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

The palace was bustling with activity on New Year's Eve.

Especially the two little ones, Crown Prince Xiangyu and Pinu, will never forget this New Year's Eve filled with terrible experiences.

The year was the ninth year of the Zhenguan era.

Li Chengqian ultimately refrained from causing any further trouble and finally agreed to ascend the throne this year. For this, Emperor Taizong of Tang, the Grand General of the Heavenly Strategy, even made a rare appearance before the retired emperor to defend his son.

"Those two little ones are old enough to practice martial arts now, and they're even stronger than I was when I was young. What could possibly be wrong with them? Besides, isn't it normal for boys to get into some roughhousing and fights?"

The father and son immediately disagreed again on the matter of the Crown Prince.

However, Li Chengqian disagreed with this.

He had already discovered that the physical modifications made by the red fruit could actually be inherited, just like Princess Xiao Sizi of Jinyang, whose father and mother were both consumers of the red fruit.

If Li Chengqian hadn't known that the other party had died young in history, how could the current little Sizi, who is like a child king, have seen the signs of early death?

This girl, she might even outlive her older brother in the future...

In comparison, among the little guys Xiangyu, Pinu, and Yue Niao, only he, as their father, ate the red fruit, making him naturally stronger than ordinary people, but he is still not as good as their little aunt, Si Zi.

Today, Xiangyu and Pinu were sent to Prince Li Zhi of Jin at his own request, saying that he wanted to supervise them while they did their homework.

Li Chengqian didn't think much of it.

He sat on the edge of a lake boat in the middle of the lake, with a small red clay stove heating water beside him. On the tea table next to him, in an official kiln porcelain teacup with crackled ice patterns, amber-colored tea soup was rising with fragrant steam.

His gaze seemed unfocused, his mind blank, and his relaxed demeanor made Wang De and the others serving him on the ship secretly breathe a sigh of relief.

The Crown Prince, who used to often go home empty-handed, would frequently be in a bad mood because he couldn't catch any fish. But now... perhaps he's gotten used to it. On the contrary, when it comes to fishing, His Highness the Crown Prince is the most reassuring.

At least they won't cause any more trouble for the two imperial grandsons...

However, such days did not last long. Soon, as more and more envoys from vassal states and merchants from foreign lands arrived in Chang'an, Li Chengqian, whose coronation was approaching, had to keep busy.

"Your Highness, the third prince of the Kingdom of Zhelouqi, Sismi, requests an audience."

This was not the first envoy from a vassal state to request an audience with him recently, and Li Chengqian received him as usual at the Xiande Hall of the Eastern Palace.

The Chinese spoken by Sismi today is much less cumbersome. Although his accent is still somewhat inaccurate, at least the Ministry of Rites no longer needs to send an interpreter.

After respectfully bowing and greeting Li Chengqian, Sismi solemnly and excitedly presented a letter of state.

"Your Highness, my father has heard about the Tang Dynasty's preparations for a western expedition, as well as the treacherous and shameless actions of the Byzantines and Arabs. Therefore, my Kingdom of Zhelouqi has assembled four thousand elite warriors, ready to await orders from the Great Kingdom!"

Li Chengqian nodded slightly.

Now, in Central Asia, especially in the Arabian Peninsula, the war signals of the Tang Dynasty's impending westward expedition have already spread.

Now that the cause is justified, the Tang Dynasty has no intention of hiding it.

Given the current military strength of the Tang Dynasty, and with its many young and brave generals under the command of his father, the first General Tian Ce, Li Chengqian couldn't imagine any possibility of losing.

He nodded slightly.

"Your father is very thoughtful. In his report this year, Provincial Governor Yang also mentioned your support for the local Provincial Administration Office, which has avoided a lot of trouble. I am very satisfied..."

Li Chengqian offered words of praise for the occasion.

This time, there were countless vassal states like the Kingdom of Zhelouqi that were willing to send troops to follow them.

Furthermore, it is said that the Ministry of Rites has now received a letter of submission from the envoy of the Kingdom of Palawa, a sworn enemy bordering the southwestern part of the Kingdom of Zhelouqi. However, the Tiance Prefecture and the Cabinet are currently discussing this matter.

This matter must have been one of the purposes of Sismi's trip.

This is the art of governing a country: balance and choice.

After talking with Sismi for a while, Sismi brought up the matter of sending students abroad. Li Chengqian then handed the matter over to the cabinet to discuss the specifics.

The present-day Tang Dynasty, especially the three cities of Chang'an, Taiyuan, and Luoyang.

Foreign faces are hardly surprising anymore, and the Tang Dynasty is now extremely tolerant of talented people from foreign lands, willing to accept them and even grant them official positions.

The Tang Dynasty had already become the center of the world.

A few days later.

The Kingdom of Harsha also sent envoys. This semi-colonial and semi-feudal country, in an extremely humble manner, offered to provide logistical support for the western expeditionary army in exchange for the Tang Dynasty controlling the Highland Alliance's arrests of their citizens.

They didn't even dare to say that they hoped the Tang Dynasty would prohibit those people from capturing Harsha.

Li Chengqian simply smiled indifferently, not even taking it to heart, and left it to the cabinet and the Tiance Mansion to decide, as this matter required the opinion of his own General Li Shimin, the Grand General of the Western Expedition.

The spring of the ninth year of the Zhenguan era lasted no more than a month.

The Kingdom of Zhelouqi prepared four thousand auxiliary troops for the western expedition.

The Plateau Alliance has four thousand members.

The Harsha dynasty prepared 50,000 laborers to accompany the army, but the cabinet was still somewhat dissatisfied. The main reason was that the Ministry of Rites proposed that since the war was to be carried out against the Arabs, it would be necessary to build more ports.

The Ministry of Rites wanted the Harsha Dynasty to provide at least 150,000 laborers at its own expense.

Sasanian Persian King Yggdrasil II sent the first battle report, in which the Sasanian Persian prince led a large army to attack several cities in the Byzantine province of Syria and won all of them.

However, the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius also responded, and war had already broken out. Neither the Sassanid Persians nor the Tang Dynasty had any intention of negotiating.

The Byzantine Empire, too, showed no interest in peace talks.

On one side is the Tang Dynasty, whose military power has been suppressed to its limit, and if it does not erupt soon, it may backfire on itself.

On the other hand, the Arab-Byzantine alliance faced threats to its fundamental interests and was forced to resort to force.

February of the ninth year of the Zhenguan era.

A massive fleet with three steam-powered ocean-going vessels on board has been prepared for operation in Guangzhou Port.

The fleet had many flags that symbolized belonging.

The residences of the Prince of Han, the Prince of Liang, the Prince of Lu, the Prince of Jing, Princess Changle, and Princess Gaoyang...

With everything prepared, Li Ke and Li Yin took the train back to Chang'an. They were weary from their journey, but they had to get back as quickly as possible.

For nothing else.

February 15th, the ninth year of Zhenguan.

The day of Gui Chou (癸丑) in the Heavenly Stem and Earthly Branch combination is auspicious for grand ceremonies and establishing a career. It is a day of divine favor and virtuous conduct, and the constellation of Dou (斗) signifies the arrival of Heaven's mandate.

During the Zhenguan era, the crown prince ascended the throne, all nations paid tribute, and the whole country prospered!