"Forge a Nini Village?"
"good."
Yan Shu nodded and said, "From my probing of Zhao Jun, I found that he doesn't seem to know much about Nini Village. He has no idea how many people there are or what the children look like. We can use this information to create a Nini Village."
Zhao Zhen thought for a moment and said, "This must be the movie script Zhao Jun was talking about."
"Yes."
Yan Shu nodded. "Didn't Zhao Jun mention Tang poetry, Song lyrics, Yuan opera, and Ming and Qing novels? But he probably doesn't know that our brothels already have operas and writers who write them. Perhaps we could create a Nini Village based on these operas."
Lu Yijian couldn't help but ask, "But can opera be the same as reality? Do we understand their situation? What if a flaw is revealed?"
Yan Shu smiled and said, "Don't worry, Lord Lu. I've gathered a lot of information. As far as I know, the place where Zhao Jun went to teach was at the border between Dali and Tubo, southwest of Chengdu Prefecture. The residents there were a mixed population of Tubo and Southwestern Yi. A thousand years later, they were called Tibetans and Yi, two of the fifty-six ethnic groups in the People's Republic of China."
"Is that all? Anything else?"
Lu Yijian asked again.
"The villagers are Tibetans and Yi people. If we assume there are ten children in the village, then there must be at least five couples. Adding the elderly and families with grown children, the village population should be around 100 to 200 people."
Yan Shu continued, "We can create names for these people and fabricate their backgrounds. They usually live in the deep mountains and forests, so it's normal for them not to know much about the outside world. There shouldn't be any loopholes."
"Do we need to find one or two hundred people? Even if we can find that many, writing names and fabricating life stories for each person, and asking them to memorize them by heart, that's going to be incredibly difficult. Plus, with so many people around, there are too many eyes. If they're exposed, it wouldn't be a good thing for the Song Dynasty."
Everyone frowned.
Zhao Jun's affairs have now become the top secret of the Song Dynasty. Zhao Zhen has issued a gag order. Apart from the three prime ministers and three councilors, the highest-ranking emperors and ministers of the Song Dynasty, only Yan Shu and Fan Zhongyan were given exceptions.
Even Zhao Zhen's most trusted and close eunuch Wang Shouzhong did not know the details, and the guards and imperial physicians were even more secretive and had no idea of the other party's origins.
How can such a secret be known to outsiders?
"No, because I've heard indirectly that in remote mountainous villages in the future, the population is very mobile. Young people and middle-aged people often go out to work, and the people left behind are basically the elderly and children. So I think ten children, plus about ten or twenty adults, will be enough. As for confidential matters..."
Yan Shu paused, then said, "Then we can only let them live in the palace first. The elderly can live there. As for the children, if they can learn some knowledge under Zhao Jun's tutelage, they may become pillars of the Song Dynasty and be of great use to the country in the future. After a few years, when they grow up, they will naturally know what to say and what not to say."
Lu Yijian pondered and said, "Well, the confidentiality issue is resolved. Is it just that they are all old people and children? The elderly are easy to deal with, as a few of us old guys can make up the numbers, but as for the children..."
"Don't we all have children?"
Wang Sui said something.
Lü Yijian looked around and said, "We each have some descendants, but let's not talk about whether we can find outstanding children of the right age. Even if we can find one, how can we keep them from being exposed?"
"Regarding Zhao Jun's secret, your own child should be under your own care and must not be leaked. As for what you say in front of Zhao Jun, say less and ask more."
Yan Shu said, "We must warn them repeatedly not to talk too much. We are all here, and we can just pretend to be the parents and ask questions on their behalf... If that doesn't work, there are ventriloquist in the capital who can imitate the children's voices and answer."
"No."
Zhao Zhen frowned and said, "Zhao Jun's affairs are top secret, known only to a few people. How could it be known to outsiders? If they were to silence him, what would the perpetrators do?"
Yan Shu said, "Then we can only ask the children to talk less. However, as far as I know, elementary schools in later generations are equivalent to primary schools. We should be able to find children between eight and fourteen years old and let them live in the palace for a while. If they can learn and succeed, it will be a good thing for the country."
Hearing this, Lu Yijian's eyes suddenly rolled.
Zhao Jun was a hot commodity, not only favored by the emperor, but also immeasurable in his own right. He was not only familiar with later history, but also possessed a wealth of knowledge about the future, which could strengthen the nation.
The most important thing is that Zhao Jun is a descendant of the Zhao family. Even though he dislikes his ancestors, for Zhao Zhen, he is also one of the descendants of Taizu, equivalent to his own nephew.
People say that generations apart are close to each other. After being separated by dozens of generations, Zhao Zhen must have regarded himself as the ancestor and naturally had a certain liking for Zhao Jun, his younger nephew.
Even though Zhao Jun had insulted Zhao Zhen several times before, the emperor finally endured it and promised to make important use of Zhao Jun in the future.
Such a person is likely to soar to fame after his eyesight recovers in the future, and may even become an important figure in the reign of Emperor Renzong. He has unlimited potential in the future.
If the Lu family could let their nephews and nephews worship Zhao Jun as their teacher and form such an alliance of interests, the status of the Lu family would probably be prosperous in the future.
Although the power of aristocratic families had been weakened after the Song Dynasty, it does not mean that they no longer existed.
The most typical example is Lu Yijian himself. His family has been officials for generations. His uncle Lu Mengzheng was the prime minister during the reign of Emperor Zhenzong. His sons and nephews all served as officials in the court.
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