Datang: Just been appointed as the crown prince, the counterattack system is here

Chapter 208 Li Chengqian: Li Er! You are so cruel! [Seeking monthly votes]

Outside the Taiji Hall, the atmosphere was a little bad even before the court session began.

The faces of all the civil and military officials were darker than the bottom of a pot.

If they hadn't had to go to court, they really wanted to rush into the newspaper office and smash it up.

There's no way around it, the latest issue of the newspaper is just so infuriating.

When they woke up, before they had done anything, they heard in the newspaper how much food and savings their family had.

He took the newspaper and took a closer look, and was immediately furious.

Damn it!
It’s obviously made up!
Don't you know how much grain and savings your family has?! What a family! They have a thousand or two thousand dan of grain and tens of thousands of gold in savings!
Especially big families like the Five Surnames and Seven Families, each of them had at least hundreds of thousands of shi of grain and millions of gold in deposits.

It can be said that he is rich enough to rival a country!

This made the blood pressure of the heads of the five surnames and seven families soar. They thought to themselves, we are rich, but not this rich!
Why keep hundreds of thousands of dan of grain at home? Will it get moldy?
Millions more in savings! Oh my god! Has the family struck gold? How come we don't know?
This is outrageous!

Just when all the civil and military officials were filled with righteous indignation and were preparing to go to court to impeach the matter, Li Chengqian, accompanied by officials from the Prince's Mansion, made a rare appearance outside the Taiji Hall.

When the ministers saw Li Chengqian and others, they were stunned at first, and then glared at them angrily.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince! What do you mean?" Cui Renshi was the first to stand up and shouted at Li Chengqian.

"Master Cui! How dare you? The Crown Prince is the ruler and you are his subject. How dare you be so rude to him?!"

When Cen Wenben saw Cui Renshi stand up, he immediately stepped forward and reprimanded him.

The other ministers were slightly surprised when they saw this and looked at each other in confusion.

Although they all knew that Li Chengqian had established the Prince's Mansion outside the palace and had the legitimate right to select officials for the Eastern Palace, officials of the Eastern Palace did not usually have to attend court.

Some of them were seeing unfamiliar faces like Cen Wenben for the first time.

Therefore, Cui Renshi did not take Cen Wenben's rebuke seriously at all. He took out a newspaper, shook it open vigorously, and continued angrily:
"What's with that rich list in the newspaper? Was it created by Xing Tang Newspaper at the behest of the Crown Prince? This is slander! Do you know this?!"

"Which eye of yours saw that it was the prince who instructed Xingtang Newspaper to produce this? Do you have any evidence? How dare you accuse me of slander here?!" Ma Zhou jumped out to refute.

Yuchi Gong, who was standing nearby, interrupted with a gloomy look on his face, "Everyone in Chang'an knows that the Xingtang Newspaper belongs to the Prince's Mansion. Why did you hide it for the Prince?"

In fact, he didn't want to go against Li Chengqian, but he was on the list in that newspaper, so he couldn't help but complain.

However, what he didn't know was that his words would directly arouse public outrage.

"Yes! We all know that Xingtang Newspaper belongs to the Prince's Mansion!"

"Without the support of the Prince's Mansion, would Xingtang Newspaper dare to sell those newspapers?"

"Your Highness, we need an explanation!"

"That's right! I just want to know what happened to my family's 20,000 dan of grain?!"

Hearing that the ministers not only exposed the background of Xingtang Newspaper in public but also denounced him, Li Chengqian couldn't help but shook his head with a bit of amusement, but still did not speak.

But then Cen Wenben changed the subject: "Since you all know that Xingtang Newspaper belongs to the Prince's Mansion, I won't hide it from you. I was the one who ordered the publication of this issue of the newspaper."

"However, this isn't slander. It's an estimate based on a poll conducted by a newspaper reporter, combined with information from various major dental clinics. There may be inaccuracies, but please tell me and I'll have the newspaper correct them promptly."

After saying this, he turned to look at Cui Renshi and said with a smile, "Master Cui, how much food and savings do you have at home? I will arrange for someone to revise the manuscript now and publish a clarification in the newspaper tomorrow!"

Hearing this, Cui Renshi's nose was crooked with anger. He thought to himself, "Isn't this just making things worse? Do you really think we are fools?!"

Seeing that Cui Renshi was so angry that he was speechless, Zheng Shanguo, who was standing by, immediately warned with a stern face: "I don't care who ordered this newspaper to be distributed, but I urge you to stop it as soon as possible. Otherwise, you will make enemies with all the officials and there will be no good results!"

"No, what do you mean we follow the prince and make trouble?"

Sun Fujia immediately retorted, "We are all officials of the Eastern Palace. Do you think the officials want to make us our enemies? Are you planning a rebellion? I will report them to His Majesty right now!"

"That's right! The prince is the prince of the Tang Dynasty. All the officials are enemies of the prince. Do they want to rebel against the Tang Dynasty?" Ma Zhou echoed.

When the other ministers heard this, they felt as if their three perspectives were about to shatter.

What kind of monsters are you?!

Can you communicate with others using normal thinking?
Lu Chengqing was so angry that his whole body was shaking. He couldn't help but point at Sun Fujia and the others and said, "You are really hopeless, hopeless. Are you crazy? Why are you doing this? If you have something to say, why can't you just say it calmly? Why bring it up in the court to discuss it?"

"I'm afraid this lord hasn't woken up yet. I, a lowly official from a local area, know that it was you who proposed the grain donations, but in the end, the disaster-stricken areas haven't received any of them yet! I'd like to ask you, gentlemen, how long will you stop discussing this?"

Liu Rengui scowled coldly and said, "Those starving victims, can they wait for your discussion? Or do you really think any good results can be achieved from this discussion?"

Upon hearing this, the ministers immediately realized the meaning behind the newspaper.

Is the prince planning to force himself and others to donate grain?
However, logically speaking, it was the Five Surnames and Seven Families who proposed donating grain, and they should have taken the lead.

But in the end, none of them were willing to donate food to help the victims, which led to other aristocratic families and even civil and military officials being unwilling to donate food.

After all, no one is a fool.

With grain prices so high now, wouldn’t it be nice to make money from the surplus grain?

Donating grain will do no good to your family!
After a long while, Wang Gui muttered, "It's not that we don't want to donate, it's just that the time has not come yet."

"I wonder what kind of opportunity Lord Wang is talking about? Is it the destruction of the country and the ruin of the family, or the rich living in luxury while the poor freeze to death on the streets?" Li Chengqian said suddenly.

And he started to taunt as soon as he opened his mouth.

Wang Gui was so angry that he blew his beard and glared, but he dared not say anything.

But then Li Chengqian sneered again, "You old bones, if I don't push you, you won't realize how much potential you have!"

"His Royal Highness, you!"

When the ministers heard this, they were choked.

Outside the Taiji Hall, there was complete silence.

At this moment, the gate of Taiji Hall slowly opened, and a palace attendant shouted loudly: "The time has come, all officials come to court!"

Soon, all the ministers fled away from Li Chengqian and others and rushed into the Taiji Hall.

After watching them leave, Li Chengqian and others walked in without saying much.

At this moment, Li Shimin had already sat upright on the emperor's throne, looking at them expressionlessly.

In fact, he saw and heard everything that happened outside the Taiji Palace, and at the same time, he gained a new understanding of the strength of the Eastern Palace.

It has to be said that these people around Li Chengqian really opened his eyes.

He even felt a little regretful about letting Sun Fujia and Liu Rengui work in the Eastern Palace.

There are also Cen Wenben and Ma Zhou, who are definitely potential talents like Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui.

In addition, there are powerful generals like Xue Rengui and Su Dingfang.

Good guy!
Both civil and military!

"I never thought that rebellious son had already built up such a team. No wonder he had the guts to pull a gun and throw a tantrum at me!"

Li Shimin muttered something in his heart with some dissatisfaction, then turned his head to look at Wushe who was standing beside him.

But then Wushe shouted loudly: "If there is something to report, report it early. If not, leave the court!"

"Your Majesty! I want to impeach the crown prince for using newspapers to spread rumors among the people, causing damage to our reputation!" Li Zhen was the first to speak out.

Li Chengqian didn't even glance at him when Cen Wenben stepped forward and said, "General Li! I'm the publisher of Xingtang Newspaper. What does it have to do with the Crown Prince? Tell me, how did the newspaper damage your reputation?"

Li Zhen looked at Li Chengqian with hatred, secretly cursing him for being shameless and always using his own ministers as shields.

Then, he looked up at Li Shimin again and found that Li Shimin was looking at him expressionlessly without any reaction. Suddenly, his heart tightened and he could not help but said:
"This newspaper has arbitrarily ranked the wealth of court officials without any verification. If the people believe it, they will surely become resentful, which will be detrimental to the stability of the country!"

"That's right, people are easily misled! Just like the last incident with the holy monk's flesh, some people actually believed what was written in the newspaper and believed that eating the holy monk's flesh could make them immortal! It's simply unbelievable and outrageous!" Li Shushen also stood up to echo.

Upon hearing this, the other ministers nodded and agreed with it.

Before, they had not realized the horror of newspapers, but now they were fully aware of it. However, facing the advice of Li Zhen and Li Shushen, Li Shimin remained calm.

But he said calmly, "Prince, I want to ask you, where did you get the data on the wealth of officials reported in the newspaper?"

"Your Majesty, minister."

"I'm asking about the prince!"

Just as Cen Wenben was about to speak up, Li Shimin gave him a cold look.

He couldn't help but shudder all over and immediately swallowed what he was about to say.

Li Chengqian took a step forward and said calmly, "Your Majesty, I asked my subordinates to calculate it!"

"Conjecture?"

Li Shimin frowned: "How to calculate?"

"Your Majesty, do you remember what I told you about engineering? The basics of mathematics, among other things, teach people how to calculate data!"

Li Chengqian explained, "For example, the simplest data we use to judge the Ministry of Revenue's account books is to look at the first digit of the account book. The smaller the first digit, the greater the probability of a problem in the account book, and the larger the first digit, the lower the probability of a problem in the account book."

"If Your Majesty doesn't believe me, you can take out a copy of the Ministry of Revenue's account book and check it again!"

"His Majesty!"

As soon as Li Chengqian finished speaking, Dai Zhou stood up from the queue, holding a hu tablet and saying, "I have something to report to Your Majesty. It's the case of the Minister of Revenue, Wei Jin, who was involved in corruption!"

"According to investigations, the Minister of Revenue, Wei Jin, colluded with over twenty officials in Gyeonggi Province and embezzled a total of 673,210 strings of cash!"

As he spoke, he took out a thick account book and said, "This is one of the account books of the Ministry of Revenue! There are hundreds of similar account books, all of which were provided by Wei Jin!"

"brute!"

Upon hearing this, Li Shimin flew into a rage: "My treasury only has a little over 500,000 strings of cash, and yet these twenty or so officials have embezzled such a huge amount. Do they still respect me, the emperor?"

anger!
Extremely angry!
Li Shimin clenched his fists tightly, his entire body trembling. "These are only the twenty or so officials in Gyeonggi Province. If we count all the officials across the country, how much have they embezzled? Who can tell me?!"

These national parasites!
Every time a national event occurs, people say the country has no money? Bullshit!

All of it was pocketed by these country parasites!

How could Li Shimin not be angry?

"Investigate! Unite the Censorate and the Ministry of Justice! Even if you have to turn the heavens upside down, you must thoroughly investigate the officials of the ten prefectures of the Tang Dynasty!"

In his rage, Li Shimin suddenly remembered something. He stared at Zhang Bo in Dai Zhou's hand and said in a deep voice, "Use the method the prince said to check and see if they are consistent!"

"Yes!"

Upon hearing this, Dai Zhou responded without hesitation and immediately opened the account book to check it according to Li Chengqian's method. Just one glance and he was stunned with his lips slightly open.

You know, it took them one or two hours just to check this bill, and it took them two days to check hundreds of bills day and night.

I didn't expect that I could see the problem at a glance.

Isn’t this amazing! ?

"What's wrong? Is this method feasible?"

Seeing Dai Zhou standing there speechless, Li Shimin hurriedly asked him.

He glanced at Li Chengqian in doubt and uncertainty, then nodded heavily and said, "Your Highness's method is correct. I only took one look and noticed something was wrong!"

"What!?"

When the ministers heard this, they were shocked as if struck by lightning.

What is this? !
math!

How come I've never heard of it before, how could it be so powerful! ?

At this moment.

Inside the Tai Chi Hall.

silence!

Absolute silence!
Li Shimin and his ministers seemed to be frozen, as if petrified, standing there blankly.

If someone else had said this, or if it had been said in a different setting, Li Shimin and his ministers might still have been skeptical.

But who is Dai Zhou?
Where is this?

It is obvious that both the ministers and Li Shimin believed Li Chengqian's so-called data calculations.

However, Li Chengqian did not want them to imagine that data calculations were omnipotent.

But then he added, "Although we can get a rough estimate by extrapolating the data, it's not accurate. For example, the amount of wealth of the ministers is biased!"

"If you ministers have any objections to the amount of wealth reported in the newspaper, please raise them. I will have the newspaper publish a clarification tomorrow!"

Hearing this, the ministers almost vomited blood.

Cui Renshi immediately retorted, "Your Majesty! The content in that newspaper cannot be said to be biased; it is simply fabricated!"

"How could my family have hundreds of thousands of dan of grain stored? Even the millions of gold in deposits are completely fabricated! This is clearly a fabrication made up by the Crown Prince!"

"Yes, Your Majesty! I am only a fifth-rank official. How could I possibly have such a large fortune? Your Majesty, please investigate!"

"Your Majesty! If we continue to allow newspapers to fabricate facts at will, we are afraid that it will lead to disaster!"

"Your Majesty! We are wronged!"

As Cui Renshi finished speaking, ministers one after another knelt down in agreement.

Li Shimin frowned upon seeing this, then fixed his gaze on Li Chengqian and said in a deep voice, "Prince, do you have anything to say?"

"Your Majesty, please make a decision!"

Li Chengqian had no intention of arguing with this group of ministers. After all, things had come to this point and there was no turning back.

Moreover, he had already come to this point. If Li Er did not help at all, he would deserve to be bullied by the aristocratic families.

As if he had seen through Li Chengqian's thoughts, Li Shimin's forehead instantly turned dark.

Although the Five Surnames and Seven Clans are the best of all the aristocratic families, if you think about it carefully, you will know how they could have so much property?

You kid, why don’t you calculate it carefully? Even if you are making it up, can’t you make it more reliable?

You made up a bunch of random things and couldn't even finish them, and now you want me to clean up your mess. That's really outrageous!

Moreover, such a big thing, and you didn't even discuss it with me? In two years, won't you be plotting against me?!

"Alright! Everyone, get up! We'll discuss this later!"

Li Shimin waved his hand unhappily, then straightened his posture and said, "I have more important matters to discuss with you!"

"You should all be aware of the guilt of Minister Wei Jin. Because of these corrupt officials, the court has no grain to provide relief to the victims!"

"Furthermore, the publication of this newspaper is unstoppable. The people of the world will undoubtedly discuss it. Therefore, I now need you, my dear ministers, to donate grain to appease the people's anger. Otherwise, where will the prestige of the court be?"

Having said this, he paused, looked around at the ministers, and said calmly and majestically: "Tell me, how much do you plan to donate?"

I rub!

You are still cruel!

Upon hearing this, Li Chengqian couldn't help but want to give Li Er a thumbs up.

When someone comes to you to seek justice, you turn around and take away their money! ?
It turns out that emperors are all very cunning!

　Asking for a monthly pass, asking for a monthly pass
　　
　
(End of this chapter)