"Don't worry about the labor. Fifty to sixty thousand laborers in Kunshan are more than enough." Pan Jixun continued:

"It's mainly stone and cement. We've never built a dike like this before, so we don't know how much it will take, but of course the more the better."

At this point, he suggested to Zhao Hao: "You should persuade your father to destroy Yufeng Mountain. This will save a lot of money on stone materials and transportation costs."

"No need. Let's leave a single seedling for the people of Kunshan." Young Master Zhao waved his hand proudly and said, "We have plenty of stones. Will it be enough if we open up the entire West Mountain?"

"West Mountain?" Pan Jixun was stunned. "Which West Mountain are you referring to?"

"Dongting West Mountain." Zhao Hao smiled and pointed to the direction of Taihu Lake on the map. He traced the river to the location of Nanshan Temple and said, "Once the stones are unearthed, they can be loaded onto the ship and transported directly to the embankment. It's easier than opening Yufeng Mountain!"

Yufeng Mountain is located in the county town. After the stones are mined, they have to be pulled out of the north gate by truck and loaded onto ships at the Lou River for transportation.

If we quarry stones from Xishan, it would be 150 to 160 miles away from the county seat.

But in this era, the advantages of shipping are too great. You can load the ship directly at the West Mountain, then go downstream and reach the dike in one morning.

It really doesn't make much difference.

"Dongting West Mountain, isn't that the territory of Dongting Chamber of Commerce?" Pan Jixun's home was by the Taihu Lake, so he naturally knew it well.

"I bought it because the island was covered with stones." Zhao Hao said as if he was talking about a trivial matter.

"Bought it, bought it?" Pan Jixun was dumbfounded: "How much did you buy?"

"Of course I bought them all." Seeing Old Pan's incredulous expression, Young Master Zhao happily pretended to be Boyi and said, "They are all in the wild mountains and wilderness. They won't cost much."

In fact, he didn't spend any of his money at all. It was Mr. Liu who bought it and gave it to Mr. Zhao as a redemption of his sins.

"Uh, okay..." Although Pan Jixun came from a wealthy family, he also knew better how outrageous this matter was.

They usually call this kind of person a 'prodigal son'!

However, Mr. Zhao, who spent his money to support the construction of Kunshan, seems to be more noble than the average prodigal son.

"Young Master Zhao is indeed a man of extraordinary talent. I admire him very much." Pan Jixun seemed to see Master Zhao and his son begging for food in the future.

Thinking of this, he patted Zhao Hao on the shoulder and said softly: "If you really can't make it one day in the future, come to Wucheng to find me."

"Uh..." Zhao Hao was stunned for a moment, then he reacted and couldn't help but laugh and cry. This young master is earning money seriously, okay? He is not squandering money at all!

But Old Pan also had good intentions, so Young Master Zhao smiled and nodded, saying, "I will definitely do it if there is a chance."

In any case, Pan Jixun was finally relieved, at least repairing the levee would not be a problem.

~~

That afternoon, the "water control master" Pan Jixun called up the "map maniac" Zheng Ruozeng, and they hurried to compare the blueprints and conduct the last field investigation.

The two wanted to call Zhao Hao to join them, but unfortunately Mr. Zhao did not have the courage to go out under the scorching sun, so he stayed in Nanshan Temple to take a nap.

Unfortunately, he was destined not to sleep today. Just as he was about to lie down, Gao Wu reported that Gu Dadong came to visit.

"What a good time to pick." Young Master Zhao muttered in frustration. However, the other party was the patriarch of the largest clan in Kunshan, so he couldn't be too negligent, otherwise it would be difficult for his father.

She packed up simply and went to the incense room to meet Gu Dadong.

The Gu family is the undisputed largest family in Kunshan. They have been officials for generations and are richer than kings. They have more than 3,000 houses that stretch for more than ten miles and occupy one-eighth of the arable land in the county. There are tens of thousands of people in the family.

Gu Dadong is about the same age as Pan Jixun, but he looks a dozen years younger than him. It is obvious that he pays great attention to maintaining his appearance.

Unlike Pan the Water God who never enjoyed his good life, this man spent money like water when he was young and found all kinds of ways to spend it. He was a complete spendthrift.

Zhao Hao heard that once he was extremely bored, he called all his followers together and told them that he had thought of a new way to spend money. He wanted to be able to spend fifty strings of money with one chopstick, but without eating too much and getting bloated.

One of the hangers-on immediately stood up and said, I can do it.

Gu Dadong then ordered his servant to pick up fifty strings of cash and go out with the man.

Three days later, the retainer came back to present the treasure. Gu Dadong saw that it was just a bird and angrily scolded the retainer for taking him for a fool. He asked him what kind of bird was worth such a price?

The retainer explained that this was a yellow-breasted bird that would win every fight, and that he had bargained with the seller for two days and two nights before he managed to buy it for more than 40 strings of cash.

He used the remaining money to buy lamp wicks, with which he cooked the bird and presented it to the audience, spending exactly fifty strings of cash.

Gu Dadong laughed and ate it with one chopstick.

There are more than one story about this old man's extravagance.

Legend has it that on another occasion, he bought tens of thousands of black bowls, put vegetable oil and lamp wicks in the bowls, lit them, and placed them in the lake south of Yufeng Mountain.

On a moonless night, he stood on the top of Yufeng Mountain, overlooking the thousands of lights floating on the lake. When the breeze blew, the bowls gently knocked against each other, making a tinkling sound that sounded like heavenly music.

The people of Kunshan flocked to the streets to enjoy this unforgettable spectacle.

The citizens gave Yufeng Mountain the nickname "Wanshan" and called the lake where Gu Dashao lit the lantern "Wanshan".

Zhao Hao also heard that because he spent most of his property in extravagant spending, he was worried that his father, who was an official away, would come back and punish him.

So he built a "repaying his father's pagoda", using the huge cost of building the pagoda as an excuse to cover up the deficit. He also placed a stone basin on the top of the pagoda, in which he kept a seven-star snakehead fish, falsely claiming that it could pay homage to the Big Dipper and pray for his father.

When his father came back, he saw that his family fortune was almost gone, and he became so angry that he fell seriously ill. Later, he finally saved his life, and he believed that it was the power of the tower, so he stopped blaming him...

~~

"Mr. Gu, I've heard of you for a long time." As the saying goes, it's not a problem if you don't know the goods, but a problem if you compare the goods. Zhao Hao felt that compared with this gentleman, his father was simply a sensible baby.

"Young Master is too distant, and so is Mr. Right. If you don't mind, how about we call each other brothers?" Gu Dadong sat down with a smile and put a steaming ice bucket on the table.

"What is this, Brother Gu?" Zhao Hao couldn't help but be curious. Seeing this thing in June made one's mouth water.

"This is a cold drink handed down from our ancestors. Bring some to cool you down." Gu Dadong opened the ice bucket with a smile and took out a glass bowl from it.

When Zhao Hao saw the milky yellow cold drink in the bowl with a hint of cold air coming out, he couldn't help but exclaimed in surprise: "Ice cream?!"

"Oh, does this Sushan have another name?" Gu Dadong asked curiously.

"It is said that this name was passed down from here by a man named Ma during the Yuan Dynasty." Zhao Hao said with a smile.

"Try it first." Gu Dadong handed him a bowl with a silver spoon.

Zhao Hao scooped a spoonful and took a sip. It was indeed smooth and fragrant, like soft ice cream that had not hardened. It was much more delicious than his smoothie.

"What a mourning!" Young Master Zhao couldn't help but praise him, and suddenly felt that this old man was very cute.

Although Gu Dadong didn't know what '弔' meant, he guessed it meant delicious. He couldn't help but smile happily and said, "If you like it, I'll send the recipe to the county government and ask the servants to make it for you to cool down."

"Okay!" Zhao Hao gave a thumbs up, then asked with a smile: "Tell me, what do you want to do?"

p.s. I won’t post tonight, I’ll write more tomorrow to make up for it. Love you guys.