"Xiu Niang, what are you doing? Get up! He is fighting for you and is a good brother."
Zhao Hong smiled slightly, helped Zhou Xiuniang up, and turned to Zhou An.
"You're a smart boy and you know how to protect your sister. I like it!"
Seeing that Zhao Hong didn't get angry, Zhou and her daughter felt a little relieved.
If this bastard lets the emperor know that he is obsessed with Yang Yise, I don't know how angry the emperor will be.
"Why don't you see your father-in-law? Is the business at home okay?"
My father-in-law's gold, silver and copper coin trading is the best in Lin'an City. I wonder how the business is now?
"Your Majesty, gold and silver are not worth much now, gold and silver are collected by wealthy families, there are few in the market, and copper coins are not abundant. This business is becoming more and more difficult."
Zhou Gao's words made Zhao Hong nodded and said helplessly:
"The best way to make currency circulate is to increase trade significantly or use expansion to pass on the crisis. I'm afraid it will take more than three to five years. Let's wait."
The war has impoverished the country, and even any financial means, even if there are later bank adjustments, cannot solve the fundamental problem.
It is obviously not the time to establish a banking supervision mechanism.
"Your Majesty, then you have to do something. If it doesn't work, close the gold and silver shop. It's half dead anyway, and your father-in-law can't run it well."
Zhou Gao was a merchant after all, and his eyes were filled with fire again.
"In my opinion, it is better to set up a shipping company with some merchants who are colleagues or familiar with each other, buy or rent some ships, and do ocean trade. Now that the sea is calm, the navy of the Song Dynasty is moving south and north, and is still expanding. In the future The size of the navy will reach 200,000 or even hundreds of thousands, which is enough to ensure the safety of the maritime merchants of the Song Dynasty."
Zhao Hong knew that his words might cause an overseas trade boom, but this was exactly what he wanted.
"Brother-in-law, I have something to talk to you about. Let's go somewhere else."
Zhou An was very impatient with the conversation between his mother and Zhao Hong and interrupted midway.
"Your Majesty, aren't you busy with political matters? Don't pay attention to him."
Zhou Gao was shocked and quickly spoke out to dissuade him.
God knows what kind of bastard words this bastard son will say.
"It's okay. Mother-in-law, don't worry."
Zhao Hong waved his hand towards Zhou Gao and walked to the corridor in front of the main hall. The imperial guards and maids around him walked away one after another.
"Brother-in-law, if you give me an official as big as my eldest brother, will you also arrange an official position for me?"
In the corridor, Zhou An, who followed him, said with a playful smile.
"How old are you? Do you also want to be an official?"
Zhao Hong glanced at his brother-in-law in surprise. This guy was only seventeen or eighteen years old, and he already started thinking about becoming an official.
The Chinese people’s obsession with “officials” is evident.
"My friends and brothers either went to the Jinling Martial Arts School or the Jinling Academy. They all have status. I am alone now, and there is no one to hang out with. It's very shameful!"
Zhou An pouted and said it, making Zhao Hong smile for a while.
This is the trend and the custom. As long as it continues as it does over the years, the martial arts of the nation will naturally take shape.
And those trends of decadence and extravagance naturally disappeared.
"Don't even think about becoming an official. You can either go to the Jinling Martial Arts School or the Jinling Academy. With your body and education, it shouldn't be difficult to pass the exam. When you graduate, it won't be easy to make contributions."
Zhao Hong showed his brother-in-law the way.
Fighting with crickets and bragging about mountains and rivers may just be because you have not yet found your own direction in life.
"Jinling Martial Arts Lecture Hall? That's okay, can I go now?"
"Of course, hearing about it in the morning and dying in the evening is enough, not to mention you want to do something."
As long as this kid enters the martial arts hall, he will cry for his father and mother and be submissive.
"Okay, then I'll go back and think about it!"
Zhou An nodded casually and suddenly changed the topic.
"Brother-in-law, I want to ask you, is the imperial examination the day after tomorrow?"
"It's the day after tomorrow. What's wrong?"
Zhao Hong couldn't help being stunned.
How could a dandy from Lin'an City, with no knowledge or skills, care about the imperial examination?
"The palace examination is the day after tomorrow, so the results will be released four days later?"
Zhou Ping pinched his fingers and started to count.
"It should be four days later. Why do you remember to ask this?"
Zhao Hong nodded, even more curious.
"Brother-in-law, it's like that. Several relatives and friends around me are asking me if I know the details of those people who were promoted, whether they are married or anything."
Zhou An smiled awkwardly, a little embarrassed.
"What are they asking for?"
Zhao Hong's curiosity was completely aroused.
"What else can you do? Just catch your son-in-law! Some of them have been waiting for a long time! Brother-in-law, can you tell me, those who are not married yet, and those who have good family backgrounds?"
Zhou An blurted out, unable to hide the urgency in his eyes.
"Listen... I'm going to catch my son-in-law!"
Zhao Hong suddenly realized it and reacted instantly.
"Seizing a son-in-law under the ranking" is a marriage culture unique to the Song Dynasty. That is, on the day when the ranking of Jinshi is announced, the powerful and wealthy gentry from all over the country, including the high officials of the imperial court, rush to select the son-in-law of the high-ranking scholar. The scene is almost like a robbery. People call it "catching a son-in-law".
If a child born from a poor and humble family in the mountains has literature, he will be given a famous academic title, enjoy wealth and honor, be favored by the family, and have no corvee in the household. Wouldn't it be a prosperous age if he had no children?
Scholars, as long as they can be on the list, have a glorious ancestor, and be rich, they will be just around the corner. "Seizing a son-in-law under the official list" is naturally very popular, and it is naturally the product of "collusion between officials and businessmen" or "collusion between officials and officials".
Throughout the dynasties, such bizarre things could only happen in the Song Dynasty, when the scholar-bureaucrat family was dominated by "civilization and military control".
"Zhou An, go back and tell your relatives and friends that there is no such thing as catching a son-in-law this year, and there is no such thing as riding a horse through the streets. There is none this year, and there won't be any in the future. Just go ahead and do what you have to do!"
Zhao Hong's face turned solemn and he walked away with a puff of sleeves.
"Dong Songchen, pass down the decree. On the day when the results are announced, let the imperial army expel all relevant people outside Donghua Gate. Let the imperial army stationed outside Donghua Gate and Yu Street, and do not allow any idlers to approach. Violators will be severely punished. From now on Let’s put an end to this bad habit as the first imperial examination begins!”
Zhao Hong angrily handed down an oral edict.
The prosperity of the Song Dynasty must be the prosperity of the people of the Song Dynasty, not just the prosperity of the scholar-bureaucrats.
He has been thinking about how to eradicate the long-standing disadvantages of "redundant officials". This kind of "catching a son-in-law under the official list", collusion between officials and businessmen, and collusion between officials and officials made the soil for Enyin's career more fertile. Of course he didn't want to see this.
"Brother-in-law, you can't do this, you can't do this!"
Zhou An was stunned, ran to follow him, and said anxiously.
"What did you say?"
Zhao Hong couldn't help but was stunned and stopped. Thinking his ears had misheard, he turned around.
"Brother-in-law, how can you do this? You should withdraw this imperial edict immediately! Otherwise, how can I lose face when I go back?"
Zhou An shouted loudly, his face full of anxiety.
"Zhou An, what did you say? Say it again!"
Zhao Hong spoke calmly and stared at Zhou An with cold eyes.
This dandy, who gave him the courage to dare to point fingers at himself?
Sure enough, it was just as Xu Liang said, arrogant, domineering and lawless. If we don't keep hammering, I'm afraid we'll have to go to the house to have the roof tiles removed.
"Your Majesty, I...I...have nothing...meaning..."
Zhou An was so frightened when Zhao Hong looked at him that he couldn't help but lower his head.
"Zhou An, listen carefully. Without my will, don't enter the palace in the future!"
Zhao Hong withdrew his gaze, snorted coldly, and was about to leave, but stopped.
"Also, remember it for me. If you dare to commit crimes outside under my name, be careful and the national law will not tolerate it!"
After Zhao Hong finished speaking, he strode away with a dark face.
Dong Songchen glanced at Zhou An, who was pale, and quickly followed.
Who does this arrogant and domineering Uncle Guo think he is? I really don’t know the dignity and inferiority of others!
The emperor of this dynasty, Qiankun, is arbitrary and has no relatives to disrupt the government.
At the door of the main hall, seeing Zhao Hong leaving with a dark face and hurried steps, Mrs. Zhou Gao stamped her feet anxiously and said something hateful.
"This bastard doesn't know the heights of heaven and earth!"
