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

late at night.

Only the footsteps of the night patrolling soldiers remained in the army camp.

Xiao Shunzi led two palace guards to Cui Hao's stretcher.

"Young Master Cui, wake up! His Highness requests your presence."

Xiao Shunzi shook Cui Hao, who was already half asleep, awake.

"I'm not going. The Crown Prince will definitely kill me. It was my father who did it, it has nothing to do with me. You can't treat me like this."

Cui Hao shook his head repeatedly in fear and refused.

But Xiao Shunzi didn't waste any words with him and gestured with his chin toward the two guards.

Wei Shuai carried Cui Hao directly to Li Chengqian's tent.

Li Chengqian was sitting there, gnawing on a rabbit leg.

Cheng Chumo and Yuchi Baolin were each gnawing on a whole roasted rabbit nearby.

Where did the rabbit come from?

In Li Chengqian's words, Cheng Chumo truly had a good life.

He ran into a litter of rabbits while he was out relieving himself, and even managed to take the whole pot of them.

This made up for his regret of not being able to eat meat.

When Cui Hao came in, he swallowed hard as he looked at the rabbit in Cheng Chumo's hand.

He wouldn't even glance at this thing if it were in Chang'an.

But now that's a delicacy...

"Your Highness, the person has been brought."

Xiao Shunzi walked up to Li Chengqian and said.

Cui Hao lay on the ground and howled:

"Your Highness, spare my life! I really know nothing about the military rations."

"It was all my senile old man's doing. If you want to settle accounts, go find him. Don't kill me!"

Looking at Cui Hao, Li Chengqian felt a deep admiration for the education provided by aristocratic families.

What kind of education would make a son betray his own father at the first sign of danger?

Li Chengqian grabbed a stack of Xuan paper and a calligraphy brush from the table and threw them directly in front of Cui Hao's face.

"Shut up, what are you wailing about? I don't have time to listen to your crying."

Pick up your pen and write another letter to your father.

Cui Hao was stunned, but quickly picked up his pen and paper and asked:

"Write what?"

Li Chengqian tossed the rabbit leg he was holding onto the table and casually said:

"Just write down the 100,000 dan of sand that your father sent; the soldiers really can't get used to it."

I was thinking that our army of 100,000 shouldn't go hungry, and you happen to be quite plump with your fair skin and tender flesh.

I plan to wash you clean tomorrow night, chop you into pieces, and make a meat soup for the army to nourish them.

Upon hearing this, Cui Hao felt a sudden heat in his crotch and was so frightened that he wet himself.

"Your Highness! No. My meat is sour and doesn't taste good."

Cheng Chumo was amused and laughed. He got up, walked over to Cui Hao, and slapped him on the back of the head.

"Stop talking nonsense. Just write what His Highness the Crown Prince tells you to write. I, Old Cheng, have never tasted soup made by the eldest son of a noble family before. I'll be the first to have a bowl tomorrow."

Yuchi Baolin also joined in the commotion:

"I want to eat the thigh meat; that part is chewy."

Cui Hao was so frightened by these two bastards that he almost fainted. His hand holding the calligraphy brush trembled violently, and he couldn't hold it at all.

"Your Highness, there's no ink. I can't write."

Li Chengqian scoffed:

"Who told you to use ink? This kind of urgent letter home should of course be written in blood."

Otherwise, why would your father obediently send over the food?

Looking at his fingers covered in grime, Cui Hao couldn't bring himself to eat them.

Seeing this, Xiao Shunzi thoughtfully stepped forward and put a finger into Cui Hao's mouth.

"Young Master Cui, let me lend you a hand."

Xiao Shunzi forcefully squeezed Cui Hao's chin.

"what!"

Cui Hao bit another finger until it bled.

"Hurry up and write. If you don't finish, I'll put you in the pot right now."

Cheng Chumo urged from the side.

Sobbing, Cui Hao began to write on the rice paper.

His resentment towards his own father has now reached an extreme.

If possible, he could stage a Xuanwu Gate Incident at the Cui family.

Or the kind that involves being torn to pieces.

[Father! Our 100,000-strong army is starving. The Crown Prince says he'll dismember me to make soup for the soldiers to drink tonight. Am I even your biological son? Your son is about to become food! If you can't deliver 200,000 dan of grain within three days, our Cui family line will end.]

After writing the last word, Cui Hao's eyes rolled back and he fainted.

Li Chengqian waved his hand dismissively:

"Take good care of our young master Cui, don't let him die."

Two guards carried Cui Hao out, and Cheng Chumo and Yuchi Baolin followed eagerly after them.

Li Chengqian was left alone in the tent.

He spoke to the shadowy corner of the tent:

"Deliver this letter by express courier, over 800 li, to the Cui family residence in Qinghe as quickly as possible. Hand it over to Cui Minqian."

In the shadows, a Shadow Guard picked up the blood-written letter and disappeared into the night.

......

The next day, in Chang'an, at night.

In the Cui family mansion in Qinghe, Cui Mingan was embracing his newly acquired concubine after their lovemaking, and was so exhausted that he lay there snoring.

"Bang bang bang!"

A series of urgent knocks sounded on the door.

"Master! Master, wake up! Something's happened!"

After being woken up, Cui Mingan put on an outer garment, angrily opened the door, and kicked the butler.

"Where's the wailing in the middle of the night?"

The butler hurriedly got up from the ground and handed over a letter.

"Master, the eldest son sent this by express courier."

Cui Minqian's heart skipped a beat.

Urgent dispatch?

Has the army run out of food?

That little bastard Crown Prince died in the chaos of war?

Wait a minute, it's only been a few days since we left?

With that in mind, Cui Mingan calmly opened the envelope.

When Cui Mingan first saw the letter, he was completely stunned.

When Cui Mingan saw the words "the grain sent was all yellow sand" and "the crown prince wants to chop me into eight pieces and boil me into soup," he felt a wave of dizziness.

"This...how is this possible?"

Cui Mingan had planned everything meticulously, but he never expected that Li Chengqian would actually dare to harm his son.

"Master? Master, what's wrong?"

The butler was terrified by Cui Minqian's expression.

Just then, footsteps came from the backyard.

Madam Cui, with disheveled hair, rushed over with several maids.

She was getting ready for bed when she heard that the housekeeper had received a letter from the front lines.

She rushed over.

"Where's the letter? Where's my son's letter?"

Madam Cui pushed the butler aside and picked up the blood-written letter from the ground.

When she saw the bloodstains on the paper, she was instantly devastated.

"You bastard! You actually traded sand for food? Are you trying to die out your lineage?"

Madam Cui lunged at Cui Mingan, scratching several bloody marks on his face with her fingernails.

"If my son loses even a single hair, I'll fight you to the death."

Furthermore, if my son really dies, I will make sure your Cui family line is completely wiped out.

Madam Cui cried and cursed while shaking Cui Mingan.

Frustrated, Cui Mingan shoved Madam Cui aside and roared:

"Stop howling."

Then he roared at the butler:

"Go and summon all the heads of each branch of the family to the ancestral hall."

The housekeeper hurriedly went to inform them.

Half an hour later, at the Cui Family Ancestral Hall.

All of Cui's uncles and brothers were urgently summoned.

"Brother, what on earth happened in the middle of the night?"

The head of the second branch rubbed his sleepy eyes and complained.

Cui Mingan slammed the blood-written letter on the table and said through gritted teeth:

"Something terrible has happened. The Crown Prince discovered that sand was mixed in with the military rations we sent. He's now saying that if we don't see 200,000 dan of real grain within three days, he'll chop Hao'er up and boil him into soup."

The ancestral hall instantly erupted in chaos.

"What? Two hundred thousand dan? Brother, are you crazy?"

We had already put in a lot of effort to gather those 100,000 dan of grain from the sandy soil.

Where are we going to get 200,000 dan of real grain now? That would drain the entire fortune of the Cui family in Chang'an.

The head of the third branch of the family shouted excitedly.

The officials in charge of the four directions echoed this sentiment:

"Yes, elder brother. Although Hao'er is the eldest son, the price is too high."

In my opinion, the Crown Prince is just bluffing; how could he dare to kill the legitimate sons of noble families?

Cui Mingan slammed his fist on the table in anger at the group of bastards.

"Scare people? That's the Crown Prince. He's the living Yama who tied up Changsun Chong and all the noble sons to the battlefield."

What wouldn't he dare to do? Once the army runs out of food, even without the crown prince lifting a finger, those mutinous soldiers would tear Hao'er to shreds.

The people in charge looked at each other, speechless after being scolded.

He's not my own son, why should I take out food for him?

Looking at his selfish brothers, Cui Mingan felt a chill run through him.

"I don't care what methods you use, you have to sell everything you own to get me these 200,000 dan of grain."

Anyone who dares to hold back at this time, don't blame me for disregarding our brotherhood.