"Is that so..." Tang Youde recalled briefly after hearing this, and then said, "This matter was rumored for a while before, but it became silent after the imperial examination began. Everyone said that several important officials in the court were against opening up the border, and that 'not a single piece of wood can be sent to sea' was the ancestral rule set by Emperor Taizu Gao, so there is definitely no hope for this matter."

"It will definitely be opened within this year." Zhao Hao shook his head. The maritime ban was reopened in the first year of Longqing, which is something that all high school students in later generations know.

Of course, this reason could not be said out loud, Zhao Hao had to come up with a new one. "The treasury of the Ming Dynasty has been in deficit for many years, and we urgently need new financial resources to make up for the deficit. More importantly, after the strict maritime ban in the past few years, more than a dozen industries in the southeast, such as silk weaving, cotton spinning, porcelain making, and tea planting, have been greatly impacted. Millions of people who make a living in these industries are all in hardship and can hardly make ends meet. The wealthy families in the southeast have also seen their incomes drop sharply and are deeply distressed. They will definitely influence Your Majesty to get this done."

Tang Youde nodded silently, thinking that what Zhao Hao said made sense. He had heard that Xu Jie, the current cabinet chief minister, had a family with 400,000 acres of land in Songjiang, employing tens of thousands of weavers. The Xu family was the one most affected by the maritime ban, and the chief minister would probably spare no effort to facilitate this.

Tang Youde's mind raced as he secretly guessed that it was probably because Mr. Zhao had some connection with Mr. Xu and knew something about it.

But he didn't know that Lord Xu was actually a member of the Forbidden Sea Sect...

"But if that's the case, isn't this five thousand taels of silver a bit too shabby?" Tang Youde glanced at Zhao Hao and thought, this kid must have heard his grandfather mention it by accident and wanted to make some pocket money.

In fact, Zhao Hao was just poor. He took advantage of De Hengdang's contempt for his father and tricked him into giving him the two thousand taels of silver with a piece of waste paper.

After completing the mental work, Tang Youde felt more confident. Besides, it was pointless to make wild guesses since the contract was already in hand. He put away his copy of the contract and said to Zhao Hao with a smile:

"Since we are going to do it, we should do it sooner rather than later. I will go back and make some arrangements, and we will be able to go to the countryside to collect silk in three to five days."

"Okay." Zhao Hao nodded. He didn't even know where the silk was, so naturally he would listen to Tang Youde.

"Will you come with me to the countryside?" Tang Youde invited again, "During the Qingming Festival, the scenery outside Nanjing is very beautiful."

"Okay." Zhao Hao nodded again. Thinking that he had never been out of Nanjing and it was time to go out for some fresh air, he readily agreed.

~~

After lunch, Zhao Hao took another nap.

The afternoon sun shone warmly on him through the brand new Korean paper window lattices, making Zhao Hao so comfortable that he didn't want to move a finger.

Lying lazily on the bed, Zhao Hao looked at the mosquito net above his head and began to think secretly in his mind.

My father is now being taken care of by someone, so I don’t have to worry about collecting and selling silk. Tomorrow I will go and take care of the breakfast stall of Fang Fang’s family, and then it seems that I will have nothing to do.

He had thought of a few more profitable businesses these days, but firstly, he was biting off more than he could chew, and secondly, he was short of capital and manpower, so he could only put them aside for the time being.

You have to find something to do, right? Otherwise, eating and sleeping every day like this would be too... blissful.

Should I invent something? Or write a few books? Or should I go around and visit the adults who are about to be resurrected?

Zhao Hao thought to himself that although he knew a lot about the principles, his hands-on ability was almost zero. So he should wait until he found the right person before inventing something.

As for heating the cold stove, this requires money, and he only has a few hundred taels of silver now, which is not enough. Moreover, he doesn't know where those adults on the list of reinstatement are hiding.

It’s better to just concentrate on cooking for Zhao Jin.

After much thought, he decided that it would be best to write a few books about his past life knowledge while his memory was still fresh. It would cost little and would be of great significance.

Thinking of this, Zhao Hao could no longer lie down. He jumped up, shouted at Gao Wu to grind the ink for him, then spread out the manuscript paper, picked up the pen... and froze there.

'What the hell am I writing?'

Zhao Hao was stunned for half an hour and still couldn't decide which book to start copying from.

Finally, I had no choice but to copy down the poems I remembered. Although I didn't plan to become famous through this, it was better to be prepared.

For some unknown reason, his memory of his past life was extremely clear, and he could write down almost every poem he had read on paper without thinking.

This made Zhao Hao very excited. He thought to himself, am I really a genius? He quickly went to Zhao Shouzheng's desk, took out a copy of The Analects, quickly browsed through a dozen pages, then closed the book and started writing down the words.

"This is the first chapter of the book, so, so, so..."

Zhao Hao thought for a long time but couldn't remember the second sentence. Then he read it over and over again, and only then could he barely remember four or five sentences.

This present-day memory is truly touching.

No wonder he hasn’t memorized the entire “Analects of Confucius” even after so many years of education.

But when Zhao Hao thought about the books he had read in his previous life, his clear memory immediately came back to him.

Zhao Hao fell into deep thought as he watched himself write nearly two thousand words in one breath for the first part of "The Exploitation of the Works of Nature", 'Nai Li'.

What the hell is this?

~~

When Zhao Hao came to his senses, he found that the room was already dark.

Gao Wu lit the lamp for him, and Zhao Hao lost interest in writing. He just felt that his wrists and shoulders were sore and his back was tight after sitting down for the whole afternoon, and he couldn't help but secretly sympathize with Zhao Shouzheng.

Mr. Zhao was in jail every day, sitting all day! I don't know how he managed to survive at such an old age.

After stacking the written papers and locking them in the cabinet, Zhao Hao still felt very tired, so he asked Gao Wudao who was washing his brush outside:

"Brother Gao, don't you think it's too late for me to practice boxing with you now?"

"Not too late." Gao Wu first answered, then after washing his brush and standing up, he said in a muffled voice, "Practicing martial arts can strengthen your body, and it's never too late. My father just started learning boxing and kicking from me a few days ago."

"Really?" Zhao Hao asked curiously, "Why didn't I see it?"

"The young master was still asleep at that time." Gao Wu said seriously, "As the saying goes, one should rise up and practice martial arts when hearing the cock-crow. A martial artist should first sharpen his mind and temper his character. He should practice in the hottest days of summer and the coldest days of winter."

After saying that, he looked at Zhao Hao and said, "If you want to learn, I can teach you."

"No, I'm just asking casually." Zhao Hao shook his head firmly and said, "This young master can't endure hardship or fatigue."

Isn't it just writing a book? Do I have to do it myself? I can find a pretty girl to be my scribe and I can read to her, right?

Gao Wu nodded in disappointment and said nothing more.

At this time, Zhao Shouzheng finally came back from school, and naturally, his follower Fan Datong was also there. Ever since he found out that the Zhao family had become rich again, he had treated this place as a canteen and came here to eat almost every day.

Zhao Hao naturally didn't care about him now. He thought it was good to have someone to accompany his father to and from school.

Thinking of this, he was suddenly stunned, and then he remembered that he had also found a book boy for his father.

Zhao Hao was about to shout, "Fang Wen, why don't you show up?", but he heard Zhao Shouzheng excitedly say, "Son, son, your poem "Die Lian Hua" was sent to the Imperial College today. Now my classmates don't call me by my name anymore, they all call me "Ci Daddy."

Zhao Hao rolled his eyes and said, "What's so good about being a ci father? Wouldn't it be great to be a ci saint?"

"What are you saying? How can a father steal the limelight from his son? Is he still a human being?" Zhao Shouzheng shook his head and smiled at his son, saying, "Besides, being a poet is not as good as being the father of a poet. Come on, call me dad."

"You will have no pocket money for next month." Zhao Hao sneered and turned to go into the house.

"Ah, no, please let me go, little ancestor..." Zhao Shouzheng was pinned in the middle and kept begging behind him.

ps. The mixed year of 2019 has passed, and the new year has arrived. I wish you all a happy new year, all the best, good health, and continued success!