Sui and Tang Dynasties: Awakening the Supreme Skills at the Beginning

Li Shutong was overjoyed when he heard this and looked at Changsun Wuji with expectation.

Changsun Wuji frowned, thinking that it was not a good thing for young people to be promoted too quickly.

Changsun Wuji bowed.

"Your Majesty, the locust plague control has not yet begun. If we grant an official position based on poetry and writing, it will give others a handle to use against us. It is better to wait until the locust plague control shows initial results before granting the reward!"

Li Shimin pondered for a moment. He also hoped that this junior fellow of Li Shutong was a practical person, so he acquiesced to Zhangsun Wuji's words.

Li Shimin nodded and spoke.

"Just follow the assistant's advice and reward Li Zhen after the locust plague control is effective."

Li Shutong was a little disappointed for a moment, but then he felt relieved, because what Changsun Wuji said did make sense.

Li Shimin waved his hand and said to Li Shutong.

"Chang'an County Magistrate, do you have anything else to do?"

Li Shutong bowed and said that the emperor was very busy and could not always receive officials from below, so it was time for him to leave.

"I have nothing to do now, I will take my leave!"

Li Shimin nodded and Li Shutong withdrew.

Li's Winery.

Li Erhai came back and brought back a large number of pens, ink, paper and inkstone, which puzzled everyone.

Li Zhen did not explain. He pondered for a moment, wrote a notice, and then ordered someone to grind ink.

Li Erhai and others followed the order, and after a quarter of an hour, they obtained several buckets of ink.

Li Zhen waved his hand, and the stacked rice papers spread out automatically. Hundreds of brushes flew up automatically, dipped in ink, and began to write in a flamboyant manner, as if hundreds of people were writing.

Everyone was stunned and had no idea what Li Zhen was up to.

There was no movable type printing at that time, and printing books was very inconvenient. Li Zhen had no choice but to come up with this idea.

An hour later, Li Erhai had finished writing on all the papers he had bought.

Li Erhai stepped forward and bowed to Li Zhen.

"Boss, what should we do next?"

"I want to have these ten thousand notices posted all over the streets and alleys of Chang'an City overnight!"

Li Zhen narrowed his eyes and said coldly.

Then, Li Zhen's expression relaxed and he gave instructions to Li Erhai.

“Go find the beggars who are going to commit the crime and tell them that you will give them a penny for every one they post.”

It's not easy for beggars to survive. It's really not comfortable to earn a penny by posting a notice.

At night, Chang'an City was completely silent. In the dark, where no one could see them, there were groups of ragged beggars holding notices and posting them along the streets and alleys...

The next day, early in the morning, at Cui Mansion.

Cui Hun picked up a cup of tea, took a sip, and enjoyed the pervasive tea fragrance.

"How did things go?"

Cui Lu came hurriedly and asked with concern.

"No news yet!"

Cui Hun smiled and said, "With the means of the Chief Clerk Cui, Liu Zhiming will not say a word. Don't worry, my son!"

"It would be good if we could make that person dead and silent."

Cui Lu and his father looked at each other, their eyes full of pride.

"A useless servant dares to threaten us. He doesn't even think about the means of our Cui family. We can kill him with just a flick of our fingers."

"Well, once Butler Liu dies, this case will be over. No matter who investigates the case, it will not involve my Cui family!"

Cui Hun said coldly.

"That idiot is lucky that he managed to escape this time. I'm afraid he won't be so lucky next time! Humph!"

Cui Lu took over his father's words and continued.

"Once that fool dies, the tens of thousands of taels of silver he has accumulated will belong to my family. Haha, anyone who dares to go against my Cui family will definitely not have a good ending!"

Cui Hun nodded.

"That's right. I heard that the idiot's sisters Zizi are pretty good. When the idiot dies, I will take them as concubines for my son, so that the idiot's family will never forget the consequences of offending my Cui family!"

When he heard that there was a beauty, Cui Lu's eyes lit up and he bowed to Cui Hun.

"Thank you so much, father. I will make those stupid sisters suffer a fate worse than death, haha!"

……

"Oh no, sir! Something terrible has happened!"

A servant rushed in, looking terrified.

"Why are you panicking? I have told you so many times that the Cui clan should be well-mannered and remain calm even when faced with a mountain collapse. Do you all ignore my words?"

Cui Hun frowned unhappily and lectured.

"Yes, yes, I've made note of it!"

The servant was startled, and spoke carefully with a respectful expression.

"What happened?"

Cui Hun asked.

The servant said carefully, "Now the whole city of Chang'an is covered with notices saying that we buy millet from farmers for ten cents and sell it to the people for thirty-five cents, making a profit of twenty-five cents per pound."

"what?"

Cui Hun was stunned and became furious.

"Who the hell posted that notice? Someone must be behind this!"

Cui Hun said with gritted teeth.

"Even if the Cui family earns 25 cents per pound of corn, so what? Does he think that by fanning the flames like this, he can suppress the Cui family's status?"

As the head of the Five Surnames and Seven Families, the Cui family has controlled the grain market in Chang'an for many years. In addition to the cost of purchasing grain, the Cui family also needs to make arrangements, and the distributors will take a portion of the profits. In this way, the family can only make less than 25 cents per pound, and may only make 15 cents.

However, even if the Cui family earns 25 cents per pound of corn, what can the dark force behind it do? It can only watch helplessly!

The servant said with a look of horror.

"The notice also said that Chang'an City has a total population of one million, and each person consumes about two dou of grain per month. This means that in a year, 24 dou of grain will be consumed. The total amount of grain consumed in the city is 24 million dou. Each dou earns 25 coins, and the total amount earned in the year is 600,000 strings of silver. Since the Northern Dynasties, the Cui family has controlled the grain market in Chang'an for more than 150 years, and has earned a total of 90 million strings of silver."

"thump!"

Cui Hun's eyes widened, his whole body went limp, and he fell to the ground with a thud.

The Cui family has been engaged in the grain industry since the Sui Dynasty, which is only about fifty years ago, not one hundred and fifty years at all!

In the past, all the five surnames and seven families were involved, but after the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, after a series of compromises, mergers, and transfers of interests, the Cui family became the only one that dominated.

It is true that there are one million people in Chang'an City, but there are many wealthy families who own large amounts of fertile land, and the government also distributes grain, so the actual sales volume is only more than half of that.

In this way, the silver earned each year was only 200,000 strings of cash, and when added up over the years, it was only 6 million strings of cash.

But after the damn mastermind calculated, the amount increased by nearly fifteen times, reaching 90 million strings of cash.

Such a large amount of property will definitely arouse the envy of other noble families and the Li Tang court. If they make trouble again, who knows how much trouble it will cause!

I wonder how much blood the Cui family will have to shed before they can appease those ruthless covetants!

This damn thing is trying to force the Cui family into a dead end!

This is not the end yet, the servant continued with gritted teeth.

"Master, you have to hold on!"