Zhenguan Xiaoxian Wang Li Shen Li Shimin

When Changsun Wuji heard Li Shen's words, he immediately understood what Li Shen meant.

This is using salt and iron to threaten himself, and also to threaten the aristocratic families.

Everyone has known for several years that His Majesty had granted the Ji Palace a special license to operate the salt and iron business.

There were some minor disturbances at the time; aristocratic families and nobles with salt and iron licenses all opposed this matter in the court.

What they feared most was that King Ji would become bigger and stronger, and what they feared even more was that King Ji would cut off their financial support.

This can be proven by the wine, tea, cloth and restaurants.

These industries that used to make money for everyone have now been monopolized by Prince Ji's Mansion, and they can only do business with the lower-class people.

All the consumer groups in the upper class were snatched away by Prince Ji’s Mansion.

If Prince Ji gets involved in salt and iron and becomes the only dominant player, they will really go crazy.

That is why they united to oppose issuing salt and iron monopoly license to Prince Ji.

But in the end it failed because they couldn't come up with a reasonable reason to stop it.

Just when they were anxiously preparing for the large-scale sale of salt and iron from the Prince Ji's Mansion, the Prince Ji's Mansion acted as if nothing had happened.

Salt and iron have not been sold for several years, which makes most families feel relieved.

Whatever the reason, it was a good thing for them that King Ji chose to remain silent and not buy salt and iron.

The person who was most anxious and fearful at that time was Changsun Wuji.

Their family was the largest supplier of fine iron in the Tang Dynasty, and most of the court's weapons and equipment were produced by the Changsun Mansion.

Changsun Wuji even wondered whether Prince Ji would seize their business.

Originally, everyone was about to forget about this incident because so many years had passed.

But now Prince Ji not only brought it up, but even used the salt and iron issues to threaten him and the aristocratic families, which was unexpected for Changsun Wuji.

"What exactly did Prince Ji mean by this? Why didn't I understand?"

Changsun Wuji chose to play dumb.

"Haha, uncle, you are the prime minister, how can you not understand what I am saying?"

Li Shen smiled gently, with an expression on his face that you understand.

He really despised Changsun Wuji in his heart. This old villain was actually pretending to be ignorant in front of him even though he knew the truth.

"I am stupid. Your Highness Prince Ji just asked where I could get a good price for it, but I really don't know.

Your Highness Prince Ji knows that I have always been in the court and know nothing about business affairs.

It is said that His Royal Highness Prince Ji is extremely intelligent, so His Royal Highness Prince Ji should consider this carefully.

To avoid unnecessary losses in the future.”

Changsun Wuji emphasized the word "consider". He certainly didn't want Li Shen to sell salt and iron, and sell such large quantities of salt and iron.

But he couldn't stop it. If it were ordinary people or ordinary nobles, he would have many ways to stop it.

But Prince Ji is different. He is the top noble in the Tang Dynasty and has a high status.

Although he was one of the Three Dukes, held the position of Prime Minister, and was a Duke of the current dynasty, he was still inferior to Prince Ji.

The main reason is that Prince Ji is deeply favored by Your Majesty, and this is unexplainable.

So Changsun Wuji could only tell Li Shen in a subtext that he should think carefully about whether to do this or not.

Li Shen understood what Changsun Wuji meant, and the smile on his face remained:

“I have also been considering what my uncle said.

This king plans to transport a batch of steel to Chang'an for sale first.

If it cannot be sold, I will go to the Crown Prince and ask him to help me think of a solution to see if we can cooperate with the court.

I heard that there will be a war in the court soon, so I must prepare the right weapons and armor.

It would be better to sell it to the court at a low price. On the one hand, I can contribute to the court, and my father would not always say that I am idle all day and cannot share his worries.

Secondly, you can also earn a lot of money.

Uncle, you don’t know that our Ji Palace is now in poverty and we can hardly afford to eat.

Your Majesty has fined me nine years' salary in just three days, which has made the already poor Ji Palace even worse."

Li Shen complained to Changsun Wuji as if he was chatting about family matters.

However, what he said did make Changsun Wuji frown.

Cooperating with the imperial court, selling imperial weapons and armor, and selling them at low prices, isn't this clearly an attempt to steal the business of their Changsun family?

If they do not cooperate with the court, Changsun Wuji's annual income will drop by half.

Thinking of this, Changsun Wuji finally lost his composure. He stared at Li Shen and said in a cold tone:

"Your Highness Prince Ji, aren't you going too far by doing this? Aren't you openly trying to steal our Changsun family's business?"

"That's right, I am just trying to steal your Changsun family's business, so what?"

Seeing that Changsun Wuji was no longer pretending, Li Shen put away his smile, slammed the table and revealed his cards.

"Your Highness Prince Ji, if you do this, you are not just stealing my business. All the noble families and aristocrats in the Tang Dynasty have some connection with salt and iron.

Are you planning to make enemies with everyone in the world by doing this?

Your Highness Prince Ji, aren't you afraid of being spurned by the world and attacked by everyone?"

Hearing Li Shen's direct affirmation, Changsun Wuji said in a cold voice.

In his opinion, even if Prince Ji is rich and powerful, he cannot compete with the nobles and aristocratic families in the entire Tang Dynasty.

Merchants were nothing but pariahs to them, and the only thing Prince Ji could rely on was his status as a prince.

No prince dares to go against the aristocratic families at the same time.

But he overlooked one thing, what kind of person is King Ji? He is a newborn calf that is not afraid of a tiger. He has never been educated to be respectful to nobles.

Nor has he been exaggerated by the power of the family.

In Li Shen's own opinion, he is the emperor's son and should be the most awesome one.

Li Shen saw that Changsun Wuji was a little excited, but his emotions became more stable. He said calmly:

"Duke Zhao, do you think I will be afraid?

I have offended at least half of the princes, nobles, and aristocratic families of the Tang Dynasty, even if I haven't offended them all.

I even dared to beat Li Zhi, so how could I be afraid of a mob like you?

Anyway, the prince and the noble families are sworn enemies, so it doesn’t matter if the hatred increases.

But Duke Zhao, what would happen to your Changsun family if I took over all the steel business of the imperial court?

As for salt, my salt is easier to obtain than your Changsun family's, and the cost is much lower.

The current price of salt is 25 wen a dou, which is about the same as the price of rice.

If I sell it for one penny per pound, will the people of the world be grateful to me?"

Li Shen smiled again at the end of his speech.

If you have too many lice, you won’t be itchy. If you have too many debts, you won’t have to worry.

Li Shen knew in his heart that the feud between him and the aristocratic family could not be resolved, and only one of them could survive.

Even if you don't take the initiative to provoke them, the aristocratic families will still find ways to plot against you.

Isn’t what happened in Xizhou an example?

He had been planning for so many years just to accuse himself of a serious crime. As a result, countless people died in vain and countless people were bullied.