My name is Chang An, your name is Gu Li

On this day, Li Longji summoned all officials to the Xuanzheng Hall for a morning court as usual. What was different from usual was that, at the head of the officials in the audience was Crown Prince Li Ying.

Today, Li Longji asked about the evil money as usual, while Song Jing was offstage, talking about the results of the investigation over the past period of time. Half of the hundreds of states and thousands of counties in the Tang Dynasty had been thoroughly investigated, and occasionally some places received the news in advance, which delayed the investigation.

But even so, Li Longji was still very pleased. He asked, "I wonder if you still have any opinions on suspending or stopping the governance?"

It is obvious that the matter of evil money has escalated to a point where it cannot be reversed. If there is someone who is blind enough to stand up and say that this matter cannot be allowed, he will surely lose his head.

Previously, it was said that the large-scale minting of official coins would lead to a deficit in the national treasury, but now the national treasury has not suffered much loss; it was said that the people would be unhappy, but no local official said that the people were dissatisfied; even the bad coins that were said to be recycled were useless, but now they have been invested in iron smelting and used as farm tools, and a batch of official coins that were distributed have also been recycled.

From this point of view, this method is not only profitable, but also has a lot of returns. In addition, Li Longji has now issued a special order to strictly supervise the Mint, so even someone like Doctor Liu has no courage to do anything.

At this time, Li Longji asked again: "Prime Minister Song, the matter of evil money has been resolved. I wonder if there is any way to maintain the status quo next?"

"Your Majesty, from now on we only need to conduct annual inspections. Conducting two to three inspections every year will thoroughly demonstrate the court's determination to govern and prevent them from minting private money," said Song Jing.

"In fact, since the Tongbao coins minted by the government are returned, Your Majesty can rest assured that you only need to ensure the normal minting of coins every year and don't have to worry about too much loss."

"Good!" Li Longji said with a smile, "Order the Secretariat to draft an imperial edict! The annual routine search will be carried out according to what Prime Minister Song said. Once any fish that have slipped through the net are found, they will be dealt with on the spot."

"I will obey His Majesty's will!"

All the officials below the stage, whether they supported or not, saluted.

"Where is the Minister of Personnel, Su?" Li Longji shouted again at this time, while looking towards the location of the Ministry of Personnel.

"The minister is here."

"What time is it now?" Li Longji asked.

"Your Majesty, today is the ninth day of March," said Minister Su.

"It's the ninth day of March, and there's still some time before the results of the Spring Examination are announced." Li Longji nodded and said.

"Your Majesty, nearly twenty days have passed," replied Minister Su.

"It's the 20th..." Li Longji thought for a moment, then said, "The evil money issue is almost over, and some ministers will definitely be dealt with next."

"Then Minister Su, do you think that the test can be put on the agenda?"

"Of course you can." Minister Su replied.

"Then let's send a message to the Secretariat and issue an imperial decree to set the date for the examination as March 12. What do you think, Minister Su?" Li Longji gave the order.

"It's impossible."

"Well, in that case, the ministers of the Ministry of Personnel should withdraw from the court and go to prepare."

"Yes, sir. Long live the emperor." The officials from the Ministry of Personnel all knelt down and saluted before leaving one by one.

Then, Li Longji said, "It is the end of spring now, the time of changing seasons. Diseases are more likely to occur. I want to order the medical officers of all states to inspect the people. What do you think?"

"Your Majesty is a sage, so there is nothing wrong with that." Su Yan stood up and said.

"Prime Minister Song, what do you think?" When Li Longji saw that Su Yan agreed, he turned around and asked Song Jing.

"What I think is the same as Prime Minister Su's." Song Jing also bowed and replied.

Li Longji then looked at the audience and asked, "What do you think?"

"Your Majesty, Holy Might!"

This naturally means agreement.

Li Longji nodded with satisfaction, and then gave another order: "Send the order to the Secretariat to draft an imperial edict, ordering all medical officers in the country to investigate the health of the people. If there is any illness, report it immediately. Anyone who knows about it but does not report it will be killed without mercy!"

"Yes!"

"That's good. If you have anything to report, please report it. If not, let's dismiss the court." Li Longji was also a little tired, so he said.

Seeing that none of the officials had anything to say, Li Longji said, "Let's adjourn the court."

"Long live my emperor."

After leaving the imperial city, Doctor Liu went straight back home. At this time, a servant was already standing beside his desk holding a few letters.

Doctor Liu asked unhappily, "Where did you get the news?"

"Doctor, it's from the Imperial College." the servant replied.

Doctor Liu sat down in front of the desk, knocked on the table, and signaled the servant to put the letter on the table. Then he waved his hand and asked him to leave.

He opened the envelope and looked at the contents: "In early November last year, when Chang'an left the Imperial College, he had a servant with him. The next day at noon, Chang'an went to the Prime Minister's Mansion."

"After more than half an hour, Chang An came out and asked the doorman, who told him that there was a tea party inside and someone had annoyed Chang An, so he left in anger."

Doctor Liu snorted coldly. At that time in the court, all those who agreed were united in their hatred of the enemy. How could they possibly be annoyed by Chang An's plan?

He threw the envelope aside casually and snorted, "What a trick you are trying to confuse me. You are trying to deceive me with fake news."

"I will not follow your path..."

Then he asked, "Is there any news from Chang Mansion?"

"No, doctor."

"No?" Doctor Liu frowned and said, "How could there be no?"

But the servant said nervously: "Doctor, you also know that Chang Yonghe only plays and frolics with his wife after returning home."

"Even if someone went to look for him, he just said he was out having fun, so there was no news."

"For fun?" Doctor Liu laughed in anger, "You believe this?"

The servant was a little nervous and said quickly, "Doctor, calm down. We have found very little about Chang Yonghe recently. We have also investigated a lot of restaurants and brothels in Pingkangfang."

"What's the result? Some people say Chang'an and the Crown Prince went to their place to have fun, while others say he and the courtesan..."

Doctor Liu slammed the table and shouted, "Did I ask you these questions?"

The servant knelt down immediately and said, "Master, please calm down. I didn't mean to say that, but... it was those prostitutes who said that."

"We have even checked and asked about the courtesan Su Meng, who has always been close to Chang Yonghe. The answers we got are all these. We don't know anything else that is useful."

Seeing that the servant had already burst into tears, Doctor Liu still slammed the table angrily and said, "Absolutely impossible! Those prostitutes all said the same thing, do you still believe it?"

"Such a unified tone, if there is no one instructing, I don't believe it!"

At this time, another servant ran in and said, "Doctor, doctor, there is more news!"

"Where's the news? Tell me quickly!" Doctor Liu asked, his beard shaking with anger.

"Doctor, it's news from Zuiyun Tower." The servant replied.

"Read it to me!"

"Yes, sir." The servant opened the envelope and read, "There have been recent reports about Chang Yonghe in Zuiyun Tower. After leaving the Prime Minister's Mansion, he appeared in Zuiyun Tower at 5 p.m. and met with Madam Zhou."

Mrs. Zhou?

"Which Mrs. Zhou?" asked Doctor Liu.

"That Madam Zhou of Censor Zhou also happens to be Dr. Chang's sister: Madam Chang Wenqing."

Doctor Liu began to twirl his beard again and said thoughtfully, "Imperial Censor Zhou? Zhou Kuangping?"

"I remember now. When we were choosing sides that day, Censor Zhou stood on Song Jing's side. The two of them usually don't interact with each other, so why did they have such a tacit understanding on this matter..."

But as he thought about it, he became a little confused: "Impossible... This information is indeed possible, but in the current situation, it must be somewhat unreliable."

"Then...doctor, what should we do?" asked the servant.

Doctor Liu thought for a while, then ordered: "Send another person to keep an eye on the place. If there is anything unusual, report to me immediately!"

"Yes!"

"Wait!"

The servant was about to leave, but was stopped by Doctor Liu and had to stop and continue listening to his instructions.

"Send two people, choose a smart one to hide in the dark, and don't expose yourself unless it's urgent."

"Yes, doctor."

Doctor Liu waved his hand and said, "Go ahead."

Then he turned around and said to the servant who was still kneeling on the ground, "What are you still kneeling there for? Get up now!"

"Yes."

The servant stood up quickly, without even shaking the dust off his knees, and stood respectfully in front of Doctor Liu.

"Go back and have someone keep an eye on Chang Yonghe. Write down everything he does!"

"Then send more people to the vicinity of Anrenfang. As soon as he leaves Anrenfang, follow him!"

"Yes, doctor."

"Be smart and get out of here!" Doctor Liu yelled, "When will you be able to be like them?"

The servant bowed hastily, but at this moment, as if he had thought of something, he said, "Doctor, I have inquired and found that Chang Yonghe was very close to Wang Mojie and Gao Shi."

"Should we send someone to..."

Doctor Liu raised his eyelids and said, "Why are you talking about this now? Go find Lin Zhongcheng and ask him to send some people to secretly monitor Wang Mojie and Gao Shi. When they go to Pingchang'an, follow them."

The servant bowed quickly and said, "Yes, doctor."

"get out!"

The servant walked out of the doctor's house in fear. Just as he turned a corner, his eyes suddenly went dark and he lost consciousness.

After Li Ying finished his court session, he asked Li Longji for leave and went to Prince Qi's residence. In fact, he wanted to go to Chang's residence on the way, but thinking about the spies everywhere recently, he gave up the idea.

After all, the quietest place now is Prince Qi’s mansion. Plus, since he is a prince, naturally no one dares to follow him.