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

Cheng Chumo and the others slowly withdrew, thoughtfully closing the door behind them.

The entire second floor fell silent instantly, with only the shouts of the spoiled rich kids downstairs calling for the food to be served.

Zheng Qiuying's aggrieved expression vanished instantly.

She stared intently at Li Chengqian and said:

"Your Highness truly deserves to be called a mighty ruler who dared to annihilate two kingdoms in Liaodong."

He's really adept at using the excuse of unleashing dogs to bite people.

First, they allowed Cheng Chumo and his gang of troublemakers to wreak havoc in the West Market, forcing the aristocratic families to come forward and make enemies.

Then, taking advantage of the situation, they squeezed out hundreds of thousands of strings of old taxes from those few dozen strings of inferior liquor.

All you've done is to establish your authority within the Ministry of Revenue and to make your stance clear before His Majesty.

Li Chengqian looked at the woman opposite him who was talking to herself with a half-smile.

Zheng Qiuying paused for a moment before continuing:

"If it were a few days ago, the Zheng family of Xingyang might have joined forces with the Cui family of Qinghe to launch an attack on the Eastern Palace."

However, yesterday, for the sake of 850,000 guan to buy his life, Choi Min-won was willing to throw away even his brother-in-law and dozens of his managers without hesitation.

This made everything clear to all of us. The "Alliance of Noble Families" sounds impressive, but it's really just a bunch of worthless wretches willing to stab each other in the back for a few copper coins.

She picked up the teapot on the table and poured Li Chengqian a cup of tea.

"The Cui family went to provoke His Highness; they were blind to their own fault."

"The Zheng family of Xingyang has upheld its reputation for centuries; it's not worth sacrificing ourselves for a bunch of teammates who are even worse than donkeys."

Li Chengqian picked up his teacup and slowly asked:

"so what?"

"That's why I invited Your Highness to this banquet today, not to settle a score."

Zheng Qiuying leaned forward slightly, looking at Li Chengqian with a charming expression.

"I am willing to stand on the side of the Crown Prince on behalf of the Zheng family of Xingyang."

Whose accounts does Your Highness wish to investigate next? The vast number of shops under the Zheng family's name can take the lead in cooperating and set an example.

Even the silk route that Cui Jiagang had just mortgaged to me, which ran from Luoyang to Chang'an, could be secretly injected into the Eastern Palace's treasury in batches, along with millions of strings of cash.

Even more remarkably, the Zheng family has a complete list of how many protégés and spies the Cui, Wang, and Lu families had planted in the Six Ministries of the Imperial Court, a list that even the Ministry of Personnel was keeping secret.

If His Highness agrees, the roster will be presented within three days.

"As long as Your Highness agrees to let me reside in the Eastern Palace."

A series of interests that were enough to shake the Tang Dynasty's officialdom were thus brought to light by Zheng Qiuying.

If it were an ordinary member of the nobility, after hearing these conditions, he would probably immediately slam his fist on the table and shout for an alliance.

Unfortunately, today he encountered Li Chengqian, who had been reborn.

After hearing Zheng Qiuying's conditions, Li Chengqian burst into laughter.

"What are you laughing at?"

Zheng Qiuying asked with a slightly somber expression.

"Miss Zheng's scheme to get something for nothing is indeed quite clever. However, I only want to understand one thing today..."

Li Chengqian lifted Zheng Qiuying's chin with one finger.

"When you keep saying 'the Zheng family of Xingyang is willing,' do you mean the ironclad orders from those white-bearded old men in your Zheng family ancestral hall, or do you only represent yourself?"

Zheng Qiuying clenched her fist instantly.

"What do you mean by that, Your Highness?"

She pretended not to understand.

"As the eldest daughter of the Zheng family's main branch, I am naturally qualified to make decisions concerning the life and death of this centuries-old clan..."

"That's enough."

Li Chengqian was too lazy to listen to the second half of the sentence.

"Do we need to put on an act here? I know better than you, a junior, what kind of stubborn and unyielding people those old fogies from century-old families are, half-buried in the ground."

They're a bunch of mad dogs who value bloodlines more than the lives of their entire families.

If those pedantic scholars were willing to bow their heads and submit to imperial power, would they have waited until today?

They might even have to take a step back and seek reconciliation from a prince who, in their eyes, has blood on his hands.

Those old folks chant about the Way of the King every day in their ancestral graves.

In their view, being punished or having their property confiscated by the emperor was a heroic martyrdom for the Confucian tradition, an honor that would be recorded as a special merit in the family genealogy.

Asking them to lower themselves and compromise with me is tantamount to digging up their ancestral graves.

Zheng Qiuying took two steps back and sat down in a chair after hearing Li Chengqian's words.

"Nobody agreed to your coming here to form an alliance with the Crown Prince."

Li Chengqian pointed to Zheng Qiuying's forehead.

"This is the business route you used to trick Cui Minyuan in Pingkangfang those few days. You had just gained some capital, but in a moment of impulsiveness, you secretly bypassed your family and came here to gamble on this risky venture."

As a woman who will eventually be married off to an alliance, you are constantly scheming to seize power within the clan.

Seeing that the men in your main household are useless and hopeless, you want to use me, the sharpest knife in the world, to cut down all the discontented uncles and brothers in your family.

I'll settle things for you and act as your henchman.

Once all the old folks are dead, you can rightfully take the position of the first female head of a family in the history of the Tang Dynasty, or if you lose in the family struggle, you can enter the Eastern Palace and take the position of the Empress of the Tang Dynasty.

Is that what you think? Tell me.

Sweat was already dripping from Zheng Qiuying's forehead and the back of her neck.

Just a moment ago, she thought she was the most talented woman in the entire Tang Dynasty who was best at manipulating people's hearts.

But now she realized that her proudest plan was completely transparent in front of this Tang Dynasty prince.

Li Chengqian walked to Zheng Qiuying's side and slowly ran his hand across her neck.

"Your stakes aren't even worth mentioning when it comes to making a deal with me. You want to play? Fine. But the rules need to be changed."

Li Chengqian casually pinched Zheng Qiuying's chin and lifted her head.

"From today onwards, don't mention the word 'cooperation' in front of me. You're not qualified."

I'll give you two choices. First, become the most obedient and vicious dog under the Crown Prince's command. Use information that's utterly useless to the family to prove the worth of your life.

As long as your knife is useful, I'll bury those cumbersome old bones one by one for you.

Once the situation settles down in a few years, I guarantee you will ascend the throne as the supreme ruler of the entire clan, overseeing the tens of thousands of households of the Zheng family's iron granary.

Secondly, we haven't seen anything today, so you should go out this door by yourself.

In less than three hours, every word we said in the private room today will reach the ears of your great-grandfather and all your uncles and in-laws.

"I don't need to send a single soldier; those old mad dogs, who care more about saving face than their own lives, could wrap you in a straw mat and sink you alive into the Dragon Head Canal in the dead of night."

Li Chengqian laid out a choice between life and death, power and the abyss for Zheng Qiuying.

Zheng Qiuying felt all her strength vanish instantly.

How come I didn't realize back then that this crown prince was a devil?

"Your Highness... what do you want me to do?"

Li Chengqian smiled and released her chin, then picked up a white cloth from the table and wiped his fingers.

"I want you to start spreading rumors about powerful and influential families everywhere."

"Three days. I'm only giving you three days. I want the reputation of our noble families to crumble in the eyes of the people of Chang'an."