"Oh? Wang Liang, what do you think? Li Xiu saw that Wang Liang seemed to have different opinions, but the other party was from a humble background, and Li Xiu found out that his eloquence and image were good some time ago, so he was promoted to one of the main things, but Wang Liang didn't seem to have adapted to his identity, and he was a little cringe when he spoke, and he didn't have the demeanor on the stage at all.

"This ......" Wang Liang was still a little hesitant at this time, but seeing Li Xiu's encouraging eyes, this made him finally muster up a little courage and said, "Horse, you found that the nobles disdain to bid with the merchants today, and the merchants dare not bid with the nobles, but I think today is just a special case, because the people you invited are not ordinary people." ”

"Oh? It seems to be a little interesting, you go on! Li Xiu seemed to have an understanding when he heard Wang Liang's words, and immediately encouraged again.

Seeing that Li Xiu was not angry, but encouraged himself, this made Wang Liang can't help but increase a little confidence, and then spoke again: "The nobles and officials you invited today are all the top groups in Chang'an City, and a considerable number of people are important ministers of the imperial court, they are usually busy with government affairs, if it is not for the sake of your face, I am afraid that even if it is ten days, don't think about inviting them, with their identity, they naturally disdain to bid with merchants." ”

When he said this, he saw Wang Liang pause for a moment and then said: "But when the auction is held in the future, I am afraid that these important ministers will basically not come again, but the sons and nephews in their family generally like to be lively, and they will definitely be interested in the auction. ”

"Makes sense!" Li Xiu couldn't help but praise when he heard this, it seems that Wang Liang is not only eloquent, but also has a fast brain, which he didn't expect before.

Receiving Li Xiu's praise, this made Wang Liang's courage increase a little again, and he continued: "In addition, I think you are a little too worried, because there is a huge gap between nobles and merchants, even if these top nobles do not come today, some small nobles or children of nobles will still make merchants jealous, unless they cover everyone's faces, so that the auctioneers do not know each other's identities at all, so that everyone can let go of their scruples and compete for bidding." ”

"Covered face?" Li Xiu was stunned for a moment when he heard Wang Liang's words, and then suddenly slapped his thigh and said, "This is a good exercise, if we give a mask to everyone who participates in the auction, let everyone wear a mask to participate in the auction, and only recognize people by number plates, wouldn't this be fine?" Li Xiu slapped his thigh excitedly at this time and said, in the movies of later generations, he seems to have seen this kind of auction with a hidden identity.

"This ......" What Li Xiu didn't expect was that as soon as his words came out, several stewards invariably showed embarrassed expressions, and after a while, a bold steward said, "Donkey, our auction house is also opened by the imperial court, if we use this way of hiding our heads and tails, I am afraid that it will damage the face of the imperial court, and may even attract the impeachment of the officials!" ”

"This ...... That's just as well. Li Xiu couldn't help but be a little deflated when he heard this.

"Don't be too discouraged, auctions will be held often in the future, if you encounter special circumstances, you can also hold some different auctions, such as hiding your identity as you said, or an auction that invites merchants or nobles alone, so that once or twice in a while, no one will say anything!" At this moment, I saw Wang Liang speak again.

"What you said makes sense, I'm a little anxious, but today's first auction was held so successfully, you are also indispensable, in the future, everyone will make persistent efforts, and we will definitely make the auction house prosperous, so as to live up to the court's trust in us!" Li Xiu also nodded with satisfaction when he heard Wang Liang's words, and then opened his mouth to praise.

After receiving Li Xiu's praise, Wang Liang and several other stewards also hurriedly and modestly said that Li Xiu commanded well, otherwise they would not be able to start at all, for such a sycophant, Li Xiu is also willing to accept it, after all, what people say is also the truth.

After eating, Li Xiu personally sent the eldest grandson Wuji and Ma Ye and others away, and when he returned to the auction house, Wang Liang and several other stewards had already begun to lead the officials to begin to calculate the profit of the auction, and the result was that in addition to various expenses, the net profit was more than doubled, of course, this is mainly because the auction items are all mortgaged goods, the mortgage price is originally low, and the atmosphere of the auction is warm, so that the final transaction price is relatively high.

Of course, those who won the auction did not suffer a loss, except for a few people such as Ma Ye who auctioned the goods at a price higher than the market price, a considerable number of other auction items were sold at a lower price than the market price, after all, the people who participated in the auction were not stupid, even in the atmosphere of the auction, there were many people who kept their senses and did not let the auction items exceed the market price, so that naturally some people picked up a lot of cheap.

At that moment, Li Xiu summed up the gains and losses of this auction again, and then let everyone go back to rest, after all, for the auction in the past few days, Wang Liang and these people have eaten and lived here, and they haven't been home for several days, and today is a busy day, everyone is tired, as a boss, he can't ignore the bodies of his subordinates, so let everyone go back and have a good rest, and it's not too late to do the rest tomorrow.

The first auction was held very successfully, especially among the merchants, it caused a great sensation, after all, this is a very new trading model, as long as a businessman with a little vision, you can see the advantages of this trading model, of course, this kind of auction is not everyone can play, first of all, you have to have resources in your hands, in addition to appeal, otherwise you can't play at all.

Of course, not everyone can not play, for example, some merchants were inspired by the auction, began to apply this trading model to their own business, such as a silk merchant, if he has a lot of silk in his hands, he can completely gather the merchants who need silk together for auction, and the one with the highest price in the end will get it, and there is no need to care about what the relationship is, it is purely a competition for financial resources, which is much more worry-free than before.

In addition, the success of this auction also made the officials of the auction house feel full of confidence, especially Li Xiu took out part of the profits and gave them as a reward, which stimulated their enthusiasm even more, so a few days after the end of the first auction, they began to prepare for the second auction, of course, this is also a last resort, after all, the bank received too much collateral, which occupied a large number of copper coins, and only occupied the treasury in the bank, so it was better to exchange them for copper coins to join the circulation.

The auction house is booming, and Xu Jingzong also began to separate the bank's mortgage business and set up a pledge warehouse, but it is said to be independent, in fact, it is to open a small hall next to the bank's office hall, and then there are people who handle mortgage business, just go directly to the pledge warehouse next to it, so that the bank will be liberated and will not become a big pawnshop.

It is worth mentioning that with the bank on the right track, the Changsheng Treasury of various temples in Chang'an City has also been hit extremely seriously, after all, the Changsheng Treasury also needs to be mortgaged to borrow money, and it is good to give you a hundred Wen for a thousand Wen, in contrast, the bank has a lot of conscience, and the interest rate is low, no one is a fool, he naturally knows which is better for himself, not to mention that there is a court behind the bank, with the current prestige of the Tang Dynasty, it is not at all comparable to the Buddha.

The blow of the Changsheng Library is undoubtedly worse for the various temples in Chang'an, because the monk Daolu Division led by Wei Zheng forcibly blocked the temple gate before, and then forced all the monks to participate in the assessment.

If a monk does not have a degree and dares to preach without authorization, as long as it is verified by the imperial court, it will immediately be the punishment of exile, in the era of extremely backward transportation in the Tang Dynasty, exile is second only to the punishment of beheading, if exile to Lingnan and other places, it is basically worse than the death penalty, because the death penalty at least knows that he is beheaded after the autumn, and he can also let his family collect the body after death, and if he is exiled to Lingnan, he does not know when he will die, nor does he know where he will die, let alone collect the body.

Li Xiu has been paying attention to the situation of the Monk Daolu Division, according to the news he got, Wei Zheng and Fu Yi also really made a death blow to Buddhism, and the proportion of monks who passed the assessment was even less than one in ten, such as a big temple like the Inspiration Temple, there were three or four hundred monks in the temple before, but only about thirty people passed the assessment, and the rest were all sent home, and the severance pay had to be paid by the temple.

In the face of this situation, the temples are naturally complaining, but under the strong suppression of the Tang Dynasty, these temples can not afford to turn up the storm, after all, the army of the imperial court before directly surrounded their temple gates, and now although they have left, no one dares to bet that there is no first time, so for a time the monks of Chang'an City are returning to the vulgar, and the popularity of the temples is also greatly reduced, and many temples can not even find a monk who knows the guest, so naturally they cannot receive pilgrims as before.

After cutting the number of monks, Wei Zheng and they are going to start with the land under the name of each temple, although a decree was issued before, to confiscate the land under the name of the temple, but it has not been implemented, after all, the resistance to this matter is too great, but now the number of monks in the temple has been greatly reduced, even if the temples want to stop this matter, I am afraid that they are powerless.

However, what Li Xiu didn't expect was that the number of monks was reduced by the Monk Daolu Division through Du Mu, but it brought another unexpected benefit, but it was precisely because of this incident that it also brought him a lot of trouble.