This made Li Shimin anxious, and he wanted to trade one for one with me.

He wants to impeach the Empress? Zhang Anan, standing in the hall, was dumbfounded and didn't even bother to wipe the tea that His Majesty had sprayed on his face.

"Cough, cough, cough!"

Li Shimin coughed for a while before he recovered. He wiped the tea off his chin, glared at Cheng Jun, and said, "What did you say? Say it again!"

Cheng Jun replied without hesitation, "Your Majesty, I wish to impeach you!"

"You are presumptuous!"

When Li Shimin saw that he still dared to speak, he stood up abruptly and, in a fit of rage, slammed the teacup in his hand to the ground!

boom!

"Cheng Jun, don't think that just because your father is the Duke of Su and you've become an imperial censor, I won't dare to kill you!"

As Li Shimin walked towards Cheng Jun, he raised his hand and pointed his finger at Cheng Jun's nose, shouting, "You accused my princess of going to your house and beating your second brother. I barely consider that you have a legitimate reason and won't hold it against you. But what right do you have to accuse my empress? What did she do wrong?"

Cheng Jun was not afraid at all. He met the fiery gaze and asked in return, "Your Majesty, why do you want to punish Duke Yuchi Jingde of Wu?"

Li Shimin was so angry that his beard stood on end. He roared, "Yuchi Baolin's father is Yuchi Jingde. This time, the son of a military officer and the son of a civil official got into a fight. It was Yuchi Baolin who started it!"

"I have taken into consideration that Yuchi Baolin is young and ignorant, and have ordered Yuchi Jingde to take him back and discipline him properly. But I must give an explanation to the civil officials. As the saying goes, it is the father's fault if he does not teach his adopted son. He has caused such a big incident. Am I wrong to punish Yuchi Jingde?"

Cheng Jun suddenly revealed a gentle and kind smile, and said neither humbly nor arrogantly, "Your Majesty's words are reasonable, and I wholeheartedly agree! That is why I did not impeach Princess Chang Le when I entered the palace this time, because I share the same thoughts as Your Majesty."

“Princess Chang Le is only fifteen years old. She went to my house and rashly hit someone. She is indeed young and ignorant.”

"But no matter what, Princess Chang Le did hit someone!"

"As His Majesty just said, the one who hits is wrong, and the one who is hit is wrong to fight back. The right choice is not to fight back, but to seek justice from His Majesty!"

Cheng Jun looked up at the sky, his voice filled with endless sorrow, and said, "My second brother was beaten by the princess, and he did not fight back. I went to the palace to ask His Majesty to uphold justice. Are we wrong?"

Seeing him like this, Li Shimin suddenly felt like slapping himself.

He shouldn't have said those things to him, otherwise Cheng Jun wouldn't have used those words to shut him up.

"Your Majesty, please advise, have I and my second brother done anything wrong?"

At that moment, Cheng Jun's voice reached my ears, choked with sobs.

Li Shimin forced a smile and said, "You did nothing wrong...you did very well."

Seeing that he had yielded, but not completely, Cheng Jun decided to intensify his efforts and asked:

"Your Majesty just said that it is the father's fault if he does not teach his adopted son, which is why he punished Duke Yuchi Jingde of Wu. Now the princess has come to my house and hit my second brother. According to Your Majesty's reasoning, it is the mother's fault if she does not teach her adopted daughter."

"So, shouldn't the Empress be punished?"

Seeing Li Shimin open his mouth to refute, Cheng Jun gave him no chance to speak and said seriously:

"The law is the standard for all under heaven and is shared by all people. If Your Majesty only punishes the Duke of Wu and not the Empress, how can the laws of our Great Tang be enforced? Does Your Majesty want to see all officials in the land bend the law for personal gain?"

How can you talk so much...? Seeing he couldn't get a word in edgewise, Li Shimin grew increasingly impatient. He raised his arms, his large hands gripping Cheng Jun's shoulders tightly, then shook him forcefully, physically interrupting him. He forced a smile and said:

"Cheng Jun, my dear Cheng, how about this...?"

"Didn't I order Yuchi Jingde to guard the palace gates? I'm withdrawing my punishment and sending him home. How about we call this off?"

"Then what am I doing here...?" Cheng Jun replied decisively, "I cannot comply!"

Li Shimin, unable to contain his anger, said, "Why are you unwilling to accept such a perfect solution?"

Cheng Jun looked at him with a serious expression and said in a firm tone, "Your Majesty thinks it's the best of both worlds, but in my opinion, it's the worst of both worlds!"

"Your Majesty, I wholeheartedly agree with what you said: it is the father's fault if his adopted son is not properly taught..."

No, no, no, don't say that. I don't agree with it at all... When Li Shimin heard this, the words in his heart almost burst out of his mouth.

"Therefore, I believe that Your Majesty was not wrong at all in punishing the Duke of Wu. However, now Your Majesty is making a grave mistake by wanting to withdraw your order in order to avoid punishing the Empress!"

Cheng Jun asked firmly, "Today, the Duke of Wu made a mistake, and His Majesty severely punished him. However, because I petitioned the Empress, His Majesty wants to exempt him from punishment. He agrees today and will correct his mistakes tomorrow. How should a subject comply?"

"Even the most ordinary men and women in the neighborhood fear breaking their promises, let alone Your Majesty!"

"How could you interpret me like that!" Li Shimin shook Cheng Jun's shoulder anxiously, forcefully interrupting him again with physical means, and said, "That's not what I meant. I think this is a win-win solution... Although there are some minor flaws, let's discuss it further and fix those flaws, won't that solve the problem?"

"Your Majesty, it's not that I don't want to discuss it, but this matter is beyond discussion!"

Cheng Jun turned his head, looked at the pillar beside him, and said, "If we pardon the Duke of Wu as Your Majesty says, how will Your Majesty explain this to the civil officials?"

"The son of a military officer beat the son of a civil official, so His Majesty punished Lord Yuchi to give them an explanation. Now His Majesty wants to retract his order, doesn't that confirm your bias towards the military officer?"

"If Your Majesty does this, I will leave immediately, because for me it is indeed a win-win solution. But what should Your Majesty do?"

"I can foresee that as soon as this decree is issued, dozens of censors will rush over. What will Your Majesty do then? Can you possibly out-argue dozens of mouths with just one mouth?"

Cheng Jun turned to look at Li Shimin, clasped his hands in a fist salute, and said sincerely, "Therefore, I cannot help but consider Your Majesty's feelings!"

Li Shimin remained silent for a few seconds, then suddenly released his shoulder, walked to the entrance of the main hall, stood with his hands behind his back, stared blankly at the distant sky, and realized that this matter was more troublesome than he had imagined.

"Are you determined to make me punish the Empress before you'll be satisfied?"

After a long while, Li Shimin turned around and looked at Cheng Jun, asking him a question.

Cheng Jun thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty can also punish Princess Chang Le, but Your Majesty also said that youthful recklessness is not a crime, but the fault lies with the father and mother. Besides, you have never said a harsh word to the princess before. Does Your Majesty want to set this precedent for me?"

Li Shimin replied decisively, "Of course I don't want to!"

Cheng Jun nodded and said, "So, we should ask the Empress to suffer a bit. The Empress is a virtuous empress known to all the people. She will surely understand His Majesty's predicament in doing this."

Li Shimin fell silent again. After a long while, his lips trembled as he said:

"Issue the decree..."

…………

Give me some, anything free will do... Invincible's lips trembled.