The 40th Chapter: Li Yuanxing and Wei Heizi's Double Reeds

  "What about after we learn the article?" Li Ke asked boldly.

  Li Yuanxing smiled and pulled the two princes in front of him, saying: "Then we set the first rule, which is competition. You can compare each other's strengths, but you are not allowed to play dirty tricks or resort to underhanded tactics. It must be a fair and open competition. Those who break the rules will not be severely punished, they will simply lose their chance to compete."

  Li Er finally nodded in satisfaction, at least a fair and open competition was what he wanted to see.

  Li Chengqian and several other boys who could understand the conversation were destined to be sleepless tonight, Li Yuanxing's words had too much impact. Even Empress Longsun fell into a long period of contemplation.

  Especially Li Yuanxing accused Li Erna of saying: "You've taught your daughter to be what, she doesn't even dare to tell the truth."

  She is just an eight-year-old kid.

  That night, Li Er went to Yang Fei's palace and had the palace staff leave. Yang Fei didn't rush to get close to Li Er either; she knew he came only for one thing - to talk with her about matters within the Great Sui imperial court.

  Yang Fei told Li Er a story, one she knew but wasn't entirely complete.

  That's the story of the princes of the Sui Dynasty fighting for the throne, full of intrigue, cruelty and ruthlessness.

  Li Yu sat silently by the window, gazing at the moon in the night sky. He felt a sense of fear, the deepest fear he had experienced since the rebellion began. He was afraid that as a father, he would see his children follow in the footsteps of the old Sui emperors, and even more afraid that they would go through another experience like the Xuanwu Gate Incident.

  At this time, Li Yuanxing was also looking at the moon, but he was holding a cigarette in his hand, and he was reflecting on whether he had been impulsive today.

  Sometimes good intentions lead to bad outcomes because of impatience, and there are too many examples of this.

  "Your Highness, it's almost dawn!" A small eunuch cautiously approached Li Yuanxing, not even daring to breathe heavily. The Qin Wang had been staring at the moon all night and was still occasionally spitting out white mist.

  It is said that the new Qin king is from Heaven, and it is rumored that only the divine dragon in heaven can swallow clouds and spit out fog.

  Li Yuanxing turned back in some surprise: "What, attend court? Now?"

  "Yes, Your Highness!" The little eunuch replied very carefully, fearing that he might offend this star lord from above.

  Li Yuanxing looked up at the moon again. Even without a watch, Li Yuanxing knew it was deep in the night. It's still early before dawn.

  Getting up early is really a tough job!

  Several small eunuchs were busy for half a day before they finally helped Li Yuanxing get his court attire in order. When Li Yuanxing arrived at the grand hall to wait, all the other officials had already been there for some time.

  He didn't see Li Jing and thought that he must have been busy dealing with the Turkic invasion in the Ministry of War these days.

  The Demon King of the Mixed World, Cheng Yaojin, saw Li Yuanxing appear and loudly shouted as he rushed over: "Wulang, Wulang!" Li Yuanxing cursed in his heart: "Dignity, dignity. You are also a second-grade official now, how can you not pay attention to your image at all?"

  It was Fang Douer who, from a distance, saluted Li Yuanxing with a bow. Changsun HuLi pretended not to see him, as he had a mission today - his mission was to engage in a verbal sparring match with Li Yuanxing and provoke that stubborn Wei Hezi to jump out and strongly oppose Li Yuanxing on behalf of the group of officials.

  "Haha! Wulang!" Cheng Yaojin, now renamed Cheng ZhiJie.

  "That thing of yours is quite interesting, it should be handed over to Lao Cheng to handle, whoever offends your rules, Lao Cheng will take responsibility for killing his whole family!"

  Li Yuanxing hadn't even responded when someone walked over and said, "General Cheng's words are not in line with the law. The Tang Dynasty governs the country by law and governs the people by law. It cannot be based on one person's likes or dislikes, nor can it be based on one person's rules. General Cheng..." That person was still speaking, but because of the darkness, Li Yuanxing didn't even see his face before choosing to slip away quietly.

  Lao Cheng was shouting on the street: "I, Lao Cheng, for the sake of the Tang Dynasty, fought in battles north and south, and every one I killed was a wicked person!"

  Nonsense, complete nonsense.

  Cheng Yaojin spoke of his grand righteousness, killing off the great Tang's enemies is our loyalty. That official, however, spoke of human relationships and national law, for the great Tang it is only natural to defend the country's gates and protect its people!

  Two voices, one high and one low, each has its own merits.

  All civil and military officials stood in their respective positions, closed their eyes and cultivated their spirits, as if the two men were air.

  It wasn't until the eunuchs loudly announced the arrival of His Majesty that the sound of their argument gradually faded away.

  Li Yuanxing naturally had to stand in the first position, just because of his title as King of Qin. However, what made it difficult for the eunuch in charge of etiquette was whether this King of Qin should stand on the side of the military generals or the civil officials, and if not handled properly, it would provoke the resentment of the other side.

  Li Er has already come in and after seeing Li Yuanxing, he beckoned him to stand on the steps.

  Neither a literary minister nor a military general, this is the King of Qin.

  In the great hall, it was extremely quiet, not for anything else, but because of that one piece of silk sold to a distant land, the Da Qin recorded in the Tang Dynasty, the Roman Empire mentioned by King Li Yuanhao of Qin, which could be exchanged for more than 300 taels of gold.

  In the imperial court, the one who can stand here is that person without a noble family background, and without the support of powerful clans.

  But that family has no interest in wealth and no dispute over goods.

  The best silk sells to foreign merchants for no more than one or two taels of gold, while inferior ones can be exchanged for three or four pieces with the same amount. When transported to distant lands, the profit is at least 300 times and at most 1,000 times.

  I remember Qin Wang Li Yuanxing also said that originally they wanted to implement a silk embargo, controlling the amount of goods exported to guarantee the price of silk.

  All the merchants in their hearts calculated that profit margin, clearly knowing that the amount of silk needed on that side was too enormous. Even if they sold all of Great Tang's current stock and multiplied it by tenfold, it would still be impossible to lower the price of silk to below the weight of gold.

  This is the interest of the Tang Dynasty, and even more so, the interest of the aristocratic families.

  "I have the original!" Changsun Fox jumped out first, reciting hundreds of sentences of nonsense. The actual content was just one sentence: that the Grand Tang Foreign Trade Bureau is a very good thing, but it should be strictly managed, and the royal name must not be misused.

  Li Er slightly nodded, indicating he understood.

  Chang Sun Fox had already made arrangements for the previous night, finished his own affairs and immediately left without saying a word.

  The second one to come out was a thin middle-aged man, Li Yuanxing heard that his self-proclaimed name was Cui, the Minister of the Ministry of Revenue. He jumped out and recited a long passage, standing beside Li Yuanxing, an old eunuch who had been specially arranged to quietly explain the content to him. He only said that this Mr. Cui believed that national affairs were naturally determined by officials, and those merchants could offer some opinions, but it was impossible for foreign business offices to give them two official positions.

  Chang Sun's fox Li Yuanxing also couldn't understand this chapter, but he already knew its content.

  If it weren't for the old eunuch's explanation, Li Yuanxing would have completely misunderstood what Cui Shilang meant.

  One after another, people jumped out, no one opposed, only suggestions for improvement were made, and these suggestions for improvement were actually fighting for benefits, fighting for the profits of various departments, and fighting for the interests of various families. Even in the military department, someone stood up, with a very simple principle: when these businessmen leave the pass, they still have to pay tariffs.

  This tariff is a toll at the customs gate, not a customs duty!

  In short, it's just a struggle, an endless struggle.

  Li Er is very satisfied with this result. If they didn't fight each other, they would unite and contend against the royal family instead.

  Finally, someone mentioned the name "Royal" again. Listening to this voice, Li Yuanxing remembered that it was the one who had a quarrel with Cheng Lao Mo Tou.

  "This is Wei Zheng, Lord Wei!" The old eunuch said in a low voice.

  Li Yuanxing looked him up and down, thinking that if this old man weren't standing here, he would have thought he was an old farmer.

  "Your Majesty, this royal name cannot be used recklessly. If it is exploited by petty people, what will happen? The imperial family will be smeared with infamy. Please, Your Majesty, investigate clearly!"

  Good, great. Zhang Sun Fox is indeed a top-notch fox.

  He expected Wei Zheng to jump out, and indeed he jumped out, and rushed straight to the point.

  Li Yuanxing smiled, the name of the royal family was brought up by him, and the businessmen were enthusiastic. Can't these aristocratic families be enthusiastic? With the crown on top of the royal family, it represents the pinnacle of an industry, which is also the glory of the aristocratic families.

  Before the ministers could speak, Li Yuanxing stood up and first bowed to Li Er, then said: "Then restrain them, whoever does badly, punish! The Foreign Trade Bureau can suspend their trading rights and then impose a heavy fine!"

  "Your Majesty King of Qin, if they are punished for mismanagement, what can be done?"

  Li Yuanxing was speechless on the surface, but he was overjoyed in his heart. Wei Zheng was too cute and directly asked about the topic he wanted to bring up, which was what to do with Wu Ke being unpunishable?

  After some thought, Li Yuanxing still had a very helpless expression.

  At this time, many officials had different opinions, but none of them truly satisfied Li Yuanxing. However, Li Er was very happy today, having presided over several court meetings, and never had one that gave him such a sense of control and satisfaction as this one did.

  Finally, Cui Shilang from the Ministry of Revenue stood up: "It's possible to mortgage this amount of silver, since you have the ability to be a royal merchant, then you have enough financial resources to support it. Mortgaging silver has many benefits!" Cui Shilang began to speak eloquently and at length.

  Li Yuanxing was somewhat perplexed and turned his head to glance at Li Er.

  Li Er understood Li Yuanxing's meaning and gently shook his head, indicating that he had absolutely not made any prior agreement with Cui Shilang.

  So next, it's easy to explain that Cui Shilang will be an official and choose a method that satisfies the emperor the most. Then, he wants to advance the opportunity for the royal merchants to be named by one year, that is, without waiting until next year to evaluate, let the Chamber of Commerce choose this year.

  The Li family, as the leader of the Chamber of Commerce, naturally wants to give an opportunity to the Cui family as well. Next, they will bring in a large aristocratic family to compete for the last championship right of the imperial family. First, let's increase the silver money in the Ministry of Revenue, after all, there are many things to do when the new emperor ascends to the throne.

  To make things happen, you need to spend money, and this opportunity must be seized.

  As the Deputy Minister of Revenue, although only second-in-command, to go further and completely overshadow the Minister of Revenue, there must be achievements and sufficient support.