Tang Dynasty: Taking the Empress Dowager to a brothel, Father Emperor, what a coincidence!

"what!"

A scream suddenly rang out from the crowd.

The deputy general, who had been enjoying his meal the most, clutched his stomach with both hands and collapsed to the ground, writhing in pain.

"It hurts so much! My stomach feels like it's going to explode."

The lieutenant's belly began to swell at a visible rate, as if a ball had been stuffed inside.

Immediately afterwards, screams rose and fell.

"My stomach. Help!"

"Water. I want to drink water."

Dozens of the surrendered soldiers who had been robbing the most fiercely earlier fell to the ground, clutching their stomachs and rolling around in agony.

Their bellies were all bulging high, with veins standing out, making them look extremely frightening.

Some of the surrendered soldiers couldn't stand it and ran to the nearby ditch to drink water.

As a result, my stomach swelled up even more after I drank the water.

"Bang!"

A muffled thud.

One of the surrendered soldiers, after drinking water, had his stomach ruptured.

Fresh blood mixed with undigested paste sprayed directly onto the face of the person next to him.

This scene terrified everyone.

The remaining surrendered soldiers were so frightened that they retreated repeatedly, their faces filled with terror as they looked at the corpses on the ground and their comrades rolling around on the ground.

"Poison! They poisoned the food."

Someone shouted.

The surrendered soldiers picked up the weapons they had just thrown away, their eyes bloodshot as they stared at the Tang soldiers around them.

Cheng Yaojin roared:

"All troops are on high alert. Anyone who dares to use weapons will be killed without mercy."

The surrounding Tang soldiers immediately drew their swords and surrounded the surrendered soldiers.

Wei Zheng was completely stunned.

He pointed to the dead surrendered soldiers on the ground and asked:

"Your Highness! What...what's going on? Did you poison the food?"

Li Chengqian innocently spread his hands and said:

"Lord Wei, you can eat whatever you want, but you can't say whatever you want. This fried noodle soup is what our soldiers left over just now, how could it be poisonous?"

"Then why would they do that?"

Li Chengqian sighed, walked to the large iron wok, grabbed a handful of dry-fried noodles, and said:

"Lord Wei, this fried noodle is made with cooked flour and minced dried meat. It will expand several times its original size when it comes into contact with water."

Li Chengqian threw the fried noodles he was holding back into the pot.

"These starving ghosts just grabbed the dried powder and stuffed it into their mouths, then drank water afterward. The dried powder swelled up instantly in their stomachs after being soaked in water."

Li Chengqian pointed to the surrendered soldier whose stomach had ruptured.

"A person's stomach is only so big; if you suddenly stuff it with several times the amount of food, it's no wonder you'll burst."

Wei Zheng was stunned.

He never imagined that his good intentions would lead to such a tragedy.

Dozens of lives were lost right before his eyes.

Li Chengqian looked at the surrendered soldiers, who were armed and filled with hatred, and said coldly:

"Lord Wei, you just said that if we showed them favor, they would be grateful to the Tang Dynasty. What about now?"

He pointed to the surrendered soldiers,

"They felt that the Tang Dynasty had poisoned our food and wished they could devour our flesh and blood."

Your kindness has earned you their swords.

Wei Zheng was speechless.

Li Chengqian ignored Wei Zheng and turned around to shout:

Cheng Zhijie.

"Your subordinate is here."

Cheng Yaojin walked up carrying his axe.

"The surrendered soldiers gathered a crowd and mutinied, intending to rebel. I beheaded all the ringleaders. The rest were put in shackles and sent to repair the road."

"Understood."

Cheng Yaojin excitedly licked his lips, turned around and charged towards the surrendered soldiers.

Screams echoed once again within Xuantu City.

Wei Zheng closed his eyes, unable to bear watching any longer.

Looking at Wei Zheng's distraught appearance, Li Chengqian chuckled:

"Lord Wei, the snow in Liaodong is much colder than in Chang'an."

......

Chang'an City, the Duke of Qi's Mansion.

Changsun Wuji looked at the Liaodong battle report copied from the Ministry of War, his face turning ashen.

"Cotton? What kind of weird stuff is this?"

Cui Mingan growled.

"We put so much effort into making winter clothes so as not to burden the children of other families."

With the army of 100,000 on the verge of collapse and forced to retreat, where did Li Chengqian conjure up this thing from?

Changsun Wuji crumpled the battle report into a ball and threw it on the ground.

"How would I know? This kid is like he's possessed, constantly coming up with new tricks. Even Li Jing has been completely subdued by him. It's unbelievable."

The two had planned it perfectly.

Without winter clothing, an army of 100,000 would collapse without a fight in less than half a month in the icy and snowy Liao River.

When the Crown Prince returns defeated, they will then seize the opportunity to launch an attack in the court.

But now that the cotton-padded clothes have been put on the field, the Tang army not only did not freeze to death, but instead charged across the Liao River with great vigor and even captured the enemy general alive.

"Duke of Qi, we can't just let this go."

If winter clothes can't stop him, then let's continue to stop him from getting supplies. Our family has grain stores in Hebei Province, and in the prefectures and counties along the Hedong Province.

I'll send a message right away, instructing all grain merchants to join forces and raise grain prices. I want to see how that pig Tang Jian manages to collect grain and deliver it to the front lines.

If the Ministry of Revenue runs out of grain to send, then it will have nothing to do with me, the grain supervisor.

Changsun Wuji's eyes lit up upon hearing this.

"That's right! As long as grain prices skyrocket in the prefectures and counties along the way, and the Ministry of Revenue can't buy grain, the army's supply lines will be cut off."

Cui Minqian sneered:

"I'll see how Li Chengqian feeds those 100,000 mouths then. If the front lines run out of food, there will definitely be a mutiny, and even if he has great abilities, he will have to withdraw his troops."

Just as the two were congratulating themselves on their plan, a sound suddenly came from outside the window.

Changsun Wuji got up, opened the window, and saw his youngest son, Changsun Huan, squatting against the wall.

"What are you doing?"

Changsun Wuji roared in anger.

Her eldest son was kidnapped and taken to Liaodong, while her younger son was a good-for-nothing who only played in the mud every day.

This made Changsun Wuji feel hopeless about life whenever he thought about it.

"Dad, I'm catching crickets."

Changsun Huan stood up with a wronged look on his face and looked at Changsun Wuji.

Cui Min shouted from inside the house as he did this:

"Nephew, come in. It's a good opportunity to hear your father and I's grand plan."

Stop spending all your time playing.

Changsun Huan leaned on the windowsill and blinked.

"Uncle Cui, are you going to raise grain prices? But Dad, our rice shop just lowered prices yesterday."

Changsun Wuji was taken aback:

"Price reduction? Who reduced the price?"

"That's what the rice shop owner said."

Changsun Huan scratched his head.

"He said that before His Highness the Crown Prince left, he left some kind of promotional plan, something like buy two get one free, or a big discount for customers who spend more."

"Now the people of Chang'an are lining up to buy our rice. The shopkeeper says it's all about small profits and quick turnover, and he's going to drive the other rice shops out of business..."

Upon hearing this, Cui Mingan stared at Changsun Wuji with bloodshot eyes.

"Changsun Wuji! You bastard, you've tricked me again!"

"No...no, Brother Cui, please let me explain."

Changsun Wuji panicked and immediately pointed at Changsun Huan, cursing him loudly.

"You unfilial son! Who told you to listen to the Crown Prince?"

"The shopkeeper said the method the Crown Prince gave us can make money. Yesterday alone, we earned the money we used to make in a month."

Changsun Huan said confidently.

Changsun Wuji felt a surge of blood and qi in his chest, and almost spat out a mouthful of blood.

Cui Min, furious, pointed at Changsun Wuji's nose and continued to berate him:

"You, Changsun Wuji! On the surface, you're allied with me against the Crown Prince, but behind my back you're using the Crown Prince's methods to steal my Cui family's business?"

You old scoundrel, I'm not finished with you!

Having said that, Cui Mingan turned and left.

He completely ignored Changsun Wuji's shouts.

Changsun Wuji clutched his chest and slumped into a chair, looking out the window at the innocent-looking Changsun Huan, feeling like crying but unable to shed a tear.

He never expected that Li Chengqian, who had already left Chang'an, would still be able to arrange such a huge mess for him.