Traveling through Du He, Li Chengqian's rebellion begins

After a long silence.

Li Shimin slammed his hands heavily on the armrests and spoke in an angry tone.

"The King of Qi rebelled last March. I have already warned everyone that treason is a capital crime!"

"But some people don't take my words seriously!"

"Is it because I am too indulgent towards you that you are so fearless?"

Looking at the emperors from Qin Shi Huang to Han Wudi, after establishing the new dynasty, they all killed most of the meritorious ministers.

Not only did Li Shimin not take action against his meritorious officials, but he gave them high positions and generous salaries, making them prominent in front of others.

It can be said that Li Shimin was one of the few wise monarchs who could share the world with his subjects.

When the court officials saw that Li Shimin was furious, no one dared to stand up, including his favorites such as Changsun Wuji and Fang Xuanling.

Li Shimin frowned and said in a cold voice.

"I will warn you one last time, especially you, my dear minister, who is also the chief secretary of the royal palace."

"Your mission is to assist the princes and lords in managing the palace, not to encourage them to do treasonous things!"

"If there is another rebellion in the future, I will not cherish our friendship!"

"All officials in the palace will be killed along with their clans!"

When the court officials saw that Li Shimin's face was red with anger, and that he even sent his beloved son Li Tai away to his fiefdom, they knew that Li Shimin was serious about taking action.

Then all the court officials stood up and responded loudly.

"As ordered!"

After the ministers finished their ceremony and sat down, many of them looked at Li Tai and his followers with strange eyes.

It was originally thought that Li Tai, the clever prince, would stand out in the competition for the crown prince with the favor of His Majesty and the support of a group of powerful aides.

Unexpectedly, he actually made such a stupid move, and was eliminated from the fight for the throne early in a way that was almost self-mutilating.

If Your Majesty is not incompetent, you will never allow the Prince of Wei, who has colluded with the enemy and committed treason, to become the next emperor.

Li Shimin glanced at his beloved son Li Tai who was in a state of dismay, and there was not a trace of pity in his deep eyes.

It was quiet for about ten breaths.

Li Shimin waved his hand weakly and said, "Let's end the court meeting here today."

After announcing the adjournment of the court, Li Shimin walked down the high steps quickly with a stern face.

When passing by Li Tai, Li Shimin did not pause at all. While Li Tai seemed to be hesitant to speak, he quickly walked out of the Taiji Hall.

Immediately afterwards, important officials such as Changsun Wuji, Fang Xuanling and Gao Shilian also passed by Li Tai without even looking at him.

The rest of the lower-ranking ministers gathered in groups of three or five. They looked at Li Tai with strange eyes and talked in low voices.

"Wei Suan and Zhang Junyi really deserved to die!"

"Collaborating with the enemy and treason, I think it is not too much to execute all nine generations of your clan!"

"Your Majesty is still too merciful. He only killed a few of these bandit leaders!"

"Fortunately, the Crown Prince is a capable commander who turned the tide in times of crisis, which prevented our army from being defeated by the enemy."

"Your Highness the Crown Prince is both civil and military, and is worthy of being the most outstanding crown prince of our Tang Dynasty!"

Hearing the undisguised discussions of the ministers who supported Li Chengqian, Li Tai's fat face turned purple with anger.

"squeak~"

Li Tai clenched his hands into fists and muttered viciously in his heart.

"Don't let me ascend the throne, or I'll kill you all!"

At this moment, Li Tai's heart was filled with resentment.

At this time, Wei Ting, Du Chuke and Cui Renshi strode towards Li Tai.

Fang Yiai hesitated for a moment and then walked over slowly.

Li Tai looked at the staff around him, then glared fiercely at the sarcastic ministers, and said in a low voice.

"Let's go back to Wude Hall!"

"promise."

Wei Ting, Du Chuke and Cui Renshi responded respectfully.

This group of demoted officials now have no choice but to follow Li Tai till the end.

Once Li Chengqian succeeds to the throne, he will definitely take action against them.

After they left the Taiji Hall, the voices of these officials who were taking advantage of the situation suddenly became several times louder.

"You can only judge a person by his appearance, but not by his heart. I never thought that the people in the Prince of Wei's mansion would actually want to frame the prince!"

"If the Wei Palace succeeds, our 10-man army that is conquering Goguryeo will be in danger."

"His Royal Highness the Crown Prince led a group of soldiers in a bloody battle in Liaodong, and they were advancing triumphantly all the way. I didn't expect that the people from the Prince of Wei's Palace were dragging them down."

"Collaboration with the enemy and treason are the most abominable acts!"

"..."

Li Tai and others, who had not walked far, heard every word of the ministers' criticism, and their pace quickened a lot.

Enter the Wude Hall.

Li Tai gave an order in a deep voice: "Close the main door of the palace, and all guards are not allowed to approach the palace within a hundred steps!"

"promise!"

When the commander of the guards saw that King Wei had a murderous look on his face, he quickly passed on Li Tai's order.

Yin Yushan, who had been staying in the Wude Hall, saw Li Tai and his staff coming back with gloomy faces, but she did not show the slightest surprise.

She stood up slowly and asked with concern.

"Your Highness, Prince Wei, why do you look so unhappy? What difficulties have you encountered?"

Hearing Yin Yushan's caring words, Li Tai, although furious, suppressed his anger temporarily.

Li Tai gnashed his teeth and said, "Yushan, our father has found out about us bribing Zhang Junyi!"

Yin Yushan frowned and asked, "Your Majesty will punish you?"

"kindness."

Li Tai nodded slightly.

He said with an unwilling look on his face: "My father asked me to go to Xiangzhou to be a vassal within half a month!"

"Furthermore, my father also reduced my fiefdom. Weizhou, Beizhou, Xingzhou and Lizhou were taken back, and my fiefdom only has Xiangzhou, Weizhou and Mingzhou left!"

After talking about himself, Li Tai pointed at Wei Ting, Du Chuke and Cui Renshi behind him and spoke with a somewhat helpless tone.

"Father separated us all!"

"Except for Du Chuke who is the governor of Xiangzhou and follows me, Wei Ting is the governor of Yunzhou and Cui Renshi is the Sima of Wuzhou, both of which are far away from my fiefdom."

"Yushan, my father is guarding me very closely now!"

When he said the last sentence, Li Tai seemed to have lost all his strength.

Several capable generals were sent by his father to serve as provincial governors in places thousands of miles away, which was clearly a warning to him not to have any other thoughts.

Moreover, this arrangement made by his father also put an end to his idea of starting a rebellion.

Yin Yushan pointed at Fang Yiai who was standing at the back and asked in a puzzled tone.

"Hasn't Fang Taifu Temple Minister been punished by His Majesty?"

Li Tai glanced at Fang Yiai, shook his head and said, "No!"

Yin Yushan covered her mouth and said pointedly, "It seems that His Majesty is keeping a close eye on our Fang Sikong!"

Except Fang Yiai, everyone else understood what Yin Yushan had said.

Your Majesty's decision not to punish Fang Yiai is a great grace from the Emperor. It not only completely stabilizes Fang Xuanling, the giant who towers over the sky, but also cuts off all thoughts of Fang Xuanling taking sides.