Chapter 119: Art Director Zhao Ji

…

Genyue Your Majesty Mountain.

Zhao Ji looked out over this vast, magnificent expanse, now divided into plots of experimental farmland and cluttered with a multitude of ugly, functional factories—he felt it was a gross waste of beauty.

"If this land were turned into a garden of linked hills and ridges, stretching east to west, front to back, with mountains to the left and water to the right, a stream behind and ridges beside, continuous and boundless, embracing mountains and cradling valleys, planted with rare flowers and exquisite trees, filled with precious birds and exotic beasts, adorned with soaring pavilions and magnificent observatories, exuding the utmost luxury—what a sublime scene it would be…"

Zhao Ji closed his eyes, and the perfect vision filled his mind.

But when he opened them again, before him lay only the same plots of farmland and rows of dilapidated factories, some still spewing black smoke.

"Alas, what a waste of such beauty!"

At this moment, Liang Shicheng, who had come to greet Zhao Ji, stepped forward and bowed: "Your Highness, Prince Duan."

Zhao Ji quickly returned the bow: "Chief Eunuch, no need for such formalities."

Liang Shicheng was now the Emperor's personal attendant for arrivals and departures, wielding great power and able to speak directly to Zhao Yu—how could a retired prince like him dare to act superior?

Moreover, rumors claimed Liang Shicheng was the adopted son of Su Shi, leader of the Shu Faction and Grand Chancellor—his background was deeply entrenched.

More crucially, because he had once vied with Zhao Yu for the throne, Zhao Ji now had to keep his head down—otherwise, he would be the second Zhao Si.

Seeing Zhao Ji's humility and caution, Liang Shicheng could easily guess that Zhao Ji had been terrified by Zhao Si's recent case.

Think about it: though Zhao Ji wasn't entirely free, at least within Dongjing Bianliang, he could go wherever he pleased—even visit brothels occasionally or request leave to play polo outside the city. If he were like Zhao Si, he'd likely be imprisoned until death, no different from a pig.

For Zhao Ji, who cherished freedom, such a fate would be worse than death.

Realizing Zhao Yu likely intended to reconcile with Zhao Ji, Liang Shicheng offered him a favor: "The other day, the Emperor inspected the glass factory and found the artisans' wares unsatisfactory. He remarked that Your Highness excels in such matters—if entrusted to Your Highness, wouldn't scholars and literati vie to praise it? In my humble opinion, the Emperor may intend to appoint Your Highness to oversee the arts."

Zhao Ji was overjoyed!

First, Zhao Ji loved the arts—this was precisely what suited his heart.

Second, he didn't want to waste away like this; if he had real work to do, his years of diligent study wouldn't have been in vain.

Third, if Zhao Yu was willing to give Zhao Ji tasks, it meant Zhao Yu was willing to forgive him—that was the most important thing.

Zhao Ji immediately bowed deeply to Liang Shicheng: "Thank you, Chief Eunuch, for the reminder."

Not long after, Zhao Ji followed Liang Shicheng to the industrial zone, where he met Zhao Yu and his large entourage.

Zhao Ji knelt before Zhao Yu: "Your servant, Zhao Ji, pays homage to Your Majesty."

Everyone could see Zhao Ji was acting with extreme humility.

Zhao Yu told Zhao Ji to rise and said: "Prince Duan, you've arrived just in time—I'll show you my treasure."

Soon after, Zhao Yu led Zhao Ji to a massive cement production line.

Its core was a furnace built of stacked stones, with gaps sealed with clay. Dozens of ventilation openings of varying sizes lined the base. At the very bottom, coal burned, releasing waves of intense heat. The top of the furnace was fully open, and inside, what was being calcined was… stones…

This contraption was so bizarre that Zhao Ji couldn't fathom its purpose.

But Zhao Ji was exceptionally clever—he followed the machine to its end and discovered it produced… a pile of gray ash.

What Zhao Ji hadn't expected was that Zhao Yu pointed at the gray ash and exclaimed excitedly: "This is the treasure I told you about."

Zhao Ji was speechless.

He knew some emperors, once seated on the throne, developed bizarre obsessions.

Minor eccentricities like male lovers weren't worth mentioning.

Some emperors liked pretending to be beggars, building shantytowns inside the palace and daily parading with maids and eunuchs in tattered clothes, begging for alms;

Others liked posing as merchants, constructing markets inside the palace, forcing eunuchs and maids to perform live roles, even appointing favorite concubines as managers who whipped anyone who broke rules;

Still others liked being thieves, deliberately visiting prisons to learn from notorious bandits, then sneaking into ministers' homes to steal.

Zhao Ji thought to himself:

"Could Zhao Yu have some strange obsession too—like burning stones and playing with lime?"

"Hasn't our dynasty already produced one 'Heavenly Book Emperor'? Must we now have a 'Lime Emperor' too?"

"If that's truly the case, how blind were Empress Dowager and Seeing Zhang Dun and the others to choose Zhao Yu over me—whose literary and martial prowess far surpasses his by a hundredfold!"

Later, after explanations from the R&D staff, Zhao Ji learned this gray ash wasn't ordinary lime, but a building material called "cement," usable for constructing houses.

Zhao Ji wasn't just drawn to beauty—he was also fascinated by novelty.

After hearing the R&D staff describe cement's wonders, Zhao Ji went to inspect the walls built with cement and red bricks, the small factory structures poured with concrete and reinforced with bamboo, and he carefully observed the concrete-making process.

After touring everything, Zhao Ji said: "This cement is truly miraculous—if all of Jingcheng were built this way, how could we fear fire?"

Zhao Yu knew brick-and-concrete buildings weren't as miraculous as Zhao Ji claimed, but they certainly resisted fire better than wooden ones—if all buildings in Dongjing Bianliang were made of stone and brick, large-scale fires like those of the past would no longer occur.

Zhao Yu instructed the cement R&D staff to tell Zhao Ji: "This cement still has shortcomings…"

The cement produced under Ma Xiao Jiao's direction was not the qualified cement of later eras, but a crude version made by survivalists in the wild.

It was made by calcining natural limestone and natural clay to produce quicklime, then mixing quicklime and clay in a 3:1 ratio, adding a small amount of water, stirring evenly, and calcining again.

This cement suffered from low purity, inaccurate ratios, insufficient and uneven calcination temperatures, and inconsistent particle sizes—in short, it was riddled with flaws.

Crucially, Ma Xiao Jiao couldn't fix these problems. She knew how to make cement only because she enjoyed watching survival shows and learned the technique from their masters—not because she truly understood cement production.

All she could do was help initiate the process and upgrade machinery slightly—for example, using water power for mixing.

Beyond that, Ma Xiao Jiao was powerless.

Once Zhao Ji understood the current cement's defects, he couldn't help but feel regret.

Only then did Zhao Yu explain why he had summoned Zhao Ji: "The imperial gardens are old and dilapidated, and too small—I intend to build a new palace complex outside the imperial city…"

Zhao Ji had long thought the current palace was both ancient and ugly. For years, he'd dreamed that if he ever became emperor, he would construct a new palace complex. But he had lost the struggle to Zhao Yu.

His grand blueprint had become useless.

Yet now, Zhao Yu himself wanted to build a new palace.

Seizing the chance to please Zhao Yu, Zhao Ji hurriedly said: "I suggest we construct pavilions, terraces, and towers within the palace grounds, stretching endlessly; dig ponds into seas and divert springs into lakes; place bronze statues of rare birds and exotic beasts in countless poses; plant rare flowers, famed trees, and transplant strange rocks and secluded cliffs to achieve the utmost wonder…"

Zhao Yu listened patiently, then said: "Excellent. But let us avoid excessive labor and burdening the people."

Zhao Yu had no time to deliberate slowly with Zhao Ji about building the Yanfu Palace—he quickly entrusted the matter to the newly appointed Vice Minister of Works, Li Jie, the Grand Eunuch Huang Jingchen, and Zhao Ji, telling them to settle the details among themselves.

……

After Zhao Ji, Huang Jingchen, and Li Jie met, Zhao Ji, eager to do this job well and thereby dispel the "misunderstanding" he had previously had with Zhao Yu, could not wait to ask Li Jie and Huang Jingchen, "How many strings of cash does Your Majesty plan to spend building this palace complex?"

"One million strings," Huang Jingchen said, giving a figure Zhao Ji found hard to believe.

With this little money, they wanted to build a grand palace complex rich in artistic flair—what kind of joke was that?

"It would not even be enough to buy the timber," Li Jie said, frowning as well.

"Has the Emperor not already shown the two of you cement, sand, red brick, concrete, and bamboo? The raw materials can all be found in the nearby Shanhe. Just have the Xiang Army go gather them—why spend money?" Huang Jingchen said.

"Materials of that sort, though they can be used for building, are unfortunately not strong enough—how could they be used to construct a palace? If one section collapsed and injured the noble ones, none of us would keep our lives," Li Jie said.

Li Jie possessed outstanding talent and profound learning in the field of architecture. Historically, he had long been engaged in the construction of palace buildings, overseeing more than ten major projects including the Five Princes' Mansions, the Biyong, the Department of State Affairs, the Longde Palace, the Dihua Residence, the Zhu Que Gate, the Jinglong Gate, the Nine Cities Hall, the Kaifeng Prefecture Office, the Imperial Ancestral Temple, and the Empress Dowager Qin Ci's Buddhist Temple. He had rich practical experience and theoretical knowledge in engineering construction, and his compiled work, the *Yingzao Fashi*, offered systematic standards and summaries for architectural design, construction, and materials.

It is no exaggeration to say that Li Jie was absolutely the foremost architectural expert of this era.

Therefore, when Li Jie said the building materials Ma Ma Xiao Jiao and the others had produced were not strong enough, they were certainly unfit for major use.

"Cement can still be improved—they are currently researching it. As for the rest, we must look to the Minister's true learning," Huang Jingchen kicked the difficult problem to Li Jie.

Zhao Ji felt some sympathy for Li Jie. *Your Majesty wishes to build a palace complex, yet is stingy with money, and forbids disturbing the people—these aims contradict one another. How can one have the best of both? Fortunately, this prince is only in charge of design and planning; otherwise I truly would not know what to do. *

Huang Jingchen added, "The one million strings in my hands—the less we use, the better. If we can save some for the Emperor and still complete the task, the three of us must have weight."

Zhao Ji and Li Jie were nearly going mad. With only this paltry one million strings, being able to make do would already be good enough—yet they still wanted to take back part of it.

Is there any Emperor more stingy than Zhao Yu?

……

In fact, Zhao Yu did not want to build the Yanfu Palace. He felt there was no need to waste the money, because in the future, if conditions allowed, he wanted to move the capital to Yanjing and arrange something like "the Son of Heaven guards the gate, the ruler dies for the realm."

But Zhang Chun hinted to Zhao Yu that when this palace was built, the craftsmen, to prevent insect damage and extend the building's service life, had used large amounts of mercury in the materials.

Mercury is a highly toxic substance; at room temperature it slowly evaporates, releasing poisonous vapor.

If this vapor silently permeated every corner of the palace, it would certainly erode the bodies of everyone inside day after day.

If children grew up in an environment saturated with such deadly poison, their fragile bodies would surely be unable to resist mercury's harm. Over time, various illnesses would appear, their bodies growing ever weaker, and they might even die young.

Worse still, mercury also caused great damage to the reproductive system, making it difficult to conceive.

Zhao Yu, who had written several historical novels set in the Northern and Southern Song dynasties, had also heard of this matter.

The key point: historically, after Zhao Ji built the Yanfu Palace and moved out, up until the Jingkang Incident, he had five Empresses, four Imperial Consorts, and twenty-seven Consorts. The number of titled women in the rear palace reached as many as one hundred and forty-three, and another five hundred and four untitled women had received his favor—and this was only those still alive. Counting those who had died, he should have completed a thousand-kill. Even more crucially, many women were visited by him more than once (several women bore him five or more children).

In the end, up until the Jingkang Incident, Zhao Ji had fathered sixty-six children in total.

It is said that after Zhao Ji was captured by the Jurchens and taken to the northeast, his women bore him another nineteen children—"six sons and eight daughters" were Zhao Ji's own blood, while the other five women bore children of Jurchen blood.

From this one can see how robust Zhao Ji's body was.

To obtain a body as good as Zhao Ji's, and to let his own children grow up healthy, Zhao Yu prepared to follow Zhao Ji's example: build a Yanfu Palace, and then, like Zhao Ji, spend most of his time within it.

Speaking of which, the reason Zhao Yu had this plan was also because in recent days Wang Chuchu and Guo Wei had each given birth to another son for him, and Ma Ma Xiao Jiao's due date was only a few days away.

Incidentally, following Zheng Xiansu, recently Wang Yisu, Guo Ting, and Zhang Nan had also become pregnant.

Counting them all—both those born and those not yet born—Zhao Yu already had seven children.

At the current pace, it would only be a matter of time before Zhao Yu caught up with Zhao Ji, or even surpassed him.

……

This was because Ma Ma Xiao Jiao was a treasure Zhao Yu absolutely could not afford to lose.

Moreover, women of later eras were somewhat troublesome—they were prone to prenatal depression and the like.

Therefore, these past two days, whenever he had time, Zhao Yu would personally stay by Ma Ma Xiao Jiao's side. He had long since arranged a large group of midwives, imperial physicians, attendants, eunuchs, and junior eunuchs to prepare everything needed and remain at Ma Ma Xiao Jiao's side at all times, waiting.

Zhao Yu also specifically instructed Li Lin and Ye Shi Yun to stay with Ma Ma Xiao Jiao at all times, just in case.

At this moment, having just returned from Genyue Your Majesty Mountain, Zhao Yu went straight to Ma Ma Xiao Jiao's palace.

Upon meeting her, Zhao Yu asked with concern, "How is it? Any signs?"

Ma Ma Xiao Jiao, eating dried lychees and utterly carefree, said, "The Emperor need not rush. When the time comes for him to meet the Emperor, he will come out on his own to see you."

Seeing that Ma Ma Xiao Jiao's state of mind was so good, she likely would not get prenatal depression, and Zhao Yu was reassured.

Zhao Yu walked to Ma Ma Xiao Jiao's side, personally feeding her dried lychees, and chatted with Zhang Chun and the other women beside them about what they would like to have built in the Yanfu Palace.

After a short while, a maid came to report, "Reporting to Your Majesty and the various Ladies, a young Miss Li from the household of the Vice Minister of Rites requests an audience…"

……

(End of chapter)