Compete for the Song Dynasty

Wang Pang and Shen Kuo had a lot of conversations with each other. During the meeting, Shen Kuo repeatedly mentioned his student named Li Jie, saying that Wang Pang's heart was itchy, and he wanted to see this person named Li Jie very much.For two days in a row, Shen Kuo came to Wang Pang after he was busy with his business. Wang Pang saw that Shen Kuo came alone, he was a little puzzled but he didn't want to ask more questions.

Finally, when Li Gefei came to Yangzhou, the two hadn't seen each other for many years, so they were naturally very affectionate when they met.There is no need to go into details for the two to reminisce. I heard that Wang Pang talked about setting up an office in Yangzhou to open a bank and other businesses. Li Gefei patted his chest and assured that his three-year term of office has just begun. As long as Wang Pang starts to do this in Yangzhou, I must do my best to help.Staying in Yangzhou for a few days, the beauty and prosperity of Yangzhou and the superior geographical location made Wang Pang feel that the trip was worthwhile.After waiting for a few days, Li Jie, Shen Kuo's student, did not see him for a long time.

After setting the departure date, Wang Pang went to the magistrate Hu Su and ordered Wang Gongchen to say goodbye one by one.Shen Kuo and Li Gefei are both his good friends, so of course they have to sit down again before leaving.Hearing that Shen Kuo and Li Gefei wanted to invite Wang Pang to sit in the Wangchun Tower, Wang Pang readily agreed, and turned around to see the little girl bowed her head in silence, her behavior was a bit strange.When Wang Pang finished packing his clothes and was about to go out, the younger sister told him, "Don't drink alcohol, and don't touch flowers."

Wang Pang immediately understood what the little girl meant, Yangzhou is the land of fireworks, and this land of fireworks has two meanings: one refers to the beautiful spring scenery, and the other refers to the geisha.Wangchunlou is the most famous restaurant in Yangzhou. Of course, official "prostitutes" selling wine and pretty purple "geisha" are indispensable.He intentionally teased the little girl and said: "My lady, what you said is not right. Our Song Taizu publicly encouraged ministers to 'buy more singing and dancing girls' when we were 'drinking wine to release military power'. Why are you contradicting the ancestor's precept?"

Of course Su Xiaomei knew that what Wang Bang said was a joke, and she said coquettishly: "Hey, you have many reasons, the great ancestor of the family was the one who conquered the world, and encouraged the ministers to 'buy more singing and dancing girls' to let the ministers enjoy themselves. Thinking about making progress. You should be good, take this as an imperial decree." [

Wang Pang laughed out loud, at first the younger sister was coquettish, and second at what the younger sister said was reasonable.

Wangchun Tower is just west of Changchun Lake in Yangzhou. This Changchun Lake is the moat of Song City and the flood discharge channel for the Shugang mountain water to flow to the canal.The descendants of Changchun Lake may not know it, but when it comes to Slender West Lake, it is a beauty that later generations will know.The Hongqiao Range Rover by the lake and the Spring Willow on the Long Causeway.In the Wangchun Tower, the spring is even more beautiful, and the singing prostitutes who accompany the wine are all beautiful. Wang Pang thought to himself that there are many beauties in Yangzhou, no wonder the younger sister wants to remind her.

The servants waiting for Shen Kuo at the gate of Wangchun Tower saw Wang Pang approaching, and hurriedly welcomed him to a private room on the second floor.Li Gefei and Shen Kuo had already been waiting there in the private room, and saw that they were talking with their heads bowed, their expressions still very serious.Seeing Wang Pang walking in, Shen Kuo stopped the topic and said, "Today we two are going to have a farewell party for our brothers, and we won't go home until we're drunk."

After Wang Pang sat down, a waiter from the restaurant handed Wang Pang a hot towel to wash his hands. Wang Pang wiped his hands and asked, "Why are you giving me a farewell party? Isn't Brother Shen going back to the capital?"

Li Gefei said: "The case in his hands can't be settled, I don't think he can go back."

Wang Pang thought to himself that when Shen Kuo introduced himself to the magistrate and the judge that day, he revealed in his words that the case was somewhat troublesome, and the case has not been closed until today. It seems that it is not going well, so he asked with a smile: "What case bothers Brother Shen so much? You must settle it before you will take office?"

Shen Kuo looked at Wang Pang: "It's just that you help me think about it. I'm getting dizzy thinking about it. We have a family in Yangzhou who rented their house to a foreigner who was doing business. I happened to see that person had a box of gold. , moved his mind. While the man was out of the house, he pretended to be a thief and entered the house, and stole the box of gold. Who would have thought that this man was fond of gambling, and he had borrowed a lot of debts before, so he used the gold to pay off the debts, but was caught The gold was found to be fake. He sued him to the court. He identified the tenant again, and guess what? The tenant refused to admit that the fake gold was his.”

After hearing what Shen Kuo said, Li Gefei shook his head and said to Wang Pang: "If our brother Shen is too stubborn, this is not a big case. If the person admits to stealing, he will be convicted of stealing. As for the debt owed He needs to repay it again. As for those who don’t admit that the gold is their own, just don’t pay him back. Could it be that you are still worried that other cases will be implicated here? Wouldn’t it be even more difficult for you to leave if this implicates others? "

It was interesting for Wang to listen to this matter: "I don't think the tenant dares to admit that the gold is his, otherwise he will be charged with fraud?"

Shen Kuo nodded with his mouth curled up: "I think so too, but this tenant is not from the Song Dynasty, and the things he said are all babbling, can't we understand?! If you want to close the case, it's not impossible. , but you all know my problem, this fake gold is made of the same as the real one, and the softness of the color is just like the real one. I have not left for a long time, just want to ask Come out, how did he do it."

When he said that, Wang Pang could definitely understand it. Shen Kuo had to study thoroughly about curious things. Not to mention that Shen Kuo couldn't let go of this matter, even Wang Pang became interested when he heard it.

"Why? Isn't there an interpreter in the state capital?" Wang Pang asked puzzled.

Shen Kuo replied: "Translator? That is an official of the imperial court. Yangzhou extends in all directions, and there are many people from other courts who come and go in many languages. How can there be so many vacancies for translators, and some local businessmen in Yangzhou are proficient. But they are all business. Buying or selling, how much money... Ask them to translate, and the result is that the foreigner who can understand will say: Nao, Nao, the translator said that he just doesn’t admit that the box is his.” Shen Kuo was dancing while talking.

Make a fuss, make a fuss?Wang Pang looked at Shen Kuo's expression, did he mean no? "What does this outsider look like?"

Shen Kuo stretched out his hand and gestured: "Big and tall, with yellow hair and frighteningly white."

Wang Pang was beating in his heart. Shen Kuo was obviously talking about Europeans and Americans, and he knew a little English. Although he couldn't talk about CET-[-] or CET-[-], he was fine for simple conversations.Do you want to take care of this?Shen Kuo sighed and said, "Why is there something I can't figure out?"

Seeing his pensive look, Li Gefei smiled and said, "Okay, I think it's you. Others try the case for fame and promotion, but you try the case to ponder weird things."

Shen Kuo said unconvinced: "Of course we have to think about it, otherwise the next generation will be fooled!"

"Scaremongering!" Li Gefei didn't take what he said to heart. [

Wang Pang looked at Li Gefei and was not interested, thinking that this guy is now in charge of Caosi. Although he is full of poetry and songs, he is a bit idiot when it comes to financial calculations. He smiled and said: "Brother Li, this is not fake gold. Small things. Spending on fake gold is a scam, and if fake gold and silver are popular in the market, it can disrupt the currency market. Then there will be big trouble."

Li Gefei smiled: "Why don't you two talk together? Brother Shen, hurry up to try your case, and Wang Ye, hurry up to run your bank. Huh? I know, no wonder Brother Wang cares about this matter so much. If you take this fake gold and deposit it in the bank, the prince will suffer a lot!"

"That's right!" Shen Kuo seemed to be inspired: "This matter, King Zhennan, you have to give an opinion on whatever you say, and this is related to your bank."

Wang Pang thought to himself, just now he was thinking about not caring about this matter, now it will be on his own shoulders. "Haha, what's the big deal? I'm leaving two days late, so I can help you figure out the case, right?"

"Two days? If you can figure it out within two days, then my long time will not be in vain~" Shen Kuo said unconvinced.

Wang Pang smiled: "Only two days. Tomorrow, you can show me the file first, and then take me to the residence of the foreigner. In short, I will give you the result in two days. However, you have to let me meet the foreigner. I have something to ask him."

Li Gefei shook his head: "It's really troublesome for you two serious people to meet together."

Shen Kuo was still unconvinced: "Of course we have to be more truthful, otherwise the world will not be able to tell the truth from the fake..." Probably because what was said just now was a bit hot, Shen Kuo ordered someone to open the door, and in the private room, a white marble building can be seen outside. The bridge is elegant and beautiful, and there are many pedestrians on the bridge.

Wang Bang recognized that this was called the 24th Bridge by later generations. He smiled and asked Shen Kuo: "Brother Shen is so serious, do you know why this bridge is called the 24th Bridge?"

"Bridge 24? I haven't heard of it... Do you have proof that he is called Bridge 24?" He was thinking hard while talking.

So the bridge is not called 24 bridge now?The king couldn't admit defeat either: "It is said that Emperor Yang of Sui used 24 court ladies to play flute here on a moonlit night, hence the name Ershiqiao. I have Tang poems to prove it. On a moonlit night at 24 bridges, where can jade people teach how to play flute? "

Wang Pang felt that what he said was quite reasonable, but Shen Kuo smiled and said, "Brother, you are so funny. If you say that there are 24 bridges in Yangzhou, I don't believe it. The westernmost one is the Zhuohe Tea Garden Bridge, and the second one is the East Bridge. Daming Bridge; there is Jiuqu Bridge entering the West Water Gate, followed by Dongzheng Shuaiya South Gate, Xiama Bridge, and Dongzhuofang Bridge. The east river of the bridge turns to the south, Xima Bridge, and then South Bridge..." He breathed a sigh of relief I really counted more than 24, and Wang Bang really admired Shen Kuo's seriousness. Just about to praise him, who knows, he joked again: "Ten years of dreaming of Yangzhou, won the reputation of brothel. Think of Du Mu of the Tang Dynasty, After working in Yangzhou for ten years, I won the reputation of everyone who is a prostitute. Brother, this is taken out of context, it should be [-]jiao, especially from Du Mu's work, and the word blowing flute makes people think about it! Hahaha"

The three of them laughed, and Wang Pang thought to himself, luckily he didn't bring Su Xiaomei here, otherwise Shen Kuo, who was not sure what to say, would have made the little girl blush.After laughing, Wang Pang thought of Shen Kuoju, so he asked, "Brother Shen has been in Yangzhou for a few years, and I'm afraid he may not have gained as much as Du Mu, but you have finally gained a good student, why haven't I seen it yet?"

Shen Kuo hesitated for a while: "This, this, my student is more serious than me. He said that he only wanted to be a teacher, but he heard that the king of Zhennan was only in his early twenties, and I don't know what you can teach him, dear brother... "

Hey, this is interesting. Since Wang Pang was born, he has been rejected twice when he came to Yangzhou. The first time was Qin Guan. The child was still young. In terms of literature, what the Song Dynasty lacks most at the moment are literati.This Li Jie even took one?If you just leave like this, you will be looked down upon.Wang Pang's tension came up, and today he really wanted to take this person from Yangzhou.

"Oh? Where does this person live? Since I'm seeking a virtuous person, I'd like to meet him in person."

Seeing that Wang Pang was not angry, Shen Kuo said, "Let me just say, Zhennan Wang has a heart of love for talents, and his family lives in Shizi Street. If you want to talk about it, it's on the same street as the house where I'm trying the case. "Wang Wang smiled slightly after listening, and tomorrow he will accept a private visit to meet Li Jie for a while.