My father, Li Shimin, requests Your Majesty to become the Retired Emperor.

the next morning.

Li Chenggan, Songtsen Gampo, and Queen Seondeok were invited to visit the Japanese navy at the seaside.

Looking around, Li Chengan saw thousands of warships on the sea, including more than 100 large warships.

Each warship could accommodate more than 1000 people.

The warships were arranged in neat rows and rows.

When the soldiers of the Wa Nu Kingdom saw that King Shuming had come to inspect them in person, they were all in high spirits and looked majestic and powerful!

Under the corner of the flag, a general was directing the warships.

That general was none other than Soga no Emishi.

This Soga no Emishi was quite remarkable; he was a representative figure of the Soga clan and held real power in the Wa (Japanese) country.

Soga no Emishi held two flags in his hands, one red and one black.

On the sea, he used flag signals to direct the warships in drills.

King Shuming was in high spirits.

He pointed to the warships on the sea: "Great Tang Crown Prince, Songtsen Gampo, Queen Seondeok, look at our Japanese navy, isn't it magnificent?"

After reading it, Li Chengan thought to himself that the Japanese navy was indeed well-trained.

Li Chengqian laughed and said, "Your Majesty, you certainly have your own methods for training your navy."

At this moment, Soga no Emishi arrived before King Shumei: "Your Majesty, the navy has assembled and is ready for inspection!"

King Shuming nodded slightly: "We may begin!"

Soga no Emishi stepped aboard the command ship.

The command ship was taller than the average ship.

He stood on the deck, waving two flags in his hands, and the navy immediately sprang into action.

A moment later, they set up a large formation.

The formation was divided into eight gates, advancing and retreating in an orderly and methodical manner, combining offense and defense effectively.

After examining the formation, King Shuming looked at the crowd and asked, "Crown Prince of the Great Tang, Songtsen Gampo, Queen Shande, everyone, do you recognize this formation?"

Upon hearing this, Li Chengan understood that King Shuming was testing them. If they couldn't answer, it would mean that the people present were ignorant and lacked knowledge, which would be tantamount to them stumbling.

Songtsen Gampo and Queen Seondeok thought the formation was indeed well-arranged and very impressive.

but,

They couldn't recall their names or explain the ins and outs of the matter.

King Shuming sneered, "What? Are you all unfamiliar with this formation?"

Li Chengan cleared his throat: "If I'm not mistaken, this formation is called the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation."

It is divided into eight gates, and its core structure is Rest, Life, Injury, Block, View, Death, Shock, and Open.

Among them, the Life Gate and View Gate are auspicious gates, the Injury Gate and Shock Gate are inauspicious gates, and the Block Gate and Death Gate are inauspicious gates.

If you fight your way in through the gate of life, there is still hope of survival;

If you fight your way in through the "dead end," it will be very difficult to break through.

King Shuming's expression changed slightly upon hearing this.

He thought to himself that he hadn't realized Li Chengan was so knowledgeable that he could recognize this formation.

"Do you know the origin of this formation?"

"This formation has a long history, its origins can be traced back to the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, and it was created by Guiguzi."

Later, during the Three Kingdoms period, it was further improved by Zhuge Liang, becoming the Eight Trigrams Formation.

Upon hearing this, King Shuming laughed heartily: "Crown Prince of the Great Tang, you are right, this formation is indeed the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation."

We believe that battle formations have no national boundaries. Zhuge Liang was indeed remarkable; he was not only a political genius but also a military genius.

therefore,

We drew upon his formations and improved upon them.

This became the battle formation of our Wa (Japanese) nation.

We might as well call it the New Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation, which would then become the formation of our Japanese nation.

King Shuming looked very pleased with himself.

Upon hearing this, Li Chengan thought to himself that King Shuming was also shameless in his words.

They clearly stole someone else's formation, but claimed it as their own.

If a person is shameless to this extent, then they are truly invincible.

King Seondeok asked Queen Seondeok, "Does your Silla have such a powerful navy?"

Queen Seondeok was indeed quite surprised when she saw the Japanese navy: "At present, our navy is no match for yours."

King Shuming laughed heartily, "Songtsen Gampo, does your Tibet have such a magnificent navy?"

At present, Tibet still relies mainly on cavalry, but Songtsen Gampo has realized the importance of the navy.

"We have already begun training our navy on the Yarlung Tsangpo River."

It is currently in its initial stage.

"That means your navy is also ineffective." King Shuming made no attempt to conceal his opinion.

Upon hearing this, Songtsen Gampo thought to himself that King Shuming was truly arrogant.

Songtsen Gampo clenched his fist.

Li Chenggan saw it.

At this moment, Soga no Emishi stood on the deck, waving his flag, and the navy's formation underwent a new change.

King Shuming also intended to show off their navy in front of Li Chenggan, Songtsen Gampo, and Jindeman.

King Shuming, beaming with pride, said: "It is said that..."

then,

Cao Cao led an army of a million south and encountered the navy of Eastern Wu at the Battle of Red Cliffs.

As a result, Zhou Yu inflicted a crushing defeat on Cao Cao.

Therefore,

People say that the navy of Eastern Wu was very powerful.

To be frank, our Wa (Japanese) navy is far more powerful than the navy of the Eastern Wu (Eastern Wu) of yesteryear.

Our warships are larger and more advanced than those of the Eastern Wu dynasty back then.

Our navigation technology is far superior to that of the Eastern Wu.

Some ships went out to sea.

They couldn't tell which way was which at all.

Problems like this don't exist here.

Everyone could sense the arrogance in King Shuming's tone, as if their Wa-nu Kingdom's navy was the best in the world.

night.

The royal palace of King Shuming.

King Shuming secretly summoned the Rakshasa woman, Lanpo.

King Shuming was quite polite to the Blue Bodhi Rakshasa.

In any case, the Blue Rakshasa was already quite old.

King Shuming personally poured a cup of tea for the Blue Bodhi Rakshasa.

The blue Rakshasa woman accepted the teacup, saying, "Thank you, Your Majesty!"

"No need to be so polite, sir."

"I heard that His Majesty led Li Chenggan, Songtsen Gampo, and Jindeman to the sea today to inspect the navy."

"Yes, that's true."

King Shuming looked smug and then recounted what had happened.

Upon hearing this, the Blue Rakshasa woman frowned and said, "Your Majesty, in my opinion, what you are doing is not quite appropriate."

Why?

The Rakshasa woman, holding a single-pronged vajra in her right hand and prayer beads in her left, said: "In the past, Li Chenggan would not have known that our Yanqi and your Wa Nu Kingdom had reached an agreement."

But now,

The situation is different now.

Li Chenggan is very clever.

He has learned that our two countries have formed an alliance to jointly attack the Tang Dynasty.

Do you think Li Chenggan would be willing to accept this?

Can he just ignore it and not ask about it?

now,

Songtsen Gampo and Kindeman have been deceived by Li Chengqian.

They were wholeheartedly loyal to the Tang Dynasty.

Let me tell you this:

Don't let Li Chenggan's youth fool you; he's actually very cunning and shrewd.

Why not take this opportunity to kill him and eliminate any future trouble?

Upon hearing this, King Shuming shook his head: "Old man, Li Chengan has come to our Wa Nu Kingdom as an envoy. If I were to kill him, it would seem a bit unreasonable."

"Extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures; you can't stick to the old ways."

Moreover, I heard something today, but I'm not sure if I should tell you.

"Old man, please speak freely. I am all ears." King Shuming's attitude was quite respectful.

"I've heard you have a favored concubine named Princess Tianyan, is that true?"

"Yes."

"Yesterday, when you hosted a banquet for Li Chengan and the others, did Princess Tianyan dance with Li Chengan in public?"

"Yes, that is true." King Shuming did not understand what the Blue Brahma woman meant by saying this.

Blue Rakshasa smiled slightly: "I, an old woman, have experienced far too many things."

He sees through this world too clearly.

Why did Princess Tianyan invite Li Chenggan to dance?

"Isn't that just to enhance the drinking experience?"

"Your Majesty, you are too honest. Saying such things shows that you still haven't seen through it all."

To enhance the drinking experience, why didn't she invite others to dance?

Is it simply inviting Li Chenggan to dance with her?

Logically speaking, it was Songtsen Gampo who rescued her from the rooftop.

She should have invited Songtsen Gampo to dance, shouldn't she?

As the Rakshasa woman Lanpo finished speaking, she shook her head and sighed repeatedly.

Upon hearing this, King Shuming seemed to understand something.

He felt that what the Blue Bharadvaja said seemed to make some sense.

The Blue Rakshasa woman picked up her teacup, took a small sip, and then placed the teacup back on the table: "Your Majesty, matters between men and women are often separated by just a thin veil of secrecy, and can be resolved in an instant."

Let me put it this way...

Before Princess Tianyan met Li Chenggan, she was completely devoted to you.

It is precisely because she loves you that she asks you for the position of queen.

The fact that you haven't been able to satisfy her desires is why she's acting out with you; this can be seen as her way of showing that she loves you.

but,

Everything changed the moment she met Li Chengqian.

Her heart has already shifted; it has shifted to Li Chengqian.

Li Chenggan is young, handsome, powerful, and influential. What woman wouldn't like a man like that?

Look around Li Chenggan, he's surrounded by beautiful women.

Besides Crown Princess Su Wan, there was also Princess Qu Zhili from Gaochang and Jiebina from Yanqi.

Princess Buyeo Pungmi of Baekje, Queen Seondeok of Silla, and Yakshi Hyeja, among others,

These women were willing to risk their lives for him.

Li Chengan is a master at manipulating emotions.

He maintained a distant relationship with each woman, giving them a sense of hope.

but,

When they were about to make their move, Li Chenggan cruelly pushed them away.

This is not something an ordinary man could do.

Therefore, Li Chenggan was truly remarkable.

Now, without you even realizing it, he has become your rival in love, did you know that?

"If you don't kill Li Chenggan, Princess Tianyan will do anything for him, and might even turn against you."

After hearing what the Blue Rakshasa woman said, King Shuming recalled the events and realized that Princess Tianyan's gaze towards Li Chengqian was different from her gaze towards others.

"Old man, what's your opinion?"

The blue Rakshasa woman's eyes flashed with a fierce light: "Let's take this opportunity to kill Li Chengqian!"

"This—," King Shuming still hesitated.

Although he intended to wage war against the Tang Dynasty, he felt that preparations were not yet sufficient. "Old man, if we kill Li Chengqian, won't the Heavenly Khan cause trouble for me?"

After hearing this, the Blue Rakshasa woman sneered: "Your Majesty, you are overthinking it. In my opinion, this matter is probably not so. I know more about the situation inside the Tang Dynasty than you do."

In fact, Li Shimin now has many complaints about Li Chengqian.

"Oh, why?"

"For example, Li Chengqian privately allowed Ashina She'er to recruit tens of thousands of cavalrymen on the border of Gaochang. Li Chengqian's actions violated the regulations of the Tang Dynasty."

Li Shimin neither allowed nor wanted him to do that.

Furthermore, Li Chengqian's unauthorized mobilization of local troops for operations in the Western Regions was also contrary to the regulations of the Tang Dynasty.

and also,

Li Shimin favored Li Tai.

They even wanted Li Tai to move to the Wude Hall, and everyone understands what that means.

Li Shimin established a literary academy for Li Tai, allowing Li Tai to recruit retainers according to his own preferences. Just think about what kind of privilege that is.

All of this proves that Li Shimin had the idea of ​​changing the crown prince.

If you kill Li Chenggan, Li Shimin will not only not seek revenge,

They might even be grateful to you.

"Oh, is that so?" King Shuming had heard some of it before, while others were new to him. "So, there must be a lot of conflict between Li Chenggan and his father."

"Yes, you may not know this, but on that occasion, Li Chenggan led his troops back to Chang'an and repelled the allied forces of Buyeo and Li Yuanli."

Taking advantage of the situation, Fang Xuanling impeached Li Chenggan. In a fit of anger, Li Shimin imprisoned Li Chenggan in the Dali Temple prison.

At that time, Li Shimin wanted to kill him.

Later, Li Shimin sent the veteran general Cheng Yaojin to the Dali Temple prison to test Li Chengqian's intentions.

As it turned out, nothing was detected.

Therefore,

Li Shimin spared his life.

If Li Chenggan had said one wrong word back then, he would have lost his head.

Upon hearing this, King Shuming's eyes lit up, and he appeared somewhat excited.

He kept rubbing his hands together: "Old man, according to you, Li Chenggan can be killed."

"Go ahead and kill them."

The situation in the Tang Dynasty is not very peaceful. There are still remnants of the Eastern Turks and Tuyuhun who are eager to make trouble. I don't think that even if you kill Li Chenggan, Li Shimin will send troops to attack you.

Because if he were to launch an attack on your Wa (Japanese) country, you would face a situation of being attacked from both sides, which would be extremely dangerous.

Your Majesty, this is an opportunity not to be missed! Please do not hesitate any longer.

I'm not exaggerating, but once Li Chenggan inherits the throne and seizes power, that will be the time when your Wa (Japanese) nation is destroyed and your race is wiped out.

Not only that, but your beloved concubine, Princess Tianyan, no longer belongs to you.

King Shuming thought for a long time, and finally gritted his teeth and said, "Alright, old man, we'll do it your way."

However, it must be done cleanly and neatly, leaving no clues or evidence.