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

Chang'an, Ganlu Palace.

Upon seeing Li Chengqian, Li Junxian suppressed his inner turmoil and respectfully bowed to him.

"This humble general, Li Junxian, greets Your Highness the Crown Prince. May Your Highness be well!"

Li Chengqian sat there, his eyes playful as he scanned Li Junxian, who was clearly tense, and a distinctly unpleasant smile appeared on his lips.

Li Junxian, who was secretly watching, immediately felt a sense of foreboding.

"Li Junxian, is there nothing you want to say to me?"

Li Junxian lowered his head even further.

"This humble general does not understand Your Highness's meaning... This humble general..."

"boom!"

"You don't understand? I think you understand better than anyone else, Commander Li!" Li Chengqian slammed his fist on the table in anger, startling the latter into a tremor.

Li Chengqian slowly stood up and walked up to the other person under Li Junxian's horrified gaze.

"My father must have enjoyed it a lot while he was doing it, right? Why did he send you to chase after him at the end? What, are you regretting it? Are you scared?"

Li Junxian was immediately taken aback, and looked at Qianlou, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, with some uncertainty about the situation.

The latter still has that square face that hasn't changed in hundreds of years.

He stood there like a statue, silent and unblinking.

Does His Highness the Crown Prince already know what we are doing?

Right?

Since entering Guannei Road, we have been avoiding the areas where the Embroidered Uniform Guard might operate, and we have done our best to conceal our identities from each other.

Moreover... even Li Junxian himself was unclear about why His Majesty had ordered him to pursue Sun Yi and the others to retrieve some letter, and he knew nothing about the contents of the letter.

How did His Highness the Crown Prince find out?

Could Sun Yi and his men really have returned to Chang'an so quickly?

Fine beads of sweat began to appear on Li Junxian's forehead, but he still insisted on keeping quiet to Li Chengqian.

"Your Highness, this humble general does not understand your meaning. His Majesty is doing well in Chengdu and has not done anything detrimental to the court."

Li Chengqian snorted coldly in his heart, but his expression grew even colder as he took a step closer.

The eerie voice reached Li Junxian's ears.

"This entire country belongs to him, the emperor, so naturally he wouldn't do anything detrimental to the court. But... he hasn't done anything detrimental to me or the empress?"

Li Chengqian's voice trailed off, and his slow approach caused Li Junxian to involuntarily take two steps back.

Even the gesture of cupping hands in a fist salute trembled slightly.

"Heh, Commander Li, you're not going to be able to intercept them. Do you think I didn't know anything about your actions in Chang'an and Qizhou? Don't forget... many of my Imperial Guards were transferred from the Hundred Cavalry Division, and the annual budget I give them is several times more than the budget my father gave you."

Li Junxian looked up in horror.

Sun Yi has actually returned to Chang'an?!

He glanced at Qianlou to the side, but the latter still ignored him.

Li Chengqian sneered.

Suddenly, he shook his head and sighed softly, looking Li Junxian up and down with a regretful expression.

"Tsk tsk tsk... Based on my understanding of my father, the reason why you, Li Junxian, are so anxious, even revealing your weaknesses to search for people everywhere, must be because he gave your Hundred Cavalry Division a death order, right?"

Let me guess...

Li Chengqian smiled enigmatically: "Our emperors, would they really tell Commander Li that if they don't capture this person, they shouldn't return alive to see him?"

Li Junxian: "......."

As expected, His Highness the Crown Prince knows everything.

Indeed, if the things His Majesty entrusted to Sun Yi contained anything that offended His Highness the Crown Prince, how could Eunuch Sun, one of the Crown Prince's personal eunuchs, not have sent a fast horse back to report it in advance?

Li Junxian couldn't help but smile bitterly: "Your Highness, please forgive me... This humble general is only serving the emperor and doing my duty."

He sighed.

"However, His Majesty only instructed me to return the things I gave to Eunuch Sun before Eunuch Sun arrives in Chang'an... He had no other intentions."

As he spoke, he bowed again to Li Chengqian, who looked utterly dejected.

"Oh~~~"

Li Chengqian suddenly realized what was going on and turned his head away.

"Commander Qian! Immediately send Sun Yi back to the capital! I want to see what my father, the Emperor, has prepared for me. He's already sent it out, and now he wants it back..."

Li Chengqian let out a cold laugh, which made Li Junxian, who had just come to his senses, widen his eyes in an instant.

"Your Highness, Your Highness...you're lying to me?!"

At this moment, Li Junxian truly felt like dying.

Qianlou turned around, silently looked at him, gently shook his head, and walked straight out of the hall with a look of pity and regret.

Li Junxian was left alone, and he swayed, almost falling to the ground on the spot.

Li Chengqian looked at the intelligence chief beside his father with amusement and gave Wang De a wink.

Wang De went to prepare tea and snacks, and Li Chengqian sat back down in his original seat.

"Alright, Commander Li, things have come to this, why think about anything else? What? Are you really planning to find a place to draw your sword and kill yourself?"

He gestured for the other person to find a seat.

Li Junxian, however, looked distressed and suddenly looked up at Crown Prince Li Chengqian on the main seat.

"thump!"

"Your Highness, Your Highness the Crown Prince, please save this humble general! Over the years, this humble general has served the Tang Dynasty, His Majesty, and you faithfully, without ever daring to slacken his duty for a single day!"

Despite the apparent mistake he made this time, it's not a big deal for the country.

The letter that His Majesty wrote to the Crown Prince that Sun Yi had was nothing more than a family letter between a royal father and son.

But... who is he?

He, Li Junxian, is the commander of the Hundred Cavalry!

Whether it's the emperor's family affairs or the court's national affairs, if he messes it up, he's definitely doomed.

"Hey, hey, hey? Look at you, what's the rush? Would I ever harm you?"

Li Chengqian gestured for him to calm down and rolled his eyes slightly.

Seeing that the other person finally stood up again, trembling, and sat down in that seat, looking very cautious, not daring to sit down properly.

He couldn't help but shake his head and sigh.

"You, you, actually, it was I who was plotting against you just now. If it were someone else, with your abilities, Commander Li, you would never have been exposed like this."

Li Junxian chuckled awkwardly, unsure whether to nod or shake his head.

Seeing this, Li Chengqian simply stopped mentioning the matter and instead asked the other party about the current situation in Jiannan Road.

"His Majesty is diligently governing Chengdu Prefecture every day. Now, land reform has been completed throughout Jiannan Circuit. In addition, those local tyrants who are blind to the danger have also been pacified by His Majesty's troops. All the men have been made into government slaves to build bridges and roads for Jiannan Circuit."

"Before I departed for Jiannan Circuit, His Majesty was preoccupied with the affairs of the official schools in Jiannan Circuit..."

Li Chengqian nodded slightly, somewhat satisfied.

This is exactly the same as what was said in the report submitted by the Six Ministries.

"Well, at least he still has some semblance of an emperor's demeanor, otherwise my eight million strings of cash..."

Li Chengqian's hand holding the teacup paused slightly, and he looked slightly taken aback.

Thinking of his father's forgotten temperament, a rough guess slowly appeared in his mind.

Although it's a bit nonsensical, it's... just enough for Li Er!

"Hmph! Very well... It seems that's how things are. No wonder they've gone to such lengths to issue a death order to bring back what Sun Yi brought back..."

Li Chengqian is smiling.

But Li Junxian could clearly sense that the Crown Prince, who was so angry that even His Majesty had to temporarily avoid his wrath, was clearly filled with rage.

It resembled a snarling, menacing dragon.

"Commander Li..."

"The general is here!"

Li Junxian stood up instantly, cupped his hands in a gesture of respect, and spoke in a generous voice like a soldier.

"Would you please take the brothers from the Hundred Cavalry Division and continue to lie low in Wugong County as you previously planned?"

How could Li Junxian dare to say no?

He quickly accepted the order.

Just as he was about to leave Ganlu Hall, Li Chengqian's faint voice came from behind him again.

“Commander Li, if this matter is leaked again, then the position of commander of the Hundred Cavalry Command will really not be suitable for you.”

Li Junxian broke out in a cold sweat and quickly bowed again.

Exit Ganlu Hall.

The Imperial Guards acted swiftly. Knowing what Sun Yi was planning to do along the way, they quickly intercepted his convoy, which was heading back to Chang'an, on the official road just inside Huazhou.

"I am Du Mingzhe, a commander of the Imperial Guard! May I ask if you are traveling with Eunuch Sun?!"

Dozens of Imperial Guards were dispatched and blocked the carriage, startling the eunuch in charge of driving.

He stopped the carriage, looking both nervous and bewildered.

Sun Yi lifted the carriage curtain and looked at the commander of the Imperial Guard in front of him.

"Our family is Sun Yi, and Commander Du is..."

The Imperial Guard named Du Mingzhe bowed again: "I am here on the orders of Commander Qian to find Eunuch Sun. May I ask, Eunuch Sun, since leaving Chengdu, has His Majesty entrusted you with anything to give to His Highness the Crown Prince?"

Sun Yi was startled.

After hesitating for a moment, seeing that the other party directly took out his Jinyiwei (Imperial Guard) badge, he then took out a bamboo tube from the carriage.

"The contents of this are the secret letter His Majesty instructed me to deliver to the Crown Prince..."

He certainly wouldn't dare say anything about "Admonitions to My Son".

Du Mingzhe cupped his hands in greeting: "His Highness the Crown Prince has ordered us to take this item to Chang'an ahead of schedule. Please, Eunuch Sun, slow down your carriage and take the official road towards Wugong County!"

Sun Yi didn't understand what had happened, but he still nodded and handed the items to the commander in front of him.

Watching the Imperial Guards turn around and ride off towards Chang'an, he couldn't help but sigh and glance back towards Chengdu.

"Alas... Your Majesty, you really should change your habit of only half-listening to advice..."

Li Chengqian equipped the Imperial Guards in Chang'an, especially those at the thousand-household level, with Qinghai horses from the Qinghai City horse farm.

I learned about this just two days later.

The spring rain pattered against the palace walls and dome outside the Lizheng Hall.

Li Chengqian was having a meal with Empress Zhangsun, along with Crown Princess Qian Yingying and Consort Wu Shun. Also present were Consort Yang, Consort Yin, and several other consorts who often kept Empress Zhangsun company.

Wearing a jet-black raincoat, soaked to the bone, which only accentuated his muscular physique, Du Mingzhe, a commander of the Imperial Guards, knelt on one knee outside the hall.

"Du Mingzhe, Commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, reports to His Highness the Crown Prince!"

He respectfully presented a bamboo tube with only a few drops of rain on it with both hands.