"This shouldn't be..."
Li Xiang said with some surprise. Only he dared to say this. If it was someone else, he would most likely be detected by Li Shimin's men in black. Once this matter was confirmed, Li Shimin would definitely not show mercy.
Wang De said there were fewer incidents in and out of the palace, and you said that shouldn't happen. What are you thinking? Do you think that there should be such nonsense happening in the palace every day? Can't the emperor just have a few days of peace and quiet?
"King Qi has implicated many people..."
When Wang De was leaving, he whispered this into Li Xiang's ear, and then left with his eunuchs. He didn't want to stay with Li Xiang for too long, mainly because Li Xiang was a man of loose tongues. "You yourself are the third most important person in the Tang Dynasty, and the others are no threat to you. You can say whatever you want. We are all servants. If the emperor is really angry, he won't take it out on you, but our heads..."
"What happened to the King of Qi?"
Li Xiang had no good feelings towards this guy. The emperor had sent this guy to the Western Regions for training. Although he had done some things for Li Xiang, it had brought him a lot of trouble. Although this guy was mischievous, could he still cause any trouble under Li Shimin's nose?
"Deficit in the treasury..."
Xiao Xia Zi quickly leaned over and told Li Xiang what the King of Qi had done. No one knew what Li Shimin was thinking. He actually asked this guy to go to the Ministry of Revenue to check the accounts. In the end, the officials of the Ministry of Revenue did not embezzle any money, but he himself took 150,000 taels of silver to his own home.
"Is this guy crazy? How dare he do such a thing in Chang'an City?"
Li Xiang really didn't understand this guy. You know, every piece of silver in the Ministry of Revenue's treasury has its own mark. Fifteen thousand taels of silver is not a small number. You say you can take it to your home, so you take it to your home. Isn't this courting death?
"Who says it's not? The whole of Chang'an City is finding it strange. The money was just transferred in, and soon someone came to sue Wangyu. Some say His Royal Highness the Prince of Qi was scammed, but by whom? So far, there's no answer."
Xiao Xia Zi said with some embarrassment that he also wanted to figure out this matter and had put all his efforts into it, but in the end he found nothing and instead several people were killed. Xiao Xia Zi knew that this matter was not that simple.
"Who took over this job later?"
Whoever is the biggest beneficiary in certain things is likely the one who did it. This has been proven countless times, but people of this era don't quite understand it. Even someone as smart as Xiao Xiazi can't figure out what's going on here.
"His Royal Highness the King of Wu has gone."
Li Xiang was not confused just now. He might be able to find the murderer using this theory. Of course, Li Xiang was just a little gossipy and didn't really want to interfere in this matter. After all, this matter has nothing to do with us. But after hearing Xiao Xiazi's words, Li Xiang's eyes widened. Xiao Xiazi also knew that this matter was hard to believe, but this was the fact.
"His Royal Highness the Prince of Wu took up his post at the Ministry of Revenue on the third day and has been in charge of the Ministry's tax revenue ever since."
In the Tang Dynasty, most taxes were collected in the form of copper coins and grain, as well as some cloth rolls. However, as the economic situation improved, some of the taxes were collected in the form of silver. This silver mainly came from other places, but in terms of money, silver was definitely the most valuable. Therefore, the person who could guard the silver in the Ministry of Revenue's treasury must be someone the emperor trusted.
"This is really interesting. Did I misjudge the person?"
Li Xiang was a little confused at the moment. He originally thought that King Wu Li Ke was an upright person and would never do such clever and stupid things, but now he was indeed the biggest beneficiary. If he said that he had nothing to do with this matter, it would probably be unlikely.
"It has nothing to do with us, right?"
Li Xiang was too lazy to care about the dog-eat-dog affairs in the court. As long as there were people in the court, it was impossible to ban all these things, especially Li Shimin's sons. None of them was a fool. If they were locked up at home and studied hard, they would probably go crazy in two months.
"The imperial court set up the Ministry of Revenue Bank..."
After Xiao Xia Zi said this, Li Xiang understood what was going on.
The success of Zhidaobao made everyone see the power of capital. Li Shimin would definitely not sit idle, and the silver of the Ministry of Revenue had always been in the treasury. After all these years of war, the court could also take out some money. He could not let Zhidaobao make money exclusively. The court also wanted to make some money. Investing in Zhidaobao could indeed generate dividends, but it was not as good as creating a money house by himself.
"Your Highness, rest assured. Although the imperial court has also established a bank, our old customers are deeply bound to us, so their business is still with our bank. Although the imperial court's Ministry of Revenue Bank also has greater discounts, I asked the shopkeepers Chengguo and others, and our business has not been greatly affected."
Xiao Xia Zi thought that this was what Li Xiang was worried about. Since Zhidaobao was established earlier, it had already entered all aspects of society. Even if other money houses appeared now, they would not be able to compete with Zhidaobao.
What's more, Zhidaobao has dealings with all the major families. The amount of money that was transferred in the past is already an astronomical figure. In recent years, Li Xiang has also introduced installment repayment. Therefore, the Ministry of Revenue Bank does not have the ability to snatch big customers from Zhidaobao.
"Find someone to carefully monitor this matter. If you need to mobilize manpower, you can do it yourself. I want to know the whole story and cannot miss any details."
As soon as Li Xiang said this, the nature of the matter was different from before. In the past, it could be investigated or not. They did not realize the seriousness of the matter. Everyone focused their attention on the court. As for the capital changes outside the court, these people still had the old ideas.
For more than a thousand years, the people have been following the principles of agriculture, industry and commerce. So no matter how high the status of merchants is, these people will not look down on them. Therefore, Xiao Xia Zi did not dispatch too many people in this matter. Now that Li Xiang wants to know, he can gather all the people in Chang'an to investigate this matter thoroughly.
