I clearly wanted to be a tyrant, but how did I become the greatest emperor of all time?

Jia Renyi cupped his hands and said to Tang Xiaoren, "I admire the Prime Minister's foresight!"

Jia Renyi said this from the bottom of his heart.

Tang Xiaoren sighed and said, "This is all your majesty's strategy!"

"Your Majesty's strategy, what do you mean by that?"

Tang Xiaoren said, "Master Jia, during the reign of the previous emperor, it was Your Majesty who presided over the inspection of river transportation. Do you still remember?"

"Your Majesty failed that year, but this time, Your Majesty is fully prepared!"

"Your Majesty has already made long-term arrangements for this day."

Jia Renyi pricked up his ears and listened to Li Tian's "arrangement."

Tang Xiaoren said: "Your Majesty knows very well that if you want to investigate river transport, you must not be threatened by river transport."

"The past events during the reign of the previous emperor have already shown that if we continue to rely on river transportation, it will be impossible to crack down on river transportation corruption."

"So your majesty has resorted to the method of removing the fuel from under the cauldron!"

"It means completely cutting off river transportation!"

Jia Renyi was stunned.

His Majesty is indeed His Majesty!

Such a big deal!

Cutting off river transportation is equivalent to proactively cutting off the lifeline of the dynasty!

Such courage and bravery make him worthy of being a wise leader!

Tang Xiaoren sighed and said, "Everyone in the government and the country thinks that I am good at using people."

"In fact, it is Your Majesty who is really good at using people!"

"The most important part of turning the river into the sea is the distance from Kyoto to the port."

Jia Renyi nodded.

It was certainly not Tang Xiaoren who first came up with the idea of turning a river into a sea.

This idea was proposed in previous dynasties.

However, the biggest difficulty in converting the river into the sea is the hundreds of miles from Kyoto to the port.

The loss during this journey of several hundred miles is even greater than that caused by river transportation.

The advantages of water transportation are incomparable to land transportation.

But horse-drawn railway cars changed all that!

Tang Xiaoren sighed and said, "Your Majesty appointed Zhang Yuchai as the Secretary of the Jiabu Division, which means he decided to use railroad tracks to transport food!"

Jia Renyi was completely stunned.

Your Majesty has even thought of this?

Let Zhang Yingchai secretly build railway tracks between Kyoto and the port.

Testing the transport capacity of horse-drawn rail cars.

Then we started testing how to turn the river into the sea.

After confirming that sea and rail transportation could deliver grain to Kyoto safely and quickly, Tang Xiaoren began to plan the next step.

That is to deliberately propose a motion to investigate corruption in river transport.

This stimulated the river transport department, directly leading to the crisis of river transport interruption!

Tang Xiaoren took advantage of this opportunity and officially ordered the river to be turned into a sea.

As long as grain can be delivered to Kyoto, the grain transport department will never be able to threaten the imperial court.

Moreover, Your Majesty personally went to Yuhang and took charge at the front, so the water transport department had no choice but to surrender.

Jia Renyi was completely convinced.

He bowed to Tang Xiaoren and said, "Your Majesty and the Prime Minister have such a plan. It is a blessing for our Great Zhou!"

Tang Xiaoren quickly helped Jia Renyi up.

"Jia Ci Fu, there is something else that requires your personal attention."

"Your Excellency Prime Minister, please speak frankly. As long as an old man like me can do it, I will do my best!"

Tang Xiaoren said with a cold look in his eyes: "The price of grain in Kyoto has changed recently."

Jia Renyi was also very smart and he immediately understood what Tang Xiaoren meant.

"What the Prime Minister is saying is that someone has long known about the suspension of river transport?"

Tang Xiaoren nodded and continued, "How to deal with these greedy guys next? Jia Cifu should know, right?"

"Don't worry, Prime Minister. I will definitely live up to your trust!"

The Grand Canal Governor Pan Dazhuang, the Young Prince Li Guangmao and the Grand Canal Gang leader Yu Yuanhui were having a banquet in a secret room of the Grand Canal Department.

As they drank and chatted, Pan Dazhuang's face turned red.

This time, river transport can be said to have won again!

It feels so good to control the emperor!

To investigate river transport, we must use people from the water transport department.

As long as Pan Dazhuang delays him for ten days or half a year, the price of grain in Kyoto will skyrocket.

If Kyoto is unstable, the emperor will definitely surrender!

This is an open conspiracy!

Pan Dazhuang laughed out loud, and the young prince Li Guangmao also laughed.

My cousin, the emperor, is currently very popular.

If food prices in Kyoto fluctuate, food will be in short supply.

What a heavy blow to the emperor's prestige!

And Li Tian is too confident!

I actually went to Yuhang at this time!

As long as the price of food in Kyoto soared, his father, the Sixth Wise King, would have prepared sufficient food.

By then, charity tents will be set up everywhere in Kyoto, and the reputation of the Six Wise Kings will rise steadily!

Yu Yuanhui, the leader of the Cao Gang, also laughed and raised his glass.

Only when the river transport is strong can their Cao Gang become stronger.

The reason why the Cao Gang became the number one gang in the world was because of its river transportation business.

Without the grain ships “sinking” every year, there would be no great cause of the Cao Gang!

The three of them smiled at each other and raised their glasses.

Censor Tian Liang, who was investigating river transport malpractices on the Huai River, was so angry when he received the news that river transport had been cut off that he broke his brush!

"These thieves!"

Suddenly, a sharp voice sounded:

"Master Tian, the factory manager ordered me to send someone to you."

Two masked men in black jumped in through the window.

The two men were holding a middle-aged man in their hands.

Tian Liang looked at the two of them and asked in confusion, "Are you from the West Factory?"

The two men in black nodded.

The reputation of the Western Factory had long spread throughout Kyoto.

All the ministers knew that there was a terrorist organization in the palace.

The head of the Western Factory is said to be the eunuch Wei who never leaves His Majesty's side.

The Western Factory supervises all officials and is aware of all the movements.

It seems that they were all sent by His Majesty.

Since he was one of his own, Tian Liang was no longer afraid and asked, "Who is this?"

The two Western Factory guards said, "This is Chen Li, the leader of the Yuzhou City branch of the Cao Gang."

"He was also the one who attacked the grain ship this time."

Tian Liang's eyes lit up.

This is a big fish!

Tian Liang looked at the unconscious Chen Li, bowed to the two men in black and said, "Thank you, Mr. Factory!"

One of the eunuchs from the Western Factory said, "The factory master asked us to tell you that the emperor is watching."

Tian Liang was so scared that he broke out in a cold sweat!

"The Lord is watching!"

This means that sending Chen Li here is the emperor’s intention!

Your Majesty has long been aware of the river transport scandal.

Your Majesty has come this far, can I still fail?

Tian Liang was originally a criminal officer and is very proficient in interrogating criminals and investigating cases!

After Chen Li woke up, Tian Liang quickly extracted the necessary testimony from him.

The Cao Gang actually dared to attack the imperial court’s grain transport ships!

What shocked Tian Liang even more was that there were officers and soldiers involved in the attack!

Doesn’t that mean that the water transport department was also involved?

Tian Liang remained calm and immediately began to summon witnesses and collect testimonies.

At this time, Li Tian's chariot was still on the way to Binhai.

The dragon boat traveled all the way south, and it was quite novel at first.

Soon Li Tian discovered that this kind of life was worse than staying in Kyoto.

The scenery along the way is unremarkable.

Moreover, Li Tian had a vague sense of uneasiness, a feeling very similar to the one he had before the great victory in Luzhou!