Nowadays, Li Ling and Li Prefecture are very famous in Yangzhou City, and their prestige is even higher than that of previous prefects. All the wealthy families attending the meeting are naturally respectful to him. As soon as they see him, they all stood up to pay tribute to him. In other words, Lu Xu and Xie Wenruo, who are more identifiable, can still sit there safely, and nod their heads slightly.

Seeing this, Li Ling felt more at peace. After strode to the long case, he did not sit down. He only pressed his hand down: "Please sit down, everyone." After a moment of pause, he smiled and said, "Now the Japanese official summoned you here for one thing, that is, auctioning out the objects of extremely high value in my Yangzhou City, thereby relieving the current siege of my Yangzhou Prefecture.

"I believe everyone knows how embarrassing Yangzhou Prefecture is now. Fortunately, you have donated money and food before, so that our government office can hire people to rebuild the city, so that hundreds of thousands of people in our Yangzhou City can support their families by relying on their own hard work and avoid a possible disaster. Here, I would like to pay tribute to you, thank you!"

Seeing Li Ling bent down to salute again while talking, the wealthy families were proud, and then quickly stood up and said they didn't dare to take it. After a lot of work, he said again: "But this little money and grain cannot completely solve my Yangzhou trap. I believe everyone has heard of it. The court did not exempt me from taxes this year in Yangzhou Prefecture, but now the people have just returned home and have stuttering, so where can they get the money and grain taxes?

"Since I am a parent in Yangzhou, I have never forced people to go to the dead end, so after thinking about it, I can only ask you for help. But I also know that it is not realistic to let you take more money and grain to help the people regardless of gains and losses as before, and help the government office overcome difficulties, so I decided to make you bid independently through auction."

"Master Li, what does this auction mean?" Seeing that Li Ling stopped talking here, Xie Wenruo asked curiously, and only he and Lu Xu dared to speak out at will.

"Mr. Xie Hou asked well. The so-called auction means that a product is placed in front of you. I set a minimum price. If you want this item, you will increase it above the minimum price. Whoever pays the highest price will belong to whom. As long as you try it once, you will understand how the auction is held." Li Ling explained patiently, and then with a move, he saw a servant sending a scroll in and he personally unfolded it.

This is a calligraphy, which looks very similar, but the name signed by this is not a calligraphy master, but Xuan Zheng. Many people are still familiar with this name.

Li Ling also introduced: "The author of this calligraphy is Xuan Zheng, a former Yangzhou Tongzhi who brought men to resist the rebels' siege several months ago, but finally died at the top of the city. He was a Jinshi from the second grade. He was not only knowledgeable, but also wrote very well. This copy of Kuaixue Shiqing's post was written before the incident, and it was the most visible skill.

"Now, the minimum price of this post is fifty taels of silver. If you want to buy it, you can increase the price on this basis. Whoever pays the higher price will naturally be his."

Everyone was stunned. Can the goods be sold like this? Can the magic treasures left by someone who died for several months be sold?

But then, they thought of some of the value behind this volume of calligraphy. This not only reflects their friendship with Xuan Tongzhi, but also proves that they support the government office and fight against rebellion. Moreover, a piece of calligraphy is only fifty taels, and it is not a loss if they buy it.

So soon, someone raised his hand: "I'll buy this calligraphy for fifty taels."

When they saw people quoting, some other people who were interested stopped talking. It was the first time they played the auction. They were really unfamiliar. But it didn't matter, Li Ling knew how to promote his emotions, so he smiled and looked at the person who raised his hand: "This Mr. Zhang has offered fifty taels. Are there other members who are willing to pay more money to buy? Is there anyone else who bought it?" As he said, his eyes roaming in front of everyone.

After being urged by him, Liang Ronggui, who was already intending to please Lord Li, suddenly raised his hand: "I'll pay sixty taels!"

"Okay, Boss Liang is now offering 60 taels, but is anyone more than him?" Li Ling asked again, speaking faster, as if he was urging. While asking, he glanced around.

"Seventy taels!"

"Eighty taels!"

The auction is the most simple and clear way. After only a few times, everyone understood it and tried to report the numbers. Li Ling also continued to talk one by one, constantly increasing the price for them. When the price was increased to 100 taels, no one finally added it. After all, it was not a famous writer, just a piece of characters, and its real value was really limited.

Li Ling had already picked up the wooden hammer at this time and asked again: "Is this Mr. Huang who bought this letter with a price of 100 taels? Is there any price? One hundred taels once, one hundred taels twice... one hundred taels... three times! Congratulations to Mr. Huang, this last copy of the Kuaixue Shiqing post that Xuan Tongzhi copied during his lifetime is yours. After paying the money, you can take it away."

Mr. Huang was stunned for a moment, and nodded. It was just one hundred taels of silver, which was not too expensive. But some businessmen who knew how to do it, such as Xie Wenruo, showed a strange look: "Can you still do this in this way? In this way, the price of things will continue to rise due to the looting of several people, which is a bit interesting."

Lu Xu also smiled with his beard while looking at Li Ling, and he looked at him with a hint of appreciation. This step seemed to be very good.

Li Ling did not pause, and soon sent someone a new volume of calligraphy and painting, and then repeated the previous process. This time, it was a painting written by the former prefect, and it had not been finished yet, but the lowest price was above the completed calligraphy.

Everyone can understand this. First, the author's identity has a high or low level, and secondly, it seems that it is not completed, and its significance seems to be greater. Therefore, an unfinished painting of 80 taels was actually sold at a high price of 230 taels.

However, after having these two meaningful calligraphy and paintings, some of the authors and calligraphy scrolls with slightly less meaning are not very valuable, and they are almost all bought at the lowest price.

It was not until Li Ling took a copybook of a large size again, slowly opened it, and said solemnly: "This copybook is treasured by me. It was written by Zhang Hefeng, a famous scholar in both Huai Rivers and known as the Confucian master in the world, and presented it to me.

"Originally, I should treasure this character, but for the sake of the overall situation of Yangzhou and for the people to live a stable life, Japanese officials can only give up their love. It is because the Confucian scholar gave me the request to govern the government for the people. Without this character, his lesson has long been in my heart!"

As he explained the origin of this character clearly, the copybook was also opened and displayed by the officers and officers together. On it were four vigorous and powerful characters - "Govern the Government for the People", and the signature was Zhang Hefeng.

Not only is Zhang Hefeng's name known to everyone in the north, but also in Jiangnan, as long as he is interested in learning, it is also well-known. His original works are also a collection of many scholars. When he saw that such copybooks were taken out to auction by Li Ling, many people showed a desire to get it. Even Lu Xu was stroking his beard and became interested.

Moreover, because of Li Ling, this character has an additional layer of halo, which is more valuable than the ordinary characters of Zhang Hefeng.

So, as Li Ling said the minimum price of this calligraphy was 200 taels, someone immediately raised his hand and shouted, "Three hundred taels!" The wealthy families who already knew the auction game also understood the importance of taking the lead and showing the importance of ambition and winning the position.

Unfortunately, this time his plan was wrong, and the high price he thought he had called was quickly blocked: "I'll pay 500 taels!"

"Eight hundred taels!"

"One thousand taels!"

"One thousand two hundred taels!"

"Two thousand taels!" Until Lu Xu suddenly raised his hand to quote such a price, everyone who wanted to compete on the scene shut up.

His identity is here, and the price he shouted was even more instantly killed in the audience, so naturally no one dared to compete with him.

This time, Li Ling did not urge or question again, but held the hammer and shouted loudly three times, then knocked it hard: "Two thousand taels. Congratulations to Mr. Lu, this is yours. You can take it away after you pay the money."

"It's easy to say." Lu Xu smiled and became more and more interested in this auction. He wanted to know what good things he could come up with later. He had only heard that the government wanted to auction the official fields. Now it seems that the real valuable things are not only these fields.

Li Ling was there and took a sip of water.

Thinking about the auctioneers in later generations shouted passionately on the stage for a long time without getting tired. They only stood for more than half an hour and sold less than ten items, but their mouths became dry. This comparison is really not as good as professional.

However, selling the gift of Confucian master at a sky-high price of 2,000 taels was ten times higher than the reserve price, which also made him feel excited, and even thought about whether to go to Zhang Hefeng to buy a few more calligraphy and paintings. This is more money than being an official in business.

But soon, he drove these strange thoughts behind his mind and smiled: "Thank you for your generous donation. The next product is not something you can see first and then buy like the previous calligraphy and paintings. What will be auctioned next are some official fields that our Yangzhou villagers have worked hard to open up.

"Everyone should also know that official land is different from private land. It is not only more fertile, but more importantly, these fields have another great advantage, that is, farming here can also be regarded as a worker in the government, and can be exempted from labor service. However, official land is the official industry after all, and even if I, the prefect of Yangzhou, dare not sell it privately, so today's auction is only the right to use the official land for the next three years.

"Now, taking one hectares as one unit, the minimum price for auctioning official fields is 500 taels!"
Chapter completed!