A thousand-year-old family begins with one fighting against ten thousand.

No matter what, he was Fang Xuanling's son. It's true what they say: a hero's son is a coward, a tiger father and a dog's son.

Humans cannot, and should not, be so incompetent.

His wife was having an affair, and he was actually keeping watch.

This couple is truly a perfect match, like a turtle and a green bean, born for each other.

This guy is so arrogant, even Fang Xuanling didn't dare to get involved in the struggle for the throne, but Fang Yi'ai dared to, and even thought that his talents were no less than his father Fang Xuanling's.

That's utterly nonsensical.

I don't know how Fang Xuanling raised his son to be like this.

Such great intelligence should be left for his younger brother; let's not deal with him for now.

Chai Lingwu is in a bit of trouble. His father, Chai Shao, is not the problem; the problem is his mother.

Chai Lingwu was the son of Princess Pingyang Zhao, one of the three siblings who fought alongside his father Li Shimin to establish the empire. He held a very high position in both the military and the imperial family.

Moreover, he had a very good relationship with his father. It's a pity that his aunt passed away early, otherwise Chai Lingwu would have been a real problem.

But now, Princess Pingyang Zhao has been gone for so many years, and the relationship between her in the army and the court has long since faded away with the passage of time, leaving only a trace of lingering affection.

At most, it can save Chai Lingwu's life; anything more is wishful thinking.

However, Li Chengqian was worried about his father, Li Shimin. The three siblings, Li Jiancheng, Li Shimin, and Li Xiuning, had a very good relationship. Li Chengqian was somewhat concerned that taking action against Chai Lingwu would displease Li Shimin.

Li Chengqian has been increasingly strict with him lately, and even the slightest dissatisfaction will turn into a scolding.

A promotion in name only, a demotion in reality—that's the only option left.

Get rid of this troublesome guy far away, out of sight, out of mind.

Under Li Chengqian's orders, Chai Lingwu was sent to his hometown of Taiyuan to guard a region and become a high-ranking official.

Other officials in the Yue Prince's Palace were also transferred away by Li Chengqian under various pretexts.

When Li Tai was preparing to go to Daxia to continue revising the "Kuodi Zhi", he found that he had no one left to use.

The entire Yue King's mansion was now left with only a few cats and kittens.

This made Li Tai feel even more strongly that staying in the Tang Dynasty would only lead to certain death, and that only by going to the Great Xia Dynasty would he have a glimmer of hope.

Not only did he not give up the struggle for the throne because of the large gap in strength, but he also became more determined to seize the throne because of the sense of crisis he felt.

If things continue like this, he will only face death if he fails to seize the throne; only by seizing the throne can he survive.

Li Tai, along with Fang Yi'ai and the big and small cats from the Yue Prince's Mansion, packed their things and headed to Tuzhou without even saying goodbye.

In the eighteenth year of the Zhenguan era, Li Chengqian had become powerful and his influence in the court was growing stronger. Meanwhile, Li Shimin was getting older and, due to his great achievement of destroying the Great Xia, he gradually became arrogant and complacent.

The king and the crown prince inevitably had great disagreements in the court, just like in a pride of lions, when the young lion king grows up, he will inevitably challenge the position of the old lion king.

In the imperial court, the two forces gradually clashed, and some veteran officials began to protect themselves.

Without Li Shimin's explicit orders, they would not voluntarily get involved in the struggle between the two.

Faced with the roar of the tiger cub, Li Shimin wanted to use strong suppression.

However, Li Chengqian now has considerable influence. In the military, there are Hou Junji and Li Anyan, among others; in the imperial clan, there are those who support the eldest son's succession, led by Li Yuanchang; in the harem, there is Empress Zhangsun; and in the court, there are Gao Shilian, Zhang Xuansu, Wei Zheng, Xiao Yu, Li Gang, and others.

Even Li Shimin wouldn't dare to completely uproot the entire Crown Prince's faction. While his rule would remain stable, the prosperous Zhenguan era he had created would come to an abrupt end.

This is something he absolutely cannot allow.

However, Li Shimin was Li Shimin after all, with extremely high political skills, and began to use various means to gradually remove Li Chengqian's supporters.

Just as Li Tai was almost powerless against Li Chengqian, Li Chengqian was equally weak in the face of Li Shimin's tactics. The relationship between the emperor and his subject, father and son, made his resistance extremely weak.

Li Chengqian could only watch helplessly as Li Shimin stripped away his wings one by one.

With the reminder from his advisors, Li Chengqian realized that he now only had two paths to take.

The first rule is to watch Li Shimin strip away his supporters one by one, and when he, as the crown prince, is no longer able to maintain the emperor's power, Li Shimin will let him go.

Then Li Chengqian only needed to do nothing, quietly wait for Li Shimin to die, and then succeed to the throne.

The advantage of this is that it is more secure, but the disadvantage is that everything is tied to Li Shimin.

If Li Shimin were to change his mind, he would be powerless to resist.

The second option is to follow Li Shimin's old path and stage a coup.

With the help of Hou Junji and Li Anyan, Li Chengqian had enough strength to stage a coup, even more so than Li Shimin had back then.

The advantage of doing this is that if successful, one can immediately ascend the throne, seize power over the entire empire, rule the world, be ordained by Heaven, and enjoy a long and prosperous life.

The downside is that failure means certain death; there is no other way.

How should I choose?

Li Chengqian was caught in a dilemma.

Empress Zhangsun is still alive. If he chooses the first option, his succession to the throne is almost a certainty.

Empress Zhangsun would never allow Li Shimin to appoint anyone else as crown prince.

But is it something Li Chengqian wants to control his life and death in someone else's hands?

He is Li Chengqian, who inherited the throne and ruled the world!

The constant clash between his pride and reality plunged this 25-year-old into a struggle.

How should he choose?

If he chooses to stage a military coup, will his mother support him?

During Li Chengqian's struggle, the Crown Prince's Grand Tutor, Grand Preceptor, and Grand Preceptor were all transferred away, but they still maintained contact in secret.

In the nineteenth year of the Zhenguan era, a major event influenced Li Chengqian's decision.

Empress Zhangsun passed away that year.

Empress Zhangsun, Li Chengqian's greatest support and most beloved mother, who had always silently supported him, has passed away.

Li Chengqian was instantly gripped by immense panic. Without his mother and without any power in his hands, would Li Shimin still choose him as emperor?

Li Chengqian wasn't sure, but if Empress Zhangsun were still alive, he believed his position as crown prince would be unshakeable.

But now that Empress Zhangsun has passed away, his position as crown prince is in serious doubt.

The scales in Li Chengqian's heart began to tip to one side. At Empress Zhangsun's funeral, another event completely shattered Li Chengqian's wishful thinking and made him make up his mind.