Changsun Wuji was stunned when he heard this. He never expected that his own brother-in-law, the Emperor of Tang, would suddenly become so insightful as to say something so sophisticated!

Moreover, Li Shimin's words elevated the issue of driving away vendors to a very high level.

If Cui Renshi were to be executed on this charge, the entire court would find no fault with it!

If Changsun Wuji thought this way, then everyone else admired Li Shimin even more.

Before this, they didn't think it was a big deal, even if a few censors and officials acted recklessly, it wouldn't affect the overall situation of the Zhenguan era.

However, His Majesty the Emperor suddenly elevated this matter to the level of the tyrannical rulers Jie and Zhou, and the downfall of Emperor Yang of Sui, which forced them to take it seriously.

"Your Majesty is right!"

Cheng Yaojin was the first to stand up and voice his support.

"Throughout history, there has never been a practice of driving away street vendors!"

"Cui Renshi's actions have placed His Majesty among the ranks of tyrannical rulers; his behavior deserves death!"

Unlike other ministers, Cheng Yaojin didn't crave delicacies; he preferred street food. For him, the fried dough sticks sold at Sanglin Manor were a daily necessity; he felt uneasy if he didn't eat them for a day.

Now, the two counties of Chang'an and Wannian have driven away all the vendors, leaving him without fried dough sticks or soy milk for several days. He's so miserable that he'd love to run to Xianyang to eat them!

With Cheng Yaojin's support, other veteran officials from the Zhenguan era also stepped forward.

"Your Majesty, killing only him is too lenient. In my opinion, his entire family should be executed!"

"Your Majesty, killing his three clans is not enough; I believe his entire clan should be exterminated!"

"Those two muddle-headed magistrates of Chang'an and Wannian should not be let off the hook either; they should be executed as well!"

Li Shimin glared fiercely at Chang He, Yuchi Jingde and the others. These murderers really get happy when they hear about killing. They wish the court would kill a few people every day to entertain them!

However, after the commotion caused by the group, Li Shimin calmed down.

It is indeed a bit unreasonable to execute a minister over such a trivial matter, but not killing him would not quell the hatred in my heart.

Just as he hesitated, Xiao Yu stepped forward.

"Your Majesty, Cui Renshi is indeed guilty, but he should only be punished for overstepping his authority!"

“Chang’an and Wannian counties are not under his direct jurisdiction and should be under the jurisdiction of Jingzhao Prefecture. Even if Cui Renshi wanted to issue orders to the two counties, he should have sent a document to Jingzhao Prefecture and then passed it down through the layers of government.”

"Therefore, in my opinion, a three-month salary deduction is sufficient. If Your Majesty is still not satisfied, you may order Cui Renshi to invite the merchants who were driven away back to Chang'an!"

"oh?"

Upon hearing this, Li Shimin immediately became interested. This was a good idea! It would both demonstrate to the world that he had never intended to expel the merchants, thus clearing his name, and punish Cui Renshi, thus avenging himself and his grandson.

"Your Majesty, to be honest, I am also a regular at food stalls. I haven't had any for several days, and I've been craving it."

"I have heard that most of these merchants come from a village near Xianyang. Your Majesty only needs to send Cui Renshi to invite them back, and they will surely come gladly and sing praises of Your Majesty's benevolence!"

This is exactly what Li Shimin wanted to hear!

Although Li Shimin was quite shameless in his early years, committing inhuman acts such as fratricide and stealing his brothers' wives, he was still a man of principle, and this sense of shame only grew stronger with age.

To find out how the historians evaluated him, he even secretly read the daily records of his daily life...

This was done very discreetly, and almost no one knew about it!

"This method is good!"

"Master Cui, I will spare your life for now, but if you cannot bring those merchants back within three days, I will surely behead you!"

Cui Renshi was already terrified, and upon seeing that his life could be saved, he hurriedly kowtowed to express his gratitude.

"Your Majesty, I thank you for sparing my life!"

"Your Majesty, I will go and invite those merchants right now, and I will ensure that Your Majesty's reputation is not damaged!"

Sanglin Village.

Since the imperial court expelled the merchants, all the vendors who had set up stalls outside the village have returned to their villages.

Although the number of people in the village suddenly increased, the laughter in the entire Sanglin Village decreased significantly.

Because they no longer have any projects that can generate daily income.

Sanglin Village does have some other industries, such as brick kilns, coal kilns, and lime kilns, but they are also in a semi-closed state due to poor sales.

A kiln full of bricks might not sell half of them even after ten days or half a month.

If it weren't for the imperial court building the Zhechong Prefecture, the bricks they had previously fired would have been enough to sell for two years...

With bricks and tiles not selling well, coal usage has decreased, and only lime kilns are still operating, but they don't employ many people, far from being able to absorb such a large surplus of labor.

"Master Hu, are we just going to stay home and wait to die from now on?"

Upon hearing this, Hu Delu glared at Lin Jiu.

"What nonsense are you talking about? When has our Sanglin Village ever had anyone who just loafs around and waits to die?"

"Since we can't set up a stall, we'll just stay home and farm!"

Lin Jiu said dejectedly upon hearing this.

"Uncle Hu, our village only has this much land, we don't need so many people at all."

"Besides, it's the off-season for farming now, so even if we wanted to work, there's nothing to do..."

Hu Delu naturally knew all this, but he didn't have a better solution at the moment.

Street vendors are allowed in Xianyang, but who knows how long they can stay in that situation or if they'll be banned again in the future?

Just as the group was sitting at the village entrance sighing, they saw three high-ranking officials leading dozens of constables toward them in a grand procession.

"Master Hu!"

"How...how did they manage to catch up with us..."

"who are they?"

"They just won't let us set up our stalls, and they even arrested our people!"

Hu Delu was furious when he heard this.

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