I am Li Shen and Li Shimin, the free kings of the Tang Dynasty

"What did you say!!"

Upon hearing the steward's words, the Wang family's shopkeeper was struck by lightning. There were only two words left in his mind: damned.

He felt that this matter was not that simple. Even if it was a coincidence, it was impossible for all three parties to be coincidental.

"You should immediately send people to find the silkworm merchants who supply us with silk, brocade, and silk.

See if they have any problems.

Hopefully they will be OK.”

The shopkeeper of the Wang family immediately ordered people to ask all his suppliers. He guessed that someone was targeting their Wang family.

"Yes, shopkeeper, I will send someone to ask right away."

The manager suddenly realized that something was going to happen and was about to leave.

"Wait, after you send your people, give the penalty back to that person.

We have been cooperating for so many years, so it is normal for things to go wrong. We still have some friendship, so how can I ask him for liquidated damages?

Then ask him why he wants it. As long as he says so, I will give him a 30% increase on the purchase price next year."

"Yes, I will do it myself."

The manager nodded. The shopkeeper was the one who had thought this through carefully. This matter revealed something unusual.

I hope there won’t be any problems with other suppliers, otherwise they will be out of stock soon.

At that time, they will have to pay a higher price than others to buy it, and they may not be able to buy it.

Two days later, when the owner of Wang's workshop heard the news reported by the manager, he almost fainted.

All the suppliers who supplied them with raw materials breached the contract and promised to pay liquidated damages as stipulated in the contract before the end of the month.

The reasons they gave were all very high-sounding, and it was obvious that they did not want to offend the Langya Wang family.

But no matter how we asked, they wouldn't tell us the real reason.

On the second floor of Wang's Cloth Shop in Chang'an City, Wang Yuanzhi invited several shopkeepers in Chang'an.

There is also an elder of the Wang family stationed in Chang'an City.

"Uncle, cousins, I have asked you to come here today to discuss the situation we are facing.

Our cloth shop has not been open for the past few days, and the cloth shop next door has been selling at half price these days.

If this continues, I’m afraid our cloth shop will have to close down.”

Wang Yuanzhi stood up and spoke first.

“It’s the same with our tea shop. We don’t know when a new tea shop popped up next to us, and they sell at half the price.

Our tea house has not been open these days either.”

The owner of the teahouse looked worried.

"Our autumn tea was snatched away by someone, and the original tea farmers said someone bought it at a high price and compensated us for breach of contract.

There is no autumn tea available for purchase now, as the tea plantations in the south have always been in the hands of the Five Family Names.

The tea gardens in Chang'an City all belong to Prince Ji's Palace.

The tea gardens in Jiannan Road have also been divided up. If we want to purchase autumn tea, we can only buy it from the noble families at a high price."

The owner of the tea workshop in the industrial park followed up.

"Our workshop is also like this. All the supplies are gone. We can only buy from others at a higher price.

The price is 30% more expensive.

This clearly shows that someone is targeting our Wang family."

"Boom."

The owner of the cloth shop slammed the table.

“I have already sent the matter back to the tribe as quickly as possible.

You don't have to worry too much.

The most important thing now is to keep our footing. We cannot lose control of ourselves. My Wang family of Langya was also a famous and prestigious family in the past.

What kind of storms and waves have you not experienced?"

The elder of the Wang family saw the expressions on the faces of the people and patiently said a few words to comfort them.

“But uncle, if this happens, we will lose a lot of our dividends this year.

There are only a few months left in the new year, and it is the best time to sell goods. The dividends from the last few months are equivalent to all the previous ones.

A full 50% of it.”

Wang Yuanzhi was unwilling to give in. The profit they could earn in the last few months was almost the same as what they had earned in the previous ten months.

How could he be willing to accept this when he accounted for 50% of their total.

"Well, don't think too much now. This is a time of trouble. We must first figure out who is against us."

The elder of the Wang family sighed.

"Uncle, do you think it could be Prince Ji's Palace?" the tea shop owner suddenly asked.

"Prince Ji's Mansion?"

Everyone was surprised. The tea shop owner continued:

“Yes, everyone knows that a few days ago, Prince Ji beat up two officials of our Wang family for no reason.

I wonder if this was also done by Prince Ji."

"But why? Although Prince Ji is tyrannical and has committed many evil deeds, he will never let go of any grievance.

But he still follows the rules.

He would not do this to our Wang family for no reason.

unless......"

Wang Yuanzhi paused here.

"Unless what?"

"Unless the royal family wants to start dealing with us, the noble families."

Speaking of this, Wang Yuanzhi's tone became serious.

However, the elder of the Wang family shook his head.

“I don’t think so. Even if the royal family wants to deal with the noble families, they will not start with our Wang family of Langya.

My Langya family does not have that much power in the court, so it will be useless against us."

After hearing the elder's words, everyone fell into deep thought.

Today, the Wang family’s business has suffered a blow, and they are still unable to escape from the predicament if they cannot figure out the person behind it.

"Well, if you can't figure it out, then forget about it. Now, everyone should do their job and wait for the family's reply.

I think the family should be able to find a way.

Our Wang family is not that easy to deal with.

After purchasing so many materials, they also needed to spend a lot of money, and they had been selling them at half price.

I want to see how long they can hold out.”

"That's all it can do now."

After the Wang family patriarch finished speaking, the other shopkeepers nodded in agreement. They were at a loss as to what to do in this situation.

All they could do was wait and see what the family thought.

~~~~~~~~

"Your Majesty, this is the result of these days. The Wang family's tea house and cloth shop have not sold any goods for several days in a row.

And their workshop is about to stop production.”

In Prince Ji’s mansion, Wang Hongfu was reporting the situation to Li Shen.

“Well, that’s good. Send the purchased materials to the workshop to make finished products, and we will continue to sell them this way.

As long as we keep selling like this, their workshops won't dare to buy materials at high prices to continue production.

Because they don’t know how long we’ll last.”

Li Shen was lying in a rocking chair basking in the sun, with a maidservant feeding him fruit.

"Your Majesty, I'm afraid there will be trouble if we take too long."

Wang Hongfu said in a low voice.

"What? Is the compensation too much?" Li Shen was puzzled.

"That's not the case. We actually sell at cost price. The only money we lose is our employees and the rent of the store. It's not much."

Wang Hongfu explained.

"So what do you mean?"

“Your Majesty, we are selling at half price. Although this has had an impact on the Wang family’s business, it has also had an impact on the entire industry.

Some people have already started to feel dissatisfied. They are all smart people and know that someone is targeting the Wang family, so no one spoke out at the beginning. "