Liang Ronggui was sitting in his hall, stunned for a meal, and he was still holding a simple invitation in his hand, which was the root cause of his absent-mindedness.

Just half an hour ago, a man who claimed to be a government official sent him such an invitation and invited him to gather at Mingyue Tower tomorrow. Without saying anything, he went straight away, making him unable to ask more questions.

If it were in the past, let alone the government office had issued an invitation like this, maybe when the prefect first took office, as a gentry with some assets and prestigious people in Yangzhou City, Liang Ronggui would have come to visit him in person, or host a banquet in a famous restaurant in the city, which would have a relationship with the new prefect.

But now, his family was severely injured by the rebellion, and the situation in the city was not optimistic. He really didn't have the intention. What's more important is that the prefect took the initiative to invite him so much was obviously aimless. As long as you think about the current situation of the government office being poor and deserted, you can know what his idea was.

So this banquet is not easy to catch up. If you go, you will be afraid of bleeding; but if you don’t go, you will not give the prefect face, and the consequences are not something that he, a small businessman, can bear... So when facing this entangled problem, Liang Ronggui weighed the pros and cons for half an hour, but still couldn’t make an idea.

At this moment, a man came hurriedly, and it was Liang Rongfa, a brother who had already separated from him. However, his brothers had a good relationship. He was used to helping each other and facing each other together when he had something to do. When Liang Rongfa entered the hall and saw the invitation in his hand, his face felt bitter: "Second brother, have you received the invitation too?"

Liang Ronggui came back to his senses and looked at his brothers, and asked back with a wry smile: "So you also received an invitation from the government office and came to ask me if I should go?"

"Yes, the government office means nothing, it's not easy to ask whether to go or not." Liang Rongfa said as he sat next to him, poured a cup of tea and started drinking.

"It seems that wealthy merchants of all sizes in Yangzhou City should have received such invitations. Tell me, what decisions will others make?"

"I shouldn't dare to offend the government office. I heard that although the new Prime Minister Li was young, his methods were good. Moreover, he recruited a lot of people from the government office and the Sichuan camp as soon as he arrived. He was also our parents' officials. If he didn't even give him this little face, the consequences would be..."

"I think so too, then go?" Liang Ronggui gritted his teeth and said, "When you look at the reactions of others, we brothers will follow up."

"It's all that. But if I want to say, everyone is not stupid. Now that no one's situation is good, how can we really take out a lot of money and grain to please the prefect?"

"That's hard to say. Aren't the Lu family and Xie family in Yangzhou? We can be the leader of them. Even if the prefect is really dissatisfied, we can't blame us." Once we made up our minds, Liang Ronggui's mind became much more flexible and he gave a more stable countermeasure. This made his brother nodded repeatedly: "Second brother, you are smart enough, that's it. Let's go together tomorrow, so we can take care of it."

...

A day passed in a flash, and the next day was approaching noon, and the Liang brothers took the same car to Mingyue Tower. Although the two had some discussions yesterday and finalized many details, they couldn't help but have another negotiation when they were on the way. Until the carriage stopped outside Mingyue Tower, the servant called out a few times before they shut up.

At this time, several carriages had been parked outside the building. It seemed that they were other wealthy businessmen invited by the government office to attend the banquet. The two of them did not dare to delay and immediately entered the building together. After showing the invitation, they were led by the friend to a rather spacious private room on the third floor.

As they thought, there were already seven or eight people sitting in the room at this time. They were all figures with some prestige in Yangzhou City, so everyone was naturally very familiar with each other. When they saw the Liang brothers coming, they naturally exchanged greetings. However, when someone mentioned the intention of the government office to invite everyone to come, everyone was a little strangely silent. It would be better to say less about these conversations incorrectly.

Among these people, the Liang brothers' property identities were only considered to be mid-sized, so they took a seat between seats that were neither up nor down, chatting with people around them while waiting for important people to appear.

But when they waited, the people from the Lu family and Xie family did not see it, but Li Ling and Chu Lian, who were wearing official uniforms, came with a smile. With Chu Lian's recommendation, Li Ling had seen it with everyone politely, but he could not see any airs of becoming an official, which made many businessmen feel flattered.

When they were greeting Li, Liang Ronggui became more and more uneasy. Did the Lu and Xie families not even send one of them? Do they really not take this new prefect seriously and aren’t they afraid that he will blame him?

However, during the process of meeting with everyone, Master Li did not look unhappy at all. Until he finally sat in the main seat, he still smiled and immediately ordered: "Let's serve the food, it's still too late, so you can't let everyone talk to me on hungry, right?"

Finally, someone couldn't help but reminded him carefully: "Mr. Futai, is this person still not here?" If the people from Lu Xie's family came in a while, and everyone had already eaten and drunk, it would be a bit bad.

The others nodded in agreement, and waiting for a moment was not a big deal. But Li Ling smiled and said, "Aren't everyone here? Will anyone come uninvited?"

"Ah?" Everyone was stunned again. What does this mean? Didn't the prefect invite people from Lu Xie's family? This is too unexpected and too overwhelming.

Li Ling did not give them time to react and ordered the food to serve. Soon, a bottle of good wine and a plate of famous food were sent by the restaurant's shops like flowing water and placed on a separate table for each guest.

After experiencing this change, these rich merchants rarely eat such rich wine and food. However, today they obviously have no intention of tasting delicious wine and delicacies. They only respond when Li Ling raises his glass toast. Most of the time, they just think about what they eat, and what they eat is the same as chewing wax.

However, Li Ling did not see much thought. He ignored the dignity that an official should have, so he picked up a lion's head and ate a bite of white shrimp. It was really a pleasure. It was not until he had finished eating that he looked at Chu Lian, who had not moved his chopsticks much. The latter smiled knowingly: "Everyone, the prefect Li first came to Yangzhou to work, and he felt that he was not as good as the prominent family that you have been here for many years. So today he held a special banquet to treat you to how to get my Yangzhou out of the previous chaos.

"Everyone is a talented person. If you have any suggestions, you can speak freely today. If you say it right, even if you make a contribution to our Yangzhou, you will not blame him if you say it wrong. Please don't be restrained."

The prefect's attitude is indeed very good, but how dare these gentry and businessmen present give advice? Especially when they have no backbone, they are silent, or say humbly that they are not knowledgeable and dare not show off their skills in front of the prefect Li, and do whatever they want.

Li Ling did not feel any dissatisfied with their response. He still looked smiling. He raised his glass and toasted them: "All of you are all righteous people who are mature and polite and are dedicated to the government. I am deeply moved and cannot express my feelings. I can only express my feelings with this glass of water and wine." As he said that, he raised his neck and drank the glass of wine.

The prefect had all dried up the wine glasses. How dare the guests not express their opinions? They raised their glasses and thanked them one by one, and they all drank them. After they drank the wine, Li Ling laughed and said, "Since you are cautious and dare not speak, let me tell you some serious way.

"The situation in Yangzhou is really bad now. The city is half abandoned, the people are in a hurry, and the houses are collapsed. There is no trace of the famous Jiangnan city that people call "One and Two" and the rich and romantic place in Jiangnan!

"And this is not what I am most worried about. Now, 70% of the people in the city don't have a serious place to settle down, 80% can't even have a full meal, and they can only wait for the meal, just ask some rich families to give me some compote and get half full... I saw this, I was really heartbroken and ashamed. I think, as locals in Yangzhou, you are also anxious about the experience of these villagers, right?"

Here we finally showed our true purpose!

Everyone shouted in their hearts, but they could only say so. Can they still oppose the prefect's statement? That's too cold-blooded, how different is it from a beast?

"I feel very relieved that you all have this idea. But I am also very ashamed. As the prefect of Yangzhou, I have limited ability to help the people of the whole city. During the past two days, I have no food and can't sleep at night. I have been thinking about how to solve the current problem. After thinking about it, I finally came to one conclusion, that is, only by helping everyone save themselves can I rebuild my Yangzhou city.

"Whether it is a damaged city wall or a destroyed house, it requires the people of the whole city to work hard at the same time. Now, people cannot even have enough food to eat, so how can they think about rebuilding their homes? The situation in the government office is not optimistic. All kinds of money, grain warehouses have been looted, and I just want to use money, grain, and help the people.

"So for the sake of this plan, I can only ask all the rich gentry in Yangzhou to donate generously. I hope that you will put the overall situation first, pay more money and food, and help me overcome the difficulties in the whole city. I would like to ask you more here, and I hope you will not refuse!"
Chapter completed!