What malicious intent could Li Zhi possibly have? Of course, he was just trying to sow discord between Li Jue and Li Zhi!
Seeing that his father's reaction was a bit intense, he quickly changed his words.
"Father, I didn't mean anything by it, I'm just worried that my nephew isn't eating or sleeping well outside..."
"Why don't you issue a decree to bring him back?"
"Our Great Tang Dynasty now has a full treasury, and the people live in peace and contentment. We don't necessarily have to rely on the profits from salt and iron to make a living..."
Li Shimin was very tempted by these words, and he also missed his eldest grandson a little. However, when he thought of the confident words his eldest grandson had spoken before leaving, he hesitated.
If I ruin my grandson's achievements, who knows how he'll scold me when he gets back...
"Let's put this matter aside for now..."
After saying this, Li Shimin went to the side to play with his birds. However, while he was playing with his birds, the royal family members of the Tang Dynasty were extremely worried.
Princess Changsha's Residence.
Princess Changsha was furious when she saw the account book showing a sharp drop in income.
"Thirteen salt wells, and this is all the income we've received this month?"
"Your Highness, it's not that we didn't try our best, it's just that..."
"What is it really?"
"It's because the Crown Prince's salt is sold too cheaply; he's stealing our customers!"
"Cheap?"
Princess Changsha curled her lip in disdain upon hearing this.
"How much cheaper can it be?"
"Don't think I don't know. He doesn't have a single salt well. He can only dig stones from the mountains to boil salt!"
"Princess, you may not know this, but the saltworks on the mountain by the Crown Prince are only a small part. He has also built dozens of branch factories in Liaodong, Shandong and other places, specifically for salt production!"
"In addition, he found a salt lake in the northwest, which is said to be full of salt, enough to feed the people of the Tang Dynasty for tens of thousands of years!"
"What?"
Princess Changsha was stunned when she heard this. She never imagined that there was such a thing as a salt lake in the world, and that it would last for tens of thousands of years!
"In that case, let's also lower the price and squeeze that traitorous grandson Li Jue out of business!"
The manager of the salt well was so aggrieved by these words that he almost cried.
"Princess, do you think we haven't considered this matter?"
"But we simply can't afford to engage in this price war!"
Why?
"Because...because the salt sold by the Crown Prince's side is cheaper than our cost, sob sob sob..."
"What?"
"They only sell salt for ten coins a pound, which isn't even enough to cover our firewood costs. How are we supposed to compete with them on price? Waaah..."
This was not just Princess Changsha's suffering, but the suffering of the entire Li Tang imperial family. Even those closest to Li Jue, such as Princess Jinyang, Princess Gaoyang, and Prince Wei, Li Tai, suffered significant losses.
Because there were already varying numbers of salt wells in the fiefdoms of these individuals.
In ancient times, when resources were scarce, owning a salt well was equivalent to owning a money-printing machine.
Therefore, these salt wells are not only their source of income, but also account for at least half of their total income.
While Princess Changsha was troubled, Li Tai was already planning to go to Li Jue's house to freeload.
Since Li Jue wouldn't let him have an easy time, he wouldn't let Li Jue have an easy time either!
However, compared to the losses of the princesses and princes, Changsun Wuji suffered the greatest loss.
Because the iron smelting industry, which the Changsun family was so proud of, was no longer a profitable business.
"Has Li Jue gone mad? Such fine iron is only selling for fifty coins a catty!"
"I'm afraid we won't even be able to come down to the cost!"
Changsun Wuji was furious at a row of wrought iron, pig iron, and cast iron. Next to him were the managers of the Changsun family's mines in various places.
"Your Majesty, we definitely can't afford to reduce the cost, but the situation with the Crown Prince is another matter..."
"oh?"
Upon hearing this, Changsun Wuji raised an eyebrow and said with a face full of disdain.
"Could it be that he possesses sorcery, capable of refining steel with the legendary Samadhi Fire?"
"Your Majesty, I don't know about that. I only know that the Crown Prince uses coal to smelt steel, which saves them a lot of costs compared to us!"
"coal?"
"This stuff can be used to make steel?"
Changsun Wuji had long known that coal could be burned, but he also knew that the steel refined from coal contained too many impurities and was therefore unusable.
Therefore, the mines owned by the Changsun Wuji family still use high-quality charcoal to this day.
Now that he heard that Li Jue's steel mill was using coal exclusively, his face was contorted with worry.
How did he remove impurities from the coal?
Faced with Changsun Wuji's questioning, all the stewards shook their heads in unison.
In fact, they had tried to learn from him more than once. However, Li Jue's mines were built too securely, and he managed the craftsmen and factories in the same way he managed the army, making it impossible for them to do so.
"My lord, why don't we go find His Majesty?"
Upon hearing this, Changsun Wuji raised an eyebrow and said with a displeased expression.
"What should we say to His Majesty?"
"Are we supposed to tell His Majesty that our Changsun family has been bullied to the point of being unable to survive by his eldest grandson?"
Upon hearing this, all the managers lowered their heads in shame. Although they didn't want to admit it, they had been forced into a corner.
Changsun Wuji sighed as he looked at the group of stewards with their heads hanging low.
"well!"
"You may all leave now. I want to be alone!"
"promise!"
Just as the group of managers left the main hall, they heard the sound of things being smashed coming from inside.
Upon hearing the commotion, everyone hurriedly made their escape, fearing that if they were too slow, they would be used as a punching bag by Changsun Wuji.
After venting his anger, Changsun Wuji immediately dispatched his most capable men to secretly infiltrate Li Jue's mine and steal Li Jue's secret of low-cost steelmaking.
However, he didn't expect it to work out.
After all, steelmaking is not something that can be accomplished overnight, and secret recipes cannot be learned just by glancing at them.
Therefore, he quickly contacted more than a dozen families and ordered them to write to Li Shimin, specifically pointing out Li Jue's faults.
"Remember this: you can criticize Li Jue for whatever you want, but you must never say that the steel he refines is cheap!"
After greeting his associates, Changsun Wuji secretly contacted several members of the royal family and asked them to submit a memorial impeaching Li Jue, claiming that the salt Li Jue produced had killed people.
Upon hearing this, the lawless royal relatives immediately understood and promptly fabricated dozens of murder cases.
In an instant, memorials denouncing Li Jue flooded the Ganlu Hall of the Taiji Palace like snowflakes, almost overwhelming Li Shimin, who was petting a bird.
"What happened?"
"Did these people plan this in advance to impeach Li Jue?"
Zhang Anan nodded heavily upon hearing this.
Although his Imperial Household Department intelligence organization had only been established for a few months, it was guided by a well-established organizational structure and procedures, which not only enabled the organization to be established quickly but also gave it considerable combat capability.
The Imperial Household Department had already received news of the impeachment against Li Jue.
"Your Majesty is wise!"
"This matter was indeed orchestrated secretly by Lord Changsun..."
"Why is it him again?"
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