“Lord Fang, what do you think His Majesty’s reaction will be when he hears our memorial? This junior will be completely relying on you today. If you weren’t here, His Majesty would definitely become angry from humiliation and might beat me in the hall. If word got out, this junior would have no face to see anyone. We need to think of a way to make His Majesty feel that he was wrong without hurting his dignity. What method do you suggest?”

Following Duan Hong’s footsteps, the two followed closely behind. Yun Ye quietly asked Fang Xuanling.

“You’re young and a junior to His Majesty. Being beaten isn’t shameful. If the problem isn’t solved, that’s what brings endless troubles. This old man feels that Great Tang’s Commercial Law needs comprehensive improvement. Why don’t you take the lead in formulating a forward-thinking set of laws? The current laws have followed the Sui system for over eighty years without revision. It’s just that the Ministry of Finance has issued some scattered regulations in recent years. In this old man’s view, it’s time to redraft the laws.”

“You’re a young hero. Trading a beating for a set of laws—that’s very worthwhile. At such a young age, don’t always dodge and evade. When facing difficulties, sometimes you should charge forward head-on.”

Yun Ye looked at Fang Xuanling in shock. The old fellow didn’t even blink when tricking people. Li Er right now was the legendary Great Demon King. Who would be full enough to provoke him? He wore official robes for this audience precisely because he didn’t want to be beaten. Li Er never had any sense of proportion when striking. A favored consort in the rear palace had borne him a daughter, whom he treasured immensely. While reviewing memorials, he kept the child beside him. A child under one year old, feeling uncomfortable, would naturally wail. The enraged Li Er raised his hand and threw an inkstone…

The inkstone flew out before he remembered it was his daughter. If Duan Hong hadn’t desperately used his head to deflect the inkstone, the consequences would have been unthinkable. From then on, Zhangsun ordered that imperial princes and princesses under five years old must not approach Li Er. Yun Ye was worried that Li Er might beat him to death in his fervor, and his little life would be finished. Even if Li Er regretted it afterward, it would be too late.

“No way. You must come up with a plan. When His Majesty is clear-headed, naturally there’s no problem. But if His Majesty’s eyes turn red and he beats me endlessly, I can’t fight His Majesty and can’t escape—it’s too dangerous. Just look at the scar on Duan Hong’s forehead and you’ll know. His Majesty has no sense of proportion. With my delicate body and precious flesh, I’m not suitable as a target.”

“Nonsense! When the ancients petitioned for the people, they didn’t have so many of your concerns. For scholar-officials, remonstrance unto death is an honor. Our spirit naturally exists for all eternity. In the former Sui, Wu Dianzhang knocked his head to death on the dragon desk in remonstrance. Go look at how the Book of Sui writes about him—page after page, a full seven pages. What glory!”

Yun Ye stopped and looked at Fang Xuanling, swallowing his saliva before saying, “If this junior remembers correctly, only Wu Yunzhao escaped from Wu Dianzhang’s entire family. The rest were all beheaded, right? You’re the Prime Minister of Great Tang. His Majesty must give you some face. Why don’t you speak, and this junior will beat the drum behind you—how about that?”

Before Fang Xuanling could speak, Duan Hong urged, “You two had better hurry. His Majesty has already been waiting anxiously.”

Yun Ye and Fang Xuanling exchanged glances, sighed deeply, and followed Duan Hong into the great hall. Because it was a formal memorial, Li Er was also wearing his ceremonial robes, sitting behind his desk with an ambiguous smile watching the two enter.

“What do you two ministers have to see me about? If there’s business, memorialize quickly.”

Somehow, Yun Ye discovered he was the only one standing in the middle. Fang Xuanling had already sat on a cushion to the side, holding his memorial tablet in a very proper kneeling position. A meaningful smile also appeared at the corner of Li Er’s mouth.

Yun Ye quietly retreated two steps, holding his memorial tablet and saying through gritted teeth, “Your Majesty, this subject has come today regarding the decree you issued during the day. I heard Your Majesty ordered the Secretariat, Chancellery, and Department of State Affairs to define what constitutes luxury goods, preparing to levy a triple tax rate. This subject believes this is inappropriate…”

“Silence! Your salaries are all from the people’s fat and blood. Your food, clothing, and expenses all come from the people’s blood and sweat. As ministers, you don’t think of sharing your sovereign’s worries. As officials at court, you don’t know how to sympathize with the people’s suffering. You rack your brains to squeeze the marrow from the people’s bones, yet remain unsatisfied. You even design various ingenious items and shamelessly plunder the people’s life-saving grain.”

“My mind is made up. Do not speak further. Anyone who dares mention the tax rate again—for every additional sentence spoken, I will increase the tax rate by another multiple. I would rather destroy these useless ingenious items than see you reap without sowing.”

“Your Majesty, please hear this subject’s words. This decree…”

“Lord Fang, record this: luxury goods tax increased to four times!” Li Er ordered Fang Xuanling decisively.

“Your Majesty, it’s not that. This subject just wanted to…”

“Fang Xuanling, you also heard—he said one, two, three sentences. Tax rate increased to seven times.” Li Er smiled grimly, placing his hands on the desk, full of anticipation waiting for Yun Ye to speak again.

Yun Ye stopped talking. He took out a charcoal pencil from his robe and calculated on his memorial tablet, then cupped his hands to the Emperor and said, “Your Majesty, the tax rate is truly inappropriate. You must hear what this subject has to say, mustn’t you?”

Li Er chuckled and said, “The first three words are my respectful title and don’t count. After that, you spoke two sentences, so the tax rate increases by another two multiples. Boy, if you have the guts, keep talking. I don’t care about destroying that crap. Without those things, Great Tang might be even better. With a nine-times tax rate, let me see how you operate. If you have the ability, sell your family’s leather bags for one hundred silver coins each.”

“Your Majesty, the tax rate isn’t calculated this way. You’ve made a mistake.”

“What audacity! It’s now a twelve-times tax rate. Are you planning to give up completely?” Li Er was somewhat puzzled. Could it be that Yun Ye truly didn’t care about these shops? This was the Yun family’s largest source of income.

Yun Ye and Fang Xuanling exchanged memorial tablets to look at each other’s calculated numbers. Fang Xuanling held up three fingers to Yun Ye. Yun Ye nodded and, holding his memorial tablet, said, “No intention to give up completely. I want to operate properly and pass down the craft generation after generation.” After speaking, he stared at the Emperor’s reaction. As long as the Emperor increased the tax rate by another three multiples, he and Fang Xuanling would turn around and leave without staying another minute. This result would be best—offending no one, with all the mistakes being the Emperor’s. Those families who made fortunes from luxury goods also couldn’t blame him and Fang Xuanling for the tax increase. The Emperor was a tyrant who wouldn’t let ministers speak reason. Marquis Yun, speaking righteously, said just a few more sentences and the Emperor arbitrarily increased the tax rate more than tenfold.

Li Er discovered the communication between Yun Ye and Fang Xuanling and felt something was wrong. He closed his mouth and delayed issuing orders. Fang Xuanling stepped forward and said, “In response to Your Majesty, Marquis Yun just spoke three more sentences. This subject will now go determine the fixed amount for luxury goods tax—fifteen times the basic tax rate. This subject takes his leave.”

Fang Xuanling left, and Yun Ye, with his mouth shut, also took his leave. Watching the two ministers leave the great hall, dark clouds covered Li Er’s face, but no matter how he thought, he couldn’t figure out what was wrong. The afterglow of the setting sun passed through the rear window, illuminating Li Er’s uncertain face with indescribable eeriness. Exactly what was wrong?

“Your Majesty, they were deliberately increasing taxes. This concubine just looked through our dynasty’s commercial taxes and discovered that your tripling of commercial taxes was too little. Our dynasty only levies taxes on actual goods. Take that bag selling for twelve silver coins—you increased the tax rate threefold, but that’s only an additional ten copper coins per bag. Moreover, the progressive tax law equally applies to luxury goods. This way, the tax rate you increased has almost no effect.”

“Yun Ye is someone who understands reason. He knows this approach is inappropriate. He and those meritorious nobles earn too much, which will eventually brew great disaster. After all, only by equally distributing benefits can business be done long-term. So in his early years, he mentioned luxury goods tax to Your Majesty. As soon as he entered the hall, this concubine discovered he wanted to increase taxes. If it were to reduce taxes, he definitely wouldn’t be so anxious. The action of increasing taxes would anger Your Majesty, so he wore court robes and dragged Fang Xuanling along—probably worried Your Majesty would make things difficult for him.”

Zhangsun specially outlined the commercial tax section in the Tang Code Commentary in red ink and placed it on Li Er’s desk. She then ordered all the eunuchs to withdraw, leaving only the anxious Duan Hong to watch Li Er, who could explode at any moment.

Li Er finished reading those words, closed his eyes, his chest heaving violently, and said word by word, “I wanted to tax leather bags worth twelve silver coins, but never imagined I increased the tax rate on crocodile leather at one silver coin per sheet. This infuriates me…”

The Emperor didn’t leave the temporary palace for three days because the accompanying censors had already impeached the Emperor for being tyrannical by nature—not letting ministers finish speaking and rudely increasing the special commercial tax to fifteen times, simply insane. Even ancient tyrants never increased tax rates so brutally. Wei Zheng, with his eyes still wrapped in gauze, had servants bring him to the temporary palace to knock at the gate and request an audience with the Emperor.

The Emperor didn’t see Wei Zheng. Instead, Duan Hong, covered in injuries, came out and quietly said a few words in Wei Zheng’s ear. Wei Zheng changed from anger to astonishment, finally becoming delighted. Touching Duan Hong’s gauze-wrapped head, he said, “Thank you for your hard work, eunuch.” Then he got on his carriage and returned to his residence, concentrating on having Sun Simiao treat his illness, refusing all visitors.

Wei Zheng wasn’t the only one refusing visitors. Fang Xuanling also tightly closed his gate, seeing no one. Even when Du Ruhui came to call, the attendant’s answer was that the master had caught a slight cold and feared passing the illness to colleagues, so he wouldn’t see anyone.

The Yun family’s gate was also tightly shut. The whole family stayed in the mansion without coming out. The servants who came out daily to buy necessities could no longer see any Yun family members. However, the Yun family’s bag shop put up a sign saying “Final Low Prices,” causing the shop to be packed with people. The inventory was cleared out completely in a short time.

“Ye Zi, these days you should still avoid my father emperor a bit. When I went to see my mother empress and said just one more sentence, my thigh got kicked by my father emperor. His old man’s temper has been extremely irritable these days. Only my mother empress dares approach him. Whoever else gets close is unlucky. Tell me, what did you do to my father emperor to anger his old man like this, yet your head still sits firmly on your neck? Truly remarkable.” Li Tai shook the glass in his hand, the deep red grape wine surging restlessly like ocean waves.