Lu Ziyi said with embarrassment: "We can only gather more than 10,000 taels now. It is true that before you came to Chengnan Mansion, we just bought a lot of land, and the major stores also need money to purchase goods."
"The Lu family only has a little over 10,000 taels of silver in their account right now."
When the fake Jingxu heard this, his brows immediately frowned. So little?
What can you do with ten thousand taels?
"What about the other families? I heard you held a banquet yesterday. What was their attitude?"
"Everyone expressed their willingness to support the court, but most of them need to raise money." Lu Ziyi said in embarrassment.
Fake Jingxu was so annoyed that he had to raise money, so how could he wait any longer?
No one knew where Ning An had gone, and his people still haven't found where they are.
"No, before this evening, all the merchants in the city must gather one million taels of silver for this prince."
"His Majesty has sent a secret decree. Do you want to go against the emperor's grace?" The fake Jingxu threatened with his eyes wide open.
Lu Ziyi pretended to be very scared and begged for mercy repeatedly: "My Lord, I really can't come up with it. Please give us a few more days. We will definitely collect the one million taels of silver and hand it over to you, my Lord."
Fake Jingxu stood up angrily and kicked over a chair: "I said this evening, do you understand?"
"Young Master, Master Lin is here." The housekeeper came in and saw the fake Jingxu getting angry, so he stepped forward cautiously and reported.
Following Master Lin in, he bowed respectfully, "I pay my respects to the Crown Prince. Why are you so angry?"
"Master Lu, what did you say to make the prince so angry? If he gets really angry, can you afford to apologize?"
Master Lin's eyes were filled with anticipation for a good show. Humph, that bastard Old Lu had handed over the family business to this brat long ago, making it possible for this brat to sit in the position of chairman now.
He had to endure people bossing them around all day long.
Now that he can finally see him being humiliated, how can he not be excited and take the opportunity to add insult to injury.
Fake Jingxu also calmed down at this time and looked at Master Lin: "Why is Master Lin here now?"
"I'm here to give you some silver, my Lord. I'm not very talented, and although the silver I have at home is limited, I've managed to gather together two hundred thousand taels."
"I will also offer another three hundred thousand taels later. I am not as generous as Patriarch Lu, so please accept it, my Lord."
Upon hearing this, the anger on the fake Jingxu's face instantly dissipated, and a smile appeared on his face: "Oh? Master Lin is here to give this prince some money?"
"That's right, come here, bring it up!" Following Master Lin's order, several servants outside carried in a box.
You can tell from the heavy sound the box made when it fell to the ground that it was quite heavy.
Then, a man who looked like a butler came forward and handed a small box to Mr. Lin.
Mr. Lin opened the thing, and inside were some silver bills and two gold hairpins.
"My Lord, there are 100,000 taels of silver in this box, and here are 100,000 taels of silver notes. These two gold hairpins are for you."
The fake Jingxu took it and looked at it, and the smile on his face deepened.
When he looked at Lu Ziyi, he was even more unhappy.
"It's a shame that your Lu family is still the richest family in Chengnan Prefecture, but you are not even as good as the Lin family, who are one level below you. It would be better to give the title of richest family to the Lin family!"
When Mr. Lin heard this, he immediately smiled happily, although he knew that the title of the richest man would not fall on them just by the prince's words.
After all, it is known to everyone that the Lin family is inferior to the Lu family.
But Master Lin was happy. He felt relieved to see that brat Lu Ziyi was being criticized by the prince.
Lu Ziyi sighed and said, "If the prince has this idea, the Lu family is powerless to stop him. Please forgive me, prince. I really can't come up with the money for the time being."
“It takes time to prepare.”
Mr. Lin asked curiously, and after learning about the situation, he felt sympathy for Lu Ziyi.
They are just merchants, how can they fight against the government and the court?
His Lin family was not so willing to pay out these 500,000 taels, but if they had this relationship, they might be able to become a royal merchant in the future.
This money can naturally be earned back.
Although he was jealous of the Lu family, he also understood that if the Lu family fell, the next family to be targeted would be the Lin family.
They are merchants from the same city and belong to the same chamber of commerce.
He also understood the principle of everyone losing when one suffers, and said, "My Lord, what nephew Lu said is not wrong. Not long ago, their Lu family did make a large purchase of land and other things."
"With a large family and a large business, expenses are also high, and it takes time to recover the funds."
"Even I, a humble commoner, had to work very hard to come up with these 500,000 taels of silver."
"To be honest, I only have one hundred taels of silver left in my home."
After hearing what Master Lin said, Fake Jingxu pondered for a moment, then said, "Since Master Lin is pleading for you, I'll give you two more days."
"If you fail to fulfill your promise in two days, this prince will punish you."
Lu Ziyi kowtowed in thanks: "Thank you, my Lord, and thank you, Uncle Lin."
"Okay, you can leave now!" Fake Jingxu waved his hand impatiently.
Mr. Lin also took his leave soon. Fake Jingxu wanted to arrange the money quickly and did not try to keep him.
As they walked out of the gate, Master Lin suddenly called out, "Nephew Lu, please stay."
Puzzled, Lu Ziyi turned to look at Master Lin, bowed with both hands and said, "Uncle Lin, is there anything else?"
"My dear nephew, your father and I have been friends all our lives, and our families are also old friends."
"We are just merchants. We must not fight against the government and the imperial court."
"Listen to my uncle's advice. If all else fails, sell some of your property first and pay the prince the money you promised. Only then can you avoid disaster."
Lu Ziyi bowed and thanked him. After looking around, he said in a low voice, "Thank you, Uncle Lin. Uncle Lin, please don't make it difficult for me. As for the remaining 300,000 taels, we can delay it for a few more days."
"Lest the prince think that your family has an easy time raising money and ask for more."
Mr. Lin was also a shrewd man, and he naturally understood what Lu Ziyi meant.
He rolled his eyes, smiled, patted Lu Ziyi's shoulder, and said loudly: "Hahaha...Okay, nephew, go back and raise money as soon as possible. If you need connections to buy land, send someone to find me. I can introduce you to merchants in the outer city."
Lu Ziyi bowed with a smile, then said goodbye and left.
Mr. Lin then left as well. Although the people hiding inside the door didn't hear what the two whispered, they still heard most of it.
Go back and report soon.
"Oh, did Master Lin really say that?" The fake Jingxu raised his eyebrows, and the secret guard nodded in agreement.
Fake Jingxu chuckled: "Haha... This Lin family can be used for a while. When the master succeeds in the future, it's not impossible to give him a share of wealth."
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