Tang Dynasty: Father, if you don't rebel, I will!

In Taiyuan Prefecture, officials were extremely busy and overwhelmed by Li Chengqian and Yuan Tiangang's speculations.

One after another, fast horses carrying various official duties rushed out of Taiyuan Prefecture in the rain, heading towards various parts of Bingzhou.

however.

At this moment, Chang'an is a picture of peace and tranquility.

Spring rain fell on the surface of the lake in Haichi. Li Shimin sat by a pleasure boat, leisurely fishing in the middle of the lake.

"Clap!"

Li Shimin ruthlessly crumpled another piece of paper into a ball and casually and precisely tossed it into a wastebasket nearby.

The personal eunuch He Ding hurriedly stepped forward and laid out a new sheet of paper for His Majesty the Emperor.

Another personal eunuch, Fan Qi, hurriedly stepped forward to grind ink for the emperor.

Li Shimin picked up a teacup, smelled the aroma of the tea, drank the tea into his mouth, and half-closed his eyes.

"Hmm... the aroma of tea mingles with the spring rain, fish frolic in the ripples... hiss..."

He wrote a line of flowing calligraphy in his hand, but suddenly stopped at the second line. Emperor Li Er's brows, which had just relaxed a little, furrowed again.

"hiss......"

He Ding and Fan Qi, the two personal eunuchs, stood aside, not daring to utter a sound.

Fearing he might disturb His Majesty's enjoyment, he was kicked into the lake...

Li Shimin squinted, and his hand, which had been holding the fishing rod motionless, seemed to become a little more impatient as if constipation was coming on, and began to move up and down.

This caused even larger ripples to spread across the other side of the lake.

Not far away, a small boat emerged from the thin veil of rain and glided towards them.

The rippling blue waves and shimmering lake seemed to float above the rain and mist, instantly brightening Li Shimin's eyes.

Fan Qi and He Ding stared intently at the Emperor, their faces tense, before finally touching the white paper with their brushes once more.

"A cloud boat arrives from the mist, but who is the guest? Haha!"

Fan Qi and his companion breathed a sigh of relief. Seeing that His Majesty the Emperor was finally relaxed, their tense faces finally broke into flattering smiles.

"Your Majesty, what a fine poem! The scene of a spring rain on the lake is vividly depicted on the page!"

"Yes, yes, Your Majesty, what a fine poem! It is truly an elegant one..."

Li Shimin laughed heartily, as if he had been tickled.

And it was at this very moment.

People are approaching in a small boat from the edge of the sea pool in the distance.

"Your Majesty, a letter has arrived from the Emperor Emeritus!"

He heard that it was a letter from his own father, who was enjoying a carefree life outside.

He had been in a good mood, thinking of sending his fine poem to that rebellious Crown Prince so that the other man would know that his father was still Emperor Li Er. But his smile vanished instantly.

He snorted coldly.

"Ha! What an unlucky day! I even said we had some guests visiting..."

He pursed his lips and roughly tore the letter apart.

With his legs crossed and an arrogant expression, he casually glanced around.

"My dear son Shimin, I read your letter with good news."

Li Shimin immediately let out a sneer.

"The Emperor Emeritus's handwriting is becoming increasingly unsightly. Even if I wrote with my feet, it wouldn't be this ugly... Tsk tsk tsk, he must have been in a terrible state at the front lines."

Li Shimin shook his head. Regardless of whether it was true or not, it didn't stop him from imagining the old scoundrel who had stolen his position as Grand Marshal of the Western Expedition, fleeing in a sorry state during the great battle...

Fan Qi and He Ding, standing to the side, were already used to it.

The plaque of the Wude Hall of the retired emperor has now been replaced by the current emperor with the "Turtle Longevity Hall," which is said to be derived from the saying "An old steed in its stall still aspires to gallop a thousand miles."

But everyone knew that His Majesty meant exactly what was written on the surface...

"Yesterday, I captured the capital of Gaochang without a single casualty. Seeing the King of Gaochang perform a dance, and thinking of my son Erlang in Chang'an, I personally wrote this letter to inquire about his well-being..."

"Ha!" Li Shimin was furious and laughed after reading only the beginning.

They didn't care whether He Ding and Fan Qi, who were standing to the side, were alive to listen.

He held up the letter in his hand and glanced at it; it was at least a dozen pages long. Then he burst into laughter.

Gritting teeth.

"My father is truly something else. He thinks I don't know that all the cities he attacked were destroyed by those cannons, the city walls collapsed, and not a single soldier was injured or killed. Hmm~"

Li Shimin rolled his eyes so hard they almost reached the sky, muttering his inner thoughts in a strange, exaggerated tone.

Make a gesture as if you're about to vomit.

"Even a pig tied up in that position of Grand Marshal of the Western Expedition could do a better job than him! And he's getting all smug about it, oh my... tsk tsk tsk."

"I joined the army in my youth and have experienced countless battles, large and small. How many renowned generals have fallen at my hands?"

"I don't even remember these victories that I won with real swords and spears, relying on military strategy and tactics!"

"My father is quite something, hahaha! Using cannons to knock on the door, such crude and rude methods are foolish, yet he's actually gloating over it in front of me."

"what!"

Another short, but volcanic burst of laughter came from Emperor Li Shimin's mouth.

Fan Qi and He Ding were already kneeling on the ground.

He Ding, covered in cold sweat, looked at Fan Qi, who was kneeling beside him, and exchanged glances.

"Why didn't you stay with His Highness the Crown Prince? Why did you have to return to the dangerous place of Chang'an?"

Fan Qi: "......."

On the other side, Li Shimin was still skimming through the text, while the retired Emperor Li Yuan was smugly reading the words in his mind.

He really didn't want to take it too seriously. Even if he read ten lines at a glance, the old man Li Yuan's mocking voice in his mind still gave him a feeling of humiliation and anger, as if he were being attacked face-to-face by the other party.

But even so.

The sound of him taking deep breaths and the increasingly frequent exhalations from his nasal cavity.

This already indicates that at this moment, His Majesty the Emperor's lungs are practically spewing out heat like a steam boiler...

"Those like Kucha and Yanqi launched a war without warning, amassing nearly 100,000 troops. How could I possibly be such a figure? Ha! With their well-positioned troops and strategy of waiting in ambush, those mere 100,000 soldiers are now my prisoners. Nothing more than that..."

"My son Shimin, I had never inquired in detail about your battles against Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong before. Yet now, leading the army on the western expedition, I never imagined that with just a slight move, your opponents would crumble and be utterly routed..."

"Upon closer reflection, your past achievements might have been exaggerated. [Attached: A simple line drawing of an old man with his arms crossed]"

"I, too, have the potential to become a Grand General of the Heavenly Strategy!"

"No! When I return in triumph, I will issue an edict to bestow the title of Heavenly Strategy General upon another! [Attached: A simple line drawing of an old man laughing heartily]"

"grass!!!"

"boom!!!"

Looking at his own painstaking efforts, his heart and soul, and his inspiration... he finally created a timeless masterpiece written in his proud Feibai style.

He was kicked into the sea pool in his anger.

Li Shimin's anger burned even more intensely.

"Heavenly General! Ha! What a Heavenly General! Without my Crown Prince, what is he?!"

"If it weren't for the cannons that my crown prince gave him, could he have conquered Gaochang in a month?!"

"If it weren't for my Crown Prince instructing the Embroidered Uniform Guard to gather intelligence in advance, could he have so easily taken control of the cities of Gaochang?!"

"If it weren't for my Crown Prince... Aaaaaah!"

"The Western Expedition should have been mine! Gaochang should have been defeated by me! The Western Regions coalition should have been defeated by me!"

"Old bastard!!!"

The emperor's furious voice could be heard not only by the eunuch who had just delivered the message, but also by Fan Qi and He Ding, who were kneeling on the ground trembling with fear.

No one else could hear it.

The three of them pressed their heads firmly against the deck of the cruise ship.

With his eyes closed, he had practically prayed to every god and Buddha in the heavens.

Driven by the instinct for survival, they prayed for an unknown period of time to His Highness the Crown Prince, who was still in Taiyuan Prefecture.

In the end, His Majesty the Emperor did not kick the three of them into the sea pool...

"Go! Change the plaque of the Turtle Longevity Hall to 'Old Turtle Hall' for me!"

Got it!

As expected, His Majesty's naming of the Turtle Longevity Palace was exactly as they had guessed—it meant exactly what the words meant.

......

Dengzhou.

Having traveled by water and land from Taiyuan Prefecture to Luoyang, Li Yin, who then borrowed a group of veteran musketeers from his fourth brother, Prince Wei, Li Tai, traveled downstream and finally arrived after several more days of travel.

He arrived in Dengzhou, a place he had longed to visit.

"Hahaha, my brother, what do you think? Isn't this warship impressive?"

Li Ke finally had the opportunity to show his younger brother what he had accomplished in Dengzhou over the past year.

The two were standing on a huge treasure ship docked in Dengzhou Port.

With a hull length of over 100 meters, only the Tang Dynasty in the world today can manufacture such a ship.

Not to mention, the current treasure ship, named "Zhenwo Hao," is a product of a combination of wood and steel structures.

The keel, the mast, and those "cannon positions" where the Thunder God's crossbows were placed.

They have all been specially reinforced.

Currently, there are three such treasure ships docked in the port alone.

Li Yin's pupils trembled with shock.

Seeing is better than hearing.

The visual impact of the treasure ship is no different for people of this era than for people of the past who saw an aircraft carrier docked in a port.

Princess Kim Seung-man of Silla, who also boarded this sea monster with Li Yin, was also on board.

His legs were trembling uncontrollably.

Just as she was worrying about something, the last thing she wanted to hear came out of Li Yin's mouth.

"Brother, how many of these warships can you send me?"