No one knew what Li Zhi was thinking when he let Li Hong handle the case of Helan Minzhi. The arrival of Dai Zhide and others was like moving half of the officials in the court to Taiyi City.
But in Taiyi City these days, whether it is the Ministry of Justice, the Censorate, the Three Departments of the Dali Temple, or Dai Zhide and others, they have long been accustomed to Li Zhi's weak decision-making over the years. Otherwise, when Li Zhi questioned Li Yifu, Li Yifu would not have walked away without even an apology. This is enough to show that Li Zhi was not very deterrent in the minds of court officials, especially important officials.
So when there is a case involving the royal family, they try to make it as small as possible. They have become accustomed to it over the years. In short, their goal is to find a balance between His Majesty and the Queen, and try not to offend anyone.
When Dai Zhide saw Helan Minzhi and others in the prison, he unconsciously used the same method he had used against Li Zhi. However, he did not expect to hit a snag with the young prince. Not only did he fail to get the prince to release them, he also scolded them in prison.
The current emperor does not have the courage to use such tough and drastic measures.
So now the Ministry of Justice, the Censorate and the Dali Temple have handed over the results of the interrogation to the prince three times, but each time it was sent back within a stick of incense, with only two more words on the file: retrial.
The head of the three departments could only shake his head and sigh silently as he looked at the files in his hands. This case was extremely hot-scratched and Helan Minzhi could not be killed. Ning Daoming, Xiao Shougui and Xiao Shoudao all pleaded for him.
Even the Japanese envoys, Dai Zhide from the Ministry of Rites and Cui Dunli from the Honglu Temple, have secretly approached them, hoping that the scope of knowledge about this case can be reduced as much as possible.
Otherwise, once this matter is exposed, not only will the royal family lose face, but the Honglu Temple and the Ministry of Rites will also have to enter a period of rectification, which is not what Dai Zhide and Liu Zhengli want to see.
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The prince asked them to apologize in front of the emperor after returning to Chang'an, but they didn't care. It was just a few words for them to admit their mistakes in front of the emperor. After admitting their mistakes, they still had to leave the court and eat as usual. It would not affect anything.
The three heads of the department shook their heads while holding the files, and helplessly returned to the residence provided for them by the prince, to continue negotiating, deliberating, and studying the Tang laws, and then give the results once again.
Nowadays, soldiers led by Prince Liu patrol the streets of Taiyi City day and night, and the arrival of the three divisions and other department heads has also spread throughout Taiyi City in the past few days.
There have been rumors that there seems to be some trouble in the top leadership of the Tang Dynasty, so the bigwigs of the three divisions and other departments were called over.
In addition to the patrolling soldiers of Taiyi City, the common people of Taiyi City, as well as the merchants, nobles, and the Five Surnames and Seven Aristocrats, all seemed to have sensed something through their keen sense of smell.
The initial Chamber of Commerce selection was also held on time within the scheduled time. There was an extremely large building opposite Li Hong’s manor, and no one knew what it was used for.
But today, all the merchants will go there and will have a glimpse of the entire building.
The huge wooden door opened to reveal an empty hall that looked like it could accommodate hundreds or even thousands of people.
Every merchant who came in was shocked by the huge hall before them and was speechless. It was incredible that such a large hall did not have a single pillar to support the ceiling above their heads. For them, this was completely unimaginable.
Each merchant took the instruction manual in his hand and began to read it carefully after sitting down. Merchants who could not read were naturally completely in the dark and had to prick up their ears to listen attentively to what people around them were discussing.
Although the whole hall was crowded with people, there was not much noise.
This first Chamber of Commerce will be held by Bai Chun and two assistant ministers of the Ministry of Revenue. While telling them all the main contents of the Chamber of Commerce, they will also let these chambers of commerce traveling from north to south set up continental chambers of commerce and road chambers of commerce according to their respective roads and continents. All of these will be managed by Taiyi City.
Li Hong held in his hand the main contents of the Chamber of Commerce that Bai Chun and the two assistant ministers had brought out in the past few days. These had all been approved by him.
He will turn the Chamber of Commerce into a large holding company. The Chamber of Commerce that is selected and issued a license will send three to five craftsmen to Taiyi City to study, and then they can return to their own Chamber of Commerce.
Moreover, within three years, these chambers of commerce will not obtain all the technologies of Taiyi City at once. They will need three years to obtain these technologies step by step.
Li Hong did this because he was afraid that glass and other technologies would spread to other countries. After all, in the current mixed chambers of commerce, there are still a large number of merchants who have been bribed by royal relatives, nobles, etc.
Li Hong also used this chamber of commerce to quickly establish a money shop and introduced it to these merchants. When these merchants heard that they could do business with just a piece of paper instead of money, some of them still looked skeptical.
But some larger merchants who have already known about the existence of flying money, like Dou Yi, are full of confidence, as they have already tasted the benefits of these things.
It is convenient, fast, and safe, and it can also provide certain support to merchants when their capital chain is broken to continue to provide funds. This makes many people excited, but also feels it is unrealistic.
Dou Yi realized that this was a clear signal that the Tang Dynasty was beginning to improve the status of merchants. He also had to secretly like the money house launched by Li Hong, and his grasp of the timing was simply perfect.
Because Dou Yi knew that many of the businessmen sitting in the hall did not actually have much money to invest. Some of them came on behalf of the forces behind them, some hoped to cooperate with others, and others hoped to discover other ways to make money in this chamber of commerce.
The launch of money shops meant that escort agencies had to be established, so express delivery services like those in later generations were born, but they were now under the management of the Ministry of Revenue.
The establishment of a huge business empire network has been successfully completed after four days of intensive operation in Taiyi City. Everything will proceed in an orderly manner from now on.
Li Hong also achieved his goal, which was to use the Chamber of Commerce and businessmen to work together to successfully launch the money house, his most favored project. He believed that with the trust of these businessmen, the money house would definitely not develop at a snail's pace as it did in history, but would surely develop rapidly under his deliberate promotion.
By that time, several powerful enemies on the Tang Dynasty's borders will be dependent on the Tang Dynasty's huge commercial network. By then, the Tang Dynasty will not even need to use cavalry to cause a country to decline.
And in a short period of time, the Tang Dynasty will become as prosperous as the next dynasty: the Song Dynasty.
The Sansi placed the results of the interrogation on Li Hong's desk for the fourth time. Li Hong looked at the three people below him, put the file on the desk and pressed it with one hand and asked, "Have Dai Zhide and others returned to Chang'an?"
"Yes, Your Highness, there are only three of us left in Taiyi City. If Your Highness agrees to this case, we will capture them and bring them back to Chang'an for disposal." Minister of Justice Cui Zhiwen said, getting up from the sofa.
Li Hong nodded vaguely and said, "Take them away. As for how to deal with the Japanese envoys, I believe Dai Zhide and Liu Zhengli must have contacted you. But what I want to say is, what if it happens again? This time I gave face to the Ministry of Rites and the Honglu Temple, but who will give face to me next time? Who will give face to the royal family? Or if something like this happens again next time, do I still have to take care of their face?"
Cui Zhiwen from the Ministry of Justice, Gao Junya from the Dali Temple, and Gao Zhizhou from the Censorate all understood at once that the reason they were rejected by the prince three times in the first time seemed to be because of the Japanese envoys, whom they valued the least, and not because of the three of them who insisted on not executing Helan Minzhi and others.
Seeing the three people in silence, Li Hong asked, "Why did Dai Zhide rush back to Chang'an in such a hurry? The Ministry of Rites can't move without him? The emperor didn't issue an order to summon him, right?"
In the first two days, which were also the last two days of the Chamber of Commerce, Li Hong still participated in several of the Chamber of Commerce's meetings. In fact, in Bai Chun's eyes, his role was just to stand up and cheer.
The main purpose was to make the merchants believe that the credibility of the money house was guaranteed by the prince, so everyone could rest assured and not worry that it was a scam.
In the end, his appearance did inject vitality and confidence into the merchants of the Tang Dynasty. At the same time, under the persuasion of his two subordinates, the left and right assistant ministers of the Ministry of Revenue, Li Hong was pushed onto the stage to give a speech.
"The King of Japan's special envoy requested to summon Minister Dai, so Minister Dai went back first." Cui Zhiwen looked at Li Hong stretching out his hand and pressing down, then replied while sitting on the sofa.
"I really don't understand him. What he said in the court last time was meant for dogs to hear. Why is he running over there so happily now? Oh, I'm not talking about you." Li Hong glanced at the unfriendly faces of several people and hurriedly gave one last explanation.
"Your Highness, since you have allowed us to bring the people, can we escort them to Taiyi City first and then return to Chang'an City?" Gao Zhizhou asked.
"Okay, take the people away. The two Japanese envoys will stay behind, or they can be beheaded right in Taiyi City. There is nothing else to discuss, and you don't need to try to persuade them, it's useless." Li Hong saw that they were about to speak and immediately rejected them.
"Your Highness, we understand your feelings. For such a cruel act, it would not be an exaggeration to behead them all. But...can we ease the relationship with Japan a little?" It was still Gao Zhizhou of the Censorate who spoke.
"Okay, we can ease the tension. In a few days I will report to my father that all the students sent to the Tang Dynasty must return to Japan, and no one is allowed to stay! Withdraw."
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