I am a prince in Zhutian Films

Chapter 92: Being tricked
After leaving Concubine Liu's residence, Li Chengzong originally planned to go to Yuxiu Palace to see his mother, but he unexpectedly met Eunuch Hou halfway.

Needless to say, he knew that it was Emperor Qing who asked him to go to the Imperial Study.

Following Eunuch Hou to the imperial study, there were no palace servants serving in the hall, only the father and his two sons. In addition to the second son who came into the palace with him, the crown prince was also there.

Emperor Qing sat at the top, while the Crown Prince and the Second Prince knelt below.

Seeing Li Chengzong coming in, Emperor Qing smiled and said, "I heard that Concubine Liu used the cane. Did Li Chengping get beaten pretty badly?"

"Auntie Liu was very ruthless. His butt is broken. I guess he will need to recover for a few days."

"Haha, that kid deserves it. A prince opened a brothel, and was tricked into doing so. How shameful!"

Emperor Qing laughed loudly and suddenly changed the subject: "Was it your idea for your second brother to come to the palace to plead guilty?"

Li Chengzong hummed, found a random seat and sat down, wondering, "I can understand my second brother kneeling here, but why would His Royal Highness the Crown Prince kneel here?"

Emperor Qing did not answer and threw a memorial to Li Chengzong.

"This is the memorial sent by your uncle. It's amazing, Li Chengzong, you have learned how to form a clique now."

Li Chengzong took a look at it and, as expected, it was a memorial from Prince Jing on behalf of Li Hongcheng offering a 10% stake.

"If you want to accuse me of forming a clique, then you are the biggest clique leader. If you want to accuse me, accuse yourself first."

"You'll bite back."

"How can you bite back? Hongcheng gave you a 10% share, and my second brother will also give you a 10% share. You have 40%, which is more than me. If you are not the leader, who is?"

"You have brothers, but why don't you have a crown prince? And you still say you are not forming a clique?"

"Aren't you going to give the prince 10%?" Li Chengzong asked, cursing in his heart.

After all, isn't it just that he has his eyes on the 20% of the shares and wants him to give a share to the prince?

This old man is so greedy.

Emperor Qing pretended to be puzzled, "Second Brother and Prince Jing gave it to me, why should I give it to the Crown Prince?"

"Okay, I'll give a share to the prince, but the prince must pay for the initial investment."

Hearing this, Li Chengqian, who was kneeling on the ground, was delighted and said, "Thank you, Third Brother."

The prince didn't care how much money he could make in the end; what he cared about was Li Chengzong.

If... he meant that if Li Chengzong sided with the second brother, he might not be able to sit on the throne as the crown prince for long.

Fortunately, judging from the current situation, this third brother has not shown any signs of leaning towards either him or the second brother.

Even compared to him, Li Chengzong's relationship with the second brother is still quite limited. At least there is no need to worry for the time being.

Emperor Qing glanced at the Crown Prince calmly, then looked at Li Chengzong and asked, "Can your business make money?"

"Is the court short of money again?" Li Chengzong asked back.

"Is there ever a time when the court is not short of money?"

Who said that the inner treasury was temporarily taken back? But Li Yunrui gave him a hard time. Not only can the inner treasury not take out money now, but it also has a deficit of tens of millions of taels of silver.

This year, drought struck Jiangbei again, and in addition to the expenses of ensuring Fan Xian's safety during his mission to Northern Qi, the advancement of millions of troops, etc., money was needed everywhere.

The key point is that the expenses in these places are not a small amount.

"If you say so, then there's nothing to talk about. My business hasn't even started yet, and you're already thinking about money. Is there such a good thing in the world?" Li Chengzong said, winking at the second brother.

Li Chengze understood and bowed, saying, "Father, I made some money from smuggling with Northern Qi a few years ago. I am willing to offer three million taels to help the court solve its urgent needs."

Emperor Qing's face was full of frost, and he looked like he wanted to kill Li Chengze: "How dare you mention smuggling? If this matter is discovered, do you know what crime you have committed?"

"I am guilty of a capital crime. I beg Your Majesty to show mercy." Seeing this, Li Chengzong smiled and said, "If Your Majesty really wanted to execute my second brother, he would not have let him kneel down now. Besides, it costs money to hire people to do things for the prince. The salary you give is really not enough. What's more, my second brother is working in the court, where he has more money to spend. It's not smuggling military equipment, so Your Majesty, please show some leniency. Now the court needs silver, and my second brother is willing to offer three million taels, which can be regarded as making up for his crime."

The prince's salary is actually not that high, not even as high as that of the six ministers. But the prince has many places to spend money. He has to support his subordinates, take care of daily expenses, etc. In any case, the salary alone is not enough, not to mention that the second prince also has to win over court officials.

Although Shu Guifei's family had considerable influence in the court, the retired Grand Secretary Lin was a man of low status with limited assets. He had a large family to support, so it was impossible for him to financially support his grandson, the Second Brother. So the Second Brother could only find a way out on his own. It was not the right way, but it did not harm the Kingdom of Qing either. That was why Li Chengzong was willing to turn a blind eye.

Hearing Li Chengzong pleading for the second brother, and knowing that Emperor Qing would not pursue the smuggling issue too much, Li Chengqian also bowed and said, "Father, I second my third brother's words. I hope that you will spare my second brother this time for his meritorious service. I am also willing to offer money to help the court solve the urgent problem, but I am not as rich as my second brother, so I can only offer 100,000 taels."

I have to say that the prince is really insidious and will not miss any opportunity to make trouble.

Li Chengzong sighed and turned to look at Emperor Qing, only to see that Emperor Qing was also looking at him, just calmly and without saying a word.

"Why are you looking at me?"

"Your second brother and the crown prince have expressed their opinions. You are richer than them. The court is in a difficult time now. Don't you have anything to say?"

"One million taels at most, no more."

"Okay, okay, you are indeed my good son."

Emperor Qing was happy, and looked at the two people kneeling on the ground and said, "Okay, you guys get up too."

At this moment, no matter how stupid Li Chengzong was, he understood that the father and his two sons were teaming up to play tricks on him in order to make him take the initiative to pay the money.

However, he is not short of money now, and for the development of Qing Country, he doesn't care.

"Third brother, I'm sorry."

"Third brother, I'm sorry."

Li Chengzong waved his hands, looked at Emperor Qing and said speechlessly: "If you want money, just tell me directly. For the sake of Qing, I can still hide it. Is it necessary to put on such a show?"

"I'm going to say it directly, are you willing to pay the money?"

Li Chengzong thought about it and nodded: "As long as the money is spent on the right things, I am willing to spend it. I also know about the drought in Jiangbei. I am willing to spend this one million taels of silver on the drought."

Emperor Qing was silent, and suddenly asked: "Who do you think is better between the two of them?"

Emperor Qing had asked this question not long ago, but the person he asked was Fan Xian. The Second Prince and the Crown Prince were quite nervous then, and they are naturally even more nervous now.

After all, no matter how favored Fan Xian is, he is still an outsider, not as good as their younger brother.

The second brother and the crown prince did the same as last time, kneeling on the ground and saying nonsense like their father was in his prime, while glancing at Li Chengzong inconspicuously.

"It doesn't matter who I support. What matters is who you support, Father."

"If that day really comes, I have confidence in you." Emperor Qing said bluntly.

The so-called "when that day comes" actually means that there is no hope of immortality. Li Chengzong naturally understood it.

"You should look for someone else. I'm not interested. The Crown Prince and the Second Brother are good. If that doesn't work, you can look at the Big Brother and the Fourth Brother."

"You despise my throne so much?"

"You've asked this many times, why bother yourself?"

Emperor Qing took two deep breaths, calmed down, and waved his hand, saying, "You can go down."

Li Chengzong didn't care what Emperor Qing said to the second son and the crown prince.

What he cared about was that now that Lao Er had confessed to the smuggling, he would not deal with Fan Xian because of the smuggling, and it seemed that Fan Xian had no reason to keep biting Lao Er.

In this way, the fire in Shijia Town should be avoided.

This is what Li Chengzong thought, but unfortunately he still underestimated the prince's ruthlessness.

(End of this chapter)