Traveling through Du He, Li Chengqian's rebellion begins

Faced with his father's questioning, Li Ke was both afraid and ashamed. He kowtowed three times again.

After bowing.

Li Ke said with a tone full of regret: "Father has been very kind to me. It was because I was blinded by power that I did something that harmed the Tang Dynasty."

"I have already acknowledged my fault and have come here today to apologize!"

After saying this, he knelt down again to admit his mistake.

This time he did not stand up, but remained kneeling.

After a long time.

Li Shimin said in a deep voice, "It's good that you know you're wrong. Since you've come to apologize today, I must punish you on behalf of over 20,000 wronged souls!"

"It doesn't hurt to hit someone with a whip. Laiji, bring me my horsewhip!"

what!

Father is going to whip him with a horsewhip?

When Li Ke heard the footsteps of his father walking slowly towards him, his heart was filled with fear.

Hitting with a horsewhip is very painful. One swing of the whip can leave a person's skin and flesh torn.

He was only wearing a thin coat when he came to apologize today, but he couldn't withstand the beating from his father!

Just as Li Ke was shaking with fear, the whip on his back was untied, and then a sound of breaking air was heard.

"Snapped!"

As the sound of the whip was heard, Li Ke felt a sharp pain in his back, and he couldn't help but let out a groan.

Li Ke knew that a beating would save his life, so he gritted his teeth and endured it without making any screams.

"Snapped!"

"Snapped!"

"Snapped!"

Li Shimin did not stop, he kept waving his whip.

Only after beating Li Ke's back to pieces and blood did Li Shimin stop, panting.

Li Ke, who was beaten to death, could no longer hold on and fell down.

The officials serving in the hall looked at the miserable state of Chu King Li Ke and they all lowered their heads, unable to bear to watch.

The beating was too harsh!

If the King of Chu doesn't stay in bed for a month or two, he probably won't recover.

"Humph!"

Li Shimin snorted coldly, then asked in a deep voice, "Ke'er, I am only punishing you today on behalf of 20,000 wronged souls. The court will continue to act in accordance with Tang law!"

"I know"

Li Ke responded with a trembling voice.

He knew that since his father used a whip to punish him, it proved that his father would spare his life.

He could accept any punishment as long as he was not demoted to a commoner.

Li Shimin waved his hand towards Lai Ji and said, "Take the King of Chu to find Sun Simiao and let him apply medicine to him!"

"promise!"

After Lai Ji received the order, he supported Li Ke and slowly walked out of Hanfeng Palace.

When they left, blood was dripping from Li Ke's back from time to time, and he looked very miserable.

With Li Ke's departure, the hall suddenly fell into silence.

The atmosphere also became extremely solemn.

Li Shimin looked at Yang Siqian with cold eyes and said slowly, "Just you and Yang Sizhi are not enough!"

Since Yang Shidao died of illness, Yang Siqian became the heir of the Hongnong Yang family. Of course, he was far inferior to Yang Shidao.

At least in terms of vision, Yang Shidao sees things more long-term than them.

not enough?

Yang Siqian's mind trembled suddenly.

Your Majesty really wants to weaken the family power of the Hongnong Yang family!

But His Majesty has caught them with evidence, and if His Majesty punishes their family, they can only accept it with a pinch of their nose.

Yang Siqian gritted his teeth and said, "In addition, there are the Governor of Yunzhou, Yang Xu; the Governor of Fengzhou, Yang Sine; the Governor of Yuezhou, Yang Sili; the Minister of the Imperial Household, Yang Hongli; the Doctor of the Ministry of Personnel, Yang Sixuan; and the Doctor of the Ministry of Rites, Yang Sijing."

"Your Majesty, do you think this is feasible?"

These people were the most promising members of the Hongnong Yang clan, and were also the core figures supporting the King of Chu in seizing the throne.

In order to let the other members of the family survive, he had no choice but to push these people out.

There was silence for a long time.

Li Shimin said coldly: "Okay!"

After the two men finished their conversation, Li Shimin asked someone to send Yang Siqian back.

The force to be dealt with this time is quite large. Only by letting Yang Siqian reach an agreement with people within the family and then having the court issue an order to deal with it can unnecessary unrest be avoided.

More than half an hour passed.

Just before nightfall, Li Junxian came in to report.

"Your Majesty, the Right Minister Yuwen Jie requests an audience."

On the imperial platform.

Li Shimin pinched his brows, then waved his hand and said, "Call him in."

"promise."

Li Junxian responded and then strode out of the hall.

Not long after, Yuwen Jie, with a sad face, walked quickly into the hall.

He slid to his knees, then kowtowed and said.

"See Your Majesty!"

"Your Majesty, I heard that General Yuwen Xiao of the Left Cavalry Guard was captured and identified by Duke Han as a spy colluding with the Western Turks."

"I assure Your Majesty with my own head that our Yuwen clan is loyal to Your Majesty and the imperial court, and we have absolutely no ties with the Western Turks."

"Duke Hanguo has wronged our Yuwen clan!"

After Yuwen Jie finished speaking, he also kowtowed several times.

wronged?

How many of those who were captured by Du He and brought back to Chang'an were wrongly accused?

Li Shimin raised an eyebrow and said, "The correspondence between Yuwen Xiao and the Western Turkic Khan of Beiting was seized. The content of the letter is exactly that Yuwen Xiao exposed our Tang army's battle plan. How do you explain it?"

what!

Any letters were seized?

Yuwen Jie's face turned pale as he said, "Your Majesty, I have no knowledge of the letter. Our Yuwen clan was not involved. This is all Yuwen Xiao's personal behavior!"

"I hope your Majesty will learn from this!"

At this moment, Yuwen Jie wanted to kill Yuwen Xiao.

Their Yuwen family escaped the disaster in the last investigation of corrupt officials, but unexpectedly, some family members were still messing around and even colluded with the Western Turks.

Isn't this pushing the family into the fire?

Li Shimin said in a deep voice: "Yuwen Jie, this case is open to the relevant personnel to investigate. We will not wrongly accuse a good person, nor will we let a bad person go."

"Go back."

When Yuwen Jie heard that the emperor had ordered him to leave, he did not dare to say anything more.

He kowtowed several times and then spoke to Li Shimin.

"I will take my leave first."

Looking at Yuwen Jie's departing back, a strange look appeared on Li Shimin's face.

When interrogating Yuwen Xiao today, he kept denying that he had written the letter. He said that the handwriting of the letter was imitated by someone else.

Li Shimin had a strong premonition that the Yuwen family might not be involved, and that it was that bastard Du He who wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to cause trouble.

"But the Yuwen clan is so powerful!"

Li Shimin murmured something and then fell silent.

...

Night falls.

Changan.

Inside a luxurious mansion.

Liu Shi and Han Yuan sat around the stove, and a pot of wine was heating on the fire between them.

There was silence for a long time.

Liu Shi said in a hoarse voice, "Brother Han, I believe His Majesty has already grasped everything. What should we do now?"

Han Yuan laughed bitterly and said, "To die as an apology."

When he decided to do this, he had anticipated that this day would come sooner or later, but he didn't expect it to come so soon.

If they had not supported Prince Jin and instead followed His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, their family would not have fallen into its current situation.

Greed harms people!

"Hey!"

Liu Shi sighed heavily and said in a deep voice, "Brother Han, I won't be so lonely with you as my companion on the road to the underworld."

"Brother Han, I'll toast you a glass."

Han Yuan raised the wine jar and gestured to Liu Shi.

I don’t know how long it took.

After they finished the wine in the pot, they looked at each other, then drew their swords and wiped them across their necks.