"Hey..." Zhao Hao's words sounded good, but they sounded weird, and the two old Pans couldn't help but feel a little embarrassed. "Losing money to gain publicity is really harmful to the body. Otherwise, Liu Daxia wouldn't have burned Zheng He's navigation charts."

"But it's not all bad to be generous with your friends. At least the golden signboard of 'The Celestial Empire' has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people in Southeast Asia." Zhao Hao smiled and said, "This is the most valuable asset of the Ming Dynasty overseas, worth more than a million soldiers!"

As he spoke, he waved his hand heavily and said decisively: "Since the imperial court does not cherish it, then we will take it over! Let the group come to Nanyang as the protector of all countries!"

If the countries in Southeast Asia could welcome the landing of the imperial army, it would certainly cost much less than knocking on the country's door with powerful ships and cannons. Moreover, with the guise of the Celestial Empire, it would be much easier to maintain the rule in Southeast Asia in the future. It is simply the golden finger, oh no, the golden thigh, for colonizing Southeast Asia!

As a royal army, we cannot be as ruthless as the invaders, even though our goals are similar...

Now Pan Zhongxian and Pan Jixun understood that Master Zhao’s purpose was not to drive away the Spaniards. His real purpose was to replace them, and to do it openly and make others beg him for mercy.

"This...isn't this just wanting to be that person and also want to build a memorial archway for oneself?" A dignified old man like Pan Zhongxian naturally felt a little disgusted with such behavior.

"It's normal. From the imperial court to the local government, even those great scholars and gentry, who isn't righteous on the surface, but more vicious than the other when it comes to sucking people's marrow?" Pan Jixun said without being surprised: "Since you have made a long-term plan, then roll up your sleeves and get to work! Give us a task quickly."

"Well, we have to wait until the minister recovers from his injury." Young Master Zhao apologized with a smile.

"It's the coccyx, not the butt!" Pan Jixun stressed in frustration, and threw a blueprint on the bedside table to him and said, "Besides, does lying down delay my work?"

Master Zhao took it and looked at it, and found that it was a water conservancy map within Chaozhou Prefecture.

"Oh, it's true that my father gave me life, but the minister knows me best!" Young Master Zhao looked at the densely marked engineering plan and said as if he had found a treasure: "I was just worrying about how to ask you for help!"

"I knew that you tricked me here to build a water conservancy project, so I asked for the blueprints from the mansion in advance and made some preliminary plans." Pan Jixun said, "Of course, if we really want to do it, we must conduct an on-site survey."

"Yeah." Zhao Hao nodded vigorously with a smile on his face, listening to Mr. Pan talking:

"From this map, we can clearly see that the eleven counties of Chaozhou Prefecture are divided into three plains arranged in a triangular shape by continuous mountains - Hanjiang Plain, Rongjiang Plain and Lianjiang Plain. According to the statistics of Chaozhou Prefecture's Yellow Book, the population living in these three small plains accounts for 90% of the entire Chaozhou Prefecture."

After a pause, Pan Jixun continued, "Although it may be a bit cruel to say so, it is clear that focusing on the plains that account for half of Chaozhou Prefecture will bring much more benefits than trying to do everything at once."

"Alas." Pan Zhongxian sighed and said nothing. He was too idealistic and always found it difficult to accept such injustice, which was also the reason why he gave up his official career halfway.

"Of the three small plains, the one Chaozhou Prefecture can effectively control is naturally the Hanjiang Plain where the prefecture capital is located. The people there have been under the rule of the king for a long time and are relatively docile... Oh no, gentle, not violent."

"Relatively..." Young Master Zhao couldn't help smacking his lips, thinking of those unruly people in the villages along the Han River who dared to rob Yu Dayou on the road, and twice. In any case, it can't be called 'gentle and non-violent', right?

"Of course. The remote Rongjiang Plain and the Lianjiang Plain in the south are far away from the jurisdiction of Chaozhou Prefecture, where bandits and pirates are rampant. The situation there is very complicated." Pan Jixun waved his hand heavily and said in a very stylish manner: "So whether it is you or your father, you have to make efforts in the Hanjiang Plain first! It's like taking the autumn examination. If you do well in this one, the next two will be easy. If you don't do well in this one, you don't even have to take the other two."

"Yes." Pan Zhongxian also nodded and said, "And you have also seen that through this battle to defend Chaozhou, your father has also established a high prestige in the city. It is right to take advantage of this enthusiasm and do something here. Who knows if people will still buy into it after this enthusiasm has passed."

"Yes, we must hurry up and do it." Zhao Hao carefully put away the water conservancy map and said, "I will take this back and show it to those guys. Let them feast their eyes and attract their attention."

"Let's start with the things we planned before coming here." Then he asked Pan Zhongxian, "Which one do you think we should start with?"

"Of course it's the academy." Pan Zhongxian said bluntly, "You were not there at that time, so you didn't see how eager the gentry in Chaozhou Prefecture were for our academy. Originally, they were very reluctant to contribute manpower and money to help defend the city, but when they heard that your father was going to run Yufeng Academy, their attitude changed drastically!"

"They want what they lack." Pan Jixun sneered, "Of course, what they want is not culture, and certainly not your science."

"I know..." Zhao Hao rolled his eyes, turned to Pan Zhongxian and said with a smile: "Okay, tomorrow you can invite those gentry and we will go to choose a site for the academy together."

"Okay." Pan Zhongxian nodded happily. He was also anxious. He quickly chose a good address so that his men could get busy.

"But." But the kind-hearted Vice President Pan thought for the group with some contradictions: "If Chaozhou is built according to your plan, it will attract all the overseas Chaozhou people to return home. Wouldn't it conflict with the plan to rebuild the Maritime Silk Road?"

"Hahaha." Zhao Hao laughed loudly and said, "Second uncle, you worry too much. Do you know who can feel the changes in their hometown most clearly? It's not those who live in their hometown day and night, but those who leave home for several years and only return home once. They can clearly feel the difference between now and then. So the better we build Chaozhou, the more convinced they will be of us. Then it will be a natural thing to discuss cooperation with them."

"That's right. We can't even build Chaozhou well, and yet we say we're going to help them build a beautiful home overseas. Who would believe that?" Pan Zhongxian nodded in agreement without saying anything more.

~~

They chatted until the sun was setting, then Zhao Hao stood up and said goodbye.

Pan Zhongzhan was going to arrange the site selection for the next day, so he left with them.

Pan Jixun looked at Zhao Hao's departing back with a sense of loss. Doesn't this guy realize that he has forgotten something?

Just as he was feeling melancholy, a person suddenly appeared in the ward. Old Pan was startled, and the wound on his buttocks was moved, causing him to scream in pain.

"Hey, hey..."

"Shh!" But the man covered his mouth and whispered, "The young master has a gift. Let me give it to the minister."

As he spoke, he stuffed a beautifully packaged wooden box into his arms and disappeared.

Pan Jixun never saw what the man looked like from beginning to end. To be more precise, he had no impression of him at all, and it was like he hadn't seen him at all...

Not to mention, ask his name.

"I don't know who you are. But I know who you are for..."

Pan Jixun said silently, and with his hands trembling slightly, he untied the silk ribbon on the mahogany box. He had been waiting for this for half a year. It was too long!

Because his second brother knew that he had pica. For his health, Pan Zhongxian strictly prohibited anyone from feeding him those strange things. So he hadn't had a good meal for a long time, and now he could only pin his hopes on Zhao Hao.

Lao Pan opened the wooden box and saw that it was divided into nine grids, each grid containing a mineral or ore of different color and texture.

"Good boy, that's more like it!" Pan Jixun's mouth was watering, and his fingers were spinning around on the nine-square grid, wondering which piece to eat first. Finally, he picked up a piece of yellow ore and put it into his mouth, chewing it carefully with a look of enjoyment on his face.

'Hmm, the soft touch of the tongue tip is like the sunlight shining on a river; the coolness of the throat is like the gurgling of a spring under the moon; and the roughness of the liquid passing through the esophagus brings a warm feeling to the stomach. Why is that?'

"It contains gold, silver and copper, and the content is so high. This kid has made a fortune!" Pan Jixun was addicted to the rich taste and suddenly opened his eyes wide in surprise: "No, how can the ore contain gold, silver and copper at the same time? This is not scientific?"

In his rich experience as a gourmet, these top-quality ingredients are too scarce, and nature, the stingy chef, has always used them separately.

It seems that I still eat less and eat more. Nature, the god of cooking, will always have surprises waiting for me!

Pan Jixun was so moved and satisfied that he couldn't help but shed tears.

"Hey, Minister, why are you crying?" Chen Shigong, who came to check on the ward, saw Pan Jixun lying on the bed with tears streaming down his face, and couldn't help but ask curiously, "Does it hurt so much?"

"No, no." Lao Pan quickly put the box under his stomach and wiped his tears with the corner of the quilt, saying, "I was dazzled by the sun, yes, dazzled!"

Chen Shigong looked at Pan Jixun suspiciously. The room faced east and the sunlight had disappeared by now.

Fortunately, he just thought that as a minister he was too embarrassed to admit that he sometimes had his emotional weaknesses, so he didn't ask any further questions.

Little did they know that Lao Pan was just crying out of greed...

~~

Meanwhile, Master Zhao returned to the Tongzhi Yamen. The disciples had originally arranged a house for him in the city, but he had to stay with Master Zhao for a few nights before he could move out, right?

So he asked most of his followers to settle down in the "Prince Consort Xu's Mansion" first, while he himself lived with his father, accompanied by his two sisters.

Similar to the county magistrate's office, the deputy magistrate's office was also inside the prefectural magistrate's office, occupying only a small side courtyard with three entrances and exits.

When Zhao Hao and his group moved in, the house suddenly seemed very crowded.

But Zhao Hao had no time to care about these things, because as expected, Mr. Zhao was drunk again. The four strong maids left by the princess, Xiaoqing, Xiaobai, Xiaohong and Xiaohei, helped him clean up quickly, but Mr. Zhao cried and shouted for his son.

Master Zhao had no choice but to let the four maids, who had an average height of 1.8 meters and weighed 120 grams, leave first, while he accompanied his drunken father.

Unexpectedly, Zhao Shouzheng took his hand and the couple calmed down.

p.s. There is one more update, but not too early. Go to bed and you will see it tomorrow morning.