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

"Old Cheng, did you get a leg cramp?"

Li Chengqian turned around and looked at Cheng Yaojin, asking in confusion.

Cheng Yaojin moved along the palace wall of Zhuque Street, taking one step at a time, walking more cautiously than a thief.

"Your Highness, this old minister is being cautious."

Cheng Yaojin laughed awkwardly.

"Tell me the truth, besides the area under the Taiji Hall plaza, have you buried gunpowder elsewhere? You didn't bury it in my house, did you?"

Li Chengqian rolled his eyes, too lazy to bother with this clown.

If you're going to bury yourself, bury yourself under Fang Xuanling's pillow. What good would it do to blow you up, you idiot?

The group had not gone far from the palace gate when they heard a great commotion ahead.

Li Chengqian looked up curiously.

A long procession of prison vans was seen slowly moving along Zhuque Avenue.

Soldiers on both sides were holding spears to maintain order.

People on both sides of the street threw rotten vegetable leaves, rotten eggs, and even stones covered in yellow mud at the prison van.

"Kill these vampires."

"Where's your usual energy? Now you're getting your comeuppance, aren't you?"

"Thank God! They forcibly seized my land."

The people pointed angrily at the people in the prison cart and cursed them.

Li Chengqian stopped and watched the scene with great interest.

The general leading the team spotted Li Chengqian from a great distance.

He quickly dismounted and trotted over.

"Greetings, Your Highness!"

The visitor was none other than Changsun Chong.

Originally, he wasn't supposed to be doing these things, but in order to gain some advantage, Changsun Chong found Li Junxian and took on this arduous task!

"Cousin, you've worked hard."

Li Chengqian reached out and helped him up.

"Which company was arrested?"

"The Zheng family of Xingyang!"

Changsun Chong laughed,

"According to their genealogy, the Zheng family's direct and collateral branches in Chang'an, including the stewards and accountants in the mansion, totaled 734 people, and they all stayed here without missing a single one."

Li Chengqian nodded and casually asked:

"Has the charge been substantiated? The Zheng family didn't go to Xuanwu Gate with Hou Junji today."

"Fixed completely."

Changsun Chong took out an account book from his pocket and patted it.

"The leather armor worn by the thousands of rebel soldiers under Hou Junji was all made overnight by workshops outside Zhengjia City."

It's all written in black and white in this ledger.

Funding rebels is tantamount to treason; even the execution of nine generations of one's family would not be unjust.

Li Chengqian smiled with satisfaction.

This is called "pulling out the radish and bringing out the mud along with it".

Once you have a family tree, finding evidence of a crime shouldn't be difficult.

"Let's go take a look."

Li Chengqian slowly walked towards the line of prison carts.

When the people saw the prince arrive, they spontaneously made way for him.

As Li Chengqian walked along, his gaze swept over the prison carts.

The car was filled with scions of wealthy and powerful families who were usually high and mighty.

They were all covered in dust and dirt.

Some had their heads smashed open, others were so frightened they wet their pants; they had lost all semblance of the dignity of aristocratic families.

"Your Highness, look at that carriage."

Cheng Chumo approached at some point and pointed to a prison van in the middle.

Li Chengqian looked in the direction he was pointing.

A young woman was huddled inside the prison van.

Her once elegant hairstyle was now disheveled, with a few strands of hair sticking to her filthy face. A half-eaten, rotten cabbage leaf, discarded by someone, clung to her head.

She huddled in the corner of the prison van, her body trembling uncontrollably.

Li Chengqian didn't recognize him at first.

"Who is this?" Li Chengqian asked.

"Zheng Qiuying, the eldest daughter of the Zheng family."

Cheng Chumo smacked his lips.

"Your Highness, didn't you just ask Miss Zheng to do things for you not long ago? Who would have thought that the Zheng family would betray you?"

Hearing the commotion outside.

Zheng Qiuying, who was in the prison van, suddenly raised her head.

She didn't wail and cry like the other members of the Zheng family, nor did she shout that she was wronged.

Her eyes, red and swollen from crying, stared intently at Li Chengqian.

It contains grievances, stubbornness, and a sense of despair at having nowhere else to turn.

Li Chengqian stood in front of the prison cart and looked at her, asking:

"Miss Zheng, is this prison food to your liking? Do you still remember the promise you made to me?"

Zheng Qiuying gritted her teeth and said:

"The victor is king, the loser is villain; Your Highness, you have a clever strategy."

"A single blow destroyed the century-old foundation of my five clans and seven noble families."

"Don't pat yourself on the back."

Li Chengqian chuckled softly.

"You brought this upon yourselves by trying to rebel. I'm just doing this on behalf of Heaven."

Zheng Qiuying looked at Li Chengqian and pleaded:

"My Zheng family did not send any troops. The leather armor that Hou Junji demanded was forced upon us by Cui Minqian. My Zheng family was only acting to protect ourselves, so why does Your Highness want to wipe us out?"

"When an avalanche occurs, no snowflake is innocent."

Li Chengqian sneered.

"Those who send leather armor are accomplices of the rebels."

The laws of the Tang Dynasty clearly state that those who plot rebellion will have their entire family executed.

I've already been very merciful by only arresting members of your own clan and not desecrating your ancestral graves.

And dare you say that the Zheng family wasn't involved in planning this?

Zheng Qiuying was speechless after being confronted.

What could she say?

Her father kept this from her from the beginning.

When Changsun Chong led his men to ransack the house, Zheng Qiuying realized the magnitude of what her father had secretly done.

"Isn't Your Highness afraid of disappointing scholars across the land?"

Zheng Qiuying still wanted to struggle a bit more.

"The Zheng family's disciples and former officials are all over the world..."

"Don't try to intimidate me with your claims about all the scholars in the world."

Li Chengqian interrupted her directly.

"Your aristocratic families monopolize the classics and control the imperial examinations. Do you really think you can represent the people of the world?"

Go and see the Gewu Academy in the Eastern Palace; there are far more students from humble backgrounds there than from your Zheng family.

"If you fall, scholars all over the world will only applaud."

Zheng Qiuying slumped dejectedly in the prison cart.

The Zheng family is finished.

The prince in front of him didn't care about any prestigious family background.

Zheng Qiuying suddenly took a deep breath, as if she had made a major decision.

She looked at Li Chengqian and said quickly:

"Your Highness! I know you are short of money, and even more so of supplies for the war. The Zheng family is willing to donate all of our wealth, just to ask that you spare my young brother's life."

"Have you gone mad from being locked up?"

Li Chengqian looked at her as if she were an idiot.

"Your Zheng family's assets have been confiscated, and they're now in the national treasury. You're trying to use my money to negotiate with me?"

Zheng Qiuying said anxiously:

"The assets that are publicly known naturally belong to His Highness. But I'm referring to the hidden shares."

There are three large shipyards in Mingju, Gangnam Province.

That was the culmination of a century of hard work by the Zheng family; only the successive heads of the family and I knew its exact location and the secret code for its handover.

Upon hearing the words "shipyard," Li Chengqian's heart skipped a beat.

"How big is the ship?" Li Chengqian asked calmly.

"A three-thousand-tongued, pointed-bottom seagoing vessel."

Seeing that things were looking promising, Zheng Qiuying quickly continued speaking.

"Not only is there a shipyard, but also a nautical chart that the Zheng family ancestors discovered with their lives."

It records all the safe shipping routes to Southeast Asia.

Your Highness, if you wish to expand your territory...

Without a boat and a nautical chart, you can't even get into the sea.

Li Chengqian looked at Zheng Qiuying and touched his chin.

This woman really did offer him a bargaining chip that he couldn't refuse.