Chapter 111: Thunder Strike

r made Li Chen jump to his feet.The lively atmosphere at the banquet seemed to freeze.Since it was military intelligence, only Li Chen had the authority to handle it; even Empress Zhao Qinglan wasn't...Chapter 111: Thunderstorm

"Chen Tong."

Li Chen called out.

Soon, Chen Tong entered the Xizheng Hall and bowed to Li Chen.

"See the Crown Prince, may he live a thousand years."

"Chen Tong is the deputy commander of the East Factory Jinyiwei. If you need manpower and assistance for this matter, please contact Chen Tong directly."

After addressing Liu Sichun, Li Chen turned to Chen Tong and instructed, "This matter is of great importance. You must cooperate fully with the Jinyiwei."

Chen Tong bowed and said, "I obey your orders!"

Sweet potatoes are easy to grow, have a high yield, and can largely replace rice as a staple food. Especially in this current nationwide famine caused by consecutive natural disasters, they are definitely better than grass roots and tree bark.

Once it is widely promoted, the food problem that has plagued the Qin Empire for hundreds of years can be solved by half.

Originally, Li Chen was just trying it out of curiosity. He didn't expect Liu Sichun to actually give him a glimmer of hope.

A big stone fell from my heart, Li Chen was in high spirits.

Seeing Li Chen in high spirits, the astute Liu Sichun seized the opportunity and said, “Your Highness, there have been many difficulties encountered with the salt transportation matter...”

Since the Crown Prince is in a good mood, it's a good time to bring up those bad things. That way, I can also shoulder less responsibility.

As soon as Liu Sichun finished speaking, she saw Li Chen's meaningful gaze fall upon her.

As if all his thoughts were laid bare.

"You're quite clever, aren't you A merchant's shrewdness and cunning, all used against me."

Li Chen chuckled lightly and said, "Go on, what difficulties are you facing This palace is in a good mood indeed. If it's truly not your fault, this palace will solve everything for you."

Liu Sichun was overjoyed, and her eyes lit up.

“After receiving Your Highness's grace and permission to operate a salt trade, I, along with the Liu family, gathered most of our manpower and property and went to Zhejiang and Fujian provinces to open salt mines and wells. Thanks to Your Highness's favor, the output was quite good. However, we ran into problems when we were about to transport the salt to the capital region for sale.”

“The first batch of salt weighed six thousand jin. When it arrived in Xishan Province, it suddenly disappeared. We initially thought it was lost due to a flood and severed our communication. We sent people to search for it and contacted the provincial government office of Xishan Province as well as local salt officials. It turned out that the first batch of salt had been captured by rebel forces. We hoped that the provincial government office could intervene and send troops to quell the rebellion, but the provincial government office refused, citing natural disasters and a lack of available troops. Therefore...”

Liu Sichun's words were cut off.

Because he saw Li Chen's face was ashen.

She didn't know where she had gone wrong, so she immediately clamped her mouth shut.

"Rebels What rebels!"

Li Chen stared intently at Liu Sichun, his voice as cold as ice, "Where did the rebel come from!"

"Your Highness, don't you know Due to the large number of refugees in Xishan Province, under the instigation of some wicked people, a large rebel army has formed. This rebel army has already occupied Taigen, Yangqu, and Xiangding counties, almost cutting off all major routes into Nan Zhili from Xishan Province."

"The commoner thought that Your Highness had already received the news. After all, with such a big matter, there's no reason why Your Highness wouldn't know..."

As he said this, Liu Sichun also realized that such an important matter would be impossible for the imperial court to be unaware of.

While the court might know, it doesn't necessarily mean the prince would.

Realizing that he had unwittingly become embroiled in the highest level of political intrigue within the Qin Empire, Liu Sichun's face paled, and his words became stammering.

Boom!

Li Chen slapped the table with his hand.

"Sān bǎo, you come in here for this palace!"rward.Two people suddenly knelt down at the edge of a field by the road, bowing their heads in farewell.Not until the convoy disappeared from sight at the end of the road did they get up.Zou Chenglong...