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

"Your Highness, it wasn't us! How could we possibly have abused their daughter? They did it on their own! Your Highness, we are innocent! Waaah..."

Sorrowful wails echoed through the Shougong Hall.

Zheng Wuhe, Tang Luo, and other envoys sent to the Western Turks were kneeling on the ground, their pale faces filled with tears of grievance.

Beside them, the eunuchs Wang De, Sun Yi, and Gao Hai watched these guys with speechless expressions.

Zheng Wuhe and his group may genuinely despise the daughters of those Turkic tribal leaders, but... at least you got to enjoy yourselves.

Even if we sent them to the Turks, they wouldn't get to enjoy themselves.

Sun Yi silently closed his eyes, no longer wanting to say anything.

Zheng Wuhe cried until his voice was hoarse.

"Your Highness, Ashina Quli and his wicked old devils, he's not human. He tied me up in the carriage the whole way, bound my hands and feet, and had his daughter carry me..." He sobbed, but couldn't finish his sentence.

Along the way, from the Western Turks to the northern desert, and then to Yanmen Pass, it was more than a thousand miles.

However, during this long journey, he truly had almost no chance to stop.

That old bastard Ashina Quli was really determined to grind his daughter down to the last needle, until her skin was worn raw...

"Your Highness, he..." He was about to say something.

Suddenly, a shrill, hoarse wail, like that of a pig being slaughtered, rang out from outside the Shougong Hall behind them.

"Oh! Your Majesty the Khan, you must save our tribe!"

Ashina Quli rushed in. He was a burly man, and before the soldiers guarding the main hall could stop him, he had already entered.

He then suddenly slid to his knees.

Amidst the angry and shocked gazes of Zheng Wuhe and the others, tears and snot mingled as she bowed deeply to Li Chengqian, who was sitting in the main seat.

"Khan, we have no way to survive! Waaah, the envoys you sent to our tribe are all beasts in human form. They say you kill innocent people indiscriminately, and that you can't see the suffering of your people... Waaah."

"They even used your name to threaten to annihilate all the tribes of our Left Wing! Your Majesty, you must stand up for us!"

Mohedu Khan immediately launched a deadly attack, calling himself the "True Khan."

Zheng Wuhe and his men, who had never expected that the Khan of the Western Turks would be so spineless, were caught off guard.

"You, you shameless! You were the one who tied us up in the carriage, you... you're making false accusations!" Tang Luo's pale face seemed to be flushed with a sickly red.

However, Ashina Quli's seemingly honest and simple face instantly turned angry.

"I'm slandering you?! You surnamed Tang! You keep claiming to be loyal subjects of His Majesty the True Khan, do you dare repeat all those things you said to us in the Western Turkic Khaganate before His Majesty?!"

"Are you saying that His Majesty the True Khan is using the pretext of demanding that we hand over the murderers who killed Tongyabgu Khan to annihilate us, to kill us all?"

Is that what you mean?!

Ashina Quli, with an angry yet aggrieved expression, bowed to Li Chengqian, who was seated in the main seat, with his hand on his chest.

With a trembling hand, he pointed at Zheng Wuhe and the others, who were also trembling with anger, and loudly accused them.

“Your Majesty, I, Ashina Quli, am not a great man, but I know that you are one of the few Khans in the world who is willing to truly treat us Turkic people as his own flesh and blood. If it were you, how could you possibly issue such an order?!”

Li Chengqian nodded solemnly, his eyes filled with sacred and glorious light.

His sharp eyes, radiating authority without anger, stared intently at Zheng Wuhe and the others, who were now speechless with rage, their mouths agape.

"Zheng Wuhe, Tang Luo! Are you truly, as Moheduo Khan claims, using my name to incite war and slaughter among the Left Wing tribes?!"

"Bang!" Li Chengqian slammed his hand on the table in front of him, looking furious.

"When did I give you any orders to provoke and humiliate them like this?!"

The grievances and indignation in Zheng Wuhe's eyes could almost converge into a river of sorrowful tears at this moment.

"Your Highness, you can't listen to this old man's nonsense! It's all Ashina Quli's fault for being a scoundrel... We didn't bully them."

Ashina Quli glared at them: "You are all people trusted by His Majesty the True Khan and sent on missions abroad. Don't you even have this much sense of responsibility? You dare to do it but not admit it!?"

Li Chengqian just gave Wang De a look and helped him up.

Ashina Quli had only stood up for a moment when he heard Zheng Wuhe's angry accusations.

He immediately knelt down in front of Li Chengqian with a thud.

"Your Majesty, you must believe me. You know us Turkic men. That is our own daughter. Tell me, what father in this world would use his daughter's innocence to falsely accuse someone?"

"Your Majesty, the True Khan, you..."

Li Chengqian quickly waved his hand and comforted him in a soothing voice.

"Alright, alright, I naturally know. Khan Mohedu, please rise..."

As soon as he finished speaking, his gaze toward Zheng Wuhe and the others became even sharper and more furious.

"Zheng Wuhe! Tang Luo!"

"I see that you two are both from prestigious families and are both proud and principled individuals. That's why I sent you as envoys to the Western Turks. I only asked you to negotiate with the Western Turks to bring back the murderers who killed my Tang princess's husband. When did I allow you to bully others by abusing your power?"

"They're even using the banner of our Great Tang Dynasty to humiliate someone else's daughter!"

As he spoke, Li Chengqian seemed to suddenly become truly enraged, and he shouted loudly at the outside.

"Where are the mighty generals on either side?!"

Immediately, several burly men, their steps heavy and their bodies clad in steel armor that made Ashina Quli shudder, entered.

"Drag these scoundrels who have corrupted the nation and disgraced the Tang law out and behead them!!!"

The pale color drained from the faces of Zheng Wuhe and the others instantly.

Seeing that he was about to be dragged out, he quickly started shouting.

"Your Highness, I am innocent! I am innocent! I did not abuse their daughter; it was they who abused me!"

"Waaah, Your Highness! I am already an old man, how could I still have such thoughts? Your Highness, please see the truth!"

"Ah! Let me go! I'm innocent, Your Highness! Don't believe Ashina Quli's nonsense!"

Sitting next to Li Chengqian, Li Gang noticed his Crown Prince's gestures under the table and chuckled inwardly.

After silently lamenting the misfortune of Zheng Wuhe, a member of the Zheng family of Xingyang, he immediately stood up.

"Your Highness, these men have indeed accomplished many things for you, and they have brought benefits to the region during their official careers. At least no one was actually killed... Perhaps we should give them a chance to atone for their sins for now..."

Li Chengqian's eyes widened.

"Aton for their sins? How can they atone for their sins?! They used the name of our Great Tang to bully others, and even took advantage of other people's daughters. Even if they were Turkic women, shouldn't they have some self-respect?"

"What are you waiting for? Drag them out! Drag them out and behead them!"

Yu Shinan, who was standing nearby, quickly coughed and pulled Li Chengqian aside.

"Your Highness, the die is cast. If you were to execute them... wouldn't the reputations of Mohedu Khan's daughters be truly ruined? Perhaps it would be better to give them a chance to reform..."

As he spoke, Yu Shinan chuckled and looked at Ashina Quli, who looked aggrieved.

"Mohedu Khan, our Great Tang Dynasty is indeed in the wrong in this matter, but you see, this isn't entirely without room for negotiation. If we let them marry those girls..."

Ashina Quli pursed his lips, looking unwilling to agree.

Li Gang also chimed in, "Mohedu Khan, you may not know this, but Zheng Wuhe is the second son of the eldest branch of the Zheng family of Xingyang. Not only is his family learned and virtuous, but their lineage is also renowned in our Great Tang. If you are willing to agree to marry your daughter to him..."

"What? No! Your Highness, I will not marry! I will not marry a Turkic woman! Your Highness..."

Zheng Wuhe's terrified and angry screams came from outside the hall.

Li Chengqian slammed his fist on the table in anger once again.

"Since you refuse, fine! Guards! Drag him away and behead him!"

Li Chengqian's eyes flashed with coldness at Zheng Wuhe's cluelessness.

After messing things up so badly, they still dare to haggle...

Seeing that Li Chengqian was really going to kill someone, Ashina Quli, who had been unwilling, had no choice but to speak up.

“Your Majesty, it would be better to lock him up first. I will go back and talk to my daughter. Your Majesty, I have heard too much about your magnanimity from my Turkic compatriots at Yanmen Pass.”

"We are already extremely grateful that Your Highness is willing to give my daughter an explanation..."

As he spoke, Ashina Quli bowed to his chest in a salute.

Li Chengqian quickly came out from behind the table and personally helped the other person up.

The exaggerated, even flamboyant, expressions of emotion nearly made some people in the hall unable to hold back their emotions.

"Khan, please rise. In the end, it was my men who made the mistake first, and I will absolutely not show favoritism or engage in corruption!"

He waved his hand.

"In that case, if the princess is willing to marry, I will recognize her as my goddaughter. If she suffers any injustice at the Zheng family's residence in the future, she can come to me for help!"

Li Chengqian pounded his chest repeatedly.

however.

He, who has never married, immediately asked to recognize someone several years older than himself as his daughter.

This whole thing sounds incredibly bizarre.

Fortunately, Li Chengqian held back, Ashina Quli held back, and Li Gang, Yu Shinan, and others also held back.

"Then I, on behalf of my daughter, thank His Majesty the True Khan. She is so fortunate; she must feel much better now..."

Li Chengqian personally escorted the other party to the palace gate.

The scene that came into view made his lips twitch involuntarily.

In front of Yangcheng Palace, leaders and chieftains of various Turkic tribes performed acrobatics or martial arts.

Some of them, who had served as Turkic priests before retiring from the court, even set up fortune-telling stalls on the street.

"The science of longevity, bestowing blessings and warding off misfortune..."

Li Chengqian: "......"

Ashina Quli looked embarrassed and rubbed his hands together.

"This... It is good to let Your Majesty the True Khan know that our people who were hiding from the pursuit of the madmen of Siyehu have seen the lives of our compatriots at Yanmen Pass. We have heard that Your Majesty the True Khan is willing to sincerely regard us as your trusted subjects and treat us all equally."

"They all wanted to join, but as leaders and Khans, we couldn't let them come to His Majesty the True Khan empty-handed... so we distributed the cattle and sheep of each tribe to the herders."

"...As for us, all we have left is brute strength..."

Ashina Quli, that old geezer, showed no trace of acting in his embarrassment and awkwardness.

This made Li Chengqian suspicious.

Could this guy be some cunning old fox from the Central Plains who has mastered the art of thick-skinned ruthlessness and possessed someone else's body?

Ashina Quli seemed to have thought of something, and suddenly patted his chest in a hurry.

"Your Majesty, rest assured, if those men are willing to marry our daughters, we will surely raise a dowry even if we have to travel the streets and perform for money..."

Li Chengqian's eyes widened immediately: "Nonsense! You are all chieftains of the Turks, a group of renowned heroes from the grasslands. You have come to my Great Tang, how can you suffer such humiliation?!"

He turned his head and gave instructions to Wang De behind him.

"Go! Tell my uncle, the Prince of Lu, to send each of these Turkic leaders a fine house in Taiyuan!"

"Pap..."

A retired Turkic priest, who was pretending to tell fortunes, suddenly dropped his scratched tortoise shell to the ground.

It turns out that the Great Khan was not unaware of how to become rich and powerful.

Rather, it's because these old folks can't understand the thoughts of the Tang people.

This wealth and honor will surely come!