Chapter 24: I will slaughter you!

Wang De served as a fine example; since the head steward was fleeing, the subordinates naturally followed suit, lamenting only that their parents had not given them more legs to run with.

Now, only Li Zhi and Wu Meiniang remained to face the furious Li Shimin. It was two against one, and Li Zhi dared not even fight back.

"Father?" Li Zhi jolted up from his stool and instinctively bolted.

Lizheng Hall was spacious enough; there was plenty of room for him to run. It was not that he did not want to speak calmly with his father, but he had caught sight of the rattan cane in Li Shimin’s hand, and it was clear that his father had no intention of speaking calmly. Taking a few lashes would be a minor matter of pride, but the sheer agony was a much graver concern.

However, Li Zhi was frail and sickly by nature; he was no match for Li Shimin, an emperor forged on horseback. He had not run far before Li Shimin captured him and hauled him back like a chick.

In truth, the people of the Tang Dynasty did not place much weight on the chastity of widows. If Wu Meiniang had left the palace to remarry, Li Shimin would have merely chuckled and moved on. What truly broke his composure was that the man she was to marry was his own son.

This was... such a plot would not even pass censorship in internet literature from twenty years ago, let alone in ancient times.

Li Shimin sneered and swung the rattan cane fiercely at Li Zhi.

"Ah!" Li Zhi felt as if his soul had been whipped out of him; the pain was heart-wrenching.

"Father, Father, stop! Zhi'nu is going to be beaten to death!" the agonizingly pained Li Zhi cried out for mercy.

Li Shimin ignored his pleas, intent only on venting his rage. He pinned Li Zhi to the stool and unleashed an "education of love" with the cane. At first, Li Zhi could scream, but before long, his voice turned hoarse.

Li Qing, kind-hearted and unable to bear the screaming, picked up a small wooden stick from the table and gestured for Li Shimin to stop.

"What is it, virtuous brother?" Old Li paused, puzzled.

"Here, bite on this," Li Qing said, offering the stick to Li Zhi. "Biting this should help ease the pain."

"Th-thank you, Imperial Uncle..." Li Zhi gasped, gritting his teeth as he clamped down on the wood. He was bordering on despair; the pain radiating from his backside told him he must be covered in lacerations and blood. Yet, being timid, he dared not look, staring only ahead.

"Brother Li, look at how polite our nephew is, even thanking me," Li Qing said with a chuckle, clapping his hands and stepping aside.

Wu Meiniang watched Li Zhi with suspicion. Hearing him shriek so miserably, yet seeing no wounds on him... could it be that the Late Emperor was holding back? But the Late Emperor was clearly enraged to the extreme, swinging the cane so fast it blurred—the force was definitely real. She wanted to intervene, but she had no standing, as this beating was sparked by her. Furthermore, she feared being implicated; what if Li Shimin turned his rage on her? Seeing that Li Zhi appeared unharmed, she decided to remain an invisible bystander. As for running away, the thought never crossed her mind; there was nowhere to go. You can run for a moment, but not for a lifetime.

Only Li Zhi knew the depths of his misery. It was truly an unbearable sensation.

"I’ll teach you not to listen!" *Thwack!*
"Mmph, mph, mph..."
"I’ll teach you to marry your stepmother!" *Thwack!*
"Mmph, mph, mph!"
"I’ll teach you to be obsessed with her!" *Thwack!*
"Mmph, mph, mph!"

It was surprisingly rhythmic, Li Qing thought with schadenfreude. In just this short while, Li Shimin and his son had contributed nearly ten thousand emotional points. Li Zhi’s contribution was likely mostly resentment.

"What else was there?" Li Shimin asked, looking up at Li Qing, breathless from the exertion.

"Just a moment, Brother Li." Li Qing pulled a small notebook from his pocket, flipped through a few pages, and said, "Forcing the Prince of Wu, Li Ke, to his death."

"Right! Forcing your third brother to his death!" Li Shimin swung the cane with all his might.

"Wuwu! It’s not my fault, Father!" Li Zhi quickly spat out the stick and pleaded loudly. "It was the uncle! It was that old scoundrel Zhangsun! It has nothing to do with me, Your Majesty! Ah, it hurts!"

"At a time like this, you still want to shirk responsibility? I’ll teach you to have no backbone!" Li Shimin roared and struck him again.

Li Qing noted the two-thousand-point increase in emotional energy and decided to turn up the heat. "There’s more, Brother Li. Look here: interference from the inner palace, the 'Two Sages' reigning together... oh my, your son really played a game..."

"What? You beast... I’ll slaughter you... I’ll slaughter you!!!"

Li Shimin’s blood boiled. He gained over three thousand emotional points and began raining blows down upon Li Zhi’s head and face. It was fortunate that Old Li had the foresight to use a fake cane; otherwise, Li Zhi might have been beaten to death. A man whose blood has rushed to his head can no longer control himself.

"Ah, Brother Li, there is also..." Li Qing continued flipping through his notebook. "Employing scoundrels like Xu Jingzong and Li Yifu. You should know Xu Jingzong; as for Li Yifu, he is known as the 'Human Cat'—the idiom 'a knife hidden in a smile' comes from him..."

"Employing treacherous ministers? Take that!" Li Shimin continued his output. He was not fighting alone.

"Ah, ah, ah, Father, stop, stop! It hurts..." Li Zhi howled, his voice rasping.

"Oh, and this: letting the Tibetan Empire annex Tuyuhun, turning the Tibetans into a grave threat to the Tang Dynasty for generations..." Li Qing continued to fan the flames.

"What? Such a thing happened?" Li Shimin rolled up his sleeves, ready to continue.

"Father, wait, wait!" Li Zhi shouted. "I am wronged! I am wronged! I didn't let Tuyuhun be annexed!"

"That happens in a few years, um... the third year of Longshuo," Li Qing noted after a quick check.

"Wait! That’s not just my problem! Didn't you also engage in marriage alliances with the Tibetans..."

Before Li Zhi could finish, Li Qing interrupted, furious. "Damn you, you unfilial son!" Li Qing pulled out another rattan cane and pointed it at Li Zhi’s nose. "Brother Li cherished the people’s strength above all. Why do you think he spent his final years waging war against surrounding barbarians? Wasn't it because he feared the waters were too deep for you to handle? Wasn't it all for you?"

"And you? You couldn't even manage Liaodong properly, and you let them steal Tuyuhun! What about basic national policy? What about strategic balance? Have you forgotten why your father supported Tuyuhun!"

Clearly, facing such a heartless, unfilial son, Li Qing was beyond furious. A perfectly good strategy of pitting two dogs against each other had been ruined by Li Zhi, turning one into a wolf that would become a centuries-long nightmare for the Tang.

"Virtuous brother, why waste words on him?" Li Shimin took off his boot and pulled off his sock, rolling it into a ball.

"Hit him!" he shouted.

Li Qing struck him with the cane.

"Ah, ah, ah—ugh."

Just as Li Zhi opened his mouth to scream, Li Shimin shoved the sock into his wide-open mouth.