It was already dusk when Fan Ning rushed to Qingfeng Restaurant on Panlou Street. He had a social event tonight, and Lu Youwei, Duan Yu, Dong Kun and Lin Hong invited him to dinner.

The Nine-Man Party had already gone their separate ways, and the Fan brothers became big merchants who were rich enough to rival the country. Su Liang and Li Dashou, who followed Fan Ning, served as the prefect of Quanzhou and the other was promoted to the Quanzhou Maritime Control Commission, both of whom were from fifth-rank high-ranking officials.

After Lu Youwei and Duan Yu graduated from the Imperial Academy, they went to the state to study as assistant teachers, and were appointed as ninth ranks. Now Lu Youwei was transferred to a doctorate in the Imperial Academy, from the eighth rank, Duan Yu was slightly better and promoted to a doctorate in the Imperial Academy. Both of them worked as officials in the Beijing education system.

Dong Kun and Lin Hong are family members of officials. They are very confident in themselves and are not very interested in following Fan Ning. They have been in the officialdom for more than ten years. Although they have backgrounds and backstages, the two of them are only in the seventh rank and the other is from the sixth rank. They are not as heartbreaking as Su Liang and Li Dashou who follow Fan Ning.

As Fan Ning became more and more famous, he was actually called Xiao Fan Gong. Dong Kun and Lin Hong couldn't sit still and were embarrassed to take the initiative to find Fan Ning. They had to ask Lu Youwei and Duan Yu in the capital to help each other and get together.

Fan Ning walked into the elegant room and saw that everyone was already there. He clasped his fists and said apologizing: "I just came back from Chenliu County, sorry!"

Dong Kun glanced at Fan Ning in surprise, "Don't you know that I am the magistrate of Chenliu?"

Fan Ning was stunned. How could Dong Kun get into the magistrate? He hurriedly said, "I really don't know, I'll drink and apologize!"

When he turned around, he saw Fan Chunren sitting also, and smiled and said, "Why are you here too?"

Fan Chunren is currently the sixth-rank attendant censor. He has a good relationship with Lu Youwei. He was invited by Lu Youwei today. Fan Chunren smiled and said, "Everyone is a fellow townsman and a fellow student. Why can't I come?"

"I don't mean that. I also want to see my uncle, but I'm so busy these days."

Fan Chunren pointed at Fan Ning and smiled, "You are the husband of Fan now. I guess the people who met you are lined up now. Where do you have time to find me?"

Dong Kun and Lin Hong blushed, they were also one of them!

Duan Yu is very good at observing words and expressions, and he immediately covers the two of them, "It's not easy! Brother Dong is the magistrate of Chenliu, Brother Lin is the Ministry of Rites, and Lao Lu and I are also in the capital. The senior brother comes back to report on our jobs. We finally have the opportunity to get together, otherwise when the senior brother will be together after he leaves."

"Well said! Let's have a drink."

Lu Youwei quickly filled Fan Ning with a glass of wine, everyone raised their glasses, and drank them all in one go.

At this time, Dong Kun smiled and said, "Do you want to ask a few drunk prostitutes to come in and serve them to enjoy the fun?"

Although Fan Ning was not disgusted with drinking prostitutes, he knew that Fan Chunren was the censor and was very self-disciplined in this regard and could not make him embarrassed. He shook his head, "It is rare that we have met with brothers and brothers. It is difficult to talk about our hometown together."

Lin Hong also kicked Dong Kun lightly and hinted to him that Chunren was absent. Dong Kun then woke up and laughed and said, "It's right, it's rare to have a chance to get together, and it's more interesting to chat."

Fan Chunren asked Fan Ning strangely, "Why do they call you senior brother?"

Fan Ning smiled and said, "There are two reasons here. The first is that I am better than them in the county school. The second is that I once gave Dong Kun, Lin Hong, Lu Youwei, Su Liang, Li Dashou and Mingren, Mingli to make up for the class, so they got into the county school. So they called me senior brother, Xiao Duan and Su Liang also called me. At that time, the county school called us nine people the party of nine people."

"So that's it! Come, I wish you brothers and brothers a gathering and we have a drink."

Everyone drank another drink, Fan Chunren glanced at Dong Kun and said, "I heard that Chenliu County is preparing to implement the Qingmiao Law and Baojia Law next year. Brother Dong highly respects Wang Shilang?"

The Minister of Justice Wang was Wang Anshi. He had been transferred to the Minister of Rites. He received the support of Emperor Zhao Xu. Empress Dowager Dong also agreed to him to test the implementation of the Qingmiao Law and Baojia Law in ten counties, and Chenliu County was the first county to register.

Dong Kun smiled and said, "We all want to do something, and reform requires courage. Since Mr. Wang has this courage, why don't we follow?"

Fan Chunren drank wine and said slowly: "The reform depends on whether it is beneficial to the people? If it is to seize the people's wealth to enrich the national treasury, I think this method will not change!"

Dong Kun's face changed. He was about to speak, but a cold voice came from the door, "Who said my reform is to seize people's wealth?"

Fan Ning was stunned, why is Wang Anshi also here?

Wang Anshi walked in with a wine glass. He had just met Dong Kun and learned that he was the magistrate of Chenliu, so he wanted to come and chat with him. Unexpectedly, he happened to hear Fan Chunren criticizing the Baojia Law and the Xinmiao Law for profit with the people, which really made him extremely angry.

Wang Anshi and Fan Chunren had a bad relationship. He had previously implemented the Baojia Law in Yingtian Prefecture and was impeached by Fan Chunren, which made him very passive. Although Fan Chunren was the son of Fan Zhongyan who Wang Anshi admired, he could not change the political opposition between the two of them.

Wang Anshi walked into the house, but suddenly saw Fan Ning, which made him stunned for a moment, and said with a smile: "So it's Xiao Fan's husband here!"

Fan Ning stood up and smiled and said, "Brother Jiefu, don't be fine!"

Since Fan Ning is there, Wang Anshi is not good at turning against Fan Chunren. He ignored Fan Chunren and walked to Fan Ning and smiled: "I am reading my brother's interviews, and I have a deep understanding. I also think that if the Song Dynasty does not take such a vast land, it will inevitably be blamed by my descendants. I wonder when my brother will show me the overseas map?"

"The newspaper will be engraved the day after tomorrow, and then Brother Jiefu will see how vast the overseas land is, and it contains countless wealth."

"Then I'll wait and see!"

Wang Anshi and Fan Ning drank a glass of wine, looked at Fan Chunren deeply, and turned around and went out.

Fan Chunren ignored Wang Anshi. At this time, everyone felt that the atmosphere was not very speculative. After drinking a few drinks, Dong Kun and Lin Hong said goodbye.

Dong Kun clearly wanted to surrender to Wang Anshi. At this time, Wang Anshi saw him and Fan Ning together. It was really inappropriate, so he didn't bother to ask Fan Ning for help. He needed to go to Wang Anshi to explain, so he pulled Lin Hong to leave early.

After drinking a few more glasses of wine, Lu Youwei and Duan Yu also said goodbye and left, and made an appointment with Fan Ning to have a small gathering another day.

Only Fan Chunren and Fan Ning were left in the room. Fan Chunren apologized: "I've disturbed your party."

"That's not. I'll have to prepare for it tonight. It's just as I want to finish it early."

Fan Chunren sighed slightly, "To be honest, I don't agree with Wang Anshi's Qingmiao Law and Baojia Law, so that the rich households can guarantee the poor households. If they continue to promote it, the rich households in the world will be defeated. Isn't this to seize the people's wealth and enrich the national treasury?"

Fan Ning shook his head and said, "Even if the people's wealth is seized, the treasury income is only one or two, and most of it falls into the pockets of local officials. Therefore, the court opposed Wang Anshi's reforms, but local officials welcomed them. This is the reason!"

Fan Chunren slapped the wine glass heavily and said solemnly: "No matter what, I will firmly oppose the reform. Even if I lose this official position, I will never compromise!"

Fan Ning returned to Zhu's mansion by carriage. He did not take Wang Anshi's reform very seriously. In fact, the social crisis that prompted Wang Anshi's reform was gone. The court's finances had been surplus for five consecutive years, land annexation was eased, the people's living standards were improved, or the basis for the reform no longer exists. At this time, Wang Anshi forced the reforms, which would inevitably arouse opposition from the entire court. Even Zhao Xu could not bear such pressure.

At this time, Fan Ning thought more about his steam engine. If the skilled craftsmen of the Song Dynasty could make it, then the society of the Song Dynasty would inevitably undergo profound changes.

However, Fanning also knew that even if the steam engine he wanted was built, it would take a lot of time to improve it, such as solving the problem of air leakage, providing steam usage efficiency, etc.

There is another more critical problem. There is too little pig iron in the Song Dynasty. First, there is too little iron ore and low iron production. Secondly, the quality of iron is not high. Although the rich iron ore was discovered in Luzon, it is still relatively small.

At this time, Fanning thought of the iron ore in Australia, which was the largest iron ore that was richest in the world. It has high quality, large reserves and is easy to mine. If the iron ore in the New World can be mined, it would be a strategic resource that is richer than gold and silver.

However, before this, the imperial court could only increase the production of pig iron, and at least ensure that the steam ship it needs most was built.

At this time, Fan Ning thought of the way the large ship was promoted again. At present, the Song Dynasty sea ships used paddle wheels, but the paddle wheels had a great disadvantage, which was that the speed was too slow. The steam engine only changed the power of the ship, so that the large ship did not need so many people. However, if the ship could not go up the speed and it would take half a year to go to the new continent, it would be unprofitable.

But if the propeller is used instead, will the speed increase?
Chapter completed!