In the Longevity Palace of the Great Tang Imperial Palace.
This was the sleeping chamber of the Tang Emperor. Today, a grand banquet would be held here. It would be a feast of bells, tripod, and beef. The standard of the banquet could be called a national banquet.
The hall was filled to the brim. These guests came from the civil and military officials, the nobles of the capital, the aristocratic families, and the reclusive families. There were a total of 108 seats.
The distribution of seats was not based on official rank, nor was it based on whether they were in the same department. Instead, they were divided according to family and region.
For example, the Minister of Revenue Pei Ju and Prime Minister Pei Ji, who were also from the Pei family of the east of the river, sat in one of the seats.
"Yuanjing, you've made a great contribution this time. I'll definitely reward you heavily later.”
Li Shi Min looked at his "Sponsor Daddy" with a smile on his cold face.
A few days ago, the imperial court could not provide food for the disaster relief of Hedong Road. He was so worried that his hair fell out.
However, the King of Zhao had offered a grain donation plan, which could be said to have drawn a big pie for the aristocratic families.
Now, all the families of the 108 seats were definitely here to donate food to the imperial court for disaster relief. Wasn't that their sugar daddy?
"Many thanks, Imperial Brother."
Li Yuanjing replied respectfully.
Li Shi Min was very satisfied. His younger brother was quite obedient when he wasn't impeaching him. This time, he planned to make the Zhangsun family a first-class aristocratic family in the Great Tang.
If the consorts were honored, the royal family would be even more honorable.
He was the organizer of this banquet, and he had asked Zhangsun Wuji to go to the market to buy food. Thus, the Zhangsun Clan had the most food.
Li Yuanjing was seated below the Emperor.
Only the King of Zhao and the Emperor were present at this banquet, so many eyes were on him. However, Li Yuanjing was currently eating big mouthfuls of beef. After all, he was still growing.
Fifteen meters away.
There were two middle-aged men and a young man sitting behind one of the seats. The three of them were all dressed luxuriously. They came from the Cui clan of Boling, and their status was comparable to the royal family.
Third Uncle Cui sized up Li Yuanjing, who was eating meat with his head lowered, and said lightly,""The banquet hasn't even started yet, and the King of Zhao is already feasting.”
The fruits, wine, and delicacies in front of him could be said to be complete.
The reason why he would say such words was because the Cui Residence had been cheated of 30,000 to 40,000 gold and silver by the Zhao King.
Today, if it wasn't for the sake of fighting for a first-rank aristocratic family.
Who the f * ck was so stupid as to buy 300,000 dans of grain from the King of Zhao at such a high price?
"Third Uncle, I will definitely avenge the Cui family.”Cui Qiong lowered his voice. His eyes were fixed on Zhao Wang, filled with rage.
As the third branch of the Cui family, Cui Qiong was very outstanding. He was free to read poetry and was proficient in poetry. He was about to become one of the popular candidates for the next head of the Cui family in Boling.
Who asked him to fail this time, selling 300,000 stones to the King of Zhao, causing the Cui Residence to lose 30,000 to 40,000 strings. His reputation in the residence plummeted, and people gave him the nickname Cui "Poor".
How could he not hate King Zhao now?
Third Uncle Cui said,"This time, the most important thing is to fight for a first-rank aristocratic family.”
"Nephew is wrong." Cui Qiong admitted his mistake.
Third Uncle Cui nodded.
On the other side, Li Yuanjing saw Cui Qiong, Third Uncle Cui, and the others. He even extended his small hand and waved, greeting them.
Third Uncle Cui and Cui Qiong felt as if they had eaten a pile of shit.
Endure!
Li Shi Min wanted to laugh out loud when he saw this scene.
He had heard about the Cui Residence.
More than ten days ago, the King of Zhao had borrowed 1,000 strings of Guan from him and then bought 300,000 dans of grain from Cui Qiong.
However, a few days later, there was a drought in the east of the river.
The value of the 300,000 dans of grain rose from 1,000 strings to 30,000 to 40,000 strings.
Yesterday, Zhao Wang went to Cui Manor again and told them about the assessment of a first-rank aristocratic family.
The Cui family had no choice but to buy these grains back.
Before and after the struggle, the deficit of 40,000 Guan.
His expression made Li Shiming feel great.
King Zhao was too torturous.
......
In another seat.
There were three elderly men and a middle-aged man.
These four people were all from the Pei family of the east of the river. Speaking of this family, it had to be said that this family was very low-key, but they produced many capable people. During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, they produced seven or eight prime ministers.
Pei Ju, who was eighty years old, had experienced the Northern Zhou Dynasty, the Sui Dynasty, and the Great Tang.
His greatest achievement in the Sui Dynasty was managing the Western Regions and then using schemes to divide the powerful Turks into two.
Thus, at the end of the Sui Dynasty, when Pei Ju surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, Li Yuan personally went to welcome him.
Pei Ju's eyelids drooped and his face was covered in black spots. He opened his eyes and said to Pei Ji,"Xuan Zhen, the Pei family has prepared 400,000 dans of food this time. They should be able to fight for the title of a second or third-rank aristocratic family.”
Actually, the Pei Clan only had 100,000 dans of grain. The remaining 300,000 dans were borrowed from others.
Although Pei Ju was old, he wanted to help the family rise to a higher level.
It could be said that when the news of the evaluation of aristocratic families was out, almost everyone was so excited that their blood was racing. They wanted to fight for the honor of their families.
As a result, there were cases of people borrowing food or using their family property as collateral to buy food everywhere.
Pei Ji was fifty-three years old this year. According to seniority, he was one generation younger than the other party. He shook his head and said,
"Second Uncle, why bother? If the Pei family of the east of the river wanted to become a first-class aristocratic family in the world, they still needed to progress step by step. They needed to rely on the hard work of generations.”
"You have news?" Pei Ju raised his white eyebrows, feeling that the other party seemed to know something.
Pei Ji glanced at King Zhao and nodded.
Pei Ju calmed down and waited for the banquet to begin.
......
The main hall of the Longevity Palace was where the nobles were placed.
The side hall was where the wives and daughters of dignitaries were placed, and Empress Zhangsun presided over it.
Li Shi Min's purpose of having the side hall host a banquet was to stimulate the wealthy families 'desire to compete with each other.
Which woman wouldn't want her husband and her family to be rated as a first-rank aristocratic family?
As expected.
Hundreds of women in the side hall formed small groups, showing off and complimenting each other.
"Lu Furen, I heard that your Fanyang Lu family seems to have stored hundreds of thousands of stones of grain.”
"Where is it?" Lu Shi was modest.
......
Madam Cui: " This time, Lord Zhangsun has also stockpiled a lot of grain. I'm sure the Zhangsun Clan's reputation will rise to a higher level. Madam Zhangsun, you were really lucky to marry Lord Zhangsun back then."”
Madam Zhangsun: " Madam Cui, you too. The Cui family of Boling also bought 300,000 dans of grain from the King of Zhao at a high price. They will definitely get a good ranking.”
Madam Cui vomited blood.
......
"Burp!"
Li Yuanjing was finally full and burped, instantly attracting the disdain of many aristocratic families.
He sat cross-legged on the mat and felt that his butt was extremely tired. The back-leaning chair in the Martial Virtue Hall was still more comfortable.
In this era, it was still popular to split the meals and kneel.
He was actually very rude by sitting cross-legged.
However, he did not care about what others thought of him.
Suddenly, the bell rang.
Everyone turned solemn and looked at the leader.
"Dear ministers, I am very happy to be able to attend the banquet of the Longevity Palace today.”
"Just treat this place as your own home.”
Li Shi Min nodded at the eunuch, who shouted,"
"Let's start the banquet. Play the music."
The sound of strings and strings reverberated in the hall.
Dressed in palace costumes, singers and dancers entered the hall to perform elegant dances.
Li Yuanjing saw Li Shiming stand up and say a bunch of congratulatory words, then toast each other.
One glass after another.
"I won't get drunk even after a thousand cups. It's hard to meet a match, haha!”
"Come, come, come. General Cheng, drink ten cups!”
"Yuanjing, you can't hold your liquor. You blushed after one glass.”
Li Yuanjing saw that Li Shiming was starting to brag and complained in his heart," I have to develop a high-concentration distilled liquor. When the time comes, I'll make you drink it in one glass."”
When everyone had drunk a little and was a little drunk.
When he saw Li Er stand up again, he said bitterly,"
"The Temple of Immortals has wine and meat, but the people in the east of the river have no rice to eat due to the drought. I am ashamed.”
Then.
Everyone sweated and said in unison,"
"Your Majesty is a wise ruler, a blessing to the Great Tang!”
"I've thought about it for a long time, and I finally understand that if we want to save the people of the east of the river, we must have all of you."”
"My beloved ministers come from various families. Many families have a longer history than the royal family, so they must have the heart of a benevolent person.”
"If you donate a stone of grain, the people of Hedong will benefit greatly.”
" Today, whichever family donates the most grain, I will personally evaluate it as a first-rank family. The second, third, fourth, and fifth will be evaluated as a second-rank family. The fifth to tenth will be evaluated as a third-rank family."
Li Shimin spoke about the food donation.
The ministers secretly cursed the Emperor for being cunning, but they were willing to do so and shouted,""Your Majesty is wise."
Li Yuanjing was instantly excited. After all, this was his idea.
"I wonder what the rules are for donating food." Cheng Yaojin spoke first.
In the next moment.
"This time, the rules of the donation are that each family can call out a number to indicate how much food they donate, and the final tally will be done by Chu Suiliang."”
"We will rank them at the end."
"I believe that all of you are people who keep your promises. There will never be any random shouting, shouting blindly, or saying that you were wrong.”
"This time, I will not force you to donate food!”
Never force it?
The ministers revealed looks of disdain.
Cheng Yaojin shouted the first number,"
"Cheng Manor, three thousand dan of grain."
Being the first to shout didn't mean that he was first.
" Chang 'an's Zou Clan, thirty thousand stones."
" Yizhou's Yun Clan, 35,000 stones."
"Marquis of Mo Prefecture, 100,000 stones."
Very soon, the fight for wealth entered a white-hot stage.
Those second and third-rate families stepped forward one after another, gritting their teeth and shouting out the maximum price they could afford.
Li Yuanjing expressed that he was very competent as a virtuous king and had won many resources for the people of Hedong.
How was today a food donation meeting? It was simply a battle of wealth.
Li Yuanjing chuckled.
All the families were trying their best to show off at this banquet, comparable to Shi Chong of the Jin Dynasty.
However, this competition of wealth was for the sake of the people.
All the food donated by everyone, as well as the results of the fight for wealth, would be transported to the east of the river to provide disaster relief to the sixteen states.
Whichever family could donate the most grain would not only be rated as a first-class family by the emperor.
Moreover, he would also gain the hearts of the people of Hedong Road.
The temptation of a first-rank aristocratic family tempted everyone.
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