Because there were so many people queuing up to sell grain at the Qin family's grain store in the city, several villages near Lijia Village, after learning that Lijia Village also had a base for the Qin family to purchase grain, also transported their grain to the Li family for sale.

The reason is simple: the purchase price here is higher than anywhere else!

The small merchants in the city who had originally agreed with the Zhao family grain shop to lower the purchase price could no longer sit still. They followed the example of the Qin family grain shop and raised the purchase price of grain. Only then did the grain shop, which had been deserted, start to see some improvement.

Unlike the Zhao family who own thousands of acres of farmland, they are all small characters and naturally cannot withstand such pressure.

If they cannot purchase grain from the people, then they will not be able to do business for the next year and can simply close down. What's the point of running a grain store if there is no grain in the store!

The master of the Zhao family was so angry that he smashed another set of his beloved tea sets at home!

The Qin family is really going too far!

He had already avoided their attack and ran to Lin County to purchase grain, but they were still chasing him relentlessly, leaving him no way to survive!

The servants present looked at the furious Master Zhao, shrinking their necks and trying to reduce their presence as much as possible, hoping that his anger would not be directed at them.

Looking at his father's chest heaving with anger, Zhao Qing was afraid that his father would get even worse, so he stepped forward to comfort him, "Dad, don't be too angry. I have a solution."

Mr. Zhao's eyes lit up when he heard this. "Why are you still keeping us in suspense? Come on, tell me!"

At most, he has some wealth and power, but he cannot compare with those officials who have real power.

Perhaps it was because he had been too successful in the past and his family had a lot of say in food matters. Ever since County Magistrate Zheng came to power, he had been feeling aggrieved in everything he did and was naturally very unwilling to accept this.

"Dad, we can't cause trouble for them, but there are people who can. I heard that the county magistrate of Lin County is quite critical of the Qin family's actions. Do you want us to smooth things over with him? We can't do anything about them, but those officials may not have any."

Mr. Zhao thought for a moment, "How did you learn about this? Did the county magistrate really have complaints?"

"We have a shop in Lin County. My son had dinner with other shopkeepers a few days ago, and they told me privately that the Qin family was too overbearing and their hands were too long!"

Mr. Zhao turned around twice in excitement, which meant that there were actually people who had the same idea as him and couldn't stand the Qin family intercepting their business!

His cloudy eyes rolled around twice, and he called his son over and gave him some instructions.

Merchants often fight with each other for profit, and the power struggles in the officialdom will be even worse than those among merchants!

At this moment, Zhao Laoye's mind was not very clear. He just wanted to vent his anger.

If they don't make life easy for him, then he will also make things difficult for them.

Capital

The second prince's residence.

His staff brought several memorials from the northwest to the second prince.

"The memorial our people submitted implicates General Qin for interfering in local affairs and neglecting his duties. Instead of guarding the border, the soldiers are patrolling the official roads."

The Second Prince raised his eyebrows in interest. He picked up the teacup beside him and took a sip. "These alone won't be enough to bring Qin Bin down!"

The staff nodded, "I understand that General Qin's move was to protect the safety of the people's grain transportation, which is understandable!"

The second prince nodded, glanced at the other memorial, and gestured for him to read the other one first.

The staff quickly opened another memorial

"This one impeaches the Rongcheng County Magistrate for competing with the people for profit. A dignified county magistrate is actually encouraging the people to engage in commercial activities."

The Second Prince put down his teacup and asked casually, "These two memorials may be of some importance or insignificance. The key lies in what Father thinks."

"It's not easy to shake Qin Bin's position in my father's heart with just such a trivial question!"

He was naturally very tempted to win over the general who commanded an army of 300,000, but this man was very difficult to get along with. Even he was his good brother on the surface, but he kept his distance.

He looks like a loyal minister.

"Second Prince, you might as well use these two memorials to test the general's position in the Emperor's heart. If you can arouse the Emperor's suspicion, that would be even better. Who knows, you can use this as an opportunity to make a fuss in the future."

If he could sow discord between the two, he might be able to place his men in the Northwest Army in the future. In order to understand the key, the Second Prince immediately asked his followers to call over the officials from his own camp and discussed it in this way.

They knew that it was a pipe dream to bring down Qin Bin, who held a large army, with just a memorial. They wanted to use the memorial as a test case to test the emperor's attitude.

If the emperor gets angry and blames Qin Bin, it means that they can plan to place their own people in the northwest in the future.

If the emperor picked it up heavily and then put it down lightly, it would mean that the emperor still trusted Qin Bin very much, and then they would have to change their attitude and show goodwill to him.

There were many memorials impeaching Qin Bin and the magistrate of Rongcheng County at the morning court that day.

"Your Majesty, General Qin has neglected his duties. Instead of properly guarding the border, he has ordered his soldiers to patrol the official roads. Instead of defending against the enemy, he is guarding against his own people. What is his intention?"

"And the magistrate of Rongcheng, instead of encouraging people to engage in farming and sericulture, dares to openly compete with the people for profit and engage in merchant activities. Your Majesty, I think this man is no longer worthy of being a county official. I implore Your Majesty to dismiss him and investigate him!"

"I think not only should he be dismissed, but we should also thoroughly investigate whether he accepted bribes and colluded with others to extort money from the people!"

When there are people criticizing in the court, there are also people supporting them.

"I think you guys are just idle. When the general is on patrol, do you have to ask about it?"

"You should have evidence to back up your words. You said you were competing with the people for profit, right? Your Majesty, I think we should give the person involved a chance to submit a memorial to express our grievances!"

In the court, there were those who attacked each other, those who took advantage of others' misfortunes, and of course those who watched the fire from the other side of the river.

The old emperor listened to his ministers talking to each other without showing any joy, and they argued with each other without giving in.

The emperor raised his hand impatiently, and the ministers who were arguing with their faces red and necks were all silent in an instant, as if the pause button was pressed.

Even though they were arguing fiercely, they were always keeping an eye on the emperor's expression out of the corner of their eyes. If there was anything wrong, they would restrain their attacks.

In the final analysis, it's just a bluffing test!