If you're made a fake emperor, why did you change the country's name?

Li House.

As soon as Li Qiang stepped into the gate of the Li residence, the steward, with a pale face, hurriedly came to greet him.

"Master, the clan elders and several gentlemen are waiting for you in the inner hall."

Li Qiang's heart skipped a beat. He straightened his official robes and strode through the corridor.

Inside the main hall, the core members of the Li family had already gathered.

Elder Li Chengzhi, his back hunched, saw Li Qiang and immediately stepped forward to ask, "What happened in the court?"

"Is the young emperor going to forcibly revoke the right to recruit soldiers?"

Li Qiang recalled the embarrassment of being cornered by Zhao Yu in court with just a few words, and his face flushed, his lips twitching involuntarily.

He shook his head.

"It's not about the right to recruit soldiers...it's something much more complicated."

He swallowed hard and recounted Zhao Yu's plan to establish the Royal Daily News Pavilion in its entirety.

"...From now on, the daily decrees of the court and the emperor's orders will be published directly by the Daily News Pavilion and reported throughout the city."

The moment the words left his mouth, the inner room felt as if a pebble had been thrown into a pot of boiling oil.

"What?"

"This won't do! It's cutting off their livelihood! How are we supposed to continue misinterpreting government orders and squeezing money out of those poor people?"

"That's right! Before, when we seized the land of those lowly people, we could easily claim it was the emperor's decree to requisition the land. Now that this newspaper has published it, it's all clearly written in black and white. How can we possibly take action now?"

"It's not just farmland; salt, iron, trade routes—we made a fortune in every one of them by blocking information!"

The crowd chattered amongst themselves, their voices filled with barely suppressed panic.

Li Chengzhi frowned, coughed, and stopped his incoherent speech.

He looked up and stared at Li Qiang.

"You agreed?"

Li Qiang, with a bitter expression, repeated the conversation in the court once more.

"...That young emperor has shut us down. If I don't agree, it would be tantamount to admitting in front of the entire court that my Li family has problems and that we deliberately spread rumors. At that time, the fate of the Dong family will serve as a warning to us."

The inner room fell silent again, with only heavy breathing remaining.

Everyone looked at Li Chengzhi, waiting for him to make a decision.

After a long while, Li Chengzhi stroked his gray beard and let out a cold snort.

"Forget it. What's wrong with giving that little emperor a break? We still have military power in our hands, that's the key."

Clearly, he hadn't come up with any good ideas.

He could only scoff and say, "Besides, his so-called Daily News Pavilion might not really be able to turn the world upside down."

[At this point, I hope readers will remember our domain name: 10 ...

One of the clansmen asked, puzzled, "Elder, what does this mean?"

Li Chengzhi sneered.

"I refuse to believe that his so-called Daily News Pavilion can be more powerful than the hundreds of 'tongues' that our Li family has been raising for decades!"

"We've been operating in various places for years! Our influence is deep-rooted! When he issues a decree, it takes time for it to reach the people's ears, right? Our people will spread the messages we want the people to hear before he does. With truth and falsehood mixed together, it's hard to say who the people will believe in the end!"

These words eased the tension in the room somewhat, and the panic on their faces gradually subsided.

Li Qiang also went down the steps and quickly chimed in.

"The elder is right. Moreover, this court session wasn't all bad news."

He immediately drew everyone's attention.

Li Qiang cleared his throat.

"The Wolf Kingdom signed a treaty in court today, and the reparations have arrived. I'll take this opportunity to demand military pay from the young emperor..."

"Are we almost there?" someone interrupted eagerly.

Li Qiang shook his head.

"The military pay was not received."

"But I've secured something even better—the young emperor will hold a royal auction in ten days to publicly auction off a batch of standard armor and weapons that have been phased out of the national treasury!"

"Standard armor!"

"really?"

The inner room stirred again, but this time, everyone's face was filled with excitement.

Li Qiang raised his voice.

"Absolutely true! As long as we can get our hands on this batch of armor, the soldiers we recruit will be transformed into elite troops with new weapons! At that point, not only will we be able to challenge that young emperor, but we can also easily seize more territory from the other major families!"

Li Chengzhi suddenly stood up from the armchair.

"Great! This is great news!"

He clapped his hands and laughed, the sound echoing throughout the hall.

"That young emperor is incredibly stupid! He just granted us the right to recruit soldiers, and the next day he's sending us weapons and armor. Is he afraid our Li family isn't strong enough?"

"Hahaha, I think he's gone mad with victory, really believing he's the chosen one!"

"What does a mere boy know about governing a country!"

The gloom that had been hanging over the inner room was gone.

"but……"

Amid the laughter, Li Qiang calmly added a sentence.

"The young emperor said it would be an auction, so the price probably won't be cheap. Besides, the other major families have also heard the news and will definitely compete with us for it."

He paused, looking troubled.

"Our family has been spending money like water lately on recruiting and training soldiers, as well as cooperating with the imperial court to build that cement road. The money in our account is already a bit tight."

This is why he immediately asked the emperor for military pay.

Li Chengzhi waved his hand, interrupting him directly.

Money is not a problem!

"This batch of armor is something our Li family is determined to get! Pass on my message: sell off all those unprofitable shops and farmlands outside, and bring back all the silver! Even if we have to sell everything we own, we must secure the largest share!"

"Once we arm these tens of thousands of new recruits and assimilate their strength, what can't we have in the future?"

Just then, the butler rushed in again, looking strange.

"Elder, Master, people from the Lu and Zhang families have arrived outside. They say they have important matters to discuss."

Li Chengzhi and Li Qiang exchanged a glance and instantly understood each other's intentions.

It seems that the Li family isn't the only one feeling uneasy.

Li Chengzhi sat back down in his chair, a calculating smile playing on his lips.

"Please let them in."

"It seems that this time, we'll have to really 'join forces'."

Soon, several richly dressed middle-aged men filed in; they were the heads of the other major families.

Lu Mingyuan, the head of the Lu family, spoke hastily before he had even settled into his seat.

"Elder Li, you must all be aware of what happened in court today. That young emperor's Daily News Pavilion is clearly trying to uproot us!"

Zhang Wenbo, an elder of the Zhang family standing to the side, also had a somber face and a muffled voice.

"And that auction, I don't think it's a good thing either. We're all recruiting soldiers right now, and we're short of money. For him to auction off military equipment at this time is clearly an attempt to drain our coffers! We must resist this!"

Li Chengzhi slowly picked up his teacup, blew away the foam, and gestured for everyone to sit down.

"Please be patient, everyone."

He put down his teacup and slowly began to speak.

"The matter with the Daily News Pavilion is nothing more than child's play; the Li family has its own ways of dealing with it, so there's nothing to worry about. As for the auction..."

His cloudy eyes darted around, a glint of light flashing within them.

"I think this is an opportunity. Why don't we join forces and privately agree on a price ceiling, and then no one is allowed to exceed that price?"

Let's all keep things peaceful and make money, so that the young emperor doesn't reap the benefits. After we get the armor, we can distribute it proportionally according to each family's strength, how about that?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Lu Mingyuan let out a cold laugh.

"Elder Li is truly cunning!"

"But we shouldn't exceed the limit. I'm afraid you're already secretly raising money, aren't you?"

After being exposed, Li Chengzhi wasn't angry. Instead, he laughed and said, "Didn't you all keep talking about boycotting?"

The group exchanged glances, their eyes sparkling with a hint of competition. After all, they were going to divide up the territory, so why not ask for a little more?