Great Tang: One Tael of Silver Buys a Pound of Strength, and Getting Rich Makes Me Stronger

Transmigrated into the crippled Crown Prince in the ninth year of Zhenguan, Li Chengqian has only a few years before he is deposed and killed. He's completely stunned. Luckily, Heaven leaves him a way out: the “Wealth for Divine Strength” System activates. The rules are absurdly simple: earn one tael of silver, and permanently gain one pound of strength. He spent eight years hustling in business in his previous life. Making money is just getting back to what he knows, right? Li Chengqian sets up an iron pot and brews the Tang Dynasty's first batch of liquor, pricing a dou at ten taels. Chang'an's merchants go wild. At a family banquet, Prince Li Tai makes snide remarks about his limp. Li Chengqian casually offers him a cup of strong liquor. Li Tai nearly spits it out after one sip, his face turning bright red. A senior official in the Ministry of Revenue impeaches him for competing with the common people for profit and bringing shame on the royal family. In the Taiji Hall, before the assembled court officials, Li Chengqian fixes his gaze on his accuser. “You collect two thousand shi of rent each year and sell it for money. Isn't that profit-seeking? Your rent collection is respectable, but my brewing liquor brings shame on the royal family?” The hall falls utterly silent. Then he presents the liquor recipe directly to Li Shimin in exchange for exclusive rights to frontier trade. He wins over Hou Junji, Minister of War, and his caravan gains direct access to the Shuofang army camps. When the first shipment crosses the border, his strength surges past eight hundred pounds. Then news arrives: a Turkic delegation has brought a hundred thousand taels of silver and their greatest warrior to stage a challenge in Chang'an. Li Chengqian weighs the horse-chopping saber he has just forged and grins. A challenge match? This hundred thousand taels, I'll gladly take it.