Dad, don't be greedy! My brother climbed into the emperor's bed, and I became famous overn

When the price reached the Cui residence, Cui Ming's vision went black, and he nearly collapsed to the ground.

"Fifty coins?! Have they gone mad at Pujitang?!"

Cui Ming's voice became shrill, filled with barely concealed fear.

"How could they possibly make money on fifty coins?! What is Pujitang up to? Are they deliberately trying to lose money and take us all down with them?!"

"But how could they possibly have that much money to dare to go against the Cui family?"

Cui Yuan sat in the superior position, but his hands gripped the armrests of the grand master's chair tightly, and his teeth chattered uncontrollably.

Upon careful consideration, it's hard to imagine anyone in the world possessing such immense wealth...

Cui Yuan seemed to have thought of something, his eyes suddenly widened, and the flesh on his face trembled.

"It's him! It was him all along! Our four great clans have been searching for that man for over a decade..."

"It was him!!!"

"Brother?"

Seeing his brother's deranged state, Cui Ming was terrified.

He took two steps forward, bent down, and scrutinized Cui Yuan's expression.

"Brother, who are you talking about?"

Cui Yuan shook his head, his eyes filled with ruthlessness.

Neither Pujitang nor the emperor could possibly have the financial resources to fight against the Cui family!

Therefore, it can only be that person!

"It's Gu Debai."

Cui Yuan gritted his teeth and said, "It was Gu Debai who made the move."

If that's the case, then Pujitang can afford the loss, but the Cui family can't!

The grain that the Cui family hoarded in the later period was purchased at an average price of over 120 coins.

Selling it for eighty coins is like cutting flesh off your own body with a dull knife.

If Pujitang lowers the price to fifty coins...

That means smashing the bones of the Cui family to pieces and stewing them in a pot!

Cui Ming was baffled and frowned, asking, "Gu Debai has always been neutral, only trying to smooth things over. Why would he help the emperor against our Cui family?"

Cui Yuan didn't reply because he didn't understand either.

Cui Ming was so anxious that he kept rubbing his hands together.

"Brother! Should we follow suit and lower the price again?"

"and."

Cui Yuan gritted his teeth and spat out the word, cold sweat already beading on his forehead.

"If we don't follow suit... the grain will be stuck in our hands, and we won't get a single penny back."

That evening, the Cui family's grain shops across the country gritted their teeth and, with blood dripping from their mouths, lowered the price to fifty coins.

Although there were fewer people queuing to buy grain than at Pujitang, at least the rice in the granary started to decrease.

However, this faint breath that kept him going didn't even last one night.

The next day, as dawn broke.

The price tag at the entrance of Pujitang Logistics Station has been changed once again in the Cui family's nightmare.

Thirty coins for a bushel!

Furthermore, the large red notice also included the following line: "Puji Hall has ample grain reserves; starting price is thirty cash, no price increase guaranteed!"

This is the most normal grain price during the prosperous and favorable period of the Dayong Dynasty.

When the news reached the Cui family study, Cui Yuan couldn't catch his breath and fainted on the spot.

"It's all over!"

Cui Ming slumped into the armchair, tears and snot streaming down his face.

"It's over! Our Cui family... this time they've truly been completely drained of their lifeblood!"

The mansion was in complete chaos.

Cui Yuan lay in bed for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea before slowly waking up.

He slowly opened his parched lips, his voice trembling.

"Listing price: thirty coins... for sale."

As this faint sentence fell.

Cui Ming burst into tears.

Before long, all of Cui's grain shops lowered their prices again.

When the new wooden sign reading "Thirty coins for a bushel" was hung up, the manager of the Cui family's grain shop was trembling.

They knew very well that they were likely to lose their jobs.

As prices returned to normal, long queues reappeared outside Cui's Grain Store.

While the people were buying up large quantities of grain from the Cui family's bargain-priced sale, they also didn't forget to point their fingers at the shopkeeper and hurl insults at him.

"Pah! You heartless bastard! Where were you before?"

"When you were ripping us off for 200 coins a dou (a unit of dry measure) a while back, you beasts had no conscience whatsoever!"

"Exactly! They forced me to sell my children and still have nothing to eat, and now they're pretending to be kind? Karma!"

"If it weren't for His Majesty's compassion for the people and the Puji Hall's relief efforts, we would have starved to death long ago from these powerful nobles!"

The once arrogant managers of the Cui family now huddled behind the counter, looking ashamed and dejected.

Hearing the insults outside, he didn't dare to lift his head. He could only humiliatingly fiddle with the abacus, recording every penny of the wealth that was being lost at an alarming rate.

But what drove the Cui family to despair the most was not the insults from the people.

Even if prices are already rock-bottomed, ordinary people's purchasing power is still limited.

It is far from enough to digest the Cui family's terrifying stockpile of one million shi in the short term.

If the Cui family wants to keep the commodity city project, they must quickly get some meager cash to shut up their creditors.

Only one path remained before Cui Yuan.

That means completely abandoning the sense of superiority of their aristocratic families and humbly begging the young emperor who had driven them to the brink of despair.

They went to beg Xiao Ye to show mercy and, in the name of the Ministry of Revenue, designate the "military grain procurement" project to their Cui family.

Cui Yuan sat listlessly in the armchair, his empty eyes staring at the deepening twilight outside the window.

He sighed heavily, and his hair turned white overnight.

However, how could Gu Mingyue's hunting scheme end so easily?

Her mother's life must now be repaid by the Cui family!

Meanwhile, in Kyoto.

The Dayong People's Daily is working overtime to type and print the newspaper.

Gu Mingli held the newly produced ink sample in his hand.

Song Huaijin and Chen Wangshu waited nearby.

The content of this issue of the newspaper was something Xiao Ye had approved.

Front-page headline: "Gentlemen of Jizhou turn into tyrants, disregarding human life under the guise of imperial favor."

The story begins with the Cui family colluding with Jia Zhengjing, an official of the Jizhou government, to seize the people's land.

For more than a decade, the Cui family of Lingzhou has monopolized the canal transport, arbitrarily assassinated minor nobles, monopolized grain, and taken the opportunity to annex land and people, among other crimes.

Each and every case was investigated and verified by the Dali Temple.

Witness testimony, physical evidence, and confessions—every single one is clearly listed in black and white.

Key excerpts from Cui Zhe's confession were extracted.

"...occupied 1,300 acres of land, and murdered 17 people to cover their tracks..."

"...The Cui family siphones off more than three million taels of tax revenue from Ji Province every year, all of which goes into their private treasury..."

The most striking part is when Cui Zhe confesses to an old debt.

Seventeen years ago, a landlord surnamed Fang in Lingzhou refused to mortgage his shop to the Cui family, so the Cui family sent people to burn down the Fang family's shop.

The Fang family of five, including a three-year-old child, were burned to death in the fire.

Afterwards, Cui Jiarang, who had already bribed the county government, had the case classified as "fire caused by fire."

Further on, there is a rubbing of a letter.

It is a handwritten letter from Cui Yuan to Wang Cong, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue.

The letter explicitly stated:

"The issue of grain prices requires our combined efforts from both inside and outside."

"We must slow down the Ministry of Revenue's procurement process and wait until grain prices rise to a high level before proceeding."

The original of this letter was found by the Dragon Scale Guards in Wang Cong's residence.

Wang Cong was taken away by the Dali Temple two days ago.

Gu Mingli put down the draft and turned to give instructions to Song Huaijin.

"This issue will be reprinted to 100,000 copies, so that the whole world can see the evil deeds of the Cui family."

"The Cui family deserves to be executed!"

……