Of course, Li Tai could not give him a bite of food when he could take Li You in, but Li You didn't know what he thought, so he had to exchange his money and refused to eat Li Tai's. Helplessly, Li Tai had to bring him to Sihai Gamblinghouse to exchange chips.

A year after the birth of Glazed chips, they have been fully passed inside and outside the Tang Dynasty and have become real hard currency. Now the highest denomination is more than 1,000 guan, and there are also large chips of 10,000 guan, but the number is small and few people use them. The most commonly used chips are still 1,000 guan.

Ergou recognized Li Tai naturally. He knew that Li Tai was not good at gambling and rarely came to Sihai Gambling. Today, he brought people here, not for gambling. The Sihai Gambling in Chang'an City received the most descendants of the nobles. These second-generation ancestors had a unique taste. Although Li You was a phoenix that was not as good as a chicken, the innate second-generation ancestor was still recognized by Ergou at a glance.

Usually, when Ergou saw such a person, the four words that came to his mind were "Silly people and have a lot of money". If it weren't for the person Li Tai brought, he would have surrounded him long ago.

"Prince, this one is-" Ergou and Li Tai have long been familiar with each other, without excessive respect, but just bowed slightly, Li Tai raised his hand to make him get up. He threw his expression to ask, and Li Tai was about to introduce him, but Li You said himself: "A common people,"

Li You said this himself, but Li Tai didn't explain, saying, "My friend wants to exchange chips."

"It's easy to say." Ergou's current big shopkeeper naturally wouldn't do the trivial matter of exchange for chips in person. He raised his hand and called a servant, took the chips from Li You, and exchanged them out in the blink of an eye.

Sihai Gambling House opens, and prepares at least 50,000 guan of cash. Wouldn't it be easy to get a few thousand guan?

"Do you want to send guards to the mansion?" Ergou asked enthusiastically. Of course, others did not have this preferential treatment, but Li Tai was not someone else after all. He is the emperor's favorite son and his apprentice of his master. He is both his own people in public and private affairs, so Ergou can still clearly understand this relationship.

"No need, we'll leave now." Li Tai said, and was about to take Li You away, but Li You didn't move. Instead, he asked Ergou, saying, "Can you help find a place to live and how much money to get it from here."

"This--" Ergou looked at Li Tai's wink. Li Tai saw how firm Li You's heart was starting from scratch, and said, "Then help me, my friend, buy a small courtyard." After pausing, he added, "It's closer, how much does it cost to get it from the house."

Li You didn't need it, so he had to get chips out of the bag. Ergou hurriedly stopped him and said, "It's enough, it's enough, it doesn't need much, five hundred stags are enough."

"I'll give you six hundred," Li You said, "Let me hire a butler who is familiar with the local area."

"Okay," Ergou responded with a smile. He had never seen Li You with his own eyes and did not know his origin. But who doesn't like the rich man?

Li Tai asked Li You, saying, "Don't you go home with me?"

Li You looked at Ergou and asked, "How many days can I buy the house?"

Ergou thought for a while and said, "It will take two or three days at the fastest."

"Then stay at the Fourth Brother's Mansion for two or three days." Li You said: "The housekeeper has found it and let him come. I have something else to do and want him to help."

Ergou responded, and Li You left the Sihai Gambling House with Li Tai. Ergou stood at the door, watched the two leave, frowned and thought for a while, and murmured to himself: "This person, could it be Li You, King Qi, or why would he call the Fourth Brother of King Wei?"

"He is the Marquis's opponent, should I help him?" Ergou felt a little upset and wanted to ask, but was worried that he would bother Li Mu. Then he thought again that Li Tai was Li Mu's apprentice. Li Mu had been going to pay tribute almost every day during the past few days after Li Mu came back. If this matter could not be done, Li Tai would not do it. Since it was brought by Li Tai and he had no identity, he could pretend to be confused.

"It's rare to be confused," Ergou murmured and called a servant under his command to get things done. These servants were newly acquired after he came to Luoyang City. With the experience of joining this group of people in Chang'an, he became familiar with it after coming to Luoyang.

...

Because of Li Mu's behavior of taking the child out, he was temporarily deprived of the right to live with his son alone. Li Mu was bored and had to pick up the unfinished work.

In fact, Li Mu didn't want to work from the bottom of his heart, so he wanted to take a break. But he couldn't resist Gongsun Kang, Dou Ren and others guarded endlessly. Seeing them piled up in the front yard every day, Li Mu felt very upset. Finally, after lunch, Li Mu came to the front yard lobby and began to deal with the remaining things and listen to their reports.

According to the rules of coming first and then coming in the morning, the first person to report was Gongsun Kang. Gongsun Kang's affairs were relatively simple. The road was already open more than half a month before Li Mu returned to Luoyang. Now from Chang'an to Luoyang, there is no need to go to Sanmenxia, ​​but the straight road is straight, which can save at least half a day. Because of the convenience of transportation, the material traffic is easy compared to before. The rice prices in Chang'an City have dropped. In winter, the rice prices were originally the time when the rice prices grew the most, but this year's rice prices did not rise much. The rice prices in Chang'an City and Luoyang were only three months apart, which was basically not bad.

But after hearing it for a long time, Li Mu frowned. He only heard Gongsun Kang say how good Chi Dao was to practice, but he didn't hear a word about the 'bridge fee', and then interrupted and asked, "Who is collecting the bridge fee for Chi Dao now? The court is collecting it?"

"Bridge crossing fee?" Gongsun Kang said in a daze: "No one mentioned the bridge crossing fee? Marquis, do you have to charge?"

"Fart!" Li Mu said angrily, "No charge, do I have to pay so much effort to do charity?"

Li Mu ordered, "From tomorrow - forget it, let's go after the New Year. These days, you can hold it tightly and get stuck at the joint of the Chidao. Build a few checkpoints for me, and charge a section. In addition, notify the Ministry of Revenue that the Taxation Department should come and collect taxes quickly. All goods passing through the checkpoints will be confiscated without the tax payment documents. This is something I and Your Majesty have already decided."

Gongsun Kang hurriedly said, "But Marquis, this Chidao has never collected any fees. Once the fees start, I'm afraid--"

"What are you afraid of? Don't leave if you don't want to leave. You can continue to surround Sanmenxia, ​​but I didn't stop you?" Li Mu snorted coldly and said, "Peachers don't need to pay fees, but those who do business must pay fees. There is no way to take advantage of the world. I don't need to make a cost to build roads? If I remember correctly, this road would still be built with money? I promised to recover the cost and make a profit."

"Marty, no one has ever mentioned collecting money."

Li Mu sneered: "Of course they won't mention it, it's the most beneficial to them. But if you should collect this money, you have to collect it. Without rules, you can't make a square basis. So as the agreed upon, you will start collecting money after the New Year, when will the cost and surplus be recovered, and when will the checkpoint be dismantled again?"

"Next year, all sections of roads in Longyou, Taiyuan, and Yangzhou will be completed one after another. Our Chidao is just a matter of making a move. If there is no rules, the traffic will be impossible. A road will not cost much, but in the future, there will be more and more roads like Chidao, and the construction burden will become greater and greater. If there is no funds to fill it in, relying on the court or just a few people and a few families will sooner or later drag it down."

Gongsun Kang said yes and made the record. But when he finished writing, he suddenly felt that this seemed to be my business, right? Am I just a foreman?

But Li Mu didn't say it, and he didn't dare to ask. Anyway, just do your best to do what you explained.

Next was Dou Ren. When Li Mu left, he and Li Tai were in charge of the Foreign Affairs Office. He had never thought how good he could do, but he had met Li Tai in the past two days and learned from Li Tai that Dou Ren was really desperate. Although his work was not so outstanding, there were no major mistakes. What's even more rare is that not only did not take advantage of his position to greed for money, he instead paid a lot of money and started a business at a loss, which was commendable.

Li Mu read the summary submitted by Dou Ren and listened to his own report, which made it quite similar.

Li Mu didn't hear the big problem, so Li Mu didn't say anything. But Dou Ren felt a little embarrassed. Li Mu didn't say anything. He just thought he hadn't done it well. He begged to look at the other people in the lobby, wanting to find someone to help say a few good things. But the others themselves have not passed the test yet. Who dares to pretend to be a big-tailed wolf and speaks good things to him, and they all lower their heads, but they just think that they didn't see it.

"It's okay, you'll have no achievements or failure." Li Mu finally commented and said, "I've just left the bottom, but it depends on how much profit I can make next year."

Li Mu looked at Dou Ren and said, "You can't make money by doing things yourself. You can afford these money now, but what about the future? This is the Foreign Affairs Office of the Tang Dynasty. It is not a small business of someone. After officially getting on track, if there is another mistake, how much can you get in? When you find that you have lost money, don't always think in your head, I will fill the money to fill the hole, but you have to think seriously whether something is wrong."

Dou Ren wiped his sweat repeatedly, and this invisible pressure made him feel more uncomfortable than being scolded directly.

"If you don't understand, ask Changsun Chong more." Li Mu looked at Changsun Chong in the middle of the lobby and said, "My beloved disciple, you have to go back to the Ministry of Internal Affairs after the New Year. Take the time. If you don't, take notes on the experience he gave you first, and then slowly confirm it in the future."

Dou Ren hurriedly said: "I remember everything, but I remember it all the time,"

Li Mu signaled him to sit down, then looked at the Tubo prince Gem beside Changsun Chong, and said, "I haven't seen him in half a year, have you ever made any progress?"

Gem stood up and wanted to say something, but when he spoke, he felt as if he was boasting about himself, and reached out to pull Changsun Chong's sleeve. The two brothers were together day and night, and Changsun Chong could not bear it and said, "Mr., my junior brother has made great progress. The Foreign Affairs Office is responsible for the affairs of Tubo and the Western Regions. Now he has done it with him."

"This is great. You have learned a lot. I heard that the civil strife in Tubo has subsided. After the Chinese New Year, you can go back."

Gem immediately knelt down and said, "Master, I don't know what I did wrong, so please tell me."

"I didn't do anything wrong," Li Mu said without striking around the bush, "But you are the prince of Tubo after all. The place where you work is my Foreign Affairs Office in the Tang Dynasty. It is inevitable that you are suspected of being a melon field and plum trees. Now you have learned almost everything, so why not go back to Tubo. With you in Tubo, you will be a little bit in the future when you interact with the Tang Dynasty."

"But Master, what has the disciple not learned yet?" Gem said seriously: "The disciple knows all the skills he knows now are from his senior brother, and the master hasn't taught me yet."

"Yo?" Li Mu laughed and asked Changsun Chong, saying, "Have I taught you anything?"

"Uh--" Changsun Chong said in his heart. It seems that he has never taught anything seriously, but he is indeed better than before and has greater ability. This is an indisputable fact, so he said sincerely: "Master teaches by words and deeds, and his disciples benefit a lot."

"It's hypocritical," Li Mu said mercilessly: "Actually, as a master, I know what I have never taught you seriously. It's not important. What's important is whether you have studied it seriously. It's true that Master is leading the door to practice in person. I teach you step by step, maybe you can't learn it even more. What I'm best at is ironwork. Are you willing to learn it?"

"Disciple can learn!" Gem would take the lead and said, "I can hold the hammer and beat it a few times."

"You are still breathing when you say you are fat," Li Mu said bluntly: "Self-taught is the rule of this sect. If you want to learn ironwork, I don't want to hand over it. In a nutshell, I am a secret skill of this sect. It is a core disciple of this sect. You have not reached that level, so I have no longer had any delusions."

Gem was defeated, but he was not dissatisfied. Li Mu's temper was almost done by what Changsun Chong said, and he was expecting something, so he didn't feel lost.

Li Mu looked at Tang Guan again, and Tang Guan smiled bitterly: "Brother, I came to Luoyang and have been preparing for the newspaper, but before I could prepare for the preparation, I was arrested and escorted to the escort of food and grass. After a few months of going around, the newspaper has not been issued. Calculate the time, the fastest time will be after the New Year."

"Then it's all a small problem after the New Year."

Finally, Li Mu turned his attention to Ma Zhou. After a few months of sight, Ma Zhou looked older, thin, small and white. It seems that he has been worried a lot during this period.

Seeing that it was finally his turn, Ma Zhou quickly took out a summary of his body temperature from his arms and wanted to hand it over to Li Mu, but Li Mu pushed it back directly and said, "Your thing is too long, I don't bother to see it. I don't doubt people, I don't need to doubt people. I know your abilities. All the affairs of the Hou Mansion are under your control. If you can't manage it well, it's your business. If you don't manage it well, I won't read this thing."

After pausing, Li Mu said again: "I won't read it, but you can bring a copy to Your Majesty. I'm afraid that the lords in the court want to see it all my heart."

Ma Zhou raised his hand and sweared: "Marty, this summary was only finished this morning, and the ink traces have not been thoroughly dried yet, so no one outsiders have seen it."

"There is no need to swear, I don't doubt you." Li Mu yawned and said, "Let me show you, so that they can see the gap, so that they can always be concerned about comparing. What should I compare? Is it from the same level?"
Chapter completed!