Chapter 37 Save the horses, save the children!
"This painting is so interesting. Ah, it's Zhao Yun. This is the fifth Zhao Yun, right? Can it replace the previous ones? Woohoo... they all look very beautiful." Su Jinghe reluctantly put this one on Zhao Yun. This was the sixth Zhao Yun that satisfied him, and he was reluctant to throw any of them away.
"This is so ugly! But the beard has a lot of spirit. It is indeed a painting of Guan Yu. Well, let's keep it and take a look." Not only Su Jinghe, but Song Shiyi was also reluctant to give it up.
Some are so exquisite that it seems like the real person should look like that, while others are weird but the charm is so outstanding that they are very memorable.
I spent an entire afternoon reviewing only a few characters and cats that had no Three Kingdoms feel at all.
"I'm afraid this is a self-portrait of mine, with a filter on it." Su Jinghe looked at another ordinary portrait, and this time he didn't have any attachment to it, so he put it directly in the column that would not be submitted.
"There's no address left. How can I return it to them later?"
This is also worrying.
"No need to return it. We didn't organize this event. They just insisted on drawing it without leaving any information. Just keep it. Or if you don't like it, just burn it."
Song Shiyi felt that since these people dared to send his paintings like this, it probably didn't matter what the consequences would be.
"Well, we should have a solution for the manuscripts that have been approved, like... paying them royalties? These people haven't signed their names... this..."
Su Jinghe looked worried.
"That's right..." They didn't need the manuscript, but they would use the approved version, especially Su Jinghe's idea of turning the manuscript into cards and selling them...
this……
Song Shiyi was troubled, and at this time Su Jinghe came up with a good idea.
"Or we might as well not make any money from these cards!"
"Ah?" Song Shiyi didn't understand.
"Just think of it as promoting our royal family's shared joy with the people. Tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, have our two young princes draw two pictures too. Then we'll distribute them together. We'll sell them at a low price, in limited quantities, just one set per person. We'll also put more effort into promoting them."
The more Su Jinghe talked, the more he felt that this method was quite good. They had almost monopolized the printing industry now. The country could make money from it and then make some losses to promote the royal family and the people as one family.
When Song Shiyi heard "the royal family and the people have fun together", he was almost scared, thinking that Su Jinghe had discovered His Majesty's "wanton behavior". After hearing that he hadn't, he breathed a sigh of relief, and then thought about it and felt that it was really a good idea.
"This... isn't bad..." Song Shiyi put himself in his shoes. His paintings were placed alongside those of the royal family, and there was an official seal stating "Sharing Joy with the People." That...
"Is it too late for me to draw two more now?"
As soon as Song Shiyi said this, Su Jinghe knew that this was the right idea.
"In that case...we won't replace the extra skins, so let's just keep them as limited edition skins released each year."
As soon as he used the words "limited skin", Su Jinghe felt that the familiar feeling of making money had returned. He used to be treated as a leek, but now he is cutting other people's leeks.
"How about limiting the skins to make some money..."
I really can't resist the urge to cut leeks.
"Making money from the rich... using this as a card film? The kind that needs to be replaced manually..."
Ah, plastic, how do I get plastic? I really need a plastic shell to make this huge sum of money that is right in front of me!
Song Shiyi didn't understand why Su Jinghe kept himself silent while talking. At this moment, Song Shiyi was struggling with whether to tell Su Jinghe that there were paintings of His Majesty in it...
He saw that the person painted by His Majesty was Zhuge Liang. Among the eight Zhuge Liangs preserved by Su Jinghe, there are now nine.
After observing for a while, Su Jing and this person...
"Don't you even bother selecting the people who paint Zhuge Liang?" Song Shiyi was confused.
Su Jinghe turned back silently, "Are all these people who painted Zhuge Liang gods? They all painted him vividly, each with his own style! Even from young to old, there are different flavors..."
After a long silence, Song Shiyi felt that he had grasped the crux of the matter.
"You just like Zhuge Liang!"
"No one can dislike him! He's Zhuge Liang!" Su Jinghe admitted frankly.
Zhuge Liang's strength was evident when he was analyzing whether to demolish Liu Bei's Han Zhaolie Temple. Someone mentioned that the "Wu Hou Temple" was also there, and he immediately made everyone give up the idea of demolition and switch to maintenance!
"Don't you like Zhuge Liang?" Su Jinghe looked back at Song Shiyi.
"Personally, among the characters of the Three Kingdoms, I still prefer Xun Yu. Xun Ling lingers in my memory..." Song Shiyi praised Xun Yu.
"Don't talk about these nonsense. Liking Xun Yu doesn't prevent you from liking Zhuge Liang as well. Do you like him?" Su Jinghe poked Song Shiyi's clenched fist.
"Okay, I like him, who can hate him?" Song Shiyi was helpless.
"That's it, who can dislike him!" Su Jinghe was delighted, then turned around and thought, "I have to choose a card as the cover card for our Three Kingdoms card game, or design another one?"
Su Jinghe didn't hesitate for a second before he saw a picture of Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei. "Wow, this is an interesting picture. Let's use it as a promotional poster for our Shu Han card!"
How did it suddenly turn from a cover into a promotional poster?
Song Shiyi felt that he had reason to suspect that Su Jinghe simply wanted to keep a few more photos!
Su Jinghe, immersed in the exquisite drawings, was reluctant to leave work.
After get off work, you can still see people submitting articles to them.
It's not that difficult to submit something. It's just piled up next to the guard. Because there are so many people putting things there, the guard will move them over.
"We should be able to select a version tomorrow!" Su Jinghe didn't even dare to take a second look and ran away on the spot.
"Didn't you say that you would give it to the little princes to play with in a few days?" How should we deal with the two princes?
Song Shiyi didn't think these two were easy to fool.
Class the next day.
"Your Highnesses, regarding our cards, I thought we could also have a sense of participation!" Su Jinghe pretended to be mysterious and took out a painting.
"Look, what is this?"
"It's Lu Bu!" "Cat, cool!"
It's a very handsome Lu Bu cat.
Ah, no wonder you arrived earlier than me today.
Song Shiyi looked at Su Jinghe, who was beaming with joy. He then told the two children to draw two pictures as well, so that they could do it together later.
I didn't expect that children are so hard to fool.
"No, my painting is not good-looking." Princess Fukang frowned.
Zui Xinglai obviously had no interest in painting either. Instead, he directly said to Su Jinghe, "Paint a big orange!"
It was the calico cat in the palace that came into contact with them quite frequently.
What? You'd rather hand over the cat as a hostage than draw it yourself?
Su Jinghe thought about it and looked at the painting in his hand again.
"This seems really difficult. I may not be able to draw it in this way, let alone with a similar charm."
That's not...
Song Shiyi looked at the Lu Bu cat in Su Jinghe's hand. It was painted by Yan Su, whom Su Jinghe particularly admired.
Song Shiyi later got to know Yan Su.
He is really awesome, and some of his abilities overlap with Su Jinghe's. Song Shiyi guessed that this was why Yan Su actively signed up when he knew that Su Jinghe needed someone who could draw.
Unlike Liu Yong, Yan Su's official career was much better, but it was not as successful as before.
He has outstanding painting skills, and his talent is comparable to that of many craftsmen, although he has no master.
Before Su Jinghe, the Song Dynasty did not pay as much attention to Mohism and Gongshu School as it does now, but Yan Su relied on his own ability to research and upgrade the more accurate lotus clepsydra, and reproduced the long-lost south-pointing chariot and mileage-recording drum chariot.
certainly……
Song Shiyi also noticed that although he came here to paint, Yan Su's attention was always on the cars of the two little princes, as well as the wooden bicycle that had served as a background for a long time, which caught Yan Su's attention.
Maybe I'm here to study these!
Su Jinghe really didn't know. He knew Yan Su was quite capable and knew what he had researched, but...
This guy is truly an all-rounder. He is the legendary master of everything he does.
He understands poetry, painting, mechanical engineering, and even tides. This kind of person is a top-notch "genius" in any era, not to mention that he doesn't promote himself at all and just works hard in silence.
Su Jinghe thought that people just wanted to draw cat sculptures. After all, this was set in the Northern Song Dynasty, so it should be considered novel.
About half a month later, Su Jinghe finally got his first perfect deck of Three Kingdoms game cards.
"It already looks very exquisite. Who would have thought we had something even more novel to come? Are we really treating the others as 'skins'?"
Song Shiyi stroked the deck of cards. Even though he had no idea how to play, he was already impressed by the appearance of the cards.
Who knew that the first thing Su Jinghe got was to throw it on the table with great force.
"No--"
Song Shiyi was startled, and then quickly rescued the card from his hand, "What are you doing? If you don't want this deck, you can keep it for me."
"Ah? Let me try it out. What collection? This is a playing card." Su Jinghe took another one, but this time he didn't use as much force. "It feels pretty good, but it's not smooth enough. I feel like I can tell which card it is by just touching it."
Song Shiyi didn't understand, "Did you touch it so carefully?"
He thought about the card game Su Jinghe had played with them. "Isn't it just sentence formation? No, you made a circle around these paintings and marked them with numbers like 689. Are you trying to compare numbers?"
Song Shiyi remembered that Su Jinghe had given Princess Fukang this example, but if we really compared the size of the numbers...
Why not just keep this card? It looks so nice. Taking it out to play with it every day is also a kind of damage to the card!
"Ah, if we want to buy a single pair for our collection...shouldn't we start with a weird one? That way we won't feel too bad about giving it away when we play with it."
Su Jinghe touched his chin, thinking about the feasibility of doing so.
Song Shiyi didn't even have time to feel embarrassed for accidentally speaking out his true feelings before he had to stop his boss who acted on his whims.
"It's still not too late. We are giving these to the two young princes to play with..."
But Song Shiyi felt guilty saying this, "Actually, we accidentally printed a few extra copies, otherwise..."
"Give it to the ministers in the imperial court?" Su Jinghe knew Song Shiyi as soon as he saw him. "You are not from Shandong, are you? How come you are so good at being an official? You always think about the boss in everything..."
Are we talking about the same thing? Song Shiyi was slightly puzzled.
But it was indeed given to several husbands.
"It seems Mr. Yan Shu doesn't need a delivery... He didn't make any reservations."
"So he accepted the order privately. Next time, you don't have to accept it secretly. Ours is not expensive." Su Jinghe thought for a moment, "Yan Shu... Yan... No, it's his order. If they don't want it, we can still deliver it!"
[That's Yan Shu! He'll be the Prime Minister in a few years. And his son, Yan Jidao, is also quite impressive... After the Yan family fell, he still managed to become a great talent!]
Ah, how come the first sentence is about being a prime minister, and the next sentence is about the Yan family being defeated...
How did they lose? Did they fall?
Song Shiyi didn't ask, but Su Jinghe did, which made him regret why he didn't interrupt.
The abominable Jingkang Incident also changed the fate of many people...Yan Jidao's life as a nobleman is gone forever, alas.
Why……
Some of Yan Jidao's political enemies had just heard Su Jinghe's thoughts and were pretending to comfort him. Before their hands that were about to pat Yan Shu's shoulders could touch his clothes, they heard the second half of Su Jinghe's sentence.
Now, it’s not just a question of whether Yan Shu is happy or not, everyone is unhappy.
Alas, the Jingkang Incident.
Damn it! How can we change this Jingkang Incident?
Because of the things Su Jinghe wanted to give to the two young princes, the court finally forgot about this sad thing that made everyone sad, and it came back to them.
Some people put away the Three Kingdoms cards they were going to submit to Su Jing and them, and quietly ended their slacking off - work hard!
If there was anyone else present who felt similar to Yan Shu, it was Song Renzong.
Zuixinglai is only one year younger than Yan Jidao...
In other words, if Zui Xinglai grows up safely and healthily, then, if nothing unexpected happens... that's fine...
"The more likely scenario is that he will be captured as the emperor..." Song Renzong realized this...
"No more painting. I have some official business to attend to. I need to get busy!"
Relaxation is reserved for the dead. He is still alive now and must work hard to provide a better future for Zui Xinglai!
Lu Yijian silently pushed back the document that Song Renzong had just pushed to him in order to slack off in drawing, without saying anything else, and just continued to work.
This made Song Renzong even more ashamed.
A sixty-year-old man is working so hard, what right does he have to slack off!
While other people in the court were struggling, Su Jinghe had no idea that he had unconsciously pushed so many people and accelerated their progress.
He was holding the cards and sharing the rules of the game with the two little princes.
"The numbers above are HP, and the numbers below are skill descriptions. Skills have both damage and special effects. For example, this Zhou Yu has a two-round fire effect. The fire has the ability to burn continuously, and each time it burns, it deducts 1 HP point. Even if you kill my Zhou Yu this round, you will still lose a point of HP in the next round."
After Su Jinghe finished his introduction, the first person to say it was difficult was not the child, but Song Shiyi who was standing next to him.
"Wait a minute, wait a minute. So, this card game requires us to remember the rules for so many cards? This is too difficult!" Song Shiyi was shocked.
Before Su Jinghe could explain, the first person to speak for the card was Princess Fukang. Although she was very young and her voice was still childish, the aura she spoke with was very different from that of an ordinary child. The seriousness of her words made people subconsciously willing to listen.
"It's not difficult. Zhou Yu used fire attacks during the Battle of Red Cliffs, so it's normal for his skills to have fire. It's also normal for the burning to continue. After all, he asked Pang Tong for advice and used chain links. It's normal for the burning warships to have continuous damage!"
After listening to Princess Fukang's words, Su Jinghe was surprised that she had remembered so much.
A two-year-old child speaks clearly and remembers...
"Do you already know these characters?" Su Jinghe looked at the Skill Book spread out below. "Oh my God, you're only two years old, and you already know so many characters! You're a child prodigy, does your father know?"
Huh? Princess Fukang looked at Su Jinghe with a puzzled look in her eyes. "Aren't all child prodigies boys? Like Gan Luo of the Qin Dynasty, Cao Chong of the Three Kingdoms, Luo Binwang of the Tang Dynasty, and Yan Shu of our Song Dynasty?"
"Who says child prodigies can only be boys?" Su Jinghe touched Princess Fukang's head. "A child prodigy is a smart child. Both boys and girls can be child prodigies. It's just that people in the past rarely promoted smart girls."
Song Shiyi suspected that Su Jinghe was really going to start his "Empress" plan, and quickly interrupted the conversation, "Actually, we don't promote child prodigies. Don't people often say things like 'a child of talent'? Even if you have talent, you still have to work hard! We value hard work more!"
It seems to be true. Su Jinghe knows that there are many poems about child prodigies, as well as many poems that belittle child prodigies.
"Indeed, in the Song Dynasty, child prodigies were highly respected. However, there weren't many in the Song Dynasty, as can be seen from the imperial examinations."
"Hmm?" Princess Fukang didn't understand. "How do you see it?"
"If we promote child prodigies, there will be many. Young Jinshi (Jinshi) candidates may even make the top three." Su Jinghe pointed at himself. "In the recent imperial examinations, I think it was one of the younger ones who won, a 16-year-old Tanhua (Tanhua)."
"Alright, alright, I know you're smart and good-looking. Tell us something we ordinary people like to hear." Song Shiyi punched Su Jinghe. "Just go to class, even if you're just using it as an excuse to play games."
"Your family background is much better than mine, yet you are jealous of me." Su Jinghe raised his eyebrows and teased Song Shiyi.
"Then I should pretend to be a little dumber." Song Shiyi didn't say anything. Princess Fukang spoke up, her chubby little face full of seriousness. "If I'm a little dumber, maybe Daddy and Sister will like me more."
Um?
Su Jinghe was shocked. "How could it be? Who can refuse a smart person?"
[Damn it, he actually asked his daughter to pretend to be stupid to please him! ]
Huh? What's going on? Why isn't there any context?
Official documents are not as interesting as Su Jinghe's melons. Song Renzong felt that it was a waste of time after reviewing a few memorials.
It would be fine if there were national affairs that required his attention, but many of them were posts flattering officials from all over the country.
What? A white deer was found somewhere, and a white fox was seen there. It must be because Your Majesty governs the country well, so auspicious signs have been sent from heaven.
Song Renzong no longer buys this. Xiangrui - Su Jinghe, is right beside him!
In addition to these, they also need to ask for money. After Su Jinghe submitted the "form", they need to write down the direction of use of the funds. Although each amount will not be exactly the same, it is definitely not an empty talk like some people do.
Song Renzong sighed. Although the money of the Song Dynasty did not come from the wind, a lot of it had been blown away by the war.
In short, hearing Su Jinghe's complaints amidst the busy and boring paperwork was like hearing heavenly music. Song Renzong listened with a smile, trying to figure out the cause and effect, but the result was...
[Fukang is such a smart kid, but he has to pretend to be stupid to please Song Renzong?!]
No...wait a minute...I don't understand this sentence!
Song Renzong didn't understand and was even shocked. He was so shocked that he was speechless. Then he realized something that made him feel like the sky was falling.
"He had already mentally changed his tone and started calling me Your Majesty! How could he suddenly go back on his word?"
Why are you calling me Song Renzong again?
Lü Yijian did not understand the suffering of Song Renzong, so he just rejected some of the memorials.
"Your Majesty, aren't you going to support His Highness?"
I'll hold on. I'll hold on.
Song Renzong swallowed his tears silently.
There were many times like today when he discovered that Princess Fukang was very smart. Ever since Su Jinghe heard Princess Fukang say that she wanted to pretend to be stupid to please the adults, he strengthened his "encouraging education" and tried to make Princess Fukang more confident.
"Are you really encouraging education? Isn't it flattery without any bottom line?" Song Shiyi often suspected that there were some things Su Jinghe could say, but it was because he flattered people like Zhang De too much.
"You have been subjected to the repressive education we have always given you. Is it because your family often compares you with others and asks you to do better?" Su Jinghe's words dealt a heavy blow to Song Shiyi.
In terms of the essence of dealing high damage, Su Jing and this person are actually the objects of comparison for Song Shiyi's family.
His family always praised him for his promising young age and asked him to learn from Su Jinghe.
What to learn? He couldn't learn Su Jinghe's unique abilities at all.
Song Shiyi did not have any idea of being jealous of Su Jinghe. If a person only had special abilities, others would be jealous and feel that God was unfair and why such a good thing did not happen to them.
But the strength shown by Su Jinghe is far more than that. He is too smart to be a normal person, and he is very humble. He always says that his achievements are just standing on the "shoulders of his predecessors", but Song Shiyi knows it very well.
No one in the past was as smart as Su Jinghe, not to mention that many things had been lost. His inner voice kept telling him gossip, but he didn't talk much about these things!
It's really a talent, a talent that is beyond reach.
Su Jinghe didn't get any response from Song Shiyi, but he knew that Song Shiyi must also be a victim of China's suppression and frustration education, so he patted Song Shiyi on the shoulder.
"You're already amazing. You've accomplished things that many people can't at such a young age. Those who can't see your excellence simply haven't stood high enough!"
Not to mention, Su Jinghe's praises really make people feel comfortable.
Song Shiyi felt warm in his heart.
Without the "questioning" of people like Chen Zedong and without Song Renzong continuing to urge progress, Su Jinghe's enlightenment education was done quite well.
Time quickly came to the end of 1040. Su Jinghe originally thought that he had been able to finish the work and solve the enlightenment problem. The next things were no longer his responsibility.
The education of the princes should be handled by the bigwigs in the court who are more proficient in this.
As a result, before he could resign to His Majesty, new news came out in the court.
"The Liao Kingdom's money has finally arrived?" Su Jinghe was pleased to hear the news. "Huh? They had no money, so they exchanged cattle, sheep, and horses. But they found that there were not enough cattle and sheep, so they sent a lot of horses. They were afraid that our horses would improve the horses of the Song Dynasty, so they castrated them specially?"
Um……
"Is there no one that slipped through the net?" Su Jinghe thought for a moment, "For example, a pregnant mare that just didn't show her pregnancy at the time?"
"If you say so, then there should be... No, the key point is not this news." Song Shiyi turned the paper over to Su Jinghe, "It's this."
"Ah, the New Year is coming, so Your Majesty brought Zhao Shu...His Highness, back to have the New Year's Eve dinner?" Su Jinghe looked at what happened to His Highness Zhao Shu on his way back and didn't quite understand. What was so interesting about it?
"Let's talk about horses. Is it true that there are no fish that have slipped through the net?"
Ah yes, Su Jinghe still doesn't know that the gentlemen have already negotiated with His Majesty about the title of Guan Yu Zhao Shu...
"It hasn't arrived yet, but I heard that the people chosen are the elderly, the weak, the sick and the disabled. I guess they want to prevent us from taking advantage."
"Tsk, this is not just about preventing us from taking advantage, it's purely about taking advantage of us!" Su Jinghe was quite unhappy.
There were too few horses in the Song Dynasty. Hey, he also wanted to experience the scene in movies and TV dramas where people rode tall horses when going out!
In his memory, on the day when he, ahem, the original owner won the title of Third Place in the Imperial Examination, he rode a horse in a parade through the streets. The horses he rode were very thin and small, not at all like those in movies or TV dramas!
After Su Jinghe said this, Song Shiyi felt a little emotional.
"Yes, Chunchun is taking advantage of us. She is certain that we won't initiate a war with them."
"We have to fight a battle in advance... We can't..." Will we really have to wait until the Jingkang Incident to be beaten by others?
Su Jinghe almost suffocated thinking about this possibility.
The current Song Dynasty was very different from the one he remembered. Its strength had increased, and the court was harmonious. Everyone seemed to be united in their efforts to contribute to the development of the Song Dynasty...
It is really not appropriate for these people and their descendants to face such a miserable future!
Especially him, he really doesn't want to go through this...
Su Jinghe thought about running away, but...
This is China, alas, we can't make the decision to run away so easily.
A few days later, Song Shiyi was holding a tabloid again, and this time his expression was even more... panicked than the last time he asked him to see "Zhao Shu"?
"Huh? What's wrong?" Su Jinghe looked at Song Shi running and taking deep breaths. "Take a break. What are you doing? Why are you in such a hurry?"
"Oh no, it's really bad!" Song Shiyi was out of breath, his mind was confused, and he couldn't organize his words for a while and just kept saying "oh no". Only after he caught his breath did he get down to business.
"The horse is lost, and the man is lost too!"
"What horse and what person? Where is it missing?"
Is this supposed to be what I'm talking to? Why does it sound so much like Sun Wukong quitting?
Su Jinghe felt that the sense of déjà vu was too strong.
"I heard that the horses sent from the Liao Kingdom were stopped by bandits, and now many of them are lost!"
"Zhao Shu is missing!"
The former is already a big deal, and the latter can be even bigger.
Song Shiyi, who was speaking, and Su Jinghe, who was listening, both showed expressions of horror at the same time.
"No way? There's no one watching on either side?" Su Jinghe didn't understand.
This is not the time when Sun Wukong took the Pegasus to the Milky Way to release the horse. How could he have lost it if someone was watching?
"Could it be that Your Majesty deliberately arranged this? He lost these old, weak, and sick horses along the way. It would be a good opportunity to ask the Liao Kingdom for a batch of horses in exchange for some usable ones?"
Su Jinghe felt that this was the only reasonable way to think, and it was more in line with the thinking of the Song Dynasty.
"No...it's really lost." Song Shiyi also thought it was a similar trick. "And I don't know if we can get another batch. Because we refused the Liao Kingdom's escort all the way here, so actually, after crossing the border and entering our Song Dynasty, it was our own people who took over..."
"Is the person really missing?" Su Jinghe was even more skeptical of the news.
Didn't Song Renzong lose him on purpose? He couldn't stand the fact that his ministers insisted on him being adopted as his "adopted son," so he simply lost him on the road.
This is so reasonable, but a little too bad.
"From Yingtian Prefecture to our Kaifeng Prefecture, it's such a long distance. You could have walked all the way there, right? How did you get lost?"
"I heard that the child was stolen? He was fine when he slept the night before, and when he woke up the next morning, the child was gone." Song Shiyi felt like he was lying when he said this.
"Is it really not our Majesty who lost it? It was right around Bianjing, and even this was lost. Isn't the centralization of power in our Great Song Dynasty very powerful? Is it only this centralized?"
After hearing Su Jinghe's thoughts, Song Shiyi didn't know how to stop him from thinking about such outrageous words.
The lethality of this statement is really strong. The first half doubts your majesty's kindness, and the second half doubts your majesty's ability. Combining the two, it feels like your majesty must have lost one of the two, either he is bad or he is incompetent.
Su Jinghe's words really hurt Song Renzong, and his eyes were blank.
"Should I just admit that I'm bad? I really don't want him to come over, I don't want to give him any title, and I don't want to keep supporting him like this in the future..."
The ministers did not dare to respond at all. To be honest, only Su Jinghe could respond with a few words in his heart.
"But it really wasn't me. How could this person be lost?" Song Renzong didn't understand.
"Would anyone want to steal a child like this? He's already that old. Most importantly, is he so poor that he'd be noticed by a beggar? And what about the guards? What are they doing? Isn't there anyone on night watch?"
It is not clear whether this statement is a sign of disdain for Zhao Shu or for himself.
"The guards said there was nothing unusual. Aside from the child disappearing, everything else was fine. There were no signs of a struggle at the scene. The nanny even said he might have escaped on his own."
It has to be said that because of Su Jinghe's previous thoughts, they knew that Zhao Shu's treatment had also been taken care of.
They wouldn't run away now, would they? This isn't some dangerous place, so how could they scare a child away?
And then there is…
Can Su Jinghe take a look? If he takes a look, it will be much faster than them looking aimlessly!
[Hey, look at what happened to the kid. It's really unfortunate that he disappeared from such a short distance from Yingtian to Kaifeng. I can't think of anything other than someone doing it on purpose... Wait... No, this...
Forget it, I'd better take a look at the horses. 】
Huh? No? Why don't you watch it?
Song Shiyi was so anxious that he wanted to speak directly.
You can’t miss this, children are so important!
Although His Majesty has clearly stated that he does not want to pass the throne to Zhao Shu, his presence is a reassurance to others!
Lu Yijian's idea is also necessary...
If there is one more "suspected heir", even if someone really wants to take action against the heir of the Song Dynasty, the possibility of others being safe will increase with one more person being attacked.
Although this kind of thinking is really not good for children.
But... don't give up looking for the child!
Not only Song Shiyi, but all the civil and military officials in the court were worried, praying that Su Jinghe could turn his attention away from the horse and look at the child again.
But after all, they didn't dare to say that Su Jinghe was having fun watching the horses.
[No, these horses were not eaten? ]
Huh? What's going on? Why are you expecting our horses to be eaten?
Although this batch of horses is no longer fertile, it is one of the few horse resources left in the Song Dynasty!
[Oh, these people were originally farmers. Because they lived close to the border, they were often robbed. However, the Song Dynasty didn't care. They couldn't stand it anymore, so they fled to more inland areas. As a result, they found...
All crows are black. Even without looting, the Liao people still couldn't easily feed themselves, so they became bandits in anger.
Ah, the Great Song Dynasty... beneath its prosperous exterior lies a deep well of filth and corruption.]
No, no, no! It’s really much better now!
Han Qi wanted to explain that our Song Dynasty has already dealt with many corrupt officials! There are also many landlords and tyrants who are unworthy of their positions and use their power to encroach on the people's resources. They have also been liquidated!
Their assets have all become national resources, and are beginning to return to the people little by little!
Su Jinghe also knew a little about this, but he didn't care much at this time and just continued watching.
They had never raised horses before, and hadn't carefully checked whether the horses were castrated, so...
Huh? They have a bunch of wild horses in captivity, and they threw these in, hoping to breed them into more docile types?
Oh, yes, the Song Dynasty has opened up private horse breeding grounds. If they can really raise horses and achieve some success, it won't be considered banditry. The Song Dynasty will definitely give them a legitimate status for these horses.
What title...
But it is true.
Including Song Renzong, no one was willing to give up a talented person who knew how to raise horses.
Although gunpowder was now available, the Liao Kingdom would not fall behind the Song Dynasty on the battlefield just because it had war horses and cavalry while the Song Dynasty did not. In fact, gunpowder would affect horses, and the first to be weakened would be the cavalry.
But just like Liu Che loved the Ferghana horses so much, who could resist a horse? No one.
[Yo! I told you!]
say what?
Su Jinghe's voice was so joyful that even Lu Yijian became curious about what he would say next.
I knew there would be some slip-ups. Two of the stallions are still fertile, and three of the mares are even pregnant! Have the stallions even been paired with the wild horses they're trying to keep captive? The mares too, but there seem to be two more capable of pregnancy? That's quite a lot, only about thirty in total.
As expected, someone in Liao was too ruthless in this regard and sent it over like this.]
Is there really more?
Well, now the ministers are really thinking about Su Jinghe’s proposal.
"Since they're already raising horses... and we haven't suffered any casualties, why not just let them raise the horses..."
If Su Jinghe were here, he would definitely admire him. This is the advantage of the Song Dynasty - it can bend and stretch. Look, it accepts the current situation very naturally!
"It may not be possible to raise it." Someone poured cold water on it.
"We have quite a few horse breeders, many of whom are specialized researchers. They used to be farmers. Farmers living near the border probably aren't even good at farming, otherwise they wouldn't be able to support themselves."
"If you can support yourself by farming there, we petition you to go there and farm. We can also teach them how to farm better. If that place really becomes a farming town, they won't forget your kindness. We can even write a monument and write a biography for you, and make you the Shennong of the Song Dynasty!"
Having learned from previous experiences, others have developed countermeasures for those who have never suffered and take life on the border so lightly.
Whoever thinks it's easier will be sent over!
The last person who was sent to the border is now complaining every day. The letters he sends to Bian Jing are more numerous than snowflakes, and he just hopes to come back one day.
This trick is also very useful. The person who poured cold water on me shut up immediately when he heard "Let him go".
Fan Zhongyan spoke up at this time, "Just pretend you don't know. Anyway, even if these horses were really delivered, we might not be able to find people to take care of them, and we might not be able to take good care of them."
[They're raising the horses properly. It seems the wild horses have started to trust them a little...
Hmm, wait, it turns out that our thinking when it comes to farming is the same. Even when we are raising horses now, we still try to start by growing grass...
I found out that these horses really liked to eat vegetables, so I planted some for them...so the horses could be kept in one place and didn't run into the mountains.
Good, good, you are really capable. 】
Is this even possible? The Ministry of Industry took note of this and prepared to go back and study it.
[Alas, Ma is safe, but I don't know if Zhao Zongshi is safe.]
Right, right! Zhao Zongshi, think about him and see how he's doing now!
When some people heard Su Jinghe say this, they were no longer sleepy and opened their eyes wide, wanting to hear if this person was okay.
Someone was really responsible for connecting with Zhao Zongshi. The person's position was also very clever. They were about to connect! But then they disappeared!
He was trying to pass the blame on to both sides, and he didn't know how to get the blame off himself!
Zhao Zongshi had a tough time. He truly had no love from his parents, and neither his biological father nor his adoptive father had any affection for him. No wonder he ran away.
What? Ran away by himself?
Some people's eyes fell on the person who was supposed to be in contact, as if questioning what was the point of not catching the person who ran away?
"No! After the person went missing, we checked carefully, but there were no child's footprints. Besides, how far could a child run? He should have walked and we would have found him!"
Other children may not know, but it is impossible for Zhao Zongshi, who is not well fed and clothed at home, to run far!
Others also believed what he said, but it was even more unlikely that what Su Jinghe said was false.
When Zhao Zongshi learned he was about to be taken back to Bianjing, he planned his escape route. He planned to find a river near the border between Bianjing and Yingtian and jump into it.
There really is a river...
"He's not really going to jump, is he? But it's so cold..."
Although it hasn't frozen yet, it's almost winter and it's really cold. It's not uncommon for children to jump into the river, especially at night.
"Could the person be dead?" someone worried.
"Impossible, absolutely impossible. If he was dead, why wouldn't his body be in the river? We couldn't find it!" The man immediately ruled out this possibility.
What a joke. It would be fine if the missing person was found, but if a body was found, he would probably die to atone for his crime.
Even if Your Majesty doesn't like them, they are definitely qualified to inherit the throne!
Damn it, Su Jing, please talk to you for a few more words and tell me where the child is still alive and kicking, okay?
If Su Jinghe was in front of him, this person would want to kneel down and beg Su Jinghe to say something he could listen to.
Fortunately, he can listen to the next sentence.
[However, it's a good thing he didn't go by water as originally planned. This kid didn't think about how cold it would be in the middle of winter.]
That’s great, we didn’t have to take the water route!
[Just when he was about to run away, someone else came and wanted to steal his things, so they stole him away.]
Hmm... it's really nice that nothing happened...
No! Someone stole it!
This is a person, not an object, how could it be stolen!
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