Do you know: I am the crown prince

Chapter 101: The Butcher's Knife Is Hard to Open
"So he is the Liao prince's man?" Sheng Wei asked in surprise.

"That only works if what he says is true." Fang Zhongrong said.

"If he is really a Liao prince's man, then we can't agree to it. How could a prince exchange a large number of horses for wine?" Sheng Wei shook his head.

Fang Zhongrong knew that Sheng Wei thought that the princes of Liao were the same as the princes of Song Dynasty, without any rights, and said, "If he is really the King Qin of Liao, he can really provide a large number of war horses."

As he said this, he told Sheng Wei about the situation of the King of Qin.

The King of Qin and the current Emperor of Liao are brothers from the same mother and is the youngest son of the late Emperor of Liao.

After the death of the first Liao emperor, their biological mother, who was also the queen at the time, wanted to support the young King of Qin to succeed to the throne so that it would be easier for her to take power.

However, the King of Qin told the current Emperor of Liao about this matter, which led to the Queen being deposed.

Afterwards, the King of Qin was named Crown Prince, and the Emperor of Liao also trusted him very much.

"Then how could he sell out the interests of the Liao Kingdom?" Sheng Wei frowned.

"I don't know about that." Fang Zhongrong shook his head and said, "I'm just telling you what I know. The specific decision is up to you."

"Wait for the others first and see their conditions." Sheng Wei said.

However, after waiting for more than an hour, none of the merchants came except Li Ge.

"I now believe that he is the King Qin's man." Sheng Wei said with a wry smile.

It doesn't make sense that Li Ge could come but the others didn't.

The only possibility is that those people are afraid of Li Ge, or have been told by Li Ge, so they dare not come.

No matter which possibility it is, it proves that Li Ge has a strong background.

"What should we do now?" Fang Zhongrong asked.

"No rush. His Highness said that these wines were originally bait. As long as they can flow into the Liao Kingdom, it doesn't matter who they are sold to." Sheng Wei said.

He didn't want to sell it to one person in order to prepare for future transactions.

If it is sold to only one person, it will not be conducive to subsequent negotiations.

But now that Li Ge has happened, it’s okay to sell it to him.

As long as the wine is liked by the Liao nobles, those Liao merchants will naturally come to it like a cat smelling blood.

Having made the decision, Sheng Wei didn't wait any longer and let Fang Zhongrong go back to rest.

The next day, Sheng Wei did not take the initiative to look for Li Ge, but stayed in the inn and waited patiently.

If he took the initiative to approach him, Li Ge would definitely take the opportunity to lower the price.

What the two are competing for now is patience. Whoever takes the initiative first will have the upper hand.

Li Ge was also very patient and did not visit again for the entire day.

Sheng Wei simply asked people to pack up and pretend to leave.

Now Li Ge couldn't sit still anymore, and came to the inn when Sheng Wei left.

"Brother Sheng, I've been waiting for your news. Why are you leaving without even saying goodbye?" Li Ge said with a smile.

"Haha, I think the merchants from Liao Kingdom don't seem to be interested in this wine. I plan to ship it to Xixia to try it out." Sheng Wei said with a smile.

"Brother Sheng, I've already told you that I'm very interested in this wine. If possible, we can trade it for horses this time." Li Ge said.

"Since you are so sincere, let's sit down and talk in detail."

Sheng Wei invited Li Ge into the inn and asked someone to open a new room.

"I wonder how Brother Li plans to trade?" Sheng Wei asked.

"Now an ordinary war horse costs fifty-five taels each. How about exchanging one horse for one pound of wine?" Li Ge said.

"One horse for one pound of wine is fine, but I want a top-quality horse." Sheng Wei said. "Impossible!" Li Ge said with an unpleasant face, "A top-quality horse can be sold for more than 100 taels of silver. If Brother Sheng is not sincere, then there is no need to talk."

Ordinary war horses can only be used as light cavalry, but superior war horses can be used by heavy cavalry.

The Liao Kingdom had a limited number of such war horses, and those sold to the Song Dynasty each year were even rarer.

"Brother Li, don't worry. I didn't say one pound of wine for a top-quality horse. I can exchange four pounds of wine for one. But I don't want a castrated one, only a stallion." Sheng Wei said.

The war horses sold by the Liao people to the Song Dynasty were all castrated.

This is because castrated horses are more docile and easier to control.

In addition, he also did not want the Song Dynasty to obtain stallions and breed a large number of war horses.

"I can't make the decision on this. I need to ask for permission. This time I can only trade with ordinary war horses." Li Ge said.

"In that case, let's trade with ordinary war horses this time. I brought more than a thousand kilograms of wine this time. I wonder when the transaction can be completed?" Sheng Wei asked.

He just said that just to test it out. Li Ge didn't refuse directly, which means there will still be opportunities in the future.

"Three days." Li Ge thought for a moment and said, "I need three days to get the horses here!"

"Okay, then let's do the transaction in three days." Sheng Wei said.

……

Bianjing
After more than a month of investigation, the case of the burning of disaster-stricken grain in Shezhou that year was finally solved.

A large amount of evidence was also found that Feng Deguang accepted bribes and manipulated the promotion of officials.

The government directly ordered a raid on Feng Deguang's house. The silver and various treasures seized were worth more than one million taels of silver, not to mention the Feng family's several houses and large amounts of land. It was truly shocking.

In addition, an account book was also found, which recorded in detail the officials who had given gifts to Feng Deguang over the years.

In addition to officials from the capital, there were also many local officials, and the total number exceeded two hundred.

The highest official among them is the current Chief Justice of the Dali Temple.

There are too many people involved and it is difficult for the authorities to investigate further.

However, this incident also made the usually benevolent emperor want to kill Feng Deguang. He was furious and ordered Feng Deguang to be sentenced to death and his family to be confiscated by the Music Bureau.

However, when the emperor said this, all the civil servants in the court were shocked, including the prime minister Han Zhang, who came forward to plead for him.

Some said that Feng Deguang was a censor and could not be killed.

Others said that ancestral rules stipulated that scholars and officials could not be killed.

In short, there are all kinds of comments, but there is only one purpose: Feng Deguang cannot be killed.

For these officials, whether Feng Deguang lived or died had nothing to do with them. Even if Feng Deguang died on the way to exile, no one would shed a tear for it.

But we must never allow the government to start killing people.

Once the government starts killing people, if they slip up in the future, one of them might be the one to die.

Even those who claim to be loyal and honest have their own selfish desires.

The government’s knife may not fall on their heads, but what about their descendants?
As long as the government does not start killing people, this will be the true ancestral rule for future emperors.

Because the opposition was too great, the emperor was somewhat shaken. Although he did not agree not to kill, he did not issue the imperial edict.

After the court was dismissed, the news quickly spread throughout Bianliang.

Many students from the Imperial College came together to sit in silence outside the palace and plead for mercy for Feng Deguang.

After Zhao Xing received the news, he immediately ordered someone to prepare a car and head to the palace.

(End of this chapter)