Traveling through time and space to become a child, supporting the family by catching fish and shrim

Chen Lang scratched his ears, thinking he had misheard.

Seeing Sheng Yinping staring at him sincerely, Chen Lang realized that he had heard correctly: "No way, you let a Yan person participate in the selection of the Khitan crown prince, aren't you afraid that I will deliberately say something wrong and trick you?"

Sheng Yinping said with a half-smile, "You people of the Southern Dynasty have always been... ingenious when it comes to the issue of succession to the Crown Prince."

"I just want to know if the lessons you learned from these things can be used on us."

"If it doesn't work, I'll just treat it as a story."

"By the way, I heard that your current emperor's means of ascending to power were not very glorious. Can you tell me about it?"

Chen Lang said angrily: "Don't be ridiculous. Talking about these things will get you beheaded. I haven't lived enough."

Sheng Yinping said, "It's just the two of us here, and I won't tell anyone, so who would know?"

"Say it!"

"If you don't tell me, I will go to the Queen Mother and ask her to issue an order to allow another prince to marry Princess Yongjia!"

Chen Lang glared angrily: "Are you threatening me?"

Sheng Yinping nodded: "Yes, I am threatening you."

Chen Lang: “…”

Sheng Yinping acted like a rogue, and Chen Lang really had no way to deal with her. He felt a little annoyed, but also a little ridiculous.

After a long silence, Chen Lang said, "Those stories about our emperor's ascension to the throne are just jokes circulated among the people. They should not be taken seriously."

"You know ordinary people love to make jokes about the royal family. The more outrageous the jokes, the more people will read them."

"But no one knows the true process except the emperor and his few confidants."

"Furthermore, after so many years, those confidants have probably been dealt with by the emperor long ago. Now, the only person who knows how the emperor ascended the throne is him. How could I, a powerless scholar, possibly understand these things?"

Sheng Yinping said: "No power or influence? Not necessarily."

"You are the son of Li Shirong, and the nephew of Li Junhui and Zhu Sui'an. If we were to ask who has the strongest background in the entire Southern Dynasty, you would definitely be in the top ten."

Chen Lang was not surprised that his identity was leaked. If Yelu Xiu Ge couldn't even figure out this little bit of background check, he wouldn't be worthy of being the intelligence chief of the Liao Kingdom.

There was no need for Yelu Xiuge to hide this kind of thing from Empress Dowager Xiao. If Empress Dowager Xiao knew about it, Sheng Yinping would definitely know about it too.

Chen Lang said, "I only learned about my background before I came to Liao."

"Besides, even if I were the nephew of Li Junhui and Zhu Sui'an, they wouldn't tell me how the emperor ascended the throne."

"Royal secrets, the fewer people who know about them the better. Who has time to talk about this stuff?"

Sheng Yinping's eyes darkened. "After all this talk, you just don't want to talk about it."

"I'll go find the Queen Mother right away."

Chen Lang said: "No, no, no... Why are you so impulsive?"

"We can discuss it if there's anything."

"You just want to hear a joke, so I'll tell you."

Sheng Yinping grabbed a handful of melon seeds from somewhere and cracked them while saying, "Go ahead."

Chen Lang really didn't know how the current emperor of Yan ascended the throne. After thinking for a moment, Chen Lang recounted the whole process of the Fourth Emperor's ascension to the throne.

In Chinese history, there are two famous "unsolved murder cases".

The first is Zhao Er’s “Candle Shadow and Axe Sound”, and the second is Lao Si’s “False Imperial Edict”.

At present, the succession to the throne of the Liao Dynasty is a fight among a group of princes and grandchildren, which has a bit of the flavor of "Nine Sons Fighting for the Throne".

In addition, the history of the nine princes competing for the throne, after various artistic processing, the story has a strong tension, which is most suitable for fooling Sheng Yinping.

This lecture lasted more than an hour.

There were melon seed shells all around Sheng Yinping's feet.

Chen Lang glanced at it and said, "You cracked two kilograms of shells out of a pound of melon seeds. You're quite impressive."

Sheng Yinping had no time to respond to Chen Lang's teasing. After hearing this story, her eyes brightened and she said, "Fourth Prince Yu, Fourteenth Prince Yu...it's interesting."

Chen Lang said, "Actually, the will is just a formality. The real reason why the Fourth Prince was able to become emperor was because the entire Imperial City's guards obeyed him."

"If you want to be an emperor, you must hold military power in your hands."

Sheng Yinping frowned slightly and said, "But if there are too many people in the court who oppose it, can we kill them all?"

Chen Lang said: "A general's success is built on the sacrifice of thousands of soldiers. Don't kill him so that he can give birth to a child."

Sheng Yinping said: "If we kill them all, there will be no one left in the court."

"You are going to choose a person who is condemned by everyone to be the emperor." Chen Lang said.

Sheng Yinping said unhappily, "Should I ask you or should you ask me?"

Chen Lang said, "If you ask me, it's pointless to ask these questions. With your country's Queen Mother Xiao's wisdom, couldn't she have thought of this?"

"Politics, to put it bluntly, is the redistribution of benefits. As long as the benefits are delivered, it doesn't matter who is emperor."

"The only difficulty lies in how to ensure that these people will not turn against us after we offer them benefits. Or, in other words, how to ensure that after the emperor ascends the throne, these people will still be loyal to him for the sake of benefits."

"This requires great wisdom. I really can't imagine it."

Hearing this, Sheng Yinping suddenly laughed and said, "I heard you brag about being the best businessman in the Southern Dynasty?"

Chen Lang denied it three times in a row on the spot.

"I didn't, I'm not, don't talk nonsense."

Sheng Yinping said, "The business of Hongyanzui is still in the hands of Yelu Xiuge. He also has deep interests in collusion with the Fanyang Lu family."

"There are few people in the court who have not accepted benefits from Yelu Xiu Ge."

"The Queen Mother hopes to open up another trade route so that this wealth can be delivered directly to the royal family instead of passing through Yelu Zongwang's hands."

Chen Lang suddenly realized, and said, "After all this detour, the ultimate goal is this. Why not just tell it directly? You made me tell the story for an hour, and my throat is smoking."

Sheng Yinping said: "The story is also very inspiring."

"You don't have to worry about military power for now. The key lies in financial power."

"The treasury has no money and it's difficult to move forward."

Chen Lang said casually, "If we reduce the rewards given to the Khans of each tribe, there will be more money in the national treasury."

Sheng Yinping said unhappily, "If this could be done, would I still ask you?"

Chen Lang pondered for a moment, then suddenly thought of something and asked, "Do you know whose family owns the New Year's cloth Dayan gives you every year?"

Sheng Yinping asked, "Sui Bu? The Lu family of Fanyang."

"They are imperial merchants, that's why they can hook up with Yelu Xiu Ge and smuggle cloth on such a large scale."

"In addition to cloth, tea was also provided by the Fanyang Lu family."

"Just these two things have made Yelu Xiuge rich."

Chen Lang grinned and said, "I have a bold idea."

Sheng Yinping asked, "What?"

Chen Lang said: "I will be the imperial merchant."