Zhenguan Xiaoxian Wang Li Shen Li Shimin

Most importantly, these large families also need spices, so they won't sell them all.

Selling that little bit would only yield a profit of 100,000 or tens of thousands of strings of cash at most.

For a single family, tens of thousands of strings of cash is indeed a huge sum of money. For the entire extended family, although it is a considerable amount, it is not yet a huge sum of money.

But spices are consumables, and they will eventually run out, and when they do, they will have to buy more.

By then, the price of spices might be higher than the price they sold them for, so the little money they earned wouldn't be enough to cover their later expenses.

These people were all shrewd and quick to understand the reasoning after hearing what the Du family steward said.

All eyes turned to Choi In-ji, who suspected that he was setting a trap for them.

Could it be that the Cui family has a large quantity of spices, waiting to sell them at a high price when they want to buy them later?

Seeing the suspicious looks in everyone's eyes, Cui Renzhi frowned. He hadn't expected that the words of the Du family steward would make the atmosphere so subtle.

"Ahem..." Choi In-ji coughed and began to speak:

"Gentlemen, Steward Du is right. This is the first thing I wanted to tell you all."

However, before discussing this matter, we must first talk about how to protect our interests.

As many of you probably already know, the price of spices has been artificially suppressed.

The price of spices was slowly increasing, but a few days ago, the price of spices suddenly stabilized and even declined.

As a result, the value of the spices we have also declined.

To be honest, the spices in my Cui family's possession were worth nearly 300,000 strings of cash a few days ago, but now they are only worth 250,000 strings of cash.

Moreover, the downward trend continues.

"Even without Cui saying so, the spices you have should be the same. Don't any of you have any thoughts on this?"

After Cui Renzhi finished speaking, he glanced at everyone and saw that no one was indifferent to the interests they held.

No one would willingly watch their interests slip away.

"Ahem... What Minister Cui said is indeed true. My Wang family also has a lot of spices, worth more than 200,000 strings of cash."

To be honest, our Wang family originally planned to make a move when the price of spices reached around 350,000 strings of cash.

But the price of spices keeps falling, so I'm reluctant to give up and want to wait a bit longer.

The representative from the Wang family coughed lightly and then, seemingly sincerely, began to recount his family's affairs.

This was also to show my sincerity to everyone present.

"My Zheng family is the same; we also have around 200,000 strings of cash in spices," Zheng Jingsi of the Zheng family said calmly.

"My Lu family is the same. We had over 200,000 strings of cash worth of spices, and we originally planned to sell them for 300,000 strings of cash. But now that the price has started to drop, we are also waiting."

Among the five surnames and seven prominent families, apart from the Li family, the other four surnames spoke up about their family situations.

"Does Imperial Censor Cui have any thoughts on this?"

The representative of the Longxi Li clan was an elder of the Li family. It was he who went to the palace to plead with Li Shimin to make peace for the Li family and ask Li Shen to show them leniency.

This clan elder belonged to the conservative faction and strongly disapproved of the organization's actions against Prince Ji, Li Shen, especially after the subsequent retaliation.

It was only thanks to His Majesty the Emperor's lingering affection that he persuaded Prince Ji for them; otherwise, they would be like the other four families, unable to maintain their status as aristocratic clans.

"Elder Li, and everyone else, as you all know, the price of spices has dropped due to human intervention, and that person is Prince Ji."

We have investigated and found that those spreading rumors outside were sent by纨绔子弟 (sons of wealthy and powerful families) who colluded with Prince Ji.

They went from street to street, spreading rumors throughout the 108 neighborhoods that spice prices were going to drop.

The Prince Ji's Mansion also cooperated with the rumors and began to lower the purchase price, causing widespread panic and prompting many people to sell their properties at low prices.

Meanwhile, Prince Ji secretly used Prince Bohai and Prince Longxi to purchase spices and profit from them. Xixiangji was opened by Prince Ji.

As is well known, the Ji Prince's Mansion has always been purchasing spices in large quantities because the consumption of spices by the Ji Prince's Mansion is enormous.

The spices used in the Flavor Pavilion and Cup Mo Ting are supplied by the Prince Ji's Mansion, as well as from the Imperial Palace, and also for the Prince Ji's own use.

Therefore, there was no large-scale arrival of spices, nor was there any price reduction in spices. This was entirely a scheme and a lie devised by King Ji to satisfy his own selfish desires.

By the end, Choi In-ji was filled with righteous indignation and great resentment, as if Lee Shin had done something that would anger both heaven and man.

After listening to Choi In-ji's words, the others also pondered for a long time, beginning to analyze what Choi In-ji had said.

Upon closer reflection, Cui Renzhi's words made a lot of sense. They had naturally investigated as well. With such a major incident in Chang'an, especially one that concerned their interests, how could they not investigate?

After investigating, they discovered that the people spreading the word that a lot of spices would arrive in the Tang Dynasty were all sent by those纨绔 (playboy/spoiled rich kids).

They immediately thought of Prince Ji.

Now, upon hearing Choi In-ji's analysis, it coincides with their guesses.

"I never expected that Prince Ji, at such a young age, would be so skillful, even knowing how to use the tactic of feigning one way to secretly advance another."

Someone in the crowd spoke up.

"As the art of war says, 'Feint to the east while attacking in the west.' Prince Ji's move was truly brilliant. He deliberately lowered the price, creating panic and forcing us to sell spices to him."

Immediately, others echoed this sentiment.

"It seems that Prince Ji is also anxious. I heard that Prince Ji's mansion has been buying spices for a year, but not much has been collected."

It seems that Prince Ji was using this tactic to try and collect more.

“Taking more money won’t harm our interests. Prince Ji has always been so unruly.”

The crowd began to criticize Li Shen, blaming him for manipulating them.

Driven by selfish motives, they resorted to despicable means to lower the price of spices, forcing them to sell them.

King Ji is truly despicable.

"Imperial Censor Cui, now that you've brought it up, do you have any thoughts on it?"

After taking a sip of tea, the elder of the Li family asked calmly.

After a brief exchange of glances with the representatives of the Wang, Lu, and Zheng families, Cui Renzhi said with a smile:

"Actually, Cui's idea was very simple: to raise the price of spices for the benefit of all of us here."

In this way, the value of the spices we possess will gradually increase.

"So what should we do?" someone immediately asked.

"We can also spread rumors that the war in the Western Regions is not over yet, and that pirates are rampant at sea. For at least one or two years, the Tang Dynasty will not have many spices."

Furthermore, we can raise the purchase price. Since the Prince Ji's Mansion can purchase at a low price, we can also purchase at a high price.

Choi In-ji explained with a smile.