Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 558
When Fan Ning returned to his official room, Chen Zhen stepped forward to greet him. Fan Ning smiled and said, "Is it possible that unprocessed documents have piled up again?"

Chen Wei smiled slightly and said: "According to the order of the envoy last time, we should try our best to do all kinds of things separately, but there are not many things left, only a few orders and letters from the imperial court, which need to be read by the envoy himself. "

After speaking, he placed a stack of documents on Fanning's desk.

Fan Ning nodded, and asked again: "Is there any more important news from the imperial court?"

Chen Zhen thought for a while and said, "It seems that the Empress Dowager is seriously ill, and the court affairs will be presided over by the Empress Dowager temporarily."

"Is the Queen Mother seriously ill?"

Fan Ning was startled, and quickly asked, "When did it happen?"

"I heard about it two days ago, but the news has already reached Quanzhou, and I may have been ill for a while."

Fan Ning was a little uneasy. If it was a common illness, it would be impossible for Quanzhou to know about it. Since the news reached Quanzhou, it meant that Gao Taotao was seriously ill.

Chen Zhen withdrew, and Fan Ning looked carefully at the court letter. The letter was issued by the Empress Dowager Cao, and the content was very simple. He hoped that he could enter Beijing as soon as possible after his return.

Fan Ning looked at the time, and it turned out that it was issued the day before yesterday, and it was delivered to Quanzhou this morning. Then the letter should have been sent by pigeon letter, and something must have happened in the court.

He put down Empress Cao's letter, and opened the imperial letter, which turned out to be a copy of the pigeon letter, which was also delivered to Quanzhou yesterday. Received pigeon letter from Luzon Island.

Fan Ning does have a lot of ideas and needs to persuade Zhizhengtang to implement them. It seems that he has to go to Beijing once for public or private purposes.

At noon, Fan Ning left Jinglue Mansion and came to Fan's Commercial Firm near the port. It happened that Mingren and Mingli were both there. The two brothers, Mingli was in charge of running the northern line between Japan and Korea, Mingren was running the Nanyang line, and the one who was in charge of the firm It was the fourth uncle Fan Tongzhong, but today Fan Tongzhong was away and went to Fuzhou to urge the goods.

The firm is very large, covering an area of ​​ten acres, and there are more than [-] staff members, stewards, and accountants. As soon as Ming Ren saw Fan Ning, he yelled, "I should distinguish between public and private in everything I say. You said fifteen paddle boats It was borrowed from us, so I don’t plan to repay this loan? And what about the [-] shi paddle boat in Jingkou, if you want to use it, you have to give me the money!”

Fan Ning glared at him, "I've been missing for three months, and you don't care about it. You asked me to collect debts as soon as we met. Are you really open?"

"Didn't you find a lot of islands and land when you went east? I know your itinerary, but what about those paddle boats? I admit that the government wants to requisition, but you have to give us compensation!"

Fanning wanted to return the paddle boats to them after the Srivijaya war ended, but after walking eastward, he realized that without the paddle boats, he would never have discovered Australia, and he might not come back so soon. , they need to wait for the trade winds to return north.

If you want to buy all these sixteen paddle boats, it will cost at least two to three hundred thousand taels of silver. Fan Ning thought about it and said, "Let's do it! Later, I will convince the emperor to give you an island as compensation."

A sneering smile appeared on Mingren's face, "Just like Zhu Sanye's Suzaku Island?"

Suzaku Island is indeed a joke. It is Zhu Yuanfeng’s private island in name, but he still needs the approval of the imperial court if he wants to mine gold on the island, and he has to hand over most of the workers like a normal gold mine, and he also needs to send a mine supervisor to station there. Zhu Yuanfeng Island was so angry that he didn't want it anymore.

Fan Ning said with a slight smile: "Don't think things are so bad. The imperial court has stated before that it allows private purchase of the island. Private individuals can occupy all the resources on the island and pass them on to their children and grandchildren. However, there is no clear statement on how to implement it. Once there are too many overseas lands, the imperial court will eventually let them go, and I will return to the imperial court in two days to discuss this matter with the imperial court."

Ming Li shook his head, "Ah Ning, we can't easily believe the promise made to the imperial court. I remember very clearly that the imperial court promised to give Zhuque Island as private property to Lord Zhu as a reward for introducing stallions. But then the imperial court changed, and now if the imperial court promised to give us the island, we really dare not take it."

"Things are not what you think, so let me ask you, why did you dare to buy the island from the King of Luzon when you wanted to buy it?"

"Because Luzon is too weak!"

Ming Ren said from the side: "I'm not afraid of Lu Song at all. If he dares to change his name, I can still recruit troops to fight him, but Da Song is different. Do I dare to fight it?"

Fan Ning shook his head with a smile, "Once private purchases of overseas islands are allowed, those who can buy islands must be the rich and powerful families. Does the imperial court dare to turn against hundreds of powerful families?

Ming Ren and Ming Li looked at each other, and they both seemed to realize something, Fan Ning said again: "This time I discovered a large number of uninhabited islands and a continent that is wider than the Song Dynasty, it is impossible for the imperial court to develop it alone. Now, it is the general trend to let go of private land purchases. This is also the strong desire of the rich and powerful. You are about to start preparing now. I will return six of the sixteen paddle boats to you, especially the three that followed me to explore the land. Paddle boats are very important, and I will fight for the best piece of land for the Fan family."

"So what do we need to do now?"

"shipbuilding!"

Fan Ning said without hesitation: "To build paddle boats worth more than [-] shi, and to cultivate navigating talents, I suggest that you open schools to train navigating talents."

The two brothers nodded, "We understand!"

At this time, Fan Ning smiled again: "I came to you today mainly for the matter of the carriage wheels. How far have you achieved?"

Ming Ren was refreshed, he was responsible for this matter, he quickly said: "It has basically succeeded, the carriage you are riding in is the first piece of equipment, we built two more, and installed a lot of wheels."

"Take me to have a look."

Ming Ren took Fan Ning to the next door. The next door was an open space covering an area of ​​about four or five acres, which was also bought by the two brothers. A fence was built around it. The two walked into the gate, which separated several courtyards. In the processing of rubber, some people make molds, and then use the molds to make rubber tubes, and another yard is making wheels.

Akihito introduced to Fan Ning: "We used your secret recipe to make a non-deformable gum, but it took countless trials and errors before we succeeded. It is easier to make pipes and outsource wheels."

"How do you inflate and keep the wheels from leaking?" Fanning asked curiously.

"It's relatively simple to inflate, just use a bellows. As for preventing air leakage, I can't tell. Come with me!"

Fan Ning followed Ming Ren to a room, and saw several craftsmen carefully beating the iron sheet with a small hammer. Ming Ren picked up a small part and handed it to Fan Ning: "Fuse this inflation port on the rubber."

Fan Ning took the part the size of a coin. There was an iron mouth on it, and a hat was covered on the iron mouth. It was very delicately made. There was a small iron buckle on each side of the hat, which could be buckled on the round iron. Put on the iron cap.

Fanning asked with a smile, "Will this leak air?"

"There is a slight air leak, and the iron buckle is too difficult to make. These are two difficulties."

Fan Ning said to the old craftsman who made the iron buckle: "Old man, let me give you an idea! You make a small gap on both sides of the iron mouth, put an iron bar in the hat, and then insert the hat into it. , turn it to the right, and the iron bar inside the hat will get stuck in the gap, making it impossible to take it off; turn it to the left again, and the hat can be taken off.”

The old craftsman bowed his head and thought for a while, his eyes gradually lit up, and he understood what Fan Ning meant.

"let me try!"

Fan Ning said to Mingren again: "Put a small rubber ring inside the hat, and it won't leak air. Can't you think of such a simple solution?"

Mingren patted his forehead, "I'm so stupid! I didn't think of using rubber rings."

Fan Ning smiled slightly, patted his arm and said: "Hurry up and do it. I will go to Beijing in two days. I plan to bring two carriages into the capital. The Empress Dowager and the Son of Heaven will also ride in a carriage with rubber wheels."

"You call it elephant glue?" Ming Ren was stunned.

Fanning nodded, "I think it looks like elephant skin, you can call it elephant skin or elephant glue."

Mingren looked at the rubber, and it was really more vivid, so he smiled and said: "This name is good, let's call it Xiangjiao! It sounds better than tree gum."

(End of this chapter)