Chapter 119: The noise and commotion of Qingming Festival

Zhao Xing pointed out the Japanese girl to measure a few data, and then asked Li Gonglin and Mi Fu to multiply and divide the several data. He wrote a number on the paper. When they finished calculating, he handed the paper in his hand to Li Gonglin and said, "Look, is the result you calculated this number or is it close to this number?"

Li Gonglin and Mi Fu were stunned. They looked at the piece of paper handed over by Zhao Xing for a long time, without saying a word.

The value of the golden rule is written on Zhao Xing's paper.

Don’t be surprised why Li Gonglin and Mi Fu were arithmetic, because the Song Dynasty was a commercial society, and the calculation economy was the main direction of struggle between the new and old parties. Therefore, the great literary heroes of the Song Dynasty had a kind of "accounting plot". Many poems written by poets of the Song Dynasty could even see accounting nouns, such as Huang Tingjian. The joke poems he wrote had professional terms with four-pillar accounting methods.

Although Zhao Xing gave a decimal number, the two masters understood what he meant in a moment. They were stunned for a long time and asked in surprise: "How do you know... how could you spend this effort to calculate this thing... How could this thing, this number, be like this?"

Zhao Xing replied calmly: "This is not what I have studied, it is what Westerners have studied. They have been studying this thing for more than a thousand years... Maybe it has been two thousand years, I don't know. They call this number the most wonderful form of 'natural reasonable'.

When I went to the West, I saw the paper painted by Western painters, which were painted with large and small square boxes. I asked them what happened. Someone told me this number and said that this thing was called the "Golden Partition Law". The most beautiful things in the world are matched in this proportion.

I saw Western painters painting, and their way of selecting scenery was clumsy: they used a large wooden frame on a wooden frame, and used a rope to make a square like a nine-grid. Then, they stood behind the wooden frame, observed the scenery outside the frame through the square, and divided the scenery into small grids and one small grid, and painted on the canvas.

I found that their paintings are arranged in proportion. The main scenes in the paintings are either three grids, or six grids, and always follow a certain proportion. The frames on the canvas do this. They are called the "golden-dividing canvas". Isn't it just close to the golden law if you take the eight thirds and the fifth ones?

Let's put it this way, I'm quite confused about this value. Why don't we do an experiment? For example, if we design a beauty out of thin air, we will call her "Perfect Beauty Girl". Let's design it completely according to the standards of the golden law when drawing her image - fat and thin combination, height and width ratio, eye position, and nose size, all of them are completely according to the "Golden Division Law" to see if our "Perfect Beauty Girl" is addictive."

This topic fascinated Li Gonglin and Mi Fu, but Mi Fu still had another question, and he asked: "You said Westerners are idle and nothing, so why are he thinking about this?"

"Design products!" Zhao Xing replied seriously: "They studied this to make the products designed more lovely. They called this 'design' - a science. They believed that good products must be designed based on mathematical principles, and that something 'natural and reasonable' must have hidden this proportion..."

Li Gonglin kept thinking with his eyes closed. Zhao Xing's words just now shocked him a lot. He kept thinking about how to "measure beauty with a ruler". Mi Fu still had a problem, and he thought for a while, shook his head and asked again: "It's too difficult to measure characters with rulers... It's too difficult to draw characters. It involves too many characters and is difficult to care about. It's better to start with the boots first.

This thing is simple, with only two ratios of length, width, height, and 's picture'... You are talking about this word, the picture layout is done according to the ratio you said. Let's start with simple things first, and then design the 'Full Beautiful Girl'..."

Originally, Li Gonglin and the others came to take Zhao Xing's war horse back. But the military officer Zhang Yong was attracted by Zhao Xing's treasure bow - the reverse bent bow of the Song Dynasty. Although the divine arm bow is beautiful, it is incomparable to the Ma Yi Dragon Blood Tree in terms of material. The generals get a good weapon, which is as excited as a child gets the candy he expects.

Zhang Yong was attracted by Baogong and completely forgot about the war horse. He also thought that Li Gonglin would definitely draw the war horse in patterns and then return to the palace to report, so he took the treasure bow and left, for fear that Zhao Xing would regret it. Unexpectedly, Li Gonglin was tempted by Zhao Xing again and "something".

Not only Li Gonglin, but also Mi Fu was trapped in. Both of them forgot to go home and immediately began to design the pattern of boots with rulers.

The masters of Chinese painting know the principles of mathematics, so what they designed is of course beautiful. After the first attempt, the two masters were addicted to it. They didn't say anything, holding the women in Zhao Xingyuan and designing boots for them one by one - they couldn't even pull them.

In a blink of an eye, two days passed, and the two had designed unique boots for all women. They became more and more skilled in applying the golden rule. The discovery of this mathematical principle suddenly opened a new window in front of them.

The two of them were addicted to the fact that they forgot about His Majesty Zhezong who was waiting anxiously in the palace. He waited for two days in a row and could not bear it anymore, so he sent the eunuchs in the palace to explore.

This kind of work cannot be done by a large eunuch, so he can only send an eunuch with a lower title. This matter cannot be issued publicly because Zhao Xing has the identity of a son and Di Gonglang's false title. The emperor deprived his ministers of his property, and was praised in the Ming and Qing dynasties, and was scolded to be disabled in the Song dynasty. Therefore, when Li Xian's apprentice Tong Guan stood up and volunteered to be familiar with Zhao Xing, Zhezong was overjoyed.

Tong Guan’s task could only be to visit him in the name of friendship. After explaining Tong Guan, the emperor waited in depressedly in the hall. At this time, the imperial examination officials presented the examination list for this year.

The emperor was a child, and the child could not remember so many "Zhihu" and had heard of Zhao Xing's Ma Xiongjun, and he also heard that Zhao Xing himself was very handsome, so he looked for Zhao Xing's name on the list. After searching and searching, he saw Zhao Xing at the end of the list.

What was Zhao Xing's test paper written? The emperor was very interested in this. He ordered someone to present Zhao Xing's test paper. He was surprised when he saw it roughly. Even Liu Zhi, who was reciting for him, praised him, "It's so brilliant" - of course, the article on the test paper was written by Qin Guan, and he deserved this evaluation.

Zhezong was surprised and asked: "How could this Zhao Liren be the last one on the list with such literary talent? Is there so many talents in the Song Dynasty? Let's present the articles above him. Let's see, how could they be more exciting than such a glorious chapter?"

Zhang Lei, the examiner of the paper, did not move. He replied respectfully: "The officials, others on the list... Even Tanhualang's literary talent is not as good as Li Ren. This article has lofty ideas, gorgeous words, and exquisite sentences. It has a great style of a great man. However, Li Ren is a 'difference' candidate. I still have the same relationship with him..."

"Oh, it turns out that he is also a Sumen disciple, no wonder! However, Sumen disciples are on the last list, and the scholars are afraid that they will not look good." Zhezong asked for a pen to change Zhao Xing's ranking, and Zhang Lei bowed and replied: "This is exactly what the family master means. The family master thinks that people are young and need to be tempered."

After hearing this, Zhezong was still hesitating. Pingzhang's military and national affairs were important. Prime Minister Wen Yanbo replied lightly: "This is what the Empress Dowager means."

The 11-year-old Zhezong didn't say a word and threw a pen.

When Tong Guan came to Zhao Xing's new residence, Zhao Xing was chatting with the boot store owner in the mansion. The two masters Li Gonglin and Mi Fu had already begun to design the "Fuan Meili". Before that, they designed a lot of new boots, and the women in Zhao Xing's mansion each added a lot of new toys, which made them very busy.

Zhao Xing was an impatient person, and the women in his mansion were also somewhat infected with his urgent habits. Seeing Cheng Azhu wearing her eye-catching red boots every day, holding Zhao Xing, walking around the mansion proudly, with a crisp sound of boots and an intoxicated expression. Chen Yiyi couldn't help it first, and she jumped out and forced the boot shop owner to speed up the completion.

After Chen Yiyi put on her new boots, the women in the mansion became more anxious. They kept urging them, but the "Tang Family Boot Store" could not complete so many urgent tasks. The women could not bear it anymore, so they turned to other boot stores to order, such as the nearby "Jiebei Lane" boot store and "Big Shoes Ren Family"... So, the technology of the new boots spread out.

Other boot stores also felt the business opportunities of this new style of boots when they got the design drawings, but unfortunately, they did not have corresponding accessories, such as the most critical shoe nails and copper rivets. So they inquired around and found the "Tang Family Boot Store" that had just completed the new boots for Su Shi and his family.

At the same time, the owner of the "Tangjia Boot Store" has used up all the accessories obtained from Zhao Xing. On the one hand, he wants to try his best to control the source of the accessories, and on the other hand, he also wants to expand exports, so he has to ask Zhao Xing again.

When the boot store owner came, Jiao Chu was chatting with Zhao Xing. Zhao Xing waved his hand and introduced to Boss Tang: "Coincidentally, this Boss Jiao is the big Pengli who wants me to provide copper rivets and shoe nails. The surname is Jiao Chu. If you need accessories in the future, just look for him."

Jiao Touch was a hint of Zhao Xing's eyes. He agreed timidly, but he didn't know the reason. The boot shop owner bowed and greeted him: "Jiao Chaofeng, the little old man is polite here. I wonder if Jiao Chaofeng is lucky enough to be an organiser this time..."

Jiao Chu was timid and just agreed to what he asked. When Boss Tang left with great gratitude, he had the opportunity to ask: "Brother Xing, what's going on?"

Of course, Zhao Xing could not tell him about the Golden Law - he didn't understand it even after he said it. He replied: "Our copper production is very high now. Just one way out for coining can not use so much copper, so other uses must be developed. Bronze glass lamp is one, and shoe nails and copper rivets are also one. Although this thing is small, it is the only one in Song Dynasty. The amount required is huge. If the business is done well, it is a fixed industry.

You are old and can't run. This job does not require much labor. You can do it by recruiting a few young wives. My and you are the art of making money. You can just leave and make money at home. What if you are willing to do it, I will let someone else do it!"

Jiao Chu agreed repeatedly, fearing that Zhao Xing had changed his mind a little later: "Brother Xing is cherishing me, how can I be ungrateful? Thank you Brother Xing for your way out for me, thank you..."

The boss of the boot store just left, and another group of boot store owners had followed. Zhao Xing casually recommended Jiaotu to them. The boot store owners were not polite and immediately ordered shoe nails from Jiaotu.

"It's not right," Zhao Xing interrupted: "We have signed an agreement with the Tang family, and then we will have to do things with you, for fear of breaking the rules."

The so-called "breaking the rules" means breaking the "rules in the world".

There was no special sale policy in the Song Dynasty, but there was a "no sharing" rule in the patriarchal law, which was slightly similar to the special sale policy. The most important thing that reflects the "no sharing" rule is the folk saying "one woman is not allowed to have two stores", that is, one product cannot buy two stores in a row; a house cannot be issued two real estate certificates, etc.

This is also a kind of "bian patriarchal law" that must be followed by in the world.

The boot shop owner sighed in disappointment. Seeing that he couldn't make a fortune, if he waited for others to make the same accessories, this year might have passed.

"But..." Zhao Xing dragged the door long and waited until the temptation was enough, the other party continued: "I have recently collected a group of refugee children and need to learn some skills to support the family. If someone is willing to take in, the children will bring their own tools to learn... How many shoe nails and copper rivets should be used for a child to learn skills every year? You can offer a price, we will give it to you.

The salary of each child during his studies is calculated based on the amount of copper buckles on his shoe nails. After five years, our children will be taken away, to Pengli, Fuzhou, and Hangzhou, and will never grab business in the capital."

This is actually based on supply conditions, requiring boot shops to train apprentices for free, and convert the money for shoe nails and other accessories into apprenticeship salaries.

The apprentices in the Song Dynasty had no salary, but instead had to pay apprenticeship fees to their masters. Zhao Xing's request broke the convention, but also bypassed the rules of the world. The most tempting thing was that Zhao Xing promised that after these cobblers would go to other places to operate after they became a master.

Bianliang City is the largest market in the Song Dynasty. It can get a piece of the pie in this millions of cities and curb the rise of the Tang boot craftsmen. The owners of those boot shops are already very satisfied, not to mention that they have expanded production and have to recruit some apprentices, so the bosses agreed to this condition without hesitation.

As soon as he saw off the owners of the boot shop, Jiao Chu rushed home to plan a big plan for making money. The door came to inform Tong Guan. Zhao Xing calmly grabbed Jiao Chu: "No, do you know what "consumption hunger" means? Good products are placed there. You can clearly see others using and wearing them, but you can't buy them. This is "consumption hunger".

Put the shoe nails and copper rivets first, wait until the women in my house enjoy the happiness of the only family, and wait until the women in Bianliang City feel hungry, then you bring your apprentice back... As for the apprentice, choose the children from the poor, preferably the youngest, who are about ten years old..."

After giving the order, Zhao Xing breathed a sigh of relief.

After this period of training, the servants finally knew how to choose a guest. As before, they stopped leading the guest through the hall, which made Zhao Xing very pleased. After Jiao Chu said goodbye, he asked the doormen to lead Tong Guan in.

Sure enough, Tong Guan exchanged a few greetings and asked to watch Zhao Xing's war horse. He was also shocked by the height and majesty of the war horse. He opened his mouth for a long time before he hesitating: "Digong, this horse... can this horse be given to me one?"

Zhao Xing had known the purpose of his arrival. Eaglemen like Tong Guan were relatively small in their minds. Because they were castrated, their self-esteem was perverted and sensitive. Zhao Xing did not hesitate at all and replied without blinking: "You choose, Lao Tong, you are so big that you should ride a tall horse to show your majesty. Choose, and take it away directly if you like one."

Tong Guan was silent for a moment, and choked up and said: "Digong, I didn't say anything. I, Lao Tong, have made you a friend. People in the world treat us officials differently. Only you, Digong, called me "Lao Tong". When you look at me, your eyes are clear without any contempt. I, Lao Tong, can tell the difference between them. Although those people are respectful, they are disdainful to us in their hearts... I won't say anything anymore, I have received your affection."

"Okay, then do me a favor..." Zhao Xing said calmly...

Tong Guan led the only mare in Zhao Xing's herd and left happily. Zhao Xing looked at his back and shook his head slowly.

Tong Guan turned a corner and helped the emperor take away the mare. However, a mare could not save the world.

China has a tradition of castration of war horses, so even if this group of mares can be born, it will not be able to give birth to a cavalry team. The tradition of castration has made the Song Dynasty unable to find a good male horse as its seeds. In this atmosphere, ten thousand mares still cannot change the world.

Tong Guan's visit made Li Gonglin a little clear of his obsession. He remembered his mission. Before returning to the palace to report, he asked Zhao Xing: "Li Ren, I am deeply impressed by this golden rule these days... How did you think of this thing? How did those Westerners discover this wonderful value - 5:8, thanks to them!"

Zhao Xing shook his head: "I don't know... I heard that they discovered it when they were studying weapons. It is said that according to the principle of leverage in physics, weapons made in this proportion can save the most physical strength, and are the sharpest and the least easy to damage..."

"Weapons? Physics?" Li Gonglin obviously learned two new words from Zhao Xing, and his eyes lit up: "Weapons can also be designed, can you tell me?"

"This thing is used for weapon design, and it needs to be explained by one book. Well, maybe more than a dozen books are needed. I am not very familiar with the specific principles, so you can think about it slowly by yourself," Zhao Xing said perfunctorily.

Li Gonglin thought all the way and said goodbye. Mi Fu was completely addicted to designing the "Fuan Meili". He even asked Zhao Xing to say hello at home, and he was at Zhao Xing's mansion day and night.

Early the next morning, Sun Er came to tell Zhao Xing that "Zhou Bangyan went out of Beijing today". It was said that the scene of leaving Beijing was very desolate. Two or three students who were familiar with him planned to practice it for him at Chunjieting in Nanxunmen - it was close to the Imperial College. After sending it to the Imperial College, the Imperial College returned immediately. At the same time, no officials planned to be there.

After hearing this, Zhao Xing remembered: Qingming Festival is here. It is the second year of Yuanyou, the 24th day of the February 2 of the Year of the Rabbit in the lunar calendar, the Chinese calendar year of the Dingmao, the Bingwu day of the Renyin month of the Chinese calendar, and March 30, 1087 AD, Tuesday.

Zhang Zeduan's famous work "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" describes Bianliang during the Qingming Festival.

This day was also the day when the imperial examination "provincial and ministerial examination" was held, and it was also the day when Zhou Bangyan left Beijing. Ma Mengde had arranged his servants to go to Xuande Building (the south gate of the imperial city) to watch the list early.

Qingming Festival is also the day of public gambling in the Song Dynasty.

Sun Er was a gangster recommended by Zhang Bantou, the yamen runner of Kaifeng. After the Li Ying incident, Zhao Xing did not dare to hire idle people at will. At this time, his neighbor Ma Xiucai recommended one of his nephews, Ma Qi, and Zhang Bantou recommended Sun Er. The two took turns to work on duty at Zhao Xing's mansion, introduced many matters such as purchasing, contacting the yarn shop, and so on, and took some commissions to make a living.

A few days ago, Zhao Xing had posted on Zhou Bangyan's mansion, hoping to say goodbye to Zhou Bangyan. But he was driven out by his brother Zhou Bangshi. Since then, Zhao Xing has planned to arrange an unexpected encounter to practice for the famous "Poetry Under the Bed", so he sent the gang in the mansion early to take turns to keep an eye on Zhou Bangyan's whereabouts.

Hearing Sun Er's announcement, Zhao Xing, who was prepared, immediately shouted: "Okay, girls get in the car, let's practice it for that great poet. This erotic poet who is as famous as Qin Shaoyou, hurry up..."

Five hu Ji boarded the carriage in big cloaks, and five Japanese girls also boarded the carriage with musical instruments. Ma Mengde came over to stop him: "Master, it's Qingming Festival, and the mansion is going to replace it with a new fire. In addition, today, after the bill is released, the boss should go to the teacher's mansion to thank the teacher... There are a lot of things, how can the boss leave when he says it? Zhou Bangyan is a new party, and now everyone is afraid that he will not be able to avoid it..."

Zhao Xing hesitated for a moment and shook his head firmly: "It won't take long-term--there is no need to change the new fire in the mansion. I don't have this habit. I ask Azhu and Yi Yi to take Chen Gongchuan to visit the bachelor's mansion together. After I send Zhou Bangyan, I will go directly to the bachelor's mansion."

Zhao Xing did not mention the issue of the imperial examinations at all. Ma Meng sighed and let go of Zhao Xing.

Zhao Xing's travel team was very large, with ten cars in front and behind. He followed several student servants as attendants on the left and right sides. He rushed out of the street where he was and walked towards the outer city.

Today is gambling day. There were four festivals every year in the Song Dynasty that allowed public gambling. Through the residential area where Zhao Xing lived, the two rows of the commercial district were filled with gambling citizens. Some shops sold goods by drawing lottery methods; some shops simply set up gambling stalls at the door in order to attract customers.

Although Zhao Xing's team was huge, in the eyes of gamblers, there were only rolling coins. When he passed one of the shops, the gamblers' shouts almost shocked his horse.

A copper coin was rolling on the table. The fanatical gamblers stared at the rolling copper coin and clearly divided into two factions. Some gamblers shouted "words!words!words!" at the top of their lungs; the other gamblers blushed and shouted "Pure! Pure! Pure!"

This is the "Guanpu" in the Song Dynasty. Any money on the back is called "pure". Throwing all the money on the back is called "hunchun". "Hunchun" is the sign of winning. If there is "A penny of five coins is pure, and one coins is just written as a small recommendation". "Xiaozheng" is slightly inferior to "hunchun".

The copper coins rolled on the table. Zhao Xing almost laughed out loud when he saw the rolling copper coins - the money was made by him. It was the vassal money that the Song Dynasty often called. Su Shi only got into trouble because of this batch of copper coins. But unexpectedly, this kind of solid vassal money was the most popular among gambling enthusiasts. Ten of the ten rolled on the table were solid vassal money.

The copper coins were still rolling, because they were solid vassal money, and it took a very long time to roll, and the audience was still shouting. It is said that the empress dowager in the palace was best at throwing copper coins and making them roll. When she was a girl, she was so famous among gambling friends that she had heard this rumor in the palace that she specially hired her into the palace... Now, she has become the most powerful woman in the Song Dynasty.

Zhao Xing urged the horse to pass by the group of fanatical gamblers, and sighs and cheers came from behind. It must be that the copper coin stopped rolling, literally, or fleshy face up. Some people lost the bet, while the other people were happy.

After leaving the Zhuque Gate in the outer city, Bianliang City was still in a prosperous scene. An old woman in her seventies and eighties came towards her. She was still wearing a bright red silk flower on her white hair and hair. She was happily knocking on a loudspeaker while walking, selling snacks along the street. The tourists on the street laughed. Some literati were still chanting: "The white-headed old mother has a hairpin and a red flower, and the black-headed girl has a three-broad bun..."
To be continued...