The film and television world begins with the battle for the throne in Kowloon

Chapter 613 Ningxin Palace Yang Fei

Seeing this, a chief clerk in the East Palace cautiously asked, "Your Highness, what name should we use to accept it?"

"It doesn't matter if it's paying taxes or fines, hoarding, disrupting the market, driving up prices, closing roads, maintaining public order, etc. It doesn't matter what the name is, as long as you can get the money."

Li Yan said shamelessly: "If they don't have money, confiscate 70% of the goods as a fine, and let them take the remaining 20% ​​and leave."

The people below were secretly shocked. If they had done this at any other time, they would have poked a hole in the sky. But now everyone knew that the situation was urgent, so they didn't confiscate everything outright. It was good enough that 30% was left.

Someone else asked, "Your Highness, what should we do if the merchants are unwilling or resist?"

"That's not difficult. General Duan's soldiers are all here. If anyone causes trouble, they will be detained along with their goods. They will be detained for a few days and 80% of the goods will be confiscated before they are released. If merchants who do not want to pay taxes stay in Tongguan, 10% of the goods will be collected as land occupation tax every day until all the goods are confiscated."

At this point, everyone was amazed at the prince's madness. This was not just plundering, this was blatant robbery!

At this point, Li Yan suddenly thought of something: "If there is anyone transporting grain, whether it is from the government or merchants, all the grain should be confiscated directly, and then General Duan should send troops to escort it to Taicang without delay and hand it over to Hu Cheng for processing. Don't be bothered by the trouble, just send a batch after confiscating it, and make sure it is delivered as soon as possible."

"Ah! Your Highness, this is not good."

Duan Zhixuan was astonished at Li Yan's audacity. You know, those who dare to do grain business are not small characters. Many of them are wealthy families in Chang'an. Some family heads even serve in the court. This will offend a large group of people, Duan Zhixuan reminded.

Li Yan nodded in understanding, showing that he understood Duan Zhixuan's concerns and worries: "The granary is almost dry now. If the food for the border soldiers cannot be transported, there will be chaos. It is extremely urgent and we can't care about so many things. I would rather let them report to the court and then argue with them than to cause a mutiny because of the lack of food in the army."

"There are priorities, and I can't take care of so many things now."

Duan Zhixuan was stunned, and suddenly a thoughtful expression appeared on his face. If you look closely, you can see uncontrollable admiration in his eyes, as if he saw Li Erlang back then.

"However, everyone should remember that all the confiscated grains must be counted and invoices issued. Tell them that they are involved in the above crimes and will be fined and taxed. As long as they pay the taxes at the tax office in the East Market and then pay the fines at Taicang, they can get their grain back. The court will not embezzle a single grain of their grain."

After Li Yan finished speaking, he took out the imperial edict issued by the Secretariat and said decisively: "The imperial edict is here. Anyone who violates it will be severely punished and will not be tolerated. Take action immediately."

"Long live my emperor! Long live!"

As soon as they saw the imperial edict, everyone on the watchtower knelt down immediately. Even Duan Zhixuan knelt down to receive the edict. Then a large group of people started to get busy according to Li Yan's instructions.

Li Yan kept Liu Renyuan and Sun Renshi behind and quietly instructed them, "I have arranged everything. Now I will hand over the imperial edict to you. Many of the caravans below are my relatives and important officials in the court. It is really difficult to refuse a meeting."

"So, you are here to supervise on my behalf. You all know my intentions. If you encounter anyone who disobeys, take out the imperial edict to subdue them. Don't worry, they dare not cause trouble. Treat everyone equally. If they have any opinions, let them go to Taiji Palace to find the emperor and say that these things were done by the emperor."

"Uh"

The two were amazed at Li Yan's audacity and said timidly, "Your Highness, this is not good. The Emperor's decree did not say that we should do this, did it?"

"What are you afraid of?"

Li Yan said with a shameless face: "You guys work for me, if something goes wrong, I will take the blame. I work for my father, if something goes wrong, it is natural that my father will take the blame. Do you think that my father, a king with ten thousand chariots, is not as good as a young man like me?"

"Renyuan, Renshi dare not."

How could the two dare to respond to this? Although they both felt that what Li Yan said made sense, they always felt that there seemed to be something wrong with the prince's logic?

With all this pushing and shoving, it seems like you have nothing to do!

After arranging everything, Li Yan left half of the guards of the Eastern Palace to Liu Renyuan and Sun Renshi to command them to protect their safety, and then he took the remaining half of the troops and went directly back to Beijing.

Ningxin Palace!
Not far northwest of the Qiyun Palace where Empress Changsun lived, lived another concubine of Li Shimin, Concubine Yang.

Concubine Yang was the daughter of Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty. In the 14th year of Daye, Yang Guang died in Jiangdu at the hands of Yu Wenzhi. The Sui Dynasty fell, and Li Yuan and his sons entered Guanzhong and established the Tang Dynasty. In order to win over the former Sui Dynasty officials, Li Yuan gave her to Li Shimin as a concubine. After Li Shimin ascended the throne, he named her one of the four concubines, Xianfei. She was generally called Empress Yang in the court. Concubine Yang gave birth to two sons for Li Shimin, Yang Ge and Li An.

Concubine Yang was extremely intelligent, beautiful and virtuous. Her wisdom was no less than that of Empress Changsun, and her vision was even greater. After the fall of the Sui Dynasty, as a princess of a fallen country, Concubine Yang had to become the daughter-in-law of the enemy family that destroyed her country and give birth to children. This shows how difficult Concubine Yang's situation was.

But Concubine Yang was not discouraged. She placed all her memories of her natal family on her eldest son Li Ke, hoping that her son would inherit Li Shimin's throne. This would also be a comfort to Yang Guang's spirit in heaven. There were many ministers in the court who were nostalgic for the former Sui Dynasty, so with Concubine Yang's instigation, a large number of considerable forces gathered around Li Ke.

On the one hand, Concubine Yang won over former Sui Dynasty officials like Feng Deyi for her son, and on the other hand, she cultivated new forces like Cen Wenben, waiting for her son to grow up, and created a low-key development path for Li Ke. Letting Li Ke calm down, not fight, and do nothing, he can covet the empire or retreat to guard the throne, which can be said to be an extremely wise strategy for winning the throne, and later Li Zhi took this path of a weak man competing for the throne.

Unfortunately, Li Ke inherited Li Shimin's tough but non-domineering character. He was resolute and resolute, had extraordinary military strategy, was unfamiliar with subordinates, and was always competitive and eager to be the center of attention, in an attempt to suppress the crown prince.

At noon that day, Concubine Yang had just woken up from a nap and was dressing up with the help of her maid Mingyue.

Mingyue helped Concubine Yang to tidy up her hair which was a little messy due to her nap, and said flatteringly: "Your Majesty, you look much better recently. Your skin is white and rosy, and you look so beautiful. You seem to be several years younger."

Concubine Yang smiled slightly with her elegant face, revealing a charming face that could overturn a country. She stretched out her hand and gently stroked her cheek, saying in a soft voice, "You are the sweetest person. I am already over 30 years old, just like the lotus in autumn. It won't be long before I will wither."

After saying this, Concubine Yang sighed slightly. From the moment the Sui Dynasty fell, she no longer cared about her appearance.

"Where is it?"

Mingyue knew what her master cared about most, so she changed the subject and said, "In my opinion, it's because the young prince has been doing well recently and the queen is in a good mood, so she looks radiant."

"This time, the young prince bravely took on the heavy responsibility when all the ministers in the court were avoiding him, and performed great merit for the court, rescuing 30,000 soldiers and civilians from Suizhou who were abducted by the Hu people. The people all praised the prince for his courage, his bravery in fighting the Hu chieftain, and his glory for our Tang Dynasty. He is truly a rare and amazing talent."

"Oh, now even the people know about it. What do they say?" When Concubine Yang heard others praising her son, she felt indescribably happy and asked curiously.

"I heard from the guards that the people in Chang'an City have been discussing this matter recently."

Mingyue became interested when she heard this, and she poured out all the praises she had heard from the guards: "Whether it's the students in the Imperial College, or the small business owners in the streets, or even the ordinary people in the market, they all know that the young prince has made great contributions to the court. The storytellers even made up the story of the young prince's brave fight with Jie Li into a joke and told it in the teahouse!"

"The young prince's reputation among ordinary people is extremely high, even higher than..."

"Well, it's over what?"

Although Concubine Yang was proud of her son's talent, she felt that this was not a good idea. For some reason, she always felt uneasy when she heard the guards and maids in the palace talking about it. When she heard Mingyue's vague implication, which she did not explain, she felt even more uneasy.

Mingyue stammered, "They all said that compared to the young prince, the prince sitting in the East Palace is really incompetent. Whether it's literary talent or military strategy, talent or ambition, he is not as good as the young prince. He dares not work for the court, and can only flatter the emperor and empress to curry favor, unlike the young prince, who shows off the power of the Tang Dynasty outside the country."

"presumptuous."

Concubine Yang was immediately shocked and angry, and she shouted angrily that she was really frightened by this rumor that went against etiquette.

Mingyue was so frightened that she trembled and quickly knelt down to admit her mistake: "Your Majesty, please forgive me. I said the wrong thing."

Concubine Yang was so angry that she didn't know where to vent. Seeing the trembling maid, she slowly calmed down her anxiety. However, she still wanted to find out the whole story, so she pretended to be calm and asked, "Mingyue, get up."

"I don't blame you. Tell me, what else have you heard besides these?"

Seeing Concubine Yang's gentle words, Ming Bai forced a smile on her face, then slowly stood up and said carefully: "I accompany the queen in the palace every day, and I don't know what people outside are saying. I just heard those guards talk about it occasionally."

"They all said in private that the little prince had visions and would definitely be able to support the Tang Dynasty in the future. The little prince was different from others since he was young. When he was born, the queen dreamed of a golden dragon descending from the sky and diving into her belly. That's when the little prince was born."

Having said that, Mingyue looked at Yang Fei curiously. The curiosity in her eyes clearly showed that she wanted to know whether the rumor was true.

(End of this chapter)