Tang Dynasty: Starting at Xuanwu Gate, this prince is better off not being one.

"Your Majesty, Prime Minister Pei saw that the Emperor Emeritus was lonely and isolated, so he stayed in the Taiji Hall to keep him company." Wu Shihuo, a former official of Li Yuan's former residence, stepped forward to explain on Pei Ji's behalf.

"I see." Li Er first narrowed his eyes slightly, then suddenly beamed with joy and said, "Prime Minister Pei's loyalty is truly a model for all officials; you should all strive to emulate him!"

After saying this, seeing that no one responded, he raised the wine cup on the table and said downwards, "Gentlemen, let's drink to victory!"

Then, he downed the entire glass of wine in one gulp.

Seeing that Li Er had spoken, the ministers followed suit and drank their wine in one gulp.

At this moment, the atmosphere at the banquet was extremely tense. No one dared to make any big moves. Even Cheng Yaojin and Yuchi Gong, who were usually carefree, dared not make a sound.

Li Er seemed quite satisfied with the current atmosphere. Emboldened by the alcohol, he asked Gou Da for his sword, then grasped the hilt and drew it. The next moment, the blade and scabbard produced a crisp hum from the friction.

"I possess the intent of a sword within me; would you gentlemen be willing to share it with me?"

Seeing the gleaming sword in Li Er's hand, everyone was too frightened to utter a sound.

"I am willing to reward him!" Only Yuchi Gong spoke up in time.

As soon as he spoke, Li Er's former subordinates all expressed their willingness to watch.

"Hmm!" Li Er nodded in satisfaction, and then walked to the center of the main hall.

He first performed a beautiful sword flourish, and then the sword danced gracefully in his hand.

"Let us drink and sing, for life is short! Like morning dew, the days gone by are many."

He first danced with his sword to the seat where Pei Ji should have been sitting, and then his long sword flashed and stabbed there.

"With deep sorrow and lingering worries, how can I dispel my grief? Only with wine."

With a flick of his sword, the wine cup on Pei Ji's table flew into the air. As the cup rose, Li Er recited aloud: "Green are your robes, deep is my longing."

But for your sake, I have hesitated until now.

To everyone's astonishment, the wine cup that had flown into the air landed right on the tip of Li Er's sword, with only a few drops of wine spilling out.

Immediately afterwards, he tilted his sword, and the cup of wine slid down the blade and landed in front of Li Er.

After downing another sip of wine, Li Er groaned comfortably, then recited in one breath: "The deer cry 'yoyo,' eating the wild apples. I have guests, playing the zither and blowing the flute. The moon shines brightly, when can it be grasped? Sorrow arises from within, never ceasing. We cross fields and paths, in vain we seek each other's company. We talk and feast, remembering old kindnesses."

After reciting the poem, he began to dance with his sword, drawing ever closer to Feng Deyi's position: "The moon is bright and the stars are few; crows fly south. Circling the tree thrice, on which branch can they perch?"

Then, whether intentionally or unintentionally, he pointed the tip of his sword at the old man's throat.

Feng Deyi was so frightened that he trembled and immediately left his seat, kneeling on the ground and refusing to get up.

Seeing that Feng Deyi had already knelt down, he then thrust his sword at Wu Shihuo.

As Wu Shihuo watched Li Er's sword come toward him, he knelt down before it reached him.

Li Er was genuinely surprised that Wu Shihuo would back down so quickly. However, seeing this, he couldn't bring himself to attack. So, he performed his final move, saying, "Mountains are never too high, seas are never too deep. The Duke of Zhou spat out his food to welcome guests, and the world turned to him."

After finishing his sword dance, he slowly sheathed his sword, looked at Feng Deyi and Wu Shihu with a smile, and asked inquiringly, "My lords, was it spectacular?"

"Brilliant, brilliant! Your Majesty's dance was absolutely brilliant!" The two nodded rapidly, exclaiming in unison.

Seeing their expressions, Li Er nodded in satisfaction, then fixed his gaze on Wu Shihuo alone and asked, "Does the Duke of Ying truly believe so?"

"Your Majesty once told me that you praised me for speaking frankly and saying what I see. Now that I know where Lord Pei is, I will speak frankly to Your Majesty. I also found Your Majesty's sword dance to be wonderful, which is also speaking frankly."

After delivering his speech, Samurai Kou pressed his head to the ground and refused to lift it again.

Holy crap!

Li Yu inwardly exclaimed, "Holy crap!"

He never expected that this old fox would betray Pei Ji so easily and even remove him from Li Yuan's list of confidants. Damn, that's cunning!

Thinking of this, Li Yu turned his gaze to Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, and others. He discovered that this vast court was full of such old foxes, even more cunning than Wu Shihuo.

Whether it's Fang Xuanling and Du Ruhui, or remonstrating officials like Wei Zheng, or even Xu Jingzong, these people are all extremely dangerous. One must be constantly cautious when dealing with them; a slight misstep could lead to being betrayed and ending up helping them count their money.

"As expected, feudal society wasn't so easy to navigate!" Li Yu sighed inwardly.

.........

Wu Shihuo, who was kneeling on the ground, was helped up by Li Er with a big laugh; and Feng Deyi also returned to his seat after Li Er said indifferently, "Rise."

At this moment, Feng Deyi was utterly despondent. He only hoped that Li Er would spare his life out of consideration for their past good personal relationship...

The atmosphere in the main hall became much more relaxed, especially among Li Er's former subordinates, who began to drink and chat happily.

Li Er did the same. After drinking several rounds with Li Xuanba, he found Cheng Yaojin and the others to drink with him.

"Where are the songs and dances? Where is my battle-breaking music? Bring it all on!"

Li Er, who was quite drunk, then remembered that this banquet was his victory celebration, so he began to call on his servants to start playing music.

"Here it comes!"

Li Yu's palms were sweating as he prayed that Xu Jingzong wouldn't mess things up. After all, Li Er was now in power, and he might not be so lenient when it came to punishing people.

A moment after Li Er gave his instructions, several graceful dancers walked slowly to the front of the hall.

As the dancers took their positions, Xu Jingzong led several musicians up to the stage.

"Huh?" Upon seeing Xu Jingzong, Li Er was clearly puzzled: "Why is Minister Xu here?"

When Li Er asked him, Xu Jingzong replied with a smile, "His Highness the Prince of Songshan entrusted me to help him compose music. It just so happens that His Highness added drum sounds to the revised version of the Battle Formation Music. I happen to have some knowledge of drum music, so I volunteered to take on the task of playing the drums."

"Oh?" Li Er was slightly taken aback, then looked at Li Yu, clearly not expecting that he had actually recomposed the Broken Formation Music.

Li Yu scratched his head, looking extremely embarrassed, but in his heart he was cursing.

Judging from Li Er's appearance, he had obviously forgotten about this matter. If he had known this earlier, why would he have asked Xu Jingzong and the others to come up and demonstrate?

Li Er had no idea what Li Yu was thinking. He found it very strange that the boy had added drumbeats to the "Breaking the Formation" music.

"I would like to see if my Battle-Breaking Music, with the addition of drumbeats, can become even more majestic and awe-inspiring."

Having said that, he turned his gaze to Xu Jingzong and shouted, "Play the battle formation music again!"

.........