Of course, although Lu Dongzan thought so, he did not do it. He felt that although the Tang Dynasty seemed to be a solid block on the surface, there were many people inside who could do grain business. However, the successive responses in the next few days really made him feel like he had fallen into an ice cellar.
Snap...
Lu Dongzan slapped a servant in the face. This was his contact in the Tang Dynasty. In the past, most of the things were handed over to him, and he was basically able to handle them very well. But because of the food issue, this guy brought back a bad answer.
"You're completely useless. I've been feeding you all these years, and at the critical moment, I ask you to contact the major families. There's always a problem here or there. I've already paved the way for you, and all you have to do is follow my path. You can't even do a small thing like this."
Lu Dongzan said angrily, wishing he could drag this guy down and chop him up immediately, but when he thought about the fact that this person had been in the territory of the Tang Dynasty for many years and all the spies obeyed his orders, if he got rid of him, it would be like cutting off all the connections with these tentacles, and all the arrangements made over the years would be ruined.
"Prime Minister, please forgive me, Prime Minister, please forgive me..."
This guy said very fearfully. Of course he knew how powerful Lu Dongzan was. If he were in the territory of the Tang Dynasty, he would be able to mobilize a lot of power. But the problem was that in Tubo, his entire family was in Lu Dongzan's hands. If he did something that made him dissatisfied, his entire family might be executed at any time.
"Get up and answer me. Tell me honestly what those people said, especially the Cui and Li families."
In Lu Dongzan's plan, the Cui family and the Li family both started their business with grain, and they would definitely not miss this profit. Although the population of Tubo is not as large as that of the Tang Dynasty, if they buy grain in large quantities, the money will be enough for them to spend for a while. According to Lu Dongzan's understanding, all the major families are based on money, so how could they miss this good opportunity?
In fact, Lu Dongzan was right. Although the Tang Dynasty and Tubo are in a state of war now, even if there is a war between the two sides, if there is enough profit, the major families will participate without hesitation. But now the situation is different. Before Lu Dongzan's people came to the door, Li Xiang had already greeted the people from the major families. If you dare to do grain business with Tubo, don't blame me for letting you down.
At the beginning, only the Cui family knew about Li Xiang's ability in grain, but there is no impenetrable wall in this world. Soon other major families also knew about Li Xiang's ability. He could take out a large amount of grain at any time, even more than what was in the warehouses of the major families. If he used his own strength to hurt others and used these grains to suppress you, then the grain in your warehouse would only rot and sprout.
Just because Li Xiang is not doing grain business in the Tang Dynasty now doesn't mean he can't do it. If you listen to him, then you can continue to do business. At most, he will deliver the grain to the army and it won't flow into the market. But if you don't listen to him, then your family's grain business will be destroyed.
The major families have fought with the imperial court over food. The imperial court has always used administrative orders to fight with the major families. Although this can temporarily give them the upper hand, the major families will soon find loopholes. You can't just keep banning it. If you do, it goes against the principles of the market and will backfire on the imperial court.
Therefore, when the imperial court issued an order, the major families would pretend to obey it but actually disobey it. They would first obey the order, and then gather their capable people to study the order. If we find loopholes in it, the imperial court would not be able to plug all the loopholes. Anyway, there are countermeasures to every policy.
But Li Xiang's way of doing things was different from the court. He did not use the court's administrative resources. Instead, he invited the managers of the major families to take a look. If you have more grain than me, and your grain is produced faster than mine, then you can compete with me at will, but if you don't have this ability, then you'd better shut up, otherwise I will make you get out of the grain market.
The major families also understood that food is the most important thing for people, so they could temporarily avoid competing with Li Xiang in other industries.
But the grain industry is completely different. It not only concerns their stable income, but also their status in the court. Although Li Xiang has intervened strongly now, the markets in various places are still in their hands. If Li Xiang really goes against them, it is estimated that Li Xiang’s losses will not be too great. Instead, all of them will be shaken out. At that time, not only will their annual income decrease, but their voice in the court and local areas will also decrease.
So they quickly reached a conclusion. No matter what promises Lu Dongzan's men made, they politely declined the Tibetan envoy. "No matter how much money you offer, it's just icing on the cake for us. We don't have enough money these days, are we?" The most important thing is not to become an enemy of Li Xiang, otherwise it would be a disaster. We still have to discuss the priorities clearly.
So when this guy received the result, he felt cold all over and didn't know how to report it to Lu Dongzan, so he mounted his warhorse and rushed back day and night.
"You mean even a behemoth like the Cui family doesn't dare to do that?"
The Longxi Li family suffered a considerable loss some time ago and is now some distance away from being a first-rate family. However, the Qinghe Cui family is different. It is the largest family in the Tang Dynasty and has lasted for hundreds of years. Let alone a small crown prince, even if the emperor were here, I am afraid they would dare to rebel.
"In reply to the Prime Minister, I met Mr. Cui Sanye of the Cui family. He has always been the one managing the Cui family's affairs. At the Cui family mansion in the capital, he made it very clear to us that he would not sell us a single grain of food even if the price was fifty cents."
As soon as this guy finished speaking, Lu Dongzan couldn't help but throw the tea bowl in his hand with a bang. The people around him were too scared to say a word. "Prime Minister, you promised in front of the Zamp that we would definitely get food. Now even the Cui family won't give us food, so our food..."
