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

"Heh...heh..."

Seeing this scene, Cui Minshi, whose mouth was gushing blood, felt his life force gradually dying off. He tried to open his mouth, coughing up blood, and tremblingly grabbed Lu Zhaojing's chest and collar with his blood-covered hand.

"Heh... drink, Brother Lu... drink..."

Lu Zhaojing never imagined that the three of them would one day fall to such a state.

Looking down at the pleading look in Cui Minshi's eyes, and thinking of the Cui, Lu, and Li clansmen who were still waiting in Goguryeo, their fates uncertain, he couldn't help but gasp for breath, his breathing becoming erratic.

Seeing that he hadn't moved for a long time, Cui Minshi's expression became even more painful, and the veins on the back of his hand, which was gripping his clothes, bulged out.

"Drink, drink!"

Tears mixed with blood streamed down his face, and the sight of the other person made Changsun Wuji click his tongue in amazement.

"This truly shows that true friendship is revealed in times of adversity. I remember that although you two had some acquaintance back then, it didn't seem to have reached the point of entrusting each other with life and death, did it?"

"Tsk tsk tsk, it's truly touching that Patriarch Cui is willing to entrust his son to you, Brother Lu."

Lu Zhaojing remained silent, his whole body trembling. In the end, he suppressed the pent-up pain in his chest and reached out to take the wine cup from Changsun Wuji's hand.

He held the cold glass in his hand, about to suppress the grief and indignation in his heart and drink the wine in one gulp.

Suddenly, a hand pressed down on him from the side.

"Hey? Brother Lu, why are you in such a hurry? Since you're working for the Tang Dynasty, even if it's to atone for your crimes, we'll at least be considered colleagues of the Tang Dynasty again, won't we? How can you drink this wine all by yourself?"

"Please wait a moment while I..."

Changsun Wuji said with a smile, and then immediately walked back to the seat he had just been sitting in.

Under the watchful eyes of Lu Zhaojing and the barely breathing Cui Minshi, a yellowish-brown vessel was slowly taken out from a brocade box.

Both of their pupils contracted sharply.

Changsun Wuji carried the vessel to the two men and, under their murderous gazes, poured the wine into it.

"Haha, now that's all. Come, Brother Lu, you're back in the court. From now on, we'll have to work together more often. There are quite a few Goguryeo people working on my river construction project."

Changsun Wuji, who had been all smiles, seemed to have just noticed that the two men's expressions were off, as they were staring intently at the vessel in his hand.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up.

"Oh? You recognize this thing? Hahaha, I knew it! This thing comes from Hedong Road. You two might recognize it... Patriarch Cui, please, don't spit that blood into my wine, Brother Lu?"

The veins on Lu Zhaojing's forehead throbbed violently, and his chest began to tremble irregularly.

"You, you......"

Changsun Wuji still wore a friendly smile, but the look in his eyes, a hundred times more vicious than when he had shot Cui Minshi with an arrow, made Lu Zhaojing feel as if the blood in her body had frozen.

"Oh? Brother Lu recognized me?"

Changsun Wuji weighed the skull vessel filled with clear wine in his hand, as if he were looking for a treasure.

"Back then, I went to great lengths to find this treasure. After all, Brother Lu and you left in a hurry, and the Hedong region was in chaos at that time. The people were in disarray, and there were so many desperate small clans who tried to lead the people and us to our doom... Tsk tsk tsk."

"It took a lot of effort and asking around to find that mountain. Wow, it really is a place with excellent feng shui!"

Lu Zhaojing's pale face instantly turned bright red, her eyes blazing with fury, and she looked like a madman about to get up and fight Changsun Wuji to the death.

But suddenly, Cui Minshi, who was in her arms, grabbed her tightly.

"Changsun Wuji!!!"

Changsun Wuji smiled, his smile filled with anticipation and malice.

"Brother Lu, your health is weak. Don't let your illness flare up and cause you to die prematurely. If you die, what will become of the Lu family of Fanyang, the Li family of Zhao County, and the Cui family of Qinghe?"

Lu Zhaojing felt as if her reason was being burned away by this raging anger.

Despite being pulled desperately by Cui Minshi, he couldn't restrain himself and roared furiously with his eyes wide open.

"Changsun Wuji! You're not human! How could you do such a beastly thing! You... cough cough cough!"

He coughed violently in disbelief while staring intently at the skull in Changsun Wuji's hand.

That! It's clearly Lu Zhaojing's father's skull!

When their scheme failed, they were forced to flee the Tang Dynasty with their entire clan. Lu Zhaojing's father was so angered that he fell seriously ill and died. He was hastily buried in a mountain forest by his men.

But unexpectedly...

"Hahahaha! I am a beast? Then what were you when you, in order to save your own lives and preserve your wealth, allowed those Japanese savages to slaughter the people and treated the lives of the people of my Great Tang as worthless grass?!"

Changsun Wuji gave a ferocious sneer and lightly touched the wine vessel made from Lu Zhaojing's father's skull to the wine cup in the other party's hand.

The sound of a ding made the latter cough even more violently.

Changsun Wuji looked coldly at this terminally ill fellow.

If the aristocratic families can die, then it's best if they do!

Why should we hand over a wealthy Goguryeo to the Tang Dynasty? Is it not something our Tang Dynasty can do?

The old fox Changsun Wuji understood all too well the principle that raising a tiger can lead to disaster.

What the Crown Prince wanted was simply for things to calm down in Goguryeo for a while, so that the Tang Dynasty could free up its resources to take over everything there.

This is completely different from letting the Lu family of Fanyang lick their wounds and recover their strength in Goguryeo.

Lu Zhaojing's old life could only last until the end of the fifth year of the Zhenguan era at most. At that time, the Tang Dynasty would have another batch of young and capable officials.

"Brother Lu, you must hold on. If even you die, then I will have no choice but to plead guilty to the Crown Prince. At worst, I will atone for my sins by going to Goguryeo to pacify your relatives and kinsmen..."

"Cough cough cough!!!"

Lu Zhaojing's cough became more and more intense.

Changsun Wuji continued to press forward, handing the wine vessel made from the other man's father's skull to him and clinking it against the wine cup in the other man's hand.

"This wine... Brother Lu, would you like some?"

Lu Zhaojing's eyes were bloodshot. He was determined to fight with all his might, regardless of the consequences, to tear this beast in human skin to pieces on the spot. Even if he couldn't kill him, he wanted to bite off a piece of flesh from his body.

A blood-stained hand was pressed against his eyes.

Cui Minshi's sorrowful, trembling voice reached my ears.

"Brother Lu...you mustn't."

Lu Zhaojing: "......."

Changsun Wuji suddenly shouted, "To drink or not to drink?!"

Cui Minshi's face grew increasingly grim, and the hand he held up, covering Lu Zhaojing's eyes, now exuded an icy chill that sent shivers down Lu Zhaojing's spine.

Two lines of tears, mixed with the blood on the other person's hands, flowed down her cheeks.

Lu Zhaojing, still trembling, slowly brought the wine glass in her hand to her lips.

Changsun Wuji was still dissatisfied upon seeing this.

With a "smack," the wine glass in the other person's hand was knocked away, along with Cui Minshi's limp arm.

The wine vessel, made from Lu Zhaojing's father's skull, almost touched the other person's face.

"Drink it with this!"

Lu Zhaojing's eyes and mouth twitched and distorted due to extreme anger.

The sound of his breathing, coming from his nasal cavity, carried an unpredictable and eerie quality, like the cold wind of winter.

Changsun Wuji stared at his opponent with wide, murderous eyes, as if he wished the other party would be so angry that he would vomit blood and die on the spot.

Lu Zhaojing raised her hand and took her father's skull from the other person's hand.

But his body felt as if it had been electrocuted, and he shuddered. It was as if all the strength to raise his hand was being drained away in that instant.

His eyes were filled with extreme hatred as he stared intently at Changsun Wuji's old face, and he thrust the skull towards his mouth.

The wine burned my throat like fire, but it was even more agonizing than fire.

"Drink! Not a single drop is allowed to be left!" Changsun Wuji shouted coldly.

Neither of them were good people. At this moment, they stared at each other with the most venomous eyes, like jackals encountering venomous snakes.

Lu Zhaojing's chest heaved violently as he swallowed the last drop of alcohol.

Cui Minshi, who was in her arms, finally could no longer hold on.

His increasingly dizzy head caused his eyelids to slowly droop uncontrollably.

His weak, mosquito-like voice faintly escaped from his mouth, which was no longer able to move.

"Brother Lu... the Cui family is yours now..."

Father... Your son is incompetent; he failed to protect the Cui family...

With Lu Zhaojing's face filled with grief and indignation, his head drooped limply, making Lu Zhaojing even afraid to look down at him.

Tears welled in Lu Zhaojing's eyes, but Changsun Wuji's lips curled into a cold, icy smile.

"Somebody come!"

"Send Lord Lu back to the Foreign Affairs Department!"

"Also, have the accountant withdraw some silver to...make a fine coffin for Patriarch Cui!"

On that day, the entire city of Chang'an was filled with news of Li Xing, the head of the Li family of Zhao County, who died by crashing into a pillar in the Taiji Hall, and then news of Cui Minshi, the head of the Cui family of Qinghe, being shot and killed by Changsun Wuji, the emperor's brother-in-law.

This instantly caused a stir in Chang'an.

In the imperial palace, Changsun Wuji knelt on the stone steps outside the Ganlu Hall.

Empress Zhangsun looked anxious and helpless: "Brother, why did it have to come to this? Even if you wanted them to die, why did you have to hold such a grand banquet at the mansion and kill them in public?!"

"Do you realize how dangerous this is for you? Those people, including Choi Min-seok, are nominally envoys of Goguryeo..."

Changsun Wuji's expression remained unchanged.

"Your Majesty, please take care of yourself. Now that I have made this decision, I have already given it much thought."

He cupped his hands in greeting, then glanced in the direction of the Ganlu Hall, and lowered his voice.

"Sister, since the Crown Prince needs to temporarily employ members of the aristocratic families, it might be better to let them target the Crown Prince rather than let them hate me, the Imperial Brother-in-Law... In any case, I now have plenty of Goguryeo slaves under my command, and they are destined not to have a good reputation over there."

"For Lu Zhaojing, this world is now no different from hell. But even if he is a broken body, if he wants to take revenge and protect his three families, he must live!"

"If he wants to live, and if he wants his three clans to live... he must earnestly ensure the smooth transition of Goguryeo during this period for our Great Tang Dynasty!"