Since you want to choose a famous family, you naturally have to consider the candidates. Although the five surnames are the best choice, from the current point of view, choosing the five surnames will only be stabbed in the back. What's more, if the emperor knew that he was doing business with the five surnames, he would probably be angry.

Just like when the five surnames looked down on the royal family, now Li Shimin also wants to look at a piece of when he looks at the five surnames.

Jiangnan's family is actually a natural choice, although it has a profound heritage, but the Jiangnan family has now been forgotten by the historical stage. The background is still there, but the influence in the court is completely inferior compared with the five surnames. It's also ironic to say, in terms of orthodox dress, the five surnames are actually inferior to the Jiangnan family, but it is the official power that they have openly abandoned, which has created the five surnames to be the last.

When it came time to take measures against the Jiangnan family, the emperor chose to draw in the division, allowing them to fight on their own from the perspective of a bystander, but never helping or pulling them into allies. Because one is not well managed, the Jiangnan family will be more difficult to deal with than the five surnames.

But such a powerful family, after receiving the prince's post, was indescribably excited. It was Zhang Yun who went in to deliver the letter, and people who didn't know would only think that he was just an ordinary eunuch, but Gu Xiangyuan, the person whose Gu family stayed in Chang'an, went out to send him off in person, and his interests were extremely thoughtful.

"Your Highness, they seem to be very excited about your visit."

As soon as he got into the carriage, Zhang Yun began to talk about the treatment he received after entering.

"It's no surprise, during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, they couldn't compete for the five surnames, and that evil result has continued until now, causing many people to forget what the Wuzhong Gu family is. Lone's visit to them made them mistakenly think that the royal family was preparing to pull them as allies. Hehe, this guy doesn't want to think that a person like his father would try a poison with a fragrance? ”

Zhang Yun shook his head, and then asked, "Visiting the Gu family tomorrow, do we want to prepare a gift in the East Palace?" ”

Li Chengqian leaned on the carriage and said lazily: "How can there be a superior who gives a gift to a lower one, no matter what, Lone is the prince, and he can't raise them by surrendering his identity." Besides, Lonely Tomorrow is to give them benefits, bring gifts? When they go out, they have to fill the lone wagon! ”

The carriage crossed the lively streets, bypassed the Taipingfang, and entered the imperial city through the Suzaku Gate.

After returning to the East Palace, Li Chengqian began to write about his knowledge of gunpowder weapons. Now that you've decided to let go, it's time to make a gesture. People who keep their hands on things will be hated wherever they go.

Early the next morning, after sending his manuscript directly to the harem, Li Chengqian dressed up and prepared to meet the clans in Jiangnan.

Even if it was a formal visit, Li Chengqian did not use the ceremonial staff, there was no need, in the early days of the establishment of the bank, these people were needed, but it was too much to give them face, and it was easy to make them turn against customers. From the beginning to the end, it is the most correct way to do it.

The Gu family is in Yanshoufang, and the decoration of the other courtyard is not ostentatious at all, and if you pass by their house without knowing it, you will think that it is a rich businessman's mansion.

Because the prince was coming, the Gu family specially invited the fang officials to clear the road. Starting from the fangmen, Gu Xiangyuan personally led the way, there were maids scattering flowers on both sides of the road, and the road surface was also paved with red blankets. It's hard for them to be able to do this in just one night.

The carriage drove to the door of Gu's house, and Li Chengqian did not get out of the car. Chang He led a large group of forbidden army guards to rush into the Gu family like a tiger entering a sheepfold, and drove out the majestic family members from time to time.

For this scene, Gu Xiangyuan didn't dare to resist at all, and he was glad that the women and children in the family had moved out in advance and would not be disturbed.

When the chicken and the dog jumped a pillar of incense, Chang He came out of the mansion gate, walked quickly to the carriage and said, "Your Highness, the change of guard of the forbidden army has been completed, you can go in." ”

"Hmm."

After answering, Li Chengqian walked out of the carriage and got out of the carriage with the support of Gu Xiangyuan.

Seriously, Gu Xiangyuan was so enduring, Li Chengqian was still very surprised, and even felt a little guilty that he was so arrogant.

Well, a little bit.

"Mr. Gu, I have been looking up for a long time, Master Li often mentions the Gu family, saying that he will guard Gu Yong too much, and he will be diligent in office, for Cheng, he will be too guarded, he will be peaceful, and the people will be subdued. He is a famous minister second only to Zhuge and others in the Three Kingdoms period, and he yearns for it alone! ”

Hearing the prince mention the ancestor Gu Yong, how could Gu Xiangyuan not know the prince's allusions. Ancestor Gu Yong was the prime minister for 19 years, and with the style of a meticulous and tolerant elder, he maintained a harmonious cooperative relationship between the Sun Wu regime and the Jiangdong clan, so that the national situation could be stable and rising.

You can't do nonsense at this time.

Gu Xiangyuan did not hesitate to salute in the direction of the palace, and only after getting up did he say: "Ancestor Gu Yong, can achieve the name of a meritorious hero, fortunately thanks to Sun Jun's trust, today's saint has the heart of the sea and rivers, Fang Xiang and others, compared to the ancestors, it is not much better!" ”

Li Chengqian nodded with satisfaction, laughed and entered the Gu family under the leadership of Gu Xiangyuan.

The Gu family doesn't look at the decoration of the door, but there is a hole in it, not to mention anything else, just this large pond and the pavilions and pavilions built on the water are more advanced than many nobles. From this, we can see how different the traditional clans are from the new aristocracy. This kind of life is called elegant, and it is not something that can be compared with hanging gold and jade.

"The Gu family's courtyard is worthy of its name, and the lonely people want to live here for a long time."

Gu Xiangyuan bowed and said: "If Your Highness likes it, the grass people can change the courtyard to live in, and this place will be given to Your Highness for rest." ”

Li Chengqian said with a smile: "A gentleman doesn't take the favor of others, so he sighed with emotion, and he didn't think about robbing it." Okay, hurry up and lead the way, I heard that there are a lot of guests from the Gu family today. ”

Gu Xiangyuan said with a smile: "They all came in the name of His Royal Highness Mu, because they were the same guests as you, so they didn't go out to greet them." ”

After speaking, Gu Xiangyuan took Li Chengqian to the lobby of the Gu family.

It stands to reason that the lobby of the Gu family is not small, but now it has a tendency to be broken. A large number of people stood outside the lobby and bowed their hands, and no one dared to make a mistake.

"Grass people Wu Zhong Lu Clan Lu Di, meet His Royal Highness the Prince."

"Grass people Wuzhong Zhu Clan's Zhu Chang, meet His Royal Highness the Prince."

"Grass people...."

....

After everyone reported their homes, Li Chengqian was a little surprised. The four surnames of Wuzhong, the four surnames of Huiji, the Langya Wang family, the Chen County Yuan family, the Lanling Xiao family, and the eleven families with heads and faces, all of them are complete.

Each family is a sect elder who is in Chang'an, and there are twenty-two people.

Although the lobby was very large, it would still be crowded with more than twenty people, but they took the initiative to sit next to each other, making enough space for the position of the head of the Gu family and the prince.

In this case, there is no way to talk, so Li Chengqian took the initiative to propose: "The lobby of the Gu family, it's time to expand it, let's go to the center of the pond, presumably the Gu family will often feast there, and the space there is still very large." ”

Gu Xiangyuan was also pardoned, and hurriedly ordered the servants to prepare the table and tea bowls. He didn't expect that the arrival of the crown prince would alarm these ten families, all of whom were members of the Jiangnan clan, and the Gu family was not qualified to turn them away.

After changing the venue, it was much more open, and under Gu Xiangyuan's repeated insistence, Li Chengqian sat in the main seat, looking like the leader of the meeting.

After taking a sip of tea, Li Chengqian nodded: "The tea leaves in Jiangnan are really better than those around Chang'an." ”

Gu Xiangyuan said without hesitation: "If Your Highness likes it, the grass people will notify the clan and supply it to the East Palace." ”

Li Chengqian smiled and nodded, since he wanted to give benefits to the Gu family, it was not too much to receive some gifts from them.

Lu Di, the spokesman of the Lu family, saw that the prince had accepted the benefits of the Gu family, so he hurriedly arched his hand and said: "When it comes to tea, my Lu family is not bad, especially the high-quality tea collected by the elders of the family, and I can't see it when I am idle." His Royal Highness loves tea, the Lu family is willing to offer tea, and His Royal Highness Prince Bo smiled! ”

As soon as Lu Di finished speaking, the rest of the family also scrambled to express themselves. They don't think that giving gifts to the crown prince will suffer, judging from the unprecedented achievements of the crown prince in the country some time ago, the prince's position can almost be said to be stable. Give some tribute to the future emperor, how to calculate how not to lose.

Seeing that one of the two families was about to quarrel, Li Chengqian hurriedly clapped his hands and said, "Okay, okay, no matter what you give, Gu will accept it." But say it in advance, Lone will not accept your things in vain, but will have a great benefit to give to you. ”

Hearing this, everyone closed their mouths and waited expectantly for the prince to continue.

After taking another sip of tea, Li Chengqian said: "Lone came today, just to find your eleven families, you come by yourself, but save Lone and call you again." So, let me ask you, what do you think about lending? ”

"Lending?"

Xiao Xiao, the speaker of the Xiao family in Lanling, pouted and said, "That's what only those bald donkeys do, Your Highness asked us why we came?" ”

Li Chengqian couldn't help laughing: "Okay, okay, don't pretend, don't think that you don't know, it's not just Buddhism that lends money, and your local wealthy families also rely on this to make a living." Otherwise, how could your family be involved in so much business? Isn't it still received by collecting loans? But don't worry, Lone said that there is no intention to pursue this, on the contrary, Lone wants to remind you that it is estimated that it will not be long before the imperial court will promulgate a lending law, prohibiting any organization other than banks from lending, otherwise it will be severely punished. ”

"Banks? Dare to ask Your Highness, what is a bank? ”

The old man of the Xiao family is not old, and when everyone else was discouraged, he keenly captured the word "bank".

Li Chengqian applauded and laughed: "The old gentleman asked well, Gu came here today to talk to you about the bank." Let's put it this way, the bank is an institution that lends money in the country, and at the same time, it also has the role of promoting business development and stimulating exchanges between different places. It is no exaggeration to say that it is a huge net tied to the land of the Tang Dynasty..."

With Li Chengqian's narration, many ethnic elders were confused, and the more they listened, the more confused they became, but those who were selected by each family could understand half of it. But in any case, "banks are very powerful", but they all hear it.

When it comes to forgetfulness, even Li Chengqian felt that his throat was smoking, and he had to drink a cup of tea to moisten his throat.

The narration stopped, but no one spoke for a long time.

After a long time, Gu Xiangyuan arched his hand and asked: "Your Highness, the grass people understand, it's just that it's not safer to hand over such an institution to the imperial court to operate?" Why are you pulling me on? ”

Li Chengqian sighed and said: "I tell you unabashedly, Lone's move is to pull out the seedlings and help them grow, this is also something that cannot be helped, the initial construction of the bank is too terrifying, and the treasury can't afford it." Although the lonely Donggong industry is also very profitable, in front of it, it is still a drop in the bucket. However, if you start from the ground, you don't know how many hundred years it will take to take shape. If you want to build it in a very short time, even if it is just a prototype, you need a lot of investment.

The royal family and your eleven families have joined forces to build this prototype. Don't look at the difficulty of Lonely, in fact, it doesn't take much money to invest, what the bank needs is the foundation. Only when the foundation is sufficient can the merchants and even the rich peasants everywhere believe in the banks.

Lone does not hide it from you, and Lone chooses you, which is the idea of hitting your background and reputation. But you can rest assured, Lone has no idea of annexing your heritage, and it can't be said again.

You can probably understand the operation mode of the bank. It is no exaggeration to say that this is an institution that has grown up and is enough to confront the imperial court. Therefore, its ultimate ownership can only be the imperial court, not the royal family. There is no need to tell you how much credit has been given to building such an institution that benefits the people and the country from scratch. Lone promised that before it was handed over to the imperial court, all the bank's earnings, no, net profits, would be divided equally between us.

Think about it, what a huge sum of money this is, and it's more than the proceeds of your sneaky business and lending for decades. Besides, with this merit and reputation, you can also make your family inexhaustible! ”

After saying so many words, Li Chengqian felt that his throat was about to smoke.

I simply drank a whole pot of tea and quietly waited for these stone sculptures to resume their actions.

The clan's talkers and clan elders are now beating to a halt. More than once, they wanted to rush up and gag the prince's mouth, so that they would not sink in temptation and be unable to extricate themselves. However, I can't help it!

As the prince said, they are clans, and what they care about most is reputation. To be able to complete the bank and engrave his own name on its monument of merit, let alone have benefits to be gained, what about evaporating half of the family property?

Of course, none of them dared to think about the ownership of the bank. Although the prince's words were soft, the sharp arrows mixed in them also made them tremble. There is no doubt that whoever dares to think about it will definitely be completely crushed by the royal family. They don't know the words "the golden cup is drunk together, and the white blades are not spared", otherwise they will feel extraordinarily appropriate.

After a long time, there was a noticeable sound of breathing in the center of the pond, and all kinds of thoughts were mixed together in their minds, so that they did not dare to breathe too loudly subconsciously, for fear of disturbing others, especially their own thoughts.

Gu Xiangyuan breathed a long sigh of relief, and said to Li Chengqian: "Your Highness's proposal is indeed moving, but this kind of lord, we are not qualified, we must return to the clan land, ask the patriarch, and even all the clan elders to make a decision together, and ask Your Highness for forgiveness." ”

Li Chengqian nodded: "Lone naturally knows this, so I give you time to think." But be quick, Lone has always been an acute child. ”

Gu Xiangyuan nodded, and when he raised it again, he found that the time had come to noon, and he couldn't help but feel guilty: "Listening to His Highness's words is like drinking elixir, and before I know it, it's already noon, if Your Highness and you don't dislike it, my Gu family's meal is not bad, why don't you drink together?" ”

Gu Xiangyuan's proposal was immediately responded to by everyone, except, of course, Li Chengqian.

Li Chengqian said with a smile: "Although Lone has a heart, he is still young and doesn't want to drink, so he replaces the bar with tea." ”

Naturally, everyone did not dare to disagree.

On that day, in the pavilion in the center of the pond of the Gu family courtyard, everyone was drunk, some people were singing, some people were taking off their clogs and treading water, intending to float on the water, some people were holding chopsticks to paint, only to find that there was no ink prepared after painting....

Li Chengqian, as a sober person in the audience, saw that their happiness was not fake.

No one can resist this temptation, even if it is overhung with a steel knife that can kill at any moment.

When he came, there was only one carriage, and when he left, as predicted yesterday, Li Chengqian's carriage was not only full, but also received two carriages from the Gu family, which were full of treasures.

Playing with a bronze statue in his hand, Li Chengqian smiled and said to Zhang Yun next to him: "Look at people, it is really substantial, take it out and give it to Lone's bronze statue, at least it is a thing of the Warring States." You go to the auction house and call Lao Jin, let him see how much these things are worth, except for some fine products left to save face, and auction them all. ”

It is difficult for Li Chengqian to be interested in antiques, because they are all used by rich people to show off, and there are still a few people who are really interested in antiques. He didn't think he had any interest in it, and it was better to sell them for money than to put them on the shelf. Instead of drinking with a bronze statue covered with patina, it is better to use a porcelain cup.

Zhang Yun looked at these gifts worriedly and said, "Your Highness, you haven't discussed it with Your Majesty, the slave always thinks that it is inappropriate for you to do this, what if Your Majesty gets angry?" ”

Li Chengqian squinted at Zhang Yun: "What do you know, since my father didn't stop Gu last night, it means that he acquiesced in Gu's approach." After being by my father's side for so long, don't tell Lone that you don't know how disgusting the Baiqi Division is. ”

Thinking of Baiqisi, Zhang Yun immediately chose to shut up.

Throwing away the bronze statue and picking up a piece of ancient jade, there are some words that Li Chengqian is not ready to say openly.

After all, it's not a joy to find out that you're on the list that the Hundred Riders are keeping an eye on.

But he wasn't going to pull those people out, it's hard to be confused, Lao Tzu is frank and, and he doesn't need to suspect this and that like a thief.