In October of the fifth year of Xianchun, a news began to circulate in the Lin'an court. The pacification of the Guangnan East-West Road and the pacification of the ambassador Zhi Guangzhou and the coastal control of Guangzhou and Guangxi made Zhao Jiaren crazy.

This news spread widely, not only in the imperial court, but also in the Taixue of the Great Song Dynasty. I heard that my third brother was crazy, and Zhao Jiali, a student who has always been interested in the imperial examination, had mixed feelings in his heart. He also had to find that the joyful part of his mood might have a slight advantage.

Humanity has not changed in the last few thousand years, so everyone dislikes 'other people's children'. When someone else's child is still his own brother who has never gotten along with him much, this emotion is even more complicated and intense.

Zhao Zhizhuo's wife gave birth to five babies in ten years, and then returned to Quanzhou with her second daughter and third son, and separated from her husband, who was an official in other places. Therefore, although the two brothers Zhao Jiali and Zhao Jiaren are brothers, they are really very different. Zhao Jiali is in his early thirties, Zhao Jiaren is twenty-eight years old, and the number of meetings is less than three digits.

The eldest brother Zhao Jiaxin is kind and has the demeanor of an eldest brother. Although he used to have a relationship with his third brother, because he was sent by his father Zhao Zhizhuo to supervise Zhao Jiaren, who was a county lieutenant more than ten years ago, the two brothers worked together to open up their careers. Zhao Jiaxin has mastered the secret art of agriculture and developed many high-quality seeds. Jiangnan Grange, who doesn't know the Fuqing series of soybeans, doesn't dare to boast that he grows beans. At this time, as the staff of the cotton service, he was in charge of the affairs of Jiaxing Mansion.

The third brother Zhao Jiaren was even younger and lived in the official residence from Sanpin, served as three governors, and went out to the army twice. Even if there is no special good evaluation among the anti-Jia Nidao officials, the court thinks that in another ten years, when Jia Nidao is old, Zhao Jiaren will have a good chance to attack the position of the prime minister.

Zhao Jiali, who was sandwiched between the two, was very embarrassed, in terms of ability and official position, he had no way to compare with the third brother. In terms of open-mindedness and craftsmanship, he can't compare with his eldest brother. Zhao Jiali wants to take the road of the imperial examination, but there are too many competitors, even if he is not in Fujian, a major province of the imperial examination, Zhao Jiali cannot break through among the competitors.

Father Zhao Zhihum saw that the eldest son and the third son were very competitive and wealthy, so he gave most of his land to his second son Zhao Jiali. If he was scolded by his father as a useless thing, Zhao Jiali might feel a little better. Now that the father has made it clear that he is eccentric, the two brothers don't care about it at all. This made Zhao Jiali feel that he was too useless.

However, if I am unhappy in my heart, I am not happy, and there is nothing particularly bad about this day. As a student, there is no shortage of money. Zhao Jiali just felt uncomfortable when comparing.

Just heard the news that the third brother was crazy, Zhao Jiali actually didn't believe it, where would a good person go crazy because he was an official. The probability of dying of illness as an official in Lingnan is much higher than the news of madness. After really reading the content, Zhao Jiaren had to feel that his third brother might really be sick.

Shaoguan is located in the north of Guangnan East Road, the upper reaches of the Beijiang River, the intersection of Zhenjiang, Wujiang and Beijiang rivers, the junction of Jinghu South Road and Jiangnan West Road, and adjacent to Guangnan West Road. It is located inland and also produces coal. It is 500 miles away from Guangzhou.

Zhao Jiaren first sent people to open up a mine in Chashan in Shaoguan, and then built a nearly 20-mile-long railway track between the mine and the riverside wharf. The carts pulled by oxen were used to pull the coal to the wharf by the river, and then transported all the way to Foshan by water.

The rails are said to be two parallel tracks, one and a half inches wide and one and a half inches high, fixed to sleepers. The cars on the tracks, which stretch for nearly 20 miles, are also made of iron plates, and one car is pulled by four or six oxen, and each car can hold thousands of pounds of coal. Zhao Jiaren is also building a number of transport ships from Shaoguan to Guangzhou, specializing in transporting coal.

Compared with the 20-mile railway, the special line for transporting coal for thousands of miles is even more surprising to hear, which is completely too much money to burn. It's a decision that only a madman can make. Zhao Jiali also had the same thoughts as others in the court.

Although Zhao Zhizhuo's father wants to be a minister, he is in his sixties and finds that he can do nothing, but he does not want to completely lose his title as an official of the current state. So he should have been a servant, but he just dragged it out and didn't retire. Fortunately, he has a third son, Zhao Jiaren, and Jia Rudao doesn't want to be embarrassed by Zhao Zhiclumsy. So the current official also learned the news that the third son was crazy.

Hurriedly returning home, Zhao Zhizhuo first told his wife what Zhao Jiaren had done, and then couldn't help complaining: "San Lang actually went to Lingnan after making contributions in Xiangyang, and at that time he was afraid that something was already a little abnormal. But at that time, he probably hadn't lost his mind, and you see that he didn't dare to tell us when he left Lin'an. After I arrived in Lingnan, I was afraid that I would get sick......"

When Mrs. Zhao heard her husband talk about her beloved son like this, she said angrily: "You are crazy!" ”

was shouted angrily by his wife, Zhao Zhizhuo couldn't help but shudder, and then looked at his wife's expression like a calf protecting a female tiger, Zhao Zhizhuo shivered greatly. At this moment, Zhao Zhizhuo completely understood the status of his third son, Zhao Jiaren, in his wife's heart. He, Zhao Zhizhuo, has no chance to catch up in his life.

Mrs. Zhao was completely in anger at this time, and a shout of anger could not relieve her emotions at all, and she then said angrily: "Have you ever seen such a big thing that can be done by losing your heart and being crazy? You are also a person who has been a governor, so I will ask you, can you do this in Qingyuan Mansion? ”

Even though he felt the anger on his face, Zhao Zhizhuo also felt that his wife's words were full of reason. Not to mention the 20-mile railway, maintaining the 20-mile official road is very difficult work. It is impossible for a madman to do this. After calming down and thinking about it carefully, Zhao Zhizhuo felt that the crazy thing was the decision, not the specific thing to do.

Defending her son, Mrs. Zhao was full of emotions and had a sharp mind. Seeing that her useless husband had lost his initial strength, Mrs. Zhao said loudly with a condescending attitude: "San Lang's talent and ability are rare in the world. Who can own thousands of big ships in ten years, if someone knew ten years ago that Saburo wanted to do such a big thing, they would think that Saburo was crazy! ”

If Zhao Jiaren knew that his mother was so determined to defend him, he would be very happy. And even if he didn't know his mother's defense, Zhao Jiaren was still very happy.

The Shaoguan Coal Mine itself has a huge investment, and Zhao Jiaren did not dare to let the board of directors of the Navigation Guild invest, he completed the project completely out of his own pocket. The process was naturally difficult, but there were two things that made Zhao Jiaren very happy. The first is that there is really such a vote of newcomers who have the ability to take on the heavy responsibility. The second is that before the last silver coin in Zhao Jiaren's pocket was emptied, the blast furnace of continuous production was finally able to produce gray iron.

In the past ten years, since Zhao Jiaren recruited Gusu blacksmith Master Zhou, he has been purposefully investing. It's really ten years of grinding for a year, and the money of the big ticket is smashed in, and it finally makes a noise!