Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 302 What a big deal
Of course, Xia Lin couldn't be so stupid as to ask Li Shimin directly. If he could tell, it would be a miracle. But he could guess that if he wanted to deal with someone like Li Yuanji, the only one who could do it was the imperial court.

However, the imperial court was actually very wary of the Li family and would certainly not turn against Li Yuan directly. After all, Li Jing was no longer in the north, and the Li family was the actual controller of the entire area north of the Yangtze River.

If the matter came into Xia Lin's hands, his first step would be to spread some information, especially to the caravans passing by, that "the Li family has begun to stockpile soldiers and food, with ill intentions."

This news cannot be spread too hastily, there must be a way out, so stockpiling soldiers and grain is the best excuse. Because Li Yuan guards the entire Northwest, his sphere of influence is huge and he has a large number of soldiers, so stockpiling grain and soldiers is something he has to do every year.

Every vassal king did this, and the King of Teng also stockpiled troops. Otherwise, with the rotation of a batch every year, there would be various consumptions. If they did not stockpile troops in the first year, they would not be able to keep up with the training progress in the second year. As long as there was no sudden oversupply of troops, it would actually be a joke.

Therefore, it is harmless to pass on this news, but the next step is the key among the keys. How can this matter attract the attention of the court?

Only when the imperial court takes it seriously will they send a letter to inquire. In fact, what Li Yuan wants to do is just a thin layer of window paper away. However, the Central Plains cannot withstand a major war now, and both sides are actually very restrained.

Sending a letter of inquiry, not even for accountability, proves that Li Yuan's intention has been discovered by the court. For ordinary people, it is no big deal. But for Li Yuan, the political significance here is too great, and he needs to show his loyalty immediately to solve the problem of word-of-mouth.

Although the value of the word "credit" has declined significantly since the Sima family compared to the Spring and Autumn Period, Qin and Han Dynasties, revealing one's intentions too early can still lead to serious consequences.

None of them has a legitimate reason. Even if they seize the world, they will be the second Sima family. They can rule the Central Plains, but their descendants will probably be liquidated.

So the first thing Li Yuan did was to show his loyalty and to show that he had absolutely no intention of rebelling. This explanation was actually very pale at this time, because the court's letter meant that suspicion had arisen.

Well then, there is still a missing link from the rumor to the court sending a letter, and this link needs to be filled by someone. How can it be filled with enough force to make the court take it seriously?
If nothing unexpected happens, the main characters in this missing link are himself and Li Yuanji. He doesn't know what position he occupies in Li Shimin's mind, so the subsequent development depends on what moves he makes.

However, when thinking of this, Xia Lin would ask himself why Li Shimin would do such a thing that would harm the interests of his father and family?
But after some thought, combined with Li Shimin's current situation and the personnel changes in the Li family, it is most likely that he did it to protect himself and his sister.

If the current situation continues to develop, unless there are any accidents, once Li Yuan dies or retires and Li Jiancheng takes over, the first thing he will do is to get rid of the person who poses the greatest threat to him.

She might not necessarily be killed, but Princess Pingyang would be married to some powerful man at random. This is their usual practice, a marriage of alliance.

The best outcome for Li Shimin was to guard the isolated city alone until he grew old.

This is already a very merciful result. The worse possibility is that Li Shimin is directly placed under house arrest. Think about how Chiang Kai-shek treated the young marshal, and they will treat Li Shimin the same way.

Of course, this is still based on the premise that Li Jiancheng is relatively kind. If Li Yuanji, a guy who specializes in harming Li Shimin, is included, once such a variable occurs, the life and death of the Li siblings will be uncertain.

Xia Lin thinks objectively so he can take into account both the best and worst outcomes, but if this happened to him.

It's over. I'll die tomorrow.

So he thought so, and Li Shimin would probably think so too, so he must have rehearsed the worst outcome.

In order to protect himself or have another sister, he would not hesitate to sacrifice part of the family's interests in exchange for his own inventory.

Okay, now the logic is coherent, but what will he do? How can he use Xia Lin's hand to kill Li Yuanji without making any noise?
Could it be that he and Li Yuanji fall in love with the same woman at the same time and then challenge each other to a duel to kill one of them? No matter who is killed, it will be a great benefit to him.

Thinking of this, Xia Lin shook his head. This was not Li Shimin's style. Although the current Li Shimin was not the Li Shimin in the history books, he would definitely not do such a stupid thing because the uncertainty was too high. Xia Lin would not start anything until he was sure of it.

Xia Lin had only gambled once so far, and that was during the Battle of Luoyang. However, he won not because of his own gamble but because there was a traitor in the opposing camp.

From this incident, Xia Lin summed up a principle: gamblers will not die a good death, and gambling will harm people and their families.

If he doesn't use this method, then he will have limited routes to travel. After all, the two sides are tens of thousands of miles apart, and they haven't even met until now.

However, Xia Lin did not intend to continue guessing. He would wait and see if there were any messages on the market. If there were, he would be ready to take the bait.

In the following days, Xia Lin continued to run around the workshop every day, hang out with the girls, write scripts, and guide the girls on their acting skills. Then, when he had nothing to do, he would go to the medical school to check on Princess Pingyang's recovery progress.

If you see Dong Niang, just touch her. Being chased by her for a while can be considered as exercise.

But this Dong Niang is really something. She scolds me every time, but she still lets me touch her every time, and she never gets angry or anything. It feels like it has become an interactive game without me noticing. Although she usually can't even fart after three shots, she is really awesome in this aspect...

It was not until seven days later, on the day of the beginning of winter, that Xia Lin finally heard the rumors about the Li family in the northwest.

"The Li family bought a large amount of food and iron, and I heard they were recruiting soldiers everywhere. I wonder what they are doing."

"Hey... let's not fight anymore. There have been incidents everywhere in recent years. It's hard to live a peaceful life."

"Who says it's not true? But Fuliang is okay. It's still quite peaceful. If there's trouble in the north, I might as well bring my family here to make a living. I heard that many places here are recruiting people, but they can't find anyone."

"Oh? This gentleman wants to buy a house? That's a coincidence. I'm selling houses. How about you come with me to take a look? Don't go! Sir! Take a look. You won't be cheated or fooled. Really, the location is good and the price is cheap. If you buy it, it will definitely appreciate in value! Sir..."

The voice gradually faded away. Xia Lin, who was eating wontons, slapped down a few coins and said, "Let's go."

"Master Xia, you look down on me, why are you still giving me money?"

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Xia Lin pointed at the money on the table and said, "If you don't take the money today or tomorrow, what will happen to your newborn son?"

"Sir, to be honest, I came here to escape famine two years ago and settled down here with my family. If it weren't for you, we would have starved to death. If my old man knew that I asked you for money, he would beat me to death."

"Stop talking nonsense." Xia Lin rolled up his sleeves and prepared to walk back. After walking two steps, he turned back and asked, "Is the Li family's affairs being spread everywhere these days?"

"Eh? Has the Lord also noticed it? The guests coming and going from the north these days are in a panic, saying that the Li family is going to rebel, and they are all sighing."

Xia Lin nodded: "I see." After returning to the government office, he leaned against his desk to support his head, thinking: "This seems to have come true. Li Shimin is starting to use public opinion to put pressure on the court and the Li family at the same time. The Li family is going to rebel, and the merchants in the north are panicking... Well, it seems that Li Shimin is a little more powerful than I imagined."

The word "panic" is the essence of the matter, because it is just panic, not the next step. Whether to continue or stop depends on what happens next. The panic of merchants will definitely affect the investment and business of the major families. Ninety percent of the officials in the court are spokespersons for the families, and it is impossible for them not to report this matter to the higher-ups.

Well, Li Shimin is tall! Really tall!
Three more days passed, and Xia Lin estimated that the news should have reached the capital, so the court must have been in chaos by now.

Just as Xia Lin expected, at this moment Ma Zhou was making a speech in the hall, responding to the ministers' concerns about the situation in the north, but the ministers did not seem to buy his account.

Emperor Hongbao frowned in the main hall. The weather had been getting colder these days, and his old coughing problem had recurred. Moreover, this year it was obviously much more severe than in previous years. At night, blood could always be seen in his sputum, so he did not look very good.

"My dear ministers, rumors in the streets cannot be taken seriously. If you criticize this matter too harshly, it will inevitably make people laugh at you." Emperor Hongbao waved his hand and said, "Let's wait and see."

Sure enough, Emperor Hongbao really suppressed the matter. Ma Zhou, his subordinate, was secretly shocked because he had received a letter from Xia Lin a few days ago. The letter clearly told him the main points of the debate in the court in recent days. What he had to do was to stabilize the situation in the court and not panic. What was even more strange was that Xia Lin had predicted in a letter a few days ago that His Majesty would quell this impeachment.

I never thought that this would actually lead to impeachment...

After the court session, Gao Shilian and Ma Zhou stood side by side and headed towards the Shangshu Garden. On the way, Gao Shilian asked, "Prince Bin, why did you try so hard to suppress the ministers in the court? Do you speak for the Li family?"

"Sir, there must be something fishy going on here. If the court is in chaos first, it will surely cause panic if the news gets out. This panic will make it difficult to collect taxes before the end of the year. If people in the north start to flee to the south, then all our strategies will be in vain. We must not allow the court to be in chaos before the market."

"Yes." Gao Shilian nodded deeply: "You are really thoughtful. You are really my right-hand man."

"Your Excellency is overpraising me..."

"But there is no smoke without fire. It seems that the Li family might be thinking... Hehe, not long after Pharmacist Li left, they are ready to make a move."

"Aren't Prime Minister Gao and the Li family...in-laws?"

"Humph." Gao Shilian swung his sleeves and said, "Yes, they are relatives, but that is with his second son. If they suppress his second son now, aren't they suppressing my relatives?"

"I see... Don't panic, my lord. I'm afraid His Majesty has already made plans."

Gao Shilian glanced around, then turned sideways and said, "Your Majesty's health is getting worse day by day, so we need to make plans early."

Ma Zhou naturally didn't dare to say much. He lowered his head and responded softly, which meant he understood.

On the other side in Fuliang, a group of people also came today. They were none other than Li Yuanji, who had just been transferred back to Chang'an by Li Jiancheng not long ago.

Li Jiancheng naturally received a letter from Li Shimin, in which he wrote that Fuliang was rich in resources, and that the iron armor and weapons were better and cheaper than those they forged themselves, and he hoped that his brother could send someone to take a look.

So, wasn't this Li Yuanji's chance to redeem himself for meritorious service here? He volunteered to bravely travel thousands of miles just to see the swords, axes and armor here.

Li Yuanji was not stupid. He did not inform anyone that he was coming here. Instead, he traveled secretly in plain clothes. The name of Li Xian, a merchant from Chang'an, was on his pass. Even his brothers and sisters did not know that he had arrived in Fuliang.

After settling on it, I first looked around and found that the things here are indeed cheap and good, and even cheaper than those in Changan. Including the shipping cost, they are actually about the same, but the problem is that the materials here are better!
There is a lot of content involved here. If I follow the current standards, I won't get any profit at all. But if I follow Changan's standards, I can save 20% on materials alone, a full 20%!
What does 20% mean? That's 400,000 or 500,000 taels!
The four or five hundred thousand taels of money in front of us would take several large boxes to fill up, and would require six four-horse carriages to pull it!

After conducting market research, Li Yuanji was overjoyed and even began to thank Li Shimin.

So on the second day, he personally went to Xia Lin. Because such a big order could not be taken by a small blacksmith shop, and it would have to be the government-owned workshop that could take it.

Of course Xia Lin received him normally, after all, it was business coming to his door. However, when he heard that Li Yuanji wanted to make so many contraband items, his brows suddenly relaxed.

"May I ask who you are?" Xia Lin turned his head and looked Li Yuanji up and down: "Are you the third son of the Tang King?"

Upon hearing this, Li Yuanji was stunned for a moment, then he clapped his hands and laughed: "Amazing, amazing, you are worthy of being the best in the world, Lord Xia. I am so disguised but you can still be seen at a glance."

"You're too kind. There's no one in the Northwest who can buy so many things at once. And if it wasn't for the purchase from Prince Tang's palace, I wouldn't dare sell it."

"Yes, yes, that's right." Li Yuanji clapped his hands and said with a smile, "Then I'll be frank. This time the purchase volume is huge, including weapons and armor. I just want to ask Sir Xia, how much discount can I get?"

Xia Lin stood up and said to Du Feng, the chief clerk beside him, "Go, get some samples from the workshop for the Third Prince to examine carefully."

After saying that, he sat down again and said with a smile: "Third Prince, this depends on what kind of goods you want. If it is high-quality, then I'm afraid the discount will not be much, because the cost is very high. But if it is medium-quality..."

Xia Lin reached out his hand and reached into Li Yuanji's sleeve and gestured: "I can still give you this amount."

Li Yuanji's eyes suddenly lit up: "Master Xia, please don't lie to me."

"Hey, Prince, I'm open for business."

"Hahahaha, fine, fine. Then I'll wait here and see what Master Xia has to offer."

Xia Linyi stood up quickly and said, "Don't sit here. As a distinguished guest, we should go to the main store to have a drink. Please."

"Yes! Please!" Li Yuanji was very happy: "By the way, the shipping cost here seems to be cheaper than other places, Lord Xia?"

"Yes, it is cheaper. But that is a matter for later. Let me welcome the prince first."

At this time, Xia Lin's mind became clear and he understood what kind of trap Li Shimin was setting for Li Yuanji. He really had to rely on others to kill his brother without any help from others!
(End of this chapter)