Listening to Zheng Zhilong's words, Zheng Sen was silent for a while. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info Zheng Zhilong estimated that the child was reluctant to stay away because he had just arrived home, so he said:

"Sen'er, I know you've only been home for a long time, so why don't you leave. But the Hong family and our house are actually not far away, I will prepare a fast boat for you, well, so that you can come back once in a month or two. ”

"Father, it's better not to have a carriage." Zheng Sen said, "Everyone knows that my family is rich, and many people are very red-eyed, and if they are extravagant like this, it will become more and more likely to cause trouble." Moreover, my father asked me to go to the Hong family to study, thinking that in addition to studying, I was afraid that I would also hope that I could meet some promising scholars in the Hong family. ”

Speaking of this, Zheng Sen couldn't help but think of what happened when he was in high school in his previous life. At that time, he was studying in a provincial key in a certain province, and in addition to the regular students who passed the high school entrance examination like him, there were also a few so-called self-financed students who spent a lot of money to buy in. One of them was so high that it was impossible to get into an ordinary high school, and it cost a lot of money to buy it.

From the perspective of learning alone, it may not be a wise choice for such self-financed students to study in provincial key areas, especially those whose grades are too poor. Generally speaking, compared to regular students, their defects are not just that the foundation is not good enough, because the foundation is not good enough is a consequence rather than a cause. In most cases, the real reasons are nothing more than three things: bad study habits, bad intelligence, bad study habits and intelligence. If in an ordinary school, there are still many people close to him, the teachers' choice of speed and depth in class is naturally according to the state of most people. In this way, if he is willing to learn, then he can still keep up. But in the provincial focus, I'm sorry, the situation is completely different, except for subjects like Chinese, he can hardly understand anything in class. And the teachers don't pay special attention to him, because his test scores don't even count towards the class average.

However, this classmate still persevered in school for three years, took classes that he did not understand at all for three years, and was limited to strict discipline, and could not even sleep. In the past three years, according to this classmate, it is "no different from going to prison". However, in the later class reunion, this guy said that in fact, their family didn't expect him to really learn well, and thought the money was worth it:

"You see, at our gathering, there are several civil servants in key positions, and there are also several high-level intellectuals, and they are basically decent people, aren't they? Moreover, everyone still thinks that I am a classmate, and when there is something to help, everyone is willing to take the sake of classmates and give my brother a hand. My brother's family is in business, and this connection is worth more than that tuition. ”

Zheng Sen now thinks back that the classmate who spent money to study for three years just to mix connections actually lived a very simple life in school, although the classmates really needed anything, and he could happily take out the money when he asked him for help, but his daily life was really no different from ordinary classmates, and even, when it came to the monthly vacation, some of the classmates from well-off families were picked up by their parents, but this classmate was the only one who rode a very ordinary miscellaneous mountain bike home. At that time, Zheng Sen didn't pay much attention to these details, but now that he thinks about it, Zheng Sen suddenly understands the reason why this classmate, or his parents, asked him to do this: if he was rich every day at that time, I am afraid that if he does not do it well, it will make people jealous, and in this way, the effect of spending money to buy connections will be greatly reduced.

The Hong family is not small, with many branches, and many of them are poor. Just like Hong Chengchou, he was so poor that he dropped out of school at the age of 11 to buy tofu. There should be a lot of people from families like him in the Hong family's ethnography. Zheng Sen is now borrowing from the Hong family study, he is an outsider, and if he is so high-profile that he has a private carriage, it is strange that it does not arouse the jealousy of a large number of people.

"If that's the case, you can't boast about your wealth in front of others." Zheng Sen continued, "And you have to get in touch with Shilin, in fact, there are some things you can do father. ”

Zheng Sen's words made Zheng Zhilong taken aback again. Just now, when Monk Kongming told him about the conversation between Zheng Sen and Hong Chengjian and Chen Hongshou, Zheng Zhilong also thought that Monk Kongming might have exaggerated a little, and now it seems that Monk Kongming said that "the little boy is naturally smart, and there are few adults who can compare with him" is not too exaggerated.

"What do you think?" Zheng Zhilong asked, he felt that what his son said was really worth listening to.

"The last time I talked to Mr. Hung and Mr. Chen, I heard them say that in today's Shilin, both Catholicism and Western studies are quite popular. Now it is rumored that Mr. Xu Xuanhu will be appointed as the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, and the emperor wants to use him to refer to Western law and formulate a new calendar. This Mr. Xu is a Catholic and has close contacts with Catholics. In fact, not only Mr. Xu, but also a large number of other Shilin figures who had close contacts with Catholic missionaries. I heard from Mr. Chen that missionary John Tong was assisting Mr. Xu in compiling the new calendar. My father was fluent in many Chinese and had dealings with the Society of Jesus, so it should not be difficult to contact John Tong through them. These missionaries in China must have needed money and materials, such as printing the Bible, translating and printing Western books, which of these things is less money?

In addition, the popularity of Catholicism relied heavily on Western learning. They were able to associate with scholars and doctors, and they also relied on Western learning, especially astronomy and arithmetic. The father could send someone to Spain and Holland to ask for it. I bought books on Western studies, especially astronomy and mathematics, and organized manpower to translate them, and let my younger generations learn from those who are talented in this field. This can help our family get rid of the image of a rough warrior and thus have a relationship with Shilin. Father, do you think that when those Catholics open the Bible, they can see the name of my family's donation at the bottom of the title page, and as soon as they open the books of Western studies, they can see that my family is involved in the translation, how can they still treat my family as a rough warrior? In addition, my family should also accumulate all kinds of Western books, and the more Western books from ancient times to the present, the more the better. In this way, scholars who are interested in Western scholars will come to my house to borrow books, and my family can use this collection of books to be valued by scholars. Of course, this is just a matter of the son's cranky thoughts, whether it will work or not, it depends on the father's decision. Zheng Sen said the statement that he had thought of a long time ago.

"Good! Good! Zheng Zhilong couldn't help but praise repeatedly, he stretched out his hand and touched Zheng Sen's head and said, "It's really my family's Kunpeng!" This is really the protection of the ancestors, there is a son, my family has no worries about the lintel in the future. ”

"Father, the child still has a matter, and I want to dare to speak to my father." Taking advantage of Zheng Zhilong's happiness, Zheng Sen hurriedly spoke again.

"What else? Just say it. Zheng Zhilong replied with a grin.

Zheng Sen stood up, knelt down, kowtowed to Zheng Zhilong first, and then asked, "I heard that my father wants to overhaul the mansion land, which covers an area of hundreds of acres and is extremely luxurious, I don't know if it's true?" ”

"Yes, there is such a thing. What, what's wrong with that? Zheng Zhilong frowned slightly.

"Father, my family controls the sea trade, and Fujian is rich, and in time, I am afraid that it is not an empty word that the country is rich and rivals. But since ancient times, there have been countless disasters caused by wealth. In the early years of the dynasty, there was a wealthy businessman Shen Wansan, who was rich in the world because of sea trade. He also likes to show off his wealth, when Taizu set the capital of Nanjing, he repaired the city wall of Nanjing, Shen Wansan asked for funding, repaired one-third of the city wall of the national capital, and wrote to Taizu, saying that he was willing to pay for Taizu's army. At that time, the world had been in war for a long time, and the money was insufficient. Taizu was worried about this, and when he saw Shen Wansan's letter, he was furious and said: "The army and the people in the world should be punished." Fortunately, Queen Ma was merciful, and Shen Wansan was able to avoid death and be sent to Yunnan. All the family assets were confiscated. Emperor Taizu's treasury was also enriched as a result. Today, I have a rogue inside and a building outside, and it is a time when wealth and goods are scarce. The child thinks that the house is comfortable enough, and it is too large and luxurious, but it is easy to cause trouble. Please think twice about ...... father."

Zheng Zhilong's face sank, and after a while, he looked at Zheng Sen who was kneeling on the ground and said, "What you said is not completely unreasonable, it's just that I have a lot of family, and if I don't build a mansion, I'm afraid I won't be able to tolerate it." ”

"The child is young and ignorant, but he is just a sincere heart. There are a lot of things involved in the family, and the children don't know a lot, and they ask their fathers for forgiveness if they don't think about it. Zheng Sen said as he kowtowed respectfully on the ground.

"Get up, you still have a point...... It's just ......," Zheng Zhilong muttered.

Zheng Sen knew that his father was still a nouveau riche in essence. The nouveau riche of the earthy buns, the love for showing off his wealth is really from the soul. It was quite difficult to dispel his idea of flaunting his wealth by building a mansion. However, although Zheng Sen did it so grandly, he didn't really want to stop Zheng Zhilong from showing off his wealth. The Ming Dynasty is already a candle in the wind, and it is no longer able to deal with the Zheng family like Shen Wansan, in fact, in the original history, Zheng Zhilong showed off his wealth in the Ming Dynasty, and there was no problem at all. Zheng Sen knew that Zheng Zhilong was actually a very smart person, as long as he talked to him about these things, he would understand the good and the bad, but most of the time he couldn't control his desires. Just like Wei Zheng said, "Virtue is not thick, and love is beyond desire". (It is said that Emperor Yang of Sui back then was actually such a smart person.) But even if Zheng Zhilong didn't do what Zheng Sen said, at least he would feel that this son was a real reliable person in his heart, and his voice in the family would be greatly increased because of this. This is the real purpose of Zheng Sen's performance.