Tang Dynasty: Father, if you don't rebel, I will!

"Did the Crown Prince discover anything?"

"Has that lackey Sun Yi been warned yet?"

Chengdu Prefecture, Qingshu Palace.

Li Shimin held the bamboo tube carefully, meticulously examining and caressing the lacquered seal while questioning Li Junxian with some unease.

Li Junxian knelt on one knee on the ground. Nearly two months of this had passed, and he had become noticeably thinner than before.

"Your Majesty, I have already warned them. Furthermore, the Hundred Cavalry Division's operation this time was very secretive. They hid from the Embroidered Uniform Guard and were not discovered by them. As for the person, he was intercepted in Wugong County. According to Eunuch Sun, he went to Baoji County in Qizhou on the way, which is why he missed us at the beginning."

"The items have not yet been delivered to His Highness the Crown Prince, and no one has left the caravan to return to the capital to report ahead of time."

Li Shimin finally breathed a long sigh of relief.

He looked like he had just survived a disaster, clutching his chest and muttering to himself.

"Thank goodness, thankfully we stopped them in time... Go down and collect your reward."

"Yes! This subordinate takes his leave!"

Inside the Qing Shu Palace, Li Shimin placed the bamboo tube on his table and stared at it blankly. His tense nerves finally relaxed completely at this moment.

He slowly leaned back in the armchair.

"Phew...that was close! Luckily, we managed to salvage the situation in time..."

He was still shaken, but this incident taught him a lesson. He resolved that if Sun Yi and others ever conveyed the Crown Prince's decree again, he would make sure to find out everything from them.

We can't act impulsively like this.

While Li Shimin was basking in the joy of his narrow escape, Lu Shiming, the governor of Chengdu, looked worried and was seeking an audience outside.

After receiving the message, he stepped into the hall.

"His Majesty......."

"Haha, Governor Lu, you've arrived! The danger of that letter is averted!"

Li Shimin smiled and showed the bamboo tube in front of him. Lu Shiming was taken aback, then cupped his hands in congratulations.

However, a look of worry immediately crept onto his face.

"Your Majesty, news suddenly arrived from the Ministry of Personnel in Chang'an today..."

Li Shimin's expression suddenly tightened: "What's wrong?"

Lu Shiming sighed: "The Ministry of Personnel has informed me that starting this year, the performance evaluation standards for officials under the Jiannan Circuit will be raised. Furthermore, the performance of officials under the Chengdu Prefecture will be required to be benchmarked against those of Chang'an, Taiyuan Prefecture, and Luoyang..."

"Your Majesty, I'm afraid those eight million strings of cash won't be so easy to obtain."

Upon hearing this, Li Shimin breathed a slight sigh of relief, but his gaze involuntarily drifted back to the bamboo tube in front of him.

I opened it and looked at the letters that had been poured out. The sealing wax on them seemed to have never been opened.

She was filled with unease: "That unfilial son, he really doesn't know, does he?"

He was a little unsure.

He could only repeatedly console himself, after all, eight million strings of cash had been allocated, and it was only natural to make higher demands on the officials of Jiannan Circuit...

........

Japanese country.

After several months of emergency repairs, Iwami Port has finally begun to resemble what it should be.

A fleet consisting of a treasure ship and a dozen medium-sized cloud-patterned ships is currently busy loading the first batch of silver ingots to be transported back to the Tang Dynasty.

"Watch out, anyone who dares to break anything, watch their head!"

"Hurry up and move it!"

"......"

Under the watchful eyes of the Tang soldiers, the obsequious Japanese slaves dared not slacken for even a second, like ants carrying loads.

They lined up to load boxes of crude silver ingots, refined from silver ore mined at great personal risk by the Japanese miners, onto the ships.

Liu Tao was carefully counting the items with several clerks beside him.

"Make sure you take good notes; His Highness the Crown Prince will be seeing these..."

Several clerks who had been transferred from Fukuoka Port nodded in agreement.

Liu Tao looked at the boxes of silver ingots being loaded onto the ship, his eyes filled with joy.

The silver ore in this mine is excellent; it is an extremely rich mine.

In just three months since the official start of mining, they have already produced a total of 80,000 taels of silver ingots.

Don't underestimate this output value of 80,000 taels. This is only under the circumstances that there are relatively few mines and a relatively shortage of manpower.

Upon returning this time, His Highness the Crown Prince will surely send more troops to Iwami Ginzan and Sado Island, where the Duke of Lu has already led his men.

The thought of boxes of gold and silver ingots being loaded onto ships and transported back to the Tang Dynasty filled Liu Tao with excitement.

The recent news in the Tang Dynasty newspapers about the Tang Dynasty's plan to issue paper currency in the future has sparked considerable discussion within the Tang Dynasty.

Some people think, how can paper be used as money? Who would accept that?

Some people believe that if the imperial court can truly guarantee that paper money can be exchanged for gold and silver of equal value at any time, then it doesn't matter what it uses.

Some people even think that the issuance of paper money will probably not be successful...

However, Liu Tao believed that His Highness the Crown Prince's plan would surely succeed.

For no other reason than the mineral resources they now control, that speaks for itself.

After the fleet set sail and sailed at sea for several days, it entered Dengzhou Port without any disturbances and began to switch to riverboats to travel on inland waterways to Luoyang.

Dengzhou Port is even more prosperous and bustling than it was last year, the fifth year of the Zhenguan era.

Not only was the port expanded, but many more merchant ships and cargo ships of all sizes from Guangzhou Port in Lingnan Province also arrived, carrying the flags of the Tang Dynasty and their respective businesses, and conducting large-scale trade here.

Today, everyone in the Tang Dynasty is wealthy. Those who were once poor peasants during the Wude era now have the capital to acquire property and slaves.

In addition, the imperial court has gradually begun to implement a commercial tax system within the territory.

The merchants' enthusiasm was fully mobilized. When Liu Tao's fleet was about to enter the port, it kept Dengzhou Port busy with adjustments before they finally managed to get a few berths for them.

"Lord Liu, how was your trip to Japan?"

While having their clerks register the information, the officials at the dockside maritime trade office asked Liu Tao some questions out of curiosity.

Liu Tao glanced at him sideways, said nothing, but a slight smile appeared on his lips.

Upon seeing this, the official immediately beamed with joy and asked no further questions.

"Hahaha, very good, very good. If we do this, the national treasury will be even fuller, and we will be able to do even more."

Boxes of silver ingots were unloaded from the boat and then carried onto another riverboat.

The loading was completed quickly.

The remaining Japanese female slaves and children abducted from Izumo, Japan, were kept by the Maritime Trade Office of Dengzhou Port. They needed to be registered, undergo medical examinations, and then allowed to enter the country. The imperial court would then decide whether they would be allowed to enter the market.

Those who are captured and brought here are women who are easy to tame, relatively honest, and of suitable age.

Those unsuitable for the Tang Dynasty's slave market wouldn't even have the chance to board a ship at Iwami Port...

Liu Tao personally oversaw the escort.

When the ship carrying more than 3,000 kilograms of silver ingots docked at Luoyang Wharf and was transferred to the official road to Chang'an, the officials of the Three Departments and Six Ministries of the Tang Dynasty, who were holding a court assembly that day, were completely in an uproar upon receiving the news.

Tai Chi Hall.

"Silver ingots, these silver ingots! His Highness the Crown Prince was actually right!? That tiny Japan actually possesses such treasures?"

"What treasures of Japan, those silver mountains, and those gold mountains, they all belong to my Great Tang!"

"That's right! How dare this tiny little country occupy the gold and silver mountains of my Great Tang! This is intolerable!"

"Send troops! Your Highness, send troops! Destroy that damned Japanese nation!"

In the imperial court, the civil and military officials who had just been arguing heatedly about the limited national treasury and the route of a new railway, even to the point of wanting to shove the protective panels in their hands into each other's anuses, suddenly became united in their hatred of the enemy.

Right Minister Du Ruhui stepped forward.

"Your Highness, this matter is of utmost importance. With the manpower and craftsmen that the Duke of Lu and his entourage brought to Japan, they were able to bring back a full 80,000 taels of silver ingots for our Great Tang Dynasty in just three months. The Iwami Silver Mine must have an absolutely terrifying amount of silver!"

"This old minister requests Your Highness to issue an order to establish the Ishimi Silver Bureau and the Sado Silver Bureau, with personnel from the Six Ministries and the Censorate, and to mobilize the troops of our Great Tang to garrison them and carry out large-scale mining of the local gold and silver mountains!"

The gleaming silver, shining in the sunlight streaming into the palace, dazzled the eyes of the assembled ministers.

As Du Ruhui stepped forward to plead his case, the crowd echoed his sentiments.

Li Chengqian smiled, but his gaze slowly turned to Prince Li Zhi of Jin, who had a bitter expression on his face.

The latter noticed his elder brother's gaze and sighed softly.

Silently, I picked up my pen and quietly wrote down a note in the notebook on my small desk.

"Mobilize manpower and ships to establish an overseas banking agency..."

In less than two days.

The major newspapers under the Ministry of Rites' News Agency announced this important news of the Tang Dynasty on their front pages.

The Tang Dynasty Daily reported: "The naval fleet stationed in Dengzhou, while on patrol at sea, unexpectedly discovered mountains of gold and silver reserves on an overseas island..."

The Tang Dynasty Daily reported: "Major good news! According to the Ministry of Revenue's estimates, the silver reserves of our Great Tang Dynasty are expected to exceed 470 million taels in the sixth year of the Zhenguan era!"

“Bagya Road!!!”

"boom!!!"

The moment these messages, along with newspapers from the Tang Dynasty, appeared on the desk of the head of the Soga clan in Japan in an unknown manner, Soga Emishi was so enraged that he smashed the desk in front of him to pieces.

All the retainers of the Soga clan before him bowed their heads and knelt down.

His body was trembling uncontrollably.

"What the hell are you doing? I'm asking you, what exactly are you up to?!"

"The Tang Dynasty's fleet actually seized such a huge fortune from our Izumo Province, and I had no idea! I only found out about it from the Tang Dynasty's newspapers!"

"You bastards! What on earth do you guys do all day?!"

No wonder Soga no Emishi was so furious.

Asuka region (later Nara Prefecture), which is now known as the "Keigi Province" of Japan, has many complex affairs. During the reign of Soga no Umako, the former head of the Soga clan, he held immense power.

They suppressed many rivals, and eventually Prince Shotoku took over as regent, implementing numerous reforms that brought the Soga clan's arrogance to a halt.

"You fools, don't you understand how unfavorable the situation is for us? The Morise father and son, who supported Yamashiro Ooshi, have just died, and we've just put a new emperor on the throne. Do you think we can rest easy now?!"

"Baka yarou..."

P.S.: Happy New Year! This humble spider, who is currently watching the Spring Festival Gala while diligently writing this article, wishes all my handsome and beautiful readers a happy new year and all your wishes come true!

May your phones always have 98% battery, your milk tea always have 30% sugar and no ice, and your hot pot always have the last slice of beef! This lazy bum will continue to be your relentless typing snake in front of the computer; let's stay together forever—

(Suddenly serious) Thank you for keeping me company every night. You guys are my Lunar New Year limited edition skins!