“Travel permit?.”
In the imperial study, Li Kaiyuan nodded repeatedly in agreement.
With a bitter expression, Li Kaiyuan continued, “Your Majesty, these merchants indeed cannot be indulged too much. Merchants seek profit, and some unscrupulous ones dare to do anything. I believe this travel permit system should be used to rectify some ill-intentioned merchants.”
“Ill-intentioned merchants?” Xiao Ming smiled, “Are you referring to the Cao family?”
Li Kaiyuan seemed to have endured the Cao family for a long time. At this moment, his resentment seemed to burst forth. “Your Majesty, it’s that Cao family! Now, Cao Zhengyang actually wants to gather over a hundred merchants to establish a trading company. This is clearly a challenge to the Chamber of Commerce.”
“Li San has already informed me of this matter,” Xiao Ming said calmly.
Seeing Xiao Ming’s composed expression, he said, “Your Majesty, Cao Zhengyang’s actions are ill-intentioned. Does the imperial court still have to tolerate him?”
Xiao Ming’s gaze grew somewhat grim. He then rose and looked at the blooming peach blossoms outside the window. He said, “Cao Zhengyang’s actions do not appear to violate the Great Yu Empire’s laws. If he has not violated the law, how can he be punished?”
Li Kaiyuan was stunned for a moment. He said, “As long as Your Majesty gives the word…” At this, Li Kaiyuan trailed off.
Xiao Ming smiled upon seeing this. “You mean I can kill arbitrarily? If that’s the case, how would all the civil and military officials, merchants, and common people view me?”
Li Kaiyuan scratched his head. He said, “Indeed, such an act would cause widespread panic.”
“Exactly. There’s no need for killing. It’s easy for me to ruin the Cao family. I know the Cao family better than you, and I also know that the Cao family is now honored as guests by the Prince of Chu. However, for me, now is not the time to deal with the Cao family. This pig is not yet fat enough,” Xiao Ming said very calmly.
The Cao family was financially powerful. Under his rule, they had established seven mines, three textile workshops, and a maritime fleet. The Cao Family Bank was even more renowned.
He was not moving against the Cao family now, partly because he wanted the Cao family to establish more workshops in the six prefectures, and partly because Li San had discovered that the Cao family seemed to have dealings with missionaries, which made him extremely vigilant.
Because he knew very well that the missionaries of this era played a far from simple role. Therefore, he planned to “give them rope to hang themselves,” waiting for Li San to collect all the evidence before wiping out the Cao family.
At that time, merchants would understand that while he gave them things, he could also take them back. It was fine to conduct business peacefully, but some things were best not to contemplate.
After explaining his thoughts to Li Kaiyuan, Li Kaiyuan felt relieved.
Having said this, Xiao Ming continued, “However, even if we don’t rectify the Cao family now, we can appropriately suppress them in trade, lest they mess up the commerce of Qingzhou Province.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. This time, I will support the merchants of the six prefectures and tighten the reins on people like Cao Zhengyang, lest they become too arrogant,” Li Kaiyuan said.
Xiao Ming nodded. This was his purpose in having Li Kaiyuan come. Overall, he wanted to maintain a “struggle without breaking” relationship with the merchants led by Cao Zhengyang. This way, he could give them some lessons without affecting the development of industry and commerce in the six prefectures.
After seeing off Li Kaiyuan, a spring thunder suddenly boomed outside, and a light drizzle began to fall from the overcast sky.
In the blink of an eye, Qingzhou Province transitioned from winter to spring.
Qian Dafu then held an umbrella for Xiao Ming, and the two returned from the imperial study to the bedchamber.
In the bedchamber at this time, Lu Luo was pacing, holding the crying Xiao Yi. Ziyuan and Fei Yuer sat on chairs, chatting and laughing while watching Lu Luo holding Xiao Yi.
“Everyone’s here today.”
Before even reaching the bedchamber, Xiao Ming chuckled. He rarely saw the three of them playing together.
However, when he entered the bedchamber, he discovered that Cui Xue’er was also sitting behind the door.
“Your Majesty.”
Seeing Xiao Ming, four crisp voices rang out. Cui Xue’er, having entered the palace late, seemed a bit uncomfortable, her face flushing.
Lu Luo and Ziyuan, since being bestowed the title of “Lady,” had become even closer to Xiao Ming than before. After all, they had become Xiao Ming’s concubines in practice.
However, both were very aware of their place. They never gossiped or sought favor, and never spoke ill of anyone in front of him.
This greatly pleased Xiao Ming.
In this era, sometimes he had no choice, but since it was a fait accompli, he could only accept his own inner court.
Entering the bedchamber, Lu Luo proactively brought Xiao Yi to Xiao Ming. At this moment, the rosy-cheeked Xiao Yi was looking at him with wide eyes, his pure gaze free of any impurities.
Seeing Xiao Ming, the little fellow stretched his tiny legs and arms, smiling, and drool poured out. Lu Luo, seeing this, immediately took a handkerchief to wipe it.
Looking at his son, Xiao Ming felt a warmth in his heart. An emperor was also human, with his own emotions and desires. Now, he suddenly understood Xiao Wenxuan somewhat.
They were all his sons. Although he had his favorites, he also did not wish to see them fight each other.
Xiao Yi was his first son, and would not be his last. He did not want to see his sons continue to fight for the throne.
So he secretly made a decision, a decision that would not allow the feudal dynasty to continue its cycle.
“Your Majesty, what are you thinking about?” Fei Yuer suddenly asked, seeing Xiao Ming in a daze.
Snapping back to reality, Xiao Ming smiled, “Just some state affairs.” After a pause, he continued, “Oh, by the way, why are all of you in this bedchamber today?”
Fei Yuer said, “It’s always a bit boring being cooped up in the temporary palace all day, so I had them come over to chat.”
Xiao Ming nodded. At this point, he suddenly remembered that he seemed to have never added any entertainment to this era since coming to the Great Yu Empire.
Now that Fei Yuer mentioned it, he suddenly felt that he should introduce some entertainment activities. After all, industry and commerce needed to develop, and culture and entertainment also needed to develop, so that they could complement each other.
Moreover, a few days ago, Yang Chengye reported that foreign merchants in Dengzhou often gathered in Dengzhou City to gamble, which also touched him somewhat.
The silver of these foreign merchants was free money to be earned. If he introduced some novel games, it would surely attract more merchants to Dengzhou to have fun.
After all, gambling was not illegal in this era. Rather than letting private individuals haphazardly open gambling dens, it was better to have the prefectural office standardize them.
Thinking of this, he said to Fei Yuer, “If that’s the case, I will give you something interesting, which will guarantee that you won’t be bored for a while.”
“Really? If so, I must see it,” Fei Yuer smiled.
Ziyuan said, “His Majesty is probably exaggerating. Over the years, we haven’t seen His Majesty teach us anything fun.”
The novel has already been fully translated up to the final chapter. You can access it on my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/c/caleredhair