Marry the villain and the whole court kneels down and calls her the queen

That’s true. Lu Yunyang was still young at that time, but he understood everything.

He was smart and clever since childhood, and was loved by the late emperor. There was even a rumor that the late emperor would give the throne to him.

But my eldest brother has been the crown prince for more than ten years, how can he be willing to do so?

So when the late emperor was seriously ill, Lu Yunyang began to pretend to be sick. When the late emperor passed away, he used his illness as an excuse to avoid the emperor's suspicion.

The emperor had just ascended the throne and was implementing benevolent policies. He would not easily kill him openly. Not only did he confer the title of King of Qi on him, he also gave him fiefdoms, but he kept assassinating him in secret.

He finally escaped from the capital, but he never dared to live in the Prince of Qi's Mansion. He had several substitutes, all of whom were his trained assassins.

It was rumored that the Ninth Prince was frail and sickly, seeking medical treatment everywhere, but in reality he was hiding everywhere.

He had to hide from the court's assassins and take Su Cheng's money, because Lu Yunyang knew that hiding all the time was not a solution and he couldn't hide forever. He had to fight back and stockpile troops for self-defense.

However, stockpiling troops for self-defense requires money. The old lady Lu from the Lu family in Xiang County was once a maidservant to Lu Yunyang's mother. She was sent out of the palace because of her old age.

Xiang County doesn't look big, but there is actually an unknown mountain and a basin. Lu Yunyang set up a military camp here.

The prince of the fiefdom had the right to own the land, levy taxes, conscript troops, and appoint and dismiss officials.

But when it came to Lu Yunyang, the emperor confiscated his power to appoint and dismiss officials on the grounds that he was young and weak, and only allowed the conscription of no more than one thousand soldiers.

As for taxes, 30% must be paid every year.

The land is dead, and the emperor cannot take it away even if he wants to.

The ninth prince, King Qi, became the most aggrieved prince in the Kingdom of Li.

The Jiang family, a merchant family in Sucheng, saw this point and helped Lu Yunyang collect a lot more fees. The only requirement was to ensure that the Jiang family could become the president of the Sucheng Chamber of Commerce.

Therefore, Jiang Jiu’s analysis cannot be said to be completely correct, but it is almost correct.

Lu Yunyang's heart skipped a beat. "So, what are your plans? Are you going to join the Chamber of Commerce, or are you going to go against it?"

Since the source of everything is the Ninth Prince, Jiang Jiu really cannot confront the Chamber of Commerce head-on.

"Let's use courtesy first, then force. The Chamber of Commerce will definitely join. As for opposing them, the Chamber of Commerce is backed by the Ninth Prince... Isn't the owner of Yiye Pianzhou also surnamed Jiang?"

Lu Yunyang changed into a comfortable position and said nonchalantly, "Why do you think Yiye Pingzhou has remained strong despite being suppressed by the Jiang family for so many years?"

"Although the owner of the One-Leaf Boat is a woman from the Jiang family, the fact that the Jiang family hasn't taken the boat under their wing even though she's been missing for so many years is enough to be admired."

"Many of Yiye Pianzhou's skills are unique, and they have a set of procedures to prevent their skills from being stolen. They also have a group of loyal shopkeepers, all of whom are old and stubborn..."

Jiang Jiu fell silent, touching the ring in his sleeve pocket and fell into deep thought.

The head of the Jiang family is a man, so naturally he doesn't want to be suppressed by the women of the Jiang family. Although the owner of Yiyebianzhou is surnamed Jiang, she knows that she can actually be independent.

As the heir of Yiye Pianzhou, she was unwilling to damage the Chamber of Commerce left by that person, nor was she willing to use Yiye Pianzhou to deal with the Jiang family. It was indeed a difficult situation.

The carriage arrived at Huamanlou, ending Lu Yunyang's temptation.

Hua Manlou in Sucheng is much larger than that in Xiangxian County and is also beautifully built. Seeing their carriage coming, Gu Chengyan from the Prince of Qi's Mansion came to greet them.

Lu Yunyang needed a lot of money to recruit soldiers and buy horses. It was not enough to rely solely on the taxes in Sucheng, so he asked his men to do business.

As soon as Jiang Jiu saw Gu Chengyan, he knew that this brothel was the same as the one in Xiang County, probably opened by Lu Yunyang and the Ninth Prince together.

In Lu Yunyang's opinion, he was mainly doing it to make money.

In Jiang Jiu's opinion, Hua Manlou is the business of the Ninth Prince to support Lu Yunyang. Lu Yunyang is a playboy, and he needs money to eat, drink and have fun.

Just as Jiang Jiu was about to get off the carriage, she suddenly asked, "Husband, do you think Hua Manlou should join the Chamber of Commerce?"

Unexpectedly, before Lu Yunyang could speak, Jiang Jiu said to himself: "Probably not..."

Don’t you see who Lu Yunyang and Gu Chengyan belong to?

Although his own business was a bit difficult, he could still make some money by cooperating with Lu Yunyang.

Jiang Jiu came to Huamanlou. Since everyone had experience in group performances, this time was much simpler than the last time. They just walked around the stage and rehearsed, and in the blink of an eye it was evening.

Before daybreak, Hua Manlou started to serve guests. The seats in every brothel were divided into different levels, and the same was true for Hua Manlou.

The madam in the building was very good at judging people. She had four madams and six waiters under her, who led the customers in.

"Sir, the private room you reserved is on the second floor. I will take you there."

The best location is on the second floor facing the stage, which has a circular design. The entire second floor is not cheap, with a private room costing one hundred taels a night.

There were two staircases on both sides. After the four mothers led the guests in, the girls serving on the second floor began to serve drinks inside.

The price of a private room is similar to the modern minimum consumption. It costs one hundred taels to enter, with no upper limit. The one hundred taels includes tea, snacks, melon seeds, peanuts, and a pot of wine.

If you don't like it and want good wine, sorry, you have to pay extra.

"The management of Sucheng is much stricter than that of Xiangxian County. Your subordinates are very well-behaved."

Jiang Jiu used to be a bank clerk and he would accompany clients to dinner, so he naturally knew these rules. After he came to ancient times and started doing business, he found that the consumption of modern people was all left over from the ancient people.

Seeing that although there were many guests, everyone was in order, he couldn't help but praise Gu Chengyan.

Gu Chengyan nodded confidently: "Miss, you are too kind. The girls you trained are much more confident than us girls."

Jiang Jiu treats Chu Yu and the others like sisters, colleagues, and partners, and no one looks down on anyone.

Gu Chengyan and Hua Manlou have a superior-subordinate relationship. Except for Nishang, everyone else is trembling with fear and caution.

People in ancient times already had various consumption registrations and consumption traps.

If a brothel were open to the public, it would be similar to a modern bar. Although there would be girls accompanying you, you would have to give them extra tips for drinking, which was called a reward in ancient times.

If you want to listen to some songs, the prices are clearly marked.

Knowing that Jiang Jiu was coming tonight, Gu Chengyan reserved a private room for Jiang Jiu, Xiao Yimo, Lu Yunyang, the two girls Chu Yu and Nishang, and him.

Sitting together, on Jiang Jiu's side, Gu Chengyan found that she had no sense of hierarchy and treated everyone equally, treating him the same as she treated Nishang.

Xiao Yimo also admired Gu Chengyan very much: "Master Gu is the most powerful aide to the King of Qi. Even though he is far away in Xiang County, I have long heard of his great name."

Gu Chengyan said politely, "I also heard that there is a Ninth Brother in Xiang County who does very honest business. I didn't expect it to be you."

Jiang Jiu is still a woman.

Jiang Jiu listened to them talking, took a sip of tea, and murmured, "Alas, the ways of the world. Commercial flattery is inevitable wherever you go."

"What is commercial flattery?" Jiang Jiu occasionally blurted out words that Lu Yunyang didn't quite understand. Then, he laughed a little. It was too straightforward. It was just mutual flattery.