After entering, Su Ziyu performed a grand salute.
Zhao Huan waved his hand and said, "Since this is not the imperial court, there is no need for such formalities. Ziyu, please sit down."
Su Ziyu hesitated for a moment, glanced at Sun Bangyuan, and the latter nodded to him.
Su Ziyu had just taken his seat.
"Ziyu, who are you?"
"Your Majesty, I am from Chang'an County, Jingzhao Prefecture."
Sun Bangyuan continued, "Your Majesty, Ziyu's grandfather was the county magistrate of Chang'an County. In fact, his family and my family have been friends for generations. Ziyu has come this time with something important to present to Your Majesty."
Zhao Huan asked, "What is this?"
Su Ziyu then stood up, revealed the object behind him, and unfolded the cloth covering it, revealing a map made of leather!
Zhao Huan suddenly stood up, his face showing slight surprise: "What is this?"
Su Ziyu said, "Your Majesty, this is a map of the Western Regions, which includes the topography, mountains, rivers, minerals, and countries from Hebei to India."
After saying that, he took out a booklet and offered it up: "This is a detailed explanation of this map of foreign lands."
Zhao Huan stared at the map in shock. Although there were some inaccuracies on the map, it did indeed depict the general outline of the west, and even further west, all the way to Central Asia in later generations, including India. West Asia was also shown on the map, but it was very blurry.
Zhao Huan asked, "Where did this come from?"
Su Ziyu said, “Your Majesty, my ancestors loved to travel to famous places throughout the world during the Tang Dynasty, especially foreign lands. After that, my family inherited their wishes for generations. Over the past few hundred years, fifty years ago, we revised this map and this book, ‘Records of Foreign Lands’.”
Zhao Huan was overjoyed.
The Song Dynasty did have contact with various countries overseas, but it was relatively unfamiliar with the Western Regions.
Furthermore, ancient maps were not systematic and were very fragmented.
Maps were considered strategic secrets in ancient times and were generally not leaked.
Looking at the map, Zhao Huan felt that Su Ziyu's appearance was perfectly timed.
His visit to the Northwest has quelled the hidden dangers there, and he plans to begin preparations for the conquest of the Tanguts next year.
The territory of the Song Dynasty extended westward, very far westward.
Sun Bangyuan continued, "Your Majesty, Ziyu not only has a thorough understanding of the mountain and river maps, but also has his own views on steel forging."
Zhao Huan's eyes lit up, and he looked at Su Ziyu as if he were a treasure.
Su Ziyu then took out a manual and presented it to him. The manual was titled "Su's Iron Forging".
Zhao Huan, a liberal arts student, knew nothing about forging high-speed rail, but he pretended to open the book, flipped through a few pages, and was slightly surprised: Isn't this a simplified version of blast furnace ironmaking?
In fact, the blast furnace iron smelting of later generations also originated from the vertical furnace iron smelting of the Song Dynasty.
However, blast furnace ironmaking is obviously more efficient.
Zhao Huan nodded repeatedly, but in reality, he didn't understand a single page.
"You are truly a pillar of our Great Song Dynasty!"
"Your Majesty flatters me. It is my greatest honor to serve Your Majesty."
Recalling the common people he had met on the road the day before, he sensed that this emperor was different.
In the short two years since he ascended the throne, even the capital city has undergone significant changes.
This is something that has never happened before among emperors of all dynasties.
The fact that their family had traveled to foreign lands for generations was strange and incomprehensible to the neighbors. However, the Su family silently followed the will of their ancestors. Every generation, upon reaching the age of eighteen, would inherit the map from the previous generation and head west, ever westward.
Sometimes, those who leave never return; only the next generation sets off on distant lands based on copies left behind by the previous generation.
But in reality, each generation doesn't set off alone.
And so, generation after generation embarked on journeys to distant places, thus creating this map.
But the Su family themselves didn't know what the significance was of the map they had painstakingly drawn.
Compared to those scholarly families who achieved official rank through examinations, the Su family was relatively unknown, living on the fringes of the Song Dynasty's literati.
Zhao Huan said excitedly, "After I return to the capital, I will have this map printed out and made it a compulsory subject in schools, so that everyone in the future of the Great Song Dynasty will know about it!"
"Furthermore, this book, 'Tales of Foreign Lands,' must be included in schools and become one of the compulsory courses in universities!"
Su Ziyu was so excited that he knelt on the ground and kowtowed to Zhao Huan several times without saying a word.
"I am deeply grateful for the Emperor's favor, and I am willing to go through fire and water for him!"
The Su family, generation after generation, traveled silently westward, traversing countless mountains and rivers, overcoming numerous dangers, and created this map.
The greatest respect we can show it is to let the world know about its existence.
That's its true value.
Since the rise of the Tanguts, which blocked trade routes to the Western Regions, the Silk Road of the Han and Tang dynasties was already severed.
Song Dynasty merchants had far less knowledge of the West than those of the Tang Dynasty, and since the Chinese army could not reach there, commerce was essentially unsecured.
Commerce and the military should be closely linked.
Merchants made huge profits from distant lands and paid enormous taxes to the court. The court then used half of these taxes to attack the army's provisions and welfare.
Once the merchants of the Song Dynasty began to understand the West and the wider world, once Zhao Huan's army arrived there.
It was at that time that the Song Dynasty was truly driven by the emperor's strategy and became extremely expansionist.
Having breakfast with the emperor was something to talk about for a lifetime. Su Ziyu received such preferential treatment the first time he met the emperor, and he felt that his life was suddenly about to reach its peak.
Next, the emperor bestowed upon Su Ziyu a mansion located in the north of Chang'an City.
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