Tang Dynasty: Taking the Empress Dowager to a brothel, Father Emperor, what a coincidence!

Cui Mingan was caught in a suffocating feeling, unable to breathe properly.

"You...you brat, you dare to be so arrogant even when you're about to die?"

Tens of thousands of righteous men are gathered outside Xuanwu Gate today. You cannot escape.

Li Chengqian scoffed:

"Ten thousand righteous men? I think they're more like ten thousand suicide missions!"

He then looked at Hou Junji and said sarcastically:

"Minister Hou, I'm just baffled. Why would you give up your perfectly good position as Minister of War and insist on joining these old fogies in rebellion? What kind of spell have they cast on you?"

Hou Junji snorted coldly:

"Your Highness, when death is imminent, stop with the nonsense. I only recognize the Tang Dynasty, not you, you monster."

"What a fine example of someone who only recognizes the Tang Dynasty."

Li Chengqian clapped his hands.

"Hou Junji, do you really think you can level Xuanwu Gate with just a few tens of thousands of men?"

Hou Junji laughed loudly, looking up at the sky:

"Your Highness, you don't expect the Royal Guards outside the city to come to your rescue, do you? To tell you the truth, I have already arranged for men to hold off the Sixteen Guards camp outside the city. No one can save you today."

"Saving an orphan?"

Li Chengqian looked at Hou Junji as if he were an idiot.

"When did I ever say I needed to be saved?"

He snapped his fingers.

"Xiao Shunzi".

Xiao Shunzi, who had been following behind Li Chengqian, immediately came up carrying a wooden box.

Li Chengqian took out a stack of papers from inside.

"Cui Mingan, you just read out my three major crimes. I found it rather boring. How about I read you something in return?"

Cui Mingan's heart skipped a beat.

Li Chengqian picked up the top sheet of paper and read aloud:

"In the first year of the Zhenguan era, the Cui family of Qinghe seized 30,000 mu of fertile land and forced more than 170 tenant farmers to their deaths."

In the third year of the Zhenguan era, he colluded with local officials to embezzle 200,000 shi of disaster relief grain, resulting in widespread famine.

In the fifth year of the Zhenguan era, private minting of copper coins disrupted market prices, resulting in a profit of one million strings of cash.

With each sentence Li Chengqian read, Cui Minqian's face turned paler.

"Oh, right, there's this sentence too."

Li Chengqian turned to the next page, deliberately drawing out his words.

"In the seventh year of the Zhenguan era, which was just a few days ago, Cui Mingan, the head of the Cui family of Qinghe, instructed an inside agent in the palace to poison the Emperor Emeritus's food..."

"Shut up!"

Cui Mingan panicked.

He turned and shouted at Hou Junji:

"General Hou, stop wasting words with him. Order the arrows to be fired. Kill this monster!"

Hou Junji also realized that something was wrong, so he drew his sword and swung it forward.

"Release the arrows!"

The rebel archers on the city wall immediately drew their bows and aimed at Li Shimin and Li Chengqian below.

Li Shimin's eyes narrowed, and he was about to order the Xuanjia Army to raise their shields.

Just then.

A sharp shriek suddenly came from above Xuanwu Gate.

"call out!"

A thick, giant crossbow bolt shot out from a high place in the direction of the East Palace.

"boom!"

The giant arrow struck the gate pillar of Xuanwu Gate, blasting a large hole in the thick wooden pillar that would take two people to encircle.

The archers on the city wall were thrown into the air by the sudden and terrifying impact.

Hou Junji's warhorse was startled and almost threw him to the ground.

Cui Mingan was so frightened that he collapsed onto the chariot, dropping the proclamation he was holding to the ground.

Everyone stared in horror at the giant arrow.

Li Chengqian folded the paper in his hand and put it back into the wooden box.

He raised his head, looked at the still-shaken Hou Junji, and smiled:

"Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself."

Li Chengqian pointed to the Moon-Viewing Tower, the highest point of the Eastern Palace.

"I installed ten ballistae on it."

Then he looked at Li Shimin and said, seeking credit:

"Father, isn't my work of purging the court of corrupt officials far more efficient than theirs?"

Li Shimin looked at the giant arrow, then at his son beside him who was pleading for praise.

He silently sheathed the Emperor's Sword.

"You unfilial son, how many things are you still hiding from me?"

Li Chengqian chuckled:

"Not much, just a little over a billion."

"Father, you'd better hold your jaw steady now, don't let it drop."

Li Shimin began to have doubts.

What could possibly make your jaw drop?