In the living room of the Li Mansion.

The old eunuch Wei Cheng cocked his orchid fingers, held the teacup in his hand, and smiled at the middle-aged man in blue with a righteous face beside him, "Lord Jin, this is a good pre-summer Pu'er, a specialty of Jiangnan, and you can't taste such good things in Tianjing City." ”

With a hint of sadness between his eyebrows, the middle-aged man in blue nodded mechanically, but there was no verbal response.

A trace of displeasure flashed in Wei Cheng's eyes, he snorted secretly, and tasted the tea by himself.

Suddenly there was a rush of footsteps outside the door, and Li Youcai, who was slightly bloated, hurriedly trotted in and bowed to the old eunuch on the seat.

"Father-in-law Wei is here, the grass people have lost their welcome, and I ask my father-in-law to forgive me!"

"Humph!"

Wei Cheng rolled his eyes and nodded his chin at the blue-clothed middle-aged man beside him, "This is Lord Jin Dongjin, the head of the household department, and he is also the chief official of the imperial court's collection of cloth in Jiangnan this time, why don't you hurry up and see you?!" ”

Li Youcai was shocked when he heard this, he noticed that Wei Cheng was sitting next to Wei Cheng as a middle-aged man in blue as soon as he entered the door, he thought it was just an official accompanying the old eunuch, but he didn't expect it to be so big!

Hurriedly bowed down and said, "Grass man Li Youcai, I've seen Lord Jin!" ”

Jin Dong raised his hand slightly, "Get up and speak." ”

Li Youcai stood up cautiously, slightly apprehensive in his heart.

Since he has been in charge of the Li family for more than 20 years, the official sent by the imperial court to Qingcheng every year to collect cloth is the old eunuch Wei Cheng in front of him, but why did he suddenly send the household department Shangshu to accompany him this time, and even took Wei Cheng's position and became the chief official of the collection of cloth?

Could it be that the Li family's secret filial piety to Wei Cheng in previous years was discovered by the above?

Seeing Li Youcai's trembling appearance, Jin Dong smiled slightly and said, "The Li family has done their best for the imperial court for many years, and Your Majesty has also seen it. ”

The words were to reassure Li Youcai that he had no intention of looking for trouble.

Li Youcai nodded again and again, and hurriedly responded, "It is the honor of the Li family to be able to share the worries of the saints, if Your Majesty has something to order, even if you open your mouth, the grass people will be smeared with liver and brains, and they will not give up!" ”

After listening to Lao Li's loyalty, Jin Dong nodded with satisfaction and got up slowly, "This official's visit to Qingcheng this time is still in accordance with His Majesty's will to take charge of the collection of cloth, but Shopkeeper Li must have also noticed that we came to Qingcheng much earlier than before this year......"

Lao Li's shoulders trembled uncontrollably, and he inexplicably remembered what Wen Chen said to himself before, where did this kid get the news?

"Yes...... It's a lot early......"

"This official opened the skylight and said brightly, the amount of cloth that the imperial court needs to collect from your Li family this year is much more than in previous years, Shopkeeper Li should be prepared!" Jin Dong said with a smile, intentionally or unintentionally glancing at the old eunuch who bowed his head and drank tea on his side.

"Huh?"

Li Youcai was stunned for a moment, "Please also ask Lord Jin to make it clear, how many pieces of cloth are the tasks issued by the imperial court this year?" ”

Jin Dong smiled without saying a word, and silently stretched out three fingers.

"Thirty thousand?" Li Youcai breathed a sigh of relief, this figure is not particularly exaggerated, it has only increased by about 30% compared to the average of previous years, and it is still possible to make the difference between the workers and the workers working overtime.

"It's not 30,000 horses, it's 300,000 horses!"

Wei Cheng, who hadn't spoken for a long time, snorted coldly.

When Li Youcai heard this, he almost didn't stand firm and fell to the ground, "What? 300,000 horses? ”

"Did you hear me right?"

Wei Cheng casually put aside the teacup in his hand, looked at Lao Li, who was pale, and cut it, "This is what Your Majesty means, you want your Li family to hand over 300,000 pieces of cloth Xia Bu before the end of July, and the price of each Xia cloth will be reduced by two percent compared to the past!" ”

Hearing this, Li Youcai froze in place as if he had been struck by lightning, unable to believe his ears.

Although his Li family is the largest cloth merchant in Qingcheng, there are more than 500 skilled workers responsible for weaving cloth under his hands, but in less than two months, it is also a fantasy to weave 300,000 horses of summer cloth!

According to the speed at which each skilled worker weaves one piece of cloth per day, the Li family's ability to hand over 30,000 pieces of summer cloth in two months is already the limit, but now, this number has risen tenfold!

Moreover, the imperial court unilaterally lowered the price of collecting cloth, which made the already low-profit business even more impossible!

"I can't help it, Father-in-law Wei, isn't this asking for my Lao Li's life!"

"You just chopped my old Li to pieces, put it on the textile machine, and you can't hand over 300,000 pieces of cloth in two months!"

Li Youcai said with sincere fear, he was already sweating at this time.

Wei Cheng waved his hand lightly, and pointed to Jin Dong next to him with a look of indifference, "Didn't our family tell you that the chief official of Jiangnan's collection of cloth this time is Lord Jin, you don't have to pretend to be pitiful here with our family!" ”

This......

Lao Li's mood suddenly fell to the bottom, and he realized the role of Jin Dong's visit this time, the court just found a face-to-face official, so that he had no way to intercede, it seems that the silver that the Li family gave to Wei Cheng before was considered a white filial piety!

"Lord Jin, this errand is really impossible for the grass people......"

"Huh?" Jin Dong frowned and said unhappily, "Shopkeeper Li wants to disobey the emperor's order?!" ”

"Don't dare, grass people don't dare!" Li Youcai was sweating profusely, "It's really that the Li family has limited manpower now, and it won't be able to hand over 300,000 pieces of cloth in two months......"

"If your Li family can't do it, won't you go to Qingcheng to ask for help from others?" Jin Dong raised his eyebrows, "As far as this official knows, there are hundreds of large and small cloth mills in Qingcheng, if they are all willing to help you with Shopkeeper Li, it will not be difficult to hand over 300,000 pieces of cloth at the end of July!" ”

Li Youcai was stunned, only then did he realize that he had already fallen into the trap, how could Wei Cheng and Jin Dong not know that the Li family could not complete the task?

They were going to get themselves to find someone for them in the first place!

"Lord Jin, it's not impossible to let the grass people find their peers to help, but is the price of collecting cloth ......?"

"Ahem!"

Wei Cheng frowned, and coughed stiffly, "Lao Li, you are also an old Jianghu, why can't you see this reason until now?" ”

"If the imperial court agrees to increase the budget for collecting cloth, why should our family and Lord Jin discuss with you?!"

Li Youcai's expression was sluggish, it's over, this is for my Li family to spit out all the benefits they have received from the imperial court in the past! The emperor's move is too ruthless, isn't this the life of my Li family!

To put it bluntly, even if the budget given by the imperial court is like this, even if you Li Youcai are looking for someone with money, or even taking a lot of debts, you have to solve the matter for me!

Lao Li's head was blank, the Li family was in a big disaster this time, and in a trance he heard Jin Dong on the side beckoning the old eunuch to leave.

I saw Wei Cheng passing by Li Youcai, patted him lightly on the shoulder, and whispered, "Don't blame our family, our family is also difficult to protect itself at this time......"

After speaking, he followed Jin Dong out of the courtyard without stopping at all.

Li Youcai sat slumped in the chair, his slightly chubby body trembling, afraid and angry.

This is the Emperor's Mandate! Once the task of the cloth is not completed, the Li family can be regarded as completely finished!