Giant Ship Across the Song Dynasty: My Supplies Come from My Motherland

Chapter 6, Giving the Senior a Little Shock

The light inside the Imperial City Bureau was dim. The Bureau Chief sat in front of the hall, with his handsome son standing beside him. The boy had an unfriendly expression and looked like a belligerent little rooster.

Lin Zhou arrived at the front of the hall and, before he could even greet him, pulled out a chair and sat down, then placed the package in his hand on the table.

Sihou's eyes lingered on the cloth bundle for a moment, then he picked up his teacup and took a sip: "Young master, you look quite well today."

"I had a good sleep," Lin Zhou said with a smile, tapping his fingers lightly on the cloth bag. "Sihou, didn't you want to know what the future holds? I brought some things with me."

Si Hou's handsome son kept his hand on the hilt of his sword, his eyes fixed on Lin Zhou like nails, meaning that if he made the slightest move, he would be killed instantly.

But Lin Zhou ignored him completely. He took out a flat wooden box from his cloth bag and pushed it over: "Lord Si, please open it and take a look."

Si Hou didn't move, only slightly raised his chin. His son quickly walked over, carefully lifted the box lid, and inside was a stack of colorful pictures. These were specially selected by the section chief and his team; the first picture was an aerial panoramic view of the Palace Museum, showing the golden tiles and red walls of the Forbidden City in autumn, with modern high-rises in the distance, though only a little bit of their spires were visible, and they were deliberately blurred.

The magistrate's son picked up the photograph, his brows furrowed deeply.

He examined it over and over, even holding it up to the light, trying to find traces of brushstrokes. But he clearly couldn't find them; the colors were too realistic, the light and shadow too natural, the thickness of the clouds, the shadows of the eaves, the reflections of the glazed tiles—no painter could possess such exquisite skill.

"This..." The young man glanced back at his father and then at Lin Zhou.

"Hehe..." Lin Zhou said, "You should call it Zhongdu now, it's in the hands of the Jurchens."

Si Hou finally reached out and took the photo. He ran his fingers over the paper, feeling its smooth, cool texture. He looked at it for a long time, so long that the tea had gone cold.

"Is this a painting?" Si Hou's voice was soft, but clearly trembling. "Or..."

"These are called photographs." Lin Zhou pulled out a few more and pushed them over: "It's a matter of printing a real scene onto paper in the blink of an eye."

The second picture is of the Great Wall, but not the dilapidated wall of today. It is the Badaling section that has been restored in later generations, winding like a giant dragon atop the mountains.

The third picture is of West Lake, but tall buildings stand along its shores, and the streets are bustling with traffic. The fourth picture is of farmland, but the ridges are frighteningly neat, and the lush green crops stretch as far as the eye can see. In the distance, there are machines with iron frames operating.

Si Hou flipped through the documents one by one, his breathing becoming slower and slower. His son stood beside him, his eyes wide open.

"These tall buildings..." Si Hou pointed to the one by West Lake: "What material are they made of? They don't look like metal or stone, nor like brick or wood."

"Reinforced concrete." Lin Zhou stood up straight: "A kind of artificial stone, lighter than stone, harder than wood, capable of reaching the sky."

"These iron beasts..."

"Tractors are used for plowing; they can plow hundreds of acres a day."

Si Hou put down the photo and looked up at Lin Zhou. His eyes were complex, containing shock, doubt, greed, and a trace of sorrow...

"The future of China..." Si Hou slowly began, "Has it reclaimed the Central Plains?"

"It's not just the Central Plains." Lin Zhou smiled, a smile that Si Hou had never seen on the faces of people today: "From the desert to the South China Sea, from the Western Regions to the East China Sea, wherever the sun and moon shine and wherever rivers flow, all is Han territory."

The young man by the door trembled, his body involuntarily leaning back a few steps, crashing into the chair with a loud bang.

Si Hou's expression was extremely complex; his pupils dilated, as if he couldn't quite process the massive amount of information. In the end, he could only close his eyes and take a deep breath.

When he opened his eyes again, the ripples in them had subsided, and he instantly returned to being the unfathomable head of the Imperial City Guard.

"Young Master, you didn't want me to see these just to show off, did you?" Si Hou tidied up the photos and put them back in the wooden box. He tried to suppress his voice, but it was clearly trembling.

"Lord Sihou said he wanted to see it yesterday, so I showed it to you. Hmm..." Lin Zhou's mind was filled with the discussions from yesterday's meeting: "So what Lord Sihou wants to do now is up to him. And I... can provide convenience for Lord Sihou. As for whether to rebel or hand me over to your Emperor, that's your choice, Lord Sihou."

"How dare you!" the handsome son of the Marquis shouted angrily, "You want to implicate my father in an unjust way!"

"Orange!"

"Yes... Father." The handsome man took two steps back and stood behind his father.

At this moment, Si Hou's eyes were fixed on Lin Zhou: "Young Master, your demeanor has changed in such a short time. If there are no surprises, tell me what the people behind you want."

grass……

This guy is so smart! Lin Zhou felt his head buzzing. If it weren't for the complete think tank behind him, with his limited education and intelligence, he would have been played like a dog by this guy.

"My boss's intention is to make me the mouthpiece between Sihou and him." Lin Zhou picked up his tea and took a sip, seemingly calm as a rock, but actually panicking. "So, how Sihou arranges things is Sihou's business. As for me, I'm just a small businessman. I'll exchange my things for Sihou's things, it's that simple."

Sihou nodded slightly and said, "Then please deliver a letter for the young master's superior. Cheng'er, when the young master was in Lin'an, you were always by his side, helping him with his affairs."

"Huh? Me?" The handsome guy was stunned for a long time before pointing to his nose and saying, "Daddy..."

"Don't call me 'Dad'!"

"Understood..."

Then Si Hou glanced at Lin Zhou and smiled gently: "Young master, you and Cheng'er sit for a while, I'll go write a letter. You two are both young men, you should get to know each other better."

With that, he left the lobby, leaving Lin Zhou and that handsome guy behind.

"What are you looking at?"

"What are you going to do about it?"

"Take one more look and try!"

"Let's give it a try!" Lin Zhou patted his chest and said, "Go ahead and chop me! If you don't, I'll look down on you."

"Fuck your mother..."

The handsome guy, in his haste, blurted out his hometown dialect. Lin Zhou, upon hearing this, asked, "Are you from Shaanxi?"

"Oh, really? What? You too?"

"No, I'm from Lin'an." Lin Zhou quickly shook his head.

"You must be trying to fool me. You're so talkative, you'd practically drop food on your feet the moment you open your mouth, and you call yourself a Lin'an native..."

Lin Zhou clicked his tongue: "Tsk, if you don't believe me, I'll sing it for you. Under the city walls of Lin'an are the people of Lin'an..."

"Hey! You're talking nonsense!" the handsome guy interrupted him. "Where are you from anyway? Chang'an?"

"Hey, where are you from?"

"The one from Wannian County!"

"Oh...you stinky out-of-towner."

"Fuck your mother!"