A thousand-year-old family begins with one fighting against ten thousand.

Looking at Gao De's stingy appearance, Lai Ming secretly wondered if this was the reason why the Gao family had been able to survive for hundreds of years and three dynasties.

Their family rose to prominence in the late Sui Dynasty and has only been around for a century, while the Gao family rose to prominence in the mid-Han Dynasty, more than seven hundred years ago. They have survived seven hundred years of ups and downs, so there must be a deeper reason why the head of the Gao family is so stingy.

Perhaps it contains the secrets passed down through generations of the family for hundreds of years. Lai Ming thought, should he learn from Gao De and only donate 200 shi?

Or even less?

After the group entered the lobby, Yuan Jie was already waiting inside.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Yuan Jie couldn't wait to get to the point.

"You are all from prominent families in Yangzhou, and are highly respected. Yangzhou is currently suffering from a disaster, and the people are in dire straits. The price of grain is sky-high, and the imperial grain will not arrive for several days."

"But you all know about the burning of the Changping granary in Yangzhou."

"Currently, the Yangzhou government's grain supplies cannot last until the imperial grain supplies arrive. We hope that you can lend a helping hand and donate some grain to help Yangzhou overcome this difficult time."

"On behalf of the people of Yangzhou, I express my sincere gratitude."

After speaking, Yuan Jie bowed deeply to these prominent families.

"Your Excellency is too kind."

The heads of a group of aristocratic families spoke politely, but did not move an inch as they accepted Yuan Jie's bow.

"But our family also has its difficulties. Although our family business is large, we have suffered more from the disaster. A lot of fertile land was destroyed by the flood, and we harvested nothing."

"Although we have some stored grain at home, we also have a large family, and we can't just stand by and watch our tenants starve to death. So we don't have much grain left at home."

"However, since the adults have spoken, we should also do our part."

On behalf of many prominent families, Gao De declared, "Each of us wealthy merchants from the Gao family will contribute a portion of our own rations to donate 200 shi of grain to the imperial court for disaster relief."

"We've come home for 200 shi (a unit of dry measure)."

With Gao De setting an example, other prominent families also donated generously. One family donated 100 shi, another 100 shi, and yet another 50 shi. In the end, a total of 2300 shi were donated.

Yuan Jie felt somewhat dissatisfied as he looked at the figures donated by the various prominent families.

He simply couldn't believe that these families only had this much grain stored up—dozens or hundreds of bushels. To them, was this some kind of beggar's treat?!

But he couldn't just take it by force, so he could only lure it with benefits.

Suppressing his anger, he continued speaking.

"I am prepared to petition Your Majesty to erect a monument in Yangzhou, inscribing the names, families, and contributions of all those who contributed to the disaster relief efforts, so that the people of Yangzhou may admire it."

After saying that, he stared straight at Gaode.

He had already figured out that Gao De was the leader of this group. As long as he could persuade Gao De, then the others would be fine.

Gao De found it somewhat amusing. Did this young imperial envoy think that this would incite them to fight each other, allowing him to reap the benefits?

Isn't that underestimating these old guys a bit too much?

Moreover, the size and status of a family are predetermined, and how can a mere merit stele change that?

Why was it so difficult for Li Shimin to compile clan records back then?

Isn't it all because of this?

Which family produced which officials? Which officials are currently serving in the court? How much land do they own? How extensive their network of connections is? How many relatives by marriage do they have?

These are all important factors that constitute a family's status.

Even powerful families are divided into different ranks, which is a rule that is generally accepted by many families. If he donates 300 shi (a unit of dry measure), then no one will dare to donate 350 shi.

If you dare to do that, you'll be breaking the rules.

They would be ostracized and isolated by the entire aristocratic community, making it difficult for them to move forward in the future.

They didn't care about what the common people thought about it.

On the contrary, they wanted to show the people that their tenants, even in this year of famine, could keep their families' food supply.

They had no connection whatsoever with the aristocratic families, so naturally they did not receive any support from them.

By comparing the two, one can appreciate the advantages of becoming a tenant farmer in a wealthy family. It may be harder and the earnings may be less, but it guarantees that one will not starve to death in years of famine.

Therefore, they didn't care about this monument of merit.

Unless you can erect this monument of merit in Luoyang, they will not be moved and will not be willing to donate generously.

In Yangzhou, a small town, everyone knows everyone else.

Gao De said calmly, "Since you have said so, our Gao family has been able to establish itself in Guangling thanks to the support of our fellow villagers. Our Gao family is willing to squeeze out another 200 shi (a unit of dry measure) to donate as a way of giving back to our fellow villagers."

With the Gao family setting this precedent, representatives from other families also knew what to do.

They donated grain again, doubling the amount they had donated before.

Yuan Jie's face was grim; he hadn't expected that his solution would be so useless.

This is how his background limited his wisdom and abilities. If he had a deeper understanding of the social hierarchy among aristocratic families, he wouldn't have come up with this idea.

After nearly a thousand years of development, powerful families have long since formed their own set of rules.

Even a powerful ruler like Emperor Taizong of Tang and a ruthless figure like Empress Wu Zetian would find it difficult to dismantle this set of rules that were independent of the imperial court.

"Is there anything else, sir? If not, we'll head back now."

Gao De looked at Yuan Jie with a smile, a hint of mockery flashing in his eyes.

Yuan Jie clenched his fist, wanting to punch this old fox in the face.

Suppressing his anger with great composure, Yuan Jie gave Gao De a deep look and said, "Please go ahead, everyone. I still have disaster relief to attend to, so I won't keep you any longer."

"Lord Yuan, farewell."

Gao De stood up, cupped his hands in farewell, and left gracefully, his departing figure exuding elegance.

The other members of the various major families also took their leave, leaving Yuan Jie with a livid face.

"Is this what a powerful family is like? So greedy, so shameless, so despicable!"

Yuan Jie never expected that his trip south to provide disaster relief would be met with such a rude awakening from the very beginning by these powerful families.

"Lord Yuan, we've finally found you."

"I wonder how Lord Yuan's disaster relief efforts are going? Any progress?"

"With Lord Yuan's talent, surely it would be a simple matter, a piece of cake?"

At this moment, Cui Huan walked in from outside. He had actually arrived in Yangzhou long ago and had obtained more comprehensive information before Yuan Jie.

He did it on purpose, just to wait for Yuan Jie to run into a wall, to see Yuan Jie make a fool of himself.