In that instant, Li Yuangui made his decision, leaping from the ranks with a great shout to stop the Emperor, while tearing off Sangsai’s disguise.
He used too much force, overturning the wine-offering table along with it, cups and vessels spilling across the ground. Amid the chaos and clamor, the Emperor showed no surprise, calmly pouring out the poisoned wine in his hand and publicly revealing the truth.
Oh no, it’s over. Li Yuangui closed his eyes in pain. I’ve been foolish again.
This stratagem was indeed planned between father and son. Li Chengqian truly hadn’t intended to commit patricide… at least not this time.
With a pull and a tug on his arm, Sangsai whom he held began to move. He shouldn’t have had any weapons, but with reddened eyes and splayed fingers, he lunged with all his might toward the Great Tang Emperor. Seeing his fierce expression with bared teeth, it seemed he intended to strangle his enemy’s throat and die together.
Li Yuangui failed to hold him back with a reverse grab but then saw his second brother make his move.
He had served the Emperor on many hunting expeditions and had certainly witnessed this horseback Emperor’s divine archery and fierce beast-killing prowess, but this was the first time he had observed his elder brother fighting someone at such close quarters… though “fighting” wasn’t quite the right word, as the Emperor carried neither knife nor sword.
The Emperor wore the hemp mourning clothes of a filial son, holding only what common people called a “mourning staff” made of bamboo—sturdy enough, but lacking any blade’s sharp killing power. Yet he remained calm, lifting his eyes to scan the approaching enemy, shifting slightly sideways, raising the bamboo staff to thrust its tip through Sangsai’s outstretched fingers and arms, accurately whipping it across his face.
A cry of pain rang out. The Heavenly Khan had sent the Tuyuhun youth flying with a single strike.
Then there was no more. The surrounding officials and guards weren’t dead men—they swarmed forward to pin down the assassin with excessive enthusiasm. Li Yuangui didn’t need to move anymore, standing in place, just staring dumbfounded at his elder brother.
That staff strike was a sword technique… though not particularly sophisticated, the force wasn’t even very powerful, being just a casual parry while standing in place. What surprised Li Yuangui was that despite the sudden development, the Emperor showed no natural flinching or dodging reaction, judged the enemy’s momentum extremely clearly and accurately, used the staff as a sword, struck the vital point with a single hit, and the angle of the staff strike was remarkably clever, utilizing the bamboo’s flexibility to redirect the momentum of Sangsai’s forward rush in the air, throwing him aside by borrowing his force.
From the Great Tang’s founding to its unification of the world, the Emperor before them had led every battle from the front lines, personally braving arrows and stones in numerous dangerous situations, yet had never even been seriously wounded, apparently not merely relying on heaven’s mandate, loyal guards, and excellent armor. He truly was fearless and rich in battlefield experience… at least extremely experienced in dodging attacks and preserving his life.
“What are you spacing out for?” The still blood-stained staff tip rose again, this time tapping Li Yuangui’s cheek as the Emperor couldn’t help but smile at his younger brother’s dumbfounded expression. “You little fool deserve a beating too!”
Dropping these words, the Emperor turned toward the now firmly bound and restrained assassin, commanding: “Let him up—Who are you?”
The guards spread out slightly, allowing Sangsai to raise his upper body and lift his face toward the Heavenly Khan. His face was battered and bleeding from the strike, making his expression even more fierce:
“I am the Crown Prince of the Great Tuyuhun Khan, Zun Wang!”
Li Yuangui’s whole body shook. This arrogant youth was the Crown Prince born to Murong Fuyun and the Tibetan Queen. Not the son of the Prime Minister Prince Tianzhu as he had claimed before?
Kang Sumi’s wariness and attempts to sell him, the loyal warriors coming in batches from his country to serve him, and even today’s strange arrangements—everything suddenly made sense. Judging from the Emperor’s calm expression, he had known this youth’s identity early on. Li Yuangui couldn’t help but wonder if he was the only fool who had been kept in the dark.
“The former Crown Prince of Tuyuhun? Very well.” The Great Tang Emperor smiled slightly. “Today we are fortunate to see the Crown Princes of two generations of Tuyuhun—your father Fuyun acted perversely and has now lost his country and life, while your mother’s clan are also prisoners of our Great Tang. You attempted to use such despicable means as secret poisoning to assassinate me, and now have been exposed on the spot. Prince Zun, what else do you have to say?”
Having operated under the name “Sangsai” and stayed near Chang’an for at least half a year, Zun Wang seemed to understand quite a bit of Chinese. Pressed down by the guards, mad with fury, he first shouted a string of foreign words, then finally roared at the Emperor in broken Chinese:
“You, me, duel!”
This demand was so ridiculous that despite the tense and solemn atmosphere, many officials and foreign envoys laughed out loud. The Emperor didn’t laugh, however, instead surveying the Tuyuhun youth’s physique with interest before turning to look at the Qianniu Guard holding the imperial sword—
“Ahem! Ahem!”
The clearly warning coughs came from among the senior officials. Li Yuangui recognized immediately that it was Minister Wei Zheng’s voice.
The Emperor sighed in disappointment and shook his head. Seeing this reaction, Zun Wang very timely shouted another line:
“Me, your Crown Prince, duel!”
At this, the gazes of all thousand-plus people in the scene focused on Crown Prince Li Chengqian beside the funeral cart. As the eldest grandson, he was responsible for pulling the cart in his grandfather’s funeral procession and had taken his position early. Now suddenly called out, he was first startled, then unexpectedly showed a pleased expression—his face mirroring his father’s expression from moments ago—dropping the pulling rope and starting to walk this way.
“Get back!”
This command came from the Emperor, who waved his staff to drive his eldest son back to the jade carriage like shooing away a fly. The bamboo staff immediately turned to point at the group of noble ladies:
“You want a duel? Fine, duel with your nephew, the legitimate Crown Prince of today’s Tuyuhun Khan! Those lacking virtue rarely receive Heaven’s favor—fight however you want, I don’t believe your little one can win!”
All eyes now turned toward the tall, imposing figure among the noble ladies. Yang Xinzhi supported his mother, completely dumbfounded, unable to process what was happening.
This was the ultimate purpose of today’s arrangement, Li Yuangui suddenly realized.
In front of the chieftains and envoys of various countries, expose and humiliate the former Tuyuhun Crown Prince Zun Wang, making him lose all face and credibility, while simultaneously elevating Yang Xinzhi—Murong Nuohepo—to smoothly go out to Tuyuhun and succeed to the throne.
Most foreign nations in the four directions didn’t value bloodline and loyalty like the Central Plains courts. Foreign peoples respected brave warriors and looked down on the defeated. Although Zun Wang was the legitimate Crown Prince established by his father Fuyun, if he lost in one-on-one combat to his nephew Nuohepo, when the news spread, those tribes within Tuyuhun who might still support him would greatly reduce their loyalty—after all, no one wants to say “we follow a useless coward.”
Yang Xinzhi himself was tall with long arms and great strength and had been prepared from childhood to follow the career path of the Three Guards—military official—campaign service—capital official and prefect, receiving proper martial arts training from old Longyou families.
Li Yuangui had crossed hands with both men and estimated that Sangsai—Zun Wang—probably couldn’t withstand twenty rounds of attacks from Yang “Meat Tower.” Even if desperate circumstances doubled his fighting power, if Yang Xinzhi couldn’t cut down the Tuyuhun youth in fifty strikes, he would still end up taking a beating.
Though the watching crowd didn’t understand their capabilities as clearly as Li Yuangui, just looking at their physical differences and current situations, they could guess eight or nine-tenths of it, shaking their heads and discussing it with relaxed attitudes. Zun Wang himself wasn’t completely stupid, and he had known Yang Xinzhi before. Turning his head to look at that tall warrior, he bit his teeth and spat blood, hissing a fierce laugh at the Emperor:
“Fight anyway? Then I, him, polo!”
Deciding by polo? Li Yuangui’s mind buzzed as he silently exclaimed that this was not good.
This won’t do.
[Note: Various major historical records mention that Li Chengqian had many Turkish guards or guards disguised as Turks around him. These historical materials mainly aimed to prove Li Chengqian’s improper conduct and lack of virtue. However, considering that after the northern frontier wars in the fourth year of Zhenguan, Li Shimin settled many surrendered Turkish nobles in the court as military officials, and their sons would traditionally be selected as guards, it seems there is a causal relationship with Li Chengqian, then twelve or thirteen years old and in his active adolescent phase, being influenced by these Turkish guards around him.]