The immortal of the Tang Dynasty, but the game starts at Xuanwu Gate?

Seeing the conflict between Chen Huai'an and Feng Deyi escalating, Li Shimin originally wanted to step in and smooth things over.

After all, being greedy for money... that's not really anything special.

Li Shimin always valued talent, which is why he immediately refused when Chen Huai'an said he didn't want any rewards and just didn't want to attend court, and offered him various options such as titles, gold and silver treasures, mansions, and servants.

Even if Feng Deyi was somewhat greedy, he wasn't as greedy as Pei Ji. As for Feng Deyi's own abilities, Li Shimin could turn a blind eye to it.

This principle is actually easy to understand. Everyone knows that deceiving the emperor is a serious crime, but which official in the court doesn't deceive the emperor?

How many honest officials are there among the entire court?

In fact, in Li Shimin's view, this was the same principle as the soldiers taking something after winning a battle.

You can take it, but not more than that, and you must do good deeds with it!

It wasn't until Chen Huai'an publicly revealed that he had previously followed Li Jiancheng and that he had access to confidential information that Li Shimin suddenly realized something was amiss.

"...Minister Chen, what do you mean by that?"

Chen Huai'an cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, in the past few days, while chatting with Duke Wei, I happened to discover something. Shall I speak of it?"

"Speak!" Li Shimin said expressionlessly.

A bad feeling suddenly arose in the hearts of all the civil and military officials.

Chen Huai'an nodded and said to Feng Deyi, "I didn't want to say it to your face, thinking that you old thing are about to die and I didn't want to lower myself to your level. Who knew that you would still be so dishonest even when you're about to die?"

"They were thinking of proposing to send troops in order to expand their own influence and obstruct the new policies."

"Since that's the case, you won't have an easy time!"

Chen Huai'an, having nothing better to do, refused to believe that Li Shimin would still be in the mood to send troops after he said what he was about to say: "Back then, you outwardly pledged allegiance to His Majesty, but in reality, you were colluding with Crown Prince Li Jiancheng, sowing discord between him and His Majesty. You also repeatedly advised the Retired Emperor that His Majesty's achievements were too great and that preparations needed to be made, which was actually urging the Retired Emperor to kill His Majesty!"

"Feng Pu She, was I wrong to say you're a fickle and unreliable person?"

"Do I need to respect you?"

"..."

silence!

There was nothing but silence!

The civil and military officials who had originally planned to watch the show instantly lost their interest in entertainment. They all lowered their heads, sweating profusely, and dared not utter a sound.

Heavenly Bodhisattva!

It's definitely a big bombshell.

But you can't be that big!

Dead ear, are you going deaf?!

Sitting on the throne, Li Shimin, who had initially shared the same thoughts as his ministers, stiffened for a moment, slowly stood up, and surprisingly calmly asked, "Feng Pu She, is there such a thing?"

"You advised the Emperor Emeritus to kill me?"

Chen Huai'an didn't give him a chance to speak, and said directly: "Wang Gui, Wei Ting, Wei Zheng and others who had been with the former crown prince knew more or less about this matter. They did it very secretly. I only found out by chance when I was chatting with Wei Zheng today."

"Wang Gui and Wei Ting, do you know them?" Li Shimin's tone was strangely ambiguous, not angry but rather gentle.

The two swallowed hard, and Wang Gui, forcing a smile, said, "Your Majesty, as far as I know, Minister Feng does indeed have secret connections with the Crown Prince..."

Wei Ting said with difficulty, "I also know a little about this matter, but for the specifics, I'm afraid I'll have to ask Zheng Guanyin."

Zheng Guanyin was Li Jiancheng's crown princess. As his bedmate, Zheng Guanyin might know more than they did.

"Wei Zheng! You know him too?" Li Shimin ignored Wei Ting's suggestion and asked again.

Wei Zheng said honestly, "Your Majesty... well, because of my previous attitude towards Your Majesty and my advice to the Crown Prince, the Crown Prince once said that there is someone on Your Majesty's side who shares the same opinion as me, but I don't know who it is."

The implication is that because I previously advised Li Jiancheng to kill you, and Li Jiancheng said that there were also people on your side who advised him to kill you, I know a little about it.

"I see..." This time, Li Shimin ignored Wei Zheng's words and walked down from above to stand in front of Feng Deyi, who was covered in sweat and trembling uncontrollably no matter how much he wiped it off.

Li Shimin stared at him silently for two breaths, and Feng Deyi was so frightened that he couldn't utter a word.

Li Shimin sighed, walked around behind Feng Deyi, and gently patted Feng Deyi's shoulder. The latter shuddered and his face immediately turned pale.

"Feng Pu She, I truly trusted you before!"

"Since you've followed me, you've received no shortage of rewards, haven't you? I haven't wronged you in any way, have I? Since I ascended the throne, I immediately appointed you as prime minister, and I... have I never mistreated you, have I?"

"Your Majesty... Your Majesty..." Feng Deyi's hands trembled uncontrollably, and he kept repeating "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, Your Majesty" without being able to utter another word.

He knew he was finished, because what Chen Huai'an and the others said was true.

If this matter is investigated thoroughly, it can still be uncovered.

The simplest way is to ask Chen Huai'an and others who had served Li Jiancheng, and then confirm with Zheng Guanyin and the retired Emperor Li Yuan.

Li Shimin then asked about another matter: "I have a question, and I hope you can answer it truthfully."

"When you announced the expedition today, was it truly all for the sake of the Tang Dynasty, or, as Huai'an said, was there some ulterior motive involved?"

"Your Majesty...Your Majesty, I have absolutely no disloyal intentions!" Feng Deyi hurriedly said.

Li Shimin remained noncommittal, while Chen Huai'an scoffed, "Do you even believe what you're saying?"

"I have absolutely no ulterior motives. I told you long ago, don't think that just because you're acting like a grandson, what you've done is flawless."

"Leaving aside any evidence, which of those lucrative positions in my Ministry of Revenue wasn't arranged by you back then?"

"You've assigned quite a few people to the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Works, and the Ministry of Rites."

"Ever since the Zhenguan era, you have frequently argued with Wei Zheng!"

"What do you mean? After a period of chaos, we must use severe laws to quickly stabilize order and continue the old path of harsh laws and severe punishments of the Wude Dynasty. Wei Zheng and I both advocate restoring reform and promoting culture, spreading virtue and benevolence, reducing taxes and levies, and simplifying punishments and laws."

"You advocate severe punishments, but is it for the sake of the people, or to maintain your own position?"

"You say you have no ulterior motives?"

Xiao Yu was one of the few people in the court who saw through Feng Deyi's true colors. He hated fickle and treacherous people the most. Moreover, he had been betrayed by Feng Deyi's ingratitude. At this moment, he mocked him mercilessly: "I said long ago that Feng Deyi is a fickle, ungrateful, treacherous and cunning villain."

"I am ashamed to be associated with you!"

Chen Huai'an chuckled and said, "Feng Pu She, compared to Pei Ji, you are truly pure and innocent."

"No matter what, at least they live a life of luxury, while you are very simple."

"You...you..." Feng Deyi could no longer hold back. He pointed at Chen Huai'an, unable to utter a single word, and then he spat out a mouthful of blood.

He fell straight to the ground.

An official rushed forward to check on Feng Deyi's condition, and was shocked when he touched his breath.

"Dead?"

"..."