Sun Mo received Gong Li in the guest room: "I just came here, and I haven't bothered to clean the room yet, and there is no hot water, so please be patient."
"You're welcome, Minister."
Li Gong lowered his eyebrows and stood aside. Although Sun Mo said he could sit wherever he wanted, how could he dare to sit down? He was as obedient as a baby.
As for tea?
Just kidding, Li Gong is not qualified to drink tea in front of Sun Mo. Being able to enter this villa is already a great gift.
"Tell me, what's going on?"
Sun Mo did not force Li Gong to do what he said, because the Tang Dynasty in Jinling was a feudal dynasty, and there were classes between people.
Li Gong is like a servant in front of Sun Mo. This is a deep-rooted servile thought. If you let him sit down, it will make him uneasy and wonder if he has done something wrong and made Sun Mo unhappy?
"The Ma family, the Wei family, and the Zhang family are conspiring to raise prices."
Engineer Li reported and handed over a piece of information.
Sun Mo took it and browsed it quickly while listening to Li Gong's report.
"These three commercial banks are responsible for more than 90% of the material purchases for our school. Once prices increase, given the current financial situation of Zhongzhou School, we will be without food in five days at most."
The reason why Li Gong became former minister Yang Cai's number one henchman was not only because he was a good flatterer, but also because he was too efficient in doing things.
Li Gong, in terms of character and character, it would not be too much to call him a scumbag, but he is indeed capable, knows all the three religions and nine schools, and has a very wide circle of connections.
"Who ordered it? Zhang Hanfu?"
Sun Mo looked calm. He had just become a minister. It would be strange if Zhang Hanfu didn't fight back.
"have no idea!"
Li Gong told the truth. With Zhang Hanfu's power, he could not affect the circle of the trading company. It was probably other big guys who took action.
"oh?"
Sun Mo's brows furrowed slightly: "Can it be changed to another trading firm?"
"cannot!"
Li Gong explained: "The reason why these three commercial banks have been able to cooperate with us for more than 20 years is because the vegetable farmers, charcoal farmers, and meat farmers they are responsible for have been eating with our school and are our foundation."
If Zhongzhou University wants to gain a foothold in Jinling and expand its influence, it not only needs connections in the elite circles, but also needs a huge mass base at the bottom.
Ordinary families like these can be said to be completely on the side of Zhongzhou Academy. When their children reach the age where they should go to school, if they can enter Zhongzhou Academy, they will definitely choose this school first.
There are also Jinling and even Jiangnan. If there is a flood, drought, or rebellion by soldiers and bandits, the food, cloth, and vegetables produced by these people will be supplied to Zhongzhou University immediately. Even if people from other places come to add money to buy, they will buy it.
Less than.
Of course, in return, the children of these vegetable farmers, even if they are slightly less talented, can enter Zhongzhou Academy to study.
It can be said that the relationship between Zhongzhou University and these farmers is like fish and water.
"Can we bypass those three trading houses and trade directly with farmers?"
Sun Mo asked.
"Minister, those farmers don't know a word of Chinese characters. They must be led by someone. And farmers, small farmers are very conscious and are afraid of being cheated, so they only trust the three companies that have been cooperating with them for many years!"
When Li Gong said this, his expression was full of contempt. Those farmers thought those three firms were good, but they didn't know how much price difference they had made and how much blood they had sucked.
There is no way, this is the limitation of cognition.
"Minister, don't think about doing it yourself. The consequences of bypassing the trading company will be very serious."
Li Gong saw Sun Mo thinking deeply and quickly reminded him.
Although Sun Mo doesn't know much about this, he has watched some costume dramas and knows that there were such chambers of commerce in ancient times, such as the Salt Gang, the Cao Gang, and the Bu Gang. It is very difficult for ordinary people to come in and make money in this industry, unless they pay enough.
Molecules, obtained access permission.
Similarly, Jinling's market share is also divided. Whoever has more power will eat more.
The Ma family, the Wei family, and the Zhang family are qualified to purchase the agricultural products of those farmers and sell them to Zhongzhou University because they are one of the largest trading houses in Jinling City.
"They want to raise the price, what do you think I should do?"
Sun Mo asked.
"Negotiate and try to reduce the increase as much as possible!"
Li Gong sighed in his heart, he knew that this day would eventually come.
If Zhongzhou University was one of the nine most prestigious schools in the past, it would kill those three firms and not dare to raise prices at will. But now that the school is no longer good, it would be strange not to bully you.
What other trump cards does Zhongzhou Academy have? It won’t let our children go to school? Then we can go to Wandao Academy. You won’t be attractive anyway.
"I see."
Sun Mo smiled: "You did a good job this time. Continue to monitor the three trading houses and write down any troubles among the farmers."
"As you command, Minister."
When Li Gong saw Sun Mo's calm expression, he couldn't help but admire him. Looking at his Qi-nurturing skills, no wonder he was able to bring down Yang Cai and make Zhang Hanfu angry almost to death.
Ding!
Favorability from Li Gong +20, friendliness (205/1000).
Li Gong left, and Sun Mo went to take a shower first, changed clothes, left the school gate, called a carriage, and went to Ren Laolang's house.
"Welcome to welcome you as a distinguished guest!"
Ren Laolang smiled and went out in person.
"I'm going to trouble Brother Ren this time."
Sun Mo got straight to the point.
"Teacher Sun is so polite. If you have anything to do, just ask me. As long as I can do it, I will do whatever you want."
Ren Laolang patted his chest and promised that the last time he was in the Taoist temple, he was shocked by Sun Mo. This was a famous teacher that even the governor and Prime Minister Zheng cared about. Among his disciples, there was even a member of the royal family. Such a big shot, he couldn't wait to see him.
I have been following behind and trying to flatter him every day. Now that I have the opportunity, I will naturally follow suit.
Sun Mo was not polite and explained one or two things.
…
Trouble came sooner than expected.
This time, the enemy was definitely targeting Sun Mo, because the day after he returned to school, three business owners from the Ma family, the Wei family, and the Zhang family came to visit.
"Minister Sun, this year's harvest is not very good, and farmers also need to eat, so the purchase price of vegetables, grains, charcoal, etc. will increase by 50%."
Ma Cheng was a fat man. He smiled when he spoke and always nodded and bowed, giving people a very humble feeling. However, his words were like sharp knives that could cut off a bloody chunk of flesh from a person's body.
"Fifty percent increase? Ma Cheng, why don't you sell it to us?"
Sun Mo pouted.
Hearing Sun Mo call him by his first name, Ma Cheng, who was over forty years old, changed his expression, but he held it back, now was not the time to fall out.
"Minister Sun, everyone is just doing it for a living, and it's not easy for us either."
Wei Ziyu is gentle and elegant, with a short beard under his chin, and he is always stroked frequently.
Sun Mo was silent.
"Minister Sun, if you can't make the decision, just say so and let's go talk to Principal An."
Ma Cheng sneered.
"If it doesn't go up by 10%, I'll buy someone else's at worst."
Sun Mo had a tough attitude.
"hehe!"
Hearing Sun Mo's angry words, the three of them laughed.
"Are you going to buy it? If you can buy it, I lose!"
Ma Cheng taunted in his heart, the big shots above have already told you that this time is to kill your Zhongzhou University, any chamber of commerce that dares to help, just wait to be killed.
"I'll leave my words here, please three of you!"
Sun Mo didn't want to talk nonsense anymore.
"Minister Sun, I hope you won't kneel down and cry to beg us when the time comes."
After the carriage was finished, he rolled up his sleeves and left.
The three people left the minister's office and went straight to the principal's office, still talking about the same topic.
"An increase of 30%?"
An Xinhui frowned.
"This is our bottom line, Principal An. Life is not easy for the farmers!"
Wei Ziyu sighed.
"Give me a few days to think about it?"
An Anhui did not refuse because she knew the consequences of refusal would be too serious. But if she didn't refuse, would she let others take advantage of her?
The key point is that all the cash from Zhongzhou Academy has been used by An Anhui to buy medicinal materials and use them to make giant medicine kits. Even if they agree to increase the price, they will not be able to get the money out.
After Ma Cheng and the others left, An Xinhui, who was holding on for dear life, immediately covered her face with her hands and felt anxious for a while. However, after a few minutes, she adjusted her mentality and began to think of solutions.
"We must put the Giant Medicine Kit on the market as soon as possible to make a lot of money."
An Anhui's thoughts were beautiful, but the reality was too cruel. Early the next morning, the attacks from the three major trading houses arrived.
The students and teachers entered the cafeteria and found that the food was pitiful.
"There are only so many vegetables delivered today, there is nothing we can do?"
The chefs in the cafeteria are also very helpless, please don't scold me.
Students cannot go hungry and have no choice but to look for food outside the school. However, they find that all the small stalls on the street are deserted, and the restaurants on the street have directly increased their prices, making it painfully expensive to eat.
Everyone thought that this situation was just occasional, but who knew that it lasted for three days.
Not enough food!
The food is not fresh!
The garbage was not cleared in time and the stench began to spread
…
Because there were logistical problems in the canteen, which directly affected the students' study and life, some rumors began to spread quickly.
"Teacher Sun is good at teaching, but he is really bad at handling logistics."
"In just a few days, the school has collapsed, which is enough to prove that Sun Mo is trash."
"I don't want to be hungry!"
Food is the most important thing for the people, and if their stomachs are not full, how can they be in the mood to do anything else?
Zhang Hanfu estimated that it was Prince Li Zixing who took action. He was the only one who could have such a big deal. It was said that Sun Mo did not die in the Dark Continent. This made Zhang Hanfu very unhappy and complained that his son was not doing things well. But forget it, he can see Sun Mo
It is also a pleasure to be silently anxious.
On the fifth day, Zhang Qianlin summoned all the teachers in the school for a meeting in the auditorium.
At the meeting, Zhang Hanfu first announced the serious problems facing the school, and then called on everyone to overcome the difficulties together. After that, he turned the tables and began to criticize Sun Mo.
"Minister Sun, do you have any solution? In the final analysis, this incident is all because of you. As a human being, don't be too arrogant. If you hadn't offended the three business owners, things would not have happened.
Will it become like this?"
In front of hundreds of teachers, Zhang Qianlin didn't save any face for Sun Mo and described him as an incompetent guy.
"Whose dog is not tied up and it runs out and barks wildly?"
Sun Mo couldn't stand this anger, so he opened his mouth and bit back.
Wow!
Hearing Sun Mo's words, the whole crowd was in an uproar.
"Sun Mo, what's your attitude? Do you have the guts to tell me again?"
Zhang Qianlin was furious, with disbelief on his face. He was actually scolded in front of so many teachers? It was really unbearable.