Chapter 39

Wang Ju fell silent for a moment.

Zhu Huan had good intentions.

The Taoist was dealing with Zhu Jun, not him. If they were to attack, it would be the group of Black Bee Bandits. But would they dare to stay in Yanzhou?

However, these matters were intertwined, and there were connections. If he were to marry into the Li family, regardless of how much help it would bring in the future, at least it would provide more security. It’s not just about being a genius; a genius strangled in the cradle is nothing.

"But I have three conditions. I don’t mind being a赘婿 (zhuixu, a man who marries into his wife's family), but I won’t be one."

In ancient times, being a赘婿 (zhuixu) was very tragic. Not only would he be discriminated against in his wife’s family, but his children would also have to take the wife’s surname. So Sima Xiangru did a very despicable thing; he would rather elope with the beautiful woman from the Zhu family than discuss marriage. Without money for the wedding, the end result would be him becoming a赘婿 (zhuixu). When he ran out of money, he made Zhu Wenjun sell wine, which was not a good job. Although she wasn’t a prostitute, the nature of the job was not far off. The Zhu family had no choice but to support this despicable son-in-law.

Unless it reached the level of Fan Zhongyan and Du Yan.

Fan Zhongyan changed the Zhu surname back to Fan. It’s likely that the Xiangli family wouldn’t dare to make Du Yan’s children take the Xiangli surname.

But Wang Ju genuinely didn’t mind.

Does the surname of the child matter? What matters is whether they can grow up safely and become talented.

But he has a younger brother and sister. The Li family is also a large family with many people. If he faces some disdain, it’s fine, but why drag his younger siblings into it? The Jiang family seems irrelevant, but it also made Wang Ju fear.

"This condition is not difficult. The Li family also has two young masters, so there’s no need to require the son-in-law to be a赘婿 (zhuixu)."

"Sir, my family is poor, so the engagement ceremony must be simple."

"This is not difficult... actually, you don’t need to care too much. Didn’t Emperor Taizong also receive support from Zhang Shizhong?"

When Chai Rong was on a campaign against the Khitans, he found a wooden sign along the way that read, 'The inspector will be the emperor.' At the time, the inspector was his brother-in-law, Zhang Yongde. Chai Rong was suspicious, so he replaced him with the commoner Zhao Kuangyin as the commander of the palace guards.

Zhao Kuangyin was frightened.

With this wooden sign, it was like a death warrant.

Since Zhang Yongde was Chai Rong’s brother-in-law, he wasn’t killed. But if Chai Rong suspected him, Zhao Kuangyin would surely die. So he returned home worried, only to be chased out by his fierce sister with a rolling pin, telling him to deal with men’s matters outside, not to complain at home!

Zhao Kuangyin had no choice but to come up with a plan. Since his brother Zhao Kuangyi’s wife, Lady Yin, had just passed away, Zhao Kuangyin asked Zhao Kuangyi to marry Chai Rong’s young sister, Xiao Xiao. At the time, Zhao Kuangyin had just taken office and had no money. His old superior, Zhang Yongde, stepped in, helping Zhao Kuangyi propose and providing a large sum of money as the dowry. This made Chai Rong trust Zhao Kuangyin more. Soon after, Chai Rong died, and the Chenqiao mutiny occurred, with Zhao Kuangyin becoming emperor.

Of course, Zhu Huan didn’t have the courage to make Wang Ju an emperor.

His meaning was that he could appropriately accept others' support during a low point.

"Sir, there’s no need. I’m just a poor boy. If the Li family looks down on me, it’s better not to arrange this marriage. I don’t want to face ridicule in the Li family in the future."

"I will try."

"The last condition is that it’s not easy to pass the imperial examination. Otherwise, Yanzhou wouldn’t have produced a single scholar in all these years. In the next six years, I want to focus on my studies. If the Li family can wait, they can wait. If not, I don’t want to reach too high."

He couldn’t bring his previous life’s marriage views into this life.

But even in five or six years, he would only be twenty, and the Li family’s young lady would be eighteen, which is still considered early marriage.

However, this was the most difficult condition to meet.

Zhu Huan wanted to persuade him.

"Sir, I have made up my mind."

But if the Li family really agreed, Wang Ju wouldn’t mind this marriage.

As for love, what kind of love could he have with a little girl?

...

Spring quietly arrived.

The appearance of Wang Family Village had changed dramatically.

The village was surrounded by a sturdy wall, which, though not comparable to the walls of the fortresses built by the Song Dynasty, was effective for a village. The reservoir was in the northwest corner.

Three streams branched off from the reservoir, encircling the entire village. Near the village, some ponds were dug along the streams, not deep, but filled with large areas of reeds. Once these reeds grew, they would not only serve as green fodder but also act as a second line of defense. At least cavalry couldn’t charge directly to the village.

The reservoir had been opened twice, and irrigation had begun.

Every household started to get busy.

With the village affairs settled, preparations for spring plowing began.

At this time, the government issued an order.

Cheng Kan pressed hard, and the large families had no choice but to donate nearly 20,000 strings of coins and bolts of silk.

If it were an incompetent official, they might use this money to expand the state school or help the poor, regardless of how much would end up in the pockets of corrupt officials. But if they did it, it would be considered a good deed.

Cheng Kan was not an incompetent official.

Though not as famous as Pang Ji and Fan Zhongyan, he was still a significant minister of the Song Dynasty.

With this money, he allocated only a small portion to the state school. Why expand the state school in Yanzhou? It wouldn’t produce any officials, a waste!

The rest was used to send minor officials to inspect and begin large-scale road construction.

Using this money, all the roads between the fortresses in Yanzhou were repaired and paved with stones and sand. No labor was asked for.

This was one of the problems of the Song Dynasty.

Initially, to save labor and reduce the burden on the people, Emperor Taizu and Emperor Taizong established many garrison troops to replace the people’s labor. Even in the states and counties, there were many specialized laborers. This worked well at first, for example, when the Yellow River breached its banks, Emperor Taizong used the army to fill the gaps multiple times without mobilizing the scattered disaster victims.

However, as the Song Dynasty’s internal governance progressed, this system became outdated. For example, the Wan’an Bridge over the Luoyang River in Quanzhou, built by Cai Xiang. "The foundation was laid in the depths, the water was divided into forty-seven channels, the bridge was built in the air, it was 3,600 feet long, 15 feet wide, with railings on both sides, and the number of railings was the same as the length of the bridge, with two rows of them."

In fact, Cai Xiang saw that the water at the mouth of the Luoyang River was swift, and the people on both sides could only cross by boat, which often led to accidents. So he led the construction of the Luoyang Bridge. He first sent people to measure, and when building the foundation, he threw large stones along the centerline of the bridge to form a low stone dike at the bottom of the river. Then he built the piers on top and planted a large number of oysters under the bridge to make the foundation and piers stick together firmly. This is the famous "oyster planting method" in bridge construction. Construction began in 1053 and was completed in 1059, taking seven years to build a super bridge 1,200 meters long and about 5 meters wide. The bridge has 46 piers, 500 railings, 28 stone lions, 7 stone pavilions, and 9 stone towers.

But how much did it cost?

14,000 strings of coins.

This amount couldn’t even pay for a year’s labor.

Why did it cost so little? Because the labor was free, and even the stone materials were transported by free labor. If the people were hired to build the bridge, the cost would be 20 to 30 times higher.

We can’t blame Cai Xiang.

He had good intentions and acted within the rules.

But this was a problem of the Song Dynasty. Every year, a large amount of money was spent to maintain countless garrison troops, and many people were forced to do free labor. Yet the government still mobilized the remaining people for labor.

Cheng Kan also acted within these rules.

Since the labor was free, this money could accomplish many things, even expanding the roads between all the fortresses. Of course, this was a good intention. If realized, it would make transportation easier and save the government a lot of money and silk. After all, each fortress housed a large number of troops, and many supplies had to be transported to each fortress every year. Expanding the roads would also bring many conveniences to the people.

The minor officials explained this with great effort.

What else could be said? Everyone went to work.

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