Time Travel: I am the idle king Li Shen and Li Shimin in the Tang Dynasty

Li Shen patiently and earnestly persuaded Li Tai, and what he said was reasonable and well-founded.

This inevitably made Li Tai ponder.

They had been cheated by Li Shen countless times before, and it always turned out like this: first, prices skyrocketed, then supplies became scarce, and finally, large quantities of goods flooded the market.

This caused the prices of the goods they owned to plummet.

Is this kind of spice also the same?

But then Li Tai felt something was wrong. If that was the case, shouldn't Li Shen have held back his attack?

Why did they tell me directly? Could it be that they're playing hard to get this time?

He observed Li Shen's expression, but couldn't discern anything.

Thinking of this, he tentatively asked:

"Tenth Brother, do you really think the price of spices will drop and a large influx of spices will come in?"

"Yes, yes, Fourth Brother, you can trust me, it will definitely happen. Think about it, the Western Expeditionary Army has already returned to the capital, and the road to the west will soon be clear."

When merchants from the Western Regions learn that our Tang Dynasty is short of spices, do you think they will send large quantities of them over?

"The price of spices will drop by then." Li Shen nodded sincerely.

"Hmph, even so, it takes one or two years to travel to and from the Western Regions."

Just as Li Tai thought Li Shen's words made sense, a person standing to the side suddenly snorted coldly.

This immediately reminded Li Tai that even if the roads to the Western Regions were opened, it would still take one or two years to travel back and forth.

I don't know how high the price of the spices I have will rise. I'll sell them when the price is at its highest.

You can definitely make a fortune.

"Hehe, tenth brother, fourth brother should think about this matter carefully when you get back." Li Tai chuckled twice.

Li Shen's face darkened.

"Those four aren't going to pay? In that case, don't blame me for not going easy on them later."

After Li Shen finished speaking, he looked at Li Zhi:

"Ninth Brother, aren't you talking too much? This is between Fourth Brother and me, and you, an outsider, have no right to interfere."

Didn't your father teach you when you were little that children shouldn't interrupt adults?

"Hmph, I just can't stand you deceiving Fourth Brother." Li Zhi snorted twice. He wasn't afraid of Li Shen at all.

“Deceive Fourth Brother? Explain yourself. How did I deceive Fourth Brother? Everything I said to him was from the bottom of my heart.”

"If Fourth Brother suffers losses, can you bear the responsibility?"

Li Shen said angrily.

"Don't exaggerate. The Tang Dynasty is currently short of spices, and they are in high demand in the homes of nobles and officials in Chang'an."

Spices are extremely rare and hard to find on the market.

If Fourth Brother were to sell his spices now, they would be sold out in less than three days.

If sold to nobles, the price would be even higher.

Don't think others don't know that your Prince Ji's Mansion has been buying spices at high prices, and I've heard that you have several ships full of spices that have sunk at sea.

The losses must have been considerable.

Li Zhi raised an eyebrow at Li Shen provocatively, his face full of schadenfreude.

"You... how did you know?" Li Shen's expression changed, his brows furrowed, and his face was full of astonishment.

"Hmph, if you don't want people to know, then don't do it in the first place. You're here spreading alarmist rumors to Fourth Brother, but in private you're secretly buying up spices."

Is this truly your heartfelt message to Fourth Brother?

Li Zhi snorted again, secretly pleased with Li Shen's unnatural expression.

Today I finally got my revenge and exposed Li Shen's ugly face.

Seeing Li Shen's unpleasant expression, Li Chengqian and Li Tai naturally realized that Li Zhi had hit the nail on the head.

"Tenth Brother, you've gone too far. We're brothers, after all. Fourth Brother only has a few tens of thousands of strings of cash worth of spices, and you're trying to cheat him? That's too much."

Li Tai said with some dissatisfaction.

Li Shen's expression changed, and he angrily said:

"I went too far? Do you know how much you just caused me to lose? What are your measly tens of thousands of coins compared to that?"

"What, showing your true colors now? You're just a treacherous villain." Seeing Li Shen's angry expression, Li Zhi smiled contemptuously and mocked him.

"Get out of my way! Do you believe I'll beat you up again?" Li Shen cursed angrily.

"Come on, you ambushed me last time. If you're so capable, let's have another match and see who wins this time."

Li Zhi was equally defiant, and seeing Li Shen's anger and embarrassment only made him happier.

"Alright, Father is still in front. What kind of behavior would it be if outsiders saw us like this? We're all brothers, why be like this?"

As the elder brother, Li Chengqian finally spoke up at this moment, reprimanding the two of them.

In fact, Li Chengqian was genuinely afraid that the two of them would fight, as Li Shen's fighting skills would definitely make him the one who gets beaten up.

Li Zhi also practiced martial arts from a young age, and had trained for many more years than Li Shen.

The two started fighting, and Li Chengqian was worried that Li Shen would suffer a loss.

"Hmph, I'll let you off the hook today for the sake of my eldest brother. Fourth brother, you'd better think it over. If you don't pay, you'll suffer the consequences."

Li Shen snorted coldly, ignoring Li Zhi, and instead threatened Li Tai.

"Tenth Brother, you really lost several ships' worth of spices?" Li Tai asked directly, without saying anything else.

“So what if it is? I have plenty of money. Losing this little bit of money is just a drop in the ocean,” Li Shen said stubbornly.

“More than a million strings of cash is no small sum.” Li Zhi exposed Li Shen’s lie once again.

“You…” Li Shen’s hands trembled with anger as he pointed at Li Zhi.

Li Zhi, however, remained calm and showed no fear whatsoever.

Everyone could see that Li Shen was on the verge of exploding.

"Alright, alright, Lao Shi, don't be angry. What's done is done. We can make it back later."

"I'm just curious where you got so many spices."

Li Tai smoothed things over.

"Of course I have my own connections. I know the Western Regions much better than you do. I'm telling you the truth."

The Western Regions are rich in spices. Now that the road is open, once Ashina She'er returns with his army in the spring, merchants from the Western Regions will immediately leave.

Before long, spices from the Western Regions will flood in; Fourth Brother, you'd better start making plans early.

Li Shen gave Li Tai a final piece of advice. What he said made sense, but Li Tai was still somewhat hesitant.

But at that moment, Li Chengqian spoke up:

"I'm afraid the route to the Western Regions won't be opened so easily."

"Ok?"

Li Shen, Li Tai, and Li Zhi all looked at Li Chengqian, not understanding why he would say such a thing.

"Brother, don't lie to us. I came back from Xizhou. The Western Expeditionary Army has already returned to Xizhou and is stationed there."

The small kingdoms of Yanqi, Kucha, Khotan, and Suyab in the Western Regions have been conquered and pacified by our Tang army.

Ashina She'er also said he would return to the capital next spring to handle official business, so how could he not open the western route?

Li Shen immediately questioned this.

Li Chengqian calmly replied:

"Tenth brother, you are right. Those small countries in the Western Regions have indeed submitted, but don't forget, what about the Western Turks?"

They colluded with the Tibetans to attack key cities in Qinghai and assassinate the emperor of our Great Tang. Do you think that's all?

We might have to use force against them next year.

(Another train conductor has been fired.)