Chapter 416: Good Subjects of the Great Song

Bianjing, Imperial City, Taiqing Tower.

Zhao Ji put down the brush in his hand and looked with satisfaction at the calligraphy he had just written.

A man with a white face and no beard, but with a rather upright appearance, carefully approached to look: "Your Majesty's calligraphy has made further progress, which is gratifying, gratifying."

Zhao Ji put his hands behind his back and looked at the calligraphy with a smile: "Yang Jian, you tell me, what progress has my calligraphy made?"

"This old slave doesn't have Your Majesty's high attainments in calligraphy, but thanks to Your Majesty's love, this old slave has had the honor to see many handed-down works by famous masters. The calligraphy of masters like Wang Xizhi, Yan Zhenqing, Liu Gongquan, and Chu Suiliang is not even one ten-thousandth as domineering as Your Majesty's calligraphy."

"You..." Zhao Ji, in a good mood, pointed at the old eunuch, and while stamping the seal on the calligraphy, said: "What matter do you have for me? Speak."

"I won't hide it from Your Majesty, there is indeed an important matter." Yang Jian opened a sandalwood box he had brought, lifted the lid at the edge of the large desk, took out the two-layer partition along with the things on it, and placed them in front of Zhao Ji: "Your Majesty, this item is called soap, and this item is called scented soap. They are specifically for bathing and washing, cleaning and skin-friendly, leaving a lasting fragrance after use, and can make the skin tender and shiny. It was respectfully presented to Your Majesty by Wang Yan, the village head of Wang Family Village under the jurisdiction of Yanggu County, Dong Ping Prefecture, Jingdong West Road. With his sincere heart, he went through many turns to find this old slave."

"He has a heart." Glancing at it, Zhao Ji didn't pay much attention. After patiently stamping several seals, he looked at his hands, which were stained with ink and seal paste, and looked at the things in front of him: "How to use these two?"

"Your Majesty, just like soap pods, just moisten them with water in your hands." After replying, Yang Jian called someone to bring warm water, helped Zhao Ji tie his sleeves, and served him to wash his hands.

After a busy time, Zhao Ji took a towel to wipe his hands, turning them over and stroking his clean hands, and even brought them to his nose to smell. A faint scent mixed with medicinal herbs, soap base, and floral fragrance lingered at the tip of his nose, which was quite refreshing. He nodded with satisfaction.

"These two are not bad. This one is called what..."

"Your Majesty, it is Wang Yan."

"Oh, do you know about this village head named Wang Yan?"

Yang Jian nodded: "Your Majesty, that Wang Yan was originally a wealthy family in Wang Family Village, eighteen years old this year. His parents died three years ago, and he has no relatives or friends, only himself. That large family business, he... after these few years, I don't know how he figured it out, but he came up with these two soaps. He has been fond of martial arts since he was young. I heard his martial arts are very good. He passed the scholar examination at fifteen. He didn't pass the autumn examination last time, probably because he was distracted by the family business, so he had no heart for the imperial examination. He can be considered a person who is both civil and martial.

Your Majesty may not know that these two soaps are extracted from the fat of live pigs. One live pig can only produce less than twenty finished products. In addition, there are precious raw medicines such as ginseng, velvet antler, ganoderma, and cordyceps. Shared, the cost of just one scented soap is not a small amount. Being so precious, once launched, it is highly sought after in the four roads of Jingdong and Hebei, especially favored by talented scholars, beautiful ladies, and high-ranking families.

That Wang Yan knows that his own blessing and virtue are shallow, and he knows that in our Great Song, the one with the thickest blessing and virtue is the Great Song Emperor, and only Your Majesty can control this item. He also heard that Your Majesty worships Dao and loves to create scenery, but is troubled by silver and money, and cannot bear to exploit the people of our Great Song. He is just trying to offer eighty percent of the profits of this item to Your Majesty to add help, both to fulfill Your Majesty's heart of loving the people and not to let Your Majesty be troubled by some silver and money, so that you can practice quietly and get closer to the Dao path. This can also be considered as letting him, as a subject of the Great Song, share worries for the monarch and father, and fulfill his wish to be loyal to our Great Song."

"He is indeed a sensible one." Zhao Ji laughed and nodded repeatedly, saying it was good: "Good, good. This Wang Yan is indeed loyal. He has such a heart, but I am not good at accepting it for nothing. Yang Jian, you tell me, how should I reward him?"

Yang Jian, who had been bowing his waist, said: "Thunder, rain, and dew are all imperial grace. Even if Your Majesty doesn't reward him, I believe that Wang Yan wouldn't dare to have resentment in his heart. It's all up to Your Majesty's will."

Coming for nothing with hundreds of thousands of strings of wealth and being able to build palaces, Zhao Ji was in a good mood, pondering: "Although he is fond of martial arts, judging by his status as a local wealthy family, he is afraid he doesn't want to be a military official. As for civil officials, his scholar fame is really reluctant. And he is also trying to revitalize the family business. There is only one person in the family, no descendants, so it's not good to send him. Like this, seal him as a Xuanjie Captain, which is considered an official status, and send him the calligraphy I just wrote. Let him rest assured and do business at home.

In addition, regarding the purchase of the two soaps, you just need to send someone to watch the accounts. In other matters, take care of him as much as possible and give him convenience. Wang Yan has this heart, don't offend him. This is the good subject of my Great Song..."

"This old slave obeys the decree."

"Angel, walk slowly."

Wang Yan smiled and cupped his hands to see off the group of eunuchs. Until he couldn't see that group of people, he turned around and waved his hand, letting a group of people disperse, and turned around with his hands behind his back, walking toward the main room in the mansion.

These were all eunuchs sent by Zhao Ji to convey the decree. Not only did they convey the decree, but they also pulled two large carts of rewards. There was imperial wine to kill Song Jiang, silk and satin, various local specialties presented from various places, and his two sets of official uniforms.

In addition, two eunuchs and two petty officials were left behind to open an office in Yanggu County, belonging to the Imperial Internal Service, and the top boss was Yang Jian. They were here to supervise him, watching the accounts and some other things. Of course, correspondingly, they would also solve some troubles. If there was anything, find those two eunuchs, they were quite useful. Zhang Lihe almost knelt down to those two eunuchs, but Wang Yan pulled him, letting this old guy maintain the image of an upright official, which made him restrain...

The development of things was very clear. Zhang Lihe's pattern of letting him defect to Cai Jing was too small, so he directly licked Zhao Ji. Truth be told, what he had to pay to lick Cai Jing was no different from licking Zhao Ji, and in the end, it might be that Cai Jing took his Master Wang as a bonus to show loyalty to Zhao Ji. Then how big a bag must his brain be to give up a good real big brother and go find some Grand Preceptor Cai? And to a certain extent, he sent money directly to Zhao Ji, which might cause less harm to the people, which could be considered some merit.

This was different from when he was a soldier in Liaodong during the Embroidered Uniform Guard. At that time, he was a general outside, clearly separatist, so he wove a Liaodong protective umbrella with money. Now he was an honest subject, with no power in his hands, so he had to pull the tiger's skin to make a banner, borrowing Zhao Ji's signboard. In this way, a landlord who had no power in his hands and mastered money could escape the covetousness of those in power. No one cared about him, and no one studied him, so it was good to protect himself and develop with peace of mind.

As for the loss of money, he didn't have any. Although he gave eighty percent to Zhao Ji and ten percent to Yang Jian, he only had ten percent of the profit himself. But the raw materials were purchased by him, the things were made by him, and he didn't even need to make fake accounts to fool Zhao Ji, Yang Jian, and the supervisory eunuchs they sent. After all, he didn't have much use for money, and money was just an equivalent of resources. In this era where there was nothing, clearly, resources were what he needed.

On one hand, he could wantonly smuggle and purchase related raw materials and calculate them into the cost of soap making. On the other hand, to a certain extent, he was now an imperial merchant, and he had also hooked up with Yang Jian, an influential eunuch who was trusted by Zhao Ji and held great power. It was also convenient to purchase some prohibited copper and iron.

And hooking up with Yang Jian was also very simple. He was not on the same boat as Cai Jing, Tong Guan, and others. After all, Tong Guan was so glorious, everyone was a eunuch, how could Yang Jian be convinced? Although he was not a good thing and could fold, he had to rely on someone, and someone had to pass the word. Some people's movements were already very big, and they took turns to coerce and lure, so he had to defect.

Compared to it, Yang Jian's side was better. And on the other hand, Yang Jian was more suitable. After all, he was the head of the Internal Service, and if you really talk about it, his power was quite large, absolutely a confidant, not too afraid of Cai Jing and Tong Guan.

Wang Fusheng looked at Master incomprehensibly: "Young Master, what kind of official is this Xuanjie Captain?"

Master smiled and explained to him: "A military scattered official of the eighth rank. It's just a name, no real power. It's about... eighty strings of cash a year."

Seeing that there was no one around, Wang Fusheng complained in a low voice: "Young Master, this old emperor is too stingy. We are giving away hundreds of thousands of strings of cash for nothing every year, and we only exchanged for such a useless name?"

"Uncle Fu, change your thinking. They could have taken the money directly and given nothing, but they still gave me a scattered official. At least it's an official status, isn't it much better?"

... Wang Fusheng was stunned for a moment, laughed: "Yes, yes, it's that we have no choice."

Wang Yan shook his head and smiled: "Keep an eye on all the workshops, don't let those few supervisory eunuchs see anything. Don't be less polite on weekdays, and try to win them over more."

"Young Master, rest assured."

Returning to the large study in the west room of the main room, Pan Jinlian, who had returned a step earlier, was staring at the calligraphy of Zhao Ji spread out on the desk.

"What are you thinking about?"

Pan Jinlian was stunned for a moment, came back to her senses, and gave a graceful salute: "Master, this slave is comparing the emperor's calligraphy with Master's calligraphy to see what the difference is."

"Hmm? Tell me."

"This slave doesn't know many characters, so how can I see? I just feel that the emperor's calligraphy is not as good as Master's. The emperor's calligraphy feels a bit ostentatious, not as natural as Master's..."

Wang Yan shook his head and smiled: "Let's just say this ourselves, don't let outsiders hear it."

This calligraphy given by Zhao Ji was the Thousand Character Classic, of course, it was the Slender Gold Script that Master liked back then. Pan Jinlian was right; Zhao Ji's calligraphy was naturally not as good as his, Master Wang's. After all, one had been writing for decades, and the other had been writing for hundreds of years—that was definitely not the same thing. It was mainly because as he experienced more, his calligraphy became more restrained, not as ostentatious as when he first learned it, which was exactly the naturalness Pan Jinlian said, returning to the truth and being natural.

Pan Jinlian gave a charming white eye: "Of course, this slave doesn't know characters, but I'm not ignorant."

Having been in the old Wang family for more than a month, she was quite happy. Under the good food, she had even gained a little weight. There were really not so many rules here, basically doing whatever she wanted, and she could take two guards to wander around, without restraint. This feeling was better than ever before.

Wang Yan hugged her and sat on the chair: "Cuiping is literate, let her teach you and Xiao Lan later. It's still a lot less fun not to recognize characters."

"Master, rest assured, I will definitely study hard."

This was a woman who was empty inside and only had a skin, but ah, that skin was really damn good... Master's hands were not honest, groping, causing Jinlian to be angry: "Oh, Master, it's not dark yet. And this slave is having her period, can't..."

Master stopped his hands upon hearing this, only hugging Pan Jinlian, and the two of them chattered about idle things. There was nothing else, nothing more than some auspicious words, imagining the promotion in the future. Wang Yan responded with a smile, and popularized the matter of being an official for her, telling her not to think too beautifully...

Although he said so, he was thinking about ascending the throne in the future, and Jinlian becoming an imperial concubine—I don't know what it would be like...

With the endorsement of an artist, the old Wang family transformed from a landlord to an imperial merchant, and its development went to a higher level.

Master's established development strategy was in two directions: east and north.

Infiltrating north to the east and west roads of Hebei, the border pass bordering the Liao Kingdom, this didn't need to be said. After all, he was bound to destroy the Jin Kingdom that rose later and destroyed the Liao Kingdom. He had to infiltrate the border army step by step and reach into the military.

Heading east was starting from Yunzhou, Qizhou, Zizhou, Qingzhou, Weizhou, Laizhou, until the easternmost Dengzhou. This was what he originally thought, avoiding Liang Shan and only developing along the northern coast. He wanted to control a port, whether it was for sea trade or crossing the sea to attack Suzhou (now Dalian) in the north, it was crucial. On the other hand, he could also build factories to discharge sewage, directly into the Black Water Ocean, which was the later Yellow Sea.

As for environmental protection, in this era, even if he tried his best to create, he couldn't beat the industrial era. Still the same sentence, the environment was never something he should consider.

As for his infiltration method, it was also simple. First, inquire about whether those wealthy families in various places had any hard backings. If not, swallow them directly. If they didn't obey, they were following Ximen Qing. Anyway, there were few good people in this era, and the probability of killing the wrong one was not high. If the backing was sufficient, then study it, see if it could be bypassed, and study its backing slowly, bypassing it regardless.

It was mainly because the local wealthy families controlled the right to speak. County magistrates and prefecture governors were all in office for three years and couldn't stay. If the term of office of officials was extended to five or six years, he would definitely be with the officials first, and then study the local wealthy families in reverse.

The only top-tier player who could fight under his hand, Wu Song, was promoted by him to the commander of the Dong Ping Prefecture infantry, leading five hundred infantry. Of course, it sounded majestic, but it was just a contractor who didn't make money.

The composition of the infantry was very complex. Many were people who couldn't live and caused trouble, and were finally incorporated into the infantry. This was a method that the Great Song tried and tested. Wherever there was a disaster, there was a newly formed infantry. They didn't need training, they specifically did hard labor. And the work was not light, repairing bridges and roads, water conservancy projects, city defense works, etc., many were their work. The treatment was also not good, and it was difficult to eat and dress warmly.

Even so, there were still those who ate empty pay. Wu Song reported that he only had two hundred people under him, half the difference. And those two hundred people were also very poor in physical fitness and had no combat power at all.

However, Wang Yan didn't say anything, and he couldn't say anything, just letting Wu Song do it first. He just wanted a name for leading troops. As long as he wanted, Wu Song could have five hundred soldiers who could fight at any time, which was enough. And he was still operating. After Wu Song worked for another period of time, he would send him directly to the border town. At that time, it would be the time to have subordinates openly and honestly.

The reason why he didn't go directly to the goal was because his relationship hadn't reached that side. Tong Guan was the military big brother who opened the mansion and was equal to the Three Ministers. Zhao Ji valued him very much, pointing at Tong Guan to win battles and study the sixteen prefectures of Yanyun, so he still needed a lot of twists and turns to operate. Of course, he was talking about being a military officer. If it was just a soldier, Wu Song would go himself, so why would he be busy sending money.

And during this period, Pan Jinlian naturally became pregnant. In this era, it wouldn't work without a male in the family, and the hearts of the subordinates couldn't be gathered. Because their interests were tied to the "Wang family," and the current situation was that Wang Yan was the Wang family, which wouldn't work. They were afraid of having no successors, and it would be all for nothing. There had to be a healthy, normal second generation, and people would believe that following Master Wang could benefit them, and if they died, their descendants, following the young master, would still benefit. Benefiting descendants was the most important thing...

---Author's Note---

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Thanks to the Big Brothers who read silently for their support. ===== CHAPTER 417 =====