The next morning, Chang Yilin went to visit Fan Zhongyan, who lived in the University of Tokyo Hall at this time, and Meng Ming specially arranged him in a two-story building with a separate courtyard, and there were two wings in the courtyard. Among them, there are five rooms on the upper and lower floors of the building, a total of 10 rooms; There are four rooms in the east and west wings. The back of the house is shaded by greenery, and the front yard is fragrant with flowers and plants. One of the plots is planted with two ridges of Tianxi potatoes (potatoes) and two ridges of Tianxi potatoes (sweet potatoes), and there is a fence in the east corner of the wall, in which more than a dozen chickens are raised.

At this time there was a young woman and an old woman in the courtyard, looking after three children, the older one was about four years old, and the younger one was about two years old. The youngest is a girl who is about a year old, and she can't walk yet, so she sits in a bamboo cart and babbles. Fan Zhongyan got married relatively late, his wife Li Huiniang was five years younger than him, when the two got married, Fan Zhongyan was nearly thirty years old, both of them were older men and women, so the children were quite young. This young woman is Li Huiniang, and the old woman is Fan Zhongyan's mother Li.

Chang Yilin inquired in many ways and found Fan Zhongyan's home. He came to the University Hall of Tokyo and applied for a pass in front of the school gate to enter.

Under the guidance of the guards, Chang Yilin walked on the quiet path of the campus, only to see the green trees in the campus, small bridges and flowing water, rockery fountains, beautiful scenery, red bricks and red tiles of four-storey buildings standing there, very different from the wood and stone high-rise buildings in the Great Song Dynasty.

He saw a wide field of unnamed utensils, and there were quite a few of them. Chang Yilin didn't understand the function of these equipment, so he asked, and the doorman said their names one by one: horizontal bar, parallel bar, wooden horse, climbing pole, where students can practice arm strength, practice skills, and exercise to their heart's content during class.

Chang Yilin was just a young man in his twenties, and he was interested when he heard this, so he stepped forward and pulled the horizontal bar and parallel bar a few times, and then hurriedly walked towards Fan Zhongyan's house under the urging of the guard.

At this time, Fan Zhongyan had heard the news and rushed home and asked his wife to boil water and make tea. After waiting for a quarter of an hour, he heard the door slammed, and got up to open it.

He looked at the door and saw that the doorman at the school gate was leading a sturdy young man, Fan Zhongyan knew who it was, he had seen Chang Yiming when he was a child, and he had hugged him, but he hadn't seen him for nearly 20 years, and he couldn't recognize him.

At this time, I saw Chang Yiming hurriedly bowing to Fan Zhongyan and saying, "Uncle Fan is fine, the little nephew is polite."

Fan Zhongyan hurriedly helped him forward and led him into the courtyard, and the doorman also said goodbye.

Chang Yiming put down the gifts, he heard his father say that Fan Zhongyan was upright and didn't like others to give some gold and silver gifts, so he bought a set of good four treasures of the study, and brought some native products from Yangzhou, and the accompanying people put them on the ground.

Fan Zhongyan saw that they were all local products and food and clothing, so he didn't say anything and asked his subordinates to put them away.

Chang Yiming also greeted Fan Zhongyan's mother and wife one by one, and then sat down to drink tea and talk.

He asked Fan Zhongyan, "Uncle Shi, the little nephew has a question I want to ask. Fan Zhongyan asked him to ask questions.

He said: "Uncle Shi, since the opening of the railway from Tokyo to Yangzhou, my father has been worried, he feels that the railway is going to flourish and the shipping is going to fail. Once the railway from Yangzhou to Hangzhou is completed, the shipping and transportation of the Grand Canal section and the Tokyo section will plummet. Please ask Uncle Shi to solve his doubts and give a solution. ”

Fan Zhongyan pondered for a moment and said: "What the nephew said is extremely true, and now this issue has begun to be discussed in the court, especially Lu Xianggong is a strong advocate of railway construction, and Qian Xianggong is a supporter of maintaining Cao Yun. But in the long run, the decline of Caoyun is inevitable, after all, it has too many drawbacks and the cost of maintenance is too high. However, the abolition of Caoyun is a long-term solution, after all, there are more than 100,000 Caoyun workers along the river, and once it is forcibly abolished, it will cause a popular uprising, so it can only be abolished in batches and sections step by step. I predict that in less than ten years, the imperial court will abolish Caoyun, and let your father find a way out as soon as possible. I can't think of a solution right now, but don't be discouraged, there will always be a way. ”

He thought for a while and said, "You'd better call your father to Tokyo when you go back, and I'll introduce someone to him, and he'll definitely find a way." ”

Chang Yilin was also excited when he heard this, he had always admired Fan Zhongyan, so he was also convinced of his words.

In the end, Fan Zhongyan seemed to remember one more thing, so he said to Chang Yilin: "Nephew, don't rush back first, our school has studied a new thing, and we will go into the water to experiment in four days, you might as well come here to take a look, it may be of great use to your family." Then he gave Chang Yilin two vouchers to enter the venue, and finally sent the guests away.

Chang Yilin also asked him to go to Panlou for a banquet in the evening, and Fan Zhongyan also agreed.

Chang Yilin went to Pan Zhangshou, the leader of the Bianliang Boat Gang, and the house where Pan Zhangshou lived was on the edge of the Bianhe River in the outer city, covering an area of ten acres, which was the layout of the standard front and back yards, like a courtyard house in the Ming and Qing dynasties.

After Pan Zhangshou received the greeting post at this time, he also resigned from today's entertainment and waited in the living room, while he sat on the Taishi chair and drank tea.

After a while, he heard that the next person was coming to report that there was a visitor, and he hurriedly got up to greet him, and Chang Chuanming's name was relatively loud along the canal, and the boat gangs in all sections sold his face. At this time, even if it was only his son who came, he did not dare to slack off.

Chang Yilin walked into the courtyard, and saw an old man of the same age as his father standing in front of him, waiting, only to see that he was burly, with big eyes and wide mouth, full beard, quite majestic, Chang Yilin knew who it was.

Chang Yilin hurriedly bowed forward and said, "But Uncle Pan, the little nephew Chang Yilin is polite." ”

He only felt a pair of big hands grab his arms and lift them up, and his body straightened up as soon as he was light.

A bold voice came from his ear: "Chang Xian's nephew, don't be polite, I have always been good friends with your father, and coming here is like going home, you don't have to be restrained." Chang Yilin also hurriedly said yes, and finally everyone went to the living room and sat down according to priority.

Later, Chang Yilin and Pan Zhangshou talked about the future prospects of Caoyun, and Pan Zhangshou had insight into the policy trends of the imperial court.

He said to Chang Yilin: "Chang Xian's nephew, the old man knows the purpose of your trip, the imperial court must vigorously develop the construction of the railway, but Caoyun will definitely not be affected in the near future, after all, the construction cost of the railway is also huge, because the railway from Tokyo to Yangzhou has passed through the prosperous and rich land of the Great Song Dynasty, so it is also profitable to build the railway, so the railway was built by the nobles and giant merchants, and the imperial court did not spend a penny and gave them the right to operate for twenty years. I estimate that the railway will recover its cost within ten years, if the railway from Hangzhou to Yangzhou is connected again, our transportation will definitely be greatly affected, especially in the transportation of bulk goods, so we have to find another way, but I don't have a clue now, I can only take one step at a time. ”

Chang Yilin said: "Shibo, what I said is very true, I also met with Fan Xiwen, his opinion is basically the same as yours, but he said that the imperial court's determination to abolish Caoyun must be certain, but it involves a huge amount of money, so it has to be handled carefully." This is a matter of life and death for Cao Yun, and it is related to the lives of the brothers of the Boat Gang, so we must consider a way to get through the difficulties as soon as possible. ”

Pan Zhangshou also said yes, but this matter also has to be considered in the long run, and the method is not something that can be figured out in a while. In the end, Chang Yilin invited Pan Zhangshou to Pan Lou for a banquet, and he readily agreed.