I, the most powerful minister of the Tang Dynasty, have been exposed by the heavens.

Above the sky.

The court was deathly silent; no one dared to speak, not even Li Longji.

A second passed...

Two seconds passed...

Three seconds passed...

Lu Wuming spoke slowly, his voice as cold as a knife:

"Your Majesty, if we remain silent, will this matter simply be avoided?"

Li Longji raised his head, his eyes filled with complex emotions:

"Old Prime Minister, do you truly intend to kill my Imperial Concubine?"

Lu Wuming looked at him and suddenly laughed:

"Your Majesty, when did this old minister ever say he wanted to kill the Imperial Concubine?"

"What this old minister says is true. Those who are guilty should be punished. Those who are innocent naturally do not need to die."

He paused, then spoke seriously.

"However, Your Highness the Imperial Concubine is indeed guilty."

Li Longji's expression changed, and he was instantly filled with rage!

"But ultimately, this is not the Consort's fault."

Lu Wuming's voice suddenly turned cold:

"It is His Majesty's fault."

"If His Majesty hadn't snatched his daughter-in-law into the palace back then, would we be where we are today!"

boom!!!

The entire hall erupted in chaos!

How dare you say that?!

That's a royal scandal! So many people know about it, so many pretend not to, but no one has ever dared to bring it up in court!

Li Longji's face instantly turned a deep liver color, his fingers gripping the armrests of the dragon throne tightly, veins bulging:

"Old Prime Minister!!!"

He practically yelled it out.

Lu Wuming didn't dodge, meeting the murderous gaze head-on, and said, word by word:

"Your Majesty, did I misspoke?"

Li Longji's chest heaved violently.

He wanted to kill someone.

But standing before him was Lu Wuming.

The most powerful minister in the Tang Dynasty.

Holding an iron certificate.

A veteran of four reigns.

Moreover, its influence extends throughout the entire imperial court and the entire Tang Dynasty!

He took a deep breath and swallowed the blood.

"So, what does the old Prime Minister intend to do with the Imperial Concubine?"

Lu Wuming sneered, and then began to speak one by one.

"Your Majesty, please don't be anxious. No one will escape punishment for their crimes."

"Let's start with the Imperial Concubine."

"Yang Yuhuan, as a concubine, indulged her relatives, and her brother Yang Guozhong was corrupt and misled the country, causing chaos in the court. Although the concubine did not directly interfere in politics, her position and name were the basis for the Yang family to do evil."

"This crime deserves punishment."

"Your subject requests the imperial decree: strip Yang Yuhuan of her title of Imperial Concubine, banish her to the Cold Palace, and never employ her again."

Li Longji gritted his teeth, but remained silent.

Banishing her to the cold palace? Deposing her as a concubine? Such punishments, though severe, would not endanger the concubine's life, nor would they prevent him from seeing her again.

So he gritted his teeth and didn't refute Lu Wuming.

However, at this moment, Lu Wuming glanced at Li Longji and smiled slightly.

He could tell at a glance what Li Longji was thinking at that moment.

However, would he grant Li Longji's wish?

At this moment, Lu Wuming continued.

"Furthermore, Your Majesty must never see Yang Yuhuan again in your lifetime!"

Li Longji suddenly stood up, his eyes filled with murderous intent, and said with rage.

"What did you say?!"

……

The Zhenguan era.

Li Shimin spat out his tea, instantly enraged.

What did he hear? What is all this nonsense?

Yang Yuhuan? Li Longji's concubine? Li Longji's daughter-in-law?

What is all this nonsense? It's utterly absurd!

"What the hell?!"

His eyes widened, he pointed at the sky, his finger trembling:

"That Imperial Concubine Yang...that Yang Yuhuan...is Li Longji's daughter-in-law?!"

"He committed incest? He committed incest?!"

"This is something an emperor would do?! Where does he put the imperial family's reputation?!"

He paced back and forth in front of the palace in a fit of anger, his boots stomping loudly.

"No wonder! No wonder the Tang Dynasty fell in his hands! No wonder he was so incompetent!"

"With people like this, if the country doesn't fall, who will?"

The officials below lowered their heads, and no one dared to speak.

But someone secretly exchanged glances.

Your Majesty... seems to have forgotten something.

Back then... wasn't His Majesty the same?

The only difference is that His Majesty forcibly took his sister-in-law and brother's wife, while Li Longji in the sky was his daughter-in-law.

However you look at it, this is against ethics and moral principles, and it's a shameful thing to do.

However, no one dared to say it; not a single person dared to speak of this matter.

Whether His Majesty was right or wrong, they dared not mention this matter.

If it's something else, they can bring it up.

However, this matter, like the Xuanwu Gate Incident, is a thorn in His Majesty's side.

If anyone were to bring it up rashly, even if His Majesty didn't kill him, that person would likely be blacklisted in His Majesty's mind.

Fang Xuanling coughed lightly and lowered his head even further.

After Li Shimin finished scolding, he plopped back down on his throne, panting heavily.

He glanced at the ministers below and immediately spoke with a rage.

"Tell me, am I right to scold him?"

Changsun Wuji looked left and right, but no one spoke.

However, at this moment, he stepped forward and spoke respectfully.

"Your Majesty is wise! Li Longji's favoritism towards his maternal relatives and indulgence of Lady Yang led to the downfall of the empire; he only had himself to blame!"

"But Your Majesty is different from Li Longji in the heavenly realm. Your Majesty is a sage ruler for all time, who ushered in the golden age of the Tang Dynasty, and whose fame will last for generations!"

Fang Xuanling nodded and then spoke.

"The calamities caused by maternal relatives have occurred throughout history."

"If it weren't for Yang Yuhuan, if Li Longji in the Heavenly Curtain hadn't taken his daughter-in-law, if he hadn't favored Yang Yuhuan so much, Yang Guozhong wouldn't have become prime minister, and the current situation in the Heavenly Curtain wouldn't have occurred."

Li Shimin looked at Wei Zheng with a strange look in his eyes.

He was curious?

I'm curious, what would Wei Zheng say?

However, to everyone's surprise, Wei Zheng didn't criticize him this time; he simply nodded.

"Your Majesty is right to scold me!"

Li Shimin raised an eyebrow; Wei Zheng today was completely different from Wei Zheng in his usual self.

It's rare that Wei Zheng didn't contradict me today.

Seeing his expression, Wei Zheng added:

"Your Majesty is criticizing future generations; I have nothing to say about it."

"Besides," he paused, "that's His Majesty's family matter."

"As Your Majesty's subject, although an emperor has no family affairs, I am only responsible for the stability of the Tang Dynasty and offer my advice on this matter."

Li Shimin paused for a moment, then smiled.

The smile was somewhat complicated.

Emperors have no family affairs.

But there are some things that it is indeed difficult for a subject to speak up about.

Li Shimin stopped laughing, looked at the dejected Li Longji reflected in the sky, and sighed:

Ultimately, it was his own fault.

"If it weren't for his doting on Yang Guifei, could the Yang family have risen to such a high position?"

"If he hadn't indulged Yang Guozhong, would that treacherous minister have dared to be so greedy?"

"If he hadn't lost his mind and brought his daughter-in-law into the palace..."

He paused, then didn't continue.

Because he realized a problem, he realized that he seemed to have also violated...

There was a slight awkwardness, and then he stopped talking.