After Hu Zhi left, Li Ke waited for almost half an hour, and then the twenty-two businessmen were invited to the reception room.

This time, there were more people in the reception room, and unlike Hu Zhi, the identities of these people were more complicated, and they almost had an intricate relationship with various gate valve families.

"The ministers have seen His Royal Highness the King of Qin."

"Excuse me, please be seated." After Li Ke sat down first, he smiled and said: "Actually, just now, I met one of your peers, and he is also a businessman, a businessman from Guangzhou. ”

When Li Ke said this, the people present almost immediately guessed who this person was, after all, in the auction of the hidden bid before, everyone was impressed by the highest price, and the person who stood out the most in this kind of thing was always very attractive.

Although some people may not have reacted at the time, but in hindsight, most people must have reacted and knew why this businessman surnamed Hu offered such a high price, and now that Li Ke has seen the other party, it is obvious that the other party's purpose has been achieved.

"You should have probably guessed who it is, in fact, I invited you to come this time to discuss with you the future of Datang business." Li Ke said with a smile.

"His Royal Highness the King of Qin, please speak, the ministers will naturally obey." One of the oldest in the crowd, who looked to be about sixty years old, spoke.

"You're welcome, since it's a discussion, let's talk freely, in fact, since the 19th year of Datang last year, I have been thinking about one thing, that is, the importance of business to a country."

"It can not only promote the circulation of goods, but also assist the flow of materials in Datang, strengthen the circulation of materials between various regions, and most importantly, more and more commercial activities can create many jobs for Datang, so that there are some areas that are not suitable for farming, and people can use work instead of farming to obtain income to support their families."

"In addition to these, the circulation of commerce will also make the country richer and richer, and of course, all this is premised on the premise that business should be taxed in the same way as farming." Li Ke said with a calm face, what to say to whom.

For those who can basically control it, there is no need to say much about paying taxes, they will not hesitate, but for these people who are deeply entangled with the gate valve family, they should say it in advance.

First, this news may be passed through their mouths to some people who want to know, and secondly, it is actually to tell them that he, the king of Qin, has something to ask for them.

Desire does not know the end, lose its desire; There is no contentment, and there is no reason for it.

Almost all the merchants who were able to do this in ancient times understood this truth.

If you ask for something, you will get it.

There is no such thing as pie falling from the sky, and these businessmen understand this truth deeply.

Li Ke said the word paying taxes, and the faces of these twenty-two people were relatively calm, and the faces of several people changed slightly, but they were all calm.

However, none of them took the initiative to speak, obviously everyone heard it, and Li Ke still had the following words.

"As a businessman, as I once said, I hope that more patriotic businessmen will stand up in Datang, but in the same way, those who hold salaries for everyone must not be frozen to death in the wind and snow. As good patriotic businessmen, we can't just ask them to give something and get nothing. ”

"Therefore, I made a suggestion to my father, the emperor, to expand the scope of the imperial examination in the world in the future, not only from the scholars, but also to the merchants, craftsmen, and ordinary people." Li Ke said with a calm face.

Li Ke just said this, and the twenty-two people present couldn't sit still.

This...... Li Ke pinched the weakness of all of them at once.

They are all people who have achieved financial freedom to some extent, and such people, they are pursuing the promotion of their own "class", even if Li Ke has gradually eliminated the huge gap between these classes, but they do not know, at least in their opinion, that they want to improve their "class".

And Li Ke's words are giving them a step.

If the merchant family can also participate in the imperial examination, do they still need to be entangled with some gate valve families? At that time, even if Datang collected commercial tax, how much could it collect, compared with their annual "pay", how little!

For them, this part of the "expenditure", to whom is not given? And the Tang Dynasty is willing to even give them the authority to open the imperial examination for the sake of them, and they paid this tax!

"Your Highness, as Your Highness said, I think that as a patriotic businessman, it is normal to pay business taxes." It was still the old man, but he didn't hold back at the first and opened his mouth to express his position.

The others looked at each other, and this ...... As if they have no reason to refuse?

"Your Highness, the ministers are also willing to pay business taxes." Everyone else spoke up. They are different from the gate valve family, the gate valve family is at the peak, they can control the official channels of the Tang Dynasty, they can control a large number of family members to carry out business activities, and they can also control many people in the world.

At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, because of the uniform land system, the influence of the gate valve family on the people was reduced to a minimum, but the average land system of the Tang Dynasty was actually under the condition of accepting the private ownership of land by the royal family, bureaucrats, and gate valve families, and the state occupied most of the land, and then distributed it to the peasants.

In fact, there are similarities between this and the household contract system in later generations.

But there are some differences.

And now the gate valve family has reduced the people to a minimum because of the land, and if their commercial power can be cut off at this time, it means that they only have the most high-end way to go in the short term.

When the imperial examination system was completely reformed, that is, the beginning of the complete demise of the power of the gate valve family, unlike those who violently cut off the gate valve family in history, Li Ke's move was a root-digging action.

The least harm to the country, and again, at least someone who knows each other can not kill so many people.

"Well, I believe that you are all patriotic businessmen, and you must be willing to pay taxes according to the rules, but what I said about the imperial examination, you also know that this thing cannot be done overnight, of course, I have heard some of the arguments between me and the ministers in the court, I believe you should have heard some of them."

"I can't influence the imperial examination system of the imperial court, but I can fund different examinations, and then select outstanding talents to join the various industries of Datang from another perspective, such as excellent craftsmen, such as the editorial department of "Datang Weekly", such as the Datang Chamber of Commerce joint ocean fleet to be launched next, etc."

"But for exams, you have to have excellent students, so I have proposed to build a school in the world before." Li Ke said with a smile.