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

Soga no Emishi cursed and began to violently lash out at his dozen or so subordinates with the scabbard in his hand.

The latter group dared not dodge at all. Apart from their bodies trembling more and more violently, they could only scream and hurriedly explain while enduring the beating.

"Master, Izumo has never been highly regarded. Even the major families within Izumo themselves are unaware that a silver mine exists there..."

I can't believe these idiots dare to talk back.

Soga no Emishi lashed out even harder.

In no time at all, the retainer in charge of intelligence was beaten unconscious, his face and head covered in blood.

Listening to Soga Ezo's heavy breathing.

Everyone fell silent, terrified.

"Izumo Province... Do you know what it means for the Tang Dynasty to land in Izumo Province?"

Izumo Province (later Shimane Prefecture).

Soga no Emishi was panting, his bloodshot eyes glaring fiercely at his useless subordinates. He gripped the blood-stained scabbard in one hand and clutched the newspaper from the Tang Dynasty in the other.

"If the Tang army marches south, they will reach the palace gates in just a few days! Our hard-won, slightly consolidated position will be completely destroyed once again!"

"And you fools... you actually have the nerve to go drinking with geishas..."

As if he had touched on the matter that annoyed him the most, Soga no Emishi raised the scabbard in his hand again and lashed it hard at the retainer who was lying on the ground covered in blood, looking like a dead pig.

"clap clap"

Blood splattered everywhere, startling everyone into breaking out in a cold sweat.

After a few moments, the retainer, who had been only unconscious, was completely turned into a corpse and was dragged out like a dead dog.

Soga no Emishi wiped the blood from his hands, tossed the blood-stained scabbard aside, and finally knelt down again at the table in front of him.

"stand up......."

Everyone stood up slightly, trembling with fear, but all lowered their heads, avoiding eye contact.

"Iwami Silver Mine... The Tang Dynasty has seized our Silver Mine. We absolutely cannot let this go. Although we are no match for the Tang Dynasty, we must do everything in our power to at least take back some of the Silver Mine's share!"

"Hi!"

But how exactly do you do it?

Soga no Emishi frowned deeply.

The previous emperor died suddenly without leaving a will, so the prerequisite for the Soga clan to sit on the throne, which they have now put on the throne, is that they have eliminated their rivals.

And it is precisely for this reason that the Soga clan not only had a certain degree of control over the Asuka region.

Japan still lacked significant control over its other vassal states, relying mostly on marriage alliances and mutual benefit to exploit each other...

"Immediately send letters to all the ministers and generals, inviting them to the palace for a meeting!"

The Tang Dynasty is coming with overwhelming force. Just by reading the newspapers, one can tell just how terrifying a force the Tang Dynasty is going to send out for these mountains of gold and silver.

If not handled carefully, Japan could become like Silla or Goguryeo, existing in name only, or even... truly destroyed.

Despite the lack of evidence, Soga no Emishi had gathered a considerable amount of information. For instance, there was a large amount of intelligence about Japanese islanders who were unsuitable to be slaves but were taken away by the Tang Dynasty from Fukuoka, a port city in Tsukushi Province that was occupied by the Tang Dynasty.

The disappearance of these people seems to bear a striking resemblance to the disappearance of the envoys and students they sent to Taiyuan Prefecture in the Tang Dynasty.

Late June of the Zhenguan era.

The first harvest of Cheonbo gold seeds planted in Silla has yielded a bumper crop.

These days, Jin Deman seems to be making more demands on Li Chengqian than usual, and Crown Princess Qian Yingying is also aware of her purpose.

She simply wanted the Crown Prince to give her a good purchase price for the grain, considering her obedience and docility.

"Waaaaah... Waaaah!!!"

Kim Deokman didn't even have the strength to move her fingers; she was completely limp.

Despite her exhaustion, her eyes were filled with tenderness as she looked at Li Chengqian, whose long hair was draped behind him.

They said nothing, but it was as if they had said everything.

Li Chengqian chuckled and lightly patted the other person on a certain curve.

"Alright, my beloved consort has already tried so hard, how could I bear to let her leave behind the reputation of a tyrant?"

Jin Deman's pretty face flushed again. She pursed her lips, seemingly wanting to get up and express her gratitude with practical actions, but Li Chengqian pressed her back down.

The palace maids came in to help with washing and grooming.

Li Chengqian walked out of Jin Deman's palace feeling refreshed, only to be met by Wang De, whose face was full of anxiety.

"What happened? Did they start fighting?"

He didn't ask what had happened, but he could basically guess what it was.

It's nothing more than the recent events in the imperial court. The profits from the gold and silver mountains are so great that various departments of the court are now having huge disagreements about their development and the distribution of future benefits.

The Ministry of Revenue cited various reasons, such as needing a larger share of the budget, annual tax reconciliation, and a severe shortage of personnel to review local accounts.

The Ministry of War objected, feeling that it was the one that deserved the largest share of the budget.

The reason is simple: in the sixth year of the Zhenguan era, His Highness the Crown Prince planned to station troops in several locations...

When Li Chengqian appeared in the Taiji Hall, swaying and behaving like an old man visiting a neighbor, Prince Li Zhi of Jin, who was sitting on the dragon throne and being made to oversee the country by Li Chengqian, felt like crying on the spot.

In the noisy hall at this moment, which of these shameless, stinking soldiers and old scoundrels could Li Zhi possibly offend?

"Stationing troops, stationing troops, all you know is stationing troops! Do you know how many officials my Ministry of Rites has to prepare to coordinate and accompany you when you keep talking about stationing troops? Do you think those foreign officials who speak foreign languages ​​and are loyal to my Great Tang are so easy to find?!"

"Li Xiaogong, stop yelling at me like that. All you do is shout about stationing troops. Why don't you go and do it yourselves? All you do in Chang'an is either play decadent music in the Prince's mansion or go to the brothel to drink and have fun. If those two old bastards Cheng Yaojin and Yuchi Gong had said anything to me today, I wouldn't have said anything!"

"You deserve it too!?"

"I don't care, let's argue until the end! The Ministry of Rites should receive at least 30% of the national treasury revenue from the Silver Bureau!"

"Thirty percent!? Tang Jian, aren't you afraid of stuffing yourself to death? Thirty percent... Take three punches from me first!"

"Cough cough!"

In the noisy Taiji Hall, Li Chengqian's cough suddenly came from the entrance of the hall, and everyone seemed to be paused instantly.

Li Xiaogong, who was about to give Tang Jian a good beating with his fist raised, had a stiff, angry expression on his flushed face.

Wang Ming, the Prefect of Taiyuan, who was gripping the neck of Dou Cai, the Prefect of Luoyang, and looked as if he wanted to strangle him, subtly withdrew his hand under the cover of the people around him.

"What's wrong? Aren't you all supposed to be very noisy? Keep going!"

Li Chengqian had a cold face, like a headmaster inspecting a class in a later era, which made everyone bow their heads and stand up straight, trembling with fear.

Li Chengqian snorted coldly and walked from among the officials towards the throne.

Everyone quickly made way.

However, just as Li Chengqian was about to reach the front, he suddenly stopped and looked up and down at Tang Jian, the Minister of Rites, who seemed to want to hide himself in the crowd.

"Didn't Minister Tang say yesterday that he had caught a cold? My ninth brother even approved your sick leave request... You recovered very quickly, didn't you? Has the Royal Medical Academy come up with any new prescriptions for treating colds?"

"Or is it that this silver can cure a cold?"

Tang Jian wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, hunching over, not daring to utter a single word of explanation.

Li Chengqian's gaze then fell on Li Xiaogong, who was standing to the side.

Another cold snort.

The Prince of Hejian, who had distinguished himself in battle since the founding of the dynasty, was so startled that he trembled as if he were a student being taught by a master.

"However, Minister Tang did make a good point: some people are indeed becoming excessively lazy these days! Drinking and carousing... Prince Hejian, what a refined taste you have!"

"I wonder which girl in the Imperial Music Bureau likes to sing? Why don't you recommend one to me? That way, I might have time to appreciate the refined tastes of the Prince of Hejian?"

Li Xiaogong quickly cupped his hands in a gesture of respect.

"Your Majesty, I am guilty! Please punish me!"

Seeing the other party's cold sweat, Li Chengqian snorted and stepped to the throne. Li Zhi had already given up his seat and stood aside with his hands clasped.

Looking at this group of noisy ministers, they all seemed like quails after their elder brother, the emperor, arrived.

I felt a surge of relief!

Li Chengqian glanced at the document on the table that was half-read. It was about the arrival of the first batch of gold from Tibet, which was to be deposited in the Royal Bank of the Tang Dynasty to serve as national credit for Tibet in trade with the Tang Dynasty.

After Songtsen Gampo was taught a lesson, he indeed became much more obedient.

First came the slaves of Harsha, then spices, and soon the first batch of grain grown by the Tibetans in Harsha's colony will be transported back by the Han King's fleet.

In addition to this batch of gold.

Li Chengqian decided to stay overnight in Samaga's palace.

"It's just a batch of silver mined from the Iwami Silver Mine, a mere seventy or eighty thousand taels, and you've all made such a fuss! What kind of behavior is this!?"

"What? Is this the final result you've reached through your arguments? If I don't approve, are you all planning to rebel?!"

Upon hearing this, all the officials present bowed in unison.

"We dare not! Your Highness, please forgive us!"

Li Chengqian sneered: "It's nothing but mountains of gold and silver, and overseas at that. If I told you that a gold mine had been discovered in the heart of the Qinling Mountains near Baoji County in Qizhou, would you all faint from shock?!"

"He's a subject of my Great Tang Dynasty, how can he lack even this much self-control?!"

The crowd erupted in uproar again.

After Sun Yi returned and reported this matter, Li Chengqian did not make it public. Instead, the Embroidered Uniform Guard temporarily blocked the news and ordered the magistrate of Baoji County to organize manpower to start mining.

Seeing that everyone was past their usual excitement, Li Chengqian spoke again.

"Instead of wasting time fighting over these mountains of gold and silver, you should spend some time compiling this year's grain harvest statistics from various regions as soon as possible. Have you already forgotten about those petty vassal states in the southeast who have defied the will of our Great Tang?!"

"Can those mountains of gold and silver alleviate hunger and disaster like the rice of Linyi, or can they save lives like the medicinal herbs of Jiaozhi and Siam?!"

Everyone respectfully apologized again.

He finally began to resemble a subject.

Just when everyone thought the Crown Prince was going to let the matter drop.

Li Chengqian suddenly spoke and gave an order.

"Li Xiaogong, the Prince of Hejian, has neglected state affairs. Effective immediately, he is dismissed from his post as Minister of War and ordered to reflect on his actions for half a month. After half a month, he will depart for Baikal County to succeed Chai Shao, the Duke of Huo, and assist Wei Zheng in governing the northern border!"

Li Xiaogong: "!!!"