If you want to ask what a craftsman should look like, it stands to reason that Li Kui should be able to say it.

But the problem is that he always feels that the master craftsman in his impression does not fit the personality of high-tech talents at all. In the capital, Li Kui did see many craftsmen, and many of them were his subordinates. After all, he has been a Shaofu for a while.

The official position of Shaofu is a yamen for the royal family to manage private wealth and daily affairs.

But in fact, the Shaofu Yamen is mainly to build a palace for the royal family, create beautiful royal utensils, and even have a large number of tribute purchases.

However, Li Kui was concurrently held the official position of Shaofu because he wanted to build the Imperial City Bell Tower, which could facilitate the mobilization of court craftsmen.

Although Li Kui's experience in Shaofu is not long, he has seen a lot of craftsmen in Shaofu.

Some are very sloppy, such as Master Lu of the Ministry of Industry Metalsmith's Workshop, who is covered in stinky sweat every day. What about some? It doesn't look like a master, but a laborer, with a wrinkled face, a groveling look, and stammering Li Kui's boss everywhere. I always feel that if I learn from these subordinates, I will definitely embarrass the Great Song Dynasty craftsmen.

Take an ink fountain as a prop?

No, he's not a carpenter.

According to Li Bingqian's design, he should be a goldsmith.

How should a goldsmith dress up so that people can look like they are very skilled?

Li Kui was stunned, he found that no matter what he thought, he couldn't find a person who could imitate him. Let him figure it out for himself, and he can't think of what kind of bearing it should be?

The composition of Dayu's water control, Li Kui saw it in the imperial city. When Dayu was controlling the water, it stands to reason that he should be regarded as a craftsman leader. It's just pretending to be Dayu, isn't it a bit too much?

He is not afraid of being beaten, even a group of monks, and they can't bully him.

Just as Li Kui was pondering how to do it, Li Bingqian looked for Li Kui with a sigh and asked, "Li Kui, can I support some gold to buy silk?" ”

"Silk?"

Li Kui interrupted his thoughts and looked up at Li Bingqian, who had a worried face, as if he had been wronged a lot after going out. Li Kui said angrily: "The money was deceived by you from Duanwang, and I want to use it!" ”

This is true, no matter how greedy Li Kui is for money, he will not take a fancy to Li Bingqian's rebellion funds. In fact, after Li Bingqian's goods were sold by Huitong Bank, he made a lot of profits, and the 20,000 taels of gold were only a part of it, almost about half. Li Kui has already taken the bulk of the profits, so he will not reach out to Li Bingqian's money.

Besides, he is still waiting for Li Bingqian's gang to make the Liang clan in Western Xia, if he draws his salary from the bottom of the kettle and blacks out all the funds for this activity, what else does he think of the excitement?

Li Kui said easily, but Li Bingqian was angry and dissatisfied: "The gold is guarded by your people, I want to move, do you think Luda will listen to me?" ”

"You can also have your own people guard it!"

Li Kuihun said indifferently.

Li Bingqian took a deep breath in annoyance, held it in his chest, and couldn't smooth it for a long time, but finally had to say helplessly: "Forget it, I only have two people under me, and I can't afford to pay such a large sum of money at all." ”

"By the way, what do you want money to buy silk for? I knew that I would have left some for you when I asked my men to get rid of it. Is it necessary to purchase high-priced silk in Western Xia now? Li Kui seemed to be thinking about Li Bingqian, but Li Bingqian didn't appreciate it, and said impatiently: "You didn't ask me at all?" I was a captive at that time, and you are the victor, will you ask me what this captive thinks? ”

"If I had known we could work together, we wouldn't have had to calculate with each other beforehand. Now that my uncle's disciple has come to Youzhou and asked me by name to offer a hundred horses of silk, what do you dare me say? Li Bingqian was half killed by a monk from a Yeli family.

He was a dignified family, and he was threatened by the tribesmen, where did he go to reason?

"Your uncle?"

"Every year, I bring a batch of silk to Huguo Temple. It's late this year, I didn't prepare, and I didn't plan to give it. But I didn't expect to be able to hide. ”

Li Kui felt that Li Bingqian had something to hide from him, which was normal. Although Li Bingqian was cheated by Li Kui, he definitely couldn't trust Li Kui, let alone tell Li Kui the most secret things.

Li Bingqian sighed: "My uncle is the great teacher of Huguo Temple, and he is known as Master Deyuan. When he first became a monk, he caused a sensation in the royal family and even shook the country. Over the years, he has been serving as the abbot of Huguo Temple, and he is also the head of the National Teacher of Merit. ”

Li Kui touched his chin, his eyes deepened, and he thought in his heart: "No wonder Li Bingqian thinks that Huguo Temple will become a powerful ally for him to launch a coup d'état." It turned out that the abbot of Huguoji Temple was his uncle. According to the current situation, the Liang family controls the imperial power of Western Xia, and the Empress Dowager Liang is not an emperor, and she may not want to be an emperor. After all, the little emperor of Western Xia is now the son of the Empress Dowager Liang, and even if she becomes the emperor, she will have to pass on the throne to her son in the end. But the Liang family may not be able to tell. ”

The temptation of turning a family into a country, I am afraid I can't even think of it for an ordinary queen from a small family.

But the Liang family is different, after three generations of expansion in the Western Xia dynasty and the opposition, the tentacles of the Liang family have extended to all corners of the Western Xia imperial power. If they are to be forced to give up the power in their hands, I am afraid that it will take a great upheaval.

Then, he stood up and paced and thought, "Do you think he will support you?" ”

Li Bingqian took a step forward and said excitedly: "The arrow is on the string, and I have to send it." If it continues, what hope does our Li family have at all. ”

"Wei Ming is also a royal family?"

Li Kui looked at Li Bingqian curiously, but he had a gossip heart, at least the name of Wei was the Western Xia royal family, and Li Kui was still clear. It's just that the timing of his question is not quite right: "How many times have your family changed their surnames?" ”

Li Bingqian looked at Li Kui angrily, thinking that this guy was looking for trouble, and deliberately humiliated himself. Then he raised his head and pretended to be profound: "My party clan has been sealed many times, it was originally the Tuoba Department, and later changed to the Party Department. ”

"I remember that Hou Qin is also a Qiang, right?"

"They are burning Dangqiang, not me Tuoba Qiang."

"Taizu, during the Taizong period, my dynasty also gave you the surname. I'm curious, you keep changing your surname, don't you make a misunderstanding when you worship your ancestors? Li Kui grabbed Li Bingqian's sore foot and didn't seem to plan to let it go.

This made Li Bingqian very angry, his face turned red, and he looked at Li Kui angrily: "Li Kui, what you said doesn't seem to have anything to do with our cooperation at all. ”

"No, it matters." Li Kui waved his hand and said, "And it has a lot to do with it." This is related to whether your party members will really obey the Li clan or the Liang clan. The surname in the Central Plains must not be easily changed, unless it is to avoid disasters or the catastrophe of extermination, so you will have to give up the surname of your ancestors. But you party members don't seem to have this kind of emotion, and you easily change your surname. This makes me inevitably worry about whether the other tribes of the party will rebel against the Liang clan in power, or even turn the family into a country and replace your Li clan. Even among the Li clan inside, they may not necessarily oppose it. Will a people who have no respect for tradition be loyal to the royal family? ”

"It can't be, right?"

Li Bingqian thinks that Li Kui is alarmist, but what Li Kui said is not unreasonable. The Liang family controlled the Western Xia regime for 30 years, and during this period, there were even outrageous incidents of the handover of two generations of empress dowagers.

If the Li family resists, after the death of the old Empress Dowager Liang, the Li family should have a regent and assist the new emperor at the same time.

But the Li family did not do this, which shows that the Western Xia royal family is not iron-clad.

Li Bingqian frowned and said: "Actually, it's not much, the Li family has changed his surname four times, and I will state first, they were all forced." ”

"Before, the ancestors had meritorious service to the Tang Dynasty and were given the surname Li. After that, the emperor of your Song Kingdom gave my ancestor the surname Zhao, and later Gaozu had the heart to establish the country, so naturally he couldn't use the surname Zhao, and changed back to the name of Wei. Before it was the Tuoba clan, it is rumored that the ancestor of the party was the Tuoba clan, and the surname Tuoba is also common sense. ”

"Nonsense, how can you have a surname of Ba?"

Li Kui naturally wanted to oppose it, there was a Ba clan, and when he heard that this surname must have something to do with the Yellow Emperor. After the Bashi is the son of the Yellow Emperor, the Qiang should become the master of the Central Plains. But the problem is that thousands of years ago cannot be verified at all. Moreover, Li Kui also felt that he was very close to the same ancestor as the party members. If nothing else, their bald hair style was enough to make him rise to the fire.

Li Bingqian said uncertainly: "I seem to have seen it in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty. ”

"Written wrong!"

Books written by readers are naturally only qualified to be interpreted by those who read them. Li Kui said shamelessly: "During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the classics dissipated, and many historical materials could not be verified, so they could only use legends into the books, lacking the rigor of writing books and sayings. There are also many mistakes in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty, which are deeply despised by readers. ”

After speaking, Li Kui raised his head arrogantly, like an authoritative confrontation with an ignorant person. You don't even know who your ancestors are, what qualifications do you have to shout in front of this uncle? Then he said leisurely: "There is a record in the Book of Sui, the Legend of the Western Regions, and the Party Item: The Party Item Qiang is also after the three seedlings." Its species include Michang and white wolf, all of which call themselves monkey species......"

Your ancestors were macaques!

Don't ask the historian why he wrote it like this, it is said in the Book of Sui that it was admitted by your ancestors themselves. Some people say that historians are good at using exaggerated words. As for why the Book of Sui was written like this, Li Kui also wanted to know! A good person treats people as macaques, and the chain of contempt of this historian is too strong. As for admitting that his ancestors were macaques, if such a person had become a leader, the party would have perished long ago, right?

It's useless to be angry, Li Bingqian's chest rose and fell extremely quickly, although he hadn't read the "Book of Sui", and he didn't know whether what Li Kui said was true or false.

But as far as his guess goes, most of what Li Kui said is true, and it is likely that the very irresponsible historian of the Sui Dynasty licked his thick lips and wrote on the history books with an obscene expression.

If he argues with Li Kui, he must find out the theoretical basis. They are not descendants of macaques, they are people. Moreover, Li Bingqian also guessed most of the reasons why Li Kui deliberately humiliated him. Li Kui is a scholar, how can he know the craftsmanship of a craftsman? But he was said to be a master craftsman invited by the Great Song Dynasty, and it was best to supervise the gilding project of the Buddha statue in Jueming Temple, so he would naturally be extremely dissatisfied.

But Li Bingqian can't help it, there is no one he can use in his hands now. can only let Li Kui go up. As for Li Kui pinching his handle?

Could it be that Li Bingqian could fall out with Li Kui in Western Xia?

They are taking what they need, and they have not yet reached the point of parting ways. It's just that Li Kui's cautious eyes still disgusted Li Bingqian.

Li Bingqian opened his mouth, but finally gave up the battle with Li Kui. dropped a sentence and said: "The Buddha statue in Jueming Temple is gilded, you better think about it more, otherwise you will not only waste gold, but also offend the monk." Do you know that although the monks of Western Xia were all from Western Xia, they often went to the Song Kingdom. At that time, even if you flee back to the Song Kingdom, the monks will not give up. You don't want a monk at your doorstep to show you the door, do you? ”

Not to be outdone, Li Kui said: "Don't worry, it's just gold, you don't need to learn." When Li Bingqian left, Li Kui said to himself contemptuously: "It turned out to be a slave with four surnames!" ”

In the following days, Li Kui really started the heart of a craftsman.

First of all, magnanimity.

Loungers, teapots, and a stack of nuts and the like.

Subsequently, the temple was mobilized, and the Buddha statue was gilded, because the gold leaf was too light to be constructed in the field. The Buddha statue in Jueming Temple is an open-air Buddha statue, and a temporary workshop needs to be built to give the craftsmen a windless environment. At the same time, there should also be shelves that are convenient for craftsmen to get up and down.

To prepare for these, even if hundreds of monks from Jueming Temple worked together, it took more than ten days.

Such a long time is enough for Li Kui to completely create the image of a master craftsman. In particular, he is familiar with the palace of the Song Dynasty and has served as an official in the Shaofu, although he has not learned how to keep improving, but he has a hand on how to spend money.

Although the monks of Jueming Temple were not asked to give out gold, the old bottom of the temple was almost empty.

On this day, I really couldn't stand Li Kui's extravagance, and the abbot Zhiguang found Li Kui: "Master Li, these hundreds of catties of sesame oil are worth a lot of money, why don't you put gold on them during the day, so that the old man can lead his disciples and grandchildren to admire the master's demeanor." ”

Li Kui snorted coldly: "You want to steal the teacher? ”

Seeing that Li Kui's tone was not good, Master Zhiguang hurriedly explained: "Master Li has misunderstood, the old man is worried that he will not be able to provide for you!" ”

Li Kui's face was a little pale, but his tone had always been very cold and dry, and he seemed to have figured out the temperament of a set of technical talents, which was quite useful. mocked: "If you want to steal the teacher, forgive you for not being able to learn it." As for why you want to paste gold at night, it is because it is too bright during the day, in case some parts are not pasted when you paste gold, the craftsman is dazzling because of the light, and the gold is dazzling, it is easy to find it, understand? ”

"The old man understands, night is night. It's just that...... Forget it, the old man took the lead in giving some sesame oil to the city, I hope it's enough, right? "Master Zhiguang is helpless.

In fact, why did Li Kui put gold at night, mainly because his subordinates were all novices, and they went to work on the first day, wouldn't it be bad if they were seen?

At night, the monks have to go to bed early at night, so that there is less possibility of being seen.

Sure enough, at night, Luda was dumbfounded with a brush for pasting gold, and he didn't understand how to use it.

Ruan Xiaoer saw that Luda couldn't even hold a pen, and said disdainfully: "Illiterate? ”

"I can't read! Still be an official. ”

Luda felt Ruan Xiaoer's pitying gaze angrily, as if he was suddenly shorter and uncomfortable.