Chapter Ninety-Three: Everything Was Ready

“Are you ready yet?”

After a brief moment of distraction, Li Zhi seemed suddenly impatient.

“There’s nothing to prepare!”

“Then let’s go!”

Li Zhi took Luo Tong and the Gold Blade Guards and rode in a carriage to the Ministry of Revenue.

At noon, the sun blazed overhead, and the weather was somewhat stifling. The carriage came to a stop before the ministry gate.

“Your Highness...”

“This damned weather is sweltering.” Li Zhi climbed out of the carriage and fanned himself with his sleeves.

Two stone lions stood before the Ministry of Revenue, and from afar they looked imposing and fierce. Even the sentries held themselves upright and solemn, their faces stern with righteousness. They were nothing like the two miserable lackeys of the Lin family, who only knew how to sneer at people weaker than themselves.

“Luo Tong...” Li Zhi gave him a meaningful glance.

Luo Tong understood at once and went forward to speak with the guards.

When Tang Jian, the Minister of Revenue, heard that Li Zhi had come to visit, he hurried out to greet him. More than a dozen officials accompanied him, making the reception exceedingly grand.

“This...” Li Zhi was taken aback by the display. He was merely a prince, with no imperial order in hand. Was it really necessary for Tang Jian to receive him with such ceremony?

“Your Highness, please come in!”

“No need for such formalities, Minister. I’m just here to take a casual look around.” Li Zhi sized Tang Jian up. Though over seventy, the man was still hale and vigorous, shrewd and capable, with the air of a thoroughly upright official.

“Little Highness, has the Emperor given any instructions?” Tang Jian asked.

“Didn’t I just say so? I’m only here to wander about. No serious business at all! Father doesn’t even know I’ve come to the Ministry of Revenue, so there’s no need for you to treat this so seriously.”

“Not at all, not at all... For the little Highness to come inspect my ministry is the honor of my Ministry of Revenue. Little Highness, I have prepared some pastries in the sitting room. Would you care to taste them?”

“Certainly.”

Li Zhi took him by the sleeve and walked in with him.

Once they reached the sitting room, Li Zhi changed the subject. “Minister, I’d like to ask you something. Suppose I needed a tract of farmland—what would I have to do? Would I buy it with money?”

“Your Highness is joking...”

“I’m not joking! This prince truly needs a piece of land, and the bigger the better. I hope the Minister will teach me.”

What did Li Zhi want the land for? Tang Jian could not make sense of it.

“Little Highness, you may go outside the city and take a look. Most farmland is in the hands of the great clans; you could buy from them.”

“But I have no money. I’d like to get several hundred mu of farmland for nothing, by sheer cleverness. Minister, why don’t you help me think of a way?” Li Zhi said with an expression of pure innocence.

Luo Tong, standing nearby, nearly laughed out loud.

Tang Jian’s face twitched several times. He could tell...

This brat of a prince had come to make sport of him.

“Ahem! Little Highness, I’m afraid you are not really here for land, are you? You’ve come to make trouble for this minister?”

“Why would the Minister say that? I do truly need land, but I have no money, so I came to ask you for help. Let me put it plainly: if I don’t get the deed today, I’m not leaving. Luo Tong, go back and tell Father that I’ve been bullied at the Ministry of Revenue, that Minister Tang won’t let me return to the palace, and that Father should come fetch me!”

As he spoke, Li Zhi flopped onto the floor, looking every inch the rogue.

“All right.”

Without another word, Luo Tong turned and walked away.

Seeing this, Tang Jian hurried to stop him. “No, no, no... Little Highness, let us discuss this further?”

“Then let’s discuss it.”

Li Zhi smiled faintly.

Tang Jian exhausted every means he could think of to send Li Zhi away, yet none of them worked. Only then did he realize that the Prince of Jin before him was by no means as simple as a three-year-old child. He might be only three in years, but his mind was no less keen than that of an adult.

Even he would have to handle this child with care.

“Little Highness, the Ministry of Revenue does indeed have some land that has not yet been allocated—official farmland. But without the Emperor’s decree, I dare not make such a decision on my own. Even if Your Highness were to remain in the ministry for a year, I still would not dare do such a thing. I hope Your Highness will forgive me.”

“Is there really no way at all?”

Tang Jian shook his head.

Anything that touched upon the law, he would sooner die than do.

Luo Tong leaned close to Li Zhi’s ear and said softly, “Your Highness... I don’t think Minister Tang truly has any means. Pressing him further would be useless. Why not think of another way? With our resources, are we really afraid we can’t buy land?”

“No.”

Li Zhi knew the price of land in the Great Tang. It was not exorbitant, but it was not cheap either. To buy in bulk would absolutely cost a staggering fortune. Now that he was locked in struggle with the great clans, he needed abundant funds; every coin saved mattered, and none could be wasted.

After a stalemate for a time, Tang Jian still remained obstinately unmoved, like a dead pig that feared nothing from boiling water. No matter how Li Zhi threatened or coaxed him, he would not give an inch.

“Well played.”

“Luo Tong... let’s go.”

Tang Jian was not the sort of man Longsun Wuji was—smooth and slippery. Once he made up his mind, he rarely changed it. Moreover, he was upright by nature and would not commit unlawful or disorderly acts. To get free land from him would be harder than reaching the heavens.

Li Zhi had no choice but to give up.

“How strange. Such an upright man—how did he come to lose his integrity in his later years and be demoted by Li Shimin?” Li Zhi muttered to himself.

“The Ministry of Revenue won’t help us. If we want land, this is going to be difficult. Still, I’ve just thought of an idea. If Your Highness can make it happen, then the land problem will no longer be a problem at all.”

Just as Li Zhi had returned to the carriage and poked his head out, he asked, “What did you say? You have a way?”

“Mm.” Luo Tong said, “As long as Your Highness can persuade the Emperor to let you train in some county, wouldn’t all the land within a hundred miles be under your control?”

“Excellent idea!”

Li Zhi’s eyes lit up as though the clouds had parted and the sky had cleared.

“An excellent idea... If I go to a county to train and serve as county magistrate for a while, then so long as I pay the court’s taxes on time, everything else will be mine to decide. By then, whatever I want to plant, I can plant, and I’ll have labor to spare!”

“Hahaha...”

“Hurry and drive. I’m going to see Father!”

“Yes!” Luo Tong leapt onto the carriage and lashed the reins hard. “Move!”

The sudden inspiration gave Li Zhi a clear direction.

If he wanted to stockpile enough grain, he would need a very large expanse of land to grow sweet potatoes. Several months ago, by way of the system, he had obtained a hundred catties of sweet potatoes. After several rounds of replanting, they had increased to fifteen hundred catties.

To continue cultivating them, he would need to expand the acreage.

“A county... more than enough!” Overcome with delight, Li Zhi was so excited his hands trembled.

“Father, Father...”

In the Imperial Study, Li Shimin was still occupied with state affairs when Li Zhi forced his way in.

“Father, your son wants to be county magistrate. Please let your son be county magistrate!”

“What?”

Li Shimin set aside the memorial he had finished reviewing and looked up, thinking he had heard wrong. “You want to be county magistrate? Why? There should be a reason for this!”

He really was a child, changing his mind whenever the fancy struck him.

“Your son wants to go out and train himself.”

“Can’t you train yourself in the palace? You are, after all, a prince of the realm. How can you lower your status and go among the common people to serve as county magistrate? Besides, there are so many assassins—if you leave Chang’an, who can guarantee your safety?”

Without needing to think, Li Shimin had already rejected the idea in his heart.