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

Time passed quickly, and three days later, another grand court meeting was held.

Although he knew that the date and candidates for the expedition would be decided at this court meeting, His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu still did not attend the court.

He kept his word and would never set foot in the palace that represented the highest power of the empire again.

But it was on this day that the Crown Prince sent Park Yun to remind him that Duke of Zhao, Zhangsun Wuji, finally began to fulfill his promise.

Han Yuan, the assistant minister of the Ministry of War, took the lead in impeaching the younger brother of Crown Princess Su Xuan, Su Liu, a student of the Imperial Academy. In addition to colluding with Japanese spies, he also rode his horse in a busy street, injured pedestrians and refused to pay compensation. When the officials came to arrest him, he relied on his status as a royal relative to threaten them.

Of course, Han Yuan was just the vanguard, so the things he impeached were not enough to get Su Liu beheaded. At most, he would be exiled. Moreover, as long as the Su family paid silver to "redeem the sentence", he would not even have to be exiled.

But after Han Yuan, Changsun Wuji's ally, Chu Suiliang, made a brilliant appearance at this moment.

"Your Majesty, I want to impeach the Crown Princess for her misconduct! - If the Crown Princess had not condoned her brother Su Liu's evil deeds, how could things have come to this point today? By now, the whole Chang'an City has spread the news that Su Liu relied on his brother-in-law being the Crown Prince and wanted to walk sideways in Chang'an! Ha... He is not His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu! Besides, His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu would not -"

"Bang!" - Just when Chu Suiliang was about to continue to exert his strength according to Changsun Wuji's instructions, he was suddenly hit on the back of his head by a Hu board.

The reason why there was a "bang" sound... and not a "pa" sound... was because when Yu Shinan made his move, he did not slap the tablet but chopped it over.

It was just that the old man was old and not as strong as before, and he still had some rationality in his mind, so he had some strength left in his hands - otherwise Chu Suiliang might have "fainted" immediately - and slept very peacefully.

"Your Majesty, I, an old minister, impeach my disciple's eldest son, Chu Suiliang, for being disrespectful to his teacher and framing his fellow disciples!" - After dealing with his eldest disciple, Yu Shinan's anger did not dissipate much - he could now imagine that when His Royal Highness the King of Chu got to know about this, the other party would come and mock his face.

Master Yu, Master Yu... How come there is a traitor in our sect? Well... This is a serious matter - I will tell Master Zhiyong, and he will probably beat you with a stick...

——When Master Yu thought of this, he was immediately furious. No one would have expected that Chu Suiliang would do this at such a critical moment.

Yes, you didn’t dare to offend the Duke of Zhao, so you stood up to impeach the Crown Princess—but then you thought that this would offend the Crown Prince, and then you secretly mentioned the King of Chu...

What? You want to divert the trouble to your master, right?

Don't you know that there is a Quan Chang'an in our sect... No, it's the whole Tang Dynasty and even the surrounding countries, who is still the biggest "troublemaker"? !

"My dear Lord Yu..." His Majesty Li II felt that today's grand court meeting was like watching a monkey show. Although Yu Shinan's "ruthless huban" was somewhat presumptuous, His Majesty Li II thought it was a good move, so he did not intend to pursue it: "This is the court... You should pay attention to your words and actions."

"Your Majesty, I know I am guilty, and I beg Your Majesty to punish me." Upon hearing this, Yu Shinan immediately bowed down and apologized to His Majesty Li II.

"Then I will fine you half a year's salary." Emperor Li II thought for a moment, then said, "Chu Suiliang, one year!"

"I... thank you, Your Majesty..." Chu Suiliang felt like a monkey now...

But... at this moment in the hall.

The ones who were really exchanging glances were those bigwigs in the court who had already become divided without realizing it.

Of course, princes like Li Ke and Li Tai, who were “under 18” and could only attend court to listen to government affairs but had no right to participate in politics, could only stand like “minions”.

But who among the officials in the court today was not a wild dragon and snake fighting in the flames of war at the end of the Sui Dynasty?

Therefore, His Royal Highness the King of Chu has someone behind him. Even if he is not in the palace today, there will still be people who are loyal to him and are willing to guard him until death.

His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu is willing to give in because of the good teachings of Queen Taimu, but this is not a reason for you to bully him.

For example, Chai Shao, the Duke of Qiao, was staring at Zhangsun Wuji, the Duke of Zhao, who was angry but dared not speak, with a look of sarcasm on his face.

Another example is Duke of England Li Ji, who was looking at Wei Zheng with a smile on his face while his face was ashen.

There is also Li Jing, the Duke of Weiguo, who is now looking at Prime Minister Fang Xuanling with a cold gaze, who has a gloomy expression on his face.

Simply put, the civil and military officials under Li Er's command have never been as hostile and tense as they are now.

Especially after Chu Suiliang mentioned His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu when he impeached the Crown Prince - the generals subconsciously thought that this was a conspiracy against His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu, which led to the current suffocating atmosphere.

"Father," - at this moment, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince realized that something was wrong. He knew that His Majesty Li II was deliberately not looking at the civil and military officials who were secretly competing with each other, so he chose to surrender his bottom line at this time: "The Crown Princess's brother Su Liu is lawless. In addition to the Crown Princess' own negligence, I am also guilty of negligence, so please punish me, Father!"

The prince's leg injury has not yet completely healed.

So when he knelt down, not only was the process difficult, but even his body posture was a little funny.

But... when he actually knelt down and apologized to Emperor Li II.

Everyone's eyes were focused on him at the same time.

For a long time... the whole hall was as silent as death.

Until His Majesty Li II finally spoke: "Crown Princess Su, due to her lack of moral character, is demoted to Liang Di (concubine, third rank). As for Crown Prince Li Chengqian, for his negligence, he is punished by being confined to the East Palace for three months to reflect on his mistakes!"

"Your son accepts the punishment!" - His Royal Highness the Crown Prince waited for His Majesty Li II to finish speaking, then immediately bowed again.

“As for Su Liu…” His Majesty Li II looked at the Crown Prince who looked honest but was actually very dishonest. He couldn’t help but reveal a trace of sadness in his eyes: “Dai Zhou, I’ll hand this man over to you at the Dali Temple for trial!”

"I obey your command!" Dai Zhou did not hesitate to bow and accept the order immediately.

Thus, a turbulent court dispute came to a temporary end.

But next... there is another inevitable big thing that needs to be discussed.

"Your Majesty, regarding this expedition to the Western Turks... I think you should think twice before you act!" - The reason why Wei Zheng did not participate in the previous dispute was because he thought that the impeachment of the Su family was just an appetizer - the real main course was only served at this time: "As Sun Tzu's Art of War says - 'There has never been a case where a country benefits from a long war.' So... (Note 1)"

"——Your Majesty, I am willing to follow His Royal Highness the King of Chu into battle!"——Just when Wei Zheng was preparing to use the authentic "Art of War" to defeat the "grandson of Chu" of the King of Chu, a figure no one expected appeared at this moment.

This person is Qin Qiong, Duke of Yi.

Under the dumbfounded gazes of everyone, this old general, who had already gradually faded from the eyes of the Zhenguan officials, slowly straightened his waist, which had been bent for who knows how many years, and said calmly: "I am a military general. Although I am not as brave as I was in the past, the will of a man is stronger than iron and stone. Since I was still a nobody, I felt that the only good ending for a soldier should be to fight the last battle of this life to the fullest, and after returning victorious, drink a pot of victory wine in my own tent and get drunk forever!"

When Qin Qiong got to this point, he first looked up at the silent Emperor Li II, then he slowly turned around and slowly swept his eyes across the officials in the palace: "I don't care what you think, I only know that there is a pot of victory wine in the Western Regions, waiting for me to drink it, so... don't stop me!"