It's indeed here!

The guests present changed their colors. Although they were ready, when Li Ling expressed his intentions, they still felt nervous. Then, they looked at each other again, until the prefect Li looked up, no one answered.

It is really hard to agree to this matter. As a local from Yangzhou, who doesn’t know how bad the situation is now? It can’t be filled by donating thousands of taels of silver. It’s a bottomless pit. Once you agree at this time, such things will never end.

Not to mention that they suffered losses in this chaos, their family business was not as good as before. Even if they were safe and sound, they would not dare to agree easily. Therefore, even if the prefect Li lowered his attitude, they would not dare to really ruin their major events because of their temporary emotions.

After waiting for a while, but still no one set an example, Li Ling's expression became a little unkind: "Why, none of you want to share the worries of our officials and government offices, and help the people of Yangzhou?"

"People from the Taigong University should calm down. We are really poor in wealth and have little power, so it is difficult for us to provide too much help to the government." After Li Ling asked this, the wealthy businessmen sitting in the front could not withstand the pressure anymore and quickly gave a reason.

"Yes, since we are from Yangzhou, we are naturally willing to do our best to the villagers. However... we were also damaged in the previous chaos. More than half of our family's property was robbed by thieves. Now we are just talking about making a living. We really can't bring too much silver and grain to help the people in the city."

"Sir, I'm really powerless..."

For a moment, they spoke, crying and poor, almost saying that their families would not be able to get out of the way. Anyway, they refused to let go and agreed to pay. Before they could make further strong statements, they insisted on not taking any more.

Seeing this, Chu Lian looked annoyed and wanted to scold everyone. The new Master Li, who came to the house, didn't know that he knew very well. Although he was far inferior to the Lu Xie family, he was also rich. He had already hidden all his valuable things and food before the city was broken, so how could he be as miserable as they said when they complained?

However, the words he said were stopped by Li Ling's eyes. He saw that he was not angry too much, but nodded quite understanding: "I know all the difficulties. After all, the military disasters that I suffered in Yangzhou are the leader of the prefectures in Jiangnan. Who has not been harmed by rioters?

"But compared to you, the lives of ordinary people are more difficult. You can see that they are in the same city. Their homes have been destroyed, and they can only survive every day with the soup of alms. It is not an exaggeration to say that the day is not safe. Do you just have the heart to survive like this and even starve to death in the end?"

Liang Ronggui felt miserable. He really didn't want to see such a scene appear, but he changed his mind at this time, especially when others were still insisting on it, saying that he was willing to pay for food and silver, for fear that he would become a thorn in everyone's eyes. So he just moved his body and forced himself to endure it.

Not only him, but some other people, still suppressed their faces after a little change. If they just handed over to the prefect, it would be fine to take out some silver. They would rather spend thousands or tens of thousands of taels of silver. But now, it would be hard to make up for such a bottomless pit.

At this time, Li Ling's face suddenly changed, and his eyes became sharp, and he flew past everyone like a sword, making them feel scared. His voice was also cold: "Do you think I am worried about my own future? You are wrong. I am considering the stability of Yangzhou and those of you who have considerable assets in your family.

"Have you ever thought about what choice would they make if the people in this city really couldn't survive? Should they wait quietly for death to come, or try hard before death? I'm afraid anyone would choose to take risks for their own and their family's survival?

"At the time when Yangzhou had a strong city to defend and a battalion of officers and soldiers were available, the city was still broken by the army of chaotic people. Then one day after that, when the people who could not survive in the city became chaotic people, do you think you could save your family's life?

"By then, my government office would probably be powerless to stop it, so we could only watch the hungry people gather and sweep the whole city. Not to mention that I am exaggerating, every civil unrest that has been caused by such disasters, and the people are born in misery.

"And it's late autumn now, and the people who have lost their residence can still survive. But what if the weather is completely cold in winter? Do you think that just giving some porridge and soup can stabilize the people in the city? If they can't let them eat and wear warmth, and they can't let them have a home to stay away from the cold, these hundreds of thousands of people will become rioters who will kill you at any time!"

Li Ling's words were as straight as a sword, piercing everyone's hearts, causing their faces to change constantly, and they had to face this possibility officially. They might have had this result before, but they were subconsciously ignored. But now, as the prefect Li said it directly, they had to face it.

Feeling their nervousness, Li Ling continued to increase his efforts: "Of course, such a thing may not happen. As the prefect of Yangzhou, I will do my best to stop the rebellion from resurgence. If the people are willing to sacrifice for the stability of Yangzhou, I will definitely not be able to do my best to stop the rebellion. If the wise men in the city are willing to sacrifice for the stability of Yangzhou, I will naturally express my gratitude and will be compensated in the future. However, if some people are still short-sighted and do not know how to advance or retreat, I can only use extraordinary means to eliminate this chaos."

The words were almost completely clear, and everyone looked at Li Ling, who had no smiles and a firm face in horror. It could be seen that he was not talking casually. Some people who knew his past actions felt even more fear in their hearts and their bodies were trembling slightly.

Finally, Liang Ronggui couldn't bear the huge pressure and spoke first: "What the prefect said is very reasonable, and the villain saw his mistake. I... Liang Ronggui is willing to take out half of my family's food and 30,000 taels of silver to help the people of Yangzhou overcome this difficulty."

After Liang Ronggui finished speaking, Li Ling looked at him and smiled and nodded. He felt his heart wide open, and he couldn't even feel the pain of taking out so many properties.

Liang Rongfa is really worthy of being his brother, and he also expressed his opinion: "The villain Liang Rongfa is also willing to take out the money and grain equivalent to his brother to share the worries of the government office. No, no need to ask for any reward!"

With two leaders, the other people's concerns were much less, and they followed up. For a moment, you paid 50,000 taels of silver and I paid 5,000 dou of grain. It was really not lively, and Chu Lian was stunned.

In fact, it was not just him, but even Li Ling was a little surprised by their statement. He knew that Jiangnan was rich, especially the wealthy businessmen and gentry here, who were rich and wealthy, but he did not expect that these guys' property was so generous.

All of them spoke out for tens of thousands of taels of silver. The silver that the dozen or twenty people in front of them had been given out was hundreds of thousands of taels at once, and the food could be obtained was nearly 30,000 shi. This was the manifestation of these wealthy families' families after the war disaster, and it was within the range of losses they could accept.

If this was placed in the Lianghuai River or even the capital, any wealthy family would have to go out to beg for food if they had such a lot of money from their homes.

But in a blink of an eye, Li Ling suppressed this amazement, and smiled again on his face, bowed and bowed again: "You are a good person, on behalf of all the people of Yangzhou, I thank you for your generous donation and help. But please rest assured, I will not let you take out so much money and food for nothing."

When everyone heard what he said, their hearts moved again. Although they were suffering from heavy bleeding this time, if the Lord of the Mansion really compensated, everyone could at least make some benefits.

Li Ling swept over everyone and said with a smile: "After a moment, you will register the number of money and grain to be donated here. This official will have someone copy and engrave the inscription and stand it in front of the lobby of our government office so that all the people of Yangzhou in the future will know the contributions you have made to everyone and make everyone grateful for your kindness."

This announcement made many wealthy businessmen with not very high status lit up their eyes. The inscription left in later generations will naturally be of great benefit to their descendants. However, more wealthy people with a certain status are not low and have a certain reputation did not respond much to this, because they have already had fame and something else, and they are not short of this praise.

Li Ling saw everyone's reaction and smiled and said, "In addition, starting next year, our official will re-arrange the salt and iron specialty of our Yangzhou Prefecture. At that time, your contribution to Yangzhou will become the focus of measurement."

If the previous inscriptions made the famous name only moved a few people, as the statement about the salt and iron was revealed, almost all the wealthy gentry present showed expectations and joy.

The official salt and iron business has been the largest input of the imperial court in addition to tax revenue since the Han Dynasty. It is precisely because it is in an official monopoly position that these industries are profitable among the people. It can be said that as long as you can get the right to sell controlled items such as salt and iron from the government, not to mention a huge profit, any company can accumulate a large amount of wealth in a short period of time.

Because of this, such transactions generally cannot fall into the hands of ordinary wealthy businessmen with shallow backgrounds. In Yangzhou, they are all on-the-trade foods from Lu and Xie families. Now, the prefect has actually opened a hole for them, even if there are not many, it is enough for everyone here to be excited.
Chapter completed!