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

The Changsun Mansion.

Holding the map of the West Market given to him by Li Chengqian, Changsun Chong walked home in a daze.

Seeing the eldest young master's dazed expression, none of the servants outside the mansion dared to utter a sound. They lowered their heads and quickly made way for the side gate.

Changsun Chong went straight to the backyard.

This used to be the most bustling side hall in the mansion, but now that Changsun Wuji has been demoted to a commoner and confined to the mansion, grass tips have sprouted from the cracks in the blue bricks of the courtyard within a few days.

Changsun Wuji, dressed in a worn-out gray cloth robe, was sitting on a low stool under the eaves, pruning the withered branches in a flowerpot with a pair of scissors.

"father."

Changsun Chong walked directly to Changsun Wuji and knelt down.

"stand up."

Changsun Wuji didn't even raise his head.

"The Duke of Qi's mansion is long gone, so don't kneel down so easily."

"Father, His Highness the Crown Prince has asked me to open a trading company in the West Market."

Changsun Chong did not stand up, but instead handed the map to Changsun Wuji.

"He also made me the chief manager of that Donggong Trading Company, responsible for selling all sorts of miscellaneous goods transported back from Liaodong to various prefectures and counties of the Tang Dynasty."

Changsun Wuji continued, feeling frustrated.

"I am a fourth-rank Loyal and Martial General of the Imperial Court. Father, I have led my troops through piles of corpses in Liaodong three times."

"Your Highness has Cheng Chumo serving in the Ministry of War and Fang Yi'ai in the Imperial Guard, so why are you throwing me into the West Market to fight with vendors for copper coins?"

"idiot."

Changsun Wuji put down the scissors in his hand and took the map.

He didn't look at the markings on the map, but instead flipped the map over to look at the patterns on the back.

After a while, Changsun Wuji laughed.

"Chong'er, clean your head."

If you don't want the Changsun family to become a bowl of dog excrement that everyone tramples on in Chang'an, from today onwards, stop uttering the words "by what right?"

Changsun Chong was stunned.

He just wanted to complain to his dad, so why was he scolded?

Changsun Chong pointed to the circles on the map and continued:

"You know nothing about Liaodong."

You bunch of second-generation rich kids just follow the Crown Prince around killing people on the battlefield every day. Have you ever considered how much iron and grain the Andong Protectorate has right now?

Do you know why the Cui family of Qinghe, this powerful family from Dongguan, wants to block the Grand Canal waterway?

Changsun Chong shook his head.

"Because there's almost no room left over there."

Changsun Wuji folded the map and placed it beside him.

"Li Chengqian is playing a game that will uproot the entire trade route of the Tang Dynasty."

Those old foxes in Guandong thought that if they blocked the grain supply in Luoyang, Liaodong would starve to death.

Unfortunately, they didn't even understand who they were fighting against.

Changsun Chong asked, his mouth agape in shock:

"Father, are you saying His Highness is going to target those aristocratic families?"

"He's not trying to cause trouble, he's trying to raid someone's centuries-old foundation."

Changsun Wuji, supporting himself against a pillar, slowly straightened up.

"The reason I put you, a fourth-rank general of the Tang Dynasty, in the West Market as a shopkeeper is because once this deal is finalized, the shops under your management will become a second national treasury."

Whoever controls that counter will have the power to choke the five powerful clans and seven noble families.

The old man glanced at his bewildered son.

"Go find some clean clothes to change into, and listen to what the Crown Prince says."

"As long as you remain in this position as the head manager of the Changsun family, forget about the two million strings of cash embezzlement charge; even the officials of the Tang Dynasty court will have to line up in front of your shop."

Upon hearing this, Changsun Chong immediately stood up and ran out.

Changsun Wuji shook his head helplessly as he watched his son's retreating figure.

So young.

He waved to the side.

Changsun An, who was standing outside the side gate, hurriedly ran over.

"Go to the East Palace."

Changsun Wuji picked up the scissors beside the flowerpot again.

"Take an anonymous note to the Crown Prince. Tell him that the Changsun family has run out of coarse tea and would like to invite His Highness to come and drink some bitter well water."

......

Sunset West Mountain.

Xiao Shunzi followed Li Chengqian to the Changsun family home, carrying a food box.

When I walked in, there wasn't a single servant in the mansion, and the whole place was unusually quiet.

"Your Highness, something is wrong."

Xiao Shunzi said warily.

Li Chengqian waved his hand and walked in without a care.

He didn't believe that Changsun Wuji would dare to lay a hand on him now.

That's just asking for death.

Changsun Wuji sat at the dilapidated eight-immortal table, on which sat a rough porcelain teapot and two chipped earthen bowls.

"Your Highness has arrived?" Changsun Wuji did not stand up.

Li Chengqian walked to the table and sat down. He picked up the pot and poured a bowl full of slightly yellow well water into it, then drank half of it.

"The taste is so-so."

Li Chengqian put down the earthen bowl.

"I heard your uncle wants to see me?"

Changsun Wuji pushed the map of the West Market in front of Li Chengqian and looked at him, saying:

"The goods stored in the Liaodong warehouse are not the old junk that were snatched from ordinary people's homes."

The 70% of trade routes that the Cui family cut off in Luoyang not only failed to trap Liaodong, but instead created a deep pit in more than a thousand markets in the two capitals and the Hebei and Henan provinces that even the imperial court dared not imagine.

"Your Highness, letting people gossip about the filthy private affairs of noble families is like throwing dung into a latrine—it's a way to shut these old officials from prestigious families up and prevent them from interfering with your grand plan for the West Market before the Emperor."

Changsun Wuji dismantled this complex web of connections step by step, making everything perfectly clear.

Li Chengqian wasn't surprised at all. He casually tapped the table, picked up a dried walnut from the tray, and squeezed it.

"Since you've figured it out, why don't you make a list and report it to Ganlu Palace?"

That would be enough to prove my loyalty to my father.

Li Chengqian asked while cracking walnuts.

"Should we report this to the palace?"

Changsun Wuji picked up the porcelain bowl and downed it in one gulp.

"Can His Majesty see through your ambition, Your Highness? He fears that your military power is too great, and he fears that the powerful families will turn the world upside down."

"His Majesty is so preoccupied with the troubles of the aristocratic families that he can barely get a good night's sleep. How could he possibly have the time or inclination to investigate this clandestine trade route scheme of your Crown Prince's Palace?"

"Since you don't want to report to Father Emperor, Uncle, are you just going to watch the show with me?"

"Simply watching a play isn't enough."

Changsun Wuji looked at Li Chengqian seriously and said,

"You're using Changsun Chong as a figurehead, but you're not putting yourself on the right foot."

"That little brat might be able to kill a couple of sheep with a knife, but let him go toe-to-toe with Zheng Qiuying and Cui Min's underlings in Luoyang—they'd empty half the shop in just three days."

"I still have two banks backing me up."

Li Chengqian looked up and said.

"That's your private treasury, it's different from buying and selling."

Changsun Wuji shook his head.

"If you want to make those aristocratic families ashamed as they are by producing coarse cloth, horse feed, and pig iron from Liaodong, you need these people to build a reliable transportation channel for your shop in the Ministry of Revenue so that there will be no shortage of goods."

Changsun Wuji took out a roll of yellowed Xuan paper and spread it directly between the two earthen bowls.

There were no words printed on the paper, only a list of shopkeepers with their place names on it.

"From the Kaiyuan era until now, all my secret agents hidden in the waterways within the pass are here."

With this card that allows passage through Luoyang, not a single family's private grain has ever died under the Grand Canal.

"If the Crown Prince wanted to secretly send goods to the interior, let alone a thousand horses, even a million dan of new grain could be delivered to the Crown Prince's treasury in seven days."

Changsun Wuji stared at Li Chengqian.

"Does the Crown Prince want to escalate this matter?"

"If you want, the Qi State Duke's mansion, which is currently empty and deserted, will tomorrow become the second back-office hub for the Eastern Palace's trade routes."

Li Chengqian put down the walnuts in his hand.

He didn't take the paper, but looked at Changsun Wuji and asked:

"Uncle, what I'm leaving the Changsun family with now isn't a get-out-of-jail-free card, it's their lives."

"Changsun Chong only admitted his mistake this afternoon, yet you've pulled out a list of people who went to the bottom of the river that you've kept hidden for so many years."

A hint of hesitation flashed in Li Chengqian's eyes.

"Uncle, can I still trust you?"