My younger brother Zhuge Liang

Chapter 47 The Mysterious Sage Who Was Famous in Xudu

Zhuge Jin taught Kong Rong some "construction management and coordination methods" in public. To be honest, they were not very profound. They just used the article "Three Tasks Achieved in One Go" in the Chinese textbooks of later generations, which described the construction of the imperial palace by the people of the Song Dynasty.

Of course, the situation Kong Rong is facing now is different from the situation faced by the people of the Song Dynasty in the Chinese textbook. In the textbook, the old palace was burned down, and the ruins had to be dismantled and transported away, and then new building materials were transported in to build the palace.

Kong Rong is now building a palace on flat ground, so there is no need to demolish the original ruins or remove the construction waste.

But even so, the ideas are still the same.

The only difference is that after implementation, the final degree of saving effort and money is not that exaggerated, from "saving three tasks in one go" to "saving two tasks in one go", which is just one less saving on garbage disposal fees.

Zhuge Jin introduced: "Nowadays, huge wood and stone materials produced in Songshan and Funiushan are transported from far away. When they are transported to the Qingqi River wharf, they need to be unloaded and carried by manpower. The last few miles are carried on shoulders and hands. How wasteful is it?
The soil needed for rammed earth palace walls had to be dug from far away, which was even more laborious and costly. Why not dig another tributary along the Qingqi River to get soil for rammed earth palace walls, and allow ships carrying wood and stones to reach the construction site directly. After the construction was completed, the moat could be deepened and the soil could be replaced to fill the ditch.

We can even consider expanding the Yuxiu Pond and adding water features to the royal gardens. Wouldn't that be the best of both worlds? Of course, whether this method conforms to the court etiquette and whether it will lead to extravagance in your majesty's gardens is up to Master Kong to judge. I don't understand etiquette, so I dare not speak rashly..."

Zhuge Jin made a grand and eloquent overall plan. Although he had not yet touched upon the details, the hundreds of onlookers in the Yizhou county residence were already impressed.

No one expected that such an unknown scholar from another place, who had just refuted the big troll Ni Heng who had been in power in Xu Du for several months on the basis of the meaning of the classics, could turn around and teach the chief architect Kong Rong how to save money to build the imperial palace.

Moreover, Kong Rong was stunned by what he heard and didn't find any flaws at all. Instead, he truly realized that this move could save a lot of money.

If he can make good use of it, then after the imperial palace is repaired, Cao Cao will definitely not dare to use him as a shield to make things difficult for him, and he will be a great contributor to ensuring His Majesty's safe and secure life!

Moreover, Kong Rong had talked to Cao Cao before, and Cao Cao hinted at something for him, saying that he originally wanted to appoint Kong Rong as Shaofu, but he regretted that Kong Rong had lost the Beihai County, and as a landless person he entered the court, he could not be promoted directly.

Therefore, it was hoped that Kong Rong would work as the chief architect for a year or so, and take on the task of building a new palace for the emperor. If he did a good job, he would be promoted to the position of Shaofu, a very important position among the Nine Ministers, when the palace was completed.

Originally, Kong Rong was worried that Cao Cao, such a cunning guy, would find excuses not to fulfill his promise in the future.

Now that he has the bargaining chip to exceed the task target, the day when it is completed will be the day when he will be 100% sure to be promoted to Shaofu!

In this way, even though Kong Rong was shown to be not smart enough in public, he endured it and still treated Zhuge Jin with courtesy.

He said that he would definitely listen to his suggestions and build a new palace for Your Majesty more quickly, efficiently and economically.

It will take considerable time to verify how much money can be saved after using the new method.

But at least within three to five days, we could see some preliminary clues, because by digging a ditch and allowing the boats carrying wood to go directly to the temple construction site, a lot of corvée manpower could be saved immediately.

……

After Zhuge Jin refuted and slapped Ni Heng in public and instructed Kong Rong in public, he immediately chose to return to his home in Xuzhou County in a low-key manner. He stayed indoors for several days to avoid further trouble.

He also pulled Chen Deng back and told him not to show up in public again.

During this period, he only received visits from one person, that is, Kong Rong. If he had any questions about the operational level, he could come to him. He would not see anyone else.

After all, what Zhuge Jin wanted was not fame among the people of Xudu. What he wanted was the reputation of having made contributions through specific channels so that he could gain more bargaining chips in subsequent audiences.

Thus, over the next three days, the legend of this mysterious sage spread among the scholars seeking official positions in Xudu.

It is said that this person is an envoy from a certain state or county who came to the capital to present a memorial, but his talent in debate is better than Ni Heng, and his talent in overall planning is better than Kong Rong. He is truly well-versed in all things and so terrifying.

On October 18, the above reputation first reached Xun Yu's ears. The specific channel of communication was, of course, Geng Ji, a clerk under Xun Yu who was now responsible for conveying the recruitment. As mentioned earlier, Geng Ji often went to the Yizhou County Residence, "the gathering place for people waiting to seek official positions", to pass on information. Whenever Xun Yu wanted to recruit someone, Geng Ji would go there.

It can even be said that the reason why Zhuge Jin got the opportunity to show off that day was because the last time Geng Ji went there to represent Xun Yu in conquering Mao Jie and Guo Yuan, he stimulated Ni Heng, who had been waiting for an official position for a long time.

This made Ni Heng lose his temper and behave inappropriately, causing him to be ridiculed by Zhuge Jin and eventually be completely defeated by a topic he picked out.

Now, Geng Ji once again came to the Yizhou County Residence to convey Xun Yu's latest recruitment news.

After finishing his work, Geng Ji felt tired, so he took a break in the wine house attached to the county residence and had a few drinks before leaving. Then he heard his drinking buddies around him talking about the amazing deeds of the mysterious man.

"How could there be such a person? We must report it to Lord Xun and make him happy. Ni Heng is such a jerk. Just because the court doesn't want him to be an official, he has been scolding Lord Xun, Sima Boda, the left official of the Sikong Mansion, and a bunch of Cao Sikong's confidants in the past few months.

If Xun Lingjun knew that someone had refuted Ni Heng and made him speechless, he would definitely feel relieved. "

After hearing this, Geng Ji thought to himself and decided to go back and report as soon as possible.

In fact, with Xun Yu's character, he didn't care about the nonsense of a small-time guy like Ni Heng, so he just ignored Ni Heng.

But as a subordinate, Geng Ji had to consider his direct superiors and could not omit anything that could help his superiors vent their anger.

……

So that evening, when everyone in the Secretariat was about to finish work and Shangshu Ling Xun Yu, who had been busy all day, was about to go home, Geng Ji, who had just finished reporting on his work, found an opportunity and naturally talked about the interesting things that had happened in the circle of scholars seeking official positions in the capital recently.

Xun Yu didn't take it seriously at first. When he heard that someone just criticized Ni Heng, he smiled faintly and thought that this was just another person with sharp eloquence. Evildoers need to be punished by evildoers.

However, when Xun Yu listened to Geng Ji's retelling of more of the day's debate, his expression changed subtly.

"How could this person so highly praise Mencius's idea that the people are the most important, the country is second, and the ruler is the least important? He also argued that the 'beginning of virtue' lies in giving benefits to the people after the world is unified, so that the people have less wars, less labor service, and less taxes? Rather than in the act of unifying the world itself?

This theory is quite novel, seeing what the predecessors have not seen, and it is indeed a true insight, making up for the fallacy of Dong Zhongshu and Gongsun Hong confusing "goals" with "means". Moreover, this theory is always about benefiting the people, which can serve as a warning to the monarch to put the people first. Why didn't the predecessors think of this in the past three hundred years?

Could it be that some compassionate senior Confucian master had summarized this? But since the death of Lu Shangshu and Cai Zhonglang, there have been few great sages in the world who could think of such a breakthrough. Have you found out how old that person is? Which state or county sent him?"

Geng Ji was secretly delighted to see that Xun Yu took him seriously, thinking that his efforts were worthwhile, and he quickly said, "I have not been able to find out the name of that person. I heard that the debate happened in a hurry that day, and everyone joined in halfway through. After that person refuted Ni Heng, he left without even making his name known.

But everyone else said that judging from his appearance, he was very young and came from the east. Could he be from Qingxu?"

Xun Yu stroked his beard and said, "From the East? Still very young? The only Eastern Confucian scholar left now is Zheng Xuan, the Minister of State, who has returned to his hometown of Qingzhou. Could he be a disciple of Zheng Xuan or a junior fellow of Yuan Shao? Any other information?"

Geng Ji thought for a while and said, "I heard that this man also publicly pointed out to Kong Wenju, the chief architect who came to persuade the peace that day, that Kong Wenju's method of planning the construction of the imperial palace was too wasteful, and he had a way to save Kong Wenju tens of millions of extra money in labor and corvee."

Xun Yu's eyes lit up completely: "You still have this ability? Prepare the car, I will go to the palace construction site to look for Kong Wenju in person."

Geng Ji was shocked. He did not expect Xun Yu to take this so seriously. He quickly advised: "Your Excellency has worked so hard today. Why not go tomorrow? It is almost dark."

Xun Yu said: "It's OK. How can I be dissatisfied with the hard work of recruiting talents for the country? I will go to Kong Rong now."

(End of this chapter)