I am Emperor Shizu of Song

Chapter 46: Encounter with Genyue
Two flowers bloom, one branch each.

The night before Zhao Zicheng sent someone to rescue Lin Chong's family.

In a luxurious mansion in Zhen'anfang near Yanfu Palace in Bianjing.

An elegant middle-aged man in his thirties with an exquisite triangular goatee was lying comfortably on a brocade couch, his eyes slightly closed, his left elbow resting on a satin table, and the incense burner in front of him was burning with the famous incense produced in Champa, with smoke curling up.

Opposite him, a graceful woman of about twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, whose face, though not absolutely beautiful, was elegant and quiet, was playing the piano.

This man and woman are naturally Zhao Ji and Li Shishi.

During the Zhenghe era, Li Shishi was a renowned figure in Bianjing, with many visiting her to discuss poetry and songs. Besides receiving visitors at the Jiaofang (a Chinese music academy), she also performed twice a month at Fanlou (a Chinese opera house), where many could see her from afar.

But by the end of the Zhenghe era, and even now in the first year of the Xuanhe era, the situation was very different. Li's "family status was particularly high," and they almost stopped seeing outsiders. They moved back to their private residence in Zhen'anfang, close to the imperial city, and rarely visited the Jiaofang where they had once performed.

Outsiders could not immediately know the reason for all these changes. Only those who had a God's perspective knew that it was because she had an affair with Zhao Ji in the last years of Zhenghe period. For the sake of royal dignity, she naturally could not easily meet men outside.

At this moment, Zhao Ji was in high spirits and felt proud after listening to Li Shishi playing the piano in the atmosphere of spices.

When he opened his eyes, he saw a plum bonsai in front of him. This was brought to him today by Liang Shicheng from the General's Office.

This plum blossom is indeed unique and peculiar. It is more crooked than any other plum tree you have ever seen. The branches are very low, almost like a coiled snake, but it is very much in line with Zhao Ji's aesthetic taste.

The origin of the plum blossoms was naturally the result of Zhao Zicheng's and Jia Dan's collaborative work. A month or so wasn't enough time to cultivate a large tree or see significant changes, but focusing on guiding the growth of some small bonsai trees was enough to accumulate considerable changes.

In addition, what Liang Shicheng presented must have been the best of the best. Jia Dan had done countless cultivation experiments in the General Works Department before he selected this pot with the most obvious effect and presented it to him.

When Zhao Ji came to see Li Shishi, he asked the eunuchs to bring up the bonsai as if it were a treasure, so that he could enjoy it with the beauty.

Although Zhao Ji was a tyrant, he was unwavering in his pursuit of art and was very accomplished in gardening. Li Shishi was also an extremely elegant woman, and they shared a common language in almost all aspects of artistic aesthetics, so even though she was not extremely beautiful, they could still chat together.

In addition, Li Shishi was particularly good at praising people, which made men feel very comfortable. No matter what Zhao Ji showed off to her, she could always sincerely point out the advantages of that thing, and every word would hit the point, making Zhao Ji feel that she truly understood him, rather than just flattering him in a vulgar way.

Zhao Ji had no shortage of women. He came to Li Shishi not to seek female satisfaction or flattery.

What he wants to hear is the truth that is meaningful and can show his level.

After listening to the music, Zhao Ji felt relaxed all over, as if it was time for a sage. He played with the plum blossoms in front of him and said casually:

"Liang Shicheng always manages to get me something new and unusual. When he presented me this basin of plum blossoms, I thought Zhu Jie had found it from Jiangnan. But he presented me with a treasure, saying it was cultivated by the General in Charge of Works himself, and not a gift from Jiangnan. They're vying for credit for such a small thing."

"Your Majesty is a master of both poetry and painting, and is well-versed in all arts. Naturally, your subjects should also diligently learn and improve. Both Minister Liang and Minister Zhu have only become more refined by following Your Majesty, influenced by her surroundings. This is also the result of Your Majesty's education."

Li Shishi was very tactful and never dared to speak ill of court officials or eunuchs in front of Zhao Ji, but she could not help but respond to such teasing, so she chose to reply in this way.

Zhao Ji's interest was truly high upon hearing this. He stood up and stretched lazily. "I heard that the newly arrived batch of flowers and stones has been used, and the landscape of Genyue has been improved to become even more beautiful and tranquil. I would like to visit the garden again tomorrow to see how much Liang Qing has come up with. After all, it's boring to look at bonsai here."

Upon hearing this, Li Shishi hesitated for a few seconds, then tentatively pleaded, "Since I've followed Your Majesty, I've been shut away for two years, and I'm so bored. Would Your Majesty be willing to take me on a tour of Mount Gen tomorrow?"

Li Shishi said this, but she didn't have much expectation in her heart. She knew that her identity was sensitive and this would be very inconvenient.

As expected, Zhao Ji, considering the dignity of the royal family, immediately refused subconsciously: "How can this be allowed? The construction of the Genyue is not yet completed, and there are many craftsmen and other people. I am with you, how can I allow outsiders..."

Zhao Ji wasn't worried about anything else; he simply didn't want to lose the dignity of the imperial family. His interactions with Li Shishi couldn't be made public, so he had a tunnel dug from Yanfu Palace to this spot, allowing him to meet with Li Shishi without anyone noticing.

"It is my lack of consideration that has put Your Majesty in an awkward position. Please don't take it to heart. Just drink another cup from me as an apology to Your Majesty." Li Shishi immediately stopped insisting. This way she could be a little bit petty while appearing to know when to advance and retreat.

She poured Zhao Ji a cup of apology wine, then covered her face and drank it herself, then passed the cup to him to apologize. Zhao Ji drank it happily and reluctantly. His heart was suddenly filled with masculinity. He slapped the table beside him and tightened his grip on her waist with his other hand:
"Never mind, it's just a small matter, what's so difficult to handle? Tomorrow, you will go with me incognito to enjoy the scenery of Genyue. I will instruct Liang Shicheng to find a cover-up."

As long as he wasn't visiting as an emperor, even if he was spotted with a beautiful woman, no one would gossip. Genyue was originally an imperial garden, so what was wrong with visiting it beforehand? If he chose to close the garden instead of going incognito, it would only make the situation more obvious.

……

The next morning, after Yang Zhi had sent the Lin family out of the city.

At the Genyue construction site, Zhao Zicheng was in a garden, discussing gardening techniques with Jia Dan and secretly experimenting with the latest cement imitation stone casting technology.

Zhao Zi said that he had not been to the Genyue construction site for several days, but starting from yesterday, he insisted on coming every day, and would continue to do so for several more days in the future.

Jia Dan didn't know what had happened to this Mr. Zhao, but Zhao Zicheng was smart and could always come up with many unexpected technical ideas. Jia Dan was also very happy to have Zhao Zicheng come over more often.

Only Zhao Zicheng knew very well that he had insisted on coming to the construction site to supervise the work and come to the Genyue construction site in the past few days in order to create more sufficient "alibi" for himself so that when the government found out that Lu Da and the Lin family had run away in the future, they would never be able to link those things to him.

Since I'm here, I'll just make the best of it. I'll do the whole show and share some of my thoughts on cement pouring, gardening pruning, and guiding plant growth so that Jia Dan can benefit more.

For today, Zhao Zicheng specially came up with some useful information, which soon made Jia Dan even more impressed.

At this moment, there were several pots of white cotton flowers, also known as cotton, placed in front of the two of them.

Cotton cultivation and the ability to weave cotton cloth were already common in the Northern Song Dynasty, but production was relatively low, and the necessary spinning technology wasn't mature. Anyone with a passing knowledge of history knows that cotton looms and spinning technology weren't perfected until the late Southern Song Dynasty, when Huang Dao Po of Songjiang Prefecture improved them. The technology then matured during the Yuan and early Ming dynasties. Huang Dao Po's deeds are even mentioned in junior high school history textbooks.

After the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the production of cotton cloth in the Suzhou and Songshan regions began to grow explosively, eventually reaching the point where it "clothed the whole world." The cotton planting area in the Central Plains also expanded explosively.

Moreover, although cotton cloth was available in the late Northern Song Dynasty, the technology of using cotton directly as a warm filling to make cotton-padded jackets was not promoted, nor were there quilts filled with cotton - otherwise, Zhao Zicheng would not have had to go to the trouble of inventing down jackets and down quilts.

This may also be related to the fact that cotton is relatively expensive nowadays and it is not cost-effective to use it directly for filling. The effect of filling cotton is far worse than filling silk cotton. Cotton is more likely to become hardened, but the price is not much cheaper than silk cotton.

The cotton produced by the people is used for spinning and weaving. It is too wasteful to use it as stuffing directly. The poor lack fillers, so it is better to stuff a few handfuls of reed fluff or even straw in it every winter. Those things are free.

Today, Zhao Zicheng and Jia Dan were verifying a unique skill that Zhao Zicheng taught him last month - picking the top stars of cotton.

This unique skill was recorded by Song Yingxing when he wrote "The Exploitation of the Works of Nature" in the late Ming Dynasty. Before that, people did not understand the apical effect of plants. In order to make cotton grow taller, they had to protect the apical buds, but they did not know that if they left the apical buds, the nutrients of the plants would be wasted on growing taller, and there would be less nutrients for flowering and fruiting.

Cotton blooms from July to September, which translates to June or July in the lunar calendar. Now is June, the first month of the year for cotton to bloom.

Zhao Zi said that a month ago, he taught Jia Dan to pick the top stars of a batch of bonsai cotton plants to prevent nutrients from being wasted on growing taller. Now, a month has passed, and these pots of cotton have indeed grown short but plump, and the flowers in each pot are extremely lush, and even the diameter of each cotton flower has obviously increased.

"Mr. Zhao really knows everything. He even managed to cultivate this bonsai white daisy to such abundant blooms. I wonder if he can do the same with other flowers. He just picked off the top star right away, making them shorter and with larger flowers."

When he saw the final result, Jia Dan's admiration came from the bottom of his heart.

Zhao Zicheng was also somewhat immersed in the role, and casually gave a lecture on how to behave: "Plants, like animals and humans, have to compete for nutrients. The top star uses up more nutrients to grow taller, so naturally there is not enough nutrients for the side branches, flowers and leaves.

Just as Wang Jinggong said, only when the people are not taxed more and the country has enough money can the world's ills be solved. Only when the roots are firmly established and can absorb more nutrients from the soil can the stems, flowers and leaves not interfere with each other.

But if, as Sima Guang said, the wealth of the world is fixed, then we assume that the roots can only reach so deep and can only absorb so much nutrients from the soil; this is already a fixed number. The distribution of these fixed numbers lies not with the officials but with the people. If the stems grow too tall, the flowers and leaves will wither.

Jia Dan couldn't help but feel a little confused. He didn't expect that Zhao Zicheng was so knowledgeable that he could even discuss the competition between the top buds and the side branches for nutrients and fertility while planting cotton, and he could be as good as Wang Anshi and Sima Guang.

While Jia Dan was confused, Liang Shicheng had quietly arranged a group of mysterious guests to visit the garden.

The guest also asked to see the newly improved and cultivated flowers and trees in the garden, so he came straight here.

(End of this chapter)