A thousand-year-old family begins with one fighting against ten thousand.

"What's there to be afraid of? The burning of the Changping granary has been completely cleaned up."

"To prevent that investigator from Luoyang from investigating, all the major families burned down the Changping granaries at the same time. Now, there are more than one Changping granary that has been burned down."

"The major families have reached a conclusion: there is a cult targeting the empire, backed by foreign powers, that deliberately burned down granaries in various places."

"This matter involves a great deal of importance. Even His Majesty can't do anything about it. Would he dare to turn against the powerful families of the land?"

A burst of laughter rang out, easing the oppressive atmosphere in the dark room.

Yes, even if it's Li Longji, what can he do?

If it were Li Longji in his youth, they would still have some reservations.

But Li Longji today, haha, has long lost the boldness he had in his youth.

It involves families from all over the country, including the most prestigious ones, with members of those families participating.

If Li Longji wanted to conduct a thorough investigation, he would have to confront nearly half of the powerful families in the country. His Majesty knew what was important.

Luoyang City.

Li Longji's face was as black as the bottom of a pot.

Since he ordered a thorough investigation of the Ever-Normal Granaries across the country, a cult has suddenly emerged in various places, and the Ever-Normal Granaries in various prefectures and counties have been burned down one after another.

Moreover, the Changping Warehouse, which was extremely well protected and had very thorough fire prevention measures, was burned to the ground.

Isn't this an insult to him as emperor?!

Do you really think he's a fool?!

However, looking at the names of these places—Qinghe, Fanyang, Taiyuan, Hongnong, Xingyang, Yingchuan, Chenliu, Langya, Shanyang, Dongjun, Jiyin…

Who is behind this? Do we even need to guess?

The Cui clan of Qinghe, the Lu clan of Fanyang, the Wang clan of Taiyuan, the Yang clan of Hongnong, the Zheng clan of Xingyang, the Chen clan of Yingchuan, the Wang clan of Langya, the Cao clan of Shanyang, the Ruan clan of Chenliu...

What other possibilities are there besides these families?!

Do we really have to fall out with so many families?

Li Longji hesitated. Once the situation turned sour, it wouldn't be easy to end things.

Both sides are bound to have a winner and a loser.

Ultimately, someone will have to pay the price for this.

Even if Li Longji was confident that he could win, after all, only a portion of these aristocratic families were involved in this matter.

Given his control over the entire Tang Empire, he might not be unable to accomplish this.

But even if he could do it, he would suffer heavy losses.

does it worth?

The powerful families have already provided an excuse: cults and reactionary foreign forces. As long as he goes along with it, the matter can be resolved.

The aristocratic family will definitely give him sufficient compensation afterward, at the cost of him losing a little face.

Which is more important?

In Li Longji's heart, the scales had begun to tip to one side.

"Knock knock knock knock!"

There was a rapid knocking at the door.

Li Longji snapped impatiently, "Didn't I say I was thinking about something and not to be disturbed?"

"Drag him away and beat him to death!"

"Your Majesty, the Crown Prince of Yan requests an audience."

The sound of Gao Lishi coming from outside the door immediately calmed Li Longji's anger.

The Wei lineage?!

What is he doing here?!

"Please come quickly!"

Li Longji was puzzled, but he still personally came to the palace gate to welcome Wei Mai.

"Wei Mai greets Your Majesty."

Wei Mai bowed slightly, his manners so perfect they seemed to have been meticulously written from a book, so impeccable that even Li Longji could not find fault with them.

"Changyuan, don't be so polite, come in."

Li Longji put his arm around Wei Mai's shoulder and led him in warmly.

"Changyuan, it has been a long time since you last visited me."

Li Longji said with a smile.

Wei Mai smiled slightly, "Your Majesty is currently very busy with state affairs, and I have also begun to take over family matters, which has made things much busier. Neither of us has much time."

"Yes, sometimes when I think about it, time really flies."

"Emperors also have their troubles. I actually think that before I raised an army, I was just an ordinary royal prince, carefree and free, which was much happier than being an emperor."

Li Longji sighed.

Wei Mai's lips twitched slightly; he was stunned by Versailles.

"Your Majesty is right, I feel the same way."

"When I was young, I was immersed in books, carefree and single-minded in pursuing the heights of knowledge. I was completely focused and extremely happy."

"The time when I was made heir apparent and began to take over family affairs, and was able to read books freely for a whole day, was gone forever."

It's just Versailles, right? Anyone can do that.

Standing to the side, Gao Lishi felt that he shouldn't have been there at all. "You two should have some decency!" Hearing this, even Gao Lishi, who wielded immense power, wanted to cry.

You two are the emperors of the world today, and the kind of emperors who hold real power.

The other is the eldest son of the Wei family patriarch, who is from the most transcendent and top-tier family in the world, and whose power surpasses that of the imperial dynasty. He is also the heir of the Prince of Yan.

One by one, they all felt that their current positions were a burden, that they wielded too much power, and that they had too many things to do.

He was really crying his eyes out.

Li Longji's lips twitched slightly, as if he had met a worthy opponent or a capable general.

"Changyuan, what brings you to the palace?"

Li Longji asked the question.

Wei Mai glanced at Gao Lishi, then looked at Li Longji.

Li Longji glanced at Gao Lishi, who, with great tact, withdrew and closed the door, personally guarding the entrance to prevent anyone from entering.

"Speak, now it's just the two of us in the room."

Li Longji spoke, his expression becoming solemn. Something that made Wei Mai take it so seriously must be extraordinary.

"His Majesty is already aware of the matter concerning the Ever-Normal Granary, isn't he?"

Wei Mai cut straight to the point and asked.

Li Longji nodded. "I already know. A total of fifty-seven granaries were burned. Ha, what kind of cult could have such a large scale of operation?"

"These fifty-seven granaries are scattered all over the country. If those cults had that kind of power, why would they bother attacking granaries?"

"Wouldn't it be better to directly seize the Changping Granary, use the funds to recruit soldiers, and overthrow the Tang Dynasty?!"

Li Longji had a cold smile on his lips and a sinister look in his eyes.

"Does Your Majesty know the whereabouts of those provisions?"

Wei Mai spoke again.

"We don't know yet, we haven't found anything. Could it be that the Wei family already has information?"

Li Longji asked.

They became even more wary of the Wei family's power.

"His Majesty's attention was focused on the granaries in various regions, while the Wei family's investigation focused on the flow of grain in recent years."

"In addition, there have been some frequent military incidents on the border in recent years, so the other side shouldn't have such a large supply of food."

"Following this line of investigation, we discovered that some grain shipments that went directly to sea were not quite the same as those that went abroad from the west."

Wei Mai explained.

"!!!"

Reminded by Wei Mai, Li Longji also remembered that border wars had indeed been quite frequent in recent years.

"What are these powerful families planning to do? Are they going to use foreign forces to overthrow the Tang Dynasty?"

Li Longji said angrily.