I am Li Shen and Li Shimin, the free kings of the Tang Dynasty

Li Shen looked down at Wang Hongfu who kept kowtowing, and could fully feel Wang Hongfu's regret.

"I would like to thank His Royal Highness Prince Ji and His Royal Highness the Princess for their gifts on behalf of my daughter."

Wang Hongfu kowtowed solemnly to Li Shen.

He had not thought that His Royal Highness Prince Ji would take such a trivial matter as his daughter's marriage so seriously, and Princess Ji even personally selected a dowry for her.

What a great honor this is.

With Wang Hongfu's current wealth, what dowry could he not afford? How could it be shabby?

The dowry given by Prince Ji's Mansion was to tell the husband's family that this was Prince Ji's daughter and they should not be bullied.

It is to show the attitude of Prince Ji's Mansion to outsiders and support his daughter.

How could this not move him?

Although his children were no longer slaves, they were still from a merchant family. If they were not the head manager of Prince Ji's mansion, who would look down on them?

"Okay, go away." Li Shen waved his hand.

Wang Hongfu stood up, bowed and left.

Seeing Wang Hongfu go out, Li Shen muttered:

"I am so angry."

"Your Majesty, don't be angry. Shopkeeper Wang just made a slip of the tongue. He is absolutely loyal to you.

Especially after this incident, Manager Wang has become even more loyal to the prince."

Wang Xuance smiled and comforted him. He saw it clearly from the side. He couldn't help but sigh in his heart that King Ji's method was still so clever.

He really looks a bit like His Majesty, worthy of being a prince.

"Okay, let's not talk about him for now. Rengui, how are things going at the research institute?"

"Your Highness, the cleanup has been completed. A total of seventeen people died and more than forty were injured.

The dead were from Groups 1 and 2. There were 21 wounded in both groups, several of whom were seriously injured.

Doctor Sun doesn't know whether he can survive." Xue Rengui reported.

"Alas, what a heavy loss! What a heavy loss!"

Hearing this result, Li Shen beat his chest and stamped his feet, feeling extremely sad. Seventeen researchers, whom he had trained for so many years.

Li Shen felt sad that so much manpower and resources had been spent to train these talents, but they were gone just like that.

"Your Highness, please accept my condolences. This was also an accident and it is beyond human control," Wang Xuance comforted.

He knew that Prince Ji's Mansion attached great importance to the research institute.

“No, this is actually my negligence. I didn’t make the rules.

It's my fault." Li Shen began to reflect on himself.

"Hey? By the way, Wang Hongfu hasn't told me about the aftermath yet. Is Wang Hongfu only concerned about his daughter's marriage?

This bastard." Li Shen suddenly remembered that there were still some things to deal with.

"Haha, Your Majesty, Shopkeeper Wang has finally found a good marriage this time."

Speaking of this, Wang Xuance laughed.

"Oh? Tell me about it." Li Shen was a little curious.

"Your Majesty, the second wife of Shopkeeper Wang married a scholar who just passed the imperial examination last year and has a good family background.

It is the Gu family, one of the four major families in Wu County, Jiangnan.

It can be said that he comes from a prominent family and a family of scholars.

The young master of the Gu family passed the imperial examination and will probably be appointed as an official in the next two years. The second lady will also be considered to be in an official family."

"Oh? There is such a good thing? Can the Gu family take a fancy to him, Wang Hongfu?"

Li Shen was a little surprised when he heard what Wang Xuance said.

The Jiangnan gentry are the four major families of Zhu, Lu, Zhang and Gu in Wu County. They have been passed down for hundreds of years and have a profound heritage. They are also scholarly families. How could they be interested in Wang Hongfu, a lowly merchant?

"Your Majesty, it's a branch of the Gu family, but they also come from a famous family. Manager Wang is marrying up." Wang Xuance explained.

"Oh~~ I see." Li Shen suddenly realized, and then was stunned:

"What do you mean by marrying up? It's his Gu family that's marrying up. Not to mention that he's just a small branch of the Gu family, what if he's the main family of the Gu family?

How can a married daughter of Prince Ji be lower than them?

He dared to look down on my Ji Palace and wipe out his entire Gu family.

Xuan Ce, don't always boost others' prestige and destroy your own spirit."

"Yes, yes, I was wrong. Please forgive me, Your Majesty." Seeing that Prince Ji was anxious, Wang Xuance quickly apologized.

He knew that Prince Ji was protective of his people and was very concerned about his reputation, so people from Prince Ji's mansion had to be treated as superior to others when they went out.

Otherwise, Prince Ji would feel that his own palace is inferior to others.

Even the dog in Prince Ji’s mansion is more noble than those outside.

"Well, Xuan Ce, you should be more confident. When you go out, you represent the Ji Palace and the reputation of this prince.

Don't show too much weakness.

Don't be afraid of them when you go to the court to do business, and show the power of the Ji Palace.

If anyone doesn't accept it, I'll beat him.

From the prime minister to the minor official, even those two people like Li Tai and Li Zhi don’t matter.

If you lose, I will personally stand up for you and kill them.

I have never been afraid of anyone in this court, just remember not to embarrass me."

Li Shen began to brainwash Wang Xuance again. He didn't care how many people he offended.

In fact, the more people he offends, the safer he is.

If you don't agree, just fight. This is what his father wants to see.

"Yes, I will follow your instructions, Your Highness." Wang Xuance quickly agreed, but he was helpless in his heart. This was too barbaric.

“Oh, by the way, I have one more thing I wanted to ask Wang Hongfu to do, but since he is going to marry his daughter, he doesn’t have to do it.

Go to various places in the south and investigate whether there is a crop that looks similar to bamboo but is solid.

The flesh inside is sweet and refreshing, and the skin may be green, and may turn purple-black when ripe.”

Li Shen described what he wanted to find. He wanted to make sugar. He had forgotten about it because of something he was delayed with some things some time ago.

After listening to Li Shen's description, Wang Xuance thought for a moment and said:

"Is the Kunlun sugarcane that the prince is talking about?"

"Kunlun sugarcane?" Li Shen was stunned. There was a word "sugarcane", but he was not sure whether it was it.

Li Shen felt that his description might not be adequate, so he got off the bed, walked to the desk, picked up a pen and started drawing.

"Look, it looks like this, almost like bamboo."

Li Shen picked up the drawn paper and showed it to Wang Xuance and Xue Rengui.

"Your Highness, this is Kunlun sugarcane." Wang Xuance took a look and immediately replied affirmatively.

"What? You said this is called Kunlun sugarcane?" But he soon understood. Kunlun, many things from outside are called Kunlun.

"Your Highness, this Kunlun sugarcane is a tribute. Every year Guangzhou Prefecture pays tribute to the palace."

"What? Tribute? Why doesn't my Ji Palace have any?"

As soon as Li Shen said this, the atmosphere immediately became a little awkward, and Wang Xuance looked at Li Shen helplessly.

The meaning is very clear. Do you want to listen to what you are saying? The local area can still pay tribute to the Prince Ji's Mansion. Is this a rebellion or a desire to establish oneself as king?

Li Shen just reacted and continued:

"What I mean is, why have I never received any reward? And I haven't seen any in the palace either."

"Your Majesty, I don't know about this. Maybe it's too rare to share?"

(I got the flu. It happened very quickly. In the morning, I just had a sore throat, but in the evening, I started to have a runny nose, cough, and body aches.

Dear book lovers, please don’t stay up late, as it will greatly reduce your physical fitness.

Young people, listen to the advice from those who have experienced it, it is your life that you are enduring.

Don’t listen to what they say online that staying up late is your own time. Bullshit. It costs your life and is not worth it.

祝大家身体健康，点点催更啊。2025年2月20日04:32:54）