Chapter 378 The First Architectural Master of the Song Dynasty

The weather was hot, and the soldiers of Song soldiers were wearing shorts and vests, huge straw-woven Fanyang hats, holding a knife in their hands, two hand guns on their waists, and a package in their hands. They lined up in neat rows and stood at the foot of the mountain in awe. Even the soldiers who were usually talking at the most were silent, for fear that they would anger the Buddha if they said the wrong thing.

Hearing Zhao Xing's greeting, they tiptoed and walked carefully to the lion claw platform, stroking the lion claws one by one. Many people also took out the amulets they wore and used them to rub the lion claws...

Zhao Xing stood at the entrance of the stone steps, looking at the near the Lion Claw Platform. When he thought, the temple dedicated to Buddha should have a constant stream of people, but now only their soldiers exist.

Perhaps it was the arrangement made by the monks to welcome the Song army, but from this deserted look, the lion claw platform may have also moved towards the sunset.

However, there are now changes in history. Originally, the Arabs monopolized the East-West trade routes, and they implemented their own colonial and religious invasion policies by re-trading trade. Now Song merchants have also participated. Song merchants no longer only become a primary producer or a wholesaler like in their original history. They began to enter the secondary market and began to face consumers directly. In this way, can Arabs dominate the entire Nanyang as usual?

Perhaps, the fate of the Lion Claw Platform has changed, and the group of guests it welcomes has prevented itself from destruction, but it does not know it itself.

The welcoming bell at the top of the platform rang. Under the resonance effect deliberately created by the Lion Claw Palace, the huge bell seemed to have turned into a bronze bell, making people sound not that the bell is ringing, but that the mountain is ringing.

This is the "Buddhist Lion Roar" that is widely circulated in the Buddhist world: When the bell on Lion Mountain rings, the entire mountain seems to be roaring like a lion - in modern times, "Buddhist Lion Roar" has become a very powerful Shaolin martial arts secret technique.

Zhao Xing watched the soldiers caressed the lion's claws devoutly, shook his head and smiled gently. Most of his soldiers were Nescent church members, and Nescent church required the only god to believe in the only faith. Unfortunately, the Chinese have always liked to "I would rather believe in the existence of it than the non-existence". Although these soldiers believed in the only god, they still caressed the lion's claws devoutly and prepared to worship in awe.

After a long time, the soldiers finished stroking. Zhao Xing stepped up the steps of Lion Mountain with the loud bell. Through the Lion Claw City Gate, he climbed a narrow iron ladder close to the cliff, climbing at almost right angles. The strong wind passed by. The monks were walking vigorously and the temperature was still so hot, but the soldiers no longer complained. They were sweating profusely while climbing, but their eyes were full of fanaticism and piety.

After climbing the lion's claw platform (lion``spawsplatform), the lion's womb arrived. The door was not the Buddhist temple, but the famous "Air Garden". Standing on the platform, there was no cover around, and I felt that the mountains were lined with birds singing and flowers, and the flowers were fragrant. The flowers were blooming, and the strange flowers and plants were constantly coming to my eyes.

A little bird with a fiery red tail sang and flew past the soldier's eyes, and a soldier screamed: "Phoenix?!"

Zhao Xing nodded gently: "That's right, it's a Phoenix!"

This is the paradise bird, with bright red tail feathers and a figure similar to the legendary phoenix. Modern people speculate that when the ancestors of Tibet and Burmese migrated from the African continent to Asia, they may have seen this paradise bird during the migration. So the legend of the phoenix was left behind. Later generations have not seen the specific image of this bird, so they added a lot of new content to the legend, thus becoming the modern "phoenix Nirvana".

Some soldiers put their hands together and prayed to the phoenix for blessings. The phoenixes in the garden are not afraid of people at all. They travel around the flower island, sometimes stop on the monk's shoulders and jump a few times. Sometimes they even jump on the soldiers' heads and treat the soldiers' straw hats as nests.

There were many monks scattered among the flowers, some of whom were meditating. Some were meditating, and some were muttering. On the loyal avenue of the garden, two rows of monks stood neatly, making a welcoming gesture. They lined up from the door of the lion's womb to the Buddha's Tooth Hall at the back. People who came out could see the monks wearing white robes. In the distance, the monks were covered with forest fog, and only the yellow silk yarn on their bodies - the silk yarn of the Song Dynasty.

One hundred and eight bells, one hundred and eight monks who welcomed guests, the lion womb showed the highest specifications to welcome Zhao Xing, but Zhao Xing was still leisurely. He pointed to one of the trees and introduced to the soldiers: "That is a Bodhi tree. The Buddha in the past realized under the Bodhi tree. It is said that this Bodhi tree was planted with the branches of the Bodhi tree back then. You can turn around and pick a branch and treasure it home."

The guest who was greeting coughed a few times and reminded Zhao Xing. Zhao Xing waved his hand and ordered: "Support a gift!"

The soldiers opened the package in their hands. Some people carried a few pieces of silk in their hands, some were carrying silk yarn, and some were carrying tin cans, which contained the best Song Dynasty tea. The monks' eyes lit up and bowed to Zhao Xing together. Zhao Xing coughed, took a few pairs of silk yarn from a soldier, and walked towards the Buddha Tooth Hall first.

At this moment, the local banquet for the Song army has not been officially held. The host and guest of the banquet were Chen Buqun. Zhao Xing used the banner of the Song army to present sesame oil and gifts to the Buddha's teeth in advance, so he came to the Buddha's teeth hall in advance to lead the soldiers to enjoy the miracle of the world.

...

In the autumn of the first year of Jianzhong Jingguo, Zhao Xing brought his fleet back to Hangzhou. This time the caravan he brought back can be regarded as the first big order after the opening of the port of Hangzhou Maritime Warehouse. There were thousands of sea ships heading south with his fleet. Under the protection of warships, there were almost no losses. Moreover, the number of fleets expanded by more than three times. Each ship was full of spices, precious woods, pearls and gems. When the cargo ship arrived at the port, the price of gem spices in the entire Song Dynasty fell by 60%. This was a disaster for jewelers.

After the accompanying soldiers came ashore, they immediately began to promote their experience in Nanyang, countless gems, countless beautiful scenery, and the wonder of Buddha teeth. Suddenly, the entire Song Dynasty once again set off a wave of voyage to Nanyang.

The goods brought back by the cunning Zhao Xing this time were not spices and other items that were difficult to preserve. All his goods were replaced with gems and gold. He was not in a hurry to take action and moved these goods directly into the castle, waiting for the price of gems to slowly rise.

When he returned to the castle, the soldiers on the boat also had a holiday. They sold the treasures they bought when they went south at the Hangzhou market. Although the prices of those things have fallen badly now, for the soldiers, these things are originally spoils. No matter how bad the price drops, they are a rich surprise.

Later, Wan Qiyong and Shuai Fan came together. They brought their families and their children into the castle to find something to play. The two adults led some officials of the Maritime Bureau to climb to the rooftop platform of the Blue House, while enjoying the scenery in the park, while introducing the scene after leaving.

"Cai Yuanchang has returned to the court and served as a minister of the Hanlin Court." Wan Qi Yong drank fragrant tea and leisurely introduced the court's dynamics: "It is said that his first claim was to imitate Chengdu Prefecture and print flying money, and called it "Jiaozi". It is also called "Jiaochao". It is said that Yicai Leye people from the Ministry of Revenue are designing ticket samples."

The world's number one banknote is about to be born.

Before this, there were also flying bills in various parts of the Song Dynasty, but they were bills used for settlement between merchants. Even the "bank" where Zhao Xing established the banknotes can only be used as settlement certificates between familiar merchants. It is not only banknotes, but also banknotes. However, cash payment is the first transaction currency issued by the government in the world, so it is called "the world's number one banknote."

To be honest, it is extremely immature to launch paper money in this era. Because the Song Dynasty currently has no budget system and no concept of balance of income and expenditure. Haunted launch of paper money will only make paper money a means to plunder the wealth of the people - as long as you start the printing press, regardless of the income and expenditure situation, just print, and then use paper money to acquire the people's labor income in the name of the government, accompanied by this reckless act of land without credit. The government's credit also went bankrupt.

It is late autumn now, and the autumn in Hangzhou is still a bit hot. This season is what people usually call "Autumn Tiger". Zhao Xing shook his light Luo fan and asked lightly: "Is it possible that the areas under our jurisdiction will resist the exchange of money? Or restrict the circulation of exchange of money?"

Wan Qiyong shook his head: "If we restrict money from being paid, not to mention whether it complies with the laws of the court, if other places use money to pay for all labor in Hangzhou, wouldn't this be the other places use a piece of light paper to exchange for the wealth of our Hangzhou land?"

Zhao Xing asked again: "Can the court not issue money?"

Wan Qiyong chuckled: "What are you worried about? Are we also promoting banknotes? Recently, the trade in Southeast Asia is getting bigger and bigger. Each ship of cargo is counted as a hundred thousand guan. Coins weigh several kilograms. If they all use copper coins to pay taxes, those copper coins can kill them. Paper money is easy to settle and the government guarantees it, wouldn't it be more trustworthy than our banknotes? I am afraid that it will not stop merchants from paying taxes by paying money."

Zhao Xing tilted his mouth and replied: "Now is the commercial era. The banknotes we launched are paid by the banknotes. If the banknotes are profitable by the banknotes, they will naturally guarantee credit. The banknotes and deposit systems we have made can also ensure that each banknote has the ability to repay. But what about the court? If the court does not repay the deposit, who do you want to cry?"

Wan Qiyong pondered for a moment and replied: "If so, our Nanyang Affairs Bureau has now made a pre-order to make a pre-order while the payment of money has not been issued yet, which stipulates that the market tax can only be paid with copper coins, or the flying tickets of the three major ticket banks. Yes, it is necessary to launch it first, so as not to be jealous of Cai Yuanzhang afterwards."

Zhao Xingshun added: "The court practices that the tax collection of market ships is to draw one out of ten, and the goods are used to pay taxes, and then sold by the government. There are disadvantages during this period. For example, this time, there are too many return ships, which caused the goods price to plummet. The government takes one-tenth of the goods. If you meet a corrupt official, it will be even more disadvantages. If you buy at a low price, you will not move the country's tax money to your own pocket.

We have implemented a unified settlement system in Guangdong, requiring overseas merchants to settle trade through three major banknote banks and then charge taxes based on the trade volume. This time, we simply made it clear that all maritime trade matters in the future must be transferred through the three major banknote banks, and the tax payment will be settled by the three major banknote banks. Otherwise, tax evasion will be calculated and the goods will be confiscated."

Wan Qiyong clapped: "This method is good. We use strict prevention of tax evasion as a reason. The tax collection of maritime trade is settled through the ticket bank, which can prevent the exchange of money from entering..."

At this time, teams of Kabuki came up. This team of Kabuki was the harvest of Zhao Xing's trip to Southeast Asia. They wore gorgeous Indian sarees and their gold and silver jewelry were extremely gorgeous. In the soft Indian music, dancers twisted their waists and danced the Indian dance. Several other Sanfoqi actors came forward to perform the famous Indonesian art - Vayan Piwei.

Wayang Piwei. After it was introduced to China, it was first called "Piwei", and later commonly known as "shadow puppet opera", or "Javala movie". In the 11th century, this art was popular in Thailand, India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam and other places, and gradually spread to China with the footsteps of the merchants of the Song Dynasty.

The officials stopped talking and watched the shadow puppets and dances. The handsome Fan Wuxin watched these. He licked his face and asked, "Sir, you have been to Nanyang for several months. How is the situation in Nanyang?"

Zhao Xing smiled, pointed to the kabuki, and replied: "We occupied Sri Lanka and the access to Africa is no barrier, but I think it is not a good time to enter the Red Sea now, so I have shown my power in Southeast Asia and returned."

Shuai Fan Youran was fascinated by: "Sri Lanka, the country of gems. The gems there are very famous. No wonder you have caused the price of gems in the Song Dynasty to drop by 60%.

Wan Qiyong interrupted in the noisy musical hustle: "Sir, the court is waiting for a reply."

Zhao Xing immediately asked: "How much tax can we raise this time?"

Wanqi Yong replied without blinking: "Although the price of goods has dropped sharply, in general, there is also a tax of 800,000 yuan, and the opening fee this year is enough."

Zhao Xing nodded: "This time I went to Nanyang and obtained several pieces of land. I presented the map of the land where these lands were to the court, and let the court sell it, which can be regarded as adding some income to the court. In addition, the profit of Hangzhou Maritime and Vessels will be paid in 100,000 yuan."

Although the officials present were enjoying the exotic style of singing and dancing, their ears kept standing up and listening to Zhao Xing's speech. When Zhao Xing said this, an official with a seventh-rank official's uniform was interjected: "Taiwei, this year, everything in the Nanyang Affairs Bureau was invented, and it was the time to use money to hand over it to the court for 100,000 yuan. I am afraid that the yamen will not be fully built."

Zhao Xing swept away in a blink of an eye. Wan Qi Yong hurriedly introduced: "This is the escort sent by the Ministry of Works. Li Jie, whose courtesy name is Mingzhong."

Zhao Xing immediately straightened up and bowed solemnly: "It turns out to be Li Mingzhong, he is polite."

Li Jie stood up in fear and said with a respectful look: "I dare not, don't dare!"

Zhao Xing immediately asked again: "How is Li Mingzhong's book like?"

Li Jie bowed and said respectfully: "It was already done, but Xiaguan read the Maritime News not long ago and asked a question on it, asking how the reasonable height and width of the statue of Rhode Island was calculated. Xiaguan thought for a long time, but he didn't understand the meaning. This time he specially asked for a ministry in Hangzhou and was about to ask Lord Zhao."

The book Zhao Xing and Li Jie talked about was "Creation of the Fast", which was compiled by the book "Yuanyou French". Later generations recognized that "Creation of the Fast" was China's first architectural book, which systematically talked about the techniques and architectural techniques of large-scale buildings. This book was summarized based on "Yuanyou French". Because the name of "Yuanyou French" violated the taboo of Song Zhezong, he ordered that the general supervisor Li Jie and others should be recompiled, and then burned the book "Yuanyou French". Therefore, the honor of China's first architectural book fell on the book "Creation of the Fast".

Originally, this book should have been deadlined this year, and it was published and promoted by Song Huizong three years later. Unexpectedly, Li Jie actually postponed the deadline.

Zhao Xing wondered: "Building the Hangzhou Maritime Warehouse and the Hangzhou Water Army Camp, the Ministry of Works can just send an official here. Lord Li asked Rhode Island, and came to Hangzhou?"

The court sent officials from the Ministry of Works to build the Nanyang Affairs Bureau and the Nanyang Fleet Governor's Office. This was actually an official system in the Song Dynasty. Whether Zhao Xing expanded his private army or used the money from maritime merchants to launch the Nanyang War, officials from the Ministry of Works to Hangzhou to build military camps and yamen, which reflected the authority of the court, to show Zhao Xing's army that they were still the army of the Song Dynasty after all, so their yamen and military camps were built by the court. However, they were deliberately omitted by their soldiers - all the construction costs of the land were managed by the Nanyang Affairs Bureau.

Li Jie answered very simply: "Xiaguan has long heard that Lord Zhao has the best ability to build a house. Wang Shi once said this. I have also heard that the adults built a new "Spring River Flower Moon Night" in Guangzhou. I also heard that Dali lost his country because of a Golden Bell Building. Xiaguan came here to ask the adults for construction skills and ask the adults not to give them advice."

Li Jie's words meant that he specially asked for this job. Li Jie kept muttering in his heart: "Do you think this job is easy? Everyone knows that Lord Zhao is generous to his subordinates. Officials in Guangnan do not have Mingtang subsidies. Even the poor Li Gefei, who worked as an official in Guangnan for a few days, became a rich man. I heard that when I came to Guangzhou to build a yamen, the officials in the Ministry of Works broke their heads. I was able to get this job by spending all my money. Is it easy for me?"

Zhao Xing bowed slightly and replied: "As far as I know, when doing architecture, you must understand the calculus and the statue on Rhode Island, why it is unbalanced and why it collapsed. The group of people in the West calculated it through calculus. This time I went to Southeast Asia and got back many books, all of which were translated by Arabs in the West.

Speaking of the Arabs, this reminds me of their rise. I heard that when that country was still very weak, it gathered 100,000 scholars to translate Western books. It also set up the largest library in the world. Then, they rose to become the most powerful country in the world. The whole Europe needed to gather the power of all countries to deal with them. This was the Crusades published in the Maritime Newspaper. All the famous warriors in the entire Western region participated in this Eastern Expedition and barely tied with the Arabs. At present, they only had a slight advantage."

Shuai Fan finally found an opportunity to interrupt again. He asked tightly: "Sir, what's the war in Southeast Asia?"

Zhao Xing nodded and said lightly: "We occupied Jaffna. If we go to Colombo from the northern sea, we will cut off the retreat of Zhunian. In order to avoid the fate of the isolated island, the soldiers of Zhunian retreated from the Lanka area a few days after I arrived in Colombo. The King of Sri Lanka reunified the island. Thank us very much for this and requested to be attached.

For the king of Sri Lanka, being a vassal of the Three Buddhas is also a vassal of the Song Dynasty. The Song Dynasty has always been the title of a gentleman country in Nanyang. In the past, the Song Dynasty stepped out of the Three Buddhas. This time, the powerful navy of the Song Dynasty suppressed the Three Buddhas and people did not dare to take action, and came to Nanyang with their power. In an instant, the political structure of the Southeast Asian region had changed. Therefore, Sri Lanka felt that he had defected to the Song Dynasty."

"Their king intends to wait for the country to stabilize. He comes to pay tribute in person. This time I only bring their envoys. When he finishes handling the goods with him, he will get up on the capital."

This time, Zhao Xing returned more than one million tons of land. He had sold the Jaffna Peninsula to merchants who sponsored the Song Dynasty Navy. Several small islands outside the Jaffna Peninsula, with a total area of ​​more than the Jaffna Peninsula, were left to the court.

In addition, there is a land area of ​​more than 200,000 acres outside Sanfoqi Paleo Port, plus a port of Zhenla and a small island outside the Gurkha Sea.

The Song Dynasty had no experience in selling overseas territory before. For a moment, it was a little helpless to receive such a huge amount of land. In the first few days of listing, almost no one was interested in Bianliang City. However, after the latest issue of Maritime Newspaper published a map of Nanyang, Bianliang had a keen sense of smell and began to flock to the Ministry of Revenue. Those overseas islands were stolen. The wealthy businessmen in the capital immediately organized their servants to rush to Hangzhou with the land deeds issued by the Ministry of Revenue, and asked the Nanyang navy to escort them south to check the land they purchased.

Around this year, the Great Zimbabwe Empire began to rise. It took 500 years to become the strongest country in southern Africa, and it took 490 years to decline. After 1890, it became a British colony. In the same year, Sweden began to form a unified country. After annexation of Finland in 1157, it became the strongest country in Europe. Also in this year, a Polynian sailor named Kubi discovered New Zealand. After returning to Polynia, he described the beautiful land to people and described the local kiwi fruit.

This year, the merchants of the Song Dynasty headed south and began to enclose land in Nanyang. Many merchants spent a lot of money to buy the entire island, proclaim themselves the island owner, and began to reclaim land and plant...

At first, the price of a small island in Nanyang was only a few copper coins, but the number of small islands was limited, while the merchants of the Song Dynasty were unlimited. After Zhao Xing's first expedition and occupied official fields were sold out by the court, the prices of those official fields began to rise steadily. Then, the noise of calling on the Song Dynasty navy to go to the Southeast Asian Sea gradually became higher.

That winter, the first batch of landlords who went to Southeast Asia came back with their results of the development of the Southeast Asia. Huge amount of land grain, huge amount of overseas treasures, and huge amounts of spices, made expensive spices a daily necessity for the people. Even the poorest refugees in the Song Dynasty could enjoy a portion of food made of rich spices, making the food industry in the Song Dynasty more colorful.
Chapter completed!