The richest in Daqian is Jiangnan Province, Yangzhou is the richest in Jiangnan Province, and the richest people in Yangzhou are the four major families of Liang, Tang, Chen, and Lu, and Yangzhou Academy is a joint venture between these four companies, each of which accounts for a quarter of the shares, which is already a bit of a modern joint-stock company.

After learning more, Li Guanqi understood why Zhou Yawen and Lu Chunming invited themselves to Yangzhou. Why do you want Yangzhou Academy to recruit the children of ordinary people, it is simply a pretense, and such a big thing has to be visited by the labor emperor in person?

Li Guanqi just figured out that things couldn't be so simple, so he agreed to the two of them to come to Yangzhou. Because he knew that the two of them must have other reasons, and at the same time, he also understood that the two of them were not easy to say, and the reason why they changed their ways to let themselves come to Yangzhou was to let themselves see the situation in Yangzhou with their own eyes.

Now that he understood the true intentions of the two, Li Guanqi naturally did not rush to talk to the four major wang clans about the school, but first interviewed local officials at all levels in Yangzhou one by one to learn about the information.

After a few days of understanding, Li Guanqi found several things: first, Yangzhou is indeed rich, but it is the businessmen who are rich, not the court and the people; Second, the status of merchants in Yangzhou is very high, which is very different from the entire feudal society, where the words of rich businessmen are often more effective than those of the government, because these rich businessmen monopolize the clothing, food, housing and transportation of the people; The third is that the merchant spectrum in Yangzhou is particularly large. How big is it? They only intermarried with wealthy merchants and nobles, and not with others. The prefect of Yangzhou, who came from a humble background, proposed to the four major families for his son, but none of the four families agreed, and he not only ran into walls everywhere, but also was humiliated.

This time, Li Guanqi knew the real purpose of Zhou Yawen inviting him to Yangzhou, this guy wanted to use his name as emperor to suppress the prestige of the wealthy businessmen in Yangzhou.

Although it was tantamount to being deceived, Li Guanqi was not angry. He really wanted to teach these wealthy businessmen in Yangzhou a lesson. What he wants to achieve is that the whole country is rich, not only the court is rich, but the people must also be rich, not some people are rich.

But even as an emperor, you can't bully whoever you want, otherwise people will scold you for being a faint king. So. Li Guanqi still has to use his brains to think about how to teach this group of rich people a good lesson, and at the same time make them unable to say half of it.

Li Guanqi didn't bother too much, since he was deceived by Zhou Yawen to come to Yangzhou by coordinating the affairs of the academy, then let's make a fuss from the academy.

After thinking about it, Li Guanqi immediately called Xiao Ying and instructed: "You go to Zhou Yawen and tell him that I will have a big banquet and invite all the squires and wealthy merchants in Yangzhou City to the banquet." Let him give you the name. That's it for this afternoon. ”

As a result, hundreds of rich masters of all sizes in Yangzhou City received Li Guanqi's invitation.

Which of these squires and wealthy businessmen is not a delicate character, although they are not as rich as they are these years, and ordinary officials don't pay much attention to it, but Li Guanqi is the emperor, so he still has to be close. Now that Li Guanqi took the initiative to invite, how could anyone refuse? Besides. Who would dare to refuse?

By the next day, the two courtyards inside and outside the temporary palace were full. There were more than 50 tables.

Li Guanqi was also willing to spend the money, and invited a cook from the best restaurant in Yangzhou City, plus a few imperial chefs brought by himself, and started together, and the banquet was very rich.

At the sumptuous feast, our protagonist Li Guanqi did not drink a drop of wine. Zhou Yawen and the other officials did not stay at the main table for a while, and began to walk to the tables of the squires and wealthy businessmen to take turns to persuade wine.

This time, everyone can be regarded as having learned Li Guanqi's powerful mouth. I saw him talk from the Three Emperors and Five Emperors to the present; and from the customs of the Central Plains, to the strange customs outside the Saiwai; turned his head and began to tell interesting stories about himself in the palace; Then he began to evaluate how the world's food is.

In short, Li Guanqi's steps did not stop, and there was no free time on his lips. But he never talked about business.

Li Guanqi didn't mention it, it didn't mean that these squires and wealthy businessmen didn't want to, and these rich masters, seeing that the No. 1 person in the Great Qian Dynasty was as easy-going as a boy next door, they were indeed overwhelmed by Li Guanqi's demeanor. On the spot, some people couldn't hold back their temperament, and they shouted wildly with the strength of the wine to show their loyalty to Li Guanqi.

Li Guanqi returned to the main position at this time, and said with a slight smile: "I came to Yangzhou this time, mainly because I was invited by Lu Xuezheng to come and see the style of Yangzhou Academy. In fact, I have heard the name of Yangzhou Academy many times when I was in Beijing, and it is really like thunder.

I am thinking, Yangzhou is a cultural holy land, and private learning is still like this, how can official learning be left behind? Therefore, I plan to set up another official school in Yangzhou, and the scale of this official school must not be worse than that of Yangzhou Academy.

But who knew that as soon as he mentioned this matter to the prefect of Yangzhou, he cried poorly, saying that he had no money, and asked me for money in turn. As you all know, I've been fighting for the past two years, and I don't have any money......"

As the saying goes, listen to the words. Which of these businessmen is not a well-informed character? What does Li Guanqi mean in and out of words, which one can't hear it? However, the rich people led by the four major wang families did not express it immediately, because they did not know how big Li Guanqi's appetite was.

But if they don't say it, it doesn't mean that others don't say it. Before Li Guanqi finished speaking, a drunken fat man stood up and said loudly: "Your Majesty, don't worry, the grass people are willing to donate 1,000 taels of silver to help run the school." ”

Originally, these rich people didn't think about giving gifts to Li Guanqi, because the difference between the identities of the two sides was too big after all, but now seeing that Li Guanqi took the initiative to "ask for bribes", some people took the lead in donating money.

Who is willing to fall behind?

So, one after another rich people stood up, and they all began to scramble to set up a trick on Li Guanqi, this one said that I would pay 1,000 taels, and that said that I would pay 2,000 taels......

Zhou Yawen and Lu Chunming were already smiling, because in an instant, these squires and wealthy businessmen had already contributed 600,000 taels.

Li Guanqi neither said yes nor no, but only persuaded him to drink, until he saluted everyone at the table, and then returned to the chief.

The night is getting thicker, and the faces of the guests at each table are already full of wine, Li Guanqi saw that the cups and plates on the table were messy, and thought that everyone had eaten enough, so he smiled and said: "It's not early, and it is estimated that there are also beautiful wives and concubines waiting in your family, so I won't leave everyone for the night." When the school is completed, thank you again. (To be continued......)