It was dusk when he came back from Chenliu County, Fan Ning rushed to the Qingfeng Restaurant on Panlou Street, he had a party tonight, Lu Youwei, Duan Yu, Dong Kun and Lin Hong invited him to dinner.

At that time, the nine-person party had already gone their separate ways, and the Fan brothers had become big businessmen who were rich enough to rival the country, and Su Liang and Li Dashou, who followed Fan Ning, one served as the prefect of Quanzhou, and the other promoted the secretary of Quanzhou City, all of whom were high-ranking officials from the fifth grade.

After graduating from Taixue, Lu Youwei and Duan Yu each went to the state school to become teaching assistants, and the official appointment was from Jiupin, and now Lu Youwei has been transferred to Doctor Taixue, from Bapin, Duan Yu is slightly better, and he is promoted to Dr. Guozi of Zhengbapin, both of whom are officials in the capital education system.

Dong Kun and Lin Hong are official eunuch families, they are very confident in themselves, they are not very interested in following Fan Ning, they have been mixed in officialdom for more than ten years, although they both have background backgrounds, but one of them is only seven grades, and the other is from six grades, which is not as good as Su Liang and Li Dashou who follow Fan Ning, which is really a bit heartbroken.

As Fan Ning became more and more famous, and he was actually called Little Fan Xianggong, Dong Kun and Lin Hong couldn't sit still, and they were embarrassed to take the initiative to find Fan Ning, so they had to ask Lu Youwei and Duan Yu in the capital to help connect them, and everyone got together together.

Fan Ning walked into the elegant room and saw that everyone was already seated, so he clenched his fists and said apologetically: "I just came back from Chenliu County, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" ”

Dong Kun glanced at Fan Ning in surprise, "Senior brother, don't you know that I am Chen Liuzhi County?" ”

Fan Ning was stunned, how could Dong Kun get mixed up with the magistrate? He hurriedly said: "I really don't know, I'll drink to make amends!" ”

As soon as he turned around, he saw Fan Chunren also sitting, and said with a smile: "Why is Uncle also there?" ”

Fan Chunren is currently serving the imperial history of the sixth grade, he has a good relationship with Lu Youwei, and today he was also invited by Lu Youwei to come, Fan Chunren smiled slightly: "Everyone is a fellow villager and a fellow student, why can't I come?" ”

"I didn't mean that, I also wanted to go see my uncle, but I'm too busy these days."

Fan Chunren pointed at Fan Ning and said with a smile: "You are now the little Fan Xianggong, it is estimated that there is a long queue of people to see you now, where do you have time to find me?" ”

Dong Kun and Lin Hong blushed, they are also one of them!

Duan Yu is very good at observing words and feelings, and he immediately covers for the two, "It's not easy!" Brother Dong served as Chen Liuzhi County, Brother Lin served as a member of the Ministry of Rites, Lao Lu and I were also in the capital, and it happened that Senior Brother came back to report on his work, and we finally had a chance to get together, otherwise Senior Brother would leave, and I don't know when we would be able to get together. ”

"Well said! Let's have a drink. ”

Lu Youwei hurriedly poured Fan Ning a full glass of wine, and everyone raised their glasses and drank it all.

At this time, Dong Kun smiled and said, "Do you want to call a few drinking prostitutes to come in and have fun with the wine?" ”

Although Fan Ning didn't dislike drinking with a prostitute, he knew that Fan Chunren was a servant of the imperial history, and he was very self-disciplined in this regard, so he couldn't embarrass him, so he shook his head, "It's rare for a few of our senior brothers to meet, and it will affect the atmosphere by calling a prostitute to come in, so it's better to talk about our hometown together." ”

Lin Hong also kicked Dong Kun lightly, secretly demonstrating to him that Chunren was there, Dong Kun then woke up, and said with a smile: "That's right, it's rare to have a chance to get together, it's more interesting to chat." ”

Fan Chunren asked Fan Ning strangely, "Why do they all call you Senior Brother?" ”

Fan Ning said with a smile: "There are two reasons for this, the first is that I am more advanced than them in the county school, and the second is that I have given Dong Kun, Lin Hong, Lu Youwei, Su Liang, Li Dashou, Mingren and Mingli to make up the lessons, so that they were admitted to the county school, so they called me senior brother, and Xiao Duan and Su Liang also called me to them. ”

"I see! Come, I wish you brothers and sisters to get together, and we will have a drink. ”

Everyone drank another cup, Fan Chunren glanced at Dong Kun and said, "I heard that Chenliu County is preparing to implement the Qingmiao Law and the Baojia Law next year, and Brother Dong Xian respects Wang Shilang very much?" ”

Wang Shilang is Wang Anshi, he has been transferred to the Ministry of Rites, he has the support of the Son of Heaven Zhao Ji, and the Empress Dowager Dong also agreed that he will try to implement the Qingmiao Law and the Baojia Law in ten counties, and Chenliu County is the first county to sign up.

Dong Kun smiled and said: "We all want to do a career, it takes courage to change the law, since Wang Shilang has this courage, why don't we follow?" ”

Fan Chunren drank wine and said slowly: "The change depends on whether it is beneficial to the people?" If it is to seize the people's wealth to enrich the treasury, I don't think this method will change! ”

Dong Kun's face changed, and he was just about to speak, but a cold voice came from the door, "Who said that my change is to seize people's wealth?" ”

Fan Ning was stunned, why is Wang Anshi also here?

I saw Wang Anshi walking in with a wine glass, he met Dong Kun just now, and learned that he was Chen Liuzhi County, so he wanted to come over and chat, but he happened to hear Fan Chunren criticize the Baojia Law and the New Miao Law for competing with the people, which really made him very angry.

Wang Anshi and Fan Chunren have a very bad relationship, before he implemented the armor protection law in Yingtianfu, and was impeached by Fan Chunren, making him very passive, although Fan Chunren is the son of Fan Zhongyan whom Wang Anshi admires, but it can't change the political opposition between the two of them.

Wang Anshi walked into the house, but suddenly saw Fan Ning, which made him stunned for a moment, and said with a slight smile: "It turns out that Xiao Fan Xianggong is here!" ”

Fan Ning got up and said with a smile: "Brother Jiefu, don't come to harm!" ”

Since Fan Ning was here, Wang Anshi didn't turn his face to Fan Chunren, he ignored Fan Chunren, walked up to Fan Ning and said with a smile: "I'm reading the interview with the virtuous brother, and the insights are very profound, I also think that if the Great Song Dynasty doesn't take such a vast land, it will inevitably be complained by the descendants, I don't know when the virtuous brother will show me the overseas map?" ”

"The day after tomorrow, the newspaper will be printed, and then Brother Jiefu will see how vast the overseas land is, and it contains countless wealth."

"Then I'll see!"

Wang Anshi and Fan Ning drank a glass of wine, took a deep look at Fan Chunren, and turned around and went out.

Fan Chunren ignored Wang Anshi, and at this time, everyone felt that the atmosphere was not too speculative, and after a few drinks hastily, Dong Kun and Lin Hong took their leave.

Dong Kun made it clear that he wanted to take refuge in Wang Anshi, at this time, Wang Anshi saw him and Fan Ning together, it was really inappropriate, and he didn't care about asking Fan Ning for help, he needed to go to Wang Anshi to explain, so he pulled Lin Hong to retire early.

After drinking a few more glasses of wine, Lu Youwei and Duan Yu also said goodbye and left, and made an appointment with Fan Ning to have a small reunion another day.

Only Fan Chunren and Fan Ning were left in the room, and Fan Chunren said apologetically: "I disturbed your party." ”

"That's not true, I have to prepare for it in the evening, and it is just what I want to finish early."

Fan Chunren sighed slightly, "To be honest, I don't approve of Wang Anshi's Qingmiao Law and Baojia Law, allowing rich households to guarantee poor households. ”

Fan Ning shook his head and said: "Even if the people's wealth is robbed, the income of the treasury is only one-twelfth of it, and most of it falls into the pockets of local officials, so Wang Anshi's change is opposed by the imperial court, but the local officials welcome it, and this is the reason!" ”

Fan Chunren slapped his wine glass and said solemnly: "No matter what, I will resolutely oppose the change of the law, even if I lose this official position, I will never compromise!" ”

.........

Fan Ning returned to Zhufu in a carriage, he didn't pay much attention to Wang Anshi's reform, in fact, the social crisis that prompted Wang Anshi's change was gone, the imperial court's finances had been surplus for five consecutive years, the land annexation had been eased, the people's living standards had improved, or the basis for the change no longer existed, at this time, Wang Anshi's forced change of law would inevitably arouse the opposition of the entire imperial court, even Zhao Ji could not bear such pressure.

At this time, Fanning thought more about his steam engine, if the skilled craftsmen of the Great Song Dynasty could build it, then the society of the Great Song Dynasty would inevitably undergo profound changes.

However, Fanning also knew that even if the steam engine he wanted was built, it would take a lot of time to improve, such as solving the problem of air leakage, providing steam efficiency, and so on.

There is a more critical problem, the pig iron of the Great Song Dynasty is too little, one is too little iron ore, the iron production is low, and the second is that the quality of iron is not high, although Luzon has found rich iron ore, but it is still small.

At this time, Fanning thought of Australia's iron ore, which is the world's richest iron ore, with high quality, large reserves, and easy to mine, if the iron ore in the New World can be mined, it is a strategic resource that is richer than gold and silver.

However, before that, the imperial court could only increase the production of pig iron, at least to ensure that the steamships it needed the most were built.

At this time, Fanning thought of the propulsion method of the big ship, at present, the Song Dynasty sea ship is the way of using the paddle wheel, but the disadvantage of the paddle wheel is also very big, that is, the speed is too slow, the steam engine only changes the power of the ship, so that the big ship does not need so many people, but if the speed of the ship cannot go up, it will take half a year to go back and forth, it is also not cost-effective.

But if you switch to propeller propulsion, will the speed increase?