Tao Sheng is no longer the profit-oriented businessman back then. He has deeply understood the teachings before his father's death. If the Tao family wants to transform from a business to a noble family, they must make huge sacrifices, completely give up the profitable trade, and turn to land.

To this end, the Tao family auctioned thousands of ships of large and small ships in Jingzhou and hundreds of warehouses along the Yangtze River at a low price. The Tao family's boat trip disappeared, and dozens of small boat trips emerged. However, the Tao family had been doing business in Jiangnan for decades, with deep roots and great power. Although the boat trip disappeared, there were more than 20 stores and hundreds of warehouses everywhere. More importantly, there were thousands of loyal friends and their families, involving nearly 10,000 people to survive and eat, so they couldn't come for a while. The Tao family still needed time to change careers slowly.

However, the transformation of the Tao family's identity could not be delayed. Tao Sheng moved the family temple from Xiangyang to Chang'an at the beginning of the year, which means that the Tao family is no longer a large clan in Jingzhou, but one of the gentry in Chang'an.

In order to gain a foothold in Chang'an, Tao Sheng made two major decisions. One was that the Tao family spent a lot of money to establish the Tao Academy, and invited famous scholars from Guanzhong to the famous scholars of Guanzhong to study. He also selected hundreds of smart and outstanding young students from the poor families of Guanzhong to study. Not only did they not receive any money and had free food and accommodation, but they also had to subsidize money and food for students' families every month, and all the children of the Tao family also had to study in the academy.

The second major decision was to buy Xifeng Villa covering an area of ​​hundreds of hectares in Fufeng County. As the Tao family's ancestral estate, it was passed down from generation to generation, giving the Tao family a foundation in Guanzhong.

In addition, Tao Sheng also made many decisions that would help the Tao family gain a foothold in Guanzhong, such as marrying the famous family of Chang'an, Tao Yong, the eldest son of Tao Li, married the daughter of Du, and also bought real estate in Chang'an.

This is also Tao Sheng's sharp vision. He was optimistic about Liu Jing's prospect of seizing Guanzhong and inferred that Liu Jing would move the capital to Chang'an. Therefore, when people in Chang'an were panic and sold the land at a low price, he ate a lot and bought more than 10,000 acres. Now the land price in Chang'an has risen to 20 taels of gold per acre, and it is still difficult to find a place. Tao Sheng made more than ten times more profitable after replacing the goods.

However, Tao Sheng also knew in his heart that Chang'an was different from other cities, and would be the capital of the Han Dynasty. It would be a good thing for him to stock up on a large amount of land like this. Even if Liu Jing didn't care, it would be unfavorable to the reputation of the Tao family. He discussed with his eldest son Tao Zheng and donated half of the land to the government as a land for official residence.

Even so, he still had six or seven thousand acres of residential land in his hands, which made him really uneasy. You know, Liu Jing has been attacking the powerful people in the village. When he was in Chengdu, he forced hundreds of large families to sell half of his fertile land. The Tao family bought hundreds of hectares of manors in Fufeng County and hoarded residential land in Chang'an. What did Liu Jing think of the Tao family?

Tao Sheng has been uneasy about this matter. Unexpectedly, Liu Jing came today and pointed out the matter of the Tao family hoarding land in Chang'an, which made Tao Sheng's heart pound. The thing he was most worried about finally came.

Tao Sheng was nervous and said carefully: "Your Highness, the Tao family bought land not to make money. The Tao family already has enough wealth."

Liu Jing felt the tension in Tao Sheng's heart and smiled faintly: "The Tao family has made outstanding contributions to the development of the Han army. Now, the Tao family is still working for the Han army in various places. I will never forget these. Therefore, I also hope that the Tao family can develop itself, realize the old man's long-cherished wish, and become a famous gentry in the world. I will fully support it. However, the Tao family has a special identity and is the princess's mother's home, so I also hope that the Tao family can be strictly self-disciplined."

Tao Sheng nodded, "The princess also requires this. We are very strict in governing our children. In the academy, we are just like other poor children. We eat simple food and clothes in a commonplace, and we are not special at all..."

"I know all of these, and they are done well, but these are just sub-sections. The key is some big aspects. Does my father-in-law understand what I mean?"

Tao Sheng smiled bitterly, how could he not understand that the big aspect refers to the land, but Xifeng Manor has become the ancestral property of the Tao family, how could he hand over it again?

Liu Jing smiled again and said, "With the financial resources and status of the Tao family and their contributions to the Han army, I think it is not a big problem to own a villa, and everyone can understand it, but the soaring land prices in Chang'an made it difficult for the poor to gain a foothold and make me unable to sleep or eat!"

It was indeed the matter of Chang'an land. Since Liu Jing agreed to Xifeng Villa, he had to give in to Chang'an land. Tao Sheng pondered and said, "I just told Your Highness that the Tao family bought Chang'an land not to make money, so I decided to leave 500 acres of land to build academy, and donate the rest of the land to the government for free as official land."

Liu Jing shook his head, "The Tao family spent a lot of money to buy these lands. More than 10,000 acres of land are worth at least 200,000 taels of gold. The Tao family suffered too much loss. Let's do this! I will compensate the Tao family with ten times the compensation and use a thousand hectares of fertile land in Lingzhou."

After saying that, Liu Jing looked at Tao Sheng with a smile. Tao Sheng couldn't speak for a long time. One thousand hectares of land was only 100,000 acres, which sounded very attractive, but he had to pay a high price to recruit farmers to farm in Lingzhou. For at least ten years, this was a loss-making transaction.

Tao Sheng had no choice but to nod, "Thank you for your kindness!"

Liu Jing stopped mentioning this matter, turned the topic back and smiled at Tao Sheng, "I also want to ask my father-in-law that the skyrocketing land prices in Chang'an has caused public resentment. Is there any way to suppress land prices without harming the interests of Chang'an people?"

Tao Sheng then realized that Liu Jing wanted to suppress the land price in Chang'an, so he first let his land take over before he could make plans. Tao Sheng thought for a while and laughed: "It seems difficult to suppress the land price and not to harm the interests of Chang'an people, but I have a way to take into account both."

Liu Jing was overjoyed, "Sir, please tell me!"

"The land prices in Chang'an soared because the Han Dynasty wanted to establish its capital in Chang'an, and Chang'an would become the capital of the world, so it attracted countless wealthy families from all over the world to come to Chang'an to buy land and houses. Everyone hopes that their family can have a place in the capital, but Chang'an has not much land, so it has caused a huge increase in land prices. Now it is difficult to find a place. If you want to break this situation, there is only one way to expand Chang'an City and give Chang'an enough land supply, so that the land prices will naturally drop."

"But this has harmed the interests of Chang'an people. The land that was originally worth 60 taels of gold turned into twenty taels in a blink of an eye, and everyone will point at my backbone, cursing my mother."

Tao Sheng's eyes narrowed into a slit, "This is the way of business. The same thing must be different from the high and low goods, and the same land price. I mean expanding the land in Chang'an does not mean simply expanding the city. Your Highness can build a medium-sized city on each of the east, west and south sides. It should not be too far apart. Within a quarter of an hour, the road connecting Chang'an should be built to be spacious and flat. The land is controlled by the government and can be sold to the poor in Chang'an at a low price. I believe that those noble families would rather spend more money to buy the land in Chang'an than live with the poor. In this way, the land will be divided and the poor will have a foothold in Chang'an."

Liu Jing nodded and praised sincerely, "I am worthy of being the head of the Tao family, and it did not disappoint me."

Seeing that it was too late, Liu Jing stood up and smiled and said, "The Tao family is one of the best businessmen in the world. They have an extraordinary business mind. It would be a pity that I would give up like this. I advise the Tao family to look further and do business with the Western Regions and the farther West. I hope that on the Silk Road there are not only Hu people in the Western Regions, but also large merchants in the Central Plains. It happened that the Han army captured a thousand camels on the battlefield, and I would reward them all to the Tao family."

Tao Sheng returned to his mansion with a lot of worries and met Liu Jing today, but he was not happy. It was not because of the land problem. With the Tao family's strong financial resources, he didn't take that little land seriously. The key was that Liu Jing gave him 100,000 acres of fertile land in Lingzhou, and finally Liu Jing proposed to let the Tao family do Western business. These two things made Tao Sheng embarrassed.

When he returned to the study, Tao Sheng immediately ordered someone to find his brother Tao Li and his eldest son Tao Zheng. Soon, the two of them went to Tao Sheng's study one after another. Tao Sheng first asked Tao Li, "How are the two houses decorated?"

"We are working hard, and the house in Longwang Lane can be completed the day after tomorrow. The ancient Huai Mansion needs to be decorated a little more, at least five days."

Tao Sheng suddenly remembered something. His brothers spent a lot of money on Guhuai Mansion, but the building in Longwang Lane didn't care much about it, and just repaired it casually. This made Tao Sheng feel a little strange. Why is the difference between the two mansions so big?

He was about to ask, but Tao Li winked at him. Tao Sheng was stunned. He looked at the eldest son sitting upright next to him and stopped asking. He sighed and told him again about the meeting with Liu Jing today. Finally, he said helplessly: "These two things really bother me. What's the use of coming to 100,000 acres of Lingzhou land? Also, if we want to do business in the Western Regions, to be honest, I just don't want to let the Tao family do business anymore."

At this time, Tao Zheng looked at his father strangely, "Don't he know?"

"What do you know?"

Tao Sheng was stunned, "What's the matter with me?"

"Father, I'm afraid the child will be appointed as the governor of Lingzhou."

"etc!"

Tao Sheng was in a mess and said anxiously: "Aren't you the prefect of Jingzhao? If you did something wrong, how could you be demoted to Lingzhou? What is the Lingzhou Strategic Envoy?"

"Father, the child did nothing wrong, and he was not demoted or promoted. The Lingzhou Strategic Envoy was one level higher than the governor. Even the Chengdu Prefectural Order Ma Liang was appointed as the Strategic Envoy of Shangjun to restore production and population within the pass."

Tao Sheng then realized that it was no wonder that Liu Jing wanted to give the Tao family 100,000 acres of land in Lingzhou. It turned out that his son would be appointed as the Lingzhou Strategic Envoy. He thought about it and said, "Although it is an improvement, it will take at least twenty years to restore the Lingzhou economy. Do you have to stay in Lingzhou for these twenty years?"

"No! No! It doesn't take twenty years. Just stay for one term, that is, five years. The King of Han promised me that in five years, I will join the Pingzhang Platform to serve as an important position."

"Did the King of Han agree to let you become a prime minister?"

Tao Sheng was suddenly excited and his voice trembled. When he entered Pingzhang Platform to take an important position, wouldn’t that be the Prime Minister? Oh my God! The Tao family is going to become the Prime Minister.

Tao Zheng smiled bitterly and said, "Maybe he should take the post of Shangshu and Secretariat first. According to convention, if you want to become a prime minister, you must hold an important position in the court for at least three years. But I do not meet this rule, so I think the King of Han refers to the post of Shangshu and Secretariat."

"That's not bad. At least eight years later, you will be able to become a prime minister. You were only forty-three years old. It was the time when you were young and strong, and the Tao family had hope."

Tao Sheng was so excited that he was unable to calm down. He paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back, and then turned around and said, "I understand what the Han King means. The Han King hopes that our Tao family will participate in the development of Lingzhou. I decided that in addition to 100,000 mu of land, I would also rent another million mu of fertile land, and our Tao family would pay to recruit farmers. This matter must be done even if it is a loss."

At this time, Tao Li smiled and said, "I'm afraid the King of Han also knew that our development of Lingzhou would cost a lot. He was worried that we would lack financial resources, so he asked us to do Western business, use the Silk Road to make huge profits, and use the profits obtained from the West to subsidize Lingzhou. That's why the King of Han gave our Tao family a thousand camels."

Tao Sheng was stunned for a moment, and patted his forehead hard, "Why didn't I expect it!"

Tao Sheng pondered for a long time and said to Tao Li: "Issue a Pisces Order and order the deacons in various places to arrive in Chang'an within 20 days."

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Chapter completed!