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

"His surname is Quan..."

Li Shimin lowered his head and pondered.

Zhang Anan, being closest to them, overheard their words and stepped forward to whisper a reminder:

"Your Majesty, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel is from the Quan family of Tianshui."

Li Shimin immediately realized, "You mean Quan Wanji?"

Zhang Anan nodded.

Li Shimin frowned and said, "Quan Wanji is upright and honest; there is absolutely no way he could have fathered such a spendthrift son!"

Zhang Anan then said, "Quan Wanji has an elder brother, the Grand Master of the Palace, Quan Hongshou."

Li Shimin waved his hand and denied it, saying, "Quan Hongshou was the chief secretary of the Prince of Qin's residence when I was the Prince of Qin. I know his character better than anyone else, and he couldn't have raised such a spendthrift son!"

At this moment, Cheng Jun clapped his hands and said in a flash of realization, "I understand now, this balance just popped out of the stone."

Li Shimin glared at him and said, "Speak properly!"

Cheng Jun chuckled dryly and said, "Your Majesty, instead of guessing here, why don't we just ask directly later?"

Li Shimin thought for a moment, then nodded slightly and said, "It is worth asking."

About fifteen minutes later, Quan Heng and his servants came in.

He walked ahead, followed closely by a servant carrying a heavy wooden box.

Cheng Jun turned his head and asked, "Your Majesty, shall you ask, or shall I ask?"

Li Shimin said, "Ask away."

Cheng Jun stood up, walked over, and, to Quan Heng's astonishment, raised his hand and slapped him hard across the face. Then, he grabbed the man by the collar and shouted:

"Tell me your name!"

Is that even a question?... Li Shimin almost cursed out loud.

Quan Heng's head was ringing from the blow. When he came to his senses, he struggled violently and shouted, "Why are you hitting me!"

Cheng Jun grabbed the other man's collar tightly, slapped him on the head again, and scolded:

"Today, I'm going to teach you a lesson on behalf of your parents. Who told you to come here and lose money!"

Quan Heng was slapped twice and immediately submitted. Knowing that struggling was useless, he said, "You think I want to lose? I don't want to lose money either."

Cheng Jun said, "If you don't want to lose money, you shouldn't have come here. Coming here means you'll lose money!"

Quan Heng retorted, unconvinced, "You've come here too, but you've been winning money the whole time!"

Cheng Jun said, "Nonsense! If I lose money, it's your job to discipline me on behalf of my family!"

"To be honest, who told you to come here and lose money?"

"I'm just unlucky!"

"You're unlucky to come to a place like this. Aren't you just asking for a beating?"

Quan Heng realized something was wrong and glared at Cheng Jun, saying, "I see, you wanted to hit me, and you just made up an excuse!"

"Do you know who I am? How dare you hit me?"

Cheng Jun asked, "Who are you?"

"My surname is Quan!"

Cheng Jun nodded and said, "I know, you just said that."

"you do not know!"

Quan Heng said, "I am Quan Heng, the son of Quan Wanji, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, from the Quan family of Tianshui!"

It really was him... Cheng Jun turned to look at Li Shimin.

Li Shimin looked displeased, truly not expecting that the upright and honest Minister of the Left, Quan Wanji, would have such a spendthrift son.

Just then, a fierce-looking man rushed in.

"Men, surround this area!"

"promise!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than two middle-aged men in red official robes, leading a dozen or so officials from the Dali Temple, rushed in.

"Hu Yan? And... Quan Wanji?"

Li Shimin recognized them at a glance.

Cheng Jun's heart skipped a beat. He carefully examined them. Had the other party come to cover up their trap? They even brought along officials from the Dali Temple; they were clearly here for me...

He whispered, "Your Majesty, turn your face away so they don't see you."

Li Shimin realized this at this moment. Being discovered by his ministers to be in a gambling den would be a huge loss of face for the emperor, so he decisively turned around.

Cheng Jun glanced at Zhang Anan and gestured for him to turn around as well, since his face was familiar to the assembled officials.

Zhang Anan immediately turned around, his back to the crowd.

At this moment, Qian Jieyi saw officials approaching and hurriedly went to greet them, asking, "What's going on?"

Among the two middle-aged men in red robes, Cheng Jun looked at the unfamiliar square-faced, goatee-bearded middle-aged man, glared at Qian Jieyi, and questioned, "Are you the owner of this shop?"

"Yes."

When Qian Jieyi responded, the middle-aged man shouted, "Men, seize him!"

In an instant, two officials from the Dali Temple seized him.

Qian Jieyi retorted indignantly, "Why are you taking it from me?"

"Why?"

The middle-aged man sneered, "The laws of our Great Tang Dynasty clearly state that gambling is forbidden. Anyone who gambles, regardless of winning or losing, will be punished with one hundred strokes of the cane."

"As the one who runs a gambling den, your crime is compounded. Shouldn't you be arrested?"

Qian Jieyi shouted, "You can take me, but you have to tell me who you are!"

"This official holds immense power."

After the middle-aged man finished speaking, he pointed to the figure beside him and said, "This is Hu Yan, the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review!"

"Hu Shaoqing, let me find someone first!"

Hu Yan waved his hand and said, "Go ahead."

They came here because Quan Wanji received news that his son had gone to the gambling den.

Quan Wanji was intolerant of any wrongdoing. Upon hearing the news, he flew into a rage and went directly to the Dali Temple to find the Minister and inform him of the matter.

The saying goes, "If the people don't report it, the officials won't investigate." But this time, the person who reported it was no ordinary person; it was Sun Fujia, the fourth-rank official, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice, who immediately sent Hu Yan to accompany him.

At this moment, Quan Wanji spotted Quan Heng in the crowd and became even angrier. He kicked him and then started hitting and cursing him, saying, "You bastard!"

"Who told you to come here!"

Quan Heng was completely bewildered by the beating, covering his head as he took the blows while expressing disbelief, "Dad, how did you know I was here...?"

"You think I don't know you're here? Do you think you can hide it from me?"

Quan Wanji cursed and was about to kick him a couple more times when he suddenly realized the person next to him looked familiar. Upon closer inspection, he exclaimed in surprise:

"Cheng Jun?"

"Who? Cheng Jun?!"

Upon hearing those two words, Hu Yan abruptly turned his head to look in this direction, then pushed through the crowd and walked to the front. When he saw Cheng Jun, his eyes lit up, and a meaningful smile appeared on his face.

This kid's finally gotten himself into my hands!

With a stern face, he walked over, looked at the cloud-patterned blue robe he was wearing, and questioned, "Cheng Jun, what are you doing here?"

Cheng Jun countered, "What else could I possibly be doing in a place like this?"

Hu Yan raised an eyebrow. "You're here to gamble?"

Cheng Jun retorted again, "Did I come here to relax?"

"It's good that you admit it!"

Hu Yan sneered, turned around and shouted, "Men, seize him!"

The officials from the Dali Temple who were following behind Cheng Jun looked at him in silence, and none of them stepped forward.

Cheng Jun looked at the dozen or so people from the Dali Temple who were handling cases, and immediately recognized a familiar face. He exclaimed in surprise, "Oh, Inspector Bu, you're here too."

"See Imperial Censor Cheng."

Bu Gandang hurriedly cupped his hands in greeting.

Hu Yan retorted angrily, "What nonsense! I told you to take him away, not to greet him!"

Bu Gandang explained, "Minister Hu, Imperial Censor Cheng just said 'slow'."

Hu Yan was even more furious upon hearing this, and said angrily, "I told you to arrest him, why didn't you listen?"

Bu Gandang looked at Cheng Jun.

Cheng Jun said seriously, "Hu Shaoqing, before you arrest me, you should at least let me cry out that I'm innocent, right?"

Hu Yan turned to stare at him and said, "You yourself have admitted to gambling. I am arresting you according to the laws of the Tang Dynasty. What's the problem?"

"If you want to protest your innocence, go and plead with His Majesty!"

Hu Yan waved his hand and said, "Take him away!"

"Wait a minute!"

Cheng Jun shouted again, "I have one more question."

"Just now, the Left Chancellor said that anyone who participates in gambling, regardless of winning or losing, will be punished with one hundred strokes of the cane."

"I wasn't the only one gambling, so why am I the only one being targeted?"

Hu Yan asked, "Who else is gambling?"

Cheng Jun pointed to Quan Heng, "The first one is Quan Zuo Cheng's son."

Quan Wanji decisively passed the case to the Dali Temple for questioning, saying, "Minister Hu, take him away too!"

"father......"

Quan Heng was in a hurry, but when he saw Quan Wanji's glaring gaze, he immediately shrank back.

Hu Yan chuckled and said, "Cheng Jun, you have nothing to say this time, right? Please."

Cheng Jun shook his head and said, "I haven't finished yet. Besides him, there are other people who participated in the gambling."

"Who else?"

Hu Yan asked.

"she."

Cheng Jun pointed to Kim Deok-man not far away and said, "This is an envoy from Silla, Princess Kim Deok-man of Silla."

"..."

Seeing Jin Deman's somewhat surprised expression, Hu Yan frowned and said:

“She is from Silla, how can we govern her with the laws of our Great Tang? Even if we could, such a matter must be reported to His Majesty.”

"The Court of Judicial Review cannot arrest her before reporting to His Majesty."

Cheng Jun solemnly said, "There is one more person."

Seeing that he wouldn't stop talking, Hu Yan said impatiently, "Speak! Whoever it is, I will definitely put him in jail!"

Cheng Jun pointed to the middle-aged man whose back was to the crowd, "Please look at this one..."

Hu Yan stared at his retreating figure, paused for a moment, and then looked at him more and more familiarly. He quickly ran up to the man, examined him closely, and then exclaimed in surprise, "Your Majesty!"

"Why are you here too?"

"..."

Li Shimin's facial muscles twitched.

Quan Wanji was also stunned. He ran over and gasped, looking at Cheng Jun and asking, "The person you were talking about who was gambling, were you referring to His Majesty?"

Cheng Jun nodded and said, "Yes."

"Hu Shaoqing, if you want to arrest me, you'll have to arrest His Majesty too."

Cheng Jun looked at Hu Yan and said seriously, "Otherwise, you're being unfair!"