Kidnapped by Princess Changle at the beginning

The three of them, Changsun Wuji, shook their heads gloomyly.

Wang Gui said angrily: "How unreasonable is that? The head of the Zheng family, Zheng Shuangdai, even categorically denied the hoarding of cloth, and said that if the court needed it, the Zheng family would donate [-] bolts of cloth to the court. It is unreasonable, it is unreasonable..."

Fang Xuanling said, "I have never seen such a brazen person."

Everyone was shocked.

Li Er's face was ashen.

boom.

He slammed his fist on the table and roared angrily: "When the time comes, I will kill Zheng Shuangdai..."

"Dear dear ones, now that Mrs. Zheng is denying the hoarding of cloth, it is meaningless to seek Mrs. Zheng again. What do you think about this matter?" Li Er asked as he looked at the crowd as a last resort.

……

Chapter 330 The sworn brothers sell cloth at a high price, which arouses the anger of the emperor

Following Li Er's fury, the ministers were also filled with righteous indignation.

"The Zheng family is so shameless that it's shocking."

"Not a human being!"

"This is taking advantage of the fire to rob, it is simply unreasonable."

"Wealthy clans like the Zheng family have suffered for the people of the world!"

"The merchants should all be exterminated. The prophecy of the Shang Lord in the past has come true today. Your Majesty, it is time for the Tang Dynasty to emphasize agriculture and suppress business..."

Ministers one by one expressed their views angrily.

Li Er's face was ashen.

After a long while, Fang Xuanling stood up and analyzed: "Your Majesty, the Zheng family is powerful, and I'm afraid it's impossible to let them stop. However, other gentry families may have a breakthrough. To share our worries, please allow me to find other gentry involved in the cloth business, negotiate with them, and let them stop hoarding cloth, what do you think?"

Li Er's eyes lit up.

He thought to himself, in this world, not everyone in this world is like Zheng Shi who sees money and disregards his relatives.

Fang Xuanling's idea is a good idea.

Li Er nodded, and said: "Since that's the case, I would like to thank you all for making a hard trip, but this matter must be kept secret and no more people will know about it."

"The ministers must do their best."

"Don't worry, Your Majesty, the ministers must keep secrets."

The imperial court was reduced to the point of asking the gentry for help. This kind of thing got a bad reputation.

In particular, it cannot be recorded in the history books, otherwise the glorious and great image of His Majesty Li Er will be ruined.

At this time, Li Er had just ascended the throne not long ago.

In the first few years of his accession to the throne, he has been consuming with the Turks.

After the Turks were destroyed, their strength was weakened a lot.

However, the reign of Zhenguan, which is famous in later generations, is only now beginning to show its signs. His Majesty Li Er's waist will gradually harden after a few years. At that time, it will be the end of the gentry.

Now, a noble family with five surnames and seven wangs doesn't give Li Er any face at all.

……

Two days later.

Ganlu Temple.

Changsun Wuji and others appeared at the same time.

Li Er asked eagerly: "Auxiliary machine, how about it? Other gentry, are you willing to sell cloth?"

I saw Changsun Wuji, Fang Xuanling, Wang Gui and others shaking their heads dejectedly.

Li Er asked: "Why is this?"

Changsun Wuji sighed, and said: "Your Majesty, I have been waiting for these few days, traveling here and there, going to various gentry mansions to discuss the matter of cloth. Who knows, these gentry, as discussed in advance, are the same as that of the Zheng family. Unanimously, they categorically deny hoarding cloth, and only a few gentry are willing to sell cloth.”

Wang Gui said angrily: "Your Majesty, what should I do? These nobles don't think about the people of the Tang Dynasty and the country."

boom.

Li Eryi slapped his fist on the table and roared angrily: "It's unreasonable, it's unreasonable... These gentry, do you really think that I dare not deal with them? They dare to do whatever they want, and they don't want their faces... A gentry like the Zheng family occupies countless lands , Lindi, mastered a lot of business in the Tang Dynasty, but because they are scholars, the imperial court has always given preferential treatment in terms of taxes, and they are not satisfied..."

In this era, the gentry, including scholars, did not have to pay taxes on the land under their names.

Therefore, many people merged their land into the name of the gentry to avoid taxation.

The consequence of this is that the gentry became stronger and stronger, while the imperial court became poorer and poorer.

As for other taxes, they are all collected by the state capitals, but the officials of these state capitals are inextricably linked with the gentry, so it is impossible to pay the taxes in full.

Therefore, despite the prosperity of the Tang Dynasty, the taxes collected every year are pitifully small.

Now, the imperial court went to seek Zheng's family, but they couldn't get support.

Li Er suddenly became furious.

Seeing Li Er get angry, for a while, Ganlu Palace was silent, and no one dared to speak.

A silence.

At this moment, the servant Gao Chen ran in and said out of breath: "Your Majesty, in Chang'an City, there are cloths for sale, the mansion of Duke Lu, and the mansions of General Qin, General Li, General Niu, etc. , took out all the cloth and sold it, and it was at a high price***The current price of cloth is much higher, and now everyone in Chang'an knows..."

The ministers were surprised.

Those present were all important officials of the court, and many of them had a lot of cloth in their homes.

But everyone was reluctant to take it out, they just wanted to seize the opportunity and make a fortune along with it.

However, everyone dared not open this head.

Because, the civil and military officials of the whole dynasty are staring at it.

Whoever dares to set a precedent is a sinner.

Don't say that His Majesty Li Er doesn't pursue it, those speech officials will also impeach you to death.

Especially on the cusp of this storm, whoever dares to stand up will be the target of public criticism.

Unexpectedly, Cheng Yaojin, Qin Qiong, Niu Jinda, and Li Jing were the first to sell the cloth.

Amazing!

Sure enough, they were a few vulgar generals, not even afraid of death.

No more face.

Li Ergang's anger that had subsided for a while, suddenly couldn't be suppressed anymore.

boom.

He slammed his fist on the table hard.

Click.

The solid wood desk shattered at the sound.

Everyone bowed their heads.

"Hahaha……"

Li Er suddenly laughed.

The laughter was a little penetrating.

He stood up suddenly and roared: "Look, these are my subjects. They should be sympathetic to the people and think about the court, but you see, in this difficult time, they are making money like those gentry , Cheng Zhijie... He was a salt dealer back then, and he sold smuggled salt when he had nowhere to go. Did he forget so quickly that he was also from a poor background? And that Qin Qiong, although he was not from a poor background, was also a fugitive in Dengzhou, Shandong After many years of hard life, can't he see the suffering of the people in this world?"

"Oh, I'm so disappointed."

"Come here, drive me to Duke Lu's mansion."

"I'm going to ask that fellow Cheng Yaojin, and I'm going to ask if his conscience hurts."

Gao Chen, the valet, hurried to prepare the car to drive.

Not long after, Li Er took his eldest grandson Wuji, Fang Xuanling and other important ministers out of the palace and went straight to Duke Lu's mansion.

……

The backyard of Duke Lu's mansion.

Cheng Yaojin, Niu Jinda, Qin Qiong, Li Jing, the four gathered together.

On the table, there was hot wine, gurgling and steaming.

Several people talked happily over wine.

Cheng Yaojin said happily: "This time, thanks to Fifth Brother, if it wasn't for his idea, Lao Cheng, I would have wanted to hide all the cloth in the mansion. Now that I let it out, I thought the price was too high and no one would want it. , and was bought up by those gentry at once...Old Cheng, I made a lot of money, and I feel very comfortable..."

Hearing this, Li Jing said with some concern: "Guys, I heard that His Majesty is angry about hoarding cloth for the big households in the past few days... Tell me, if we sell cloth at a high price now, it will cause His Majesty Are you unhappy?"

The voice did not fall.

A cold voice suddenly sounded at the door: "Unhappy? Zhen, I wish I could kill you... so that I can give an explanation to the people of the world."

……

Chapter 331 Catch a Bunch of Free Workers

Hearing this, Cheng Yaojin and others were startled.

Look back.

I saw Li Er barging in murderously.

Several people's complexions changed drastically, they all jumped up and saluted together: "See... see Your Majesty."

Li Er walked in and flicked his sleeves: "In your eyes, do you still have this emperor?"

"I see you, what is the difference between you and those moths?"

"Sell cloth at a high price? Have you made a lot of money?"

Li Er's voice was extremely cold.

A cold wind blows.

Cheng Yaojin was a little sober.

He said anxiously: "Your Majesty, no, I didn't make much, but I made dozens of times..."

Dozens of times?

This is called not earning much?

The ministers who came with Li Er were full of envy.

Li Er's face turned green.

Listen!

Is this called human talk?

Li Er turned around and asked: "A few lovers, you have also seen it, tell me, how to deal with this matter?"

Wang Gui said angrily: "Your Majesty, people like this should be dragged out and beaten to death."

Fang Xuanling said: "Why don't we take him to the prison of Dali Temple and imprison him for two months."

Changsun Wuji said: "You should take off your clothes and parade in the street."

Qin Qiong and the others shuddered when they heard this.

Cheng Yaojin smacked his lips and said, "Your Majesty, this matter was arranged by my fifth younger brother... We, what evil thoughts can we have?"

"Fourth brother..."

"you……"

Qin Qiong and the others immediately glared at Cheng Yaojin.

Niu Jinda whispered: "Fourth brother, the most important thing to pay attention to in life is loyalty. Now that we have made money, how can you confess fifth brother?"