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

"Brilliant! Why is there still no movement?"

Li Yuan waited for a long time but there was no movement, so he became a little anxious.

As soon as he finished speaking, the gate of the villa was opened from the inside.

A burly man with a mask came out and made a gesture toward Li Chengqian.

"All done, come in."

Li Chengqian waved his hand.

Li Yuan roared and charged in, wielding his scimitar.

When Li Yuan rushed in, he saw dozens of guards all tied up and stuffed in a corner.

"That's it?"

Li Yuan looked at Li Chengqian with some disappointment.

"Grandpa, ignore those little shrimps, look this way."

Li Chengqian stood in front of an artificial hill and forcefully pushed aside a huge rock, revealing a downward tunnel.

A group of people went into the tunnel, but Li Yuan stopped after taking only a few steps.

Torches were lit on both sides of the cellar, and the floor inside was piled high with boxes of copper coins.

Neatly arranged Shu brocade and Suzhou embroidery were placed next to it, and the innermost few mahogany boxes were filled with gold bars.

"Gulp."

Li Yuan unconsciously swallowed.

You have to understand that he has been emperor for so many years and he has never seen so much money.

"Damn it."

Li Yuan couldn't help but curse.

"Erlang is such a pathetic emperor. He's so poor he can't even afford to replace the tiles in the Da'an Palace, while these powerful families have hidden a mountain of gold outside the city."

"Grandpa, stop lamenting, hurry up and move it."

Li Chengqian ordered the Shadow Guards and the old eunuchs to begin their work.

More than two hundred people moved the cellar clean in less than half an hour.

They didn't even leave Wang a tattered sack to hold copper coins.

Before leaving, Li Chengqian didn't forget to leave a few sheepskin water bags used by the Turks in the courtyard, and then slashed at the gate a few times with his scimitar.

"withdraw."

Under the cover of night, the group returned home laden with their loot.

......

Early the next morning.

Taiji Hall.

Li Shimin glanced at the spot where Changsun Wuji usually stood and found it empty.

This morning, Changsun Wuji took sick leave, supposedly because he was too frightened to get out of bed.

How could Li Shimin not know?

The brother-in-law felt too ashamed to face anyone.

"If you have something to report, do so now; otherwise, the court may adjourn."

Wang De then shouted.

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a man rushed out from the Censorate, knelt on the ground, and began to cry out loudly:

"Your Majesty! This old minister wishes to impeach the Magistrate of Chang'an, the Ministry of War, and the Hundred Cavalry Commandery."

The officials, who had been drowsy and daydreaming, instantly perked up upon hearing these words.

Li Shimin frowned as he looked out, and the person who came out was none other than Wang Gui, the Imperial Censor and the top representative of the Taiyuan Wang clan in the court.

"My dear Wang, what's gotten into you so early in the morning?"

Li Shimin asked with some displeasure.

It's one thing for you to impeach the magistrate of Chang'an and the Ministry of War.

What does it mean to impeach the Hundred Cavalry Commandery?

Who doesn't know that the Hundred Cavalry Commandery was Li Shimin's private army?

Wang Gui raised his head and continued to cry out:

"Your Majesty! A shocking incident occurred outside Chang'an last night. Our Wang family's villa in the Southern Mountains was ransacked by the Turks."

All the guards were severely injured, and the estate was completely looted.

These words immediately caused an uproar in the Taiji Hall.

Cheng Yaojin picked at his ear in disbelief, then turned to Yuchi Jingde and asked:

"Old Hei, did I hear that right? The Turks raided the Wang family's estate?"

Yuchi Jingde was also completely bewildered:

"Thirty li outside Chang'an? Did these Turks grow wings and fly in?"

Li Shimin suddenly sat up straight, all sleepiness gone.

He stared intently at Wang Gui kneeling on the ground, his mind buzzing.

Did the Turks infiltrate and rob the area around Chang'an?

This is absolutely ridiculous.

Were the Tang Dynasty's border defenses just for show? Were all the checkpoints along the way blind?

What puzzled him even more was that the Wang family's estate outside the city had been robbed, yet he, as the emperor, had not received a single word of it.

The secret report sent by the Hundred Cavalry today made no mention of this matter.

"Wang Gui, explain yourself to me clearly."

Li Shimin slammed his hand on the imperial desk.

"How could Turks possibly be outside Chang'an? Your Wang family's estate was looted; what evidence do you have that it was the Turks who did it?"

Wang Gui wiped his nose and replied loudly:

"Your Majesty, the guards in the manor saw it with their own eyes. Those thieves were all wearing sheepskin coats, carrying Turkic scimitars, and shouting in Turkic.

The scene left behind Turkic water bags and knife marks. Who else could it be but a Turk?

Li Shimin was somewhat bewildered by what he heard.

This is so strange.

Even if there were Turkic spies infiltrating Chang'an, why would they go and rob a noble family's estate instead of spying on military intelligence or carrying out assassinations?

What's the point? Is it because the Wang family's estate has good feng shui?

"Where is the Minister of War?"

Hou Junji stepped out from the ranks of military officers, cupped his hands, and said, "Your subject is here."

Was there a large troop movement outside the city last night?

Li Chengqian looked at Hou Junji and asked.

"Your Majesty, the troops stationed around Chang'an did not find anything unusual last night, and the city gates were not attacked."

As for the Turkic traitors... I believe that this is absolutely impossible.

If a large group of Turks had infiltrated, the border officials would have reported it long ago via urgent dispatch.

Wang Gui became anxious upon hearing this:

"Lord Hou, you are covering up for someone."

My Wang family's estate was looted completely, not a single hair was left. Was it done by ghosts?

Hou Junji glanced at Wang Gui with disdain:

"Lord Wang, you think you can just say it was robbed and that's it?"

The Turks were poor, not stupid.

They traveled thousands of miles to Chang'an, not to plunder the national treasury, not to look for Hu women in Pingkang Ward, but instead to plunder a villa belonging to your Wang family outside the city.

"Does your estate hold treasures more valuable than the national treasury?"

Upon hearing this, Li Shimin's eyes lit up instantly.

Yes, that's the key to this matter.

The powerful clans always complained about being poor, and they always made excuses when the imperial court collected taxes each year.

Was an ordinary villa outside the city worth the Turks' looting?

Wang Gui broke out in a cold sweat the moment Hou Junji said that.

He was so preoccupied with the cost that he forgot about this.

That estate contains 100,000 strings of cash and silk that the Wang family just transported back.

If the emperor found out, wouldn't he skin the Wang family alive?

You should know that he had just complained about being poor in front of Li Shimin a few days ago.

"No... I didn't hide any treasures..."

Wang Gui stammered in his defense,

"It was just some ordinary grain and a few hundred strings of copper coins."

"Several hundred strings of copper coins?"

Hou Junji exaggeratedly covered his mouth and shouted,

"Would a few hundred strings of cash be worth the Turks risking their lives to rob?"

"Lord Wang, do you think the Turks are fools, or do you think His Majesty and the entire court are fools?"

Cheng Yaojin, listening from the side, burst into laughter:

"Exactly! Hundreds of strings of copper coins aren't even enough for me, Old Cheng, to book out a whole night at Zuixianlou."

What did the Turks want? Did they want your royal rice because it tasted good?

The officials burst into laughter.

Li Shimin's mood at this moment could be described as clearing away the clouds and seeing the sun.

He no longer cares whether the Turks did it or not.

He only cared about how much money the Wang family had lost from their estate.

It's worth it for that old scoundrel Wang Gui to cause trouble in the court.

"Wang Gui".

Li Shimin stared coldly at him and asked,

"Tell me honestly, what exactly is missing from the Nanshan Villa?"