Question: A friend asked me to answer this question: What people used their social connections with those in office in order to obtain tax-exempt status?, using the article: Although weakened and pushed south beyond the Huai River, the Southern Song found new ways to bolster its strong economy and defend itself against the Jin dynasty. It had able military officers such as Yue Fei and Han Shizhong. The government sponsored massive shipbuilding and harbor improvement projects, and the construction of beacons and seaport warehouses to support maritime trade abroad, including at the major international seaports, such as Quanzhou, Guangzhou, and Xiamen, that were sustaining China's commerce.To protect and support the multitude of ships sailing for maritime interests into the waters of the East China Sea and Yellow Sea (to Korea and Japan), Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean, and the Red Sea, it was necessary to establish an official standing navy. The Song dynasty therefore established China's first permanent navy in 1132, with a headquarters at Dinghai. With a permanent navy, the Song were prepared to face the naval forces of the Jin on the Yangtze River in 1161, in the Battle of Tangdao and the Battle of Caishi. During these battles the Song navy employed swift paddle wheel driven naval vessels armed with traction trebuchet catapults aboard the decks that launched gunpowder bombs. Although the Jin forces commanded by Wanyan Liang (the Prince of Hailing) boasted 70,000 men on 600 warships, and the Song forces only 3,000 men on 120 warships, the Song dynasty forces were victorious in both battles due to the destructive power of the bombs and the rapid assaults by paddle wheel ships. The strength of the navy was heavily emphasized after that. A century after the navy was founded it had grown in size to 52,000 fighting marines. The Song government confiscated portions of land owned by the landed gentry in order to raise revenue for these projects, an act which caused dissension and loss of loyalty amongst leading members of Song society but did not stop the Song's defensive preparations. Financial matters were made worse by the fact that many wealthy, land-owning familiessome of which..., what would be the answer ?
Answer: wealthy, land-owning families

Question: A friend asked me to answer this question: What is the last name of the person who describes her 2018 album as "transitional"?, using the article: Kellie Loder (born 1988) is an independent singer-songwriter from Newfoundland, Canada. She has released two Contemporary Christian music (CCM) albums: The Way in 2009 and Imperfections & Directions in 2010. With a voice that St. John's-based newspaper The Telegram has described as "powerful yet serene and soulful", she has been nominated for awards at the annual MusicNL awards in Newfoundland, as well as at the Juno Awards, Canada's top music prizes. In 2017 she released Boxes, which was a break with her earlier work. It is a pre-release of parts of her upcoming album, Monster.In 2018 she released The Benefit of The Doubt. She describes it as a "transitional" album, moving "from a Juno-nominated Contemporary Christian artist to embodying a contemporary folk/pop singer/songwriter's aesthetic." She has also taken on increased control of production. She coproduced eight of its ten tracks.A new single, "Fearless", is a soundtrack to an IMAX trailer. Loder wrote her first song at age 16 about a cousin who had died in a traffic accident. She was studying nursing at the Grenfell Campus of Memorial University of Newfoundland when she released The Way in August 2009. Also that year, she won a talent-search contest hosted by YC Newfoundland, a Christian youth conference, and, as part of the award, was given time with music professionals who helped her with Imperfections & Directions, which was released at the 2010 YC Newfoundland. Loder's nursing studies hampered her ability to showcase Imperfections & Directions by touring. Loder was nominated as Female Artist of the Year at the 2010 MusicNL awards, and then as Gospel Artist of the Year in 2011. Imperfections & Directions was nominated as Contemporary Christian/Gospel Album of the Year at the 2012 Juno Awards., what would be the answer ?
Answer: Loder

Question: A friend asked me to answer this question: What is the name of the room that a classical apse gives it an almost temple air?, using the article: Inside the house, the Palladian form reaches a height and grandeur seldom seen in any other house in England. It has, in fact, been described as "The finest Palladian interior in England." The grandeur of the interior is obtained with an absence of excessive ornament, and reflects Kent's career-long taste for "the eloquence of a plain surface". Work on the interiors ran from 1739 to 1773. The first habitable rooms were in the family wing and were in use from 1740, the Long Library being the first major interior completed in 1741. Among the last to be completed and entirely under Lady Leicester's supervision is the Chapel with its alabaster reredos. The house is entered through the Marble Hall (though the chief building fabric is in fact pink Derbyshire alabaster), modelled by Kent on a Roman basilica. The room is over 50 feet (15 m) from floor to ceiling and is dominated by the broad white marble flight of steps leading to the surrounding gallery, or peristyle: here alabaster Ionic columns support the coffered, gilded ceiling, copied from a design by Inigo Jones, inspired by the Pantheon in Rome. The fluted columns are thought to be replicas of those in the Temple of Fortuna Virilis, also in Rome. Around the hall are statues in niches; these are predominantly plaster copies of classical deities. The hall's flight of steps lead to the piano nobile and state rooms. The grandest, the Saloon, is situated immediately behind the great portico, with its walls lined with patterned red caffoy (a mixture of wool, linen and silk) and a coffered, gilded ceiling. In this room hangs Rubens's Return from Egypt. On his Grand Tour, the Earl acquired a collection of Roman copies of Greek and Roman sculpture which is contained in the extensive Statue Gallery, which runs the full length of the house north to south. The North Dining Room, a cube room of 27 feet (8.2 m) contains an Axminster carpet that perfectly mirrors the pattern of the ceiling above. A bust of Aelius Verus, set in a niche in the wall of this room, was found..., what would be the answer ?
Answer:
The North Dining Room