"The common people see the Prime Minister."

After a brief moment of confusion, the two hundred legislators saluted in unison. Although they were legislators, they were not officials because they personally did not have any administrative power. They were officials at best, so they could only call themselves people.

As for them calling Li Qi "Prime Minister", it just means respect, a kind of admiration in the hearts of the people, and nothing else. After all, their wealth was brought to them by Li Qi.

Situ Ke and others understood it, so they didn't care.

Chen Dong, who was sitting on the left, suddenly turned his head and asked Ouyang Che next to him: "Deming, do you think the Privy Councilor can convince them?"

Ouyang Che shook his head and said: "I don't know about this, but judging from the attitude of the Privy Council, the imperial court will not give in on this. Although there are not many twenty colleges, it is related to national policy, and the royal family must still be the center.

Not the Legislative Yuan."

Chen Dong nodded slightly and sighed: "Building the academy is a good thing, and I agree with it. Unfortunately, it involves too many interests. If we give in here, where will the emperor's face be?"

Ouyang Che just smiled, his eyes shining with an unimaginable light.

Li Qi cupped his hands and said with a smile: "Everyone, no courtesy, no courtesy."

After the two hundred legislative ministers straightened up, he smiled and said: "I was ordered to go out this time and passed by Hangzhou. Dean Lin kindly invited me to come and have a chat with you. I can only be respectful and obey.

So I am here just as a guest and have nothing to do with the Privy Council, nor have anything to do with the mission of my trip."

In this first sentence, he first stated his purpose of coming, specifically stating that he was only here as a guest and had nothing to do with the Privy Council. Lest the matter spread to the capital and someone would impeach him for interfering with the Second Council, although it would not cause any trouble

What a big trouble. But if someone does this again in the future, he can be used as an excuse. He hates being used as a knife, so he must explain this first.

"Moreover, I also really want to visit the Legislative Yuan in Hangzhou. To be honest, when I first entered the city, I thought I was in paradise. I have never seen such a prosperous state capital in my life. This really opened my mind.

Vision. I am proud of the people of Hangzhou. I remember two or three years ago, when I was ordered to pass through Hangzhou on the southern expedition, Hangzhou was already very prosperous at that time. I thought it had reached its limit, but I really did not expect that Hangzhou could be prosperous.

To reach this point is far beyond my imagination, which is really rare.

So who should get this share of credit? Don’t blame me, I can’t afford this. Naturally, the people who have made the greatest contribution are the people of Hangzhou. Without them, there would be no Hangzhou today. It’s them brick by brick, brick by brick,

They are indispensable for building the ruined and devastated city of Hangzhou into such a prosperous city."

At this point, he changed the topic and said: "But when it comes to who deserves the first credit, I feel that it is not the people of Hangzhou, but the imperial court. If it is just the people of Hangzhou, no matter how many people you have, no matter how smart you are, you can't

It is difficult to return to this situation in a short period of time. It is the imperial court's policy that allows wealthy businessmen from all over the country to come to Hangzhou to do business. This also leads to a large amount of money flowing into Hangzhou, which drives Hangzhou's economy as quickly as possible. It can be said that if

Without the original imperial edict of the imperial court, there would be no Hangzhou today. Maybe you will say that the imperial court should be like this, but the imperial court can choose Yangzhou, Chuzhou, Fuzhou, not necessarily Hangzhou. Do you think what I said is correct?"

"The emperor's grace has brought great blessings to Hangzhou. How dare we forget each other? We should keep it in our hearts."

Many young people expressed their gratitude to the emperor for his kindness.

Li Qi smiled and said: "So, you agree with what I say."

The legislators were all a little surprised when they heard this. Needless to say, even if this is not the case, they must agree with it. Moreover, it is indeed the case.

Li Qi suddenly said: "But I don't feel your gratitude to the court at all. On the contrary, I feel that you are ungrateful."

A scholar said excitedly: "What do you think the Prime Minister said?"

Don't say this nonsense. It doesn't matter if you are ungrateful. But if you are ungrateful to the emperor, then it will be a big or small matter.

Li Qi smiled slightly and said: "I came here today, of course, to cater to today's theme, which is about opening additional colleges. Of course, I'm not here to give any orders. I'm just here to communicate with you. If I have

You can point out what I said is wrong, and the same is your responsibility. As for why this dear friend just said what I said, it is very simple, the reason lies in these twenty colleges."

Just now, everyone was guessing whether Li Qi came here because of this matter, but that was just a guess. Now they all understand that Li Qi came here because of this matter.

Another scholar said: "I don't agree with what the Prime Minister said. Opening more colleges is a good thing that benefits the country and the people. We are just trying to get more people who are eager to learn to study. What's wrong with this?"

Li Qidao: "I didn't say this was wrong, I just said you were ungrateful. You didn't consider the difficulties of the court at all from the beginning to the end."

A businessman stood up and said: "Prime Minister, I think the way we should express our gratitude to the imperial court is to fulfill all the obligations of a common people in the Song Dynasty. We Hangzhou people, whether we are businessmen or farmers, pay full taxes every year and have never been in arrears."

We didn't let the court bother with this matter even for a penny, and even donated money to help the court build and repair houses. If the court was in trouble, we would never say a word, but let alone the court, just relying on our finances in Hangzhou,

It’s enough to open twenty more colleges, so there’s no need to bother the court at all.”

"No need to trouble the court?"

Li Qi smiled softly and said: "You are embarrassing the emperor. Do you feel that you have been treated unfairly? Hangzhou is so big and so rich, but it only has one college and one hospital. This

It is far from enough for Hangzhou. I can also tell you that in the future planning, the colleges and hospitals set up by the imperial court in Hangzhou are the least among all states and counties."

They didn't know this, so they were shocked when they heard it. What was going on?

Li Qi glanced at them and said with a smile: "Don't you feel aggrieved? You don't understand why the imperial court did this. Hangzhou is so developed, but you only arranged a very small share for us, but have you ever thought about it? The imperial court originally

When the great discounts were given to Hangzhou, what did the people in other states think? It was easy for them to think the same way. The imperial court was favoring one over the other and gave all the resources to Hangzhou. We didn't even drink the soup.

In the world, not only the people of Hangzhou are the emperor's subjects, have you ever considered the emperor? Now that Hangzhou has prospered, apart from Tokyo, Hangzhou is the richest. If the emperor still blindly takes care of Hangzhou, then he has done it.

.Your life is better now and your requirements are higher, but the people in many places can't even eat. As long as one common person can't eat, the emperor will have trouble sleeping and eating. For this reason, the imperial court decided to divide the two areas in the west, northwest, and south.

Counties have established more colleges and hospitals to benefit local people and boost the local economy.

Especially in the northwest. Without the people there to support you, can Hangzhou be so stable? You must not forget your roots as a human being. You cannot just look at your own shortcomings. We are all people of the Song Dynasty and should help each other.

I am personally very disappointed with your selfish approach."

These words made the two hundred legislators look at each other with slightly embarrassed expressions.

An old farmer said: "Master Prime Minister, we have no intention of making things difficult for the Emperor. We just hope that our children will go to school and serve the country in the future. Nowadays, everything must be literate.

, the old man only understood the importance of studying after he was elected to the Legislative Yuan. He just wants his descendants to be able to study. Don't be like a young man who only comes to study when he is old."

Many people nodded. They thought they were not wrong. They just wanted their children to be able to study. It was as simple as that. In the face of such a wealthy Hangzhou, the needs of the people have increased. They urgently need the academy, and

Cai Minde saw this clearly, so he made this request at this juncture. This is Cai Minde, whose business vision is longer than that of ordinary businessmen.

Li Qidao: "You just want your children to study, but there are many parents who just want their children not to go hungry. In comparison, whose request do you think is smaller and more ordinary?"

A scholar said: "Prime Minister, you have said so much, isn't it just because of money? But our taxes in Hangzhou have now risen to be comparable to Bianliang. Why can't such high taxes increase our income?"

Open twenty colleges?”

"Twenty colleges are indeed not much in terms of tax revenue for Hangzhou, but the court has a plan for every amount of money. In fact, if Hangzhou's annual tax revenue is really invested in all parts of the country and spread evenly, how much will it get? So huge.

If a country spends freely, I can tell you with certainty that within three years, Hangzhou's tax revenue will triple, because once the court suffers a loss, it will definitely find a wealthy place to collect high taxes."

Li Qi said earnestly: "Maybe in your eyes, these twenty colleges don't cost much, but maybe according to the imperial court's specifications, the money from these twenty colleges was originally going to support the west or south.

With funding of more than 100,000 people, you are essentially risking the lives of more than 100,000 people to build a college for your children. Do you think the emperor will agree to your request?"

To put it this way, it is indeed shocking. The eyes of the legislators also flashed with suspicion. I don’t know whether Li Qi’s words are true or false, but this is the fact. Yes, the Song Dynasty is indeed rich now, but this kind of wealth is a certain

Not all the country is rich. The northwest and southernmost areas are still very poor. Not to mention the barren mountains and ridges in the south, and the northwest has been eroded by war all year round, and no one dares to go there.

It is difficult to make economic progress through investment.

Political decision-makers with Zhao Kai and Li Qi as the center have begun to shift their focus from Jiangnan and other places to these remote areas. This does not mean that they only need to make Hangzhou or even Jiangnan rich. This can be seen from the increase in taxes in Hangzhou.

.

In Li Qi's economic construction, Hangzhou should be the center and cover the whole country. If it is not started now, the gap between the rich and the poor will become wider and wider, creating two extremes. This will form a vicious circle, and people in poor rural areas will

It will move to rich places, causing poor places to become poorer and rich places to become richer.

There is a direct relationship between wealth and population. In densely populated areas, the economy becomes easier. Especially in ancient times, once the population moved, it was difficult to move back. Why is there still not much movement in the north, even if

It is in the Yanyun area, and it is only a small-scale peasant economy. It is difficult to reach the level of Hangzhou because there is not enough population support.

It is true that Li Qi did not know that Hangzhou has become so prosperous. This was all brought about by Jiaozhi. If he had known earlier, he would definitely have implemented the most difficult step in economic construction earlier.

In fact, it is not difficult to make Jiangnan prosperous. Jiangnan has a very good geographical location. The difficulty lies in getting rich in remote counties and counties. This cannot be delayed. Once the delay continues, once the population shifts, it will be even more difficult.

Li Qi's plan is to give each state and county as much of a characteristic as possible to attract people and not create too big a gap between the rich and the poor.

The next step is to withdraw money from Jiangnan to improve the welfare of people in remote states and counties and stimulate local development.

This is a national policy.

Although the Legislative Yuan is a relatively democratic institution, any suggestions that truly affect national policy must give way, because the people can only see the immediate interests, and the country has its own development, even in the United States, which is the most democratic country in the future.

National policy will always be above all else. This country’s vision is the most long-term and not something ordinary people understand.

Based on this, even though these are only twenty colleges, the imperial court will not give in even a step.

A scholar added: "But for us in Hangzhou, one college is too few and not enough."

Li Qi smiled and said: "I know this too, but the imperial court's strategy for building colleges is to go hand in hand with both public and private sectors. Especially in wealthy cities like Hangzhou, the imperial court encourages private individuals to run more colleges and hospitals."

A businessman immediately retorted: "This hospital is okay. After all, the hospital can at least guarantee that it will not lose money. But the college has a huge investment, but it is difficult to make a profit. And if you want to make a profit, you have to wait for a long time. That's it."

Only a big family like Taishi Cai has the strength to build a college.

In fact, there are many businessmen in Hangzhou who want to follow the example of Taishi University in building a college, but they all lost their money. They far underestimated the investment in this college. Let’s not go into details. Nowadays, the land price in Hangzhou is increasing day by day. Just buy it.

A piece of decent land requires a lot of money, and now there are only a few people in Hangzhou opening a few small private schools, but for Hangzhou, it is just a drop in the bucket, and now we are all counting on the court."

This statement is also reasonable. It is much more difficult to open a college in Hangzhou than in other places. Hangzhou’s population has increased sharply in recent years, and land prices must have soared. Coupled with the government’s policy of protecting farmland, that is to say, no matter how your economy is

For development, you cannot use fertile land for other purposes. This is illegal. Every piece of fertile land is registered. There are also some undeveloped fertile lands that have been marked by the government and cannot be destroyed.

This has made the land price in Hangzhou even more expensive. Xiang Li Qi's Zuixian Villa and Taishi College were bought very early. If they were to buy it now, it would be enough for them to drink a pot.

And that of Taishi College cannot be copied. First, Taishi College was established early, and the cost required was far less than what it is now.

Secondly, Cai Jing did it when he became prime minister, which saved a lot of extra expenses and left a lot of money. This is no longer possible. Now even if Qin Hui wants to imitate Cai Jing, it is impossible.
To be continued...