I have already established my power and prestige, so how did Li Shimin come back to life?

Li Chengqian glanced at Song Jingshu, neither agreeing nor refusing, but just sighed slightly.

"This is an adult matter, you don't understand yet."

A complex emotion flashed in his eyes, like the depths of a lake, unfathomable.

"Tell me about your grievances. What happened in Taiyuan?"

He sat up straight again, adjusted his sitting posture, folded his hands on his abdomen, and his expression became serious.

After hearing Li Chengqian's words, Song Jingshu nodded slowly, as if she had mustered up great courage.

She took a deep breath, her chest heaving violently, then she slowly opened her mouth and began to narrate her tragic experience.

"Your Majesty, my family lives in a small village near Jinyang, Taiyuan, called Laishan Village."

"It's a small place, and the people in the village live a simple but hard life."

"There are many villages like this around here, and every year many people come door to door to ask for food."

"The food that the villagers had worked so hard to store was taken away bit by bit."

There was a hint of fear in Song Jingshu's eyes. Her eyes were wide open and full of horror, as if those terrible scenes appeared before her again.

As she spoke, she clutched her arms tightly, her fingers digging deep into her skin, leaving red marks.

"The first people to arrive were not wearing official uniforms. They were members of the Wang family."

"In our area, when people hear the name of the Wang family, they say to avoid them if you see them, or they'll be ripped off."

"Regardless of whether the harvest is good or not, they will collect 70% of the tax grain from us."

"We work hard for a year, but almost all the harvested food is taken away by them."

Song Jingshu's voice was trembling a little, and every word was trembling. Tears of anger flashed in her eyes, and the tears rolled in her eye sockets, blurring her vision.

Her lips trembled slightly, as if she was trying hard to suppress the anger and fear in her heart.

“Some people who were unwilling to pay, or simply couldn’t pay that much grain, were beaten to death.”

Having said this, she closed her eyes, as if to drive away those horrible images.

"After we pay 70% of the taxes to the Wang family, the government will come to collect taxes again in a while, and they will also collect 20% from us."

No one wants to hand it over, because after handing it over, there won’t be enough food for a family to survive until the end of the year, and everyone will starve to death.”

"But they didn't care about our lives. Those people in official uniforms called a lot of people, rushed into the village and took away all the food."

"They also said that His Majesty wanted to go to war and asked us to support the court. Otherwise, those foreign tribes would attack us, but we can't even feed ourselves..."

Song Jingshu clenched her small fists tightly, her knuckles turning white from excessive force. Her arms were trembling slightly, revealing her inner anger and grievance.

Hearing Song Jingshu's words, Li Chengqian unconsciously raised his eyebrows, his brows raised upwards, and a hint of anger flashed in his eyes.

His hands were clenched into fists under his dragon robe, his knuckles turning white from the force, and veins bulged on the back of his hands, as if countless small snakes were wriggling under his skin.

"Go on."

Li Chengqian tried his best to keep his tone calm, but beneath that calm tone seemed to contain a huge wave that could destroy everything and could erupt at any time.

His lips were slightly pursed, and his eyes were fixed on Song Jingshu, with even more majesty in his eyes.

"We ran out of food, so we had to go to the mountains to find food. Then, the Wang family posted a notice."

Song Jingshu wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes in a flustered manner, as if she wanted to wipe away all the sadness and fear.

she continued.

"They said they would select some women, and if you were chosen, you would be given some food."

"But nobody trusts the Wang family. Everyone knows it's definitely a trap."