Chapter 350: Dividing the Family
In the afternoon, the officials who stayed in Shantong Mansion conveyed what they had seen and heard today by various means back to the mansion to discuss with the family.

The interests involved are too huge. They really can't finish all the pie that Zhou Tieyi has drawn. They can only let Zhou Tieyi, the person who drew the pie, to share the pie.

After returning to the mining area, Zhou Tieyi first summoned Qin Yu, Li Jianhu and four others. He wanted to teach them some real stuff.

He couldn't stay in Shantong Mansion forever, nor did he want the policies he left behind to be left unattended, so he decided from the beginning to let Qin Yu and Li Jianhu look after his foundation in Shantong Mansion, one openly and one secretly.

This requires training subordinates, just like he trained Wu Qian, Mei Juncang, Shentu Yuan and others in Tianjing.

Zhou Tieyi first looked at Li Jianhu, "You questioned me about the house this morning. Do you have an answer now?"

In the afternoon, Li Jianhu heard that Zhou Tieyi not only tied the house to employment, but also tied the house to studying and martial arts. He immediately understood Zhou Tieyi's profound meaning.

As for other things, he didn't have much contact with them, but he had the deepest feelings about the sons of miners studying and practicing martial arts. Many of his elementary school companions had to get married and have children early because they had no meat to eat, and they didn't even have the chance to touch martial arts.

Li Jianhu used to be able to play with them, but one practiced martial arts and the other did not, so they were truly from two different worlds. He could feel the decadence, even the lifelessness, from those former companions. This was the same aura as that of the vast majority of miners in the mining area. Although his companions were only in their teens, they could already see their own lives clearly.

In the morning, when Zhou Tieyi said that he would build houses and let the workers bear the so-called mortgage and be tied to the factory and the house for the rest of their lives, Li Jianhu had a vague feeling that the so-called factory was just a larger mine.

Of course, this cannot deny the progress and efforts Zhou Tieyi has made here. At least it is safer inside the iron factory and there is no need to worry about his life, so Li Jianhu could not find any reason to refute it at that time.

And now, when Zhou Tieyi used the house and martial arts together to find a way out for the children of the miners, he understood Zhou Tieyi's entire plan.

It seems good to let the miners get more wages, but in fact the miners have no ability to keep the wages, just like how he was unable to get back the dozens of taels of silver for his father's burial money in the beginning.

Therefore, Zhou Tieyi wanted to transform this part of the benefits into something that the aristocratic families already had but the common people lacked, and then let him, the Mohists, and the Gongshu School, representing the third-party interests, supervise its operation.

Someone who is one step ahead of the times is already a genius, but someone who is several steps ahead of the times and can teach others is a sage.

Li Jianhu clasped his fists and said, "I understand."

Zhou Tieyi nodded and smiled, "You are a teachable kid, but you don't have to think too highly of me. Even if my plan is good, there will still be many problems in the implementation process. So I want to keep the three of you to help me find problems from different angles and help me see who is cheating!"

Zhou Tieyi looked at Mo Tianheng first, "I will mobilize my personal guards to come here and temporarily serve as martial arts teachers for a few months. During this process, I want you to expand the martial arts academy, including how to recruit students, how to supervise the enrollment, and how to recruit teachers. After that, this new martial arts academy model will be expanded to the entire Shantong Prefecture. Can you do it?"

Mo Tianheng clasped his fists and said, "Yes."

At this point, he started coughing again.

Zhou Tieyi said, "Your cough needs to be treated. Come to my room later."

Although Zhou Tieyi said it simply, Li Jianhu and Mo Tianheng's eyes lit up!
After arriving in Tianjing, Li Jianhu asked the Confucianists about his teacher's condition, and the answer he got was that it was a damage to his foundation and required third-grade elixir.

If Li Jianhu had been injured so badly, the Confucians would have gritted their teeth and taken it out, but for Mo Tianheng's sake, the Confucians would not have taken it out, because the Qi that Mo Tianheng cultivated was not the righteous Qi.

And now that Zhou Tieyi is willing to take action, it is undoubtedly a huge surprise for both the master and the disciple.

Zhou Tieyi looked at Cui Yu again, "I trust the Mohist school and Gongshujia to teach mechanical arts, but they need someone to mediate between the two schools. You are upright and self-reliant, and you have been in the academy for so long. You know how to deal with the disputes between schools. Can you mediate the conflicts in the new academy?"

Cui Yu also clasped his fists and said, "Yes."

Zhou Tieyi continued to look at Qin Yu and asked, "Do you think the Li family will sell the iron factory to me in the end?"

Qin Yu held his breath slightly. He glanced at Li Jianhu and the other two, and a sense of urgency suddenly rose in his heart.

Thoughts came to him one after another.

"Your Excellency is testing me."

"He put these three people next to me to listen, not only to let them supervise me, but also to tell me that if I can't do it well, there will be replacements."

"And that Li Jianhu, why hasn't the Lord assigned him any tasks yet?"...

Qin Yu tried hard to gather his messy thoughts and replied, "If you want, the Li family can only be sold."

Zhou Tieyi smiled and continued to ask, "Then do you think I should take over?"

Qin Yu, Li Jianhu and the other two immediately understood why Zhou Tieyi summoned them here alone. Not only did he have something to tell them, but he also wanted to teach them the real things. Even the officials outside could not hear these true things.

Zhou Tieyi waited quietly for Qin Yu to think over a cup of tea, then said, "The purpose is important, but sometimes the process is more important than the purpose, because new changes may be hidden in the process, covering up the original purpose."

Qin Yu got the reminder and immediately said, "My Lord probably won't be willing to take over."

Zhou Tieyi smiled and asked, "Why do you think so?"

Qin Yu replied, "Just like what happened at the Tianjing Shipyard."

Zhou Tieyi nodded and said, "That's right. How do you think I can lead the changes in the iron factory if I don't take over?"

Cui Yu suddenly interrupted at this time, "The boss! Han Lin, the boss of the iron factory!"

He was the first to react, while the others needed to think for a while.

Mo Tianheng vaguely understood some things, but there were still many things he didn't understand.

Li Jianhu knew even less. He was puzzled. "Isn't Han Lin originally the steward of the Li family?"

Qin Yu heaved a sigh of relief when he saw Li Jianhu asking this, and replied, "He was originally, but he won't be anymore. He will be the manager of the new iron factory in the future. His status is changing, and with the pearls awarded by the adults today, his mind will change. He will only get further and further away from the Li family, not closer!"

"Your Excellency said today that your purpose is to let other families participate in the investment, and to let Han Lin be the manager. It is a lie that only your Zhou family will take the lead!"

Li Jianhu looked at Zhou Tieyi. He opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say for a moment. How could one person calculate so many things in one day?

Zhou Tieyi smiled and said, "Don't think that they recommended me to manage the iron factory today. That's just because they want to get a piece of the pie. When I manage the iron factory and can't provide a lot of benefits, they will blame me. How can I do such a thankless task? Besides, there is no one around me to manage a small iron factory. The people I train don't need such a small place. I don't trust people who are not trained by me. It's better to give it to them, so I give them two days to let them divide the spoils!"

"During this process, the Li family will definitely promise a lot of benefits. After all, I am an outsider. It is not easy to gain their trust initially. Why would I break this trust for an iron factory? Since they want to take the lead, this is a good thing. I only need to take a share. It is most realistic for them to take out real money!"

"So two days later, when they come up with a 'new' plan, I'll agree to it. I want them to feel like they owe me something, not me owing them!"

"At the same time, I want to let Han Lin have more power! One ironworks is not enough for him to challenge the Li family, so let's have ten, a hundred! I want to make Shantong Mansion have more people like Han Lin, because I promoted them to work hard, let these people who work hard have a large number of workers as a foundation, let these workers have descendants who learn literature and martial arts as a backing and a reason not to give in, plus I will help them block the power of the upper echelons. When 'Han Lin' takes the initiative to fall out with the aristocratic families because of unequal benefits, then I can really clean up the aristocratic families of Shantong Mansion. Do you understand?"

Qin Yu and the other three took some time to digest Zhou Tieyi's remarks.

When the four of them had almost figured it out, Zhou Tieyi looked at Qin Yu again and asked, "Then how can I let Han Lin gain more power?"

Qin Yu thought seriously for a moment, and following Zhou Tieyi's train of thought, his eyes lit up and he said excitedly, "Shareholding system!"

"My Lord does not want to take action personally. My Lord only needs to let those noble families who have participated in the shareholding force Han Lin to take action because of the uneven distribution of benefits. Han Lin cannot bear it. This is a problem he cannot solve, so he will want to get a hint from my Lord. My Lord only needs to give a little hint, and Han Lin will completely break with the Li family. At that time, in the eyes of other noble families in Shantong Mansion, it is them and the Li family who are fighting, and my Lord does not participate. But in fact, when they use Han Lin to fight the Li family, they will let Han Lin have more power!"

This completely explains what Zhou Tieyi said today.

He proposed three changes in the iron plant's shareholding reform today: first, a shareholding system; second, Han Lin taking the lead; and third, the Zhou family taking over.

It seems that the change that is most beneficial to Zhou Tieyi, that the Zhou family takes over, is actually what Zhou Tieyi least wants. His real goal is the first two changes, so he wants to use the Zhou family taking over to cover up his first two changes and make other families in Shantong Mansion feel that they have made a profit.

Zhou Tieyi smiled and said, "Yes, an existing class can be broken by external forces, but it will destroy the entire Mountain Copper Mansion from top to bottom. So I want to cultivate a new class, just like a new bud growing in the cracks of the rocks, so that I can break the blood ties that the aristocratic families are proud of. In this process, it is important to inspire the people's hearts, and the people's hearts here include ambitions."

(End of this chapter)