Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 613 The Blade Remains Hidden

For the first time in his life, Li Shimin was rendered speechless by Tuoba Jing, this useless scholar. But then again... in his eyes, there were few people who weren't useless scholars. Anyway, those who were better at fighting than him were not as smart as him, and those who were smarter than him were not as good at fighting.

He was either weak or useless, or both; in any case, he always thought he was unparalleled in the world.

But he's still in a pretty bad situation, and when he thinks about it, he blames Xia Daosheng.

Meanwhile, Jinlian was feeling uneasy inside the room. She tried to stand up several times but didn't dare to move until Third Sister smiled at her and said, "Just sit still and eat. They've always been like this since they were little, so let them be. My brother Jing has never been a very calm person, and my brother is also a rash one. Besides, even if you go out now, you won't be able to find them. They've probably gone somewhere to have fun."

Third Sister spoke softly and gently, but her aura was unmatched. Even Emperor Jingtai did not have her bearing. Jinlian was really smitten with this princess. She could easily control two such difficult people. If she had even half of her, she probably wouldn't have been bullied and humiliated back then.

She even had some rebellious thoughts, that this older sister felt more like an emperor than Emperor Jingtai.

Of course, in her heart, the best candidate to rule the world was always Lord Xia. Although she had only met Lord Xia a few times, his composure and calm demeanor truly met all of Jinlian's expectations of the emperor since childhood. Not to mention, he was also exceptionally strong. So strong that when Emperor Jingtai talked to her about crickets, he had already started to automatically filter out Lord Xia because he didn't have to worry about him at all.

"As long as Daosheng does it, he will surely succeed." This was the sentence that Emperor Jingtai said to Jinlian the most.

With the two noisy men gone, the atmosphere in the room naturally became much more harmonious. At this moment, Jinlian became their main focus. Whether they liked her or not, it was always good to chat with her for a bit.

However, Jinlian suffered during this process. Third Sister had a strong aura, and Dugu Han knew how to extract information, but the little princess just sat there laughing foolishly, showing no aggression whatsoever.

Meanwhile, the two noisy men were sitting on a stone bench in the main square of Fuliang, each carrying a can of a liquor called "wheat wine." In front of them were paper bags containing braised meat, lotus root slices, and other such items. The two leaned back, looking up at the sky, occasionally taking a sip of their wine, and remained silent for a long time.

"Really boring."

Emperor Jingtai suddenly said this.

"Is being an emperor meaningless, or is living meaningless?"

"It's all meaningless." Emperor Jingtai took a big gulp of wine and sighed: "Back when I was still the heir apparent, I wandered around, composing poems and songs, and I could even find ways to compete with the heroes of the world. But now that I'm the emperor, I'm timid and hesitant, guarding myself day and night, afraid that I might lose my position and my head."

"If you don't want to be it, then I will."

"Get out." Emperor Jingtai glanced at Li Shimin: "Go and usurp your father's throne, and become the fake emperor of Chang'an."

"If you're going to be one, be the orthodox one."

"Come on, kill me." Emperor Jingtai patted himself.

Li Shimin rolled his eyes: "Even if I kill you, you still won't become emperor. The history books will only say one sentence: Li Shimin murdered the emperor and rebelled; the Li Tang dynasty had no loyalty. I'd rather kill my brother than touch you. You should abdicate. Anyway, it seems you're having a hard time being emperor. How about you write an edict saying you're passing the throne to me? I'll recognize you as my godfather and change my name to Tuoba Shimin."

These words were both outrageous and hilarious, and Emperor Jingtai laughed out loud: "How have you become so despicable? Where is that General Li Shimin?"

"Oh my, Chengdu Prefecture is such a tormenting place. Even the toughest steel becomes as soft as silk, it's so comfortable that it can wear down a person's temper."

"Let's raid Luoyang," Emperor Jingtai said with a smile. "Each of us will bring 100,000 men and raid them to death."

Li Shimin didn't reply, but lowered his eyelids and stared at the wine jar in his hand: "You know, I've felt that I've gone astray for many years. Someone has been deliberately leading me down the path of eroding my will. A few days ago, I was shocked to realize that I haven't been motivated for a long time. Now I even think that living my life like this is not bad."

Emperor Jingtai did not answer his question, but instead changed the subject and asked, "Why did you leave Sichuan this time? Does Li Yuan know?"

“How can we let him know?” Li Shimin laughed. “It’s better for you to know than for him to know. This time I plan to go to Lingnan to find someone to lend me some leverage.”

He sought someone to leverage his influence, and that person was in Lingnan. It was obvious who he was looking for, but Emperor Jingtai was somewhat puzzled as to what trick Li Shimin was playing with this sudden move.

Their eyes met unintentionally, and Emperor Jingtai suddenly thought of Third Sister, and her son who looked extremely familiar...

"Hiss..." Emperor Jingtai suddenly slapped his thigh: "You're not going to help your elder sister up there, are you?"

"What's the problem? Isn't my older sister a hundred times better than your younger sister?"

"But she is not as good as you in martial arts or strategy, nor is she as good as you in governing the country."

Li Shimin rested his elbows on his knees, hunched over, staring blankly ahead. After a long while, he finally spoke, "Yes, you're right. So, are you like me?"

"I..." Emperor Jingtai was taken aback, then laughed, "Of course, I'm a hundred times better than you in every way." "Brother, it's fine to fool others, but it's pointless to fool yourself." Li Shimin turned his head and glanced at Emperor Jingtai: "I admire Emperor Hongbao. Even now, I still call him Emperor. You... well, it's hard to say. Let history judge a hundred years from now."

"My biggest regret is that I only loved romance and poetry when I was young. Now I think I should have learned martial arts from Master Zhai."

Why regret it?

"If you master martial arts, I can kill you with a single stab right now, thus eliminating any future trouble."

"There's no going back in life. Look at you, someone like you can sit comfortably on the throne. Do you know how the northern gentry think of you?"

"I don't know."

“They say that Emperor Jingtai really had a good father. If his father hadn’t been so capable, he wouldn’t have been emperor, he would have lost his life. Do they really think that the gentry of the world are afraid of his useless emperor? They are afraid of the powerful figures under his command.” Li Shimin turned to look at Emperor Jingtai: “I really envy you, I really envy you.”

He spoke through gritted teeth, his face contorted in rage—jealousy could truly distort one's features...

Emperor Jingtai, of course, did not refute, but just smiled smugly, because Li Shimin was right, he did have many capable people under his command.

Even setting aside Daosheng, the rest are all talented individuals, especially in recent years, as young people have entered politics one after another, showing a tendency to suppress the aristocratic families.

After the new customs were introduced to the Great Wei, the atmosphere was quite different. If it weren't for the deep-rooted poison and the considerable strength of the various remnants, Emperor Jingtai would have been preparing to personally lead the expedition to recover the lost territories.

Looking back at the Tang Dynasty, it doesn't seem to be much better than the Wei Dynasty. The Eight Devils of Longxi were really troublesome, and the Yuwen and Yang families, with their entrenched influence, created chaos and turmoil throughout the Central Plains and Northwest.

Therefore, it would not be good for the two largest countries to go to war right now; peaceful coexistence is the best solution.

"I'll give you the entire Jiannan Circuit, and you give me Xia Daosheng. I only want this person."

"No." Emperor Jingtai refused decisively: "With Xia Daosheng, Jiannan Circuit is within reach. But without Xia Daosheng, Jinling City is in grave danger. I am indeed not as intelligent as you geniuses, but don't forget that my strategies back then were also quite good."

"Damn it..." Li Shimin cursed under his breath, "Then what are you doing sneaking out like this?"

"Come out...it's none of your business." Emperor Jingtai sneered, "I can come out whenever I want."

"You're not really going out to play, are you? Oh, don't be like this. The more you act like this, the more upset I get. Why? Why can you sit comfortably in power like this? This isn't fair."

"Of course it's unfair. My dad is great. Unlike some people's dads, who raise their children like they're raising poisonous insects."

After being pierced through the heart by an arrow from Emperor Jingtai, Li Shimin was once again speechless.

When are you going to Lingnan?

“My older sister probably won’t go, I’ll go by myself.”

Emperor Jingtai stroked his chin: "Then come with me."

These words startled Li Shimin, but before he could speak, Emperor Jingtai suddenly asked, "Erfeng, tell me the truth, is your nephew Li Zhi...?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

"Seriously, are you blind? Can't you tell? They look almost identical."

Emperor Jingtai was greatly surprised, his face full of astonishment: "Impressive...impressive indeed. And what about your daughter? Dugu Jiaye."

"Of course, that's true. Is there anything else you want to ask?"

“That Li Chengqian…”