Longzang

Chapter 1097 Purpose
The launch of pre-sale apartments did indeed boost residential construction in Qingming and Yizhou, and many businesses sensed the potential of Qingyuan.

The managers of these merchant houses were all shrewd individuals who, with a little calculation, saw the enormous profits involved. They mobilized all their connections, intending to get involved. Faced with this enormous opportunity worth tens or even hundreds of millions of yuan, countless people went crazy for it; the lobbyists even included Xiaoyu's aunt and Xu Henshui's cousin.

However, Xiao Yu, Xu Henshui, Bao Yun, and the others turned away all these lobbyists and then came to Wei Yuan themselves to let him make the decision.

Upon hearing that Xiaoyu's aunt and Xu Henshui's cousin had both visited, Wei Yuan was momentarily stunned before regaining his composure.

The families of noble families are related by blood, and the fact that the cultivators of Taichu Palace, and even Bao Yun, came to Wei Yuan to persuade him indicates that the connections they used were extraordinary. However, Bao Yun was different from the others; her main purpose was to see Wei Yuan, and the persuasion was merely an excuse.

By the time Wei Yuan realized this, Huang Hou had already regressed further.

In fact, the various merchants overlooked one thing: the architecture of Qingming and that of the Nine Kingdoms are fundamentally different, and their standards are completely different as well. The cement has been updated to a new generation, and the construction methods have undergone subtle changes. Even many formwork cultivators who specialize in construction are unable to handle the task of building the latest structures without receiving new training.

Faced with the merchants who wanted to participate, Wei Yuan was not a rigid person. On the one hand, he opened the door wide, allowing each merchant to participate in residential development as long as they could submit a certain amount of Qingyuan as a deposit. On the other hand, Wei Yuan quickly introduced strict and detailed construction standards, requiring the developing merchants to have the capability to meet them.

These standards numbered in the thousands, resembling a thick book. When the merchants received this newly published set of standards, they were completely dumbfounded. Many of the standards were completely unheard of, and they had no idea what they were. However, the merchants were clever; they immediately realized that local construction companies in Qingming would surely be familiar with the standards, so why not cooperate with them?
As a result, foreign merchants sought to collaborate with local Qingming architectural practitioners to jointly undertake construction and repair projects.

Wei Yuan agreed to bring in external trading companies, partly to emulate the competitive mechanism of the outer world, and partly to leverage the capital and connections of powerful families. The more involved and deeply they became, the more likely they were to side with Qingming.

Wei Yuan then divided the residences into small sections, some with only one building and others with dozens of buildings, and distributed them out to different businesses to choose which ones to build.

The people of Yizhou currently have loans in hand, and their enthusiasm for buying houses is high. Many buildings are sold out as soon as they are launched.

However, Wei Yuan underestimated the greed of people's hearts. Some merchants simply dug a hole in the ground and dared to sell the buildings drawn on paper. In the blink of an eye, they sold out and recovered a large amount of Qing Yuan.

With a massive amount of Azure Yuan in hand, the manager of this trading company began to harbor inappropriate thoughts. He reasoned that honestly building the structure according to Azure Nether's standards would require an investment of one million Azure Yuan, with a net profit of only five hundred thousand. But now, with one and a half million Azure Yuan already in hand, and digging a pit only cost a few thousand, he figured it was time to cash out and run away. Even without the one hundred thousand Azure Yuan deposit, he could still make a net profit of more than ten times his initial investment.

So the business owners secretly plotted to skip building the building and simply run away. They had only finished discussing their plans the night before and were about to disguise themselves and leave Qingming when, the next morning, Qingming law enforcement cultivators suddenly broke down the door and arrested all the business owners.

The same scene played out in various parts of Qingming. Within a few days, Qingming law enforcement cultivators were mobilized in full force, raiding more than 30 out-of-town businesses and arresting hundreds of people.

These business owners naturally didn't understand that while they thought they had seen a business opportunity, others also discovered the loopholes. As a result, the simultaneous planning by multiple people disturbed the natural order, which Ji Liuli noticed. With a single divination, he predicted that these people wanted to abscond with the money, so he launched a preemptive strike and captured them all.

As for the interrogation, under the methods of the immortals, there was naturally no possibility for a mere Dharma Aspect Dao Foundation to conceal anything, and the confession was completed in half a day.

This incident made Wei Yuan realize the loopholes in the original system and gave him a completely new understanding of the greed and audacity of the merchants. As a result, Wei Yuan changed the system: residents' housing purchase payments had to be deposited entirely into Qingming Bank, and all outside merchants had to advance funds for building construction, only receiving their housing purchase payments after the buildings were completed.

Most of the businesses that dared to undertake projects at Qingming were wealthy and powerful, and this was a good way to raise the bar and suppress competitors, so they all agreed. The new regulations not only closed the loopholes but also had an unexpected benefit: after residents deposited their home purchase funds into the money exchange, they could then use the money to issue mortgages. After receiving the mortgages, residents would quickly deposit them back into the money exchange, and then Qingming Money Exchange could issue mortgages again…

The Qingming loan business is now highly developed and has a wide coverage. Almost everyone has achieved a wealthy life and embarked on their cultivation journey ahead of time thanks to loans. Meanwhile, the people in the surrounding areas of Qingming have to work hard to grow raw materials and mine minerals, sell them to Qingming at low prices, and then use those resources to purchase high-end goods such as weapons and armor at high prices.

Some insightful people from various countries have already pointed out the problems: Why do we have to use tens of thousands of kilograms of ore to exchange for a set of armor weighing one hundred kilograms from Qingming? Why can't the people afford the fruits and spirit rice they painstakingly grow? Why can't the silkworm farmers, who work hard all year round raising silkworms and reeling silk, ever afford a single piece of fine silk clothing?
These questions quickly sparked a wave of reflection in the State of Zhao, but just as the discussion was gaining momentum, a mysterious person quietly came to visit.

Then many insightful people began to receive regular payment from the Qingming International Development Agency. The content of their articles changed from the above issues to arguing that "Zhao State will not be able to produce Qingming's high-quality products even in three hundred years." They then began to call for "it is better to buy than to make, and better to rent than to buy," and "to surrender now is to lose with dignity."

Now, Qingming is not only changing himself, but also beginning to influence the surrounding countries and even the Liwu.

Before they knew it, it was March of the thirteenth year of the Hongjing era. Wei Yuan still hadn't encountered Cangwu, and felt empty and lost. Just then, Li Zhi arrived late to visit.

Overjoyed at their long-awaited reunion, Wei Yuan personally welcomed Li Zhi to his study before inquiring about his purpose.

Once Li Zhi was seated, he said in a deep voice, "Brother Wei, I intend to rebel. I ask for your help!"

Upon hearing this, Wei Yuan was greatly surprised. He hadn't even made any preparations yet, so why was Li Zhi going to make the first move?

It wasn't until Li Zhi explained his purpose that Wei Yuan felt relieved. It turned out that this guy just wanted to incite a chaotic world disaster, and the pretext he was using was to "purge the court of corrupt officials"... Purge the court of corrupt officials?

With the Grand Tang Qingyang Military Governor and concurrently the Military Governor of Yizhou, and the Duke of Ji and concurrently the Military Governor of Xianghan by his side, Wei Yuan now finds the phrase "purging the court of corrupt officials" grating on his ears.

In name only, Wei Yuan is now the most powerful minister in the State of Ji, wielding military power and controlling a vast territory. Li Zhi, in his campaign to purge corrupt officials, is actually targeting whom?
Seeing Wei Yuan's unfriendly gaze, Li Zhi quickly explained. After a long explanation, Wei Yuan finally understood that Li Zhi's purge of court advisors was just an excuse; his real purpose was still to rebel.

rebel???

Wei Yuan still didn't quite understand what the Four Saints Academy was planning at this moment, or which side they were on.

Wei Yuan sat calmly, waiting for Li Zhi to persuade him. Li Zhi must have given this matter considerable thought, considering all aspects thoroughly, and had the full support of the Southern Qi Li family and the Four Saints Academy. He likely had other hidden contingency plans yet to be implemented. Furthermore, besides preparing his strength, he must have already considered a crucial issue: how to deal with the Ji Kingdom's royal family, that is, how to cope with the backlash from the Martial Ancestor's scheme.

Wei Yuan wanted to hear Li Zhi's reasons for rebelling at this time, and why he believed he might succeed.

Li Zhi stared at Wei Yuan and asked only one question: "Will you help me or not?"

(End of this chapter)