Chapter 475 From Military Leader to King
It is normal to have some ideological differences with Du Qian, and it is also within Li Yun’s expectations.

After all, he can no longer be completely regarded as the Li Yun who grew up in the Cangshan Village. His ideas are more or less different from those of people of this era. If he and Du Qian really think exactly the same and are in perfect harmony, then either he is going against his will or Du Qian is going against his will.

Even if there are differences, the business can still be done.

After all, in Jiangdong, Li Yun has the final say, and everything is based on his opinion. The establishment of the selection system and the reform of the examination subjects are things that Li Yun has wanted to do for a long time.

He was bound to do it.

However, Li Yun himself knew very well that he was not a genius, and the system he had temporarily modified would definitely have some loopholes or drawbacks that could not be seen now.

All of these require time and experience, and need to be modified bit by bit.

However, Li Yun can still be used as a reference.

The imperial examinations of the Great Zhou were quite similar to those of the Li Tang in another world. That is to say, it was still in the early stages of the imperial examination system, and the hierarchy systems such as scholars, juren and jinshi had not yet been perfected.

Li Yun could completely make his own selection system according to the system of the Ming Dynasty, except that he would not use the eight-legged essay and could just replace it with the content he wanted to test.

That way, it’s less likely that something will go terribly wrong.

However, if Li Yun’s idea is followed in selecting scholars, it will certainly be opposed by those Confucian scholars. Here, we need to deal with it in light of the actual situation.

It would be best if this selection system could be established once and for all. However, if there is too much resistance and it is seriously inconsistent with the current actual situation, Li Yun’s bottom line is to add agronomy to the original scientific examination content.

In the future, he will also set up a military academy.

Then, another path was established, which is the selection system for military officers.

At that time, the Ministry of War’s authority to select military officers will be included in this new selection system.

However, these are all things that happened in the future. They cannot be accomplished in a day or two, or even in a year or two. Especially the construction of the military system, it can be said to be a long and arduous process.

After seeing Du Qian off, Li Yun went to his backyard, looked at his wife, picked up his infant son, and gave him a big kiss.

He had been out all this time, so naturally he had no time to take care of himself, and he hadn’t had time to trim his beard. The baby cried loudly, and Li Yun quickly handed the child to Xue Yun’er, smiling and saying, “Our child doesn’t recognize his husband anymore.”

Xue Yuner took it and coaxed the little baby for a long time before he calmed down. She looked at Li Yun with a reproachful look and said, “My husband has been gone for several months. Of course he doesn’t recognize you.”

At this point, Xue Yun’er paused and asked, “After my husband comes back this time, will he go out before the New Year?”

At this moment, there is still more than a month before the Chinese New Year. Li Yun thought carefully and replied: “If there is no particularly urgent situation, I should not go out before the New Year.”

The couple talked privately for a while. Li Yun held Xue Yun’er’s hand and suddenly remembered something. He said, “From now on, if there are irrelevant and unfamiliar people who come to see you, you should not see them if you can.”

Xue Yun’er was a little curious and whispered, “During this period, some irrelevant people came to see me. I sent most of them away. How did my husband know about this?”

“It’s a different identity.”

Li Yun hugged her and said with a smile: “I made a lot of money on this trip to Jiangbei. Our Li family’s small business has grown. From now on, your status as a wife will naturally be different from before.”

Xue Yun’er had also heard about the war in Jiangbei, but she was still a little confused about Li Yun’s current status. After thinking for a while, she asked, “How big is it?”

Mr. Li hugged her, looked at the child in the cradle next to him, and said softly: “One day, your husband will no longer be with the Wu Zhou court, and you can be the queen in Jiangdong.”

Xue Yun’er was startled. She looked up at Li Yun and murmured, “I…I thought my husband was just going to be a military governor.”

Li Yun smiled and said, “That’s almost what I mean, but my title of Jiedushi is different from that of others. No matter how many troops they have or how powerful they are, they are still military leaders, your husband.”

“You can no longer be called a military leader.”

Xue Yun’er was stunned for a long time. Just as she was about to speak, she heard her husband beside her say softly, “Let Dong’er take care of Yuan’er.”

Hearing this, Xue Yuner looked at Li Yun with a chastised look, “What are you doing? It’s still daylight.”

“It’s out of the way.”

Li Yun put his arm around her waist and said with a smile, “Having children is a serious matter.”

Xue Yun’er glanced at Li Yun in a charming manner, then stood up and called Dong’er at the door. Dong’er came over quickly, looked at her young lady with a smile, then reached out and took the little baby Li Yuan out.

Xue Yun’er turned around, closed the door, pursed her lips and walked towards Li Yun.

Thus, the Li family’s great cause began in this small bedroom.

The wind was blowing and the rain was falling, it was very fierce.

……

In the afternoon, Li Shijun, looking refreshed, walked out of his bedroom. He had changed into a clean brocade robe, and his face had been carefully cleaned by Xue Yun’er.

He was already tall, and after putting on this brocade robe, he looked even more dignified.

After walking around Li Garden, Li Yun found his second uncle Xue Shou who was staying in Li Garden temporarily. Before Xue Shou came to Jiangdong, he mainly managed the family business in his hometown, and later did some timber and grain business. He was a relatively down-to-earth person, and he had a good reputation by doing these industrial businesses, so his business was pretty good.

At this moment, he lives in Li Garden with his family. As there is nothing to do, Xue Fang has been mainly taking the third generation of the Xue family, that is, his children, nephews and nieces to study for the past six months.

When Li Yun saw him, Xue Erlang was flipping through an ancient book that had already turned yellow. When he saw Li Yun coming, he quickly stood up and saluted, saying, “Erlang is here.”

Li Yun returned the greeting with a bow and said with a smile: “My second brother is living in Jinling. Are you used to it?”

“Habit, habit.”

Xue Fang asked Li Yun to sit down, then poured tea for him and said, “I have a lot more free time than before, so I have more time to read. I heard that Erlang just returned to Jinling. Why are you here?”

Li Yun lowered his head and drank a sip of tea, then said with a smile, “I want to find something for my second brother to do.”

Xue Fang was stunned for a moment, then smiled bitterly and said, “I am a useless person, how can I help Erlang?”

“Didn’t my second brother do grain business before?”

Li Yun smiled and said, “I want my second brother to go back to Jiangbei and resume his old business and run a grain store again.”

“I will provide you with money and grain. In a year or two at most, you will become the largest grain merchant in Jiangbei, or even Jiangnan.”

Xue Fang frowned and asked, “Erlang has already dominated the south and north of the Yangtze River. Why does he have to go through so much trouble to do this?”

“It’s not about making money.”

Li Yun sighed and said, “Of course, there’s no harm in making a little money, but my main goal is to stabilize the price of grain through a grain store.”

“Second brother may not know that the price of grain in Jiangbei is now nearly 60% higher than that in Jiangnan.”

Xue Fang still couldn’t figure it out, and said, “If we want to stabilize grain prices, the government can just open the warehouses and release grain. Why beat around the bush like this?”

“Second brother doesn’t understand this.”

Li Yun smiled and said, “Even if the government intervenes, unless they directly provide relief, no matter how low the price is, there will still be people who say it’s expensive.”

“Even if all the relief is provided, there will still be people who complain that it is not enough. They want the government to release grain and lower the price of grain, but they need to give out too much grain.”

“But the local grain stores are different.”

“The grain stores only need to sell at a fair price, or a little higher than the market price, so that the people will feel that the high grain prices are over.”

“There is a private grain store.”

“And there are government granaries.”

Li Yun pointed at Xue Fang, then at himself: “If we cooperate with each other, we can control the pricing of grain.”

Xue Fang thought about it seriously, then looked at Li Yun and said, “I have two questions.”

“Brother, just say it directly.”

“The first question is, if our counterparts in Jiangbei come to buy large quantities of low-priced grain and rice, how should we respond?”

“There is a limit on the amount each person can buy per day.”

Li Yun said without hesitation: “If there are still people who buy grain in large quantities with bad intentions, the government will strike hard on them.”

Xue Fang nodded and asked, “Second question, if the government can control grain prices, will there be collusion between officials and businessmen in the future to deliberately raise grain prices?”

“There will be.”

Li Yun sighed and said, “So this matter can only be done by our family. If one day the two of us stop doing it and hand it over to anyone else, I’m afraid that a good thing will turn into a bad thing.”

Xue Fang said “hmm”, stood up and bowed his head and said: “Since Erlang trusts me, I will start preparing for this matter immediately.”

“No hurry, no hurry.”

Li Yun smiled and said, “Let’s talk about it after the New Year.”

The two chatted for a few more sentences before Li Yun returned to his study. At the door of the study, Zhou Bi had been waiting for a long time and said with his head slightly lowered.

“Envoy, Mr. Huang and others have been waiting for a long time.”

Li Yun said “hmm” and walked into the study with his hands behind his back.

“Let them come in one by one.”

(End of this chapter)