Seeing that Fan Hefu was depressed, Li Tao continued: "This is caused by two reasons! Businessmen do business, integrity-based, the so-called genuine, children are not bullied. However, many businessmen do not hesitate to sell shoddy and counterfeit goods in order to make huge profits. It is precisely the practices of these people that have ruined the reputation of businessmen and made people sneer at businessmen, believing that they cannot be destroyed without businessmen, and their status is naturally low. ”

Fan Hefu sighed: "Li Xiaolang, what you said is not bad at all, it is these crazy and shameless people who have affected honest businessmen such as us!" ”

"Uncle Fan, in fact, this is not the most important reason!"

"Oh! Li Xiaolang, you can tell me carefully! ”

The most important thing is the court's policy of "valuing agriculture and suppressing business", businessmen have a lot of money in their hands, and if they become officials again, they will inevitably influence the government, which is intolerable to the Son of Heaven. Banning businessmen from becoming officials is a way to curb the power of businessmen. As long as businessmen don't interfere in the government, you can earn as much as you want, but you must be honest in front of the court. But since ancient times, have you seen how many powerless businessmen can finally succeed? Even if it succeeds, how many will end well? The same is true for your Fan Kee firm, which does not even have any protection for life and property, how can it become bigger and stronger? Therefore, I don't want Jiulang to stay in Fan Kee and let him do nothing in his life! ”

Fan Hefu pondered, pondered for a moment, and then raised his head and asked, "Then what do you want Jiu Lang to do?" ”

"Uncle Fan, do you know why the status of businessmen at the beginning of the establishment of the Tang Dynasty cannot be the same as now?" Li Tao asked without answering.

Fan Hefu shook his head: "Li Xiaolang, please advise!" ”

"After the Taiyuan Incident, a large number of businessmen recruited troops and made great contributions. A considerable number of the sons and daughters of the family are engaged in business, in other words, official businessmen, so these businessmen have a very high status. In the early days of the Tang Dynasty, there were many foreign wars, expeditions of thousands of miles, and many supplies and the transportation of war booty were carried out by merchants. Soldiers are equipped with their own weapons, food, and grass, and most of them are purchased from merchants at a reasonable price, except for those purchased from the government. It is precisely because the merchant and the government are so closely connected that the position of the merchant has been further consolidated! ”

Fan Hefu's eyes lit up: "Li Xiaolang, what do you mean ......?"

Li Tao said with a smile: "The integration of government and business, striving for interests, and complementing each other, this phenomenon is not unique to Datang, but has existed for a long time." If a businessman can't be an official, why can't he find another way? ”

Fan Hefu let out a long sigh of relief: "Li Xiaolang, I understand what you mean, you are right!" Maybe the development of our Fan family depends on Jiulang! ”

Li Tao said with a straight face: "Uncle Fan, you are wrong again, whether the Fan family can carry forward or not has nothing to do with Jiulang!" ”

"Why is that?" Fan Hefu has been stunned by Li Tao.

"Uncle Fan, let me tell you a story, you may understand!"

"Li Xiaolang, tell me, I'll listen to you!"

"Once upon a time, there was a boy who went to the market to sell eggs on the street, and he put all the eggs of the old hen in one basket, and accidentally fell on the road, and the basket fell far away, and the eggs were rotten. A passer-by helped him up and said to him, "Don't put your eggs in one basket." That way the eggs won't break so much. ”

Fan Hefu nodded slightly.

"Uncle Fan, the road that Jiu Lang and I will take in the future will definitely be extremely difficult, and no one knows what the final result will be! Therefore, I hope that you don't put all your hopes on Jiulang, just as if you don't have this son, how you run the Fan Kee business will continue to operate. If we fail one day, we won't have much loss to the Fan family. If we succeed, as your son, are you still worried that he will not help you? ”

"Don't put all your eggs in one basket!" Fan Hefu stared at Li Tao and said: "Li Xiaolang, I didn't expect you to be so thoughtful at such a young age, Jiulang followed you, I don't worry!" ”

Li Tao finally breathed a sigh of relief, but before he could catch his breath, he heard Fan Hefu ask again: "Li Xiaolang, listening to your talk is better than reading for ten years, I wonder if you can point out a clear way for my Fan Ji firm to operate in the future?" ”

Li Tao secretly complained in his heart, how could he know what to do. But at the moment, he was not allowed to shirk it, so he had no choice but to say: "Uncle Fan, perhaps in the eyes of most businessmen, they deal in goods, but I think that real businessmen should operate in ideas!" ”

Fan Hefu had never heard such strange remarks, which made him feel refreshed, and he asked with interest: "Li Xiaolang, can you explain it in detail!" ”

Li Tao searched his stomach and said, "Actually, this ...... The ancients...... Already...... Done...... For example, Fan Li, the ancestor of the merchants...... Oh! Uncle Fan, your surname is also Fan, your Fan family won't have anything to do with this Fan Li, right? ”

"I'm ashamed to say that Fan Li is the ancestor of our Fan family!" Fan Hefu sighed and said.

This time it was Li Tao's turn to be dumbfounded, he just asked casually, but he didn't expect the Fan family to be Fan Li's descendants.

Seeing that Li Tao seemed to be unconvinced, Fan Hefu explained: "The Shunyang Fan clan in the Shi family is the same as the hometown of my ancestor, so everyone thinks that the Shunyang Fan clan is the descendant of the ancestor. As everyone knows, our Fan family is really the descendants of our ancestors, and I have a family tree here to prove it. The ancestor left a rule before his death, the descendants of the Fan family have been in business for generations, and they are not allowed to be officials, let alone publicize that they are the descendants of the ancestors! Therefore, our Fan family has not had a good reputation for dozens of generations! ”

Li Tao couldn't help but sigh: "No wonder, it turns out that the Fan family is actually the descendant of Fan Li. ”

Speaking of which, Li Tao admired Fan Li in later generations. Fan Li was a native of Chu during the Spring and Autumn Period. He came from a poor background, but he was erudite and talented, and he knew and had a deep relationship with Chu Wanling. Because he was dissatisfied with the political darkness of Chu at that time and the fact that non-nobles were not allowed to enter the country, he defected to the Yue State together and assisted the Yue State Goujian. Help Gou Jian to rejuvenate the Yue country, destroy the Wu country, after becoming famous, the torrent retreated bravely, changed his name and surname to the skin of the Yizi, changed the official uniform to a white dress and Xi Shi Xi out of Gusu, a leaf flat boat in the five lakes, swimming between the seventy-two peaks. During the period, he became a huge fortune in business three times, scattered his family wealth, and called himself Tao Zhugong, the originator of Confucian merchants, and later generations respected him as "Shang Sheng".

"Uncle Fan, aren't you kidding me? The Fan family has such a prominent ancestor, why do I need to get an axe in this class! Li Tao took the opportunity to retreat.

"Li Xiaolang, I'm not afraid of your jokes, the old ancestor didn't leave anything except two rules! Although our Fan family has been in business for generations, we have always relied on our own exploration, and we have never reached the level of our ancestors! Today, I have the opportunity to hear Li Xiaolang's opinions, and I hope to give me advice! After speaking, Fan Hefu actually got up and saluted Li Tao.

"Uncle Fan, I can't help it, I can't help it!" Li Tao hurriedly stopped Fan Hefu.

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