A powerful minister of the Song Dynasty

Chapter 21 Saints Live in Books

"Master, this is what Song Xuan said."

Mr. Zhao listened to Zhao San's report and nodded slowly.

"I understand. What this guy means is that the money we earn from the gambling house is not our Zhao family's real money.

You have to find a way to spend the money, and then you can use it to buy land, houses, and shops. If things really go wrong in the future, you won't be able to confiscate it even if you search and confiscate it.

My father's generation has always been terrified of losing the family business, and has always said not to go against the government. Now Song Xuan's method is not to go against the government, but to get out of it."

"The master still explains it clearly." Zhao San praised.

"Damn, Song Xuan's method is really not bad!"

Zhao Yuanwai commented, then stood up and clapped his hands:
"It seems that the extra fifty strings of cash were well spent. This kid is ambitious.

Even if he doesn't pass the imperial examination, he'll probably take advantage of his youth to venture into Tokyo, where the real dragon's den and tiger's lair are. Our small Lema Town can no longer accommodate him."

"I'll do it. Follow Song Xuan's advice and get this done for me."

Mr. Zhao narrowed his eyes slightly.

Only when you hold the initiative in your own hands can you be the real master.

Who would like to take care of the rest of the people by taking a portion of their profits out every year?

"promise."

It had been many years since Zhao San had seen his master lose his composure like this.

At that moment, I thought Song Xuan’s idea was really good.

Although he looked down on the county magistrates and the like, he had to bow his head. From now on, when we open our gambling house, we don't have to care about other people's opinions.

Mr. Zhao chuckled a few times.

Zhao San immediately sent someone to find a suitable shop, and then brought people to Song Xuan's drink shop in person, with four ten-liang gold ingots in his arms.

Song Xuan picked up a boat-shaped gold ingot and looked at it. There were six stamps on it, five of Zhao Erlang and one ten-point gold stamp.

To be honest, after so many years of hard work, Song Xuan is not short of money, but the feeling he gets when he holds the gold in his hands is still different.

He casually handed it to Zhang Fangping to take a look.

Zhang Fangping had never seen a gold ingot, let alone touched one. The ingot had a beautiful shape and a pure color. It was very rare and felt heavy in the hand.

Overall, it's bumpy.

"Twelfth Brother, is gold really so uneven?"

"That's right." Song Xuan said, holding the gold ingot:
"Gold is stable in texture and is difficult to mix with things like iron and lead, unlike silver ingots which can be adulterated.

Unless this flat gold ingot is hollowed out and filled with mercury, then the gold ingot can be sealed and faked."

Zhao San quickly spoke up, "Shi Er Lang, my master has always been very open and honest. Even if there are coins circulating on the market, most of them are good copper coins, not to mention the use of fake gold ingots. This will only damage the reputation of our Zhao family."

"Brother Zhao, don't worry so much." Song Xuan put away the gold ingot and smiled:
"I'm just trying to educate Fang Ping to prevent him from suffering losses in the future. I'm not doubting Mr. Zhao's sincerity."

Song Xuan pointed to the basket filled with copper coins outside:
"What does this mean, Brother Zhao San?"

"My master ordered me to give these copper coins to help silence others, so that they wouldn't know that Twelve Lang has a large sum of money on him and cause him to be plotted against along the way."

"Then Third Brother, please thank Mr. Zhao for me. The old man has a lot of experience and will find and fill in the gaps."

Song Xuan thanked him and bowed, but Zhao San repeatedly said it was not necessary. His master was really satisfied with Shi Erlang's idea, and this small amount of money was nothing.

Carrying two baskets on a shoulder pole would cost at least eighty strings of copper coins.

Adding the transfer tax and other fees, five hundred strings of cash were also paid.

In Tokyo, this amount of money was nothing. After all, in the early Northern Song Dynasty, luxury houses cost more than 10,000 guan (approximately 10,000 strings of cash). Even if a prime minister saved money from his salary without eating or drinking, it would still take him three years to buy a decent house. In the middle and late stages, the price directly rose to hundreds of thousands of guan (approximately 10,000 strings of cash).

Even if an ordinary house costs more than 1,000 kan, the average person's monthly income is only 3 or 5 kan.

Compared with this, Song Xuan's deal was worth it.

After Zhao San left, Zhang Fangping was still groping for the gold:

"Twelfth brother, after we pass the imperial examination and become officials, how long will it take for us to save up a gold ingot? By then, I will definitely change one and hold it in my hand every night when I sleep."

"When you pass the imperial examination, you should get married. You should hold your wife's breasts in your hands when you sleep at night. Why are you touching gold ingots?"

As soon as Song Xuan started talking, Zhang Fangping blushed and quickly put down the gold ingot in his hand:
"Twelfth brother, I don't think that way."

"If you like gold ingots, I'll give you one."

Song Xuan threw it to Zhang Fangping nonchalantly, and threw the other three pieces into the small box.

"I can't have it!"

Zhang Fangping has always known that Song Xuan is a man of loyalty and does not attach much importance to money. He is quite heroic and is willing to spend all his money and make it back.

"Twelfth brother, I have earned a little money from my work as a clerk, so I can make a living in Nanjing."

"Of course I know. I never forbade you from working as a scribe. I just wanted you to experience the charm of money so that you wouldn't become like our county magistrate, who also became an official after passing the imperial examination."

Song Xuan leaned back on the recliner:
"During the Song Dynasty, thanks to the imperial examination system, many students were able to rise from poverty to wealth. How many people's destinies were changed?
Naturally, there will be people who want to reward themselves madly after achieving success, to make up for their previous difficult life. For example, after Li Shen, who wrote "Song of the Peasants", became an official, he only ate the chicken tongue and threw away the rest.

I don’t know what’s so delicious about chicken tongues, or whether someone is deliberately slandering him by eating hundreds of tongues a day.

But that doesn’t stop there being a lot of people like this, and of course there are exceptions.”

"Who?"

Song Xuan snorted and laughed, then turned sideways while holding Chunqiu in his hand: "You have seen him, Mr. Yan Shu."

"Huh?" Zhang Fangping was puzzled.

"His family background is not recorded in history books, and he was very poor. However, the poems he wrote when he was young in Beijing are full of the feeling of wealth and luxury.

The other Jinshi scholars who came from the same background as him, although they wanted to write poems with a sense of wealth and nobility, they could not achieve it, and their poems were full of the air of craftsmanship of wealth and nobility.

Zhang Fangping had also heard the poems of those people, but he had no impression of them after just reading them once, unlike the poems of Mr. Yan.

Song Xuan knew that Zhang Fangping had talent in this area.

What he didn't know was that Zhang Fangping became the deputy prime minister and was posthumously named Wen Ding.

"Asking you to read the books of sages is just to change your social class by studying and passing exams, not to turn you into a true sage. Sages only live in books, not in the world. You must not reverse the logic."

"what?"

Zhang Fangping was shocked by Song Xuan's words.

Because he felt that Song Xuan treated studying as a tool and was too purposeful.

This does not conform to what the sages in the book said.

Too naked.

But after being surprised, Zhang Fangping thought about it carefully and felt that what Song Xuan said was right.

Even the emperor said that the book contains fertile fields, golden houses, beautiful women, and your life's ambitions.

Isn’t this your goal after passing the imperial examination?

(End of this chapter)