Before coming to Zhao Mansion, Su Hao had already decided on the conditions for trading with the Zhao family, which was to transform the large red soil wasteland at the foot of the mountain for the Zhao family. Later, the method of transforming red soil land was very standardized, it was nothing more than applying quicklime to neutralize acidity, applying phosphorus fertilizer to increase the phosphorus content of the soil, and then planting green manure crops to increase the organic matter content in the soil. In this way, the red soil can basically be transformed into a middle-class field for a few years.

Su Hao was able to find small phosphate ores, so there was no need to worry about the source of phosphate fertilizer. With coal, as long as you go to the mountain to mine limestone everywhere, you could burn quicklime. The cost per 100 kilograms will not exceed 4 cents of silver. If you sell it to the Zhao family at a price of 8 cents of silver, you will have a half profit. Why not do it?

Su Hao supported the Zhao family to transform the red soil. In addition to waive the cost of renting a mountain farm, he also had the goal to use the Zhao family as an advertisement to attract more farmers to buy lime and phosphate powder produced by Su's Commercial Bank. There are many red soil wastelands in the Jiangnan region. If the demonstration effect can be produced, Su's Commercial Bank's business alone will be enough to make cramps.

In addition to personal profit-making motivation, transforming red soil wasteland is also a benefit project. The overall situation in Fengcheng County is that there are many people and few land. Increased effective supply of arable land can increase the county's grain output. As long as the grain is rich, there is a foundation for developing other industries.

From Zhu Xi's perspective, the big cakes that Su Hao painted for him were really full of temptation. As Su Hao said, a thousand taels of silver would eventually be used up, and owning land would make profits year after year. If the 50 hectares of wasteland under his name could be transformed into middle-class fields and rented to farmers for farming, a mu of land would be based on the rent of half a stone of rice, which would be a year of 2,500 stones, equivalent to more than 1,000 taels of silver, which would be much higher than the rent for the mountain farm from Su Hao.

Zhao Luo is a playboy and does not understand these business methods. Seeing that Zhu Xi and Su Hao were both full of joy, he knew that this choice was a win-win result, and he couldn't help but be happy. He quickly ordered the servants to prepare a banquet and wished the two sides a successful cooperation.

At the banquet, the guests and the guests had a happy conversation. When Zhao Luo was happy, he brag about his experience of traveling around to Su Hao and others. Sometimes he said that he had talked about the scholars in a certain academy, and sometimes he said that he had a strong relationship with a certain great scholar. Su Hao didn't know much about the social customs of the Ming Dynasty, and he gained a lot of knowledge after hearing Zhao Luo's nonsense.

"By the way, have you ever heard of the Wenling layman Li Hongfu?" Zhao Luo asked Su Hao and Ma Yu with a wine glass.

"I have never heard of it in my late life." Su Hao said. Most of the celebrities and scholars Zhao Luo mentioned had never heard of. The celebrities back then were all cultural people. As a geological person, what kind of interaction can Su Hao have with them?

Ma Yu nodded and said, "Mr. Fengling said that it was Li Zhi and Li Hongfu of Huang An, right?"

Zhao Luo said proudly: "That's right, it's him. However, Mr. Hongfu left Huang'an in the 12th year of Wanli and went to Macheng. When I went to pay my respects to him, he lived in the Zhifu Temple on Longtan Lake in Macheng, devoted himself to books, occasionally opening an oath to give lectures, and followers were everywhere. I was fortunate to hear it twice, which was better than reading a book for ten years."

Ma Yu's eyes showed a look of admiration and said, "Mr. Fengling had heard Mr. Hongfu's lectures, which really made Wansheng envious. Wansheng once heard Teacher Gu's former college talk about Mr. Hongfu's person. Teacher Gu also worshipped him and called him the greatest scholar in the world."

"You can afford it, you can afford it. Mr. Hongfu is definitely worthy of the world's number one Confucian scholar." Zhao Luo said repeatedly.

When Su Hao heard the two of them talked lively, he couldn't help but poke Ma Yu and asked, "Brother Duwen, who is the layman you are talking about? Is he really that magical?"

"That's natural." Ma Yu said, "He once worked as a teacher at Mr. Wang Dongya. After Mr. Dongya passed away, Mr. Hongfu became a master of Xinxue."

"Uh...Who is this Mr. Dongya? I'm stupid and know nothing about these great scholars of the world." Su Hao felt embarrassed himself.

Ma Yu knew that Su Hao was just a scholar from a countryside and was able to pass the exam for scholars because he was memorized by rote, his academic foundation was not profound, and his knowledge was even more shallow, and he could not compare to Ma Yu, a scholar who studied in the city. Seeing that Su Hao was ashamed to ask, Ma Yu briefly introduced the relationship between the characters to Su Hao:

The so-called Mr. Dongya, whose real name is Wang Ji, is the son of Wang Gen, the founder of Taizhou School. Wang Gen is a disciple of Wang Yangming, the founder of Xinxue. Wang Gen is from Taizhou, Jiangsu. After learning the theory of Xinxue from Wang Yangming, he returned to his hometown to create the Taizhou School. There were many elites under his disciples, including Wang Dong, Xu Yue, Zhao Zhenji, He Xinyin, etc. Two of them are the most famous, one is the great thinker Li Zhi, and the other is the great politician, Xu Jie, who served as the chief assistant of the cabinet during the Jiajing period.

Li Zhi was born in Quanzhou, Fujian. He was born in the sixth year of Jiajing. He passed the imperial examination at the age of 26. He later served as the imperial edict of Gongcheng, Henan, a doctor of the Imperial College in Nanjing, a doctor of the Imperial College in Beijing, a junior in the Ministry of Justice in Nanjing, and a governor of Yao'an, Yunnan. After three years of being the prefect, he was tired of this kind of life and began to slacke in work. As a result, he was impeached and ordered to retire.

After being resigned from office, Li Zhi did not return to his original hometown, but went to an old friend named Geng Dingli in Huang'an, Hubei to live in, and wrote a book and gave lectures. In the 12th year of Wanli, Geng Dingli passed away, and Li Zhi moved to Macheng, and he has been here until now.

Li Zhi's biggest characteristic is his personality. According to his autobiography, he had a lot of fun fighting with his superiors and colleagues when he was in any yamen. After resigning from office, he focused on writing books and spreading his own ideas. He claimed that he was a heretic in the traditional Confucian Confucianism of Confucius and Mencius, and his works were rebellious. He opposed all kinds of hypocritical benevolence, righteousness and morality, saying that those Taoists "are called Shanren, but are in the same heart as merchants, talk about morality, and are determined to wear tricks."

"Haha, this old man is quite interesting. If you have the chance in the future, you will definitely go to see him." Su Hao said. In his mind, ancient great scholars should be the kind of people who always quote scriptures and say something about "Zi Shi said the poem ", but I didn't expect that there are people who claim to be heresy of Confucius and Mencius. Such people are worth getting to know.

"When you want to leave, be sure to tell Zhao that Zhao will be with you." Zhao Luo said.

Su Hao shook his head and smiled, "I'm just talking about it. There are so many things to do now, who knows when you can have time? Mr. Fengling, I think you are very leisurely and really enviable."

Zhao Luo sighed: "It's boring to be leisurely over time. When my uncle returned to his hometown, he issued a confinement order to leave Fengcheng, so that I could not leave Fengcheng, so that I could manage my family business at home with peace of mind. In fact, it would be great if Mr. Zhu was in charge of this business. I was just a redundant person."

"Why did the boss say this? I am old and how many years can I take care of the boss?" Zhu Xi said hurriedly.

"Mr. Zhu said that you are in good health and it would be fine if you work for another 20 years." Zhao Luo said.

Su Hao smiled and said, "Mr. Fengling is really in a blessing and does not know how to be blessed. Like Brother Duwen and I, I want to have a quiet desk but cannot, which is a pain."

"I would rather be as busy as the two of you. By the way, Master Su, when you start mining coal and burning lime in the future, Zhao will also go and observe it. Maybe it can help Master Su." Zhao Luo said in a begging tone.

When Su Hao saw Zhao Luo, an uncle in his 40s, who was actually like a child, he laughed silently. He agreed: "Mr. Fengling wants to see coal mining and can go anytime. In fact, there are more interesting things here. I wonder if Mr. Fengling intends to participate?"

"What's the matter?" Zhao Luo asked.

Su Hao said: "I have reported to the magistrate of the county, Lord Han, that is, a large pond, this winter, in Luoshan, south of the county seat, and plan to store millions of water. Brother Duwen and some students from Longguang Academy will go to the Luoshan area for geological surveys soon. If Mr. Fengling is interested, he can also go."

"Is there such a good thing?" Zhao Luo was indeed moved by Su Hao's words. His eyes were shining at Ma Yu and said, "Brother Duwen, if I don't think Zhao is stupid, I would like to go with you to do the investigation. Zhao has never heard of the pond with millions of cubic cubic water. If he can contribute his part in this matter, he can also give an explanation to his ancestors in the future."

"This..." Ma Yu hesitated. In his opinion, Zhao Luo was just an old playboy. It was okay to chat and brag together, but it seemed like a bit of a bad person with him to conduct surveys with him. But seeing Zhao Luo looking expectant, he couldn't say anything directly. No matter what, he was still eating someone's banquet.

Su Hao responded readily: "No problem, I have the final say in this matter. Mr. Fengling will make some preparations in advance. The conditions in the mountains are difficult, so Mr. Fengling must be prepared to suffer."

"I didn't say that, don't think I'm a member of the school. If you have to suffer, Zhao can survive." Zhao Luoniu said coaxingly.
Chapter completed!