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

"Crown Prince."

Li Shimin's sudden voice caused both sides arguing in the hall to stop.

"Gao Ming, you've been watching the show all day."

These bastards smashed up the Cui family's restaurant. How do you think this case should be judged?

The smile on Li Chengqian's face froze instantly.

He forced himself to speak:

"Father, I am ignorant of the law."

Li Chengqian bowed respectfully.

"The Dali Temple and Chang'an Prefecture are both involved in this fight, brawl, and property damage."

According to the laws of the Tang Dynasty, those who should pay compensation should pay, and those who should be punished should be punished. How dare I interrupt?

Li Shimin gave a light snort:

"They've cleared their names quite easily. These people standing below are all the eldest sons of my old brothers who have risked their lives for me. The Minister of the Court of Judicial Review doesn't even dare to go to their residences to deliver summons, so how can he investigate?"

"You are the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty. If you cannot come up with a solution to this matter today, you will stand here in the Taiji Hall until tomorrow morning."

Upon hearing this, the expressions of the civil and military officials varied.

Li Chengqian had cursed Li Shimin no less than a thousand times in his heart.

He originally just wanted to stay behind the scenes and watch the show, but this old man dragged him into it.

If you don't want to make yourself comfortable, then nobody should be comfortable.

Li Chengqian walked directly in front of Cui Minyuan and said:

"Lord Cui. Since the Emperor has instructed me to take charge, I will say a few words of fairness."

Choi Min-won returned the greeting with a cupped hand:

"Your Highness, please speak. This old minister is all ears."

"It was indeed wrong of Cheng Chumo and his group to force their way into the West Market and smash up the Drunken Immortal Pavilion."

This is not only uncivilized, but also violates the laws of the Tang Dynasty.

Hearing this, Choi Min-won breathed a sigh of relief.

The officials from the powerful families nodded in agreement, feeling that the crown prince was at least reasonable.

Cheng Yaojingang tried to speak, but Fang Xuanling grabbed his belt.

Fang Xuanling shook his head at him, signaling him to keep quiet.

Fang Xuanling simply did not believe that the Crown Prince would be so kind as to help the Cui family, with whom he had a grudge.

Sure enough, Li Chengqian then changed the subject:

"However, I have a few questions that I would like to ask Lord Cui to answer."

There are at least several hundred restaurants in Chang'an. Why did Cheng Chumo and his men choose to smash up your Cui family's Zuixianlou restaurant in Qinghe, instead of other establishments?

Choi Min-won paused for a moment:

"This... how would this old minister know? They probably have their eyes on the reputation of Zuixianlou..."

"Fame?"

Li Chengqian interrupted him.

"I think there's something fishy about your reputation."

How dare they sell a single jar of wine for fifty strings of cash?

While I was fighting a bloody battle on the front lines in Liaodong, the soldiers of the Great Tang were risking their lives to fill the gaps, yet they couldn't even save ten strings of cash in a year.

You're charging fifty strings of cash for a jar of watered-down wine? Are you selling wine, or human flesh and blood?

"Is the hard work of the people of the Tang Dynasty enough to buy even a sip of horse piss at your Drunken Immortal Pavilion?"

"Your Highness! That wine is a vintage aged for many years..."

Choi Min-won anxiously began to defend himself.

Whether a wine is aged or not is not something you can decide with just a few words.

Li Chengqian gave him no chance to explain himself.

"Let me ask you this: since the wine is so expensive, how much commercial tax does Zuixianlou pay to the Ministry of Revenue each month?"

Before he could answer, Li Chengqian turned to look at Tang Jian, the Minister of Revenue.

"Lord Tang, how much tax does the Drunken Immortal Pavilion pay in a year?"

Tang Jian was a shrewd man, and he immediately understood the Crown Prince's intention.

He pulled out the account book from his sleeve and began to rummage through it:

"Your Highness, Zuixianlou has declared itself a medium-sized tavern, and according to the law, it pays a commercial tax of thirty strings of cash per month, which is three hundred and sixty strings of cash per year."

"Did you hear that?"

Li Chengqian turned to look at Cui Minyuan.

"One jar of wine costs fifty strings of cash, and the taxes you pay in a year are only enough to buy seven jars of wine for your own family. This is tax evasion."

Moreover, I even suspect that Zuixianlou might be using the guise of a restaurant to secretly hoard illicit funds, or even collude with foreign enemies to smuggle Tang Dynasty supplies.

The hall erupted in chaos instantly.

This is no longer just splashing dirty water; it's directly dumping the blame on the Cui family of Qinghe.

Choi Min-won knelt down with a thud.

"His Majesty!

Your Highness is settling a personal score while on official business.

In order to protect the son of the Duke who committed the crime, he actually made baseless accusations in the court, slandering my Cui family of Qinghe.

This old minister begs Your Majesty to investigate thoroughly and clear the Cui family's name!

Officials from the Cui clan of Qinghe knelt down and seconded the motion.

"The Crown Prince is biased and unfair!"

"The laws of the Tang Dynasty are strict; how could they allow the Crown Prince to fabricate such a crime out of thin air?"

The powerful families' camp was now in complete disarray.

The military officers immediately perked up upon seeing this.

Cheng Yaojin was the first to jump out.

"Nonsense! His Highness the Crown Prince is absolutely right."

Your Cui family is just putting on a show.

My son was acting on behalf of Heaven, helping the court to investigate and punish you tax-evading, unscrupulous merchants.

Not only are you ungrateful, but you also dare to complain here?

Fang Xuanling also stepped forward to add insult to injury:

"Lord Cui, please calm down. What His Highness said is not without basis."

The Tang Dynasty prioritized agriculture and suppressed commerce.

Since the prices at Zuixianlou are so outrageous, it's natural that people would be suspicious.

True gold fears no fire. Since you feel wronged, why not check the accounts and the truth will come out?

How could Cui Minyuan dare to let Li Chengqian audit the accounts?

Immediately, the officials from the powerful families started hurling insults at each other again.

Li Shimin felt much better watching this scene from above.

After passing this hot potato to Li Chengqian, Li Shimin realized how enjoyable it was to watch a show.

"Alright."

Li Shimin slammed his hand on the imperial desk, and the hall fell silent instantly.

"What the Crown Prince just said is not without reason."

Since this incident at Zuixianlou involves prices and taxes, it cannot be treated as an ordinary brawl.

Cui Mingan raised his head and looked at Li Shimin with a look of astonishment.

"Issue my decree."

This case is entrusted to Crown Prince Li Chengqian for full jurisdiction. The Dali Temple and the Jingzhao Prefecture must fully cooperate and there must be no mistakes.

Li Chengqian was about to decline, but Li Shimin had no intention of giving him the chance.

"Not only that."

Li Shimin pointed to Cheng Yaojin and Cui Minyuan.

"In order to demonstrate the fairness of the imperial court, Duke Lu, Cheng Zhijie, and Cui Minyuan of the Qinghe Cui clan."

You two will serve as his deputies, accompanying the Crown Prince on his investigation.

The entire court was dumbfounded.

Has His Majesty gone mad?

The crown prince was someone who always wanted to stir up trouble.

Investigating a case? He'd be lucky if he didn't turn Chang'an upside down.

Even more dangerous were his two deputies.

One was the perpetrator's biological father, the biggest rogue and scoundrel in Chang'an.

The other was the owner of the shop that was vandalized, a rigid and stubborn old man from a prestigious family.

Are these three people teaming up to investigate a case?

Are you sure they won't start fighting in the main hall of the Dali Temple?

"What? Didn't you hear what I said?"

Li Shimin looked at the stunned crowd and asked.

"This old minister obeys the decree."

Cui Minyuan had no choice but to accept the imperial decree, even if he didn't want to.

Cheng Yaojin bowed with a pleased expression and said:

"Your Majesty, I obey your decree. I will certainly cooperate with you to thoroughly investigate those unscrupulous merchants."

Li Chengqian rolled his eyes.

He finally understood that Li Shimin was using him as a pawn, and taking this opportunity to warn the powerful families.

"Your subject obeys the decree."

Wang De flicked his whisk: "Court adjourned!"