The princess moved into the White Mansion, and Xiang'er took care of everything.
The Bai Song Dynasty did not need to worry. The earthquake disaster was the most important thing now. The Xicheng river bank must be reinforced immediately. Otherwise, not only would water and soil erosion continue, but the entire Jixian city wall would be given the impression that it was stable.
If you want to build a river embankment, you must first intercept the Wei River. This is a huge project that cannot be accomplished by the Bai Song Dynasty alone.
The next day, Bai Song handed over the plan he had designed to the Taishou Mansion, who had to call on the people of the county to complete it.
In the plan designed by Bai Song, a very special material-cement was mentioned.
The river embankment reinforced by cement will not be penetrated by river water, which will not cause the soil to become soft, and the degree of impact resistance is much higher than that of the blue bricks commonly used in the Tang Dynasty.
Bai Song had already had the idea to make cement, but he didn't know how to use space. Even if he used space capabilities, he couldn't satisfy such a huge amount.
The simplest way to make cement is to mix volcanic ash and lime with water. Although the strength is not as good as industrially produced cement, it is already a qualitative leap over the current materials.
Lime is often found in the Tang Dynasty, but volcanic ash is rare. In order to meet long-term needs, the Bai Song Dynasty thought of having an oil field in the remote Turkic grassland in the north of the Tang Dynasty.
That was the place where the first Turkic warrior was burned to death in the Bai Song Dynasty.
The Turks in Ji County also said that the fire burned for a whole month, and the entire grassland was submerged in the night.
The nearby mountain rock veins have been burned by fires for a long time, which will inevitably form a landform similar to volcanic rocks, and there will inevitably be a lot of volcanic ash.
The oil field under the earth's surface is a huge gold mine. Bai Song has always remembered it in his heart from the moment he discovered the oil field, and he had long thought about using the oil field one day.
Now the time is ripe. If no volcanic landforms are found in Datang, volcanic ash will be mined from near the oil fields.
Cement made from volcanic ash is not only used to strengthen river embankments, but also was the most important part during the opening of housing construction in Xicheng.
Through volcanic ash mining, it is a good thing to open up the trade routes between Turks and Youzhou and create prerequisites for future oil exploitation.
When Bai Song handed over the plan to repair the river embankment to the prefect's mansion, he had already contacted the people of the Aji tribe and asked them to prepare for long-term business and mining while contacting Baduo. This was a big business. Bai Song hoped that
Leave the future of business in Badu's hands.
Bai Song was busy with his own affairs all day long, until the water in the city was dried up by the hot sun. Dongxiang returned from Mang County and brought back a letter of recommendation from Magistrate Chai County.
The moment he saw the recommendation letter, Bai Song remembered that he was going to take the imperial examination. Seeing that there were only five days left, he hurriedly read and retreated.
…
With more and more people under his command, Bai Song no longer needs to do many things in life himself.
The Bai family did their best to deal with the earthquake, giving porridge every day.
Seeing the Bai family and Chen family being so active, other aristocratic families knew they couldn't shirk the situation, so they set up soup kitchens all over the city.
The outside world praised the major noble families in Youzhou, but Bai Song studied poetry and books at home and knew nothing about anything else.
The princess living in the White Mansion lived peacefully day and night. She occasionally went out on weekdays and came back when she was young. She didn't bother herself and was in peace.
Princess Runan visits people every day, always asking about the affairs of the Bai family.
If it weren't for this Mr. Bai, Princess Runan would have lost interest and would have already embarked on her way back to the capital.
"Princess, you have stayed in Jixian for a few more days. If you continue like this, you may miss your return date, and the Emperor will be worried again."
In the spacious room, the guard persuaded me with kind words.
But the princess was immersed in the book of the Three Kingdoms that she bought when she went out, and a girl actually read it with gusto.
"I had heard that the Romance of the Three Kingdoms was widely circulated in Youzhou, but I didn't expect that the person who wrote the book really had some knowledge. The events of the Three Kingdoms were like personal experience. Compared with the history books, there were few mistakes and omissions, but it was even more exciting."
"Princess, we should go back."
The princess didn't seem to hear anything and said to herself: "Although this timid and lustful man is not very disciplined, he still has some skills. Look at him opening a shop and selling books, farming and hoarding land, and doing everything with great success. Listen. He said that he is going to take the imperial examination again. I wonder how he did in the autumn examination in a few days. I am now curious about how he will answer in the autumn examination. It will not be too late to leave after I have seen his test paper. If he is really capable , I happened to recommend it to my father when I returned to the capital, so it’s not just me being playful, it can also be regarded as helping my father do a big thing.”
"Ah? We have to wait until after the autumn exam?" The guard was surprised and it was very difficult.
Outside of the princess, the longer you stay in a certain place, the more dangerous your situation will be.
The guards wanted to leave early, even if they went to play somewhere else for a few days, it didn't matter.
But the princess was obviously determined and could only hide her worries in her heart.
…
Floods broke out in Jixian County, and the autumn examination was still held as scheduled.
The Jixian examination center is located in a farmhouse on the northern outskirts of the city.
Because we knew in advance that there would be many candidates taking exams this year, the farmhouse had already been renovated and divided into hundreds of small cubicles, large and small.
The exam started at a quarter past noon that day, and the candidates had arrived as early as Chen time.
This year is different from previous years. Carriages were parked outside the examination room early, and they were all noble gentlemen from various aristocratic families.
Of course, there are also many poor scholars.
For a moment, the nobles outside the farmhouse were distinguished from the poor families. On one side, the noble princes were fanning themselves and wearing brocade clothes, shaking their heads uncomfortably. On the other side, the poor students were clustered together and talking in low voices. If you listened carefully, they were all scolding the people opposite. of gentry.
The nobles said that the poor families were local dogs, and the poor families said that the nobles were pessimiles. Before the exam even started, they almost started fighting at the door.
There was a lot of noise outside the examination room. This was the first time that the invigilators encountered such a situation.
After noisy all morning, it was almost noon when Bai Song came slowly, wearing standard Vincent clothes, tied with a square scarf, and carrying a small fabric school bag.
This small schoolbag is different from the school baskets used by candidates in other schools. It is small, lightweight, beautiful in shape, and the color matches the clothes. It quickly attracted everyone's attention.
"Brother, where did you buy this book basket? Why is it so unique?" Xiaosheng came up and asked.
"This is called a school bag. It is hand-woven, light and convenient, and is childlike. One or two."
The young student was stunned when he heard this. He just asked casually, why did this person come up with the price right after he opened his mouth?
Bai Song waved, and a carriage drove into the crowd. Bai Rou got out of the car, holding a small school bag and shouting: "Calm down school bag, convenient and light, one or two."
The crisp voice instantly attracted everyone's attention, and everyone gathered around. One after another, everyone was robbed in a moment.
Not for anything else, just for the embroidered words on the school bag.
"Mobai Qianzhuang wishes all candidates to win the gold medal."
Everyone is watching, if anyone doesn't buy this, wouldn't it mean that they will lose a fortune?
One tael of silver, neither more nor less, but for the sake of a bright future, even children from poor families gritted their teeth and fought for it.
Goods were being sold here, and the princess in the carriage in the distance frowned, thinking to herself that she was really a fisherman in troubled waters, not to mention that she was a scholar even though she was dressed like a scholar, and she was actually a profiteer.
Not to mention the money they made, from now on these people carrying their schoolbags would become living advertisements for Mobai Bank.
After the schoolbags were sold out, someone in the crowd noticed Bai Song.
"Isn't that the young master of the Bai family, Bai Song?"
"He...why did he come to take part in the imperial examination?"
"This man is quite famous. Not to mention people of his own age, even the heads of major families have to give him some respect."
"What's this? It's just for the sake of being rich! You see, it's not for the exam, it's just to make some money from us."
"I heard that he was also born in a poor family and studied for several years in his early years."
"So what? I studied a few years ago but didn't pass the exam. In the past few years, I have been sleeping on mountains of gold and silver, with my lovely wife and concubine in my arms. How can I care about studying? How can I pass the exam?"
"That's right, he must be here to fill up the numbers."
Several people gathered together and chattered, and suddenly another person said: "You don't know that this Bai Song bribed the governor, and even if he turned in a blank paper today, he would still be selected."
When everyone heard this, they immediately felt that it was very possible, and everyone looked a little uneasy.
"He is as rich as Bai Song, so it is not easy to bribe the examiner? How can we fight him?"
"That's right, this is not fair at all. There are less than ten places in Jixian County, and he took one of them as soon as he came. There are many other nobles, how can we stand a chance?"
"No! We must unite to oppose it! We must not let such connections pollute the sanctity of the examination room."
The group of people were filled with indignation and went to the examiner to express their dissatisfaction. However, they did not know that a scholar who was making noise with them had already arrived in front of Bai Song. He held his hands in front of him with a smile and shouted: "Good brother."
Bai Song was bored, and he didn't expect someone to come next to him. He was called "good brother" and his whole body went crazy.
He looked back and asked, "Who are you?"
"Brother, don't you recognize your younger brother?"
"Fuck you!" Bai Song kicked the man in the abdomen and knocked him to the ground. He felt that the man's words were disgusting and nauseated, and a younger brother appeared out of nowhere.
The man wasn't angry either. He stood up, patted the dust off his body with a smile, and put it up again.
Bai Song warned: "Don't come here. I don't have any younger brothers. Don't talk nonsense here."
"Brother, don't worry. What I said is true. My good brother, don't you remember that I was rated as Mayu when I was young?"
"Ma You?" Bai Song thought for a moment, as if he had really heard of this name before, but the next moment he remembered, wasn't this guy one of the two poor families who made trouble on the Xiao Sui Ping?
"Good brother, Mayu is the adopted son of the Lin family. You are the Lin family's uncle. Can I teach you how to say "good brother"?"
Ma You appears to be a gentle man, but he is a man who adapts to the changing circumstances. He gained fame after making a big fuss about Xiao Sui Ping, and took advantage of the opportunity to join the Lin family and recognized Lin Tingzheng as his adoptive father.
I recognized Bai Song today and knew that Bai Song was the backer of the Lin family and a big shot in Jixian County. How could I not join in?
If Bai Song did not bribe the examiners, how could he take part in the imperial examination?
Winning over this good brother is equivalent to winning over the examiner. The good brother is so happy that he mentions his name casually, and the imperial examination is nothing!
Ma You knows very well that when faced with an enemy that cannot be defeated, then join him!