that was restrained by the Song Dynasty. Zhao Xingde advocates giving the former more privileges and better treatment, so as to Prompting the people in the vassal state to move closer to the Song Dynasty is the strategy of "don't Huayi".

When the vassal state is completely controlled by the Song Dynasty, the Song Dynasty should not conduct unequal tribute trade with the overseas vassal states, which seems to be beautiful but actually suffers losses, but should use the tribute from the overseas vassal states to improve the finances of the Song Dynasty At the same time, it also weakens overseas vassal states financially, which is the policy of "heavy taxation".

Chen Dong read the several pieces of paper that Zhao Xingde threw in the letterhead tube one after another, savoring them carefully, and felt more and more that they had never been discovered before. Yuanzhi's "Ten Strategies for Exploring the Sea", my article can be burned!"