Until this time, Cui Bailing still looked arrogant, and Xiao Rui was lying when he said he wasn't angry. To borrow a classic line: Uncle Li is angry, and the consequences will be serious.
"If you two want to leave, I naturally don't dare to stop you. But let me be clear, we seized that batch of materials from the Turks in an upright manner, and they are not for you to use as a favor."
Cui Bailing yelled: "That's what it is..."
"Shut up!" Xiao Rui stretched out his hand and pointed, and his fierce aura instantly overcame the opponent. The temperature in the entire living room seemed to have dropped a few degrees. Cui Bailing felt like he was seeing a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. His spine felt chilly and he wanted to shiver.
After Cui Bailing was shocked, Xiao Rui returned to a business-like tone: "As for Cui Baiquan, there are personal and material evidence. This person has an affair with the Turks and is a spy. It is a trivial matter to sworn sworn relatives to the Turks. After all, I am the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty. He also became a sworn sworn ally to the Turkic Khan. However, he, Cui Baiquan, donated a large amount of materials to the enemy before the war, clearly supporting the Turks to attack the Tang Dynasty. We have reason to suspect that he was the one who led the wolf into the house... Therefore, he will be sent to Chang'an City. Submit it to the Ministry of Criminal Justice for trial and conviction.”
What? you……
Now, not only Cui Bailing, but also his father Cui Shouli also understood that Xiao Rui was murdering people and punishing his heart. What he sent to Chang'an City was clearly to use Cui Baiquan to spread and ruin the reputation of the Cui family in Qinghe.
Although the Five Surnames and Qiwang were unwilling to get involved in the fight between the foreign barbarians and the imperial court, if the reputation of secretly collaborating with the barbarians was brought to light, they would be criticized verbally and written down by the whole world, which would be very bad.
After waking up, Cui Bailing rolled his sleeves and said: "From now on, Cui Baiquan is no longer a member of the Cui family in Qinghe."
Xiao Rui smiled, "Haha, that's your own business. All I can do is report the truth to the public and send the prisoner safely to Chang'an for trial. You two, please leave slowly or not. By the way, Mr. Cui, what did you just say? , the Cui family of Qinghe made peace, so that Qiwang, the fifth surname, would no longer come to trouble me? Rui, thank you for your kindness, I won’t trouble you, Mr. Cui. The Cui family of Qinghe has a person like Cui Baiquan, Xiao Rui doesn’t dare to touch you Light."
"As for the five surnames and Qi Wang who are causing trouble for me? It doesn't matter. Xiao Rui is now the governor of Youzhou and the governor of Anle City. He represents the Tang Dynasty court. Anyone who wants to cause trouble has trouble with the court. Just come. Da Tang The heavenly soldiers of the Tang Dynasty could not attack their own people, but if they were to capture the enemy's spies, I think the people would applaud."
You...you are threatening! Cui Bailing's face turned red.
Faced with Xiao Rui, a young boy, Cui Bailing was repeatedly frustrated and felt that he had lived like a dog for the entirety of his life.
Cui Shouli waved his hand to stop his son, looked directly at Xiao Rui, and asked in a calm tone: "You seem to have predicted that we are coming?"
"Xiao Rui is not a fortune teller and has no ability to predict the future." Xiao Rui denied.
"Okay, Prince Consort Xiao, there's no need to beat around the bush. If you want to send Cui Baiquan to Chang'an for punishment, you don't have to wait for us to come. You can escort him on the road long ago. Since you didn't kill him, you deliberately kept him, aren't you just waiting for us to come? , would you like to take advantage of it? Just tell me, what do you want?" Cui Shouli was cunning and saw through Xiao Rui's tricks at a glance.
Cui Bailing also understood and just stared at Xiao Rui coldly.
Xiao Rui clapped his hands and praised: "Good! Mr. Cui is so happy. The centuries-old reputation of Cui family in Qinghe cannot be ruined in the hands of a villain, so Rui thought over and over again and decided to leave Cui Baiquan to your own disposal. However, after all, this matter There has been an uproar in Anle, and almost everyone knows about it, so it seems unjustifiable if we cannot give an explanation to the people and officers and soldiers here."
Cui Shouli snorted coldly, thinking that Xiao Rui was young but very scheming. He was really a cunning little fox. "Conditions!"
"It's nothing, I just want the Cui family to support Youzhou with some grain and grass for border defense." As he spoke, Xiao Rui took out a list he had prepared and handed it over.
Cui Shouli took it and looked at it carefully. Cui Bailing also came closer to take a look. Gradually his eyes widened. He pointed at Xiao Rui and asked, "So much food and grass? Do you know that this much food and grass is enough to equip an army of 50,000 for a big battle?" Fight!"
Xiao Rui said with a smile: "Shopkeeper Cui is good at arithmetic. Why don't you come and be my quartermaster?"
You...hum!
"How many soldiers and horses can be equipped with these materials and grains, and whether we can fight a big war, that is what the court has to consider. Now you two only need to choose whether to get material support or send Cui Baiquan to Chang'an. Xiao Rui never forces others to do anything."
Cui Shouli said solemnly: "The Cui family in Qinghe has a big business and has many people to support. We can't afford so much supplies and food."
Xiao Rui's tone was slightly cold: "Just now, Shopkeeper Cui seemed to have said that when the Tang Dynasty raised its troops, the Cui family of Qinghe also provided food and grass to support it. Now, does this mean that it supports food and grass in the civil war, but not in foreign wars?"
you……
Even if Cui Shouli was shameless, he would not dare to admit this. Supporting the civil war and not supporting the external fight against the barbarians. Once this label is attached, the national justice will be lost, and the Cui family of Qinghe will no longer be able to gain a foothold in the Tang Dynasty.
However, Xiao Rui knew that when the Five Huns invaded China, the Han people in the Central Plains were slaughtered from a population of 30 million to only a few million. Ten houses and nine empty houses came from that dark history.
The Five Surnames and Seven Hopes all started in the late Han Dynasty. After hundreds of years of chaos during the Two Jin Dynasties and the Five Hu Dynasties, they were still able to stand firm in the Central Plains. What does it mean? Are they so powerful that the barbarians will not invade? Of course not, it can only be said that they know how to survive.
They were also greatly harmed back then. Did they forget their hatred? No, only children distinguish between good and evil, adults only see the pros and cons.
Whether the barbarians in the north grow bigger or the imperial court grows bigger, it is not a good thing for the five surnames and Qi Wang. Even if the imperial court grows bigger, the five surnames and Qi Wang will be even more dangerous. With the threat of the barbarians in the north, the imperial court would focus all its attention on external affairs, and even use these powerful families.
But if you help the court defeat foreign enemies, the court will free up its hands and turn around to clean up the family.
Xiao Rui sighed: "Mr. Cui, there must be a battle between the Tang Dynasty and the Turks. If we win, we will at least bring peace to the people of the Central Plains for a hundred years. If we lose, Jieli will lead his troops south, and from now on we will all live under the humiliation of the barbarians. Qinghe The Cui family is one of the best in the world and a role model for countless scholars. You should know better than me how to choose."
Cui Bailing mocked: "Bah! Kidnapping for extortion, what you say is ridiculous, Xiao Rui, in terms of shamelessness, no one in the world can beat you."
Xiao Rui cupped his hands and said, "Thank you, Shopkeeper Cui, for your compliment."
Cui Shouli stretched out his hand to stop his son, and said seriously to Xiao Rui, "Thank you, Prince Consort Xiao, for preserving the reputation of Cui family in Qinghe. We can only provide 80% of the food and grass at most."
After pondering for a moment, Xiao Rui finally nodded and agreed: "Okay, that's all. Your old face is worth 20% of the food and grass. When the time comes, it can be transported directly to the Youzhou treasury. I will write a letter to the Governor, claiming to be Qinghe Cui's righteous donation will be recognized by the imperial court. The people of Youzhou will remember Cui's righteousness in Qinghe."
"Let's go, I'll lead the two of you and give Cui Baiquan to you to take back and discipline."
In fact, in Xiao Rui's mind, they were asking for 50% to pay back the money, which was good, but they didn't expect to ask for 80%. Tsk tsk... I still underestimated the financial resources of these wealthy families.
Cui Bailing said bitterly: "Cui Baiquan has such a weak soul, why doesn't he die? He doesn't die!"
The old man Cui Shouli asked Xiao Rui: "Xiao Prince Consort, with these testimonies, Cui Baiquan is useless, why not kill him?"
Xiao Rui waved his hands repeatedly: "Cui Baiquan is a descendant of the Cui family of Qinghe. How dare Xiao Rui dare to form a deadly feud with the Cui family of Qinghe?"
Pooh! Listen, is this human talk? How shameless! Don't you Xiao Rui dare? Everything has been done for you, what else do you dare not do?
This is the brilliance of Xiao Rui. Cui Baiquan deserves to die, but he must not die in the hands of outsiders. You Qinghe Cui family can kill him however you want, but I, Anle City, or the Tang Dynasty court, or Xiao Rui, whoever kills him will be caught. The evidence and testimony may be overturned one day, so they must be handed over to the Cui family intact.
In this way, not only will Cui hold her nose in recognition, but she will also have to remember Xiao Rui as a favor. After all, regardless of blackmail or not, Xiao Rui did indeed protect the reputation of the Qinghe Cui family.
Cui and his son took Cui Baiquan and quietly left Anle City in a carriage. On the way, Cui Shouli told his son Cui Bailing: "In the future, if Xiao Rui doesn't deliberately suppress us, don't embarrass him."
"Why? Father, is our Qinghe Cui family really afraid of him?"
Cui Shouli sighed: "Anyone in this world who dares to judge Xiao Rui by his appearance will definitely be in trouble! From my point of view, this man is extremely smart, and his methods are even more vicious than the emperor's. The most difficult thing is that he does things at any cost." No scruples.”
He... Cui Bailing thought about it, and it was true. He was really a terrible person.
"Such a person is destined to become the sharpest knife in the emperor's hand. Therefore, try not to provoke him if you can. To deal with such a person, you need to use softness to overcome strength. Take the initiative to show your kindness and don't let him take advantage of it. You have to change your behavior. Change your attitude towards him. Although Qinghe Cui has a great reputation, you have to admit that compared to him, you are inferior. If you are not as skilled as others, you must learn to respect your opponents. Can you remember that?"
Cui Bailing was convinced and nodded heavily: "Yes, remember your father's teachings. My son has taken note of it."
