Listening to everyone's chatter, Li Shimin shook his head helplessly. In theory, what the officials and businessmen did was right. The prosperity of the Tang Dynasty court was inseparable from these businessmen running around. Without the silver in their hands, how could you train the army to go out to fight?
Now it's like a powerful cycle. The more taxes we collect here, the better the treatment of our army will be. With better treatment, the stronger the combat effectiveness will be. In the process of foreign wars, we can win one victory after another.
But now the businessmen are starting to make trouble. They are honestly contributing their taxes, but you are unable to provide them with a fair competition environment. You are even blocking them in certain aspects, making them pay more than 20% more costs. Although it has not affected all businessmen today, if this situation is not handled properly, more people may become black-hearted and stretch out their dirty hands little by little.
Before going to court, Li Xiang knew that this matter would cause a big stir, but after listening to the ministers' reports, he realized how great the impact of this matter was. In addition to the chambers of commerce in Chang'an and Luoyang, the news had now spread to the surrounding areas. Once merchants across the country started to make a fuss, even the slightest inappropriateness could lead to serious consequences.
In the 21st century, Li Xiang once read in a book that the Tang Empire was extremely powerful. If it relied solely on outsiders, there might not be any losses for three or four hundred years. But the most feared thing was internal consumption. Once there was a problem internally, the building might collapse before you could figure out what was going on.
Don't think this is a joke. A thousand-mile dike can be breached by a single ant hole. Now what the King of Song has done has united all parties and forced the court to come up with a solution. But this guy is hiding with the retired emperor. Li Shimin is now hesitant. He wants to give everyone a result, but he doesn't know how to give it. If it is slightly inappropriate, it will be a huge tragedy.
Li Xiang also noticed something different in this matter, but he couldn't find out what was unusual. He could only shake his head and think that conspiracy definitely existed, but we didn't have the time to investigate. What we had to do now was to suppress the merchants from all over the place and prevent them from letting this matter continue to ferment.
"Li Xiang, tell me how to resolve this matter. We must not upset the Emperor too much, but we must also provide a solution for the merchants and maintain the dignity of the Tang Dynasty."
Li Shimin felt overwhelmed. Almost everyone came to him for solutions, and they wanted him to make a decision today. Li Shimin really didn't know what to do. If he sent troops to attack the palace of the retired emperor, it would indeed solve the problem, but if the retired emperor had any mishap, he would have to bear the crime for the rest of his life, and perhaps no one would clean up the mess for him until the day he died.
Li Xiang has also been thinking about this problem, but it is a very tricky problem. Even if he is in Li Shimin's position, he cannot force his own father to death. Ordinary people's families still have to pay attention to filial piety, let alone the number one family in the world. If you really do this, it can indeed solve the problem of merchants for now, but it is hard to say about those literati later. In the early Tang Dynasty, the social atmosphere was still very good. If those literati touch your lips, your life will not be good.
"In reply to Your Majesty, although I believe that Prince Song should be brought to justice now, considering the current situation, we should first seal off Prince Song's mansion and keep everyone under guard except for him. We should also make the most out of this, using newspapers and other public notices to let everyone know the court's resolve. We should suppress the current situation first, and then you should personally go to the Retired Emperor and persuade him with both emotion and reason..."
Hearing Li Xiang's idea, the people around nodded. Although it did not solve the problem at once, it had to be said that under the current circumstances, this was also a very good solution. Seal off the Prince Song's Mansion and put all the other people under custody. This meant that the court was going to execute this matter, and since a prince was implicated, the court would definitely not show mercy.
As for the things that happened next, Li Xiang also wanted to keep himself out of it and put all the blame on Li Shimin. This matter was too important, mainly because all the merchants in the country were mobilized. If things went wrong, even he might be destroyed.
As for whether Li Shimin can succeed in persuading him, this is not our business. If we care about everything, wouldn't we be the emperor? If Li Xiang is the emperor now, he would have sent people to kill him long ago. As for the emperor, Li Xiang doesn't have much feelings for him. You have ignored the entire country because of a parasite. Should we still worry about you?
Even if it meant angering the retired emperor to death, Li Xiang was willing to issue a self-criticism edict and admit his mistakes in front of the people of the world. Then he would have to put state affairs first. Since the retired emperor's behavior had threatened the security of the entire country, no matter whose family you were, the law of the country was the most important thing.
Li Shimin was able to think clearly about what was going on here, but he was still a little unhappy. He glanced at Li Xiang and thought, this kid clearly wanted to evade responsibility and put all the blame on himself. Don't forget that you are the third most important person in the Tang Dynasty court. If you can't get through this difficult time, you will be of no benefit.
However, for the current situation, Li Shimin really could not find a second solution. He could only follow Li Xiang's method and immediately ordered Yuchi Jingde to lead the army to seal the Prince of Song's Palace.
When Li Shimin gave the order, Li Xiang was also observing the people in the Golden Palace. Some of them had very happy expressions on their faces, while some had annoyance on their faces. For a moment, Li Xiang didn't know how to analyze it. These people must have something to hide. In this matter, someone was also fanning the flames. However, this game has been played for several years, and it is impossible for this matter to calm down just because of our solution. We still have to observe it carefully.
