Chapter 48: Uttering Harsh Threats

Every fanfic has a different fate.

The next day, His Majesty, who had rested and rejuvenated overnight, was brimming with vigor and high spirits, and thus decided to drag his son along to attend the morning court session.

The poor Prince of Chu was thus forced out of bed, preparing to attend his very first court session to listen to affairs of state.

"Hah... Dad... Can't you walk a bit slower?!" Before dawn, Li Kuan, who had been personally woken up by Li Er, was in a daze. With the help of the palace attendants, he put on his court robes, and then his energized father grabbed him by the arm and dragged him toward the Taiji Palace.

By the time Li Kuan truly regained his clarity of mind, the Taiji Palace was clearly already right before his eyes.

"No, Dad! What are you doing?" Li Kuan felt the scene before him was just like a dream. Why on earth was he coming to this wretched place?

"You rascal, you always love causing trouble. Sneaking out of the palace without permission yesterday was one thing, but you even forced your elder brother to cover for you. I think it's time you learned some manners." Li Er cast a sidelong glance at the rascal he had forcibly dragged along to court. "Master Li Gang told me quite plainly yesterday that if you pull any more stunts that force your elder brother to clean up your messes, he will resign! He said the Crown Prince is such a good heir, and his reputation is bound to be completely ruined by you."

"I... that old codger!" Shock mixed with morning grumpiness had already made Li Kuan lose the proper reverence he should have had for this learned grand master who had tutored three crown princes (Crown Prince Yang Yong of the Sui dynasty, Crown Prince Li Jiancheng of the former dynasty, and now Li Chengqian).

At this moment, his only desire was to find that white-haired, bad-tempered old codger and demand an explanation.

How dare he try to drive a wedge between him and his elder brother?! This was simply unacceptable!

Although Li Kuan was confident that no one could underestimate the "scapegoating bond" between him and his elder brother, what if? What if his elder brother listened to slander on a whim, strayed from the righteous path, and stopped taking the blame for him or cleaning up his messes? Wouldn't his future look utterly bleak?

No, absolutely not!

Having made up his mind, even though Li Kuan still could not break free from his father's iron-vise grip, this did not stop him from launching a bull-like charge, forcefully dragging Li Er back in the direction of the Eastern Palace.

"Y-Your Majesty... The palace gates have already opened, and the lords of the court will be arriving any moment now..." Zhang Nan, the chief eunuch who always attended by Li Er's side and accompanied him to court, panicked the moment he saw the dark-faced Emperor being pulled away by the equally dark-faced Prince of Chu.

This... the civil and military officials were all about to cross the Jinshui Bridge, yet the two of you were still wrestling right here?

"You rascal!" Surprised by his son's immense strength, Li Shimin, reminded by Zhang Nan's cry, clearly realized that if this continued, he would undoubtedly lose face in front of all his officials. But if he let go now...

Thinking of Linghu Defen, who was still recovering from his injuries at home, Li Er could only grit his teeth and hold on—that thin, short old man Li Gang, whose disciples filled the empire, was not like the tall, imposing, and reclusive Linghu Defen. If this rascal were to kick someone squarely in the chest and end up sending the man straight to the netherworld, then he and Chengqian would be firmly nailed to the pillar of shame in history, spat upon by future generations...

At this thought, the exasperated Li Er immediately raised his hand and rapped his son firmly on the head with a knuckle.

"Ouch!" It had to be said that the Li family tradition of rapping people on the head definitely started with Li Er's generation.

Covering his head, apart from letting out a miserable howl, Li Kuan was forced to completely regain his sanity in the face of Li Er's once-again raised fist: "Stop, stop! I'll go to the morning court, alright?!"

"If you dare to go settling scores with Li Gang afterwards, Dad will send you to Qujiang Park for a few years to reflect deeply on yourself!" Li Er's threat carried a hint of being fierce of visage and feeble of spirit.

"Is there such a good thing?" Li Kuan raised an eyebrow upon hearing this. When it came to angering his father, his talent could be described as peerless.

"Humph!" Knowing that his son had taken his words to heart, Li Er flung away Li Kuan's arm and kicked him in the rear end with his foot. "Later during court, you just need to bring your eyes, ears, and brain to watch and learn properly. But remember, do not express any opinions."

"Then what should I do if I need to relieve myself?" Li Kuan could always precisely find the blind spots in Li Er's cognitive framework.

"Then you can find a pillar!" Li Er couldn't be bothered to lecture his son properly. It was evident that last night's embrace of tenderness had left him thoroughly satisfied.

"Ha, haha..." Realizing what was different about his father today, Li Kuan rolled his eyes inwardly: *No wonder he wanted to drag me to morning court and ended up being so magnanimous and lenient with me—it turns out he's doing it for Mother's sake, isn't it?*

*Sigh... What a muddle-headed ruler...* Looking at his father's radiant expression between his brows, Li Kuan felt an inexplicable sense of discomfort all over.

Discomfort aside, Li Kuan knew he couldn't dodge this morning court session.

And so, on this day, the civil and military officials attending court were astonished to discover that His Highness the Prince of Chu had actually made an appearance in the court hall. Although this fellow ignored the warnings of both the Emperor and the Crown Prince the entire time—either yawning and shedding tears from sleepiness or digging his nose and aiming it at the veteran ministers around him, especially Prime Minister Pei Ji, whom he flicked a booger at—he didn't take anyone seriously at all.

Yet, for a court session lasting a full two hours, the fact that he managed to endure it to the end was already quite remarkable.

In fact, Li Kuan felt the same way.

As the court was about to be dismissed, Li Kuan once again reached out to touch his nose, but remembering that he might end up drawing blood, he restrained the impulse. At that very moment, Yu Shinan, who was serving as the Palace Literary Official, suddenly raised an issue that had nothing to do with the war in the southwest, the floods in the south, or the locust plague in Guanzhong, yet was utterly explosive: "Your Majesty, when shall we initiate negotiations with Goguryeo to welcome back the remains of the former dynasty's soldiers?"

Why call it explosive?

In the current Tang dynasty, natural disasters occurred ceaselessly, and the scourge of war broke out from time to time. The greatest threat in the north was not yet Goguryeo, which Yang Guang had failed to conquer in three campaigns.

—Though to some extent, Goguryeo, which insisted on being the true orthodox successor of China, deserved to be thoroughly ground into the dust by the Tang dynasty and eventually annihilated, right now was simply not the time.

At the very least, they had to deal with the Turks first before freeing up their hands to trim down these mutinous scumbags who indiscriminately claimed ancestors, right?

As for Yu Shinan's proposal to welcome back the remains of the Sui soldiers, it was indeed the right thing to do. However, Goguryeo had the audacity to collect the remains of those soldiers and pile them into a monumental burial mound. If you didn't beat them until they hurt, until they submitted, until their nation was destroyed, how could they possibly be willing to hand them over?

As for exchanging them for wealth?

Pardon me, but that was not the style of the Tang dynasty. Besides, even if the Tang could afford to lose face like that, those Sui soldiers who died in foreign lands, if they had awareness in the netherworld, would probably never agree to it.

Therefore, strictly speaking, Yu Shinan's desire to welcome back the soldiers' remains might have seemed to him merely a matter of diplomacy, but the ministers who understood the stakes naturally knew that this meant going to war with Goguryeo.

Yet the Tang dynasty of today even struggled with disaster relief; where on earth would they find the spare strength to launch a foreign war?

Consequently, after Yu Shinan, who rarely spoke up, finished offering his advice to Li Er in the great hall, not a single person responded.

Even those great generals who usually loved war the most now knew they should transport more grain back to their family estates and stockpile it to cope with the impending locust plague.

With the realm currently passing through eventful times, you want to launch a foreign war? Are you kidding me?

Defending the country was an occupational duty for them as soldiers regardless of time and place, and thus they would naturally charge forward without hesitation, dying if they must die.

Yet before the current crisis had even passed, to voluntarily provoke another war—did they not want to live anymore?

Even Yuchi Gong, whose wits were the dullest, understood this simple truth.

Thus, things suddenly became bizarre.

What madness had possessed Yu Shinan? Why bring this up all of a sudden?

Did he truly not understand the severity of the stakes?

Just as everyone tacitly kept silent, waiting to see how Li Er would speak to suppress the matter,

an obvious show-off jumped out.

"Lord Yu!" Charging toward Yu Shinan with an eager speed, Li Kuan grabbed the arms of the "One of the Four Great Masters of Early Tang" with both hands and gazed at him with deep affection. Aside from Yu Shinan himself, who remained utterly bewildered, everyone else in the court saw a line of giant characters flash through their minds: *We're doomed: Yu Shinan's lifelong reputation is now completely ruined...*

Sure enough!

Li Kuan's very first opening sentence made everyone lose their composure.

With a completely solemn expression, he said to Yu Shinan: "The time is not yet ripe. I ask Lord Yu to bear with it for a few years: Look at me, I am not yet fully grown. When I am grown, I will surely take action! By then, let alone welcoming back the remains of the former dynasty's soldiers, even if it means abducting the noble daughters of the Goguryeo royal family to serve as foot-warmers for my father, it will merely be a trivial matter done in passing."

"..." After a long, drawn-out silence.

"Hahahaha..." Everyone—well, except for the dark-faced Emperor Li Er and the Crown Prince, who was certainly not afraid of angering his own imperial father, but simply possessed a nature disinclined to laughter—the ministers in the court, regardless of faction or official rank, gathered together in that moment. In that moment, they sought common ground while reserving differences. In that moment, they unleashed the most explosive laughter together, fiercely whipping the young Prince of Chu who dared to utter such an outrageous and grandiose threat...