In the Chang'an County government hall, the elder's face suddenly darkened after seeing the heads of several big families. He did not expect that it would be these people who falsely accused his eldest son's iron shop. According to the housekeeper, those who smashed the Several of their shops were also owned by people from these big families, so you can imagine how angry he was.
After hearing the angry threats from the great elder, the heads of several major families raised their hands towards Li Yifu with expressionless expressions and said: "Lord County Magistrate, you have seen that the eldest son's family is so arrogant and domineering. It is obviously made by their iron shop. The iron he made was not good, but he sold it to us as inferior quality. We asked him to argue with him, but he refused to listen. Now he is in court and he is threatening us. My Dugu family has never seen anyone doing this kind of business before. I hope you will preside over it. justice!"
"That's right, allowing such unscrupulous merchants to do business in Chang'an is simply a disgrace to the people of Chang'an. They should be shut down and closed down. My Yuwen family is the first to agree!"
"I'm afraid the Xiao family suffered the most serious losses. I wanted to buy a batch of iron and make a batch of agricultural tools to sell to Jiangnan, but who knew that the things were sent to Jiangnan. I thought I could make a lot of money, but the result was , I didn’t make a penny, and I lost everything. I didn’t want any of those goods, they were all scrap metal! They broke as soon as they were used!”
"This matter has spread all over Jiangnan. If my Xiao family hadn't always had a good reputation, I'm afraid people would come to our door!"
"Businesses like the Changsun family should close down. If they are allowed to continue to open, more people will be harmed. Big families like us have suffered heavy losses from it. If it is the small and medium-sized families, wouldn't it mean that their families will be destroyed? This kind of thing must not be allowed Let it happen! I hope the county magistrate will uphold justice!" the head of the Xiao family said sincerely.
"You!!! You are slandering!!! My eldest son's family has made a living by smelting iron and has been in business for decades. How could it ever be that we have used shoddy goods? How many weapons used by many armies in the Tang Dynasty were made by my eldest son's family. How could we ever do this?" There was a problem once? You are spitting blood!!!" The great elder pointed at the heads of several major families and roared.
When Li Yifu saw the great elder being so angry, he couldn't help but smile. He was not afraid of the great elder's anger. What he was afraid of was that the great elder would be calm and composed. Then he wouldn't be able to do anything. Now, it's just right.
"Masters of the family, the elder said that you are spitting blood and slandering others. You can't just talk about it. Since you are suing the Changsun family, you must provide evidence, right? How can you ask me to judge without evidence? It is no joke to say that you are making false accusations!" Li Yifu looked at the heads of the houses and said.
"They just made false accusations. Arrest them. These people made up things out of nothing to ruin the reputation of our eldest grandson family. Our eldest grandson family will definitely prosecute them until death!" When the elder heard that Li Yifu spoke for him, he suddenly became even more arrogant.
The head of the Xiao family was the first to stand up and said: "Since we have come to the county government to file a complaint, we naturally have evidence. Come on, please bring the farm tools made of pig iron from the Changsun family to the elder to see if they are the Changsun's. Home stuff! Don’t say we made false accusations!”
"And my Yuwen family, please come and bring the weapons purchased by my Yuwen family to show to the great elder!" The head of the Yuwen family said with a sneer.
"How can such a thing happen without our Dugu family? Come here, bring up those armors that my Dugu family bought and show them to the great elder!" the head of the Dugu family mocked.
Outside the county government office, after hearing the calls of several household owners, a dozen burly men came up carrying boxes of things, placed seven or eight large boxes on the county government office hall, and placed the boxes He opened it and then retreated.
The head of the Xiao family walked to the first box first, picked up a farm tool in the box and threw it in front of the elder and said: "Take a good look to see if this is a farm tool made of iron from your eldest grandson's shop. The box There is also raw iron sold by your eldest grandson’s family inside, and there is your eldest grandson’s family’s mark on it, this cannot be faked!”
I saw that the farm tools that the head of the Xiao family was still on the ground didn't know whether they were really bad or were already broken, but they were broken into four pieces by this fall!
Seeing the broken farm tools on the ground, the elder's expression changed slightly. He felt a sense of conspiracy. Although he didn't know what kind of conspiracy there was, looking at the farm tools on the ground, he knew something was wrong.
What kind of pig iron can be used to make such unused farm tools? Can this be called a farm tool? It's all so brittle, it would be nice to sell it to people without being beaten.
No matter what the head of the Xiao family says, the Great Elder will naturally have to check and check. If there is evidence, let's take a look. Who knows if it is true or not? In his heart, the Great Elder instinctively feels that this is a fake and made up by the Xiao family. .
However, when he saw the lumps of pig iron in the box and the unique Changsun family mark on it, his face suddenly changed color.
Reaching out and taking out a piece, the elder examined it carefully. It was indeed a piece of pig iron smelted by Changsun's iron shop, and the mark on it was correct.
But when he struck the pig iron piece with his hand, something surprising happened. The originally good piece of pig iron broke into two pieces after he struck it a few times, which shocked the great elder.
"I just said that there is a problem with the pig iron of the Changsun family. The eldest elder must believe it now. Just now he kept saying it was impossible. What should I say now?" the head of the Xiao family snorted coldly.
"I didn't even see clearly whether it was pig iron produced by my eldest grandson's family. Isn't it too early for you to say this?" the great elder shot back.
"Then take a good look, look at it carefully. If you can't see it, you can ask the guys in your shop to come and take a look. Today we will tell the truth from the lies!" the head of the Xiao family said after him.
In fact, the eldest elder has already determined in his heart that the piece of pig iron just now is the product of his eldest grandson's family, but how can he admit it? If he admits it, he will slap himself in the mouth, which confirms what the head of the Xiao family said. If he is caught, , not only must they compensate for their losses, but the key is that the Changsun family’s reputation for decades of ironmaking will be ruined.
You know, the largest iron-making family in the entire Tang Dynasty is his eldest grandson's family. This ironmaking is also one of the most profitable businesses. It has always been controlled by their eldest grandson's family. Many big families want to get involved, but they have been blocked by their eldest grandson's family. This This is also the reason for their grudges.
The three families in front of me once wanted to get involved in iron smelting, but were blocked by their eldest grandson's family. Today they actually united to besiege his eldest grandson's family. It is really abominable. If the family was not in a coma, how could these three families dare to do this? This is clearly adding insult to injury!
Putting down the piece of pig iron that was broken into two pieces, the elder walked to the second box and picked up a piece of pig iron again. He carefully inspected the unique mark of the piece of pig iron. This time he did not dare to knock it again for fear of hitting it again. It was broken into two pieces. The results of this inspection were the same as before. The pig iron was still confirmed to be from his eldest grandson's family. This mark could not be copied and was unique to his eldest grandson's family. He was very sure of this.
But what puzzled him was that his eldest grandson's family had always been very strict about the pig iron shop business. How could such a mistake happen? This had to make the great elder suspicious.
After looking at two boxes, when he was about to look at the third box, the head of the Yuwen family walked out and said: "Come on, the great elder doesn't believe what I say. Come and see these weapons. They are all from the pig iron factory of your eldest son's family." The weapons you forged, don’t you think, can they be called weapons? I’m afraid you won’t be able to kill someone if you cut them, all of this is thanks to your eldest grandson’s family!”
The elder ignored the Yuwen family leader, but walked to a box full of swords, picked up a long sword, and touched it with his hand. There was nothing wrong with this long sword that looked good on the surface. When the great elder pinched the middle part of the long sword with his two fingers and exerted a little force, he saw that the long sword, which originally looked good, made a snap sound and broke into two pieces just like the pig iron piece before!
The great elder was stunned at this scene, holding the broken sword in two pieces and not knowing what to say.
"Great Elder, did you see this? Can a weapon like this kill someone? Are you saying that what I said before was a false accusation? Was it just spitting blood?" Patriarch Yuwen mocked.
"This doesn't mean it was made of pig iron from my eldest grandson's family!" the great elder argued.
"Then look at the pig iron blocks for making weapons next to them, but they belong to your eldest grandson's family?" Yuwen's family leader pointed to several pig iron blocks aside.
