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

"Your Highness, are you just going to hand over this task to that young lady from the Zheng family like this?"

Back at the East Palace, Xiao Shunzi poured tea for Li Chengqian while asking,

"That woman seems very cunning. What if she goes back and informs those old men from powerful families, and then turns around and bites us?"

Li Chengqian smiled as he looked at Xiao Shunzi. This kid had finally learned to use his brain.

"If you bite someone with a poisonous snake, you have to crush her vital spot."

She was more greedy than those old fogies at heart. She wanted to overpower her uncles and elders in the clan and become the head of the family. Only I could lead her down this path.

So she had no choice but to obediently act as the Crown Prince's vicious dog, biting whomever she was told to bite.

Xiao Shunzi scratched his head and continued to ask:

"But Your Highness, if we're going to deal with the powerful families, why don't we just have Lord Tang raid a few more of them? Why bother with all this unnecessary trouble?"

"Confiscating property and killing people can only scratch the surface."

Li Chengqian shook his head.

"Why are those powerful clans able to wield such influence in the imperial court? Even the Emperor has to be wary of making a move against them. Is it because of the money, provisions, and private armies controlled by these families?"

Xiao Shunzi was stunned and didn't dare to say a word.

"It relies on the century-old reputation bestowed upon it by scholars and intellectuals across the land. It relies on the moral facade erected by generations of them."

Li Chengqian got up, walked to the bookshelf, pulled out a package he had prepared beforehand, and threw it into Xiao Shunzi's arms.

"The powerful families controlled the books and education of the Tang Dynasty, and they embellished their own reputations."

To completely crush them, the first step is to smash their moral idol.

Peel off their hypocritical facade and hang it on the city walls of Chang'an for all to see.

Xiao Shunzi curiously opened the package and took a look, but after seeing a line of words on it, his face turned red instantly.

It was filled with all sorts of dirty secrets and scandals about various powerful families, gathered up by the Shadow Guard from all over the place.

The third patriarch of the Wang family in Taiyuan forcibly took his elder brother's widow.

A seemingly respectable elder of the Cui family in Qinghe was keeping more than a dozen underage male prostitutes in the countryside.

The second young master of the Lu family in Fanyang dug up someone else's ancestral grave in order to seize their ancestral jade pendant.

These are all sordid dealings that would never be exposed under normal circumstances, but now they are all recorded in black and white in the book.

"Deliver this package to the Zheng family."

Li Chengqian pointed to the package and gave instructions.

"Tell Zheng Qiuying that I don't need her to quote scriptures and write some nonsensical proclamation against the traitor."

Those flowery, pretentious words were incomprehensible to the vegetable vendors in the West Market of Chang'an.

I want her to turn every single one of these petty incidents into a collection of street tales, bawdy jokes, and doggerel.

Xiao Shunzi swallowed hard.

"Your Highness, this... Miss Zheng is the most talented woman in the Tang Dynasty, why would you ask her to write this?"

"What's wrong with being the number one talented woman?"

Li Chengqian pursed his lips.

Tell her that the more vulgar the better, the more low-class and sensational the better.

It must be easy to understand and catchy.

If she wants to rise to power, she should first write this pledge of allegiance beautifully for me.

"I will ensure that those patriarchal noble families are utterly wiped out in this Tang Dynasty."

Anyway, Li Chengqian had no intention of letting Zheng Qiuying enter the Eastern Palace.

He certainly didn't want another woman like Wu Zetian by his side.

This would cause the Tang Dynasty to experience another period of interruption.

The Zheng family mansion in Xingyang.

In the boudoir of Qiuying Pavilion.

Zheng Qiuying had smashed everything she could in the house.

"Shameless and despicable!"

She pointed at the package sent by the Crown Prince's Palace and cursed angrily.

That document records the scandalous affair of an elder of the Cui family who committed incest.

Several large characters were specially circled next to it with a vermilion pen:

Using this as the subject, I will focus on describing the character's actions and psychology, and compile a 3,000-word serialized story, to be submitted tomorrow morning.

"Please calm down, Miss."

Xiao Huan knelt to the side, almost crying from fright at Zheng Qiuying's appearance.

"The eunuch from the Eastern Palace sent word that if the revised memorial is not seen by tomorrow morning, Cheng Chumo and his gang will come to our residence to put on a grand opera."

Zheng Qiuying was so angry that she almost fainted.

She was well-versed in poetry and literature from a young age, and wrote quatrains that lamented the passing of autumn and the passing of spring. She also participated in the most prestigious poetry gatherings in Chang'an.

Which literary figures didn't praise her talent?

But now, the Crown Prince of the Tang Dynasty is actually forcing her, the most talented woman in the country, to stay up all night in her boudoir writing such vulgar and erotic jokes.

Should we also focus on describing the actions?

How did she know what those movements were?

If this gets out, how will she ever be able to face anyone again?

But she didn't dare to refuse.

Her life is now in Li Chengqian's hands.

Today's gathering at Zuixianlou has made Zheng Qiuying begin to suspect that Li Chengqian doesn't like women.

That's why they say women are born with overflowing self-confidence!

She never doubted her own appearance; she only doubted Li Chengqian's sexual orientation.

"Go grind the ink."

Zheng Qiuying closed her eyes and gave instructions to Xiao Huan.

She swallowed her humiliation and rolled up her sleeves, picked up a brush, and wrote a line of large characters on the rice paper that filled her with shame and indignation: "A Night of Talk in a Wealthy Family: The Widow Knocks on the Door at Midnight."

Night falls.

The curfew in Chang'an City has not yet been completely lifted.

Qin Huaidao, accompanied by a dozen or so guards from the Eastern Palace who had changed into civilian clothes, quietly disappeared into the alleys and lanes of Pingkang Ward and the East and West Markets.

The backyard of a teahouse called "Juxian Teahouse".

Old Zhang, the most famous storyteller in Chang'an, was staring blankly at a pile of golden beans on the table.

"Sir, what's wrong with you...?"

Qin Huaidao sat to the side and said:

"Starting the day after tomorrow, stop telling all those cheesy stories about talented scholars and beautiful women that you used to tell."

He took out a stack of freshly copied manuscripts from his pocket and pushed them in front of Old Zhang.

"Memorize the words above. You'll start your lecture at your teahouse first thing the day after tomorrow. You'll give three lectures a day. As long as the audience enjoys the performance, all the gold coins on this table are yours, and there will be even bigger rewards later."

Old Zhang picked up the manuscript and glanced at it casually. Cold sweat immediately poured down his face.

"Sir, this...this list contains the names of important figures from powerful families and clans. If I dared to talk about this in public, wouldn't I be beaten to death?"

"Your teahouse will have twenty brothers protecting you around the clock."

Qin Huaidao stood up and asked in return,

"What? You're afraid to answer?"

Old Zhang looked at the pile of gold, enough for him to squander for half his life, and gritted his teeth:

"I'll take it! People will die for money, that's what this old man's mouth is for."

That night, all the storytellers and opera troupes with even a little fame in Chang'an had their doors smashed open by the people of the Eastern Palace with real gold and silver.

A vast media campaign targeting powerful clans is being silently launched under the cover of night.

The Eastern Palace Study.

"Your Highness, Qin Huaidao has reported that all 138 storytelling venues have been taken over."

Xiao Shunzi walked in from outside to report.

Li Chengqian stood by the window, looking at the dark night sky outside, and sneered:

"These officials from aristocratic families, relying on their knowledge of a few classic texts, enjoy spouting nonsense in the Taiji Hall."

"Then I'll play along with them and teach them a lesson in black PR."

Once Zheng Qiuying's popular jokes, which she worked on late into the night, spread throughout the streets and alleys of Chang'an, those scions of noble families would have to endure the scorn and pointing fingers of the entire city when they went out.

If the fire of public opinion burns bright enough, that so-called inviolable idol will collapse.

However, public opinion can at most burn the reputation of aristocratic families, but it cannot kill them in the imperial court.

Those old guys can simply stay indoors and pretend to be dead.

To truly eradicate them completely, we need irrefutable evidence.

The black ledger of tax evasion has been obtained, but the real death warrant is the list of spies planted by aristocratic families in the Six Ministries, the army, and even the inner palace.

This document is something that the Hundred Cavalry Division and the Ministry of Justice, which are only publicly known, cannot detect.

Li Chengqian walked to the front of the Treasure Pavilion.

Reach out and press down on one of the jade seal-shaped ornaments.

With a "click," the hidden compartment popped open.

He reached in and took out a half-foot-long and half-wide ebony box.

The box was opened, and inside lay a strange token the size of a palm.

The front is engraved with the ancient seal character "风" (wind), while the back features a ferocious mythical beast.

This was the ultimate trump card that the retired Emperor Li Yuan personally handed to him in the Da'an Palace: Tingfeng Pavilion.

A terrifying intelligence organization that went underground in the early days of the Tang Dynasty, and whose existence was completely unknown even to the current emperor, Li Shimin.

"Xiao Shunzi, go prepare the car."

Li Chengqian tucked the token into his sleeve and walked outside.

"Your Highness, curfew is about to begin. Where are you headed?"

Xiao Shunzi followed closely behind.

Li Chengqian said without turning his head:

"Go to the innermost dead-end alley in Pingkangfang."

Tonight, I will personally receive this generous gift left by my grandfather, the Emperor.