Emperor Renzong of the Great Song Dynasty

The emperor's big wedding, logically speaking, has to go through an extremely solemn and cumbersome process.

But now both Zhao Yiyi and Kou Zhun want to make this marriage a reality as soon as possible—Kou Zhun wants to take advantage of the emperor's regret and confirm his status as the head of the country, while Zhao Yiyi wants to catch up with Li Yuanhao. Hurry up and marry Kou Zhun's daughter into the palace before any big news.

Now that Liu E has left the stage, only he and Kou Zhun are left in the court to compete.

This time it was a complete zero-sum game.When the enemy advances, we retreat, and when the enemy retreats, we advance.

If Li Yuanhao sends troops to attack the northwestern states now, Zhao Yiyi is afraid that Kou Zhun will not be able to lead the army with peace of mind.

Before the Liao Kingdom sent troops to the south, if one was not careful, the country would be wiped out, so no matter how hard Kou Zhun and Liu E were torn apart at that time, they had to temporarily put aside their disputes and agree to the outside world.

Xiazhou is insignificant compared to the Liao Kingdom, and Zhao Yiyi doesn't think that Kou Zhun will risk his home being stolen and travel thousands of miles to quell the chaos in Xiazhou.

The only way for Kou Zhun'an to go to the Northwest with peace of mind is to marry his daughter and give him confidence that he will still be the powerful Duke of Lai after he returns.

With the joint efforts of both parties, the preparation period before the emperor's wedding was shortened to three months.

From acceptance to application period, all the way at high speed, finally arrived the day of big wedding.

On the eve of the wedding, Kou Yaoniang was sitting in the boudoir, staring at the candlelight, and Mrs. Song was sitting beside her, silent.

Tomorrow is the day to enter the palace.From then on, she was the emperor's wife and the queen of Song Dynasty.

Also the future, the emperor's mother.

Song sighed softly, and helped her brush up the broken hair from her temples: "Our family had a queen before, and now it's the second one."

Kou Yaoniang smiled slightly: "I know, it's my aunt."

Song said: "Yes, it's my eldest sister, your aunt. That year was the first year of Kaibao, the king and queen passed away, and there was no owner in the harem. Emperor Tai Zu ordered eldest sister to enter the palace."

"In the ninth year of Kaibao, Emperor Taizu died, and Emperor Taizong succeeded. First, he ordered the eldest sister to move to the West Palace, and then ordered the eldest sister to move to the East Palace. In the first year of Dao, the eldest sister passed away. The funeral of my sister-in-law was treated. There was a Hanlin scholar who spoke privately for the eldest sister, saying that the elder sister’s mother was honored all over the world, and she was demoted to Chuzhou when she was buried in the future.”

Kou Yaoniang held Song Shi's hand: "Mother, my daughter knows it all."

Song's eyes were red, and she suppressed her tears, choked up and said, "The Eldest Sister's Palace is located in Princess Yan's house, she will not be buried with Emperor Taizu, and the God will not be buried in the temple. In the third year of Dao, Emperor Taizong finally issued an edict to be the Eldest Sister To be buried, to be buried in the north of Taizu Yongchang Mausoleum, and the gods and masters enjoy it in a separate temple."

She let out a sob, gritted her teeth and shouted: "My eldest sister, the empress of a country, the god master after death can't enjoy the imperial temple! The royal family is so fickle!"

Kou Yaoniang hugged Mrs. Song's trembling body, and Mrs. Song hugged her back tightly: "Why on earth do you have to enter the palace! Let your father find a good family for you. Mother can see you every day. Wouldn't it be nice to get along peacefully together!"

Kou Yaoniang whispered: "Mother, the destiny cannot be violated."

Song shook her head: "I don't believe in destiny, I don't believe it!"

Kou Yaoniang sighed: "Since mother doesn't believe in the destiny, let's think that her daughter insists on entering the palace because she is greedy for imperial power and wealth."

She pinched a decision in her hand, and Song gradually fell asleep crying.Kou Yaoniang supported Song Shi to lie down, and sat by the window by herself, gazing at the stars in the night sky.

So it's dawn.

The preparations before the big wedding can be saved, but the ostentation on the day of the big wedding must be gone through.

When Zhao Yiyi sat on the marriage bed dragging his exhausted body, it was the first time that he hated his emperor status like this.

The Tian family has no personal affairs, and the emperor's wedding is politics.If this is an ordinary person marrying a daughter-in-law, how can it be so tiring as fighting a vicious battle?

He believed that the other person sitting on the marriage bed thought so too.

Not to mention anything else, just say that the dragon and phoenix flower hairpin crown with a height of more than one foot and a long tail at the back, if it is placed on the head for a whole day, Zhao Yiyi is not sure whether his neck can continue to exist.

In the middle of the night, the wedding ceremony was finally over, and all the palace eunuchs retreated outside the bedroom, only Liu En was still guarding by the bed curtain.

Zhao Yiyi smiled: "Queen, it's late at night."

Seeing that the Kou family lady turned her head slightly, causing the phoenix crown on her head to tremble for a while: "Can you rest?"

Zhao Yiyi nodded: "Yes."

Kou Yaoniang breathed a sigh of relief, raised her hand to remove the phoenix crown, and straightened her neck.

Zhao Yiyi didn't know how to talk to the new queen—do you want to ask her, why do you want to be my queen because you are a good god?

Kou Yaoniang took off the phoenix crown, finally freed her neck, and felt much better.

She smiled and said to Zhao Yiyi: "Officials, rest."

Zhao Yiyi sighed secretly and squeezed a smile out.

We are married, how can we leave.Follow the trend, follow the trend.

Anyway, it was her father who suffered, not herself.What to be afraid of, the emperor is not afraid of anything.

The emperor had three days of marriage leave when he got married, which gave the empress enough time to live a married life.

Zhao Yiyi took Liu En out of the wedding room on the first day after marriage.

It's hard to have a legal holiday that you don't have to worry about anything, and you don't need it for nothing.

The queen didn't seem to be clingy, and Zhao Yiyi didn't have to spend the rare three-day vacation staring at her under the bed tent.

He went to Jiang Ping first.

The match factory will be his pocketbook for the next few years. Although he has entrusted Jiang Ping with full authority over it, he is still worried and wants to come and see for himself.

Liu En said before that Jiang Ping set the factory address near the Forbidden Army camp.

Zhao Yiyi had met Kou Zhun when he came to the Forbidden Army camp before, and he vaguely remembered that there was a rather prosperous tile shop near the camp. Although it was not comparable to the big tile shops in the center of Bianliang, it was also well-populated and it was a factory building. great place.

Jiang Ping should have opened the factory there.

The tiles near the Forbidden Army are regarded as the private property of officers, so there must be someone collecting entrance fees at the entrance, and there are quite a lot of them.

Of course, it was impossible for Jiang Ping to set up the factory in Wasi where he charged a fee. He bought a large piece of land outside Wasi, built a fence, and built a factory building.The north of the factory is Bianshui, so it is very convenient to transport raw materials and products in and out.

Matches are fast-moving consumer goods with extremely low unit prices, and they are making small profits but quick sales. If they want to make money, they can only make the factory bigger and maintain a huge shipment volume.

Anyway, there are more than one million people in Bianliang City, all of whom are real citizens. The commodity economy is extremely developed, and a few packs of matches can still be sold.

Therefore, the match factory occupies a very large area. Zhao Yiyi took a rough look and estimated that it should be as large as [-] square meters in later generations.

The land near the Forbidden Army camp has always been regarded as forbidden by the Sanya officers. Jiang Ping was able to take such a large area without being targeted, thanks to Di Qing's mediation.

There is a low wall of less than two meters around the factory building, all of which are made of loess.A corner gate was opened facing Bianshui, and there was a small pier outside the corner gate. There were several boats parked by the pier, and some porters were loading things on board.The gate of the factory building was facing the road, and it was tightly closed at this time.

Liu Endao: "The gate is for personnel to enter and exit. It is not the time to change shifts, so the gate will not be opened."

Zhao Yiyi nodded: "Go and tell someone that we are here to find Boss Jiang and tell us to go in and have a look."

Liu En smiled: "It's not difficult. I come here all the time, and the concierge recognizes me."

Zhao Yiyi followed Liu En to the gate, and sure enough the gatekeeper recognized Liu En, and Liu En said that Zhao Yiyi was his master, so the porter let them both in without hesitation.

After entering the gate, there is a slightly open square, with factory buildings on both sides, all of which are low earthen houses, with windows facing the square.

Today, the weather is bright and clear, neither wind nor rain, and the windows are wide open. Zhao Yiyi walked across the square and saw that the factory was full of hard-working workers. As expected, they were all produced on an assembly line, with extremely high efficiency, and piles of raw materials were sent to On the assembly line, piles of matches are sent down and packed into small wooden boxes.

He noticed that the matchbox at this time was still the kind of box made of thin wood slices that he made a sample for Jiang Ping, and the sides were roughened with tools so that matches could be struck.

But the cost is a bit high, and the feel of striking a match with rough wood chips is not as good as sandpaper.

If cardboard and sandpaper can be produced, the cost can be reduced a lot, and the product will be more usable and more popular...

Zhao Yiyi asked Liu En to write down the matter first, and discuss it in detail after returning to the palace.

Jiang Ping's office is in a small room at the end of the factory building, with the door ajar.

Liu En stepped forward and knocked on the door, and when he heard "Come in" from inside, he pushed the door open.

When Zhao Yiyi entered, he saw a large case in the middle of the room. Jiang Ping was sitting behind the case, and two people dressed as workers stood in front of the case, their heads downcast.

It is said that they are dressed as workers because the two of them are wearing bunts, with their entire arms and calves exposed.

Jiang Ping thought it was someone in charge who came to report the affairs, but when he looked up, it was Zhao Yiyi who was leading Liu En, and stood up in shock: "This is—"

Didn't the emperor just get married yesterday, why did he run out of the palace just after the wedding ceremony?

I heard that the empress is the princess and daughter of the Lai Kingdom. Is this a feud between the empress and the empress?

Liu En said with a smile: "Boss Zhao came to the factory to have a look, and he didn't disturb anyone."

Only then did Jiang Ping feel relieved, and asked Zhao Yiyi to sit in his previous seat.

There was only one place in the whole room where people could sit. Although the emperor was rude, it was better than making the emperor stand up.

After getting along for so long, Jiang Ping also understood that the emperor is a generous person, and he would not punish anyone for a mere seat.

Sitting behind the case, Zhao Yiyi pointed to the two people on the ground and asked, "What's going on here?"

Is it the worker who made a mistake?

Jiang Pingdao: "The workers in the two factories have dirty hands and feet, and the subordinates are reprimanding them."

Zhao Yiyi said: "If your hands and feet are not clean, you can't stay in the factory."

You can't keep two thieves at home.

Those two people saw that he was the person in charge, and when they heard what he said, their faces turned pale, and they knelt down in a common voice: "Master, please give me a way to survive!"

Kowtow as you speak.

Zhao Yiyi frowned: "Get up!"

He has always disliked seeing others kneeling, let alone watching others kowtow.When I was an emperor, I had to do so. He was ranked third in the world, and he would kneel when he knelt.Now that he is out of the house, he has to be headed by others, which makes him a little uncomfortable.

When the two heard him shout, they thought it was because they didn't want to listen to their pleading, and suddenly they kowtowed more cheerfully.

Jiang Ping coughed: "Okay, Boss Zhao is not an outsider, so get up."

Hearing these words, those two people stood up quickly: "It turns out that they are our own people, thanks to us knocking so hard."

Zhao Yiyi turned to Jiang Ping: "This is..."

Jiang Ping said with a smile: "These are two nurses invited by my subordinates, who are trying to perform for the workers in the factory."

Zhao Yiyi asked, "Why do you want to act?"

Jiang Ping said solemnly: "During the past few days, my subordinates have been patrolling and found that the hands and feet of the workers in the factory are occasionally dirty. It's just a small account of one or two boxes of matches. It's not worth firing workers for this. Besides, the law does not blame the public. It’s not easy to have a seizure. So the subordinates recruited these two friends, let them work as workers in the factory for two days, and then pretended to expose the incident, and dealt with them in front of everyone, which was also counted as killing chickens for monkeys to see. , can eliminate the unhealthy tendencies in the factory.”

Zhao Yiyi nodded: "This plan is very clever."

He added: "However, monkeys have poor memory. After one or two months, they have already forgotten the life and death of you two chickens. How will you treat them?"

Jiang Pingdao: "After disposing of these two nurses, if anyone dares to try his own way, he will be killed."

Zhao Yiyi said: "Not satisfactory."

Ask again: "How much is the monthly salary of the workers in the factory now?"

Jiang Ping said a number.

Zhao Yiyi said: "Is it paid in full?"

Jiang Ping hurriedly said: "Don't dare to be false."

This number is enough for a family of five to live comfortably for a month.

Canglan knows etiquette well enough, and with so much wages, it's time to improve their own quality.

As for how to improve quality——

Who better to go to school than the sons and daughters of workers?

As for the workers themselves, they can go to night school.

Anyway, match factories generally dare not work night shifts for safety reasons, and those who are idle at night are also idle.

Zhao Yiyi said: "Boss Jiang kills the chicken. Come on, I won't bother you anymore."

I have to go see Yan Shu.

I haven't seen this talented man for a long time. I don't know if his force value has increased or not.

Yan Shu's house is in the most prosperous and prosperous place in Bianliang City, about half the capital city away from Jiang Ping's factory building.

When Zhao Yiyi arrived at the Yan Mansion, it was already past noon, and it was the time when the sun was at its most vicious.

When it was so hot, Yan Shu naturally couldn't run outside.

He was sitting under the shade of flowers, thinking about the emperor's Qingbei University.

According to the emperor's will, the scale of Qingbei University cannot be small, at least not smaller than Guozijian.

To accommodate so many students, it is natural to have such a large space.

According to Yan Shu's estimation, at least thousands of acres of land would be needed to achieve the scale the emperor wanted.

This thousands of acres of land cannot be located outside the city—how can a school be built outside the city?The Imperial College is not outside the city either.

And want to find thousands of acres of land in Bianliang City——

Yan Shu had to admit that he, possibly, was out of pocket.

Now that he has resigned from office, he has no share in his salary.I spent a lot of money before, but I haven't saved much money in all these years.

In terms of money, there is still some, but he really can't get the money to buy thousands of acres of land in the city for a while.

And the school also needs a school building, which means he has to build a house on these lands.

Yan Shu raised his eyes and looked around, otherwise, he would use his house as a school building.

Anyway, as long as the emperor's errands are done well, what do you want in the future?

Now that the queen mother has retreated back to the harem, seeing the emperor's victory is in sight, if she doesn't show her loyalty at this time, when will she show her loyalty?

At this time, he heard a laugh: "What is Yan Qing worried about?"

As soon as he looked up, he saw the emperor and Eunuch Liu coming from the gate of the courtyard.

Yan Shu hurriedly got up and saluted.

Didn't the emperor just get married, why did he run out?

Zhao Yiyi asked Yan Shu to avoid the courtesy, and said: "I saw Yan Qing's sad face from afar, what's on my mind, why don't you tell me?"

Could it be Qingbei University's business?

Yan Shu hurriedly said: "I was thinking that the address of the school building is uncertain now, so it would be more convenient to use my house as the school site."

Zhao Yiyi choked, he didn't expect that Yan Shu had already planned to sacrifice for this sake.

It seems that everyone's life is not easy, and no one has any surplus food.

But it's still free.

The pear gardens and willow catkin ponds in the Yan Mansion are really not suitable for cultivating the noble sentiments of the workers who are hardworking and simple.

Don't wait for the workers to come to two classes and learn nothing else, but learn to sing the wind and play the moon and be arty.

That's kind of bad.

Zhao Yiyi said: "It doesn't have to be like this, I have chosen a wonderful place for Yan Qing."

Yan Shu said, "Please show me the officials."

Zhao Yiyi said: "It's near the Forbidden Army camp."

Yan Shu was surprised: "There..."

Zhao Yiyi said: "It's not far from the inner city, so it's not remote. Moreover, the land nearby is owned by the military camp, and the price can still be negotiated."

As for what can be negotiated, it's up to Di Qing.

Yan Shu hesitated, "But, Duke Lai..."

The Forbidden Army camp is the territory of the Duke of Lai, and there are still some unexplainable ties between him and the Duke of Lai.Baba leaned forward, it seemed a little...

Zhao Yiyi didn't tell him that Kou Zhun was about to lead his troops to the Northwest, and that he would probably be able to retire where he was when he came back.Xiazhou's matter is still top secret for the time being, and he dare not publicize it everywhere for fear of causing panic.

He just comforted Yan Shu and said, "How can you catch a tiger if you don't enter the tiger's den? Besides, the Duke of Lai is busy with his affairs, so he may not be able to notice us."

This is true. Since Liu E's social death, Zhao Yiyi and Kou Zhun have divided up her political inheritance. Kou Zhun now has a heavier burden on his shoulders. Judging from the dark circles on his face, it is estimated that he sleeps no more than four hours a day.

All the affairs of the Forbidden Army camp are basically in the hands of Di Qing.

Even if Kou Zhun knew that Yan Shu opened a school near Daying, he would probably think about who Yan Shu was for a while, and then wave his hand after thinking about it: Open it, I won’t be an official anyway, it’s good to have some personal hobbies.

Anyway, it's better than beating people everywhere.

Taking into account Yan Shu's self-esteem, Zhao Yiyi didn't say these words.

Yan Shu's heart was suddenly filled with the desolation of Yi Shuihan: "I will never disgrace my mission!"

Zhao Yiyi nodded, and asked again: "Have you drawn up the list of the first batch of students?"

Yan Shu said: "I sent letters to some old friends in the local area, informing them of this, and asking them to recommend students from poor families who are motivated to enter Beijing. In the capital, there are also many families who want to send their children here .”

Although he is down and out, he is still a leader in the literary world.As soon as the news of Yan Shu's school was released, there were still many well-to-do families flocking to him, wanting to let their children enjoy the glory of a great writer.

Zhao Yiyi asked: "How many people can there be?"

Yan Shu did the math: "It's about a thousand."

Zhao Yiyi shook his head: "It's not enough."

Yan Shu said: "It's not expensive to run a school, and Confucius only has three thousand disciples..."

Zhao Yiyi said: "Confucius had 72 disciples, and only [-] were called sages. Confucius also knew how to teach students according to their aptitude. Some people can learn more, and some people can only learn superficial knowledge."

Yan Shu asked suspiciously, "What does Your Majesty mean?"

Zhao Yiyi said: "I asked Yan Qing to run the school, not because I wanted Yan Qing to teach me thousands of Jinshi every year. I wanted Yan Qing to teach me dozens of Jinshi, hundreds of candidates, and several Thousands of scholars, and tens of thousands of children."

He tried his best to explain his purpose with the level of the imperial examination that Yan Shu could understand.

"Dozens of Jinshi are important, but the most important thing is tens of thousands of children. I am suffering from poor style of writing and poor governance. It is not that there are few people who are admitted to Jinshi every year, but that there are few people who are enlightened among the people. Today There are millions of people in Bianliang City, if one person out of ten can read and write, that means one hundred thousand people can read and write. Is 10 people enough? But if it is divided into one million people, there can be no less. Only the million Only when more than half of the population is literate can the previously buried talents be revealed."

Yan Shu was surprised: "Everyone can read? This..."

How is this possible?

Zhao Yiyi patted Yan Shu on the shoulder: "Because it is so difficult, I must ask Yan Qing to plan for me."

If he just wanted to open a cadre training school, wouldn't he be able to find any scholar who could do it?

Only the huge and arduous task of universal literacy education deserves the name Yan Shu.

Yan Shu took a deep breath: "I will live up to my mission."

If this matter is done seriously, he, Yan Shu, will definitely be famous in history!

Although it has already been famous in history... His heroic appearance in Yuqing Palace has probably been dutifully recorded by the official historian.

Yan Shu was slightly sluggish, but immediately cheered up again.

Only by accomplishing something great can the previous shame be washed away!

Zhao Yiyi smiled: "Since we want to educate the whole people, we must let everyone in the world know that there is such a school and how to go to school here."

The word-of-mouth advertising method like today is really not advisable.

Now, apart from those in Yan Shu's circle, how would the common people know that the former privy envoy was going to open a school?

Even if he knew, he would probably just say "Oh."

What does Master Guan's school have to do with us?

Yan Shu wondered, "How can the whole world know about it?"

Is it possible to issue residence newspapers in the government?

But he is no longer an official, and has lost the qualification to issue residence newspapers.

Zhao Yiyi smiled slightly.

The next day, a huge signboard was erected at the entrances of all tile houses in Bianliang City.

The signboard reads in yellow letters on a blue background: Yan Shu, the most talented man in the world, will open a new school on the first day of September. Hurry up and sign up for your child!