My father, Li Shimin, please call me Crown Prince

Chapter 36: Add some sugar to Big Ivan

Fang Yizheng felt greatly shocked.

Naturally, my father would not lie about such big inside information.

"So the prince broke his leg when he fell off his horse, too."

Fang Yizheng asked with some disbelief.

Fang Xuanling said: "It was just an accident."

"Your Majesty doesn't really want to depose the Crown Prince, he just wants to suppress him a little."

Fang Yizhi was relieved. If the prince's lameness had anything to do with His Majesty, then that was too much.
"So your majesty favors the King of Wei, and he is also using this to suppress the Crown Prince?"

Fang Xuanling explained: "This is one aspect. The other aspect is related to the Five Surnames and Seven Families."

"Your Majesty does not want to see the Crown Prince get involved with the Five Surnames and Seven Families, so he is particularly fond of the King of Wei. This gives the Five Surnames and Seven Families a target, and they all flock to the King of Wei. Your Majesty is also happy to see this happen."

"But it is also true that Your Majesty favors the King of Wei. He is just taking this opportunity and going with the flow."

"The Wei Wang Party has grown so strong, do you think Your Majesty is completely unaware? You can just let it go."

"As long as the King of Wei does not have access to military power, it will not have any impact on Your Majesty. The Crown Prince is just temporarily wronged, and it can be regarded as a tempering."

"Perhaps your majesty did not expect that the crown prince had never experienced any hardships, and a slight setback would cause his temperament to change drastically and become even more absurd. This has made your majesty a little anxious in recent years."

"Perhaps we have all underestimated the prince. He has been so patient over the past few years. Despite his disability, he has a strong will and has secretly practiced martial arts."

Fang Yizhi was a little puzzled: "The prince has been patient for so many years, why does he suddenly stop being patient? It's not the right time yet."

Fang Xuanling casually said: "Who knows, maybe he couldn't help it, or maybe he was worried about his reputation."

"Raising a musical boy is nothing, but it has a great impact on the prince's control of the military. Your Majesty has set an example before you, and the people in the army will look down on the prince for doing such things."

"So the prince had no choice but to expose his martial arts skills to gain the support of the generals in the army."

"Otherwise, if we continue to endure like this, we may not be able to successfully ascend the throne."

Fang Yizheng admired his father very much. After hearing this, he suddenly had a clear understanding of the recent situation.

Come to think of it, the prince's actions in recent days are indeed just as his father said.

Only in this way can the prince's behavior be explained.

"It seems that the King of Wei has no chance of inheriting the throne."

Fang Yizheng thought about it carefully and said.

Fang Xuanling said: "Then you underestimate the strength of the Five Surnames and Seven Families."

"It is still unknown who will win."

"Your Majesty wants to suppress them in this way. Don't they know that?"

"They also want to take this opportunity to turn the tables."

"When your majesty launched the Xuanwu Gate Incident, the Five Surnames and Seven Clans suffered a great loss. Perhaps now they want to go through the Xuanwu Gate again to get back what they lost."

"If not for this, how could Zhang Ananda, a mere eunuch, become the Right Guard General and command the Imperial Guards?"

Fang Yizhi understood: "Although my father has been leaning towards the King of Wei over the years, he has never really expressed his stance. So that's how it is."

Fang Xuanling sighed and said, "We are from the Qinghe Fang family, and have always been oppressed by the Qinghe Cui family."

"Your Majesty represents the various aristocratic families in Guanlong after all. Since you ascended the throne, your position as a father has been very embarrassing."

"In this situation, how can we please both sides? The fight for the throne is not so easy to deal with."

"All I can do as a father is to protect the inheritance of my Fang family."

Fang Yizhi lowered his head in shame: "I am too stupid."

Fang Xuanling patted his son on the shoulder.

"I am old now, and I don't have many years left to live. There is no need for our Fang family to get involved in the fight for the throne. Let your brother do it."

"Even if the King of Wei loses, it won't involve us."

"His personality is too reckless. He will suffer losses in the future. We need to help him find a backer."

"I, your father, am going to ask your Majesty for a marriage proposal. As long as I don't commit a serious mistake like treason, I can enjoy a life of wealth and glory."

Fang Xuanling is already sixty-three years old this year. According to the customs in some places, he should be buried at the age of sixty.

In recent years, he has felt that his health has not been as good as before, so he took advantage of his power to arrange the future of his sons as soon as possible. Before the Xuanwu Gate Incident, Fang Xuanling was Li Shimin's number one meritorious official.

But since Li Shimin ascended the throne, Fang Xuanling has become low-key.

This time Fang Xuanling asked His Majesty for marriage, and Li Shimin attached great importance to it.

Li Shimin also felt that he had treated Fang Xuanling unfairly over the years, so he agreed directly and prepared to marry his most beloved daughter, Princess Gaoyang, to Fang Xuanling's second son, Fang Yiai.

In Fang Xuanling's view, apart from serious crimes such as treason, the second son's future was stable.

But things go against one's wishes and what one fears comes true.

In history, Fang Yiai was sentenced to death for treason.

It’s not that Li Shimin didn’t remember the old friendship. It’s because Li Shimin had passed away long ago.

The one who ordered Fang Yiai to be executed was Li Zhi, the Prince of Jin who ascended the throne later.
-
The monopoly business is too profitable.

All the ice cream shops in the six ice cream shops had sold out before noon, so they had to close down.

I do have time to compile a statistical account of the cash flow on the books.

Every ice cream shop has a turnover of over ten thousand dollars.

This is because there was too little ice, and most people bought small portions worth five cents just to try it out.

According to the profit sharing, even if the minimum profit was 60,000 coins, Li Chengqian could earn 36,000 coins a day.

The key lies in the cost. The cost of repeatedly using pebbles is almost zero.

Li Chengqian didn't care about the ice cream shop owner, the waiter, or the added cream and fruits. He only provided ice cubes.

Gross profit net profit.

Although commerce was relatively prosperous in the Tang Dynasty, agricultural taxes were still the main source of taxation, and no commercial taxes were levied in the early Tang Dynasty.

Even tax is exempted.

"Your Highness, Situ Changsun is here." Wen Zhong reported.

Li Chengqian was somewhat helpless: "Please go to the side hall and wait. I will be there soon."

It was just time to adjourn the court session, and Changsun Wuji was rushing over. Naturally, he had heard the news about Bing Si and came to ask for ice.

In fact, three waves of people had been sent before, but they were all rejected by Li Chengqian.

My father-in-law Su Tan only came once, and he was easy to deal with.

Changsun Wuji is my uncle, so it will be much more troublesome.

As soon as he arrived at the side hall, Changsun Wuji came to greet him.

"Prince, I am your uncle. This ice shop has closed down before it even opened for half a day."

“How can this be possible?”

"You must bring me more ice tonight, at least three times as much as today."

Li Chengqian said helplessly: "Uncle, I want to, but a good cook cannot cook without rice. I underestimated the love of Chang'an people for Sushan. The supply of ice is really insufficient."

This is half true and half false. It is true that saltpeter consumes a lot of energy to make ice, but after preparing it for several days, there is still some stock.

"Then you should refine it quickly." Changsun Wuji urged.

Li Chengqian had no choice but to say, "I have been collecting materials for making ice cubes, but the government treasury is in high demand and the price has gone up again. I have to go to Luoyang to buy them."

Chang Sun Wuji immediately said, "How much do you need? I will help you buy it."

This is what I was waiting for.

"Of course the more the merrier."

Li Chengqian was not worried about the ice-making method being stolen, so what he provided were a large number of recipes.

I will definitely try to combine many materials together and conduct various matching experiments.

Who would have thought that all that was needed was saltpeter? Naturally, the more we tried, the more we failed.

Even sugarcane is included here.

There is a saying in later generations: one saltpeter, two sulfur, three charcoals, add a little sugar and you get Big Ivan.

(End of this chapter)