Li Jin was sitting in the big tent, looking at the unfolded slips in front of him. The expression on his face flickered. His eyes as big as copper bells were now wide and round, and the whites of his eyes were faintly filled with Bloodshot, his fists were clenched, his knuckles were faintly white, and there was even a crunching sound.

Sitting below Li Jin were a group of elites who had accompanied him from Chengshi County.

They are said to be elites, but in fact they are all members of the Li family.

Including Li Jin's elder brother Li Shujie, Li Jin's father-in-law Li Qian, and Li Qian's son Li Zheng, they are all representative figures of the Li family.

Even though these people are now gathered in the large tent with a radius of less than three feet where Li Jin is, crowded here one by one, in Yanzhou, and even in the Central Plains, every one of these people present is afraid A heavyweight who lost to a county guard.

Among other things, the Li family has been operating in the Central Plains for several generations, and its power has reached its peak. From Chengshi County to the west, to Dingtao, to the south to Chengwu, and to the east to Liangqiu of Shanyang County, almost all of this area has The land has been annexed by the Li family for more than a hundred years. Not to mention how many disciples the Li family has in their hands, the number of followers and diners they have raised has reached 5,000. What is this concept?

Even Heze, west of Chengshi, was supposed to be the private property of the emperor under the control of the Shaofu. In recent years, people sent by the Li family have set up checkpoints. Fishing boats, fishermen, and farmers collecting water for irrigation have all been blocked. The tax money for leasing Huze will be handed over to the Li family.

This is not a robbery of the finances of local county offices, it is a naked robbery of the finances of the central government in Beijing.

Although since the establishment of the Han Dynasty, local prominent families and ordinary powerful people have also competed with the emperor for profits, but it is very rare to directly wrest the power of collecting taxes from the hands of the Shaofu like this. , especially Heze’s territory is huge, much larger than the total area of ​​one or even two counties.

(According to the laws of the Han Dynasty, except for agricultural land, all land ownership of mountains, forests, lakes and lakes belongs to the Han emperor. If you want to hunt in the mountains, fish in the lakes, etc., the taxes paid will be collected directly by the Shaofu, but this The tax collection is generally incomplete because there are too many people hunting privately in the mountains and fishing in the lakes, and they cannot be managed.)

It can also be seen from this point that the power of the Han imperial power has become increasingly declining in recent years.

Judging from this situation, the Li family, as the most powerful force in the Central Plains, is indeed like a royal family in the local area.

Even Cao Cao did not treat the Li family completely as subordinates. To a certain extent, he temporarily regarded the Li family as an important partner in his rule of Yanzhou.

As for Li Jin, who is currently the helmsman of the Li family, one can imagine his mood.

Li Jin was originally the leader of the younger generation of the Li family, and he was extremely domineering.

The reason for his domineering attitude is, on the one hand, his origin, and on the other hand, his bravery.

People who are extremely brave in personal force and have high status generally have extremely high spirits.

Li Jin's appearance is different from that of Li Dian. He is tall and tall, with a wiry beard all over his face. He is as tall as a giant bear, with broad shoulders and a round waist, almost on par with Dian Wei and Xu Chu.

Li Jin looked at the letters on the desk with an unhappy expression, while none of his brothers and elders beside him dared to speak or breathe.

No one dared to mess with this evil star. Last year, when Li Jin went hunting in the mountains, he encountered a leopard that had taken away his prey. He chased for days, and after finally catching up with the leopard, he dropped his weapons and fought hand-to-hand with the leopard... ...Finally, he beat the leopard to death with his fists, tore it alive, roasted it, and ate it clean.

How can ordinary people compare to the brave hero who tore apart a giant leopard with his own hands?

"Snapped!"

Finally, after being silent for a long time, the irritable Li Jin finally broke out.

He suddenly stood up, kicked over the desk, and then shouted angrily outside the tent: "Who is Li Mancheng? He is just a rotten child of the Li family! How dare you persuade me to surrender? And in his words, he It’s meant to be sarcastic! I swear to destroy it!”

Seeing that Li Jin was extremely excited, Li Qian said hurriedly: "Jin Xian, please be patient and don't be impulsive... In fact, Mancheng also has good intentions. He also thinks about the Li family. After all, the emperor he serves is in Nominally more righteous than the emperor of Hebei, and more powerful..."

"How can uncle speak up for that little thief? When he led our sect away from Chengshi, I did not stop him and treated him with all my kindness and righteousness. Now that he has gained power, he speaks out contemptuous words and completely ignores it. And the feeling of having the same clan! How can you endure it?"

Having said this, Li Jin seemed a little annoyed. He suddenly raised his foot and gave the table in front of him a heavy blow, directly kicking a hole in the table.

Seeing how angry Li Jin was, Li Qian grinned and said nothing.

Li Jin's brother Li Shujie picked up the slip from the ground, read it carefully for a while, and then said: "Jin Xian, although Man Cheng's words are a bit scornful, to be honest, when my father passed away, we The two lineages are indeed a bit cold towards people of his lineage, and he ran away in anger because of this. Now that he has gained power in the Southern Dynasty, with an official worship of two thousand stones, it can be said that he has gained power, so it is normal for him to come back and cause trouble for us."

Li Jin suddenly turned his head and said: "What are you talking about, brother? Let's go first. He, Li Dian, is young. How can he support such a large family branch? If we don't take over, how can we let him go?" He, Li Mancheng, took them all away to give outsiders an advantage?"

Li Shujie originally wanted to say something, but Li Zheng reached behind him and pulled him, signaling him not to say anything.

Li Shujie sighed and was speechless.

Li Jin was so furious that no one in the Li family could persuade him.

Logically speaking, Li Jin did not want to do his best to fight against Liu Qi this time. He just wanted to put his family first and look for opportunities. But now that Li Dian's letter has been sent, for the sake of his own face as the father-in-law, Li Jin I'm afraid it's impossible not to fight to the death with Liu Qi's army.

"Where is the messenger sent by Li Dian to deliver the message?"

Li Zheng hurriedly cupped his hands and said, "Brother, the envoy is still waiting outside the tent."

"No need to keep him waiting, just cut him down and send him back to Li Dian for recovery!"

"ah?"

When Li Qian heard this, he became anxious: "As we advance forward, the two countries will fight. It is etiquette not to kill the envoy."

"We are all Han people. If one country is fighting, how can we have two countries?"

"Then we can't kill him. Isn't this unreasonably irritating the other party?"

Li Jin frowned and turned to look at Li Qian.

That is to say, the person in front of him is his father. If it were anyone else, he would kill him first.

"Okay, since my uncle said he won't kill me, I won't kill him, but I can't let him go for nothing. I have to let Li Mancheng know the consequences of insulting me... cut off two ears as evidence, and then go crazy Beat the barracks with sticks!”

…

The envoy sent by Li Dian lost two ears and was driven back by Li Jin.

This was a great insult to Li Dian.

In his opinion, he was trying to give the Li family a way to survive out of consideration for their fellow-clan friendship. Who would have thought that Li Jin would be so disrespectful!

Since you don't give me face, then we have no choice but to fight!
Chapter completed!