“Actually, what reason do you even have to rebel? Hm? I’ve never been able to figure it out. Currently, you’re the sole heir to the throne. The person most likely to compete with you, Qing Que, now treats the throne like trash—he’s completely devoted to becoming immortal through scholarship, wanting to carve his name into people’s hearts through his learning. I really admire his thinking.”
“Little Ke is now like a startled bird. As soon as rumors of succession struggles spread in the capital, he immediately flees back to his fiefdom to dutifully make babies with beautiful women. Your other brothers, even if they had the heart for it, don’t have the guts.”
“As for your uncles, if any of them dared to harbor such thoughts, His Majesty would smash them into meat paste before you even needed to lift a finger. So what on earth happened to make you think about seizing power early? Please don’t tell me something like you’re not the biological child of His Majesty and Her Majesty—if that’s the case, then I’d have nothing to say.”
Taking advantage of Li Chengqian’s psychological breakdown to ask more questions, this puzzle was something Yun Ye had long wanted to solve. Previously, he thought that as long as he dealt with Li Tai and Li Chengqian didn’t do all those terrible things, his position as emperor would be secure. Things were clearly progressing in a good direction—why did they take such a sharp turn in the middle?
Having recovered his senses, Li Chengqian saw that Yun Ye actually dared to question his bloodline. He jumped up, pinned Yun Ye to the ground, and beat him thoroughly. After he’d beaten him enough, he finally stood up, brushed the dirt from his body, and said proudly: “I am naturally the legitimate eldest son born to my father the emperor and mother the empress, born in Chengqian Palace, hence the name Chengqian with the courtesy name Gaoming. In the third year of Wude I was made Prince of Hengshan, in the eighth year of Wude I became Prince of Zhongshan, and in the tenth year of Wude I was made Crown Prince. My bloodline is incomparably noble—not something a mongrel bloodline like yours can compare to.”
“My great ancestor was one of the Eight Pillar Generals of Western Wei, and my maternal grandfather was also one of the Eight Pillar Generals. For generations we’ve associated only with the world’s most illustrious noble families. We only intermarry with the Eight Pillar Generals, so naturally our bloodline is exceptionally pure.”
“Yuwen Tai, first among the Eight Pillar Generals, pioneered the military farm system. Though he was first among the pillar generals, his status had long transcended that rank. The Yuan clan held their position due to elevated status as a nominal appointment, so in reality there were six pillar generals, perfectly matching the Zhou ritual principle of governing six armies. The six pillar generals each supervised two generals, making twelve generals total. Each general supervised two military commands, and each command led one army, totaling twenty-four armies. This was the prototype of the military farm system, which my great ancestor extended throughout the realm, thus pioneering the system of the people supporting the military.”
“My great ancestor was enfeoffed as Duke of Tang—this is the origin of the Great Tang’s name. Our Guanzhong Li family has produced generation after generation of outstanding talent. Even during the former Sui dynasty, we remained foremost among the Guanzhong clans.”
“Emperor Yang of Sui acted perversely against all reason. Finally, my grandfather and my father raised armies to save the realm and recover the old territories. Since I, Li Chengqian, was born in Chengqian Palace and named Chengqian, naturally I must inherit the realm. To inherit the realm, how can one be without power in hand? So I simply sought opportunities on a small scale to see if success was possible and to test my father the emperor’s reaction.”
Yun Ye spat out the dry grass in his mouth, rolled over and said: “Nonsense! The two of us grew up together—do you think I don’t know your temperament? Please, tell me the honest truth. What’s really behind this? Don’t try to pressure me with family lineage. Do you know a fellow called Han Zhe? His bloodline is far purer than yours—his family practices sibling marriage, so their people are either brilliant madmen or physically deformed idiots and imbeciles. Don’t flaunt your pure bloodline in front of me. In certain circumstances, a pure bloodline isn’t as advantageous as my mongrel bloodline.”
It was obvious that Li Chengqian was very unwilling to speak, as if there were some great taboo. Yun Ye sighed deeply, not wanting to force someone into a difficult position. Just as he turned his head away, he suddenly turned back to look at Li Chengqian and said: “Your difficulties wouldn’t be related to your family’s bloodline, would they? You rambled on about a whole pile of ancestors—maybe it’s connected to your family’s bloodline or ancestral customs. And His Majesty having such thoughts about you doesn’t seem strange either—it would be stranger if he didn’t do this.”
“Hehe, let’s expand our thinking a bit more and see what we can figure out. Your family genealogy has no detailed records of the Great Ancestor’s death, and the records for the Shizu are only a few sentences—not like other families who even include funeral honors. I’ve heard that my family’s biography is more detailed than those of the Great Ancestor and Shizu. This doesn’t make sense unless the imperial family has another set of annals. If I could see those annals, I’d definitely uncover this secret of your family. But from what I can see, this bad custom in your family really isn’t good. Since it’s already become an established rule, what will you do in the future? Do you plan to have Xiang’er continue down your old path?”
Li Chengqian sat down, his voice very soft but extremely resolute as he said: “If I become emperor, I absolutely won’t do this. I know my father the emperor’s thinking. Since he’s already done it this way, then I must do it too. There can only be one alpha wolf. Young wolves can only learn their skills through constantly challenging the alpha wolf. Sometimes casualties are inevitable, whether it’s the old alpha or the young wolves—all must accept this challenge. The victor becomes king—this is the rule.”
“Originally it was a group of young wolves competing, but now this young wolf of yours has no opponents, so the old alpha has decided to personally test the mettle of this young wolf of yours. Oh my, this has been hard on Hou Junji and the others—after all this, they were all just sparring partners. This secret is probably only known to you and His Majesty, right? Qing Que probably doesn’t even know.”
“No wonder His Majesty has been so composed and unconcerned. This time he’s just watching to see whether you’ll risk a desperate strike regardless of the nation’s and the army’s safety. What His Majesty is more anxious about is your character, not any rebellion.”
Though Li Chengqian didn’t spell it out explicitly, Yun Ye still understood why Li Chengqian would have such thoughts. The reason was that the Li family raised their sons as wolves. No wonder in history, when Li Er saw the weak Li Zhi, he uttered that famous lament: “Better to have a son like a wolf than a son like a sheep.”
No wonder every succession of the throne in the Tang dynasty was accompanied by boundless bloodshed—Li Shimin was like this, Li Zhi was like this, Li Longji was like this, and Li Heng was also like this. When Li Heng stopped using this method on his sons, the Tang dynasty inevitably entered its period of decline, with the empire’s situation controlled by a group of eunuchs.
“Chengqian, this method isn’t wrong. At the very least, it can ensure that whoever sits on the throne is an outstanding figure of their generation. If you abandon this method, your descendants will be born into wealth and raised in the deep palace, spending their time among women. It won’t be easy for them to become qualified emperors. So this method cannot be discarded. Even someone as brilliant as His Majesty hasn’t found a way to break this vicious cycle. We’ll think about it slowly—there will surely be a solution.”
“But just now you said this method was too bloodthirsty,” Li Chengqian was dissatisfied with Yun Ye’s constantly changing stance.
“It is indeed too bloodthirsty. Every death among the Great Tang’s people pains my heart. But right now, people are being buried alive outside, and the fires are also burning corpses. Why don’t I feel the least bit of bloodiness? Not to mention there’s also a skinned person hanging from the flagpole. The reason is that your family’s method uses the Great Tang’s people as practice targets. If, like now, it’s all foreigners dying, then I don’t care.”
The two of them, wanting to personally experience what bloodiness meant, left the massive military tent together. Surrounded by guards, they came to the edge of the enormous pit. Those Mohe rebel soldiers who had been pushed into the pit finally understood what purpose these pits they’d dug served. Weeping and pleading, with their hands bound, their whole bodies writhing upward like maggots, they hoped to escape the pit.
“Chengqian, look—if one of them were smart enough to help others untie their ropes with their teeth, perhaps the freed person would turn around and help untie him. If they were strong enough and united together, three thousand men in terrain as complex as Ansi City’s would surely have some who could escape with their lives.”
“But look—not a single person is doing this, not one. Instead, most are trying to step on others, hoping they themselves will be buried a bit later. Even the stupidest person knows that even if they climbed up, the soldiers would just kick them back down. Yet they still persist in such futile actions, stubbornly wasting even their last theoretical hope of survival. I’m also afraid of seeing bloodshed, but now I must face it, because I’ve discovered that in the Great Tang, if you’re not cruel, you can’t survive. This is an empire of iron and blood, destined to be a paradise for the strong.”
The Xuanjia Army was truly coldhearted. Whenever anyone crawled up the gentle slope, they would pierce that Mohe person through with a spear, then kick them into the pit. Yun Ye noticed their eyes were icy, like lifeless machines.
The cruelty of burying people alive ultimately exceeded Yun Ye’s capacity to endure. He and Li Chengqian both turned and ran. Their earlier pretense of coldness completely vanished. The two ran far away until they could no longer hear those screams, then each leaned against a wagon’s shaft and vomited profusely. That delicious mutton meal they’d just eaten was wasted.
Guards brought clean water, and the two continuously rinsed their mouths. No matter how much they rinsed, a bloody smell lingered persistently in their mouths and noses. Just when they thought they were fine, their churning stomachs made them start vomiting again.
Only when there was nothing left to vomit did they finally stop. Looking at each other’s waxen faces, they shook their heads together. No matter how much they hardened their hearts to experience such bloodiness, first their bodies wouldn’t accept it, and their fragile stomachs became the greatest obstacle to their ambitions of becoming ruthless tyrants.
And this was just from observing. If they had personally given the order, they estimated that by the time the enemy was finished being buried alive, they themselves would be ready for coffins. So when they saw Li Er eating a lamb shank while carving it with a small knife, both felt sincere admiration from the bottom of their hearts.
“How is it that merely observing an execution makes you vomit until you’re half-dead? One is the Crown Prince of the Great Tang, the other is a marquis who leads troops in battle. If things continue like this, what kind of example does it set? The Great Tang will eventually be handed over to you two to govern—how can I feel at ease?”
“Those who govern must balance leniency and severity—that is the proper way. If you have a bodhisattva’s heart, naturally you must also have thunderbolt methods. Being entirely lenient or entirely severe is both wrong. However, today you two will first experience what warfare means.”
“Someone come! Give the Crown Prince and Yun Ye each a lamb shank. They may only leave after eating it at the execution site. Duan Hong, you go supervise—no favoritism allowed!”