Yuan Tiangang pondered for a moment, then smiled bitterly and said, "Your Highness, as a person outside the world, I should not be concerned about some common things. But as a Taoist sect, looking at the current situation of Taoism makes me worried. Although the royal family is vigorously promoting Taoism, its influence is still not as good as that of foreign Buddhism, let alone compared to the ruling Confucianism."

Li Yan was a little surprised when he heard Yuan Tiangang's words. Originally, with his impression of Yuan Tiangang, the other party seemed to be an expert in the world and didn't care about anything. Unexpectedly, he had such a passionate heart towards the Taoist sect.

Yuan Tiangang then said: "There are many Taoist schools nowadays, and each school has its own theories. In this way, there is no synergy. If the current situation continues, the influence of the Taoist sect will only become weaker and weaker, and will sooner or later be squeezed out by Buddhism. However, the idea of ​​the military academy and medical school opened by Your Highness made me shine inspiration. I thought that if a Taoist academy was opened, the various theories were integrated into it, and then the Taoist talents who had no sect views were cultivated. I believe that in a hundred years, the Taoist sect in the world would definitely have no more views on the Taoist sect!"

Yuan Tiangang became more and more excited as he spoke. A look of fanaticism appeared on his face, which had always been calm. It can be seen that people who truly indifferent to fame and fortune do not exist in this world, and everyone has their own persistence in their hearts.

After hearing this, Li Yan understood the reason why Yuan Tiangang was looking for him. As long as Yuan Tiangang proposed it, Li Shimin would definitely support it. However, this support was limited. At most, an imperial edict was issued, giving a legitimate name, and then a place was designated as the institute site. As for the funding for the construction of the college, I'm sorry, the treasury was really empty. As for the money Li Yan got, it was mortgaged from the people of the Tang Dynasty. It could be used to fight the west and build a military academy. However, it was not possible to build a Taoist academy. After all, it had nothing to do with the national economy and people's livelihood. It would damage the prestige of the court if it was spread.

After thinking through the above, the reason why Yuan Tiangang came to Li Yan was about to come out. Apart from asking him for financial support, there was definitely no second reason. Who made Li Yan's mansion have countless industries, and they are the most profitable industries? The Qi Mansion, which used daily money to describe him, was already a little behind.

As the leader of Datang industry and commerce, Li Yan has experienced large and small industries such as cement, coal, fishery, canned food, glass, textiles, etc. In some industries, the Qi Wangfu still occupies a major market share, and the huge profits earned from these industries have already made Li Yan the leading capitalist in the Tang Dynasty. Even he doesn't know how much wealth he has.

However, after Li Yan understood what Yuan Tiangang meant, he stood behind the desk and fell into deep thought. Establishing a Taoist academy was not difficult for him, but the significance represented by this matter was extremely important, because it was related to the dispute between Buddhism and Taoism. Faith sounds very ethereal, but in fact, it is extremely important for human society.

After Li Yan came to the Tang Dynasty, he has been committed to promoting the development of industry and commerce. In fact, the words of later generations are the construction of material civilization. However, spiritual civilizations such as faith and morality have not been interfered in other aspects except for the newspapers that have been created recently. Unexpectedly, they were brought up by Yuan Tiangang today.

Li Yan, who was thinking, walked back and forth in the room for a few steps, finally raised his head and said, "Master Yuan, it is not difficult for me to build a Taoist academy. But the Taoist priest has thought about how to maintain the Taoist academy after it is built, and even how to develop in the future?"

Li Yan suddenly asked about the idea. The cost of maintaining a college was also amazing. He could not always donate free of charge. Yuan Tiangang frowned after hearing this, and thought for a while before saying, "I would discuss this with the people of various Taoist temples. They can pay some expenses every year. In addition, there are many believers in our Taoist sect, and they can donate some. Together, these should be enough for the operation of the college, right?"

Hearing Yuan Tiangang's answer, Li Yan showed a meaningful smile and said, "Master Yuan, it's not that I'm talking about you. The two methods you mentioned are really passive for the academy. Take the first method as an example. Although there are many great Dao Temples, many Dao Temples can indeed receive a lot of donations, but the expenses of Dao Temple are also large. It is a question of how much money they can afford. As for the donation of believers, it is even more a matter of luck. If you can't get the money in one year, can the academy still be run?"

"This..." Yuan Tiangang was speechless, but when he saw the expression on Li Yan's face, he immediately bowed and said, "I am so dull, please ask Your Highness the King of Qi for advice!" When it comes to making money, naturally no one can compare with Your Highness the King of Qi in front of him.

"Hehe, in fact, Master Yuan is holding a gold brick without knowing it!" Li Yan smiled very proudly, because he was about to create a feat of an era. "Master Yuan, do you know who invented the method of purifying saltpeter, *********, and the smelting techniques of various precious metals?"

Yuan Tiangang's eyes lit up after hearing this, and he seemed to have caught something in his mind, but he couldn't figure it out for a moment, so he spoke, "Your Highness, although you can't be sure which sage you said was invented by any predecessor, you can be sure that both gunpowder and other things are all circulated from my Taoism."

Li Yan was waiting for this sentence. He slapped his desk excitedly and said excitedly: "Yes, you are popular in Taoism to refine the golden elixir that makes people immortal. In fact, during your elixir, you not only understand the characteristics of many substances, but also invented many new technologies and new products. But you don't pay attention to it. As for gunpowder, everyone now knows that gunpowder is a killing weapon on the battlefield and can play a decisive role when siegeing cities. However, after you Taoism invented gunpowder, you only know how to make it into fireworks for fun. Such a wasteful act is really heartbreaking!"

Speaking of the last sentence, Li Yan suddenly turned around and looked directly at Yuan Tiangang and said again: "Actually, your understanding of the characteristics of matter can summarize a specialized science. I call it chemistry. Chemistry is closely related to human life and can be used in countless aspects, such as saltpeter ice making, coal combustion, etc., which are all chemical reactions. In the research of chemistry, many new technologies and new products can be invented, and these can be directly converted into wealth. With these, will your college still have to worry about maintenance issues at that time?"

When Li Yan spoke, his voice was full of temptation. Yuan Tiangang wanted to develop Taoism, while Li Yan wanted to use his hand to integrate the power of Taoism and then start the chemical industry. Although the final goals of the two were different, the process between them was the same.

"This... can this work?" Although Yuan Tiangang also felt a little passionate, he was old and had a weak ability to accept new things. Therefore, although Li Yan had a good prospect, he was still a little unconfident.

"Of course, don't you want to solve the wear resistance of gum this time? This is just the first issue of your Taoist Academy. As long as you solve this problem, I will cover all the construction costs of Taoist Academy, and there will be a year of maintenance costs. As long as you are in the year of establishment of the college, you will come up with useful products or technologies. Even if I don't need it, the industry and commerce of the Tang Dynasty are developing so fast, and wealthy business owners are everywhere. There will always be people who are willing to spend money to sell your technology." In order to cheer Yuan Tiangang up, Li Yan patted his chest and promised.

Yuan Tiangang stayed in Dengzhou for nearly a year and had a deep understanding of the development of industry and commerce there. Especially in the Academy of Sciences where he was, there were many groups working on new technologies and inventions, so he was not unfamiliar with the model mentioned by Li Yan, and he also knew that the invention of a new technology could indeed bring huge wealth to the inventors.

Thinking of this, Yuan Tiangang finally strengthened his confidence and bowed to Li Yan and said, "Thank you for your advice, I understand!"

Seeing that Yuan Tiangang was fooled by him and boarded the pirate ship, Li Yan finally breathed a sigh of relief. With these Taoist priests doing chemical engineering, and with his frequent guidance, although they could not create too complicated chemical products in a short period of time, at least there was no problem with soap, glycerin and other things. Then, I would no longer need that kind of pig pancreas when I took a bath.

After discussing the details of the Taoist Academy with Yuan Tiangang, Li Yan agreed to the other party that after the Taoist Academy was built, he would sort out some of the chemistry knowledge and concepts he knew and give them to the Taoist Academy for free. Yuan Tiangang was also very grateful for this because he knew that Li Yan had learned a lot. Although each of them was not very deep, he had his own unique understanding of various knowledge and could get his help. I believe that they would be much easier when studying the chemistry science.

After explaining the matter of Taoist Academy, it was already the lights. Before they knew it, they chatted for an afternoon. At the lunch banquet, they mainly drank and their stomachs were not filled at all. So now they were hungry, and Li Yan was too lazy to go to the main hall again. So they simply asked someone to send the food to the study room and light candles around him. He and Yuan Tiangang sat opposite each other, eating and talking while eating like old friends.

Just as the meal was about to be finished, Li Yan's eyes accidentally swept over a candle next to him. Perhaps the servant who was holding the lamp was accidentally made the candle too close to the wall, and the flames burned to the wall, burning the snow-white wall to a charred black look, looking very eye-catching.

"Haha~, I remembered it!" Seeing this, Li Yan suddenly had a flash of inspiration and screamed excitedly. (To be continued...)
Chapter completed!