Chapter 0359 The scholar who pursues fame and fortune
Kou Ji glanced at Liu Heng in surprise, wanting to ask Liu Heng what his current situation was.
But they saw Liu Heng covering his face with his sleeves, unable to see his expression and unable to communicate.
Kou Ji had to cough heavily.
Liu Heng put down his sleeves in embarrassment.
Kou Ji glanced at Liu Heng, as if asking him what was going on.
Liu Heng forced a smile out of embarrassment.
The woman on the horse looked at the two of them with a strange expression, "I remember that in your Song Dynasty books, it was written that you were flirting with each other. Is this what you are like now?"
Kou Jijun blushed and glared at Liu Heng fiercely.
He seemed to be blaming Liu Heng for how he got into this trouble.
Liu Heng smiled bitterly and said dryly to the woman on the horse: "Let's sit down somewhere and have a good talk."
The woman raised her head and swung the long whip in her hand, "What else is there to say? You go back quickly to prepare the cattle, sheep and horses, and go to my eldest brother to propose marriage."
Liu Heng spread his hands and sighed: "But we didn't do anything?"
"Crack!"
The woman shook the whip in her hand and shouted: "We have stayed together for one night... My eldest brother said that if a man and a woman stay together for one night, they must get married."
Kou Ji raised his eyebrows and lingered on Liu Heng and the woman with an ambiguous expression.
Seeing this, Liu Heng said to Kou Ji with a bitter face: "Fourth brother, I really didn't do anything."
Kou Ji suppressed his laughter and said, "Is there any use in talking about this at this time?"
When Liu Heng heard this, his face became even more bitter.
The woman held a long whip, pointed it at Liu Heng, and asked loudly: "Will you marry me or not? If you don't marry me, I will whip you to death!"
Liu Heng looked at Kou Ji for help.
Seeing this, the woman glared at Kou Ji fiercely.
Kou Ji waved his hands decisively and said: "You two will handle the matter between you two. I will not participate."
With these words, Kou Ji left Liu Heng behind and fled the alley in a hurry.
The woman looked at Kou Ji's fleeing back and hummed a few times, "You know what's going on..."
Liu Heng anxiously shouted to Kou Ji's back: "Fourth brother...save me..."
Kou Ji covered his ears and pretended not to hear.
After leaving the alley, I found a deserted place and laughed loudly.
Hearing the woman chasing Liu Heng in the alley, shouting and killing him, Kou Ji laughed even louder.
Although he didn't know what happened between Liu Heng and An Ziluo's sister, An Ziluo's sister obviously relied on Liu Heng.
Liu Heng probably did something, so he was a little unreasonable and allowed An Ziluo's sister to chase him and scream for death.
Otherwise, with Liu Heng's martial arts skills, An Ziluo's sister would have been pulled off her horse long ago.
"Is this considered a happy enemy? If Liu Mei knew that Liu Heng had provoked the Qingtang woman, how would she feel?"
Kou Ji muttered with a smile and walked towards the outside of Bianjing City.
Kou Ji has no intention of intervening in the relationship between Liu Heng and sister An Ziluo.
Let's see how far they can go.
If the quarrel comes to the end and they really come together and encounter obstacles, he will definitely help.
Kou Ji left Bianjing City and arrived at Ruishengzhuang outside Bianjing City.
Ruishengzhuang is the name the people of Bianjing City give to the place where the refugees live outside the city.
No one deliberately named the places where the refugees lived.
It is purely because the place where the refugees live is close to the royal garden Ruisheng Garden. When the people of Bianjing call the place where they live, they naturally call it Ruisheng Village.
When Kou Ji arrived outside Ruisheng Village, he saw some scholars lingering outside Ruisheng Village.
Kou Ji looked at them and entered the village with doubts.
After Chen Jing, Wang Tiansheng and others learned that Kou Ji had arrived, they hurried out to welcome him.
"The common people have seen the Ministry of Industry..."
"Students have seen the Ministry of Industry..."
The two bowed and saluted.
Kou Ji waved his hand and said: "No need to be polite... How is the forged iron furnace constructed?"
Chen Jing smiled dryly and said: "Common people don't know how to forge iron, but I heard from the craftsmen in your house that there is a furnace that is ready for use. Once the iron materials and coal are transported, the furnace can be used to forge iron."
The charcoal in Chen Jing's mouth refers to coal.
The ancients discovered coal a long time ago. However, when coal burns, it will produce poisonous gas. If you are not careful, people will be poisoned and die.
Therefore, most ancient people stayed away from coal.
Only a small number of craftsmen use coal in forging.
Kou Ji used coal when he was making steel in his house. He also taught the craftsmen in his house how to use coal while avoiding being harmed by poisonous gas.
The craftsmen of Kou Mansion have more or less understood some of the characteristics of coal.
The iron forged from coal is far better than the iron they forged from traditional charcoal and firewood.
Many craftsmen in the Kou Mansion have now abandoned charcoal and firewood and switched to coal as fuel.
The large iron forging workshops built outside the city naturally also use coal as fuel.
It is worth mentioning that because the ancients stayed away from coal, many open-pit coal mines were filled with coal and no one picked it up.
A steward who goes out to purchase coal can easily exchange a copper coin for baskets of coal.
Under the leadership of Chen Jing, Kou Ji inspected in front of the blast furnace built in the iron forging workshop, discovered some deficiencies, and made corrections.
They also agreed to come over and watch the iron-making in a few days when the first batch of iron materials and coal arrived.
Although the salt and iron business was run by the third company, Kou Ji could not be bothered with the matter of iron materials.
Even if Kou Ji did not go through the Third Division and mined and purchased iron materials on a large scale, no one would be able to fault him.
Because the Yu Department under the Ministry of Industry has the power to cut down trees, collect stones, and mine gold, silver, copper, and iron ores.
Although the imperial court has handed over these powers to the Third Division, the imperial court has not abolished these powers from the Ministry of Works.
It's just that in the past, the imperial court relied heavily on the Third Division, and the Ministry of Industry couldn't take over the Third Division, so it could only follow behind the Third Division, or do nothing at all.
Now that Kou Ji is in charge of the Ministry of Political Affairs and Industry, how can he let the Third Division and his family dominate again?
How can we let the third department take the authority of the Ministry of Works and dominate it?
Kou Ji left the forging workshop and went to the textile workshop and the private school under construction for a tour.
Before leaving, he stared at the scholars outside Ruisheng Village and asked Chen Jing, "What are those people doing here?"
Chen Jing bowed and replied: "Back to the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, those scholars heard that we were going to build a private school here and planned to let tens of thousands of children study together, so they wanted to beg for a meal in the private school we built.
You said before that the teacher who teaches the children knowledge must be chosen among the common people, so the common people keep out the scholars."
When Kou Ji heard this, he stared at the scholars outside thoughtfully.
Wang Tiansheng said in a low voice: "In the Ministry of Industry, among those scholars, some want to make a living, while others want to use those children to gain some enlightenment and gain a good reputation."
Wang Tiansheng's words revealed the thoughts of the scholars lingering outside.
Kou Ji also guessed the thoughts of those scholars. He thought about it and said: "No matter what thoughts they have, they are not harmful to the children.
Among them there are many students who come to take exams, and there are also people with profound knowledge. They teach the children, and the children learn a lot.
Far better than those half-full scholars.
Since they are willing to contribute to the children, you should accept them.
When accepting people, you must find out where they come from to prevent people with ulterior motives from getting involved."
Chen Jing frowned when he heard this.
He didn't like those scholars who came here to gain reputation. He always felt that those people had impure minds and bad tempers and would inevitably teach bad children.
Wang Tiansheng was overjoyed.
He is a scholar and has seen far more than Chen Jing.
He knew that the scholars who came to seek fame were not simple, but among those scholars there were many who were highly knowledgeable and would definitely be able to embark on an official career in the future.
After those scholars embark on their official career, they will definitely take care of the children who go out here.
If one or two of the children are promising, they might be able to make a career out of it.
The rest of the village elders and clan elders have their own thoughts.
But Kou Ji had already made up his mind, and it was hard for them to say anything more.
Kou Ji asked Wang Tiansheng to gather those people and select some scholars to be teachers for the children.
He himself left Ruishengzhuang and returned to Bianjing City.
After returning to Bianjing City.
Seeing Su Chan'er still waiting at the door of the mansion, he muttered softly and entered the mansion through the back door.
It didn't take long to rest in the mansion.
Kou Zhong came to report that Liu Heng was visiting.
Kou Ji quickly asked Kou Zhong to take him to the side hall.
When Kou Ji arrived at the side hall, he saw Liu Heng slumped on a chair like a dead fish.
Seeing that there were no new wounds on Liu Heng's face, Kou Ji asked with a smile: "What on earth did you do to this ancient lady?"
Liu Heng sat up with a grin on his face, sighed, and said with a grimace: "I didn't do anything... That crazy girl just kept pestering me, insisting that I marry her."
Kou Ji sat down with a smile and asked the maid in charge to bring tea.
After the tea was brought, Kou Ji drank the tea and said with a smile: "You haven't done anything? Will my old lady chase you?"
Liu Heng picked up the tea bowl in front of him, took a sip, and said seriously: "I really didn't do anything... Three days ago, that crazy girl came to me and said that I had beaten her before, and she wanted to get her back.
I played a game with her. When I was tired, I found a place and drank some wine.
Then we got drunk together, and when I woke up, that crazy girl was chasing me, saying that I had to marry her after spending the whole night with her."
After listening to Liu Heng's story, Kou Ji suppressed his laughter and asked, "With your martial arts skills, you can defeat her in just three or two blows. How could you be tired from beating her?"
Liu Heng said dryly: "Today is different from the past. She is the envoy of Qingtang. If I hurt her, I will not be able to explain to the court."
Kou Ji raised his eyebrows and said with a smile: "Why do I think you are seeing this girl becoming prettier, so you can't bear to do it?"
Liu Heng said seriously: "It's nothing..."
Kou Ji stared at Liu Heng with a smile and said nothing.
It’s hard to explain to the court why the Qingtang envoy was injured. It’s just nonsense.
If Liu Heng really cared about this, he would not have accompanied him to provoke the Liao envoys.
Under Kou Ji's gaze, Liu Heng said with a guilty conscience: "She has become prettier, but what does this have to do with me? She is a vassal daughter, and my father will never allow me to marry a vassal daughter."
Kou Ji smiled and said: "Who can say for sure about feelings... At that time, Taizong also did not allow the late emperor and the queen mother to be together. What happened in the end?"
When Liu Heng heard this, he felt even more guilty.
Kou Jixiao asked: "You were tired from playing with that girl. After drinking, did you do anything to her?"
Liu Heng said decisively: "No!"
Kou Ji sneered and said, "If you don't do anything, this girl will chase you and shout to kill you?"
Liu Heng hesitated for a while and said with a guilty conscience: "Actually... I actually don't know what I did when I was drunk... Even though she is petite, she is very bold when drinking and has a good drinking capacity.
I drank with her from dusk to midnight. When she was drunk, I started to feel drowsy.
After drinking too much, I can’t remember what I did.”
Hearing this, Kou Ji nodded and said, "In other words, it's hard to say whether you did something to her or she did something to you?"
Liu Heng nodded subconsciously. Seeing an inexplicable smile on Kou Ji's face, he quickly shook his head and said, "We really didn't do anything!"
Kou Ji put away the smile on his face, leaned back on the chair, and said: "Since you haven't done anything, then I should talk to her brother and tell her not to pester you?"
Liu Heng quickly stood up, cupped his hands and said, "Then Brother Lao will be here."
Kou Ji smiled and nodded, "It's getting late, so you can rest at my house for the night. I will send someone to send a message to An Ziluo and ask him to restrain his sister."
Liu Heng nodded.
Kou Ji asked the steward of the house to arrange a guest room for Liu Heng so that Liu Heng could rest.
He returned to his study, wrote a letter, and had someone take it and deliver it to the inn where Qingtang people lived.
A night of silence.
The next day.
early morning.
After Liu Heng got up, he found Kou Ji, said goodbye to Kou Ji, and prepared to leave.
Kou Ji sent him to the door of the house.
Su Chan'er, who had been guarding the gate of the Kou Mansion for a whole day and night, rushed forward.
"Mr. Kou, a few days ago, the little girl made unscrupulous remarks in the Kou mansion and angered the young master. I came here to apologize to the young master."
When Liu Heng saw Su Chan'er, his expression was a little complicated. He snorted coldly, waved his sleeves and left the Kou Mansion.
Kou Ji did not see her off again, but stared at Su Chan'er outside the house and said calmly: "Go back. I know very well what the person behind you wants to do. Since I didn't reply to him, it means that
I won't agree to make a deal with him.
Even if you stay here until death, it won't have any effect."
After leaving these words, Kou Ji was about to turn around and leave.
Su Chan'er took another step forward and said hurriedly: "Master Kou, can you give me a chance to say a few words to you?"
Kou Ji shook his head, put his hands behind his back, and entered the house.
No matter how much Su Chaner shouted, he ignored her.
Su Chan'er was arrogant and respectful to him at first, all because of Zhao Yuanyan's orders.
She has completely become a tool in Zhao Yuanyan's hands, and she has long lost the agility she had when Kou Ji first saw her.