Tang Dynasty Little Godfather

Chapter 272 The mantis stalks the cicada
After Lady Zixia left, Linghu Xiaoli complained to Madam Yuchi, "Madam, what are you doing? Zixia only came to deliver a message. Why are you getting angry at her?"

Madam Yuchi said, "She didn't come to deliver a message. She's clearly on the Yuan family's side. Have you forgotten that she also has a stake in the Yuan family's rattan paper business? We have to show her some respect, lest they think we're easy to bully."

Linghu Xiaoli was well aware of this, and said, "Even so, she didn't say anything out of line just now. Besides, it's better to have someone relaying the message than not. We don't want to fall out with the Yuan family."

Yu Chi snorted, "I don't care. In my opinion, it's because the Yuan family is too ashamed to come that they let her come. If it were someone from the Yuan family standing here just now, I would have given them a good scolding."

They've always controlled the imperial paper supply, and what have we said about it? Now we've finally managed to produce a good sheet of paper, and we haven't even made any money yet, and they want a piece of the pie? What right do they have?

She got angrier and angrier as she talked, and her face turned red.

"I'm too lazy to argue with you."

Faced with his shrewish wife, Linghu Xiaoli was somewhat intimidated. He stood up and stormed off.

After Lady Zixia went out the door, she got into her carriage, where a young woman of about thirty years old was sitting.

This woman was Li Dan's daughter, Li Longji's sister, Princess Huo, and also a close friend of Lady Zixia. She was currently in Jingyang County to escape the summer heat, so she came along to visit.

The two exchanged a glance but remained silent. Only after the carriage had slowly driven away from the Linghu family residence did Princess Huo speak, "How was it?"

Lady Zixia shook her head.

Princess Huo smiled and said, "What did I tell you? You're just wasting your time."

Lady Zixia said, "But in all things, we must first be courteous before resorting to force."

Princess Huo smiled again and asked, "So what do you plan to do now?"

Madam Zixia raised the corner of her mouth and said, "Based on my understanding of the Linghu family, they are most afraid of the dangers in the court, so they will submit quickly and won't hold out for long. However..."

Princess Huo chuckled and said, "It's just that you're worried about the shrewish women of the Linghu family."

Madam Zixia nodded, but then smiled and said, "But it doesn't matter. If they hate anyone, they hate the Yuan family. I'm just a messenger."

An unnamed academy.

"I just received news that your aunt went to the Linghu family a couple of days ago."

After closing the door, Huangfu Sengnian said excitedly.

Wang Xi asked, "How did their talks go?"

Huangfu Sengnian said, "It shouldn't be very good, because after your aunt left, the Linghu family suddenly sent a lot of people to protect those papermakers, or you could say to monitor them."

"Is it so serious?"

Li Jie asked doubtfully, "Your aunt is such a smooth talker, would she offend the Linghu family?"

Wang Xi said, "She will definitely not offend Linghu on the surface, but she will definitely use tricks behind the scenes to force the Linghu family to hand over the secret recipe."

Wang Shuang asked in surprise, "How did you know?"

"Hold!"

Wang Xi rolled her eyes and said, "That's how she treated us. How would I know? You've really forgotten the pain once the wound has healed."

Wang Xi nodded and said, "That's true."

Huangfu Sengnian nodded and said, "Brother Que is right. Her aunt's business strategy is to pursue the value of things by making them rare and valuable, and to use those rare items to make connections with the powerful and wealthy."

The same applies to glass, to "beauty wine," and to rattan paper. The biggest problem with bamboo paper is that bamboo is extremely cheap. Once a very high-quality paper can be made from bamboo, rattan paper, and even paper in general, will become meaningless to it.

Wang Xi said, "So next, she will definitely use Minister Zhang to put pressure on him."

Li Jieman said, "What makes you so sure?"

Wang Xi laughed and said, "Only in this way can she stay out of it. That's her shrewd side. But when it comes to interests, she's never shrewd. She always emphasizes that she must get what she wants. Asking Master Zhang to take action is in her best interest."

Huangfu Sengnian said, "All we need to do is wait for the Linghu family and the Yuchi family to develop a rift with them, and then take advantage of the situation to win them over to invest in our coal mining. That will make her aunt extremely anxious."

Wang Xi said, "Leave this matter to me."

Huangfu Sengnian was taken aback. "Why?"

He had never seen Wang Xi so responsible.

Wang Xi clicked his tongue: "We can't reveal too much ambition either. How to cover it up? It's very simple. Just go through Linghu Changge. You know her personality. She can't tolerate the slightest humiliation."

If Linghu Changge also becomes my woman, then I'll have another reason to act impulsively for her sake. People will only see our naivety—no, our infatuation—not our scheming.

"Brother Que, you really are something!"

Li Jieman clenched his fists, gritted his teeth, and thought to himself, "Why didn't I come up with such a good idea?"

Wang Xi curled her lip and said, "Save your breath. You're just jealous of my quick wit and ability to always come up with a way to kill two birds with one stone."

Li Jieman blinked and said, "You...you didn't always do things this way. You usually just brute force things without any strategy."

Wang Xi said, "I was ignorant before, and I just wanted to have some fun, so I liked to make them angry. But it's different now. I've grown up, and I'm very interested in matters between men and women. Of course, I need to be strategic, otherwise how can I make them my women?"

Wang Shuang couldn't help but say, "Brother Que, sometimes I really think you're shameless."

Wang Xi said, "This is wisdom, not shamelessness. You are just jealous. Besides, you don't dare to touch Linghu Changge, so you might as well let me have him."

Li Jie nodded and said, "That's true, I don't want to marry a shrew."

Wang Xi chuckled and said, "Conquest is also a kind of fun."

As someone who had been through it all, Wang Xi's guess was absolutely correct.

Given the papermaking technology of the Tang Dynasty, a sheet of high-quality paper was extremely rare and highly prized, and it was also favored by scholars. The influence of this was extraordinary.

If you are the only one who has it, then others will have no choice but to buy from you, and they will naturally be more polite to you, which will gradually build a friendly relationship.

Therefore, even without Madam Zixia, the Yuan family would not relinquish this influence.

However, their goals are slightly different. Lady Zixia is more focused on maintaining the principle of scarcity to increase value. If paper becomes cheap, then this influence will simply disappear.

The Yuan family, however, cared more about their own wealth.

But no matter what, they would absolutely not allow the Linghu family to ruin their deal.

How to force the Linghu family to compromise.

It's actually very simple: it all comes down to strength. Whoever has the bigger fist gets to decide. That's an age-old truth.

However, after Wu Zetian's machinations, the power of the nobility was greatly diminished. They could no longer sit at home and challenge the emperor.

Whether a noble family is powerful or not now depends on their position in the court.

Zhang Shuo's wife was Lady Yuan, and she provided him with much assistance, especially in terms of wealth.

Zhang Shuo was very protective of his own people; he was not like Song Jing, a prime minister who was upright, incorruptible, and selfless.

Of course, it's like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

Zhang Shuo simply arranged for his own people to submit a memorial impeaching Linghu Xiaozhe, the magistrate of Chang'an County, for abusing his power for personal gain. This Linghu Xiaozhe was also the father of Linghu Changge.

However, the memorial was returned by the Secretariat, which stated that there was insufficient evidence.

However, Linghu Xiaozhe panicked when he learned of this news.

Because what was said in that memorial was not false, but true; he did indeed help his cousin Linghu Xiaoli obtain the mining rights to a copper mine in Jingyang County.

But this was actually quite common, because the imperial court allowed private mining and basically didn't interfere. So it's conceivable that the nobles occupied these mines.

If a thorough investigation were conducted, many people would be found to have abused their power for personal gain.

This is also why the Secretariat returned it.

The problem is, who would be so bold as to impeach someone over something like this? That's unusual!
Linghu Xiaozhe, having been in officialdom for many years, knew that this matter was unusual, and since it involved Linghu Xiaoli, he suspected that Linghu Xiaoli might have gotten into trouble.

Upon inquiry, it was discovered that Linghu Xiaoli had a conflict with the Yuan family.

This impeachment was clearly a warning from Zhang.

Linghu Xiaozhe immediately urged Linghu Xiaoli to quickly agree to the Yuan family's conditions.

If you do that, people will die.

Now that Zhang says he's going to deal with him, it could happen in no time.

Linghu Xiaoli never expected the Yuan family to be so ruthless, directly using the power of the Grand Secretary to deal with them, especially since the two families had previously had a fairly good relationship.

This is simply leaving no room for compromise.

Regardless, his cousin's career was of course more important, and Linghu Xiaoli had no choice but to accept it. However, his wife, Lady Yuchi, was determined to fight the Yuan family to the end.

Too bully.

Although Linghu Xiaoli was somewhat afraid of Lady Yuchi, he still dared not act rashly in his elder brother's career. The first time he threw a tantrum at home, he managed to suppress Lady Yuchi.

Then they invited Madam Zixia to their residence.

"Zixia, I'm so sorry to have troubled you to make this trip again."

Linghu Xiaoli was very dejected today.

Lady Zixia said, "I'm sorry, Uncle, Zixia has really done her best."

"Oh, it's not your fault!"

Since Linghu Xiaoli had already decided to back down, he didn't play games and asked directly, "What kind of cooperation does the Yuan family hope to have?"

Madam Zixia said, "Actually, the Yuan family didn't want things to come to this. To show our sincerity, the Yuan family is willing to offer our four bamboo forests to cooperate with you, Uncle. Moreover, after learning about your concerns last time, the Yuan family is also willing to entrust this business to Zixia to manage."

The implication is that we'll leave everything to a third party to ensure that no one will take over the other.

Linghu Xiaoli nodded, "Then!"

"Stop pretending. I think you're all in cahoots, trying to swallow up my family's business."

Then, Lady Yuchi rushed into the house and started cursing at Lady Zixia.

Madam Zixia hurriedly said, "Zixia has no such intention. If Auntie is unwilling, Zixia guarantees not to participate in this matter."

"Hey hey!"

Linghu Xiaoli hurriedly came over and pulled Yuchi Shi back, saying, "Say less."

Then he said to Madam Zixia, "Zixia, let's do it this way. You can go back now."

"Yes."

Madam Zixia nodded slightly, then said to Madam Yuchi, "Aunt, Zixia takes her leave."

Yu Chi continued to curse, "Go back and tell the Yuan family that this is not over yet. I will never let this go. You just wait and see."

(End of this chapter)