The Great Tang, Shenyang City.
Inside the Prefect's mansion, Li Shimin sat in the main seat without contention, Fang Er sat to his left, and Liu Dacheng stood by, hunched over.
Lai Yifa brought a group of civilians in from outside, old and young, men and women.
"Your Majesty, these are the ones I found in the city."
"Explain the situation." Li Shimin shot Fang Er a displeased glare.
This brat, to refuse the marriage between Fang Xin and Gaoyang, actually had people find so many civilians!
Fang Er remained silent, he had already seen that among the people Lai Zi brought over, two children were clearly intellectually impaired.
"Your subject pays his respects to Your Majesty!"
"Quick, kowtow to His Majesty!"
The group of civilians never imagined they would have an audience with the Emperor, and they were all extremely nervous. An old man even forcefully pushed the child he brought to kowtow.
"Rise!" "Just tell me about your situation!"
Li Shimin waved his hand to stop them.
After everyone stood straight, Lai Yifa casually pointed to one person, "You first."
From the crowd, a man in his thirties stammered.
"Your subject lives in the Drum Alley in the city. My wife is my aunt's cousin."
"A few years ago, the family was poor and couldn't afford a wife, so they exchanged my sister for my aunt's family's bride."
"My sister married my aunt's eldest cousin, and my aunt's cousin married me."
"After marriage, we had a total of four children. The eldest died of illness at the age of three, and the third starved to death five years ago."
"My elder cousin and my sister's family had three children. Although they all survived, the youngest is a bit slow."
"What do you mean by 'slow'?"
After he finished speaking, Li Shimin raised an eyebrow and asked.
"Replying to Your Majesty, 'slow' means their minds aren't very sharp." Lai Yifa answered from the side.
"Let the others continue." Li Shimin casually picked up a stainless steel teacup and took a sip of goji berry water.
Lai Yifa pointed to another man, "Tell me about your family's situation."
The man quickly walked out of the crowd, bowed to Li Shimin, Fang Er, and Liu Dacheng, and then recounted his family's story.
"Replying to Your Majesty and the esteemed officials, my aunt's family all died in the war years ago, leaving only a cousin."
"My father adopted my cousin and she became my child bride."
"A few years ago, the family was poor and only had two children. Since the Duke arrived these past two years, the family has not lacked food."
"With grain in the缸, there's no panic in the heart, so we had two more children."
"The eldest, second, and fourth are all fine, but the third sometimes has spasms. The doctor says it's epilepsy and it can't be cured."
Fang Er, sipping his tea with a detached air, gave Lai Yifa a thumbs-up in his heart.
These people were all deliberately found. Otherwise, how could every family's children have problems?
Later, when the other civilians spoke of their situations, they were mostly similar, either cousins from the paternal or maternal side.
However, their descendants all had some issues, such as premature death, congenital diseases, or intellectual problems.
With so many living examples presented, Li Shimin had no choice but to abandon the idea of betrothing Gaoyang to Fang Xin. After leaving the Prefect's mansion, he immediately urged Fang Er to send people back to Chang'an to fetch them.
Fang Er responded with a wry smile.
"Your Majesty, Zhang Tian left by airplane early this morning."
"Did you remember to have Zhi'er and Changle brought along as well?"
"Rest assured, Your Majesty, it has all been arranged."
"Good, good. When I was in the palace, Changle often mentioned you, saying she misses her cousin-brother-in-law."
As Li Shimin spoke, his tone shifted.
"If you can't be in-laws, then be my son-in-law. Hehehehe."
Fang Er feigned ignorance and did not expose him. This Emperor was rushing headlong into finding a son-in-law, and there was no way to pull him back.
Besides, Changle was still young, only nine years old. Perhaps in a few years, he would change his mind.
The two of them, accompanied by guards, strolled to the market, and seeing the bustling scene inside, Li Shimin nodded with great satisfaction.
"How much tax revenue is collected here in a year?"
"Replying to Your Majesty, last year a total of three hundred and seventy thousand guan was collected. This year, with only half the year passed, over one million four hundred thousand guan has already been collected."
Upon hearing his question about tax revenue, Liu Dacheng quickly squeezed in from outside the guards and replied.
Li Shimin looked at him in bewilderment, "When did my dear Liu follow me?"
Liu Dacheng: ...
Alright, I shouldn't have come out. I should have just stayed by your side as an invisible person.
However, in the next moment, Li Shimin came to his senses.
"Damn it! You mean, over one million four hundred thousand guan has been collected so far this year?"
It wasn't surprising, given how much tax revenue the Great Tang collected in a year!
The tax revenue from Shenyang alone was nearly ten percent of the national income from the previous year!
Liu Dacheng, seeing Li Shimin questioning him so shocked, felt a flicker of joy amidst his recent disappointment.
"Replying to Your Majesty, it is indeed over one million four hundred thousand guan. And we must thank Duke Fang. If he hadn't set an example, it's unlikely so much would have been collected."
"The industries under the Duke alone voluntarily pay tens of thousands of guan in taxes each month. I can't refuse it."
Upon hearing this, Li Shimin not only did not praise him but directly scolded him.
"Why wouldn't you accept? What kind of Prefect are you! You don't even want tax money that's being offered? Are you trying to pocket it yourself?"
"Where are the Hundred Riders?"
"Here!"
"Investigate for me! Investigate Liu Dacheng's assets, investigate his bank accounts!"
"As you command!"
The Melon King, who appeared from nowhere, bowed to Li Shimin, smiled at Liu Dacheng, and then turned to leave.
Old Liu was stunned.
"Damn it, I just wanted to flatter the Duke in front of the Emperor, how did this get me into trouble?"
"Hahahaha, Old Liu, don't be afraid. It's just a formality. An investigation is good for everyone,"
Fang Er saw his dejected look and took the initiative to comfort him.
He wouldn't dare to embezzle, not with a hundred times the courage. This was Shenyang, after all.
Let alone the Hundred Riders, even the Eastern Depot was constantly monitoring him.
Voluntarily paying taxes was to set an example for other businesses, but it didn't mean he was truly unaware of where the tax money was going.
After this small interlude, Liu Dacheng once again transformed into an invincible transparent person, trailing at the back of the group. Unless Li Shimin explicitly called on him, he remained silent for the rest of the time.
Looking at the merchants in the market riding bicycles and deliberately ringing their bells with a "ding-dong" sound, Li Shimin patted Fang Er's shoulder and laughed.
"Get me one to ride?"
"That's easy!" Fang Er waved to Lai Yifa, asking him to fetch two "er ba gang" (a type of bicycle) directly from Ma Fei.
"Hmm, this thing also has another name, called a 'big chain box'."
Li Shimin had ridden a small "curved beam" bicycle before, but he hadn't ridden this newly released "er ba gang". However, this did not stump the great Emperor Taizong.
Following Fang Er's example, he swung his leg over and rode it.
At that moment, the view under his open-crotch pants captivated countless passing women.