Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 663
At dusk, Fan Ning was walking alone on the streets of Wucheng. Wucheng, Yuecheng, and Songcheng are the three cities currently built in Beidao, and they accommodate a total of [-] households. Among them, Wucheng has the largest number of people. Five thousand households.

Of course, not all of them live in the city. More than [-] natural villages have formed around Wucheng, diverting [-] households.

Two years later, Fan Ning walked on the streets of Wucheng again. The streets were very clean, the cobbled road was very smooth, and there was not even a single weed. There were wooden houses and brick houses on both sides. Wucheng did not use tiles. This street is a commercial street, many shops on both sides are empty and closed, and the open shops are almost all service shops, such as taverns, teahouses, inns, brothels, bathhouses, money shops, laundry shops, cleaning shops, tailor shops , car and horse travel, urgent delivery and so on.

Of course, there are also government-run institutions such as fire alarm shops, public security stations, post stations, schools, old people's homes, and children's homes.

There are also some physical stores, such as grocery stores, grain stores, wine stores, tea stores, silk stores, butcher stores, bookstores, and so on.

The government provides the most basic food and living materials, but if you want to live better, you must spend money to buy them, and you need to earn money by yourself.

Wucheng is a county, the county magistrate is Zhu Qi, who is Fan Ning’s sister-in-law, and the county magistrate of Songcheng is Lu Min, the son of Fan Tieniu. His name was Zhang Ji, he was in his twenties, and he was born in Juren. His father was Zhang Bo, Fan Ning's former aide.

In addition to the county magistrate, there is also a supreme management organization called the Presbyterian Council, consisting of nine people, seven of whom are respected elders recommended by the people, three in Wucheng, two in Songcheng and two in Yuecheng. The term of office is three years, and it changes every three years. There are two special places in the elders' council, one from the Fan family and one from the Zhu family. They are permanent seats, and both Fan and Zhu have a single veto.

After all, the ownership of Bei Dao belonged to the Fan family and the Zhu family, and they used this method to exercise their special power.

Walking to the intersection, there is a six-story wooden tower next to it. This is the bell tower of Wucheng, and it is also the Guanfeng Tower. Ready to strike anytime.

At this time, a burst of laughter caught Fan Ning's attention. The laughter came from a nearby restaurant. There was a big sign on the restaurant with the words "Zhaoji Restaurant" written on it.

Fan Ning strolled in, the lobby was full of drinking men talking loudly, and a dozen or so Japanese drinking girls stood aside and smiled.

Songcheng encountered the same problem as Kunzhou at the beginning, that is, the labor cost was extremely expensive, especially in the service industry, and the locals were unwilling to do it. The shops in Kunzhou could only recruit a lot of Japanese girls as assistants. Fan Ning’s My concubine, Aya, used to be a wine girl in a restaurant. Bei Dao also had the same problem, but fortunately, the rules were very strict. It was okay to make a few jokes, but no one dared to take the real thing.

A wine maid saw Fan Ning coming in, and hurried forward, "Welcome officials to the shop."

Fan Ning sat down at a table and smiled, "I just arrived here today, so I don't know the situation, please introduce me."

Jiuji's Chinese is very good, and she said softly: "This shop accepts gold, silver and copper coins. If the officials just drink, this shop has the cheapest fruit wine, ten cents and a dime, and a plate of salted beans is provided for free. If the officials want to eat Good drink, here is the menu."

Jiuji handed a piece of paper to Fan Ning. There were more than [-] dishes on it, and there were five or six kinds of wine. The price was twice as expensive as that in Bianliang, the capital city. , Mutton is slightly cheaper, but pork is actually the same price as Bianliang.

"Is this the price in other restaurants?"

Jiu Ji nodded, "It's all the same, the main reason is that the wine is expensive. Our wine has to be shipped from the Song Dynasty, and it may be better in the future."

"why?"

"I heard that a winery is being built in Yuecheng. It will be much cheaper to make wine with local rice. The guests are eagerly looking forward to it!"

Fan Ning took out a handful of money and said with a smile, "Take a jug of fruit wine, and I'll take it home to drink."

Fan Ning returned to the residence with a small bottle of wine. They lived in the expensive hotel in the post station. As soon as they arrived at the door, Fan Zhener rushed out and almost hit his father.

Fan Ning grabbed her tightly, "It's so late, where are we going?"

"Go to my sister-in-law's house. She asked me to stay with her tonight."

"Let auntie go with you."

"No, it's next door."

Fan Zhen'er broke free from her father's hand and ran away, Fan Ning hurriedly followed her out, saw her enter the mansion next door, at the gate of the mansion, her younger sister Fan Jing waved to herself.

It turned out that the little sister's house was next door, and Fan Ning also walked in with a smile.

Fan Jing's mansion is not big, only about five acres, there is no back garden, there is a courtyard in the middle of the back house, where many flowers and plants are planted.

"Daddy, why did you follow?" Fan Zhen'er stamped her feet dissatisfiedly when she found her father following behind.

Fanning glared at her, "I'll come and see your sister-in-law, can't I?"

Fan Jing hurriedly coaxed her to go to the room, then smiled at Fan Ning, "Why didn't Big Brother bring Mother along this time?"

"Your third sister-in-law is about to give birth, she can't leave."

Fan Jing's eyes widened, "The third sister-in-law is about to give birth, and you still come here?"

Fan Ning didn't bother to talk to her, looked around and asked, "Where's your husband?"

"Brother, I'm here." Zhu Qi walked in through the door.

"Going home so late?" Fanning asked with a smile.

"Just now I went to the school to have a look. I am concurrently serving as the teacher and instructor of the county school. There is no way. There are a few old gentlemen, but they can only teach elementary school. Higher county schools will not work. I can only do it myself. Come."

"How many students are there in the county school?"

"Currently there are 120 eight people."

"That's a lot, are you teaching?"

"Not exactly, there are two teaching assistants, and sometimes Mingli will come to teach the students."

Fan Ning frowned, asking Ming Li to attend class?He remembered how the two brothers were doing business in the county school back then. If it wasn't for him, they would have been expelled from the school long ago.

It's hard for Fan Ning to say anything, at least Mingli can teach him about business.

Zhu Qi invited Fan Ning to his study, and Fan Jing made a pot of tea for her elder brother herself, and she suddenly discovered that he had a pot of wine.

"Brother, did you ask Aqi for a drink?"

"No! This is a bottle of wine I bought when I went to the restaurant to find out the situation. I want to see what it looks like."

Zhu Qi took a look at the wine bottle, smelled it again, and said with a smile: "This is fruit wine. We ferment and brew it with wild fruits that are abundant here. The output is very large. After brewing wine, the cost is only two or three pennies. For a catty, the restaurant sells ten cents for half a catty, and if you add up, you will make a lot of money.”

"I heard that you are going to build a winery and prepare to make rice wine?"

"I do have this plan. There are also sauce workshops, vinegar workshops, oil press workshops, and salt farms. At least the firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce and vinegar tea, except for tea, the North Island will gradually be self-sufficient. The population will increase in the future, and it will be completely dependent on the large population. Song is unrealistic."

"Husband, there are still basic necessities!" Fan Jing reminded from the side.

"Yes! There is also a weaving workshop, which buys cotton from Luzon Island, and we weave cotton cloth ourselves. There is also a porcelain kiln, which is under construction and is expected to be officially ignited next month. Now there are many ships and horses. , the food problem has also been solved, and the dependence on Da Song will gradually decrease in the future.”

Fan Ning pondered for a while and asked: "Have you made a long-term plan, such as what to build in Yuecheng, what to build in Songcheng, what to build in Wucheng, and even what to do in South Island? Everyone can divide the work and cooperate, and we can't be bothered. It is unrealistic for a county to arrest them."

"Brother is right. This matter is coordinated by the Presbyterian Church, and it is indeed done by the division of labor among the three counties."

Fan Ning nodded and asked again: "Are there any coal and iron mines in North Island?"

"Yes! Moreover, the grade of iron ore is very high, and the coal is also very rich, but it is far inferior to that of the Southern Continent. The coal they found is buried very shallow. It is just under a layer of soil. It has a radius of hundreds of miles, and the quality is also very good. Well, there is no need to dig mines at all, they have [-] Japanese workers who are responsible for digging coal mines, our next step is to develop the smelting industry, buy coal from the Southern Continent, and use our iron ore to smelt pig iron."

Fan Ning walked a few steps with his hands behind his back, and said to Zhu Qi: "In terms of school education, you are on the wrong path. It is enough to read "The Analects" and "Mencius" in Mengxue. When you go to the county school, you should teach students practical things. Such as agriculture, smelting, mining, papermaking, shipbuilding, brewing, construction, ceramics and other practical technologies, because students have no chance to take the imperial examinations, we don’t need to engage in Dasong County learning, what students need to learn is practical technology, you can Inviting old craftsmen to teach students, I believe that young people are willing to come to the school to study, and teach students martial arts, sword skills, and archery, so that they can defend their families and the country."

Zhu Qi was sweating profusely, got up quickly and said, "Brother, I made a mistake!"

"It's probably not only you who made a mistake, but also the other two counties, and even the Presbyterian Church. When everyone is here, I'm going to talk about it."

Speaking of this, Fan Ning said to Zhu Qi again: "This time I brought a man named Adu, he is from Boni, he can speak Chinese, Nanyang and the indigenous languages ​​of the nearby islands, you can open a course at the county school immediately." It is very important for the students to learn the indigenous languages ​​of the nearby islands.

It is unrealistic to kill all these aborigines in the future, so we have to reform them, tame them, and become our labor resources, so language communication is the first problem. I made an agreement with him, and Adu will start teaching students tomorrow. "

(End of this chapter)