Da Tang: Father, can I resign?

Chapter 20 The Prince Arrives
Although Li Ming had accumulated more wealth than this, it was all stored in the form of gold, silver and jewelry, which made it easy for him to run away with it.

So, when he faced the mountain of copper coins, he still felt a strong shock.

The Wude Code stipulated that one thousand wen of Kaiyuan Tongbao coins should weigh six liang and four qian.

In other words, he earned more than 80,000 kilograms of money overnight.

When he calmed down a bit, he couldn't help muttering:

"It's really inconvenient, can't we just scan the code..."

"Brother Ming, I...Fuck!"

Lai Junchen came excitedly to beg for money, and was also shocked by the mountain of money in front of him. Even his shifty eyes became clear.

"Hey, Brother Ming, you know I have always been your most loyal lackey..."

"If you have to fart, do it now." Li Ming waved his hand impatiently.

"That's right, Brother Ming." Lai Junchen rubbed his hands like a fly and said earnestly:

"I know a few servants working in Zhechongfu. I heard from them that the imperial court has recently been arresting soldiers who were on the Western Expedition to Gaochang."

Zhechoufu was a grassroots military organization in the early Tang Dynasty, responsible for the training of soldiers.

"My lies are deceiving the public!"

As soon as he heard Lai Junchen's voice, Di Renjie left the porridge shop and went into the store to angrily scold Lai Junchen for telling tales.

"It's not an arrest, it's an inquiry!"

"Yes, yes, yes, inquiry, yes." Lai Junchen smiled obscenely, "Ask them whether they participated in the looting of the Gaochang Palace."

What the hell is my scumbag dad doing again... Li Mingmo didn't care: "And then?"

"I was thinking... why don't we take this opportunity to extort money from the Chang'an County Magistrate?" Lai Junchen lowered his voice.

What?
Li Ming was stunned.

Did I miss a part?
Chang'an County was a county attached to the capital city of Chang'an, and its county magistrate was equivalent to the mayor of the capital city.

As we all know, those who can serve as officials under the imperial city are extraordinary.

"If that guy doesn't obey, we will report him for accepting bribes from the robbers!" Lai Junchen became more and more excited as he spoke.

"Now 'inquiring' about corruption in the Tang army is the court's top priority, and reporting is encouraged. Now is a good time to make that guy suffer a little!"

Li Ming stood in awe.

He was indeed a cruel official under Wu Zetian who dared to frame the prime minister and persecute royal relatives.

It turns out that this guy had the audacity to frame high-ranking officials when he was still a nobody.

The bloodline awakened ahead of time.

Fortunately, Lai Junchen doesn’t know that I’m a prince, and the other friends all have prominent backgrounds.

Otherwise, the entire "Fourteen Parties" would be restrained by his attributes.

Di Renjie was so angry that he trembled:

"Shameless child! Your parents gave birth to you, which is simply a misfortune for the Tang Dynasty!"

"I don't care about the Tang Dynasty. I am only loyal to Brother Li Ming." Lai Junchen said shamelessly, and then his face became gloomy again.

"But Brother Ming is good at making money, so he probably doesn't like the little money that the Chang'an County Magistrate gets..."

Li Ming casually pulled out two strings of money from the pile and fed them to Lai Junchen:
"If you have any new information or new opportunities, please tell me."

Although it is difficult to describe his thoughts in a few words, it is true that Lai Junchen is indeed very good at collecting intelligence.

Even when Li Ming returned to the palace every day, he didn't know that his father was actually enforcing military discipline.

And judging from Di Renjie's reaction, the probability that this information is true is very high, which is much more reliable than relying on a certain Turkic merchant who is "the sister-in-law of my third brother's neighbor."

Wu Zetian, your minions are very useful.

It's mine now.

"Thank you, Brother Ming!"

Lai Junchen was overjoyed to receive the unexpected reward, and decided to give him another piece of information for free before leaving:
"By the way, Brother Ming, on my way here, I saw a long, large, and wealthy convoy coming this way. They must be high-ranking officials in the palace.

"If you happen to run into him, don't forget to report it to him..."

"Get out of here!" Di Renjie kicked and stomped the dog spy away, and couldn't help complaining to Li Ming angrily.

"Brother Ming, I really don't understand. Why would you bother with that kind of person?"

Li Ming squinted at him and said faintly:

"At least he told me something you didn't."

It refers to the court's "inquiry" into the soldiers who went on the Western Expedition.

Judging from his reaction, Di Renjie obviously knew it as well.

“This…” Di Renjie’s face flushed immediately, and his back, which had been slightly straightened recently, shrank back. He stammered and explained: “I… didn’t know that Brother Ming wanted to know about this…”

"How can I know if I want to know if you don't tell me?"

Li Ming successfully confused him and said earnestly:

"Xiao Di, you should ask for instructions and report more often in the future."

"Yes... Brother Ming." Di Renjie's eyes were red, and he asked timidly, "Then... shall I go outside to help them?"

"Go."

Li Ming walked proudly with his hands behind his back. Suddenly, he felt a little uncomfortable with the empty shop, so he walked out of the door leisurely.

As the sun rises, the store entrance is bustling with people, and poor people waiting for alms gather in front of the porridge stall again.

As it turned out, Li Ming underestimated the bureaucratic system of the Zhenguan Dynasty.

The porridge stall was not just a flash in the pan. He also built a shed to provide shade and shelter from the rain, and dug a permanent large stove, which became a regular operation in front of his store.

The group of people who came here to get porridge also expanded from refugees to poor people in the capital.

Although there have been many changes, the ancestral method of throwing sand into porridge cannot be changed.

The noble primary school students came early every morning to chop wood, light fires, and cook porridge, doing their work in an efficient manner.

The servants were responsible for helping out, maintaining order, looking after these treasures, and replenishing supplies at any time.

Under the brief arrangement of Fang Xiang, even with the increase of people, the porridge stall still ran very smoothly and orderly. Everyone did their job and worked enthusiastically.

Even little Hou Baolin was busy, seriously throwing handfuls of sand into the pot.

The little guy doesn’t know that Aong’s army is in trouble, and it’s too early for him to be involved in “corruption” at his age.

As for the responsibilities assigned to Li Ming, the way people with high emotional intelligence would describe it is “taking charge of the overall situation.”

"Mr. Li, Mr. Li is coming out!"

The poor people bowed repeatedly in gratitude, and many of them knelt down in his direction from a distance.

"Thank you Mr. Li for your generosity!"

"If it weren't for Mr. Li, our whole family would have starved to death..."

"Mr. Li mixed the sand very well, and drove away all the borers that were snatching food!"

Li Ming's mouth twitched and he waved stiffly to the crowd.

Under the leadership of Fang Yize, the children consciously attributed the credit of distributing porridge to Brother Ming.

Since the small leaders had said so, the servants naturally would not clarify, and the senior officials behind them were happy to give face to the prince.

Just like that, Li Ming passively won the support of a large number of people for free without doing anything.

Why did this happen? Does a certain Chief Clerk of Prince Cao's Palace who wishes to remain anonymous have any idea?

“Isn’t the focus wrong? My goal is to remain anonymous, not to be praised by the people…” Li Ming looked confused.

But who cares? Anyway, I won’t be named in public even if I run away. People in the Tang Dynasty don’t use Weibo, so no one will recognize me.

At present, his small goal has been exceeded and he has raised more than 13,800 strings of cash for his escape.

What does this mean during the Zhenguan period when production was relatively stable?

For example, the "surplus" after this decimal point is enough to cover the expenses of a well-off family in Beijing for several years, and the amount in parentheses includes rent.

Although it is still less than what my spendthrift mother spends, if I want to eat, drink and have fun until the An-Shi Rebellion, I may have to be a little frugal, but it should not be a problem for me to keep squandering until the Xiantian coup.

"I've made enough money, so let's just leave it at that." Li Ming thought with satisfaction.

At this time, the street a few feet away became noisy, and the sound of guards shouting to clear the way could be heard.

Soon, the poor people gathered in front of Li Ming quickly retreated to both sides like the receding tide.

In the space they vacated, a huge convoy appeared, like a treasure ship sailing on the water, ruthlessly pushing away the people on both sides.

In the front was the leading ceremonial carriage, followed closely by the road-clearing infantry and cavalry holding seven-tassel flags, and behind them were the armored guards holding sharp weapons.

"The 'high-ranking official in the palace' that Lai Junchen mentioned?"

As soon as this thought flashed through Li Ming's mind, the long and winding vanguard of honor guard passed by him.

In the center of the convoy, a magnificent carriage inlaid with jade was slowly approaching, pulled by six horses.

As we all know, in the feudal society with clear hierarchies, the number of horses pulling a carriage was very particular.

Although Li Ming hated these feudal dregs, he had learned a thing or two about these rules through what he had seen and heard:
The emperor has eight carriages, but he can parade through the city with only six...

Only the Crown Prince.

As Li Ming looked at him in surprise, the carriage of the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty slowly stopped in front of him.

(End of this chapter)