Lin Shengyuan picked up a gourd of wine, held a piece of meat in his hand, shook it three times, and returned home. Seeing Lin Xi busy in the courtyard, he said, "My son, do you know where I am going to eat with Huang Yuanwai today?"
Lin Xi smiled and said: "Seeing how happy dad is, I guess this is not an ordinary place."
"Exactly!" Lin Shengyuan sat down on the chair and shook his head. "Today, a member of the city, Mr. Du, was serving as a host. He was in the pavilion on the second floor of the Jiangbian Restaurant. Ah, I thought I had seen the world back then in Kaifeng Mansion, but I had never seen the scene today. There was no such thing as a banquet. A female prostitute came to sing a song, and she actually spent fifty or sixty dollars! That member Du didn't even blink!"
Lin Xi said: "Xiangyang is different from Kaifeng. The king here observes that he doesn't like female prostitutes singing and dancing, so everyone imitates them. I heard that the luxurious banquets in riverside restaurants are not called female prostitutes. Those who are called female prostitutes, There’s another way to eat it.”
Lin Shengyuan patted his legs and said: "It's different, it's different, it's really different. This Wang Zhan, I don't know how he came up with these methods, it's amazing. In a year or two, how prosperous is Xiangyang Mansion now? ! In my opinion, this is the most prosperous place in the world!"
Last year, the Jin people went south, and Mianxiu Jiangnan was devastated. The once prosperous cities such as Yangzhou, Suzhou, and Hangzhou were all burned and looted, and they were no longer what they used to be. The two capitals of the Central Plains were destroyed, and the prosperous Jiangnan was destroyed. Except for Shu, which was still relatively peaceful, Xiangyang was now prosperous.
After admiring for a while, Lin Shengyuan said: "That member Huang who was a guest at our house the day before yesterday wanted to start a cotton cloth business. Depending on his intentions, he wanted me to buy cotton cloth for him in Xiangyang and then transport it to Xiangcheng——"
"Why should it be transported to Xiangcheng?" Lin Xi asked curiously.
Lin Shengyuan said: "The Jin captives go south every year, how can we allow people from the North to come and do business casually? The king has decided that all trade with the North is in Xiangcheng. People from the Song Dynasty must transport goods to Xiangcheng, and merchants from the North You can buy it from there, which is equivalent to a sales market.”
"That's it." Lin Xi nodded. Since the founding of the country, there has been a giant Khitan in the north of the Song Dynasty, with a quarrying ground. This kind of trade situation is commonplace and no one is curious about it.
Lin Shengyuan said: "Cotton cloth is such a big business! If I can really collect cotton cloth for Huang Yuan, maybe this will be my chance to make a comeback!"
Lin Xi said: "Since the market is in Xiangcheng, Huang Yuanwai can just go there and buy it. Why do we need dad?"
Lin Shengyuan laughed and said: "Do you think cotton cloth is the same as ramie cloth and can be bought anywhere? Apart from the Western Regions, the only place you can buy it is Xiangyang, and the cloth in Xiangyang is unparalleled in the world! How many people are eyeing this business? , when we get to Xiangcheng, it’s Huang Yuanwai’s turn!”
Speaking of this, Lin Shengyuan looked a little yearning: "When we were in Kaifeng Mansion, although our business was not big, we still had hundreds of dollars of interest a year. What kind of life did we live at that time! Alas, it was nothing like So embarrassed now!"
Lin Xi said: "Dad, we can't think about the past days. The country suffered a disaster and many families were destroyed. It is a rare blessing for us to have both father and daughter. Now in Xiangyang City, there are many people who have nothing to do. We can have enough food and clothing. , I don’t know how many people are envious of me.”
Lin Shengyuan was lost in thought for a while, then nodded and said: "That's right. Alas, the princes in the court can't do it well, and the country suffers, but we, the common people, suffer! Speaking of which, where can we go to find reason?"
He shook his head and muttered a few words, not knowing what to complain about. Lin Shengyuan added: "If Huang Yuanwai can succeed this time and get his capital to do business, our father and daughter will never have to live so hard again. Speaking of which, you are eighteen years old, so you are not too young. Wait until you make money With the money, I can find a good marriage for you, and I will feel at ease."
After hearing this, Lin Xi couldn't help but be in a daze for a while. Normally speaking, I am eighteen years old, which is indeed not young. However, in the war years, there were many lives and deaths, and there were countless older women. If you get married, what kind of person will your husband be? In the little girl’s family, I have often thought about these things since I was a little girl, but I have never understood them.
In the official hall, Wang Xiaolie saw Chen Qiudao coming in and hurriedly asked to sit down.
After serving tea, Wang Xiaolian said: "Now that the world is at peace, many things need to be done. Although the imperial court has withdrawn various supervisory departments, we are still guarding the local area, and many things still have to be done. In the past, when there was peace, there were changes in the local area. As envoys, some are promoted to prison, some are promoted to Chang Ping, some are promoted to academics, and some are commanders, commanders, and so on. We don’t care about the military, but political affairs cannot be ignored. Now we are transferring the duties of envoys and promoting Chang Ping. , in fact, they are all under your name, and Tidian Prison still belongs to Wang Tixing. Only for the post of Tidian Academic Affairs, there is no suitable candidate. "
Chen Qiudao asked: "The observation means to reset the state schools and county schools?"
Wang Xiaolie shook his head: "For military training in the past two years, we have set up new barracks and military schools. From this point of view, schools are very useful, but they are different from before. In addition to prefecture schools and county schools, I want to set up schools extensively. , educating the people, and doing more things than before.”
Chen Qiudao has been in Xiangyang for nearly half a year and is no stranger to the school. After thinking for a while, he said: "What you want to do, it's better to observe and explain clearly."
Wang Xiaolie said: "In the officialdom, there are officials and officials. They have different duties and different requirements. To put it simply, I want to teach people to be officials through state and county schools, and teach people back through schools. Be an official. Today's officials are very different from those in the past. They have generous salaries, specific duties, and their own regulations. Suddenly, there are many people who are willing to devote themselves to becoming officials. But without going to school, many things cannot be done in the same way. One, it’s not a good thing.”
Chen Qiudao frowned after hearing this: "In the yamen, officials have their own duties, which are very different. Officials are sent by the court, while officials come from the local area. The two cannot be confused. Observing the establishment of a school to teach officials, it is not I know if it’s possible.”
After hearing this, Wang Xiaolie was silent for a while. Caidao said: "What is the difference between officials and officials? In fact, it was not very clear before. Officials are sent by the court, and officials are from the local area. They are considered from the perspective of the court governing the world. If you consider it from the perspective of local people, you will feel confused. . I think the difference between officials and officials should be fundamentally explained. It is difficult to draw boundaries between things in the world, but they have their limits. In four simple words, there are no limits. Anything that is clear and can be handled according to the boundaries is the responsibility of the officials. It’s difficult to draw clear boundaries, and those that need to be managed by degrees belong to officials.”
Chen Qiudao looked at Wang Xiaolie blankly, and after a long while, he said: "I'm sorry for being stupid, but I don't know what it means at the moment. Things in the world naturally have limits, and you can't cross them, but there are limits. What does "Unbounded" mean?"
Wang Xiaolie was stunned for a moment. After a moment of silence, he said: "You have degrees and no boundaries, which means that everything in the world has degrees, but no boundaries. When we are far away, we can distinguish what this is and what that is. For example, this side of the Han River is Xiangyang, and that side is Xiangyang. It is bordered by Fancheng. It is reasonable to divide Xiangyang and Fancheng. But when they are close, the boundaries between Xiangyang and Fancheng must be separated, unless the Han River in the middle does not belong to Xiangyang or Pancheng. The two cities must If the Han River is divided equally, there will be no middle line."
Chen Qiudao smiled bitterly, wondering what Wang Xiaolie was talking about.
For a moment, Wang Xiaolie couldn't find the right words to persuade Chen Qiudao.
There is no limit, it is a philosophical concept. Wang Xiaolie didn't know when he had this concept. It must have been an impression formed in his previous life. This impression was so profound that it penetrated my thoughts unconsciously.
Why are there no boundaries? In classical terms, it is Lao Tzu's "Tao can be Tao, but it is not Tao; names can be named, but they are not names." In popular words, it is the way the world is. The world is like this whether people are there or not. Whether people know it or not, the world is still the same. The understanding of the world, various conceptual definitions, and various relationships are all determined by people and are not inherent in the world. Human regulations cannot truly describe the world completely and have their own scope of adaptation. Beyond the scope of adaptation, the regulations are invalid.
When people understand the world, they always give it various names, define it, and deduce various relationships. Among them, definition is the most important thing in epistemology. For example, many theories will define human beings. After defining human beings, we define human society based on various understandings. As human beings, people should clearly understand themselves. But if you look at various theories, you will find that the definition of human being is extremely complicated, until it is meaningless.
It is generally believed that the difference between humans and animals is that humans can make and use tools. But later I observed more and found that many animals also make and use tools. So some people went to subdivide how to use tools to be a human being. Then animals beyond this definition were discovered.
This is not only true of human society, but also of human understanding of nature. Not to mention various ancient theories, even in Newton's era, due to the discovery of Newton's laws, humans also felt that they understood the universe. I feel that as long as the mass and velocity are measured, the universe will be fully understood. Then came Einstein and the theory of relativity. I feel that the theory of relativity has clearly described the universe, and quantum mechanics has appeared.
Philosophically, if we admit that human knowledge is limited and cannot completely describe reality, we know that there must be degrees and no boundaries. You also know that the dichotomy is incorrect, and there must be a transition zone in the middle.
Based on this understanding, Wang Xiaolie believes that within a political power, it is natural for officials and officials to be separated. The yamen cannot all be officials, nor can they all be officials. If there is no distinction between officials and staff, it will cause chaos in the political power.
For the political power, from the perspective of governance, it can be considered that those sent out by the court are officials and those recruited locally are officials. But from the perspective of ordinary people, this division is meaningless. They don't know which things are governed by officials and which things are governed by local officials. Once officials are not competent enough, they will be bullied by the officials, and even power will fall into the hands of the officials.
