Traveling through the Gaowu Tang Dynasty, Li Kuan and Li Shimin became the second sons of the Prince

"Enough!" His Majesty Li Er suddenly felt that these years were really... He couldn't describe how he felt at the moment: "I am no longer the child who needs to be taken care of in my mother's eyes!"

"Yes, Your Majesty is not anymore." Wang Gui smiled faintly upon hearing this: "But His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu is still, or rather... he will always be."

"Haha...hahahaha..." Upon hearing this, His Majesty Li II couldn't help but burst into laughter. After a long time, when the laughter died down, he slowly lowered his head and re-examined Wang Gui: "The reason why a person is powerful is to see what he has conquered alone, not that he has others to help him do everything, while he himself seems insignificant in it."

"Your Majesty, you are so pitiful." Wang Gui couldn't help but sigh slightly when he heard this, and then he stopped talking.

"How dare you pity me?" His Majesty Li Er found that this world was really too absurd: "Wang Gui, do you want to die?!"

"Your Majesty, none of the Dou family servants who entered the palace today intend to return alive." Wang Gui smiled coldly when he heard this: "We will stand here today, waiting for Your Majesty to kill us!"

"Bang!" Upon hearing this, His Majesty Li Er immediately stood up and kicked over the table in front of him. "Wang Gui! How dare you!"

"I have wanted to be presumptuous for a long time!" Wang Gui was not willing to be outdone when he heard this, and strode forward directly: "Your Majesty, the old lady has done three things in her life. The first thing is that since she was thirteen years old and learned that the Northern Zhou Dynasty had fallen, she vowed to take back the world of her uncle's family. The second thing is that she worked hard to make four children rich, and she tried to make each of them successful. The third thing is that she hopes that the grandson who accompanied her in childhood and relied on her can live a healthy and happy life after her death.

Of the three things, the old lady succeeded in one and failed in the other two. But when I went to Longyou to visit her, she didn't think these two things were a big deal. She just pointed to the little bastard who was sticking his butt out in the back garden and poking the ant nest with the red hairpin taken off his grandmother's head. She said to me slowly: I only wish for the rest of my life, I hope this child can always be as carefree as he is today.

Your Majesty, what else do I need to say? !” Wang Gui, who had experienced ups and downs in his career and whose heart was as hard as a rock, could not help but shed tears when he recalled the scene at that time: “Put yourself in his shoes. Although I also love my grandson, I am far inferior to the old lady’s love for His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu. But Your Majesty, so what? What did His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu do wrong? Or has the old lady’s love for His Royal Highness become a sin in your eyes?

Everyone should have a conscience!

If it weren't for Empress Taimu's intervention at the age of thirteen and her determination to rule the country, the throne would never have fallen to the Li family!" In the main hall, Wang Gui, with a ferocious look on his face, was no longer as gentle as before. He pointed fiercely at the throne behind His Majesty Li II and shouted angrily at him, "Don't think that Your Majesty is the only hero in troubled times - if we really talk about heroes in troubled times, it's the old lady! - If it weren't for the old lady, the Fufeng Dou family would not have had such a terrifying momentum in the past, and even the five surnames and seven families could only look up to them!

Your Majesty, you should know that even when the old lady’s father, the Duke of Shenwu, Dou Yi, was around, people still ridiculed him for being a descendant of the Dou family of Daibei who successfully clung to the Dou family of Fufeng. (Note 1)

But when this family business is passed to the old lady, will there still be people who say this? ! Your Majesty, I have not found another woman from aristocratic family who can be admired by all five surnames and seven families. You first said that a person’s true strength depends on what he has conquered alone... Haha..." Wang Gui felt that he should just finish what he should say today: "But in my opinion, true strength is not only about conquering, not only about 'independence', but also about 'endurance' - enduring humiliation, enduring blows, enduring pressure from all sides, and finally turning all of this into the driving force for success.

Your Majesty, that’s what you actually did back then, but… you don’t seem to realize it yourself…” Wang Gui finished, looking at His Majesty Li Er with eyes full of regret: “I know what price you paid for this throne, but I know even more clearly that His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu is definitely not you. Just like what the old Taoist priest said—His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu is born kind, but his filial piety comes half from his kind nature, and half from the meticulous care he received from the old lady when he was young—As long as His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu still has the old lady as his grandmother in his heart, he will never think of rebelling against Your Majesty! But Your Majesty can’t see this clearly… but… Your Majesty…

Why did you rebel back then?" Wang Gui looked at the silent Emperor Li II and said in a deep voice, "In addition to the exclusion from Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji, the partiality of the emperor...didn't it also make you feel uncomfortable and unfair?

Now... I want to ask you, will what you did to His Royal Highness the King of Chu make him feel uncomfortable and unfair? Just because the old lady left him a little more family property, you, as a father, intend to be on guard against him? But what did His Royal Highness the King of Chu know from beginning to end?

In order to prevent His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu from being too... arrogant and domineering, the old lady specifically told us that no one is allowed to reveal the size of the family business to His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu before he comes of age. So your Majesty's concerns..."

“Ha…ha?” His Majesty Li II, who was almost swallowed by sadness and shame, now found an opportunity to fight back: “Wang Gui, do you think…that brat still has room for improvement in terms of arrogance and domineering?”

"..." Wang Gui, who had originally fought his way to the moral high ground, was now... not completely defeated, but almost...

Yes...Does His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu still have room to act arrogantly...

It seems that if the door is not opened... then it will really be gone...

"What does Dou Shilun plan to do in Hebei Province?" After regaining the initiative, Emperor Li II wisely chose not to interact with Wang Gui on the previous topic, but instead began to try to regain lost territory.

"Dou Shilun went to Weizhou to clean up the mess on behalf of the old lady." As one of the Dou family's "Five-tailed Foxes", Wang Gui's wisdom is obviously not as ordinary as he showed in front of his colleagues in the past: "Your Majesty, do you think Dou Shilun's behavior is inappropriate? Then I will have someone call him back?"

"Oh... is there still time?" His Majesty Li II sneered when he heard this: "By now, I'm afraid Dou Shilun has already twisted Dou Wei's head off!"

"It's too late." Wang Gui nodded upon hearing this, and then continued: "But isn't this what your majesty wants? Isn't it for this that you let Princess Changle marry the Dou family in Hebei? Others think your majesty is crazy, but how can this old minister not understand your majesty's meaning? You are afraid that the Dou family in Hebei Road is still secretly following the orders of the master, so your subordinates are in this unsolvable situation - His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu will definitely not sit idly by and watch his sister being used for marriage by you, so as servants of the Dou family, we must take action before the master, otherwise when His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu draws his sword and kills people, it will be a situation that no one can control. Your majesty... don't hide it from me anymore... Today, there are only you and me in this palace, why bother..."

"Do you think I have been defeated miserably..." His Majesty Li Er's strong heart made him remain calm despite being exposed in public. "Wang Gui, you..."

"Your Majesty has won." Wang Gui felt that it was time to let the other party learn a lesson from the old lady's plan: "The tens of thousands of bandits hiding in Taihang Mountain are actually mostly recruited by the Dugu family and the Li family in the previous dynasty. The seven generals of the Black Mountain bandits were originally from the Li family, but some of them were disobedient and were replaced by the old lady. Now that Your Majesty wants to register these people, it actually saves us a lot of trouble. We have to support such a large group of people, and the expenses are actually quite high..."

"You!" - His Majesty Li Er was completely defeated: "Wang Gui! Are you trying to deceive God?!"

"Your Majesty, I dare not deceive God." Wang Gui shook his head when he heard it: "It's just... Hebei Province and Dou Wei, the head of the Dou family in Hebei Province, were originally the last bottom line that the old lady personally drew for you before she died. You can cross the line. But the consequence of crossing the line is that the old lady's layout and trump cards before her death will be revealed one by one - Your Majesty, if you feel that you must enjoy the feeling of having everything under control..." When Wang Gui said this, his eyes looking at His Majesty Li Er gradually became profound: "Well... everything is as Your Majesty wishes!

Only this time... your opponent has changed!

Your opponent is no longer His Royal Highness the King of Chu, nor will it be us, the ambitious but incompetent servants of the Dou family with mediocre qualifications.

What you are going to face is the old lady who has been preparing for this game several years ago!

Your Majesty, after learning the truth, do you still want to join the game? ! "