Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 263

Fan Ning smiled slightly and said: "It seems that Uncle Cao Guo has been to the land of Ezo, but I have never been there, but I know that the central part is high, but the surrounding area is flat, with only endless forests and grasslands, and a small number of natives living there." , with a radius of thousands of miles, it is very suitable for raising horses, am I right!"

Cao Yu looked at Fan Ning in surprise, nodded for a while and said, "Four years ago, I went to his country with a Japanese monk. It was said that there were immortals in the north. I took a boat to go north again, and saw a big island a month later. .

As you said, there are only endless forests and grasslands on it. Some Japanese fishermen call it Ezo Land. It is said that it is thousands of miles away, but I never went to the island. I always thought that I was the first to see this big island. People from the Song Dynasty, I didn't expect Governor Fan to know about it, it's just unbelievable! "

Fan Ning smiled and said: "Of course I haven't been there. Three years ago, I met a fishing boat returning from the ocean in Mingzhou harbor. There was an old Taoist priest who had traveled all over the world in the boat. He had been to Ezo, not only Ezo He has also been to a larger island in the north, which is still unknown. I call it Sakhalin Island. It can be seen on the map given to the Tang Dynasty by the Bohai Kingdom. It is only tens of miles away from the mainland, like a huge island. The spindle hangs overseas, and there is a vaster continent thousands of miles away in the East China Sea, would Uncle Cao be interested in exploring it?"

A smile appeared on Cao Yu's face, "If I have a chance, I will take a boat to Nanyang to have a look. There are a lot of exotic flowers and fruits there, and maybe I can gain something!"

At this time, Cao Cong said slowly: "The officials are very interested in Fan Duxue's suggestion. It can be seen that he has made up his mind. Can the old man ask Fan Duxue to learn something?"

"Cao Ge, please tell me!"

"I think the officials will definitely seek the opinion of Inspector Fan when selecting candidates for investigation. Can Inspector Fan recommend Cao Yi as the envoy?"

Cao Yu was silent, and he could see his reluctance, but he was helpless.

Only then did Fan Ning understand why Cao Cong valued him so much. He wanted a key recommendation ticket for him, but why was the Cao family so interested in Mao Rendao?Do they have ambitions for this island?

After a moment of silence, Fan Ning said: "I have decided to recommend Zhao Zongshi as the envoy, and Uncle Cao Guo as the deputy envoy, but I have something to say first. Maoren Island is related to the national fortune of the Song Dynasty. I hope Mr. Cao Ge will put state affairs first."

Cao Cong nodded, "Of course I also want to do my part for Song Dynasty, but I didn't expect that it was a place to raise horses before. It is because Governor Fan has a unique vision. If this island raises horses, Dasong Zhongxing is expected to !"

． ． ． ． ． ． ．

Fan Ning said goodbye and left, and several core members of the Cao family still sat together to discuss this matter.

In fact, Fan Ning thought too much. Cao Cong didn't have the ambition to embrace the island and build a country, but he saw that if the Song Dynasty raised horses on Maoren Island, it would become a great cause for the Song Dynasty. Falling behind in the great cause of building great feats.

This is also related to the century-old prosperity of the Cao family.

"Uncle Qi, how reliable do you think Fan Ning's words are?" Cao Fu asked in a low voice.

Cao Cong said with a smile: "I don't believe at all that he said that he met a Taoist priest in Mingzhou. He knew that there must be other reasons for this, but I believe another thing he said. He is going to recommend Zhao Zongshi as the envoy. "

"Why did he hook up with Zhao Zongshi?" Cao Cao asked in confusion.

"It should be related to the Zhu family!"

Cao Cong said slowly: "If I'm not wrong, Fan Ning planned all the things that Zhu Yuanfeng did for Zhao Zongshi. Zhu Yuanfeng is just a businessman. He never thought of using the Cao family to support Zhao Zongshi. Fan Ning said today that he recommended Zhao Zongshi. As the envoy, it confirmed my guess."

"Does Uncle Qi think that the officials will use Zhao Zongshi as their envoy?" Cao Fu asked again.

Cao Cong laughed, "Fan Ning is young, so he sees things more clearly than we do. How can the government use outsiders to establish overseas bases? They must use the royal family as their envoys. Fan Ning recommended Zhao Zongshi, so he gave Zhao Zongshi will take this opportunity to return to the attention of the officials if he is given a chance to make meritorious deeds and atone for his crimes, and he has a very clever recommendation method without any trace, Fan Ning is really not simple!"

Cao Cao's heart moved, and he quickly whispered: "I heard that he is not yet married, why don't you drag him into Cao's house?"

Cao Cong shook his head, "Don't do this kind of thing on purpose. He probably won't think about it now. The most urgent thing is to win over Zhao Zongshi. I think he still has hope of becoming the throne. We shouldn't neglect him before. Forget it, say That doesn't make sense either."

Cao Cong then told his son, "Go to the courtyard now and invite Zhao Zongshi to me. I want to have a heart-to-heart talk with him."

Fan Ning did not go to the front hall. He sat on a big rock and sorted out his thoughts for the past two days. He just realized that the Cao family should not have the idea of ​​building a country by owning land, but wanted to intervene in the errand of raising war horses for Song Dynasty. Or the Cao family built a horse farm on Maoren Island. Although this is not the main business direction of the Cao family, it is indeed a major issue related to the prosperity of the family for generations. It is understandable that the Cao family attaches great importance to it.

In fact, the Cao family just had a keener sense of smell, so they took the first step. I believe that many big families would rush to join in soon. If Zhao Zongshi was smarter, he should learn how to avoid this kind of flocking pursuit and leave the decision to the emperor.

Fan Ning decided that it is still necessary to remind Zhao Zongshi through Zhu Yuanfeng that he must learn to cry out in loneliness and learn to keep a low profile in the bustling.

"Fan Shaolang!"

A clear voice behind him pulled Fanning back from his contemplation.

Fan Ning turned his head, and behind him was a man in a Taoist robe, who was the uncle of the country, Cao Yi. He was sitting on an embroidered pier before, but now he found out that he was very tall, and by the standards of later generations, he was about 1.9 meters in height.

"Uncle Cao Guo has something to do with me?"

"Let's go out and find a place to have a drink!" Cao Yu had a faint smile on his face.

Fan Ning was stunned, "Today is Uncle Ling's birthday, why are you leaving like this?"

"What you should do has been done, do you still want to stay and drink a few glasses of boring water and wine?"

Hearing what he said was interesting, Fan Ning couldn't help laughing, and after thinking about it, he happily said, "Then let's go!"

Fan Ning wanted to say hello to Cao Shi, but thinking about it was unnecessary, as Uncle Cao Guo said, he had already done what he had to do, whether he went or stayed, the Cao family would not care up.

The two left Cao's mansion through the side door, boarded the bullock cart and headed towards Panlou Street.

In the Zhukukulou Teahouse next door to Zhulou, the two sat down in an elegant room.

Fan Ning looked at the room and said with a smile: "This is the first time I've come here, Brother Cao, come often!"

Cao Yu nodded, "This is actually a part of Zhulou. Zhulou sells wine, but here sells tea. The Zhu family didn't do well in taverns, only ranked seventh, but they did a good job in teahouses. Zhukulou Teahouse It has reached No.2, second only to Fanlou, and people who come here to drink tea think that Biluochun in Pingjiang Mansion is no less than Fengcha."

The two sat down, and soon a tea prostitute came in to order tea, but Cao Yi waved his hand, "You go! I will come here by myself."

The tea prostitute bowed and retreated. Cao Yu was frying tea skillfully. He glanced at Fan Ning and said with a smile, "I don't know how you know Ezodi, but I believe you have never been there."

"Why so sure?" Fanning asked with great interest.

Cao Yu said indifferently: "The natives over there are very fierce. You can't get off the boat at all. As soon as you get close to the shore, their flying spears shoot at you, so Japanese fishermen dare not go to the island, and no one knows that the terrain is in the middle. High and low all around, I just sailed three hundred miles along the Big Island and then turned around."

"Are there many natives over there?" Fanning asked again.

"It's not much, but it's very alert, and it's very repulsive to outsiders. If Song Dynasty wants to occupy it and raise horses, a bloody battle is inevitable."

Fan Ning pondered for a moment, then asked again: "Have Brother Cao ever been to Tamna Island in the south of Silla?"

Cao Yu nodded, "I've been there before, it's not a small island."

"How about Tamna on the island?"

"In my opinion, it is a small county, a very small city, with only a few hundred households in it, and a building in the middle that is smaller than the county government. That is the royal palace. There are many farmers outside the city. Farmers and fishermen, combined, should not exceed 5000 people."

"How's their army?"

"What kind of army can there be? There are more than a hundred people to maintain law and order."

The tea was ready, Cao Yi poured a cup of tea for Fan Ning, and said with a smile: "Actually, I told my uncle about Ezo Island before, and he didn't care about it at all. Just the day before yesterday, he suddenly found me, Ask me about Ezo Island, I was still at a loss. I didn’t realize until today that you suggested to the emperor to develop Ezo Island. If I’m not wrong, you also proposed to use Tamna Island as a transit point. Yes Bar!"

Fan Ning nodded, "Not only Tamna Island, but also several islands in Japan, which can be used as places for rest and supplies."

After a moment of silence, Cao Yi asked again: "Do you think there is really a vaster land overseas than the Song Dynasty?"

Fan Ning shook his head with a smile, "It's not what I think, it's the fact that the world is so big that you and I can't see it. If you have the opportunity to go out more often, you will understand the meaning of what I said today."

(End of this chapter)