In the Longevity Palace.
The Pig Slaughtering Banquet, oh no, it should be the banquet to evaluate the aristocratic families, had already reached its climax.
Zheng Fengchi's shout of 700,000 dans shocked everyone present.
The current ranking should be the Zheng Clan first, the Cui Clan of Boling second with 630,000 dans, and the Zhangsun Clan third with 600,000 dans.
Originally, Zheng Fengchi was not qualified to attend, but because of the King of Zhao, the richest man in the Great Tang had caused a huge change in the banquet.
Cui Mingan, the assistant minister of the Yellow Clan, was extremely aggrieved. He could only salute Li Shimin and say loudly,
"Reporting to Your Majesty, the more the richest man Zheng donates, the better it will be for the Great Tang.”
"However, the Zheng family only has gold and silver treasures. They don't have a prominent historical family background or a long inheritance. I'm afraid they can't participate in the evaluation of aristocratic families, let alone become a first-class aristocratic family.”
What he meant was that even if Zheng Fengchi donated 700,000 dans of grain, he was not qualified to participate in this assessment. As for the title of first-grade aristocratic family, it was naturally the Cui family of Boling.
"Imperial Brother, you can't!"
Li Yuanjing shouted and stepped out. This angered Cui Mingan so much that he almost fainted.
"King Zhao, why don't you tell me?”Li Shi Min didn't want to offend the Cui Clan of Boling, so he used the King of Zhao as a shield.
Li Yuanjing looked around and said righteously,"
"First Rank clans are the most powerful clans in the Great Tang. Now that the Imperial Court is in trouble and the east of the river is in famine, we need a large amount of food.”
"This king thought that a prominent historical family background and a long inheritance could not be used as food.”
"Of course, whoever donates more food will be qualified to be called a first-rank aristocratic family.”
"Moreover, after the Zheng family donated 700,000 dans of grain this time, who in the world doesn't recognize you?”
These words were very reasonable, leaving the guests speechless.
Especially that sentence," Who in the world doesn't know you?" It made everyone even more envious of Zheng Fengchi.
This time, after the banquet.
Zheng Fengchi's act of donating food to the disaster relief would definitely shake the world and gain an infinitely high reputation among the people.
The commoners didn't care how long your family had been passed down. They only cared about who treated them well.
"What a good 'Who in the world doesn't know your lord'. I will definitely keep my word. Anyone who donates food can participate in the evaluation of aristocratic families.”
"Minister Cui, although your Cui family of Boling is second in the food donation, it's already not bad for you to be ranked as a second-rank aristocratic family.”
Li Shimin's move was to deliberately suppress the Cui Clan of Boling.
Why did he feel that everything he wanted to do had been arranged by Li Yuanjing? Suppressing the aristocratic families in Shandong was something he had always wanted to do but did not dare to do.
Suddenly, he realized that his royal brother was even more considerate than Zhangsun Wuji.
This time, Imperial Younger Brother brought people to intercept Hu. It was really a good interception, a wonderful interception.
Li Shiming winked at Li Yuanjing, and Li Yuanjing also gave him a look.
The two of them were simply a perfect match.
Only Cui Min Gan was angry and embarrassed, he could only cup his hands and say,"Your Majesty, can you wait a moment? I can still donate more food, but I need to ask for it back from the Lu family of Fan Yang.”
Li Shi Min was surprised and nodded.
In the seats of the Lu family of Fanyang, the two young men had ugly expressions on their faces. How did their Lu family owe the Cui family of Boling food?
Only Lu Changqing, the official assistant minister of the Ministry of Rites, who was nearly fifty years old, said loudly,
"The Lu clan owes the Cui clan of Boling 100,000 stones.”
Cui Mingan looked at Lu Changqing gratefully and immediately shouted,"
"730,000 dan!"
Swoosh!
Zheng Fengchi's expression changed slightly, and so did Li Shiming. Only Li Yuanjing returned to his seat calmly.
Lu shi didn't owe Cui shi food. It was obvious that Lu shi wanted to lend Cui shi 100,000 dan of food.
"Eight hundred thousand stones."
Zheng Fengchi shouted a stifling bid, trying to scare Cui Mingan away.
Before Cui Mingan could speak, an old voice sounded.
"The Wang Clan of Taiyuan owes the Cui Clan of Boling 50,000 stones.”
"The Cui Clan of Qinghe owes the Cui Clan of Boling thirty thousand stones.”
"Longxi's Li Clan owes Boling's Cui Clan 20,000 stones.”
Swoosh!
When one side was in trouble, all sides would support him.
Obviously, the five surnames and seven hopes did not want the title of a first-rank aristocratic family to fall on a businessman, so they chose to support the Cui family of Boling.
Cui Mingan instantly became confident and shouted another price,"850,000 stones."
Zheng Fengchi's expression changed drastically. For the first time in his life, he felt pressured.
Even if he was the richest man in the Great Tang, he couldn't possibly oppose the Five Families and Seven Wangs.
This was the power of aristocratic families.
He had thought that it would be good enough if the Cui Clan of Boling could fork out 550,000 dans of grain. He did not expect that the other party had so many allies. Now, for the first time, Zheng Fengchi was not confident and hesitated.
If he, Zheng Fengchi, did not obtain the title of First Rank Aristocratic Family today, he would probably be left empty-handed.
Anyway, the Zheng family did not have that much food.
Thus, Zheng Fengchi turned his gaze to King Zhao, his eyes full of pleading.
In this drought, a bucket of grain was equivalent to a bucket of gold.
"Haha!"
"Richest Man Zheng, if you donate 800,000 dans of grain, the people of the east of the river will definitely be grateful to you. However, in terms of family wealth, I'm afraid the Cui family of Boling is still better than you.”
Cui Min Gan's eyes were filled with madness as he stared at Zheng Feng Chi and Li Yuan Jing. These two people caused the Cui family to spend so much money. They deserved to die.
Of course, he had to return the grain he borrowed from the Five Surnames and Seven Wangs.
The five surnames and seven Wangs sometimes fought with each other, sometimes they were of the same breath.
"King Zhao, think of a way. I don't want the Cui family of Boling to obtain the evaluation of a first-rank aristocratic family.”Li Shi Min lowered his voice to communicate with Li Yuan Jing.
Li Shiming had thought that Zhangsun Wuji would be able to take the top spot with 600,000 dans of food, but the power of the aristocratic families was too terrifying.
"Sigh, Yuan Jing is just a child. How can he conjure hundreds of thousands of stones of grain out of thin air?”
Li Shi Min comforted himself and gave up struggling.
"King Zhao, thank you for selling 300,000 dans of grain to the Cui family. Otherwise, how could our Cui family of Boling have won the first place?”Cui Min Gan smiled at Li Yuan Jing, his tone full of sarcasm.
Zheng Fengchi also closed his eyes. He didn't blame King Zhao, he only blamed the aristocratic families for being too powerful.
This time, 800,000 dans to buy a Second Rank Aristocratic Family was naturally a failed investment. He would definitely be wary of this.
"First place?"
"Bah!"
Li Yuanjing stood up unwillingly and cupped his hands in salute to the crowd. Then, he began to walk towards the seats of the five surnames and seven Wangs.
This behavior was very surprising.
Was this kid stupid?
Everyone's eyes were focused on him.
Li Yuanjing came to the seat of the Zheng family of Xingyang.
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