The Demonic Crown Prince

"Haha, let's congratulate King Qin!"

The first person to arrive was surprisingly Liu Yuwen, the Minister of War.

The old man still had lingering bruises on his face, and his knocked-out front tooth was still leaking air, but his face was all smiles, as wide as a blooming daisy.

"Thank you, thank you. Please come in."

Li Yuan greeted him with a smile and put his arm around his shoulder.

To someone unfamiliar with the situation, they might mistake the two for long-lost relatives.

"Liu Yuwen, Minister of War, owns a jade cabbage, priced at one thousand taels of silver."

The song was sung from the ceremonial room.

"Congratulations, Prince Qin!" Immediately afterward, Wu Yuanshan, the Minister of Revenue, also arrived. He and Liu Yuwen, the two loyal lackeys of the Second Prince, were actually the first to arrive.

"Wu Yuanshan, Minister of Revenue, owns a pair of mutton-fat jade bracelets, with a market price of one thousand taels of silver."

The chanting continued from the ceremonial room.

Then, people started arriving one after another, and the place gradually became overcrowded.

However, everyone seemed to be in sync, and no one gave cash; instead, they all gave various gifts.

"Damn it, these people are disgusting. Not a single one of them brought gold, silver, or cloth; they all brought this junk."

Furthermore, it's clearly worthless, yet they insist on charging three or five times the price—they want to be both a prostitute and a virtuous woman!

Wang Wanquan was so angry that he kept cursing.

"It's alright, we'll take it all. These things will definitely be worth the price they quoted later."

Li Yuan laughed heartily.

The second prince, Li Jun, and the third prince, Li Feng, did not come, but they each sent congratulatory gifts: a jade horse and a gilded Buddha.

Anyway, there were all sorts of gifts, a huge pile, almost overflowing the gift room, but apart from Wang Dahai's two strings of pearls worth ten thousand taels, there was nothing of value.

"Your Highness, these junk items are really useless to us."

Wang Wanquan couldn't help but complain again. It's worthless stuff, a bunch of junk; they probably won't even get the money back for the banquet.

"Don't worry, there's a way to turn it into cash!"

Li Yuan smiled slightly.

Xu Shuying looked at him with a puzzled look in her eyes. What was this guy up to?

Shortly after, the wedding banquet officially began, but unexpectedly, Li Yuan himself took on the role of emcee, and said with a beaming smile, "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for attending my wedding banquet. However, just drinking and eating isn't very interesting. How about we play a game to liven things up?"

Everyone was completely bewildered. A wedding banquet is a wedding banquet, why are we playing games?

"We'll drink and eat while a gambling event is held on stage. Items will be put up for auction, and of course, it will be a bidding process, meaning whoever bids the highest gets them..."

Li Yuan gave a brief introduction.

Then, he pulled a lacquered horse directly from under the table and held it up in the air. "This is a congratulatory gift from Vice Minister Cheng Feng of the Ministry of War. The gift list says it's priced at three hundred taels of silver. That will be the starting bid. Everyone, you can start bidding now."

The room fell silent; everyone stared in disbelief.

Not to mention the group of people below, even Xu Shuying and Wang Wanquan were dumbfounded.

A moment later, someone shouted angrily, "That was a congratulatory gift! It's rather unfair for the prince to use it to buy gambling tickets!"

"Yes, is Your Highness going to auction off all of our congratulatory gifts?"

Immediately, shouts erupted from the audience.

"Silence." Li Yuan waved his hand, and the noise from the audience gradually subsided.

"You are right. Today, I will put all the congratulatory gifts up for auction."

After everyone had fallen silent, Li Yuan spoke leisurely.

Everyone was furious. Damn it, they had no choice but to come because Wang Dahai had supported Li Yuan and said those things.

But to make matters worse, not only did they come, Li Yuan actually tore off their faces and stomped on them. That's just too much!

The noise from the audience rose again, and some people even started swearing under their breath, which made Xu Shuying and Wang Wanquan and their group nervous.

"Shut the hell up, all of you! Or I'll stab him to death!"

Li Yuan roared, and then, with a loud bang, he grabbed the ancestral spear from the side and threw it directly onto the table.

Luckily, the table was sturdy enough, otherwise it would have collapsed.

Everyone's eyes widened, and they dared not speak.

That was the spear of the founding emperor; anyone who got hit by it would die, and there might not even be anywhere to seek justice.

"Let me make this clear to you: I will not take a single penny of these congratulatory gifts from the auction; they will all be used for the military funds of my Yanbei rebellion suppression army."

If these useless gifts were replaced with money for the soldiers' pensions, rations, uniforms, and weapons, wouldn't they have been given greater honor and meaning?

Li Yuan scanned the audience below the stage with his eyes, and this time, no one dared to utter a sound.

He's raised the issue to this level, who would dare say anything now?

"Furthermore, I would like to say that your bidding for this gift also represents your sincere dedication to national security."

The more photos someone takes, the greater their contribution to Da Ye, and the more loyal they are to His Majesty.

Conversely... I don't need to say more, right?

You know, Wang Changgong asked me to keep an eye out for him and take this opportunity to distinguish between the loyal and the treacherous. He said that not all the people who came to congratulate and give gifts today are necessarily loyal and righteous. There are bad people in our Da Ye!

My lords, please understand my good intentions.

"I'm giving you a chance to prove your innocence; you must cherish it!"

Li Yuan's righteous and stern explanation silenced the room, with only the sound of breathing rising and falling; no one dared to utter another word.

Otherwise, it could be considered treason.

After all, Wang Dahai, that mad dog, was backing Li Yuan.

"Come on, this lacquered horse, according to the gift list, the starting bid is three hundred taels. Ladies and gentlemen, please place your bids!"

Seeing that everyone was silent, Li Yuan raised the lacquered horse again.

However, no one made an offer, and no one was willing to be the one to stick their neck out.

"Huh? What's going on? No one's bidding? Is it because this painted horse is a fake, so it's not worth the price and nobody wants to bid?"

Damn it, trying to fool me with counterfeit goods is clearly an attempt to disrupt my efforts to quell the rebellion, or even to betray the Great Ye!

I smashed it!

Li Yuan lifted the lacquered horse high, about to slam it down viciously.

Below, Cheng Feng, the Right Vice Minister of War who had presented the lacquered horse, was terrified. He cried out, "Your Highness, don't drop it! It's more than worth the price, absolutely more than worth the price! I, your subject, am willing to offer three hundred taels of silver to buy back this horse to prove my innocence and loyalty!"

What if he falls? Wouldn't that mean Cheng Feng is suspected of serious treason?