Chapter 015: Counterattack on the Aristocratic Family

Zong Zhengxiao deliberately kept people in suspense, lowered his head and drank several sips of warm tea, until he saw that Prince Ji was so anxious that he was about to beat him up, then he said leisurely: "I have found a way to make ice, and I want to let your family run the ice business."

An important reason why the noble families dared to be so arrogant was that their pockets were filled with wealth. Compared with them, Zong Zhengxiao, the ruler of a country, was extremely poor.

If you want to suppress the aristocratic families, in addition to suppressing them militarily, you also have to deprive them economically.

As long as there are people in the world, there will be classes and the law of the jungle. Zong Zhengxiao is not intolerant of aristocratic families, but he cannot tolerate aristocratic families that do not listen to him.

Since they were unwilling to stand on his side, he would cultivate a family that would obey him and trample them under his feet.

Prince Ji was stunned for a few seconds after hearing this, and was a little bit unbelievable, "Your Majesty has a way to make ice, and you want me to do it?"

Zong Zheng Xiao raised his eyes to look at him: "Not happy? I can change..."

"With pleasure!" Prince Ji was so excited that he interrupted Zong Zhengxiao without paying attention to the rules. After he came to his senses, he quickly begged for forgiveness, "I was so surprised that I offended Your Majesty. Please don't blame me."

Zong Zhengxiao understood his feelings. After all, he was not calm after learning the news of the successful ice making this morning. But he still said with a stern face: "It will not be an exception next time."

"I will remember your majesty's instructions." Prince Ji was serious for less than three seconds before he immediately started to smile again. He walked to the basin of ice, took a closer look, and then asked Zong Zhengxiao, "May I ask your majesty, is this ice made using a special ice-making method?"

Zong Zhengxiao nodded, and Prince Ji's eyes lit up. He almost screamed and wished he could hold Bing in his arms like a treasure.

Zong Zhengxiao didn't care how shocked the young master was at the moment, and continued to talk about his plan, "This method of making ice is relatively cheap. Even if the price of ice sold is only half of that of the aristocratic families, it can still make a profit."

Prince Ji seemed to understand a little. "If we make money, the noble families will lose money. Is this your majesty's response to their raising paper prices?"

"Not entirely." Zong Zhengxiao said, "What I want is for their plan to raise the price of paper to fail in the cradle."

Zong Zhengxiao's tone was filled with a sense of determination. Prince Ji knew that the mystery was about to be revealed, so he stopped talking and just listened quietly.

Zong Zhengxiao: "When you go back, spread the news that I have found a method for making paper and can make better quality paper. Once public opinion has spread, you can start selling ice cream."

After listening to this, Prince Ji quickly understood the purpose of Zong Zhengxiao's plan.

The aristocratic family raised the price of paper in order to take revenge on Zong Zhengxiao, because they had the method of papermaking in their hands, which gave them the capital to do whatever they wanted.

But if they knew that Zong Zhengxiao could make paper, this threat would not be considered a threat. However, the aristocratic families are not fools and would not easily believe these rumors.

So we can first use the method of making ice to scare them and tell them that Zong Zhengxiao is not joking. If they really dare to mess around, next time, it will not only be the ice business that will be taken away.

Compared to the paper business which can be done all year round, the ice business has only a golden period of a few months. The wealthy families would know which is more important.

However, lies will eventually be exposed. After a long time, they will not be able to produce evidence and the noble families will be able to use the same old tricks again.

Unless, Zong Zhengxiao really knows how to make paper.

"Your Majesty..." Prince Ji looked at Zong Zhengxiao with a ferocious look in his eyes.

Zong Zhengxiao knew what he wanted to hear and said, "There is some clue, but it will take some time."

In his excitement, Prince Ji almost fainted from lack of breath.

Can they finally make a comeback this time?

The successive good news made Prince Ji dizzy. He left the palace in a daze, holding the ice-making method in his hand. The first thing he did when he got home was to be called to the study by his father.

"Why did His Majesty summon you?" When Duke Ji saw his son's empty eyes, he subconsciously thought there was some bad news, and his brows were wrinkled into the shape of the Chinese character "川".

Prince Ji was still immersed in great joy and did not hear what his father said. He just stood there without saying a word.

Duke Ji is a military commander with a bad temper. He likes to speak his mind directly. It is fine on the battlefield, but when he becomes an official in the court, this character flaw becomes apparent. The group of literary officials from the aristocratic families often deliberately provoke him and induce him to do bad things, thereby attacking the group of meritorious officials and Zong Zhengxiao.

After suffering several setbacks, his old friends advised him to control his temper, and Zong Zhengxiao also criticized him. For the sake of the overall situation, Duke Ji could only force himself to learn to be patient.

Fortunately, although his son inherited some of his quick temper, he had read more books than him and was able to control himself better, so he was more valued by Zong Zheng Xiao than him.

Duke Ji didn't care much about it. After all, it was just a matter of changing from the left hand to the right hand. After all, it was someone from his Ji family who enjoyed the emperor's favor.

Today, Zong Zhengxiao behaved abnormally at the morning court and suddenly summoned his son into the palace. Duke Ji had been worried for a long time. Now that his son finally came back, he was in a daze in front of him without saying a word. He couldn't control his temper all of a sudden.

"Pa!" He angrily slapped his son on the head, and when he saw that he had come to his senses, he yelled, "Are you dumb? Didn't you hear your father asking you a question?"

Prince Ji covered his head and looked at his father with red eyes.

Duke Ji was shocked and thought to himself that he didn't use much force, so how could he make the person cry?

"Dad..." Prince Ji's voice was trembling with excitement.

He took out a piece of paper with the method of making ice and handed it to his father. He then explained Zong Zhengxiao's plan in detail and said happily, "The opportunity has come. Let's see if those bastards dare to look down on us in the future!"

In front of his father, Prince Ji is more real and straightforward.

It doesn't mean that he can surpass the old brands by selling ice cream. He is happy that he has made a good start and there is a promising future.

Before joining Zong Zheng's rebel army, the Ji family was a butcher in the town. Their lives were only slightly better than those of farmers who worked in the fields. They were still looked down upon by the rich and officials, who called them stinky and uneducated peasants.

In order to change his class, Ji's father and his wife saved money to send their son to school. The son worked hard and won the title of "Tongsheng" on his first attempt at the imperial examination.

But later, the world became chaotic, and they followed the Zong Zheng family's army. Relying on Ji's father's strength and fearlessness of life and death, he used his military achievements to gain a position as a general, and was later granted the title of Duke.

Even so, they were still looked down upon by the old families, who called them rude and ignorant barbarians.

The Zong Zheng family was not a big family to begin with, and most of the heroes who followed his family were of grassroots origin. The better ones were also impoverished relatives from the side branches of old aristocratic families.

In the past few years, their group of heroes and the Zong Zheng family have suffered enough from the contempt of the aristocratic families, but they cannot be killed easily. If Zong Zhengxiao had not managed to dampen the arrogance of the aristocratic families several times, they would probably have had a more difficult time.

Now that he has the opportunity to give the aristocratic families a slap in the face and steal money from their pockets, it would be strange if Duke Ji is not happy.

Duke Ji raised his thumbs up, "Great! Great! I knew the emperor was the best. I saw it back then. He was the best among the boys in the Zongzheng family. When the emperor planned to come to the capital and choose the second son as the crown prince, I didn't..."

"Dad!" Prince Ji was shocked when he heard this. He didn't care that the man in front of him was his old father. He grabbed his wrist and said seriously, "Be careful what you say."

Duke Ji then realized that he had said the wrong thing. He was so frightened that his face turned pale and he quickly slapped himself a few times.

"Xie'er, I, I was just too happy and spoke without restraint. I won't say anything nonsense in front of outsiders." Duke Ji explained hurriedly.

Zong Zhengxiao was able to suppress his brothers and ascend the throne, and he also fought back and forth with the aristocratic families in recent years. It was not just luck that counted.

Thinking of the way Zong Zhengxiao had seized power and punished the aristocratic families, even Duke Ji, who had killed countless people on the battlefield, could not help but shudder.

Ji Xie's tone did not soften, and he said sternly: "You can't tell it at home, otherwise it will only bring disaster to your relatives. Some secrets are best kept in your stomach and taken to the coffin. Father, you must remember this!"

Duke Ji knew the seriousness of the matter and didn't care about being reprimanded by his son, so he readily agreed.

*

With a goal in mind, Ji Xie acted quickly. Within a few days, the rumor that Zong Zhengxiao had found a method of papermaking from somewhere spread among several major families.

As Zong Zhengxiao expected, they did not believe it at first, until a shop selling ice drinks suddenly appeared in the most prosperous commercial street in the capital.

The shop not only sells a variety of high-quality and low-priced iced drinks, but also sells raw ice, and the price is more than half lower than that of Chen's Ice Shop.

On the opening day, the onlookers saw servants from several wealthy families come in to order ice, including the steward of the household of the general who protected the country. These people were specifically responsible for purchasing for their respective mansions, and everyone knew them.

The powerful and influential people all bought some, which showed that the ice sold in this store was of good quality. The scorching sun left no room for hesitation, so all the onlookers rushed in.

The ice drinks in the ice shop taste good, and the original ice is clean and transparent. Customers think that the money is well spent. The news spread quickly, and there was a long line in front of the store from day to night. The crowd did not disperse until the store clerk said that there was no ice left.

For several days in a row, Ji's ice shop was packed with customers, while Chen's ice shop was deserted.

The Chen family was naturally unhappy to see their money being snatched away. It was impossible for them to lower the price, and the only solution was to destroy the other party's ice shop.

So the Chen family set up a trap to frame Ji's Ice Shop. They sent people to pretend that someone was poisoned and almost died after eating Ji's ice cream. They blocked the door of the shop and demanded an explanation from Ji's Ice Shop.

The Ji family had long been on guard against this move. Not only did they expose the liar's lies on the spot and gain the support of the people, they also got the information from the liar that the instigator was the Chen family, and then reported the matter to the government.

The Chen family naturally wanted to find a way to extricate themselves, but their reputation was also ruined. If the ice cream business was just terrible before, now they could just close it down.

The head of the Chen family was almost irritated and believed the rumor to some extent, so he hurried to find other heads of the family to discuss countermeasures.