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

"Very well! Then tomorrow we will swear an oath by sacrificing a white horse, witnessed by the Khan and the warriors behind him. If we break this oath, we will be punished by the great god Tengri!"

Jieli was not a fool. He dared not gamble with the future of the Turks on the veracity of Li Er's words. The content of the alliance proposed by Li Er was, in his opinion, the purpose of this military expedition.

"Very well!" Li Er echoed Jieli's oath: "I, along with Gao Shilian, Fang Xuanling, and the other five, witness this personally. To break this oath is an act against Heaven and Earth!"

Seeing that Li Er had also sworn a solemn oath, Jieli led his generals back to the army formation with satisfaction.

The Tang Dynasty's iron cavalry, upon receiving orders, chose to remain stationed in place...

.........

The following day, neither Li Er nor Jieli broke their promise. They had their men stand on the bridge and together beheaded the horse. They promised each other that one would give the horse every penny due, and the other vowed never to invade the territory of the Tang Dynasty again.

On this day, everyone was filled with emotion. The Turks still felt that the Tang Dynasty had given them too little, while the Tang soldiers were filled with hatred for their country and their families.

Only Li Yu felt sorry for the white horse that had been beheaded.

Fortunately, in the near future, a great Khan of the grasslands will be captured alive and brought to Chang'an to dance, which gave Li Yu a small measure of comfort...

However, compared to this, the comfort that followed was even greater for Li Yu, so great that he wondered if God had gone too far in comforting him...

.........

Li Er was a vengeful person, but fortunately he didn't like to indulge in hatred.

He always remembered what he was supposed to do and how he was supposed to do it. So, half a month later, he carried out a large-scale conferment of titles.

First was Li Chengqian. As Li Er's eldest son, he naturally became the crown prince.

The Crown Prince's Grand Tutor and Grand Preceptor were respectively his maternal uncle, Changsun Wuji, and the Prime Minister, Fang Xuanling. The Crown Prince's Grand Protector was Xiao Yu, and the Crown Prince's Junior Tutor was Li Gang.

Besides Li Chengqian, Li Er's other sons were also granted the title of prince.

For example, Li Tai, who was always the most favored, was granted the title of Prince of Wei, with a fief of 10,000 households and an actual fief of 1,000 households, receiving the same treatment as his third uncle, Li Yu's father, Li Xuanba.

Li Kuan, the third son of Li Er who died young, was adopted by Li Yuan's fifth son and inherited his title of Prince of Shu. Therefore, the title of Prince of Shu remained vacant. Now that the three-year mourning period has ended, the title of Prince of Shu has become vacant and finally fell to Li Ke.

His fifth son, Li You, was enfeoffed as the King of Chu, and his sixth son, Li Yin, was enfeoffed as the King of Liang. In addition, his daughters were also enfeoffed as princesses, and their titles remained unchanged.

In addition, Changsun Wuji was promoted to Duke of Qi, Yuchi Jingde, who originally had no title, became Duke of Wu, Lao Cheng's title of Duke of Su was changed to Duke of Lu, and Qin Qiong's title of Duke of Yi was changed to Duke of Hu.

The lowest rank still belonged to Lao Niu. Unlike Yuchi Gong, as a lone official, he was only granted the title of Baron of Weicheng County. Perhaps this was a form of protection from Emperor Taizong (Li Er).

The most shocking case is that of Li Yu.

Not only were others shocked, but he himself was also extremely shocked.

He truly didn't understand what Li Er was thinking, actually bestowing upon him the title of Prince. The title was simply "Wu," with a fief of ten thousand households, of which eight hundred were actually granted to him.

Thus, the original Prince Zhao's residence suddenly had two princes. Both of them were princes with fiefs and estates. However, Li Er set restrictions on his personal guards—Li Yu was not allowed to have his own personal guards before taking up his fief, and could only temporarily use the personal guards of Prince Zhao's residence.

Li Yu had no objection to this, after all, being granted the title of Prince of Wu had already surprised him greatly. Two princes from the same family—this was unprecedented since the Sui Dynasty. If he were given more military power, he probably wouldn't be able to sleep soundly.

Just as Mr. Lu Deming said, he was not suited to be a person who showed off his talents. Li Yu always believed in the old man's sharp eyes.

.........

Perhaps because there were too many people being granted titles, and there was concern that a single banquet for each title would be too much for everyone to attend, the thoughtful Emperor Li Er decided to hold a banquet in the palace, which all officials were required to participate in.

As a newly appointed prince, Li Yu naturally had to attend. Ever since Li Er killed his brothers at Xuanwu Gate, banquets had been held one after another, and Li Yu had become quite resistant to them.

Especially when Li Er suddenly started questioning him, he wanted to find a corner to hide in even more.

"I haven't even asked you yet, how did you, a boy who has never led troops before, calculate the army's marching situation in such detail?"

Looking at Li Er, who was holding a wine cup and had one foot on a tiger-skin chair, Li Yu knew what he wanted to ask, so he replied, "Your Majesty, I do not know anything about military matters, but I do know some mathematics."

"So, all you need to do, young man, is know the marching speed of the army, and then use your mathematical knowledge to calculate how much faster 50,000 troops are than 100,000 or even 300,000 troops."

"Oh?"

Li Er raised an eyebrow in confusion: "You also know mathematics?"

"Young man, you have indeed studied some mathematics. I would not dare to say you are an expert, but it is enough to calculate these."

Upon hearing this, Li Er beamed with joy, and the thought of taking the teaching test immediately arose in his mind.

"Young man, how about I have someone test you?"

"Your Majesty, I don't think this is necessary..."

It wasn't that Li Yu was arrogant; given the current level of mathematics in the Tang Dynasty, it was at most at the first year of junior high school. Arguing with Li Er about such simple math problems was less worthwhile than sneaking off to have a few cups of wine. After all, the wine in the palace was usually not something one could get their hands on.

"Hey?" Hearing Li Yu's words, Li Er perked up and looked around, asking, "Where is the Grand Astrologer Fu Renjun?"

"Your subject is here!"

A middle-aged Confucian scholar walked to the center of the main hall.

"Fu Qing, you heard it too. This kid thinks he has no rivals in mathematics. Aren't you going to give him some difficult problems to test his skills?"

Huh? Li Yu was stunned for a moment, not understanding when he had said such a thing.

"Hahaha!"

Grand Astrologer Fu Renjun first bowed to Li Er to indicate his obedience, then turned to Li Yu and said, "Since His Majesty has decreed, Your Highness Prince Wu, then this humble subject must offend you!"

"Ugh!"

Feeling he had no choice but to accept it, Li Yu waved his hand and said, "Fine, fine, you take the exam!"

Seeing that Li Yu had no objections, Fu Renjun bowed to Li Yu again and then began to read: "Your Highness, please listen carefully. We now have 1,500 bushels of rice, to be transported by people from three counties. County A can provide 750 laborers, County B 500, and County C 250. How much rice should each county transport?"

.........