The heavens set sail from the courtyard

Chapter 1275 Business
Li Chengqian slowly approached Li Yunrui, and the distance between them was getting closer and closer. Just when they were about to touch each other's skin, Li Yunrui pushed Li Chengqian away.

"Prince, please respect yourself."

Li Chengqian shuddered and woke up completely, and quickly got up from Li Yunrui's bed.

Li Yunrui also sat up and straightened his already neat hair to hide his embarrassment.

"Prince, you can just use those desperate men in Dark River, but don't get too close to them, or else it will be bad if His Majesty finds out."

Li Chengqian wiped the sweat from his forehead and nodded, saying, "Auntie, I will remember your teachings."

Li Yunrui reminded again: "Although the Dark River Organization is well hidden, it was still discovered by me. They have close ties with the grassland. Now that the grassland has established a country, His Majesty is suspicious. Once he finds out that you have contact with them, he will definitely be furious."

"The secret river was created by the barbarians from the grassland?" Li Chengqian asked in surprise.

"That's right." Li Yunrui explained: "Danhe has business dealings with many aristocratic families in Jiangnan through me. Although it is very secretive, I still discovered that they were secretly purchasing food and grass."

Li Chengqian's eyes lit up and he said, "Could it be that the barbarians want to attack Qing Kingdom?"

"It shouldn't be." Li Yunrui said: "I sent people to check. The grassland suffered a disaster for three years, and there were starving people everywhere. In addition, the population dropped sharply due to continuous wars. In fact, it was strong on the outside but weak on the inside, and it couldn't take care of itself, so it formed the secret river to collect food and grass to survive the disaster years."

Li Chengqian was surprised and said, "I didn't expect that my aunt knew the situation in the grassland so well. As far as I know, even the Inspection Bureau can't send spies into the grassland."

"Hmph, hmph!" Li Yunrui said proudly: "As the saying goes, money makes the world go round. Chen Pingping's tricks, in my opinion, are not up to par at all."

Li Chengqian flattered: "Father should hand over the Inspection Office to Aunt as well."

Li Yunrui raised his eyebrows slightly, and said contentedly: "Such a barbarian from the grassland has been sent to various countries as envoys. It must be because the disaster is too severe and he can't survive, so he is looking for help."

Li Chengqian heard this and said, "The grassland cavalry is unrivaled in the world. If we form an alliance with Yuan Meng, they will provide the cavalry and we will provide the food and grass. Can we form an iron cavalry?"

Upon hearing this, Li Yunrui glanced at Li Chengqian deeply. She understood that Li Chengqian must have murderous intentions towards Emperor Qing.

"Establishing an army is no small matter. The money spent is even greater. The most important thing is who will lead this cavalry."

Li Chengqian narrowed his eyes, seeming to be thinking.

Li Yunrui laughed in his heart. Although the prince seemed to be the crown prince, he actually had very little power.

The prince's biological mother, the queen, had her maternal family wiped out by Chen Pingping and Fan Jian because of the Taiping Villa tragedy, so he had no relatives by marriage to rely on.

Since he had performed too mediocrely since childhood, court officials did not have a high opinion of Li Chengqian's abilities, which were far inferior to those of the second prince Li Chengze, so not many officials came to rely on him.

Generally speaking, if Li Chengqian had not been the crown prince, he would have been no match for the second prince Li Chengze, so he would come to Li Yunrui to build relationships from time to time.

However, Li Yunrui knew in his heart that if Li Chengqian was not like this, he would not have been chosen by Emperor Qing and designated as the crown prince.

Li Chengqian himself might not be unaware of how he became the crown prince, so even after growing up, he still did not show any extraordinary talents and chose to keep a low profile.

In other words, Li Chengqian has been acting all along, not only deceiving the whole world, but even deceiving Emperor Qing who prides himself on being extremely smart.

There are probably only two people in the whole world who know Li Chengqian's true identity.

One is the prince’s biological mother, the queen, and the other is Li Yunrui.

Sometimes when Li Yunrui saw Li Chengqian's face, he couldn't help but think of Emperor Qing when he was young.

Li Chengqian is actually the one who looks most like Emperor Qing among his many sons, not only in appearance but also in temperament.

"Aunt." Li Chengqian saw Li Yunrui was in a daze again and couldn't help but call her softly.

Li Yunrui came back to his senses and said, "In short, you can use the grassland barbarians, but don't really treat them as partners."

Li Chengqian's face was uncertain, and after a long while he said, "Aunt, can you lend me 10 million taels of silver?"

Hearing this, Li Yunrui couldn't help but sigh and said, "Have you asked the leader of Dark River about the price for assassinating Li Chengze?"

Li Chengqian lowered his head silently.

"You should know that Li Chengze was deliberately promoted by His Majesty to limit your power as the Crown Prince. Without Li Chengze, there will be others." Li Yunrui advised.

"I know, but the second brother has been more active recently. He has no shame in trying to win the position of the Privy Council and is clearly trying to compete with me!" Li Chengqian said unwillingly. "As the crown prince, if you sit in that position, you will have to face the challenge of all your brothers." Li Yunrui said:
"A killer organization alone cannot help you sit on the throne."

"Nephew knows." Li Chengqian sighed.

Li Chengqian stayed with Li Yunrui for a while and then returned to his own East Palace. After all, there were many gossips in the palace, and it would not be good if any gossip reached the ears of Emperor Qing.

After Li Chengqian left, Li Yunrui's maid came over and whispered in her ear: "Princess, the Second Prince sent someone to tell you that he wants to see you."

Li Yunrui raised his lips slightly and said, "Does he have no money to win over his ministers again?"

The maid said: "We conspired with the Second Prince to smuggle Northern Qi, and the second payment of this year's revenue was delayed by a month and was not given to the Second Prince."

Li Yunrui sneered: "If we delay for another ten days, we will say that Northern Qi has strengthened its border defenses and it will take time for us to smuggle our goods over."

"Yes."

"Is there no news from Prime Minister Lin yet?" Li Yunrui suddenly remembered something and said, "His second son just died, so he should be preparing for the funeral. Send someone to send some money over, saying it's a small token of my appreciation."

The maid said in embarrassment: "His Majesty sent someone to ask for money a few days ago, saying that he wanted to expand the inner palace guards, and we don't have enough money in our account."

Li Yunrui was surprised and asked, "Didn't we have a surplus of three million taels last month?"

"You forgot that ten days ago you gave the prince one million taels to pay the bill for Anhe."

"These barbarians are asking for more and more money. It's just Qin Ye, a ninth-rank official, but they want one million taels to kill him." Li Yunrui said dissatisfiedly:
"Go to Wang's Cloth Shop. I want to kill someone."

The maid bowed and came to Li Yunrui, taking a piece of paper with the name "Fan Xian" written on it.

"Your Highness, the last time Dark River offered a price, it was 10 million taels!"

Li Yunrui said coldly: "Notify the Jiangnan Ming family that I need silver and ask them to send some up?"

"The Ming family sent a letter a few days ago saying that the harvest in Jiangnan has decreased by 30% recently, and they hope to reduce some of the tributes." said the maid.

Li Yunrui glanced at the maid coldly and snorted: "How much money did you receive from the Ming family to speak for them!"

The maid knelt down and kowtowed in fear and said, "I dare not, I have never accepted money from the Ming family."

"Hmph, hmph, don't think that I don't know anything because I've lived in the palace for so long. I know exactly how much money the Ming family has made from the barbarians on the grasslands in the past few years. It's time to tell them!" Li Yunrui said lazily.
"If I can help one Ming family rise, I can help another one."

The maid shivered, feeling a chill in her heart, and quickly bowed and left, heading for Wang's cloth shop, not daring to slack off for a moment.

After Wang Gang received Li Yunrui's "order", he burned the note directly in front of the maid.

"Go back and tell the princess that Anhe has accepted this order. Fan Xian will be dead within ten days. However, half of the deposit must be paid first."

"There wasn't such a rule before!" The maid didn't dare to breathe in front of Li Yunrui, but she stood up straight in front of Wang Gang, looking arrogant.

"Fan Xian is not an ordinary person. Behind him are the Si Nan Hou Mansion and the Inspection Institute. It is easy to kill him, but it is too difficult to escape unscathed in Kyoto. So I want half of the deposit as a resettlement fee for the killer." Wang Gang said.

"Five million taels is too much." The maid said coldly, "What if you can't complete the task?"

Wang Gang said confidently, "There is no one that Dark River cannot kill. If Fan Xian survives, I will return the deposit three times as much."

The maid frowned and said, "A deposit of one million taels, plus five hundred thousand dan of grain, to be paid in three days, okay?"

Wang Gang shook his head and said, "Since the princess is not sincere, please go back, maid sister!"

The maid was furious and said in a cold voice: "Manager Wang, don't forget who has been taking care of the Dark River business all these years. If you offend the princess, you can forget about staying in Qing Kingdom."

Wang Gang laughed and said, "Sister maid, please go back."

The maid didn't expect Wang Gang to be so disrespectful to her. She was about to get angry and grit her teeth.

Wang Gang glanced at her coldly with a bad expression, and the maid suddenly felt like she was hit by a heavy hammer in the chest, and a trace of blood flowed from the corner of her mouth.

The maid didn't dare to stay in Wang's cloth shop any longer, and hurried back to the palace to tell Li Yunrui about it.

Li Yunrui finally said coldly: "Give him five million taels, but I want to see Fan Xian's body in person!"