Chapter 101 (Extra Chapter 1) Stop reciting Wei Zheng's "Beating His Grandson"!

late at night.

Inside Huaqing Palace, candlelight bathed the entire palace in a dim, yellowish glow. The gauze curtains hanging from the corners of the palace moved undulatingly without wind, reflecting the candlelight and appearing like floating rosy clouds.

The eunuchs and palace maids below held their breath, heads bowed, wishing they could shrink into the shadows. No one dared to raise their eyes, no one dared to utter a sound, and they even breathed very softly, as if they were nothing more than clay puppets, not worthy of any presence.

In the center of the hall, Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, Li Longji, stood with his wide sleeves fluttering, his bright yellow dragon robe gleaming softly in the candlelight. A gold-embroidered silk ribbon covered his face, obscuring his eyes, yet a smile played on his lips. His arm stretched forward, his fingertips trembling slightly, as if trying to catch a wisp of wind.

"My beloved concubine...where is my beloved concubine?" His voice was deep and mellow, tinged with a hint of drunkenness and a mocking smile. "If I catch you, you'll have to drink three cups of wine as punishment..."

Behind the beaded curtain, a figure in crimson lightly flashed by, her jade pendants tinkling, and a faint, almost imperceptible laugh rippled outwards. Yang Guifei, barefoot on the soft carpet, her slender fingers pressed to her lips, her eyes gleaming with mischief. She suddenly leaned closer, her wide sleeve brushing against the emperor's fingertips, but just as he was about to touch them, she gracefully withdrew.

"Your Majesty, you must hurry..." Her voice was sweet and cloying, like honey swirling around you, "If you don't catch me soon, I won't stand for it."

Li Longji laughed heartily, then suddenly tilted his head, as if trying to catch the subtle sound of her clothes rustling. He abruptly turned around, his arm sweeping around her—

"Caught him." He chuckled softly, his fingertips tapping sharply. "My beloved consort says... how should he be punished?"

What her fingertips touched, however, was a cold, hard suit of armor.

"You insolent brat! Who gave you permission to enter the inner palace?! Where is my beloved concubine?"

The silk ribbon was still covering his eyes, and Li Longji did not remove it. Even through the haze, he could make out that the other person was a burly man. He wondered which ignorant guard it was that had been scolded but remained unmoved.

That's incredibly bold!

"You audacious madman! Who are you? How dare you..."

The ribbon slipped, and Li Longji's pupils contracted sharply.

In the candlelight, the man stood tall and straight like a pine tree, his black armor gleaming coldly, his eyes filled with a murderous aura. He stood with his hands behind his back, his gaze like lightning, piercing straight at the current emperor.

It looks familiar.

It looks like I've seen it somewhere before...

His majestic and elegant appearance is clearly that of Emperor Taizong!

"Who am I?"

"I am your great-grandfather!" Li Shimin sneered, his voice like the clash of metal echoing in the empty hall.

That's ridiculous.

The emperor of a nation actually forcibly took his daughter-in-law and then shamelessly played games in the palace!

They weren't afraid of being laughed at if word got out.

Li Longji's legs went weak, and he almost knelt down. But then several more people suddenly appeared beside Emperor Taizong: Wei Zheng, Qin Shubao, Yuchi Jingde, Changsun Wuji…

Why are there so many people here?

Li Longji looked around, hoping to recruit someone of his own. When Yang Guifei saw Li Shimin and his entourage suddenly appear, she hid herself. It was really inconvenient for her to see anyone. The palace maids and eunuchs even stopped breathing.

Nobody has ever seen anything like this before.

It's unclear whether it was the work of ghosts and spirits or whether Emperor Taizong was truly brought back to life by anger.

One is Emperor Taizong, and the other is the current emperor.

Whom should they side with?

Forget it, I'll just continue being an object.

Li Longji collapsed to the ground, his dragon robe disheveled, his fingers trembling. He suddenly looked up, his voice hoarse: "Emperor Taizong... why... why did you..."

Li Shimin snorted coldly, his black armor gleaming coldly in the candlelight: "Why did you show yourself?" He laughed angrily, "It's all because of you, you unworthy descendant, who has angered me to death!"

Li Shimin looked at Li Longji, who was indulging in wine and women, and his anger surged. How dare he blindfold himself and grab a beauty?

Veins bulged on his forehead. Even when he killed his brothers at Xuanwu Gate, he wasn't this enraged. This great-grandson before him not only forcibly took his daughter-in-law, but also played such absurd games in the palace, leaving state affairs to a treacherous official like Li Linfu!

"I order you to arrest him!"

With a thunderous roar, Li Shimin grabbed the jade ruyi from the table and lashed it at Li Longji. With a crisp "smack," it struck the emperor's raised buttocks.

"Grandfather, please calm down!" Li Longji covered his head and ran away, completely losing his imperial dignity.

"This time, I'll teach you a lesson for neglecting state affairs!"

"This time, I'll punish you for favoring treacherous officials!"

"This time, I'll beat you for forcibly taking a daughter-in-law!"

With each word spoken, the jade ruyi fell with a whooshing sound. Yang Guifei, hiding behind the screen, covered her eyes and peeked through her fingers. She saw the emperor being chased all over the palace, the hem of his dragon robe rolled up to his belt.

Wei Zheng, stroking his beard and nodding, said, "Your Majesty, the seventh lash should be for his indulgence in pleasure..."

“Wei Qing is right!” Li Shimin swiftly grabbed Li Longji, who was trying to crawl under the table.

You still dare to run?

"Yuchi Jingde, seize him for me!"

"Okay."

Yuchi Jingde caught Li Longji red-handed in just a few steps. Magistrate Jiang was truly kind, bringing them all here directly. Li Longji's behavior angered not only His Majesty but also him.

They launched a direct encirclement of Li Longji.

Several people surrounded Li Longji, leaving him nowhere to escape.

"Don't you love capturing beauties?" Li Shimin gradually approached Li Longji, he had been holding this in for too long, "Today your great-grandfather will give you a good beating!"

He swung his hand and slapped her hard, the sound of which startled Yang Guifei, who was hiding behind the screen, so much that she covered her ears.

After a few slaps, Li Longji was seeing stars.

He covered his face, drool dripping from his eyes, and said respectfully, "Great-Grandfather, please calm down... Your grandson knows he was wrong..."

"You know you're wrong?" Li Shimin grabbed his collar, only to see the eyes of this emperor who had ushered in a golden age filled with tears. "Do you know how many people resorted to cannibalism when Tongguan fell? Do you know how many soldiers were torn apart by family separation at Mawei Slope? Do you know?"

The hall suddenly fell into an eerie silence. Yuchi Jingde turned his face away. If it weren't for Du Fu, even those of them who had watched the TV series wouldn't know that the living conditions of ordinary people were so difficult, that even Du Fu himself had starved to death.

well.

What use is a perfunctory admission of wrongdoing to those ordinary people?

Li Shimin couldn't help but shed tears in the palace when he thought of this.

These are all his people.

Wei Zheng stepped forward at the opportune moment, his voice deep and slow, each word as firm as iron:

"Does Your Majesty know that when Emperor Yang of Sui first ascended the throne, he also worked diligently to govern the country, opening the Grand Canal and building the Eastern Capital, believing that his achievements would last for a thousand years?"

Li Longji looked up, a hint of confusion flashing in his eyes.

Wei Zheng continued:

"However, in his later years, the people's resentment boiled over, and the whole country rebelled. This was not because Emperor Yang was incompetent, but because he gradually forgot that the emperor's responsibility was not to enjoy pleasure, but to bring peace to the people."

He opened the "Essentials of Governance in the Zhenguan Era" and pointed his fingertip to a line of vermilion annotations:

"'Put the people's hearts first'—this is what Your Majesty reflects upon every day. Has Your Majesty ever thought for even a single day about those people outside Chang'an who are starving?"

Li Longji's face turned pale, and his fingers unconsciously clenched his dragon robe. At Wei Zheng's advice, his head began to ache.

Wei Zheng, please stop reading!

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Author's Note: This chapter is a side story. Seeing the comments section where everyone seems quite interested in how Emperor Taizong changed the course of the An Lushan Rebellion, I wrote this side story. I'm starting with a short chapter for everyone to enjoy. [Let me see][Let me see][Let me see]