"Thank you for your generosity. Your servant has brought you a generous gift. Please accept it."
Old Hatuk seemed not to have heard Koji's threat. He heard that Koji easily agreed to his request, with a bright smile on his face and a very pious expression.
Kou Ji smiled calmly and said: "Don't worry, I will never turn away the things you send."
Old Hatuk bowed to Kou Ji sincerely, which was regarded as a response to Kou Ji.
Kou Ji continued: "Those young men sent by Gargamel before have been studying the art of war in our Song Dynasty for more than three years. I think you can consider taking them with you when you go back.
I believe they will definitely make great contributions to Gargamel.
From now on, under the same conditions, you can continue to send people over."
Old Hatuk was overjoyed and said, "Thank you for your generosity."
Koji said no more and waved his hand, indicating that Old Hatuk could leave.
Old Hatuk bowed humbly and left the bamboo courtyard.
Before leaving, he left a rich gift for Kou Ji.
There are animals and plants that Kou Ji asked Zhu Neng and others to search for before, as well as a large amount of gold, silver and jewelry.
Kou Ji was not in a hurry to see it, but sat in the study and stared at Wang Anshi with a smile.
Wang Anshi followed Kou Ji after Old Hatuk left, obviously he had something to say.
"Sir, Zhu Neng, Li Zhaoliang and others left the fiefdom and split the soil to seal the territory in the Western Regions, which has violated the identity of a prince.
Can Mr. An do business with them?
They obviously have different intentions."
Wang Anshi said to Kou Jida with a solemn expression.
Kou Ji sat on the chair and said with a smile: "The officials also knew what they did. But the officials said nothing, did not issue an order to reprimand them, and did not send troops to attack them."
Wang Anshi said bluntly: "The officials are raising tigers, which is a source of trouble."
Kou Ji nodded and said: "There is indeed a risk of raising tigers. But our Song Dynasty has just decided, and various reforms are being gradually implemented, so we can't spend time on expeditions.
They have penetrated further than the Western Region.
The officials are also beyond their reach.
But the officials also wanted to know what it was like outside the Western Regions.
So I can only rely on their calm eyes."
Wang Anshi said solemnly: "I'm afraid they will set their sights on me, Da Song."
Kou Ji shook his head and said with a smile: "The area to the west of the Western Region is very large, and it is enough for them to deal with. They will not be enemies with me, the Song Dynasty, until they have done enough to deal with the area to the west of the Western Region."
Wang Anshi looked at Kou Ji with a puzzled expression.
Kou Ji explained: "You have two enemies, and both enemies occupy the same rich and fertile territory. One has strong soldiers and horses, and a sharp edge, while the other has poor weapons and fights according to a square formation similar to a formation diagram.
Which one will you choose?"
Wang Anshi smiled bitterly and said: "Students naturally choose enemies with poor armaments and fighting according to square formations similar to formation diagrams."
No need for Kou Ji to say any more, Wang Anshi already understood what the situation was like in the West.
In Wang Anshi's view, when veteran generals like Li Zhaoliang and Zhu Neng, who are proficient in deception, go to the West to fight against enemies who rely on square formations similar to formation diagrams, it is no different from a father beating his son.
Li Zhaoliang and Zhu Neng had an absolute advantage in terms of military force. With the Song Dynasty helping behind them, they would definitely gain considerable territory in the West.
It’s just that it will be more difficult to manage.
But judging from their identities, Zhu Neng and Li Zhaoliang should prefer conquest.
Therefore, they must stay in the west and fight until they die.
As for governing the place and managing the territory, it will inevitably be left to his nephew.
Beat the Song Dynasty?
Not very likely.
Unless they have reached the far west and established a solid empire.
Otherwise, your brain is crazy.
Seeing that Wang Anshi had figured it out, Kou Ji waved his hand and said: "Okay, don't pay too much attention to Western affairs. Just take care of those big food books."
After sorting, print out the parchment and human skin scrolls as soon as possible.
Send it to me at your place of origin.
Everything else remains as usual.”
Wang Anshi nodded and exited Kou Ji's study.
After Wang Anshi left, Kou Ji rushed to see the animals and plants sent by Old Hatuk.
Kou Ji has little interest in animals.
Koji prefers those plants.
After taking a closer look at the plant seeds, most of my interest disappeared.
The seeds of potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, peppers and other crops that Kou Ji was most interested in were nowhere to be found.
Most of them were seeds that Kou Ji didn't recognize, as well as some vegetable seeds.
And the poppies that Koji least wanted to see.
It is said that this substance was introduced to China during the Six Dynasties and has been continuously used as medicine. There is a clear description in the book written by Chen Zangqi, an important scholar in the Tang Dynasty.
Its flowers are called hibiscus flowers, and its roots, branches and leaves are called heartbroken grass.
Li Taibai once wrote a poem about him, saying, "In the past, it was a hibiscus flower, but now it is a heartbroken grass. How long can you get good things if you treat others with sex?"
From the Six Dynasties to the Middle Qing Dynasty, it has always been a life-saving medicine.
By the end of the Qing Dynasty, it had become a harmful thing.
Kou Ji had no way to eradicate it, so he could only keep his mouth shut and not tell anyone that this thing was a great harm to the world.
Kou Ji watched as the people in his house ground the poppies into powder, mixed them into the mud, and buried them deep in the ground before identifying the remaining seeds one by one.
If you know someone, tell the people at home about their habits and let them use them for farming.
Those whom they didn’t recognize were all handed over to the family members for farming.
After processing the seeds, the animals were thrown into the Song Dynasty royal hunting ground, and the money was given to Xiang Yan.
Kou Ji entered the palace in a carriage.
When he arrived at the palace, he saw Zhao Zhen playing with his young sons.
Kou Ji had some fun with the young princes, and then followed Zhao Zhen to the meeting hall.
Arrive at the meeting hall.
After sitting down.
Zhao Zhen asked with a smile: "They used the opportunity of delivering books to put conditions on you?"
Kou Ji smiled and said: "It's not a condition. It's a matter of mutual benefit."
Zhao Zhen looked at Kou Ji curiously.
Kou Ji smiled and said: "They should have conquered a large territory in the west, and formed an alliance with a powerful country in the west, so they should have gained a lot of good things.
So I want to invite merchants from the Song Dynasty to come over and turn those things into the goods and soldiers and armor they need."
Zhao Zhen was stunned for a moment and asked: "Don't they have business people? I also gave them craftsmen who can forge armor?"
Kou Ji laughed and said: "Didn't I just say that? They should have conquered a large territory, and the number of Song people in their hands is always a small number. If they divide some into various cities, they are basically stretched. They can't trust those people.
They are aliens, so we can only ask us to take the initiative to digest their spoils.
More importantly, their eyes are now on the West and they have no intention of expanding their business channels.
They need our people to expand their business channels."
Zhao Zhen nodded and asked, "That's it?"
When Kou Ji heard this, he laughed even louder, "I also want my merchants from the Song Dynasty to leave seeds in the west to increase their power."
Zhao Zhen also laughed.
When such a trivial matter becomes a state matter and is put on the table, it is indeed easy to make people laugh.
After Zhao Zhen laughed, he said to Kou Ji: "Didn't Fourth Brother intend to expand business channels before? He also planned to send some scholars there.
Now we can just go with the flow."
Kou Ji nodded and said: "It is easy to conquer a place, but it is difficult to completely turn a place into our Han territory. Education must be carried out.
As long as they help us lay the foundation, it will be very easy for future generations to plot that place."
Zhao Zhen looked in agreement.
Kou Ji continued: "As for the armor, they still have to rely on me, the Song Dynasty. Although the officials gave them craftsmen, the number of craftsmen is always a small number.
If they want craftsmen to teach new craftsmen, the first thing they have to overcome is the language barrier, and the second is the learning process of forging skills.
Just these two points will take them five or six years to achieve.
But they are not young and ambitious.
So if you want to achieve something before you die, you can't waste a moment
You can only continue to rely on me, the Song Dynasty, in terms of armor."
Zhao Zhen smiled and said: "So, after Jiaozhi and Qingtang, someone else started to buy large quantities of our Song Dynasty's military equipment?"
Kou Ji smiled and nodded.
Zhao Zhen laughed loudly, "I never thought that the Song Dynasty could actually make tens of millions of dollars by selling arms."
Kou Ji said bluntly: "As long as we continue to innovate, we can continue to do this kind of business."
Zhao Zhen sighed: "Then I have to rely on my fourth brother."
Kou Ji shook his head and said with a smile: "Everything has to be decided by the officials."
Zhao Zhen smiled and said: "That's right... How will Fourth Brother plan to do business with them?"
Kou Ji said frankly: "For ordinary merchants, the scale is too small and it is not safe. Just use soldiers and horses to transport goods. Not only can it be used like an arm, but it can also attract small merchants to follow.
More importantly, it can ensure the safety of property and help us see the situation in the West clearly.
When necessary, we can share the results of the battle with them."
"More importantly, you can also train troops!"
Zhao Zhen hit the nail on the head.
The monarch and his ministers looked at each other and laughed loudly.
Li Di, Wang Anshi and others all felt that allowing Zhu Neng, Li Zhaoliang and others to become powerful in the Western Regions and the West was a process that was raising the stakes.
But they don't know.
In the eyes of Kou Ji and Zhao Zhen, Li Zhaoliang and Zhu Neng were the hunting dogs they let out, which could help them see the west clearly and also help them make money.
As long as the Song Dynasty remains in the leading position in all aspects.
Most of everything Li Zhaoliang, Zhu Neng and others grabbed in the Western Regions and the West would flow into the Song Dynasty and be swallowed up by the Song Dynasty.
Kou Ji and Zhao Zhen knew very well that it would take a long, long time for Li Zhaoliang, Zhu Neng and others to fight fiercely in the Western Regions and in the West before they could gain a firm foothold.
They don't have that much time to develop.
Even if one of them is determined to occupy a place and develop, it will take a long, long time to catch up with the Song Dynasty.
During this period, money is of little use to them.
The money they plundered must be exchanged for talents, materials, and soldiers.
Only in this way can we grow further.
And only the Song Dynasty could supply their huge needs.
Therefore, the more Zhu Neng, Li Zhaoliang and others made trouble in the Western Regions and the West, the greater the Song Dynasty would benefit.
Zhu Neng, Li Zhaoliang and others are like Orions.
After they captured the prey, it was Da Song who finally ate the meat and drank the soup.
While eating meat and drinking soup, the Song Dynasty would give them sharper bows, arrows and knives so that they could catch more prey.
Kou Ji and Zhao Zhen discussed for a while and finally decided to organize some poor retired soldiers from the Forbidden Army into two supernumerary supply battalions.
They led merchants and transported goods to the Western Regions and trade with the West.
Since they would be relieved of the constraints of military law after leaving the Song Dynasty, they were destined to do some shameful things.
So Kou Ji and Zhao Zhen did not put them in the sun.
Instead, they were placed under the jurisdiction of the inner government.
In order to ensure that people in the inner government do not exploit them.
Kou Ji and Zhao Zhen set rules.
When they take a trip, 30% of the proceeds belong to them.
And inform them all of this rule.
Once the matter is settled, there is no need for Kou Ji and Zhao Zhen to worry about it anymore.
Just throw them all to Chen Lin and Yang Wenguang.
With their identities as Kou Ji and Zhao Zhen, there is no need to go shirtless.
As long as they use their mouths, there are millions of people at their disposal.
After Kou Ji handed over some details to Chen Lin, he left the palace.
After returning home, he stopped paying attention to this matter.
Instead, he wrote to Kou Tianci, who was far away in Korea, asking him to recruit laborers and build a huge library in Handu.
The library must be built with stone and must be fireproof.
Kou Ji also drew the drawings himself, put them in an envelope and sent them out.
Since then, Kou Ji has been staying at his house to collect the sheepskin scrolls and human skin scrolls sent by Wang Anshi.
Before there was paper, Westerners did not choose bamboo slips for writing. Instead, they liked to use parchment scrolls.
Some precious books also like to use human skin volumes.
So there were actually a lot of parchment scrolls and human skin scrolls sent by Gargamel.
It took Wang Anshi and his people more than two months to distinguish between the sheepskin scrolls and the human skin scrolls, and left a reprint.
Then he led others to spend three months sorting out the religious classics among millions of books.
Eating people is crazy.
To be precise, religion is crazy.
Among the millions of books, fully 150,000 are religious texts.
There are also more than 60,000 volumes of books recording various witchcraft.
The cruelty of those sorceries made Wang An's skin tingle.
The number of those sorceries made Wang Anshi unbelievable.
It is hard for Wang Anshi to imagine how worthless human life is in a civilization with more than 60,000 volumes of magic books.
True gods, evil gods, demons, and legendary heroes all seem to need human lives to communicate.
And it must be a human life killed in a cruel way.
There are also some cruel punishments.
For example, the punishment of stuffing people into a bronze bull and burning them alive.
In the bamboo courtyard.
Wang Anshi looked at Kou Ji with doubt in his face.
"Sir, you told me that it was a place full of knowledge. But the students didn't see any knowledge. All they saw was cruelty, ignorance, and madness."
Kou Ji put down the parchment in his hand and asked with a smile: "Are you shocked?"
Wang Anshi said seriously: "It is hard for students to imagine that there would be any saints in such a cruel and ignorant place."
Kou Ji asked in reply: "Aren't the punishments such as burning cannons, burning pots, lighting sky lanterns, etc. cruel and stupid?"
A look of struggle flashed across Wang Anshi's face, but he couldn't say anything to refute.
Kou Ji said bluntly: "Confucius said: When three people are walking together, there must be someone who is my teacher. As long as there is a written ethnic group, it is worthy of our exploration, and the sages of its ethnic group are even more worthy of our exploration."
There must be something worth learning from them.
We feel that our Han culture is unparalleled, and we are not wrong.
But if you just keep to yourself and don't know how to learn, you will fall behind others sooner or later.
We can only keep learning, constantly comparing, and constantly improving our knowledge.
We can always be in an unparalleled position.”
Kou Ji didn't wait for Wang Anshi to speak again, waved his hand and said: "Go ahead, chop those things into pieces with a guillotine, mix them with night fragrance and fertilize them.
Out of sight, out of mind, if you destroy it, you won’t have any worries anymore.”
"Here..."
Wang Anshi agreed and left the Zhuyuan.
Kou Ji asked the housekeeper to follow and keep an eye on Wang Anshi so that he would not be bothered by such trivial matters again.
After sending Wang Anshi away, Kou Ji stayed in the study to sort out Dashi's books.
In the evening.
The housekeeper took Wang Anshi back to the house in a hurry, with a somewhat panicked look on his face.
When Kou Ji saw them staggering into the study, he put down his pen in shock and asked, "What happened?"
Both the steward of the Kou Mansion and Wang Anshi were people who had seen big events, and anything other than major events would not be enough to disturb them.
Before they could speak, Liu Heng also rushed into the study.
After entering the study, he opened his mouth and shouted to Kou Ji: "Fourth brother, something happened!"
Kou Ji asked in a deep voice: "Tell me carefully."
It was no small matter that could make Liu Heng moved.
Liu Heng took a deep breath and said with a gloomy face: "Prince Zhao Run broke into the Yuchun Palace and played with the beauty."
Kou Ji suddenly stood up and said with a stern face: "Impossible!"
Liu Heng said with a solemn expression: "We have all the witnesses and material evidence, and the matter has reached the official level."
Kou Ji frowned and said, "Have the officials already punished you?"
Liu Heng nodded and said: "The officials confined the prince to Daqing Palace and ordered Chen Lin to seal off the palace, but the news still came out.
It is said that Chen Lin is now being ordered to investigate the truth of this matter in the palace."
Kou Ji's eyes wandered around Liu Heng, Wang Anshi, and the housekeeper, and asked coldly: "Do you think Zhao Run would do such a thing?"
The three of them shook their heads together.
As a student of Kou Ji, Zhao Run often hung around Kou's house.
The three of them met Zhao Run often and knew something about Zhao Run's character.
If it were said that Zhao Run had stolen money from the inner palace, or secretly used some of the inner palace's belongings to do business, the three of them would believe it.
But they wouldn't believe it if Zhao Run went to Zhao Zhen's harem to molest Zhao Zhen's women.
When Kou Ji saw the three people nodding, he snorted coldly: "I don't believe it either! When Zhao Run was at home, he also went to some elegant gatherings and saw many beautiful women.
There are many things that can seduce people.
Even so, he was not tempted.
How could he go to find that beautiful woman who was like a zombie?
There must be an article behind this matter.
What do you think?"
The housekeeper was speechless and looked at Wang Anshi and Liu Heng.
Wang Anshi and Liu Heng had cold expressions on their faces and said in unison: "Seizing the direct descendants! Begin!"
Kou Ji nodded and said, "I think so too."
After saying this, Kou Ji gritted his teeth and said coldly: "The official family is at its peak in the Spring and Autumn Period, and I, Kou Jihu, occupy the court. In such a situation, there are still people who dare to provoke the matter of seizing the legitimate son.
Do they think the tail of a real dragon is easy to touch?
Or do you think the tiger’s head is just a toy?”
Kou Ji coldly ordered: "Wang Anshi, you go to Tiansheng Hall and continue your work. Housekeeper, take care of my students. Liu Heng, stay at the door of the house. After I leave, no one will be seen."
The three people agreed in unison.
Kou Ji rolled up his sleeves and walked out of the study, "I just want to see who is causing trouble behind the scenes."
Kou Ji came out of the study, ordered the groom to hitch the carriage, and sat in the carriage towards the palace.
When they arrived at the palace gate, they saw Fan Zhongyan and others arriving, as well as a group of officials from the Supervision Department.
Fan Zhongyan and others saw Kou Ji and rushed to greet him.
"Sir, what is going on in the palace?"
Fan Zhongyan and others came to the side of Kou Ji's carriage. After saluting, he asked with complicated expressions.
Kou Ji said with a stern face: "I don't know anything else, but I firmly believe that the prince will not do anything extraordinary. You go back, don't be stuck here, the officials won't see you."
Ouyang Xiu said in a deep voice: "Sir, word has spread in Bianjing City. If this matter is true, the impact will be too great."
Kou Ji smiled coldly and said: "I just realized that before I could enter the palace, word spread in Bianjing City. Are the people's channels for getting the news better than mine?"
Fan Zhongyan and others' expressions changed.
They are all smart people, and they have guessed before that there must be a hidden secret in this matter.
Now that they heard Kou Ji's words, they were even more convinced of their guess.
But they did not express their speculations.
Ouyang Xiu cupped his hands at Kou Ji and said, "I hope you can tell me how to deal with this matter, sir."
Kou Ji snorted coldly: "Since the person behind it wants to use this to cause the officials to impeach the prince, we can't let him get his way.
All three of your houses are watching, and not a single memorial about the prince is allowed to appear.
And don't tell anyone what you think about the matter.
I would like to see how the people behind it deal with such a situation."
Fan Zhongyan and others looked at each other, and all raised their hands in agreement.
Kou Ji waved his hand, "Go back and do whatever you need to do."
Fan Zhongyan and others handed over again, got on their carriages one by one, and left the palace gate.
Kou Ji ordered the groom to drive to the Jinshui Bridge.
A eunuch blocked the road and bowed: "The official has an order and no one can see it."
Kou Ji sat in the carriage and faintly uttered one word.
"roll!"
The eunuch quickly stepped aside.
He knew he couldn't stop Kou Ji, so he didn't try his best to stop him.
He has done what he should do, and the rest has nothing to do with him.
Kou Ji drove across the Jinshui Bridge, knocked on the palace door, and drove into the palace.
We are halfway through the journey to Chui Gong Hall.
Chen Lin appeared in front of the carriage.
Kou Ji sat in the carriage and asked, "Where is the official family?"
Chen Lin bowed and said: "The officials are in the palace, and the Queen and the Queen Mother are also there. The prince is confined to the Daqing Hall."
Kou Ji thought for a moment and said, "Then I'll go to Daqing Hall first."