Li Shimin remained silent for a moment, then said coldly: “From beginning to end, the one who wanted to stain Chang’an with blood was you!” Having said this, he turned his gaze to Li Yuan: “Have you made up your mind to help Li Jiancheng against me?”

A flash of vindictive satisfaction quickly passed through Li Yuan’s eyes as he said painfully: “I’m not trying to oppose you – it’s that this throne never belonged to you in the first place. Shimin, listen to Father Emperor and your elder brother – give up! You have merit with Great Tang after all, so we won’t make things difficult for you!”

Li Shimin took a deep breath and nodded: “I understand.”

Li Yuan detected the note of helplessness in his tone and thought he had persuaded Li Shimin, revealing a slight smile. But Li Shimin’s next words made his scalp tingle!

“Li Jiancheng, you keep saying the Turks are kindly helping you – why don’t you reveal the conditions you promised the Turks?”

This statement startled Li Jiancheng, who said in bewilderment: “What conditions?”

“The Turks help you reclaim the throne, and after you ascend, you’ll cede Yuanzhou, Shuozhou, Xinzhou, Bingzhou, and Xiliang – these five places – to the Turks as their territory.”

As soon as these words were spoken, Li Jiancheng’s face immediately changed drastically. This was his secret agreement with Jieli Khan – how could Li Shimin know it so clearly? Who had leaked it?

Seeing his questioning gaze, Zhishisili understood his meaning and said: “This matter absolutely could not have been leaked by anyone on our side.”

Li Yuanji said from the side: “Apart from my elder brother and me, only you Turks knew of this matter. If not you, then who else?”

“Wrong – there’s one more person!” With these words, Jieli Khan cast his gaze toward Li Yuan, who also stood on the city tower. Li Jiancheng immediately understood his meaning and blurted out: “Father Emperor would absolutely never betray us!”

Jieli Khan remained silent with lowered eyes. Indeed, Li Yuan’s attitude just now didn’t seem false. But if it wasn’t them and it wasn’t Li Yuan, then who could it be? One of his spies planted in the palace?

Before they could figure it out, Li Shimin’s voice came again: “Li Jiancheng is the truly selfish one. To borrow Turkic power to seize the throne, he would hand over five prefectures without regard for Great Tang’s interests or the people there. Is such a person worthy of your loyalty and trust?”

Hearing these words, those soldiers who had originally decided to open the city gates began to hesitate. They truly hadn’t expected such developments.

“The Grand Emperor knows these things, yet he still helps Li Jiancheng slander me. Why? Not because he thinks Li Jiancheng would be good for Great Tang as emperor, but merely because he favors this eldest son who knows how to please him. As for Great Tang’s fate and the people’s welfare, he doesn’t care at all!”

Li Yuan’s face alternated between green and white: “Stop spouting nonsense – everything I do is for the consideration of Great Tang’s people!”

“Is that so?” Li Shimin let out a cold laugh and said to Liu Hongji: “Bring him up.”

“Yes.” Liu Hongji acknowledged and walked to the tower’s edge, shouting down: “Bring the man up!”

Soon, a eunuch was escorted up the tower by two soldiers. Many on the tower recognized him – it was Wu Yu from Li Shimin’s side, though they didn’t understand why he was being arrested.

“Still not acting?” Under Liu Hongji’s rebuke, the soldiers had to step forward and grab the bewildered Wu Yu. Only when truly seized did he realize this wasn’t a joke, hastily saying: “Master Liu, why are you arresting this servant? This servant has done nothing!”

“Think carefully – have you truly done nothing?” Liu Hongji’s smile made Wu Yu’s heart turn cold, giving him a feeling of being seen through. Could it be that he knew his true identity? As soon as this thought emerged, he forcefully suppressed it. Impossible – for over ten years, his identity had been well concealed, never discovered by anyone. Sometimes even he would think he was truly a Tang person. How could Liu Hongji and the others possibly know?

Right, they couldn’t possibly know. Thinking this, Wu Yu’s mind steadied somewhat as he said with an innocent expression: “This servant truly has done nothing.”

“You won’t cry until you see your coffin.” Liu Hongji snorted coldly and drew a thin sheet of paper from his sleeve. After unfolding it, he held it before Wu Yu’s eyes: “How about it? Do you remember now?”

Upon seeing the characters on that paper, Wu Yu immediately began trembling all over, his teeth chattering as his expression became ghostly pale.

How could this be? How could his message sent to the Khan by carrier pigeon be in Liu Hongji’s hands? What… what was going on? If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he would never have believed it!

Liu Hongji’s lips curved slightly: “From your expression, you remember now.” After a pause, he continued: “Oh yes, you should also see this other letter.”

Upon clearly seeing the paper Liu Hongji subsequently produced, Wu Yu trembled even more violently. If not for people holding him on both sides, he would have collapsed to the ground, babbling incoherently: “It shouldn’t be… it’s not right… it shouldn’t be in your hands.”

Liu Hongji let out a cold laugh and raised the two papers high, shouting loudly: “Fellow soldiers, these are the correspondence between Li Jiancheng and the Grand Emperor. They clearly state that Li Jiancheng asked the Grand Emperor to slander His Majesty on the day of the Turkic attack, helping him stir up hearts and minds to trick the city’s officers into opening the gates for the Turkic army to enter. The letters clearly state that once Li Jiancheng gains the throne, he will hand over Bingzhou and four other prefectures to the Turks. The Grand Emperor agreed to this in his reply, saying he would fully cooperate. And Wu Yu beside His Majesty is a Turkic spy who has been lurking in Great Tang territory for over ten years.”

Hearing these words, everyone was shocked, never imagining such a reversal in events. They simply… didn’t know whose words to believe.

Gaoyang was also on the tower, already stunned by this sudden turn of events. Only when he heard Liu Hongji’s final statement did he come to his senses, hastily saying: “Master Liu, is… is there some misunderstanding? Wu Yu has been with this old servant ever since entering the palace in his teens. His background is clean – he cannot be a spy.”

“Clean background – how can you prove it?” Faced with Liu Hongji’s inquiry, Gaoyang hastily said: “Wu Yu told this old servant about his family – they were from Bingzhou, originally quite happy. Unfortunately, under Emperor Yang’s tyranny, his father was forced to work on palace construction, his mother fell ill from excessive worry, and with no money for a doctor due to poverty, a small illness became serious. She barely held on for two years before passing away. He became an orphan without father or mother, wandering everywhere. Later, to have a meal, he entered Taiji Palace to work. So he cannot be a spy – there must be some mistake.”