On the eighteenth day of the first lunar month, the official residence of the presidential palace.

At the gate of the Presidential Palace, businessmen came to the Presidential Palace one after another.

When most businessmen arrive at the presidential palace, they subconsciously tidy up their clothes to make themselves more decent. After all, this is a matter of meeting Li Zhen, and with so many peers, there is no shame. The moment everyone entered the gate, they immediately became nervous. No matter where you used to be, no matter how much money you made, but once you stood in front of the presidential palace, your momentum was a lot weaker, and there was no momentum in the past.

At the door of the living room, there were attendants standing.

Every merchant who enters will be given a printed copy of the information about the arrangement for this time.

Among them, the way of fundraising and the benefits of the new school have been clearly written.

In addition, the reason for Li Zhen's fundraising is also clearly written.

After the merchants entered in turn, Li Zhen entered the meeting room only after the people arrived. The layout of the hall is according to the arrangement pattern of the classroom in later generations, and the first row is occupied by the most powerful businessmen, such as Qiao Zhiyong, Hu Xueyan, Wang Chi and others, and the back are most of the businessmen who come to participate. Li Zhen's position was on the rostrum, and after he sat down, his eyes swept over everyone present.

At a glance, there were about thirty people.

That's a pretty good amount.

Moreover, these businessmen are slightly stronger in the whole country, and it is quite good to have so many people.

Li Zhen took a breath and said loudly: "First of all, I welcome everyone's arrival, I am glad that you can participate, and thank you for participating. The purpose of inviting you to Beijing this time, I think you have already seen the agenda of the meeting, because it has been explained in detail above, I will not repeat it. Here, I digress a bit! ”

Immediately, Li Zhen paused slightly.

After a while, Li Zhen continued: "After I gained a foothold in Shanghai, then I went to Guangzhou, and finally in Nanjing, and finally pacified the world. Over the years, I led my troops to fight in the east and west, driving out the British, the French, defeating the Americans, defeating the Russians, and exterminating the Taiping rebellion. Speaking of which, the record is brilliant, and anyone who listens to it will give a thumbs up and say that it is amazing. ”

"However, when it comes to money, it becomes a person who is choked by the neck."

"The Great Bank of China is my source of funds, the chain of funds that started the war. Now that the banks are facing difficulties, which indirectly lead to difficulties in the army, there must be an injection of funds to alleviate the current suffering. As long as you get through this level, all problems can be solved. Therefore, I hope you will support it. I don't force it, it's all voluntary. If you are willing to donate money, I welcome it. If you don't want to donate money, let's make a friend. ”

After finishing speaking, Li Zhen looked at the soldiers standing beside him.

In an instant, the soldier took over and shouted: "The fundraising begins, if you are willing to donate money, please take the initiative to speak." ”

Hu Xueyan had already agreed with Li Zhen and was the first to stand up. He looked around at the people around him and said loudly: "Anhui Hu Xueyan, donate 1.5 million taels of silver!" ”

Li Zhen said: "Thank you Mr. Hu, I thank you on behalf of the country!" ”

"Hunan Baijia Bai Fushui, donate 500,000 taels of silver!" Hu Xueyan's words fell, and a middle-aged man stood up and said loudly.

The soldier snapped several times in turn, and then thanked him.

Immediately after that, there were donations of 100,000, 200,000, 300,000, etc., but there were no more than one million taels of silver. At this time, Qiao Zhiyong stood up, he faced the people present, and said loudly: "The rise and fall of the world is the responsibility of the husband, now, *** for the country and the people, we and other businessmen can't go to the battlefield to kill the enemy, but it's still okay to support it with money." Qiao Zhiyong of the Qiao family in Shanxi donated 3 million taels of silver and was willing to support the president to tide over the difficulties. ”

As soon as these words came out, there was an uproar.

This is really big!

Although some businessmen despise Qiao Zhiyong as a loser, they also admire Qiao Zhiyong's courage. Similarly, some businessmen were shocked, and one of them stood up and said, "Duan Changhe, Duan of Yunnan Province, donate one million taels of silver." ”

"Qiu Rui, Sichuan Qiujia, donate 500,000 taels of silver!"

……

Because of Qiao Zhiyong's drive, another wave of enthusiasm was set off.

The people present more or less donated some money to give Li Zhen face.

After the soldiers counted it, they calculated a total of 10,500,000 taels of silver. This data has exceeded Li Zhen's original expectations, and with this amount of money, it is enough to make the Bank of Greater China operational.

Li Zhen took a deep breath and said, "Thank you, thank you for your generosity. I accepted this heavy sum of money, and I was grateful from the bottom of my heart. According to the list of schedules, all the families who donate today, and the disciples of your family who enter the new-style school to study, as long as they are excellent in character and learning, can pass the assessment of the assessment team organized by me, and will definitely be awarded real power and official positions. Please rest assured of this. I hope that more talented people will serve the country. ”

When the businessmen heard Li Zhen's personal promise, they were extremely excited.

It is undoubtedly good that someone in the family is an official.

Li Zhen continued: "In addition to donating money, I will tell you one more thing. It's about railways, some people know about railways, but some people don't. But that's okay, soon you'll all be familiar with it. Now, the railway from Nanjing to Guangzhou has been opened, and you can take a train from Nanjing to Guangzhou directly, the speed is fast, and it only takes a few days to go back and forth. Soon I will travel to Nanjing and take the train south to Guangzhou. If you are interested, you can stay for the time being, and wait for me to go south with you. As long as you go, you won't regret it, because it has huge business opportunities. ”

Hu Xueyan raised his hand and said, "President, I want a place, and I'll go to Nanjing!" ”

"I'll go too!" The people of the Qiu family in Sichuan spoke.

"I'll go too!" Yunnan Duanjia said.

……

One by one, the merchants spoke, and in the end they all said they were willing to go.

The reason for this is naturally the business opportunities mentioned by Li Zhen. Li Zhen looked at the faces of the businessmen, and he was already secretly happy in his heart. As soon as these merchants went to Nanjing and got on the train, Li Zhen had the opportunity to take money out of the pockets of these merchants and start to continue building the railway. At present, the finances are tight, and there is no more money to build the railway, so he can only rely on these businessmen, so Li Zhen brought up the matter of going south and wanted the businessmen to join him.

After the meeting, Li Zhen left the businessmen to have a dinner party.

Anyway, people gave financial support, and Li Zhen also symbolically expressed it. At the end of the meal, most of the businessmen who came to participate were already familiar with each other, and some of them even called each other brothers. These businessmen are all delicate people, long-sleeved and good at dancing, very good at dealing with them, and it only takes a little time to get very familiar with them.

Li Zhen provided a platform that they all took advantage of.

From this point of view, the merchant who gave only 100,000 taels of silver but made the acquaintance of the big merchant earned.

ps: the third shift;