Chapter 59: Stop Scolding, Grand Emperor, His Majesty is Already Crying

"I shall dash my brains out against this pillar and die to show my innocence to the world..."

These words exploded across the entire grand hall like a thunderclap from the heavens.

The sound was so deafening that it actually drowned out the blast of the gunpowder jar from moments before.

At that very instant, nearly all the ministers and imperial princes sprang to their feet.

In particular, Cheng咬金 (Cheng咬金), who had just stepped forward indignantly to question Li Yuan, turned completely pale with fright.

One had to know that even on the battlefield, facing the fierce charge of thousands of troops and horses, he had never once furrowed his brow.

Yet now, merely because of a single sentence uttered by Li Yuan—without even being addressed directly—he was scared to this extent.

From this, one could easily imagine just how terrified Li Shimin, who had been explicitly named by Li Yuan, felt at this moment.

It was no exaggeration to say that this single declaration blew the Taiji Hall wide open.

It made the hair stand on end for anyone who heard it.

"Father!"

Li Shimin and Empress Changsun hurried forward, desperately trying to dissuade Li Yuan.

If Li Yuan were to die right here in the grand hall, every single person present, without exception, would be mercilessly condemned by the scribes of history as unworthy sons, unworthy subjects, and unworthy daughters-in-law.

As for being an unworthy grandson?

Uh...

Li Chengqian silently declared that he was just here to watch the show. *Please, do go on, by all means, carry on.*

As the saying goes: *Play your part well as a grandfather, and your grandson the crown prince cannot run away.*

Who told all of you to bully an old man like this?

Did you really think the old man had no temper at all?

Then came Li Shimin's earnest and imploring voice: "Father, whatever is on your mind, let's talk it out calmly. Why resort to such measures?"

"Indeed, Father! I beg you, do not harm your precious health!" Empress Changsun echoed, her eyes brimming with tears.

Seeing this, the assembled officials swarmed toward Li Yuan, dropping to their knees in a flurry of kowtows as they cried out in panic:

"Grand Emperor! We know our wrongs!"

When the emperor refuses to admit fault, his subjects have no choice but to take the blame first.

After all, if the ruler falls short of perfection, the ministers must bear a share of the responsibility.

Yet Li Yuan was far from satisfied with this perfunctory confession. After casting a cold glance at Li Shimin, he made no move to press him further.

Instead, he flicked his sleeve and strode back up to the imperial throne.

Li Yuan understood a man like Li Shimin all too well: using brute force would never make him truly submit.

After all, Li Yuan had previously fathomed Li Shimin's mind. He believed that during the Xuanwu Gate Incident, had he not cooperated with Li Shimin and voluntarily surrendered his power, Li Shimin might have been driven to harden his heart and take the ultimate path of patricide to seize the throne.

Though the final outcome was his own compromise, the very fact that Li Shimin had once entertained the thought of patricide for the sake of supreme power would likely leave an indelible shadow in his memory forever.

Perhaps precisely because of this, many years later, Li Shimin could boldly proclaim to the world the truth of how he had killed his older brother, his younger brother, and slaughtered his nephews, yet he never dared to make public the truth of having imprisoned his own father.

For to Li Shimin, that palace coup remained a moral burden he could never quite justify to himself.

Thus, possessing immense confidence in his ability to manipulate Li Shimin, Li Yuan had dared to drive him to the brink of despair with threats of death right before the eyes of the entire court.

Of course, Li Yuan's theatrical display just now served two other distinct purposes.

First, it was to make his stance unequivocally clear to Li Shimin: *Back then, I cooperated with you out of paternal affection, not because I was genuinely afraid of you or coerced into handing over my power.*

Second, it was to let the civil and military officials know once and for all that he, Li Yuan, had not been forced off the throne; he had simply grown tired of the game. *Do not mistake my silence for weakness or assume I am easily bullied.*

"Since we are going to talk, let us speak plainly and clearly, lest we breed lingering resentment and grow weary of the sight of each other in the days to come!"

With a flat, expressionless tone, Li Yuan continued: "There is something I wish to say to you, Erlang, and I wish to say it to your ministers as well. More than half a year has passed since the incident at Xuanwu Gate. Perhaps the lot of you have already begun to act as though it never happened."

"However—"

Here he paused, before adding in a deep, resonant voice: "I alone cannot!"

Even the royal pronoun he used for himself had shifted.

At these words, cold sweat instantly beaded upon the foreheads of the ministers standing behind Li Shimin.

Li Yuan's words carried an unmistakable undertone of warning.

If those seven imperial princes and the two hundred thousand troops massed outside the city walls were truly summoned by Li Yuan, then today might well unfold as another Xuanwu Gate Incident.

They vividly remembered how, during the first Xuanwu Gate Incident, Li Shimin had slaughtered Li Jiancheng, Li Yuanji, and all their offspring.

If a new Xuanwu Gate Incident were to break out today, would Li Yuan embark on a similar path of mass slaughter just as Li Shimin had?

Even if he spared Li Shimin, could those officials who had aided Li Shimin in staging the first Xuanwu Gate rebellion possibly hope to escape with their lives?

After all, their hands were stained with the blood of Li Yuan's own sons!

"Wei Zheng!"

Just as the ministers stood struck dumb by Li Yuan's chilling words, his voice rang out once more.

"This subject is here!"

Wei Zheng, who had managed to maintain his composure thus far, straightened his posture the moment he was called and bowed respectfully. "What instructions does Your Imperial Majesty the Grand Emperor have?"

"I hear that you excel at admonishment and possess vast erudition. Let me ask you: what is a family, and what is a state?"

"This..."

Taken aback for a moment, Wei Zheng quickly gathered his wits and raised his voice in reply: "The Master said: *'While one's parents are alive, a child should not travel far; if a travel plan must be made, it must be to a known destination.'* This means that while parents are living, children ought not to journey afar, or if they must, they must inform their parents of their exact whereabouts and purpose."

"Therefore, as this subject understands it, a family is a place where one's parents reside."

"Mm."

Li Yuan nodded, neither confirming nor refuting the answer, and then asked in a low voice: "Then what is a state?"

"The *Rites of Zhou* states: *'The large is called a Bang, the small is called a Guo, and the territory where the Bang dwells is also called a Guo.'* However, this subject believes that definition is incomplete. Ever since the Qin and Han dynasties, the concept of a state should be far more expansive!"

"How so?"

After a brief reflection, Wei Zheng answered: "The *Classic of Poetry* records: *'Under the vast heaven, there is no land that is not the king's; to the very borders of the earth, there is no subject who is not the king's liege.'* In this subject's view, a state should be a unified realm."

"Heh..."

Li Yuan chuckled softly, then swept his gaze across the assembled courtiers. "Have you all heard clearly? What is a family, and what is a state!"

"Back then, to prevent Erlang and his brothers from spilling blood over the imperial throne, I even spoke of breaking up the state to form separate households, telling Erlang to go to Luoyang and set up the banners of the Son of Heaven. At the time, I wondered: must state and family forever be mutually exclusive?"

"Father..."

Hearing these words, tears streamed uncontrollably down Li Shimin's face.

Yet Li Yuan was not finished.

"Yet, as you all know, the ultimate outcome," he continued, "was that Erlang proved more resourceful than I; he resolved this dilemma for me. And so, today I have neither a state nor a family left."

"Father, I was wrong! I know my transgression!"

Tears fell like rain from Li Shimin's eyes as a profound sense of self-reproach and crushing guilt suddenly surged into his heart.

Li Yuan's words possessed a devastating lethality.

They pinned Li Shimin to the absolute lowest rung of morality and ground him into dust over and over again.

Yet still, Li Yuan had not concluded.

With a deep, sorrowful sigh, he murmured: "Must the family of an emperor truly end up this way? Is this the inevitable price of sitting upon the throne of the realm?"

"Grand Emperor!"

The ministers prostrated themselves en masse, weeping uncontrollably.

*I beg of you, say no more!*

*His Majesty is already weeping!*