Chapter 277 The weapon of the aristocratic family—carrying public opinion?
The night wind blew into the hall through the crack in the door, and the candlelight swayed back and forth.

All the family heads looked at Old Man Liu anxiously. Unless this problem was solved, they naturally did not dare to unite and resist.

After all, the Cui family of Bo Ling has been the leader of the world's families for hundreds of years, but what was the final result?
Not only were the families destroyed, but all males over the age of 12 were slaughtered.

Money is good, but if you have to, you have to give it away. After all, life is the most important thing.

How could Mr. Liu not understand this?
He smiled and waved his hands: "We are not plotting anything, but just going with the flow."

"We are currently at war, and the consumption of rice is already high. Add to that the interruption of the food supply, and the sudden increase in prices is understandable."

"Even if you are really investigated, don't you have one or two confidants?"

"Let these shopkeepers escape, and we can push the issue aside. It won't happen that we are deceived and we have to kill them all, right?"

"Besides, we were just following orders. The reason why this matter became so serious is not ultimately our fault."

"Are you still worried?"

"You know that wealth and honor are achieved through risk. Are you willing to give away the accumulation of a century-old family just like that?"

Most of the family heads present had a gleam of light in their eyes and their expressions flashed with surprise.

But there were still a few people who showed hesitation in their eyes and shook their heads for a moment: "Mr. Liu is right, but the risk of this matter is too great. Let's leave first, absolutely not..."

Several people said sorry and walked quickly outside.

But as soon as he left the hall, he was surrounded by dozens of black-clad warriors.

Several people's faces changed: "Master Liu, what does this mean?"

"When you came here, you said that even if the deal fails, there is still righteousness. How can you stop us from leaving?"

Mr. Liu smiled and said, "Everyone, do you think we should let them go?"

"What happened tonight is extremely confidential. If it gets leaked, I'm afraid..."

The eyes of the many family heads who had nothing to do with the matter flashed with a hint of coldness: "How can we let them go at this time? Aren't the lives of so many of us important?"

"Ha ha!!"

Old Master Liu clapped his hands and said, "Capture all these people. Everyone should hold a knife, one for each person. This way we don't have to worry about betrayal. We will start to act individually tomorrow."

"We need to mobilize the entire Jingxiang region because of us, and let those in power know that we are not lambs to be slaughtered, and we will not allow them to bully us."

The family heads who originally wanted to withdraw became scared and quickly changed their words, but how could the men in black around them hold back?

Soon, screams were heard. The miserable screams circled in the sky, scaring the surrounding birds so much that they woke up and flew away in all directions.

The next day, the sky was clear and cloudless.

The Xiangyang City, which had originally returned to peace, was once again in turmoil.

Because early in the morning, many people who were short of rice at home went to the rice shop to buy rice, and were shocked to find that the price of rice had doubled.

Rice is something they need to eat every day. How can they afford it if the price suddenly increases by two times?

More and more people gathered outside the rice shop, and anger was brewing.

"Damn it, these black-hearted people really don't want us to live. They manipulate prices and make them rise rapidly. They want to starve us to death!"

"We can't stand this any longer. Let's rush in and smash this rice store."

"Keep your voice down. Do you know whose business this is? The Li family!"

"What about the Li family? We are all starving to death, what else can we do?"

"I heard that not only the rice and grain stores have increased their prices, but even daily necessities such as diesel and salt have increased several times compared to yesterday." "What? Are they really going to kill us all?"

"What should we do now?"

"Hit it in, hit it in, otherwise I won't have any rice to cook at home today."

The discussions were getting louder and louder, and the anger of the onlookers was also growing. Many brave people were even kicking the heavy door.

The situation became increasingly serious, and the guys in the rice shop were also a little scared.

"Boss, those people outside are really going crazy. It's already extremely difficult to make money during the chaos, and now the price is raised so much, won't it make them have no way to make a living?"

"If they have no way to make a living, they will fight us to the death. Boss, how many dollars do we have every month? We won't risk our lives for it, right?"

The storekeeper Li smiled, waved to the shop assistants, and said calmly, "Open the door."

"quick!!"

"Ok?"

"What do you mean? Are you going to die?"

"Open the door quickly!"

The door of the grain store slowly opened. Looking at the people with red eyes, Manager Li showed an embarrassment on his face: "Fellow villagers, elders, my Li family has been running a grain store for more than ten years. No matter in the years of disaster, we have always opened a porridge shop to give people a bite of food. How could we maliciously raise the price?"

After these words were spoken, the people around calmed down a lot, because they were true.

Shopkeeper Li continued, "The reason why grain prices have skyrocketed is because of the recent war. All the rice in the granary was requisitioned by the governor's office, and there wasn't much left."

"In addition, the change of ownership of Jingxiang has caused the cessation of all caravans, and..."

"Ugh!!"

With a long sigh, Manager Li continued, "In a few days, all the wealth of our Li family will be handed over, and the rest of the families will also have to hand over their wealth."

“So we have no choice but to do this!”

"My fellow villagers, today I can sell you grain at yesterday's price, but what about tomorrow? What about the day after tomorrow?"

"What should you do?"

"The price of rice is bound to rise."

The people around calmed down, and their anger shifted away from Manager Li: "Isn't the war over? Why haven't you handed over the requisitioned rice? Do you really want to watch the 200,000 people in Xiangyang starve to death?"

"Now is the time for war, who would give up the rice and grain that we have worked so hard to get?"

"Then what should we do?"

"If we want to survive, we have to make this matter bigger and let the people above know that we can't survive anymore."

"The Duke of Zhenbei is famous all over the world, and he has issued an official document from the governor's office to redistribute all the land in Jingxiang. Since he loves the people like his own children, as long as our suffering reaches his ears, I believe he will come out and give us a way out."

"Yes, Duke Zhenbei fought against the Wuhuan and Xiongnu in the north and annihilated the princes in the south. He will soon unify the world. He will definitely make the decision for us. I heard that the power in Xiangyang City is now controlled by the Cai family and the Kuai family. These two families are..."

Before he finished speaking, many people present understood what was going on. Their anger shifted away from the grain store, and many people shouted angrily in indignation, "Let's go to the governor's mansion and ask for an explanation. Let's see if they want us to die or give us a chance to live."

"Come on, let's go together. If you don't stand up today, you'll all starve to death tomorrow."

"Everyone in Xiangyang City must rebel."

Amid countless shouts, more and more people joined the parade, and the team became larger and larger, soon exceeding 5,000 people, and was even rising rapidly.
(End of this chapter)