Traveling through the emperor, overthrowing the empress dowager at the beginning

On top of the carriage.

Shen Qiu looked at Ye Chen's concerned expression, and a warm feeling rose in her heart, but she didn't expect Ye Chen to care about her so much.

"Your Majesty, I am fine now."

"Qiu'er, some injuries can't be seen on the surface. You need to let someone with experience take a look at them for you. Hurry and show me your hand. Otherwise, if you develop a hidden disease in the future, it will be a lifelong problem!"

Ye Chen showed his domineering side and gave the order.

After hearing Ye Chen's words, Shen Qiu hesitated for a moment, then obediently stretched out his hand.

Ye Chen grabbed Shen Qiu's hand and looked at it carefully.

After a while.

"Your Majesty, have you finished reading?"

Shen Qiu couldn't help but ask.

"Qiu'er, your hand doesn't seem to be fully healed yet. Let me rub it for you again to completely get rid of the root of the problem."

Ye Chen said seriously.

"Your Majesty, that's not necessary."

"How can I not use it, Qiu'er? Do you know that you are hiding your illness and avoiding medical treatment? If the root cause is not removed, the disease will keep recurring. If I need you to protect me in the future and your hands are not convenient, won't I be in danger?"

Ye Chen was very persistent and said.

After hearing Ye Chen's words, Shen Qiu's lips moved slightly, but he really couldn't find an excuse to refute.

Finally, at Ye Chen's insistence, the imperial guards went to get the wine jar. Ye Chen used the rice wine to hold Shen Qiu's hand and rubbed it gently.

Shen Qiu's hands are bony, white, smooth, and as warm as jade, and feel great to touch.

Ye Chen was really reluctant to let go, but he was really helping Shen Qiu to stretch. After all, it takes a hundred days to heal a broken bone. Even though the bruises in Shen Qiu's hand had been rubbed away by him, the injury was not fully healed.

Shen Qiu soon felt a loosening sensation in her hands as Ye Chen kneaded them, and she felt quite relaxed.

She was no longer so resistant to this.

The carriage quickly left the palace.

"Your Majesty, the Lu merchants' hideout is located in an inn on Beimen Street. There's also a Chamber of Commerce next to the inn, both in well-hidden locations. They normally trade in tea and silk, and all of that is legitimate."

Shen Qiu introduced to Ye Chen.

"Well, when did the Chamber of Commerce and the Inn start engaging in human trafficking?"

Ye Chen asked curiously.

"It was at night. They would secretly send people to the city gate at night, and then send them out when the gate was opened."

"Ah."

Ye Chen lifted the curtain and looked outside the carriage, and saw many men wearing brocade and silk shirts and riding donkeys or mules on the street.

There are also many more vendors on both sides of the road than seen on the streets before.

The majority of shops on the street are inns and restaurants. You can also see blacksmith shops, as well as groups of horses, mules, and donkeys.

“There are a lot of merchants here.”

Ye Chen realized almost immediately that most of the people on the street were traveling merchants, and there were also many people doing small business.

"Your Majesty, many guilds of commerce are located on this street, so it is true that there are the most merchants here, but most of them are traveling merchants, not local merchants."

Shen Qiu said from the side.

After hearing Shen Qiu's words, Ye Chen nodded slightly, but his eyes narrowed.

The essence of commerce is the flow of goods. In ancient times, the status of traveling merchants was quite important.

However, many times, traveling merchants are not taken seriously.

"Qiu'er, when you get back, go to the Ministry of Revenue and ask Du Min to find out how many traveling merchants enter the capital every month and how much tax is collected from them."

Ye Chen narrowed his eyes. In his opinion, with so many traveling merchants in the capital, the exchange of goods must be extremely frequent. Logically speaking, the profits involved must be huge.

But Ye Chen had never seen any tax revenue from traveling merchants in the past.

The commercial taxes collected by Dayu were problematic in the first place, but Ye Chen believed that those corrupt officials would never let go of such a big piece of fat meat as the itinerant merchants.

Even though the Ministry of Revenue's archives had been burned, it had now begun to operate normally, and the statistics on traveling merchants must have begun in the past few days.

If that doesn't work, there must be records at the city defense troops guarding the city gate.

The carriage moved slowly along Beimen Street, but soon turned a corner and drove into an alley. There were some inns on both sides of the alley, but those inns were two-story buildings with small courtyards. Only some small vendors carrying shoulder poles were walking around here.

When Ye Chen saw this scene, he felt that the Lu merchant was really good at finding a location. These inns looked so simple, and the traveling merchants living in them were naturally not rich people. The number of people on the street was much smaller than on the main street. The Lu merchant set up the location here, which was indeed hidden enough, and his men could also pretend to be traveling merchants and quietly take those trafficked people out of the city.

"Your Majesty, the inn opened by Lu Shang is ahead."

Shen Qiu reminded from the side.

Ye Chen immediately looked intently and saw an inn in front of him with a courtyard that was much larger than the other inns. The inn was also two-story and still looked very simple. Its appearance was no different from other inns.

Next to the inn, there is a three-story attic, which is already the tallest building in this alley, but the attic is also very simple, without any trace of wealth and luxury.

"Your Majesty, this Chamber of Commerce is usually closed. Vehicles only come in and out at night."

Shen Qiu reminded Dedao.

"Ah."

Ye Chen looked at the inn and found that there were indeed many people gathered in the courtyard of the inn. The scene was very noisy. Several scholars were holding pens and registering these people.

"What are these people doing? Qiu'er, send someone over to ask them."

"Yes."

Shen Qiu gave an order, and the imperial guards driving the carriage immediately walked into the inn.

Soon, the imperial guards returned.

"Lord Shen, Your Majesty, it seems some people have arrived looking for work, and the innkeeper is registering them."

Hearing this, Ye Chen narrowed his eyes and observed for a while.

"Qiu'er, let's get out of here."

"Ah? Your Majesty, don't you want to go in and take a look?"

"no need."

Ye Chen's face was quite gloomy, his eyes became sharp, and a murderous aura emanated from him.

Shen Qiu felt somewhat puzzled upon seeing this, but still obeyed the order and asked the coachman to drive the carriage directly past the door of the inn.

After the carriage had left the inn, Ye Chen said to Shen Qiu, "Qiu'er, after returning to the palace, you must immediately mobilize the people from the Jing'an Marquis' Mansion. This time, send at least 500 people!"

Hearing this, Shen Qiu was slightly stunned, and then looked at Ye Chen in surprise: "Your Majesty, why are you transferring so many people?"

"Heh, those people who come here looking for work, do you think the Lu Merchants will let them go? The Chamber of Commerce won't open, and the entire inn can't accommodate so many people."

Ye Chen's face was gloomy, and he said, "I can see it at a glance. There is something fishy going on in this inn. It is definitely not simple."

"To manage so many people, the Lu merchants must have a lot of subordinates, and they must be equipped with swords and other weapons."

"So please send more people so I can give it a try!"