Inheriting a Taoist temple, the story begins with Wu Zetian offering incense.

Chapter 346 "We Want to Learn the Clog Dance!" [Seeking Monthly Tickets]

Inside the Hunyuan Palace, Zhou Yi said to Zhao Xu:

"Next, we can arrange for reliable people to do the preliminary work, such as digging up nearby clay to make bricks, and then filling the gaps with silt dredged from the riverbed, which will turn the land into fertile fields."

The construction of the capital city involved a great deal of preparatory work, such as transporting giant timbers from the mountains or the south, quarrying various types of stone, and digging canals for the construction of the city to facilitate the transportation of the stone materials.

Now it also involves crossing the Luo River, which requires building several stone bridges and raising the bridges, otherwise it will affect future shipping.

Zhao Xu agreed:
"Master, rest assured, everything will be arranged properly."

He originally intended to have Zhao Ji in charge of the construction of the capital, but Zhao Ji has now become the chief arms expert and has even neglected the construction of the Yiyuan Palace. Therefore, Zhao Xu plans to find someone else to be in charge of the construction of the capital.

Guo Rong was quite satisfied with the position he had predicted:
“The south side of the city is adjacent to the Yi River, where a large camp and arsenal can be built. Some military materials can be transported via the Yi River; the Luo River is wide and has a large volume of water, so it can be used as a civilian waterway.”

Once the blocked waterways are cleared, the Luo River and the Yi River can become major logistics routes.

Zhou Yi checked the flow rates of the two rivers and said:
"The water flow is still too small, and the difference between winter and summer is too great. We need to build more reservoirs in the south and widen and excavate the confluence of the two rivers as much as possible. As long as we can store more water, shipping can continue."

As for dredging, Zhou Yi thought that buying a few sets of river dredging equipment would suffice. They could then slowly pump out the silt from the riverbed, which would increase shipping volume and crop yields. Riverbed silt is excellent organic fertilizer, with a significant effect on increasing production.

Li Bai said:

"In case of emergency water use, one can use the Confucian scholar's pen to summon rainfall and increase the water volume."

Zhou Yi found the information about the Guxian Reservoir and said he could use the fossil talisman to repair it later. He didn't need to build it into a large reservoir like the modern ones that integrates water storage, water regulation, power generation, and irrigation; he just needed it to store some emergency water.

In addition, the Luhun Reservoir in the upper reaches of the Yi River can also be built, which can also store a lot of water and maintain navigation.

Zhao Xu planned to visit the site of the capital city construction project when he arrived in Luoyang. If it could be completed, it would definitely be the best capital city in the world.

Zhou Yi gave him several sets of instruments for measuring altitude and a level for engineering purposes, saying:
"When you get there, you can study the terrain first. The size of the capital is not fixed. Everything should be adapted to the terrain, rather than blindly following the rules."

The new capital city intrigued both Zhao Xu and Guo Rong. Chen Tang and Huo Qubing, on the other hand, were of average talent. Chang'an had not been damaged during the Western Han Dynasty, and there was enough food to eat. The tragedy of nobles starving to death during the Tang Dynasty had not yet occurred.

Li Qingzhao stared at the Ru River on the map for a while and asked:

"If a canal were built several dozen miles westward along the Ru River, it could connect with the Yi River. Could this be developed into a waterway?"

Even the Book of Changes (I Ching) can't say for sure. If you input this condition into an AI, the answer is insufficient water... If Luoyang wants to open up shipping routes, it needs to find a way to improve its water resources.

Except for the section from the Yi River to the Ru River, the entire Ru River is navigable, and the port towns along the Ru River were very prosperous during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

For example, Beiwudu and Xiaoyao Town, the origin of Hulatang (a type of spicy soup), were both gathering places for merchants traveling from the north and south at that time.

If Luoyang, after establishing its capital, can maintain the two waterways of the Kaifeng Canal and the Ru River, then the new capital will definitely surpass Kaifeng and become the most prosperous place in the world.

After discussing these matters, Zhou Yi used the Body Strengthening Technique on Zhao Xu three times in a row, which made Zhao Xu's body quickly become strong and his height exceeded 1.8 meters, making him a standard eight-foot strong man.

At noon, Chen Tang slaughtered two sheep. He skinned one to make hand-pulled mutton and scraped off the hair to make braised mutton with skin.

Li Qingzhao and Gongsun Da Niang each rode their electric scooters to the foot of the mountain and bought sesame cakes, fried dough sticks, steamed buns, and unleavened flatbread to eat with mutton soup.

Considering that there were six beautiful women present today—four adults and two children—Gongsun Da Niang bought about ten fried cakes from Uncle Wu's stall, while Li Qingzhao bought a bunch of braised dishes.

Uncle Wu asked:

"You bought so much food, are there any gatherings on the mountain?"

Gongsun Da Niang skillfully told a lie:
“Several fellow Daoists hiked up from the back mountain, looking like they were starving. The Daoist priest told us to come down and buy some food.”

Just as she was about to leave, Wu Aimin arrived on a brand-new 250cc scooter, and immediately began showing off:

"My fiancée thinks my little electric scooter isn't cool enough and insists on buying me a new one, and I can't stop her."

Big-Headed Yang across the street looked at him with disdain:

"Who asked you? Look how smug you are. My father-in-law gave me ten thousand yuan the first time we met, did I say anything?"

Wu Aimin exposed it without any mercy:

"It's all because he broke your leg... By the way, Fairy Pomegranate, go back and tell Xiao Yi that the solar streetlights he ordered have arrived and he can go up the mountain to install them this afternoon."

Gongsun Da Niang agreed:
"Okay, I'll tell the Taoist priest when I get back."

On the mountain, Wu Zetian recounted the arrangements made for their arrival:
"I came by carriage this morning, and the carriage will continue heading out of the city. If I return still in the carriage, it means we can reach Liaodong." Zhou Yi asked:

Are you going back today?

Wu Zetian nodded:
"Let's leave this afternoon, so the driver won't have to drive the carriage back to the palace."

Zhou Yi led her back to the room, opened the Modern Chinese Dictionary, and took out the blood-red leaf that Emperor Gouchen had given her:
"These leaves were given to me by Emperor Gouchen. I haven't found a way to use them. I suspect they are related to war. There are currently three wars in the Zhenguan world. Take them back and see if anything happens."

Wu Zetian took the leaf, equally curious:
"The book says that Emperor Gouchen is in charge of military affairs in the human world. Could it be that taking it back would increase the chances of winning the war?"

Zhou Yi sat down and began to explain the origin of the leaf:

"When it appeared yesterday, Zhao Xu had just held a rally to rallied his troops, Cheng Zhijie had annihilated thousands of Turks, and Ban Chao had issued a proclamation of annihilation against the Turks... The appearance of this leaf may be related to these three worlds. If you can't figure it out on your end, then let Zhao Xu and Ban Chao try it one by one."

Wu Zetian accepted the leaf as if it were a precious treasure, intending to try it out when she got back.

Lunch was ready quickly. Chef Xi Shi prepared two kinds of lamb, both beautifully presented and incredibly tempting.

Zhao Yan and Zhao Rui were each holding a small cartoon bowl, intending to fill it with mutton soup and eat it with flatbread, but Chen Tang stopped them:
"Staple food is for filling the gaps after you've eaten enough meat. If you don't eat all this meat, why are you eating pancakes? You should get rid of this bad habit of eating staple food as soon as possible, or you'll get so fat that you can't dance anymore and the Immortal Master will have to return you."

Guo Rong patted him on the shoulder:

"Why are you even scaring children? We've collected a batch of Khitan weapons; do you want them?"

Chen Tang nodded hastily:

"Yes, definitely! No wonder we're destined to meet. I prayed to you, the God of Wealth, before you came. I never thought the God of Wealth would actually be giving away money... Do you need a horse? Do you want one?"

Guo Rong shook his head:

"We also captured quite a few horses. We didn't bring them today because there were outsiders around. We'll bring some more for Brother Zhao next time. We can train the cavalry while we march and wipe out the Tanguts who are entrenched in the Northwest as soon as possible."

Zhao Xu, who was enthusiastically showing off his mutton, added a definition to his words:

"They were Tanguts from the Western Xia. There were also Tanguts in the Song Dynasty, such as the Zhe family, who were loyal and virtuous for generations. Unfortunately, no one wrote stories about them, so later generations only knew about the Yang and Zhong families of the Song Dynasty, but not the Zhe family, who were hailed as the Great Wall of the Northwest of the Song Dynasty."

Guo Rong became interested when the Zhe family was mentioned:
"I never expected the Zhe family to still be shining in your time. I underestimated Zhe Deyi. He is still in my army. I heard that his daughter is quite skilled in martial arts, and several people have proposed to him."

Li Qingzhao's eyes lit up:
"Isn't this Lady Zhe, the wife of General Yang? Goodness, I never imagined that Lady Zhe was still an unmarried young girl during the Later Zhou Dynasty."

The most famous person in the Zhe family is the matriarch in the storybooks. Unfortunately, in the process of transmission, the matriarch of the Zhe family gradually became the matriarch of the She family, and her surname was changed.

During Zhao Xu's reign, Zhe Kexing and his nephew Zhe Keshi were both famous generals on the Western Xia battlefield, and Zhe Keshi had been commended by the court many times.

After discussing the Zhe family, Li Bai recounted his recent experiences:

“I hit it off with Cen Xun at first sight. He came with me to Yiyuan Temple and also got along quite well with Yan Zhenqing. I almost couldn’t help but tell him that the two of them would collaborate on the Duobao Pagoda Stele decades later.”

The Duobao Pagoda Stele is an inscription written by Cen Xun and calligraphed by Yan Zhenqing. It is also a representative work of Yan Zhenqing's early calligraphy. When Zhou Yi first started practicing calligraphy, the Duobao Pagoda Stele was his first introduction.

"I also met Wang Zhihuan, who had no way to get an official position. Sister Gongsun almost recited 'Ascending the Stork Tower' to encourage him. I recommended him to work as a clerk in the Censorate, but I heard that he is generous and often drunk. He probably won't be able to stay in this job for long before Zhang Jiuling drives him away."

Listening to these words, Zhou Yi seemed to see a magnificent scroll slowly unfolding... Although Li Longji was not a good person in his later years, he was really strong when he first came to power, creating a prosperous Tang Dynasty that was unprecedented and unparalleled. So much so that more than a thousand years later, many people still yearn for that era.

After the meal, Zhou Yi called Wu Aiguo and asked him to drive up the mountain to discuss the expansion project of the courtyard.

Soon, Wu Aiguo drove his Great Wall pickup truck, which was used to driving around construction sites, to the mountain. He listened to everyone's requests, measured the yard with a 100-meter measuring tape, and finally gave a suggestion:

“Xiao Yi, I think we should rebuild the whole courtyard. We can use the modular construction method that's popular now. It's very fast, and we can design custom layouts. The kind of dining room with floor-to-ceiling windows that you want, the study with good sound insulation, and the home theater, etc., can all be made. The sturdiness and durability are excellent.”

Zhou Yi thought for a moment and asked:
"How long will the whole project take? If it's slow, then forget it."

"Don't worry, it's very fast... Building houses now is different from the past. There are four options: brick-concrete, light steel, modular, and frame. I personally recommend modular, which is filled with reinforced concrete in the middle. It's fast and easy to decorate."

Wu Aiguo explained the advantages and disadvantages of several building methods. Zhou Yi ultimately chose the modular approach. Wu Aiguo wrote down the measurements he had just taken, indicating that he would get the blueprints done as soon as possible, and then drove down the mountain.

After he left, Li Qingzhao tidied up the small ornaments and various foods she had recently bought, pinched Zhao Yan and Zhao Rui's cheeks, and happily went back... Zhao Xu was not in the capital, so she had to go back and keep watch. If anyone was foolish enough to do something, she would summon divine lightning!

As soon as the girl left, the Zhao sisters, Zhao Yan and Zhao Rui, clung to Xi Shi, each grabbing one of her legs and insisting on learning the clapper dance...

(End of this chapter)