Li Mu passed the Luban lock to Bai Qiaoqiao, comforted her for a while, and then came out of the room. Dugu Jiu held the sword and squatted in the yard, and his whole body was emitting a low pressure. Li Mu walked up to him and squatted down. Dugu Jiu saw him coming and said softly: "I lost it again."

"Or the direction of Beimang Mountain?"

"Yeah." Dugu Jiu nodded, and then stopped saying a word. Li Mu patted his shoulder and said, "It's okay. He is a local snake. He has been operating in Luoyang for many years. This is his old nest. If it is so easy to be taken over by us, it will be boring. But it is not a single gain. At least it is certain that the opponent's old nest is in Beim Mountain. When necessary, it's not enough to turn the mountain over, don't take it to heart."

"Brother." Dugu Jiu pursed his lips and said, "I have lost it three times. The opponent's light skills are obviously not as good as mine, so I just lost it. And I lost it under my nose. The first two times I went to the woodland and the forest. Before I even arrived in the woodland, I lost it in the city - after entering that alley, the people disappeared. Do you think there is really a wall-walking technique in this world?"

"Oh," Li Mu said helplessly: "You three-year-old child? Can you say such words? Anyone who passes through the walls and hides the ground is just a trick, a trick. Did you follow the alley and lose it? Then there must be a secret passage, so what do you need to think about it?"

"I'll take people to dig now!" As he said that, Dugu Jiu was about to get up. Li Mu grabbed his wrist and said, "What are you digging now? You've been blocked long ago."

Dugu Jiu's body stagnated, and he squatted down again, saying, "Brother, I'm still too stupid, I should have thought of it at that time."

"Don't think so." Li Mu shook his head and said, "Can someone dig such a secret passage in the city? Can there be no mechanism in the secret passage? After entering the secret passage, there is no way to hide. No matter how good your skills are, can you resist open and hidden arrows?"

"Then there is nothing I can do?" Dugu Jiu said unconvincedly: "I know it is Jisitang. The group of well-known figures in Luoyang City are somewhat unrelated to Jisitang. If I get angry, I will catch a few people-"

"Why are you getting more and more frivolous?" Li Mu said helplessly: "I'm so anxious? Let's not talk about why you arrest me for not being guilty. Even if you arrest me, what's the use? You also said that the well-known figures in Luoyang City cannot be separated from anything. If you can arrest them all, you can't even hold them in the prison!"

"Then there is nothing I can do?" Dugu Jiu leaned against the wall, his tone full of depressedness. Li Mu turned his head over and asked him to lean against his shoulder. Dugu Jiu hesitated for a moment and leaned gently on Li Mu's shoulder.

"When will the elder brother be there? If you want to solve this problem, you have to start from the root."

"root?"

Li Mu nodded and said, "We have to think clearly about the means of Jisitang controlling these aristocratic merchants. Only then can we crack them one by one and achieve a complete victory."

Dugu Jiu was confused and said, "Brother, are you looking at me again?"

"Natural." Li Mu said confidently: "When I was in Chang'an, I had already started to make arrangements. Haven't you seen so many merchants come to greet me today? This means that I have achieved results. I should be anxious now, but we are not."

Dugu Jiu was even more confused and said in confusion: "Brother, what are you planning?"

"I'll tell you." Li Mu had nothing to hide from Dugu Jiu. He was in charge of the secret guard of the Jinyi. If he was not the person he trusted the most, Li Mu would not have arranged him in this position: "Usually, if you want to control a person and let this person use it for me, there are several methods, four words can be summarized in: grace, righteousness, power, and wealth."

"Well, for example, if I save your life, you owe me a life. If you starve to death, I will give you a bowl of rice. All of these are kindnesses. If you owe me love, you will naturally repay your kindness when I have something that you need to do. Jisitang controls so many clan merchants, and kindness is a means, but you have to understand that there are so many ungrateful people in this world, so it is basically impossible for Jisitang to control so many people by means of kindness."

"Right is like you and me, sworn brothers. Where righteousness lies, we will naturally move forward. But so many people cannot all worship their masters, right? This is even more impossible."

"Power, this is a matter of fact. Those who serve in the Succession Hall have great power."

"But what you want the most is 'wealth'." Li Mu's lips curled up a sarcastic smile and said, "The world is prosperous for profit, and no profit can get up early. Jisitang's biggest way to control these aristocratic families is to help them make money. With money, the family can reproduce and the aristocratic families can prosper. No one can pretend to be noble. It is impossible to have no money."

"In the past, the imperial court lacked this aspect and did not pay enough attention to merchants. In the eyes of the people and merchants, the people in the imperial court were all noble officials. It would be good if they were not despised by them. How could they dare to contact them easily? Jisitang took advantage of this loophole. Compared with the imperial court, they were more approachable. Moreover, with the support of the clans and the clans, they had to be better at controlling the news. Wherever there is something, who needs what the family needs, the news will be summarized into Jisitang, and the transaction will be made. Over time, everyone can't live without it. After all, with such a good channel, who is willing to bother to find sales on their own?"

Dugu Jiu frowned slightly and said, "Isn't this the same thing as what the Office of the Interior did?"

Li Mu smiled and said, "You said that, it's almost the same. But at present, the scale of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is much smaller than that of Jisitang." Dugu Jiu looked surprised and said, "The Ministry of Internal Affairs can be regarded as the power of the whole country, why is it much smaller than Jisitang?"

Li Mu picked up the branches on the ground, drew a big circle, and drew a small circle in the circle, saying, "This small circle is like Chang'an City. The big circle is the entire Tang Dynasty. Although the Interior Affairs Office looks prosperous, its influence is just about Chang'an City, plus foreign trade. No matter how big the Chang'an City is, it has only one million people, and the entire Tang Dynasty has a population of more than 20 million. The foreign trade is almost negligible compared with the total trade volume within the Tang Dynasty."

"The trade between the Turks is called assistance, so we can't make much money. In addition, we have to be wary of countries like Tubo, Western Turks, and Goguryeo. Some can sell, while others cannot. There are too many problems."

"There are no such problems in the trade within the Tang Dynasty. Some goods can make three times the profit by just crossing the canal. These merchants can only make money by relying on Jisitang's channels. Who do you think they will be in their hearts?"

Dugu Jiu frowned and said, "But they are still giving in. During the day, have the big merchants in Luoyang City come out to welcome the elder brother?"

"They are not really surrendering." Li Mu smiled and said, "What they really fear is His Majesty's power, or so, they are worried that I will mess with them with the power given by His Majesty. Now that I have been named the Marquis of Luoyang, the fief is also here. Your Majesty has given me Luoyang completely, and I am the local emperor of Luoyang. They have no choice but to drive me away, so they can only compromise with me. What they want is nothing but a peace of mind. In fact, they are just treating me as a rascal in Chang'an City, and paying some protection fee. I understand this very well."

"But it doesn't matter." Li Mu raised his chest and exuded strong confidence: "When my trading market is built, all merchants in the world will look at my eyes. Chang'an City has an Interior Affairs Office and Luoyang City has a trading market. In addition, the omnipresent factory guards, I will have to pay twice as much money as Jisitang collects them. I can give all those Jisitang can give. Jisitang cannot give, and with the support of the court, I can give it. Wait until that day..."

Li Mu took a deep breath and closed his eyes gently, as if that day had arrived: "...Ji Sitang is nothing." He glanced at Dugu Jiu and said, "Sometimes, there is no need to fight too fiercely. As long as there is time, the winner will be decided sooner or later. Don't worry, don't worry."

Dugu Jiu nodded, said nothing, his eyes were empty, and he became stunned. He thought Li Mu had no way to deal with Jisitang quickly, so he could only choose a more time-consuming path. He didn't know where Li Mu's real plan was.

In fact, he didn't have a more direct solution. The most direct solution was very simple. Just as Li Mu told Dugu Jiu, since he had determined that Jisitang's base camp was in Luoyang City, he would transfer the army and turn over the entire city. He would rather kill the wrong one than let it go. When the butcher's knife was placed on his neck, he could still ask a few truths.

Although the slaughter will inevitably affect the business of the Tang Dynasty. There is a saying that it is not destroyed or established. The Tang Dynasty was founded shortly after its founding, and everything was still a piece of paper. It was like decorating a new house, which could be planned from scratch, rather than a second-hand house, which had many things that could not be demolished and modified.

It is better to smash some unreasonable things than to remain annoying. Li Mu is fully capable of rebuilding the Tang Dynasty's business on the ruins of Jisitang.

But he didn't want to do this, nor could he do this.

The reason why he didn't do this is very simple. The cunning rabbit dies, and the lack of dogs cook. Without Jisitang, his value is gone. Today, the Tang Dynasty is full of talents. There are literary, military, good ministers, and powerful generals. The only thing they lack is economic talents. But economic talents are not necessary. With Jisitang, the court and Li Shimin can feel the pressure and feel that it is not possible to be such a person. But what if Jisitang is gone? What if the court has a little difficulty? Just have no hidden dangers? What if the rest and recuperate slowly? A few years later, aren't it all complete?

After experiencing so many things, Li Mu already knows his core value very well. He is Li Shimin's weapon to deal with Jisitang. Only with Jisitang can he live a stable life.

This directly affects the methods Li Mu used to deal with Jisitang. If Li Shimin was a patient and Jisitang was a boil on his body, Li Mu, as a doctor, chose not to perform a surgical operation on him, but to break the boil and make the wound infected within a controllable range. He then applied medicine to the sore on time so that Li Shimin, the patient, could never leave him.

The methods are not glorious, but he has no choice. Maybe one day, he will cure Li Shimin's illness, but it is definitely not now.

Dugu Jiu is a martial arts practitioner, but he is not a strong man. His figure is not very tall or strong. Moreover, he is only seventeen years old and his skeleton has not yet grown completely. Compared with normal adults, his skeleton can even be said to be small. Li Mu put his hand on his shoulder, feeling about the same width as he hugged Bai Qiaoqiao, Jin Chen and the others. Dugu Jiu did not wear a mask at this moment. Li Mu looked down and could not tell that the person leaning on his shoulder was a man. Look at his long eyelashes, flashing like a small fan. Even a girl did not have such long eyelashes.

Li Mu looked at him and suddenly became playful and said, "Xiaojiu, how about you give me an alias?"

Dugu Jiu looked up at him and said, "What alias? Is it a nickname in the world? I don't need that."

Li Mu laughed and said, "It's not the nickname in the world, or the alias when you don't wear a mask. How do you look at Dugu Meng? Mengmeng, Xiao Mengmeng?"

Dugu Jiu's face immediately sank, he got up from Li Mu's arms, and said, "Brother, this joke is not funny."

"Oh, are you kidding, angry?"

"No, I'm going to sleep!" The sound drifted away, and the person had already rushed up to the wall. After blinking, he had disappeared. I don't know where to go to sleep.

Zhang Tianai came back from the front yard and happened to see Dugu Jiu jumping out of the wall. He said strangely: "What's wrong with Xiaojiu? What's the airbag?"

Li Mu said, "I'm angry with me. I gave him a nickname. What do you think Dugu Meng is like? Do you have a very poetic character?"

"You're not serious." Zhang Tianai said angrily, "You don't know that Xiao Jiuer is sensitive to this matter? This is what you dare to say. I just heard about something. Five days ago, Xiao Jiuer was having a meal in a noodle restaurant. A gangster saw him handsome and thought he was a girl. After teasing him a few words, he drew his sword and cut the man's tongue. Now the underworld in Luoyang City is looking for him. The other party gave a thousand guan, and the one who caught him would give him another five hundred guan."

"Oh, are you here to show off your wealth?" Li Mu snorted and said, "My brother, I can only joke. What is a little gangster? Xiaojiu doesn't take it seriously. I, the eldest brother, must take it seriously. To me, will let the grandson send 5,000 guan here tomorrow, and kill his whole family!"

Zhang Tianai covered his mouth and laughed, saying, "How could you be the eldest brother like this? He actually blackmailed this matter. He got angry again when he heard it."

"Xiao Jiu is not as stingy as you think. He cut the man's tongue. This matter will pass by him. He may not remember this person when he comes out again. He will knock out some money to give him a memory, otherwise what should I do? I am not a murderer for such a thing."
Chapter completed!