Upon hearing these words, Gao Yang saw a flash of sadness cross Li Shimin’s face, but it was quickly replaced by a joyful smile: “Really?”

“How would this servant dare deceive Your Majesty? It’s absolutely true.” That flash of sadness must have been his imagination—why would His Majesty be sad when the Great Emperor was willing to help him?

“Excellent!” Li Shimin said with a face full of joy: “Prepare a carriage immediately and bring Father Emperor to Chunming Gate. Hurry!”

After Gao Yang left, Du Ruhui smiled: “The Great Emperor’s change of heart is truly timely. With him coming forward, no matter what tricks Li Jiancheng plays, they’ll be useless.”

“I suppose so.” After saying these three words, Li Shimin mounted his horse and spurred it forward, leading the charge. The others followed closely behind.

With flying hooves, they soon reached Chunming Gate. As they dismounted, Du Ruhui noticed the gravity in Liu Hongji’s brow and eyes: “What’s wrong, sir?”

Liu Hongji shook his head: “Nothing, I just suddenly feel somewhat tragic.” Before Du Ruhui could ask further, he said: “His Majesty has gone up to the city tower. Let’s follow.”

Seeing he wouldn’t elaborate, Du Ruhui could only suppress his confusion and follow him up the city tower. Upon reaching the tower, they saw not far away a wooden platform towering high, with twenty heavily armored soldiers standing at the ready. Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji stood clearly behind those soldiers.

On the city tower, archers were already in position. With a single command, arrows would fly toward Li Jiancheng together. However, their faces, like the soldier who had brought the earlier report, were filled with confusion, not understanding why Li Jiancheng and his brother would be mixed in with Turkic soldiers.

After staring at each other across the distance for a long while, Li Shimin spoke: “Li Jiancheng, I gave you chance after chance. Why do you never cease?”

From the other side, Li Jiancheng sneered: “Is it that I won’t cease, or that you won’t let us go? Li Shimin, at this point, are you still going to put on this act?”

Li Shimin’s pupils contracted slightly as he said coldly: “What do you mean?”

“Everyone thinks you, Your Imperial Majesty, are magnanimous and merciful, sparing mine and Yuanji’s lives by exiling us to Liangzhou. But what’s the truth? It’s your persecution and assassination attempts!”

“Not long after leaving Chang’an, those two escorts poisoned our tea, trying to kill us. Fortunately, I was alert and we escaped their murderous hands. Without your orders, how would they have such audacity? After that, I was cautious everywhere, preventing them from finding opportunities. I thought once we reached Liangzhou, you would give up. But no—you sent wave after wave of people, determined to take our lives.”

“Nonsense!” Yuchi Jingde was furious and shouted: “If His Majesty truly wanted your lives, he could have killed you in Chang’an. Why would he need such elaborate schemes?”

Li Jiancheng snorted coldly: “If he had killed us then, wouldn’t Li Shimin bear the name of fratricide and cold-hearted cruelty? But killing us secretly is different—he could claim we died of illness, causing him no harm whatsoever.”

In verbal sparring, Yuchi Jingde was no match for him. After struggling for a long time without thinking of a rebuttal, he could only say gruffly: “In any case, His Majesty never did such things. If you keep spouting nonsense, watch me kill you!”

Li Jiancheng’s lips curved slightly, showing a cold smile: “So quick to become angry from shame—trying to silence me through murder?”

Hearing this, Yuchi Jingde glared: “When did I say I wanted to silence you through murder?”

“You’re no match for him. Stop talking.” After restraining Yuchi Jingde, Liu Hongji said: “You claim His Majesty repeatedly sent people to kill you, yet you avoided harm time and again. Don’t you find that too strange?”

“I’ve long heard of Master Liu’s reputation for eloquence, but unfortunately this time, even if you speak with golden tongues, it won’t matter.” With these words, he and Li Yuanji suddenly pulled open their robes, revealing layer upon layer of bandages wound around their bodies, with dark red blood seeping through.

“Not unharmed—in their assassination attempts, we nearly died several times. Even now, the wounds haven’t healed.” After pulling their robes back together, Li Jiancheng continued: “But indeed, with just the two of us, we truly couldn’t have escaped alive.”

Seeing those “wounds,” Liu Hongji’s expression changed slightly, then quickly returned to normal: “Thanks to these Turkic soldiers beside you, correct?”

Li Yuanji shouted: “With all your calculations, you never expected that years ago, Big Brother had, by chance, saved the chieftain of the Turkic Zhishisili tribe. When he learned Big Brother was being persecuted, he brought people to Liangzhou to help. Without their desperate rescue, Big Brother and I would already be dead.” Speaking thus, he raised his voice: “Soldiers on the city tower, you all heard—this so-called emperor is a complete scoundrel. Knowing the Great Emperor wouldn’t pass the throne to him, he led his followers to storm Taiji Palace and force the Great Emperor to abdicate. Do you truly wish to serve such a shameless wretch?”

The soldiers looked at each other. Though they said nothing, their eyes clearly showed hesitation. Hearing their lies, Yuchi Jingde was both angry and anxious, blurting out: “If you hadn’t persecuted His Majesty everywhere, why would His Majesty have forced the palace?”

Li Yuanji and Li Jiancheng exchanged a triumphant glance: “So even General Yuchi admits that Li Shimin’s claim to the throne is illegitimate?”

Only then did Yuchi Jingde realize he had fallen into their trap. His face flushed red with anger, and he gritted his teeth before bowing to Li Shimin: “Please allow this general to lead ten thousand soldiers out of the city. This general will bring back Li Jiancheng’s head for Your Majesty!”

Li Shimin said calmly: “Father Emperor will arrive soon. There’s no need to leave the city at this time.”

“But if we let them slander Your Majesty, the situation will become increasingly disadvantageous.” As he spoke, Yuchi Jingde secretly observed the soldiers, whose resolve was clearly not as firm as at the beginning, regretting his earlier rashness.

Li Shimin said sternly: “The innocent are self-evidently innocent. I don’t believe they can deceive all the soldiers and common people of Chang’an.”

Seeing him say this, Yuchi Jingde could only suppress his frustration and stand on the city tower. However, he had made up his mind—no matter what Li Jiancheng and the others said, he would not respond with even half a word, lest he carelessly fall into their traps again.

From the other side, Li Jiancheng continued: “Though we two were rescued from Liangzhou, we were desperate with nowhere to go, living from day to day. With no other choice, we could only follow Chieftain Zhishisili to the Turks. When Jieli Khan learned of my situation, he was very sympathetic. Combined with Chieftain Zhishisili’s persuasion, he decided to send troops to help me reclaim everything Li Shimin had stolen.”

“I know what you soldiers are worried about. You think the Turks want to attack Great Tang—no, they’re just helping me. Once everything returns to normal, they’ll naturally retreat back to the Turks.”