Fan Lou occupied the most prosperous area of the Imperial Street, a three-story wooden building that looked magnificent from the outside.
However, once inside, the situation greatly disappointed Fang Er.
Aside from scholars composing poetry, there were only singing girls on stage performing folk songs.
The dishes on the tables were in no comparison to those at Drunken Immortal Tower.
Stir-fries already existed at this time, but the dishes that were highly praised by others, in Fang Er's opinion as a foodie, lacked in color, aroma, and taste.
Casually throwing a silver ingot to the waiter, he booked several upper rooms and settled into Fan Lou.
Although it wasn't as good as his own home, it was already the best restaurant in Bianliang City, so he would make do with it.
The imperial physicians' skills were excellent. A day later, Wang Xuance arrived with Ge Luoyang.
Ge Luoyang's green hair had returned to normal, though the places where the cupping glasses had been applied still bore bruises.
"My Lord, the Emperor of Song says the silver is ready."
Fang Er was stunned by Wang Xuance's words. Even in the Tang Dynasty, it would take a day to mobilize ten million taels of silver.
This was not even the peak of the Northern Song Dynasty, and in less than three days, Zhao Guangyi had gathered the money?
The group returned to the imperial palace and, led by eunuchs, headed to Wende Hall. As they passed Daqing Hall, they saw it was still being cleaned.
Wang Xuance chuckled unkindly, "My Lord, you don't know, ever since you left the palace the day before yesterday, the Emperor of Song ordered the entire Daqing Hall to be scrubbed with clean water several times!"
Ge Luoyang, with his hands behind his back, looked up at the sky, whistling a tune about herding horses, appearing completely unconcerned.
Fang Er suddenly thought of something and asked, "How did you recover so quickly after that earth-shattering, soul-stirring bowel movement you had that day?"
"Those old doctors are really something. I only had it for one day. Yesterday, they sent over a bowl of medicine. After drinking it, I immediately felt energetic, and the diarrhea stopped!"
After saying this, Ge Luoyang slyly glanced around, then leaned towards Fang Er and whispered.
"My Lord, why don't we dig them up and take them back with us? I feel that although they might not be as good as Old Sun, they can still compete with the medical teachers at the academy."
Fang Er smiled and shook his head without a word, refraining from mentioning taking the entire Song Dynasty with them.
He needed to figure out how to get one hundred million tons of gold first.
"History of Song · Records of Rites XIX": "The Emperor daily held court in Chuigong Hall; civil and military officials attended the main court in Wende Hall daily, with one Chancellor presiding."
From this, it can be seen that Wende Hall was the place where the Northern Song emperors handled daily state affairs.
As for why state affairs were handled in Daqing Hall before, it was likely because Li Shimin felt that Wende Hall did not befit his status.
However, now that Daqing Hall had been subjected to the baptism of toxic excrement, even if he were to go, he wouldn't.
Inside Wende Hall, Li Shimin sat behind the imperial desk, while Zhao Guangyi stood beside him with his hands behind his back.
Seeing the two of them like this, a scene suddenly appeared in Fang Er's mind.
Two people at a table, one inside and one outside.
Guo Degang standing outside, and Uncle Qian standing inside.
Yes, it was just like that, Li Shimin and Zhao Guangyi were like a comedy duo.
Four civil officials stood respectfully in the hall, listening to the legendary Emperor Taizong guiding their work.
Seeing Fang Er enter, Li Shimin casually picked up a teacup, took a sip, and then looked at Fang Er, saying, "Xiao San, have you prepared the travel expenses? When shall we depart?"
Fang Er casually replied, "Anytime. Have all the state affairs been arranged?"
Zhao Guangyi pointed to the four civil officials and smiled, "Duke Anguo, these are Kou Zhun, Lü Duan, Zhang Yong, and Xiang Minzhong, whom you mentioned the other day. After we leave, they will assist the Crown Prince in overseeing the country."
Good heavens, his efficiency was indeed fast!
However, Fang Er soon realized a problem: "May I ask who the current Crown Prince is?"
Mentioning the Crown Prince, Zhao Guangyi's face lit up with pride. "My son Yuanxi has the makings of an emperor and is currently the Crown Prince."
Fang Er: ???
Zhao Yuanxi?
The makings of an emperor?
This guy only had six years left to live, and he had the makings of an emperor? And wasn't the next emperor supposed to be the third son, Zhao Huan?
He looked at Zhao Guangyi in astonishment and asked, "Are you sure you're not joking?"
Zhao Guangyi didn't understand for a moment, thinking he was asking why it wasn't the eldest son, Zhao Yuanzuo, and sighed with melancholy.
"Alas~"
"Duke Fang, you may not know, Yuanzuo is naturally pure and kind to others. In terms of talent and ability, he is indeed the undisputed choice for the Crown Prince."
"But for some reason, his temperament has become increasingly erratic in the past two years, making it truly difficult for him to bear such a great responsibility."
Hearing him say that Zhao Yuanzuo's temperament had changed drastically, Fang Er immediately recalled the historical records about this matter.
According to the agreement made during the succession, the throne was supposed to be rotated among the three brothers.
Zhao Kuangyin was first, Zhao Guangyi was second, and Zhao Tingmei was third.
The next round would return to Zhao Kuangyin's sons, with the three families taking turns.
But Zhao Kuangyin wanted to pass the throne to his son, and you disagreed, resulting in the "Golden Chamber Alliance" that led to his death, and then you took the throne yourself.
When Zhao Guangyi wanted to establish a Crown Prince, he worried that Zhao Tingmei would follow his example. Thus, he acted first, and Zhao Tingmei mysteriously met his end.
While others might not be clear about this matter, Zhao Yuanzuo, as the Crown Prince, was perfectly aware.
After Zhao Tingmei's death, he fell gravely ill and became somewhat erratic.
Even after the imperial physicians cured him, his disposition changed greatly from before.
It was clear that this young man was too kind-hearted and was stimulated by his own father's despicable tactics!
However, he was too lazy to bother with these trivial matters. Under the natural disaster, the entire Song Dynasty would eventually move to the Tang Dynasty. At that time, it would be impossible for the Zhao family to still want to sit on the throne!
Unless the entire family moved to a small island, they could still have the fun of being island lords!
Fang Er nodded perfunctorily, "Alright, since that's the case, where is that silver?"
"Someone, take Duke Fang to get the silver!"
Zhao Guangyi ordered a eunuch waiting to the side.
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
The eunuch walked up to Fang Er and smiled, "Duke Fang, please follow me."
They left Wende Hall and wound their way through several courtyards to the outside of a compound.
"Duke Fang, this is the Chongwenyuan. The silver is kept in the Secret Pavilion, it's right inside."
After speaking, he had the guards open the courtyard gate and led Fang Er inside.
The Secret Pavilion, in reality, had nothing to do with secrecy; it was just a name.
Pushing open the pavilion door, they saw neatly stacked wooden chests filling the room.
Fang Er casually opened one, revealing gleaming silver ingots. He picked one up and weighed it; each ingot was at least fifty taels.
However, the chests in here did not look like they contained enough for ten million taels.
It was only after he opened another chest that he discovered that there was not only silver but also gold here.
The eunuch quickly explained, "There are a total of four million taels of silver and six hundred thousand taels of gold here."
"Originally, our Song Dynasty had very little gold. This gold was all reminted from gold coins brought back from overseas by merchant fleets."
Fang Er nodded slightly, then sent the eunuch away. He placed his hand on the wooden chest and began to communicate with the system to exchange for points.
Four million taels of silver were converted into four million points, while the six hundred thousand taels of gold were all stored in his warehouse.
A Song catty and a Tang catty were both sixteen taels, 680 grams, and one tael was 42.5 grams.
Six hundred thousand taels totaled twenty-five thousand five hundred kilograms, equivalent to 25 tons.
The calculated figure made Fang Er want to curse!
One hundred million tons of gold, converted into taels, would be 2.353 trillion taels!
Six hundred thousand taels sounded like a lot, but it wasn't even a fraction of what he needed!
Depressed, he pushed open the pavilion door and walked out. The eunuch at the door, seeing that the chests inside were still intact, asked, "My Lord, do you want me to send these gold and silver out for you?"
Fang Er waved his hand to refuse the offer, "No need! Seal this pavilion door and do not allow anyone to enter or exit."
Since the items had already been taken, what was the use of these chests?
Returning to Wende Hall, he said to Li Shimin, "Father, we can depart tomorrow."
Li Shimin nodded indifferently, while Zhao Guangyi was extremely excited. He said to Lü Duan and the others,
"My four loyal subjects, as previously discussed, after I leave, I entrust the state affairs to your care."
"Your subjects obey the decree!"
After bowing, the four retreated three steps and left.
The next morning, ten helicopters took off from Bianliang City and flew westward.
In the cabin, everyone wore headphones and observed the scenery outside.
It was strange; the oppressive dark clouds from that day did not bring rain, and even the strong winds only lasted for one day, stopping the next.
Now, the sun was high in the sky. Below, in the farmlands outside Bianliang City, people were busy with cultivation.
This presented Fang Er with a new problem: even if the gold was gathered, would these people really be willing to leave their homes?
The helicopters flew intermittently, from morning until dusk, landing on a vast grassland.
"Where is this?"
After getting off the helicopter, Zhao Guangyi asked Fang Er in confusion.
"Come, come, let me teach you."
Before Fang Er could answer, Li Shimin began to display his knowledge. He pointed into the distance and said.
"See the snow on the mountaintops over there?"
Zhao Guangyi nodded blankly, having no idea what the snow had to do with their location.
Li Shimin continued, "Look at this boundless grassland and the undulating terrain."
"This is clearly a landscape found only in the Western Regions. Furthermore, we've flown for a day, and by the distance, it should be at least two to three thousand li."
"Therefore, this place should be within the territory of Tubo."
"Kid, am I right?"
He raised his eyebrows and looked at Fang Er, his expression provoking a desire to punch him.
Fang Er nodded speechlessly. Although his analysis seemed insightful, he knew that this fellow had been eyeing the distant Tibetan antelope herds while in the air!
The presence of these animals already indicated their location.
Zhao Guangyi, unaware of this, looked at Li Shimin with near adoration.
"Emperor Taizong is indeed Emperor Taizong, to be able to discern our location just from the scenery!"
"Hahaha, mere common knowledge, not worth mentioning. Come, accompany me to hunt some game for dinner!"
Li Shimin took an Aw from the helicopter.
Hearing their conversation, Fang Er knowingly waved to the others and retreated to a distance.
Some things were better left unheard.
Wang Xuance led the men in setting up tents. Fang Er, meanwhile, found a clean patch of grass, lay down with his hands supporting his head, a blade of grass in his mouth, admiring the sunset in the distance.
The Song Dynasty and the later ages were separated by a thousand years, but the environment was like heaven and earth.
The nearly primitive Tibetan region was rich in resources, with countless animals that were now endangered in later generations found everywhere.
The high-quality grasslands provided abundant food for these herbivores.
And the reproduction of herbivores was also constrained by carnivores.
This was a perfect food chain, with no single species dominating and no absolute weakness.
Suddenly, Fang Er felt the ground beneath him tremble. He quickly pressed his ear to the ground to listen.
"Rumble~~"
Like the sound of ten thousand galloping horses transmitted through the ground to his ears, Fang Er quickly got up and looked into the distance.
"Damn it, quickly! Start the helicopter!"
As soon as he stood up, he saw Li Shimin running towards them, with Zhao Guangyi and Xie Bi'an following behind in a disheveled manner.
What had happened?
Soon, Li Shimin and the others ran back. Without a word, they shouted to everyone, "Quick, get on the helicopters and leave this place!"
Although they didn't understand, they could only do as they were told.
They didn't even have time to pack the tents that had not yet been fully set up, leaving them behind.
After the helicopters took off, Fang Er asked him, "Father, what happened?"
"Those beasts went mad!"
"Taizong and I had just found a herd of wild sheep and were about to make a move when they charged at us like mad."
Zhao Guangyi answered for Li Shimin from beside him.
But this answer only made Fang Er more confused, "You have guns, you shouldn't have been forced back by a herd of beasts, right?"
"It wasn't just a herd of beasts. Besides the wild sheep, there were also wolf packs and..."
Zhao Guangyi had only spoken half his sentence when he pointed out the cabin and shouted, "Look over there!"
Hearing this, everyone quickly looked out through the windows.
They saw countless herds of wild sheep, wild oxen, and wolf packs running frantically. The wolf packs did not attack the oxen and sheep but ran through them, as if something terrifying was chasing them from behind.
"Your Majesty, Duke, please hold on tight. There's a flock of birds ahead!"
Wang Xuance's voice carried a hint of unease as he warned everyone.
Fang Er instinctively looked forward. Indeed, a dark mass of birds was rushing towards the helicopter.
He quickly picked up the walkie-talkie and warned the other helicopters.
"Everyone, pay attention, reduce your flight altitude, spread out your formation, and be careful of bird strikes!"