Chapter 32: I, Li Jiancheng, have never failed the position of Crown Prince!

The two men wiped their mouths, then spoke in unison to Li Er and Empress Zhangsun: "Your Majesty and the Empress are truly a devoted couple. We shall not intrude further and will head to Zhijie's manor to perform the rites for his ox."

With that, they retreated together.

Li Er looked at the potatoes and sweet potatoes scattered across the floor. Was he now expected to handle the manual labor himself? Seeing the disheveled state of Fang Xuanling and Zhangsun Wuji, Li Er sighed. Forget it; he would have to clean up this mess himself. Feeling a bit shortchanged, Li Er called out to their retreating figures: "Send two ox legs to my palace this evening!"

Then, turning to his guards, he commanded: "Clean this place up for me. Anyone caught pilfering will be executed!"

Having finished, he returned to the Imperial Study with Empress Zhangsun.

Li Shimin tore the seal off the Disease-Purging Pill, his eyes filled with tenderness: "Guanyin, take this quickly."

Empress Zhangsun took the pill gently and placed it in her mouth, where it dissolved instantly. A moment later, she felt a warm current flowing through her body, and the tightness in her chest, which had often caused her dull pain, gradually eased. She looked at Li Shimin with pleasant surprise, her eyes brimming with emotion: "Your Majesty, I feel much better. This pill is truly miraculous."

Seeing the Empress’s complexion improve, Li Shimin finally let his guard down and smiled: "Guanyin, I am at peace now that you are well."

"With these ten years of national prosperity and the high-yield potatoes and sweet potatoes, I am confident I can surpass the version of myself seen on the celestial screen!"

"I will make the four corners of the world bow to the Great Tang!"

In truth, Li Er was not particularly fond of the title "Heavenly Khan," as while it allowed him to command troops, it also meant he could not simply attack those nations at will. This would leave his territory much smaller.

...

During the Wude era of the Great Tang.

Li Yuan, Li Jiancheng, Li Shimin, and the bruised Li Yuanji, who was lying on the ground, watched the scene with varied emotions.

Li Yuan stared at the image frozen on the celestial screen, a sense of longing stirring in his heart. He had lived his entire life without ever seeing the people of the northern Hu and southern Yue dancing together. And his second son was only in his thirties at that time... to have achieved so much, and to be revered as the Heavenly Khan—it all felt like a dream.

Li Jiancheng’s fists were tightly clenched. His second brother had always been this way; everything he learned, he mastered instantly. But was it not excessive to attribute every single merit to him? Since his father ascended the throne, he had been appointed Crown Prince as the legitimate heir, managing the Eastern Palace and state affairs. He prided himself on being self-disciplined and diligent, never slacking for a moment. Yet, all the people in Chang'an knew of was the legendary military prowess of his younger brother, the Prince of Qin!

Some even claimed that the Great Tang was not carved out by his father’s sword, but carved by the hooves of his brother Shimin’s horses... Yet, had he, the Crown Prince, ever failed the title of "Heir Apparent"?

Recalling his childhood, Li Jiancheng remembered following his father to study military strategy and practice archery and horsemanship. By five, he was well-versed in literature and the classics, music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. At seven, he could draw a bow; at thirteen, he rode alongside his father to inspect the Taiyuan border, once piercing a Turkic warrior’s throat with a single arrow. He remembered his father praising him for having the "bearing of Wei Qing and Huo Qubing." Back then, his second brother Shimin was only four years old and often asked to be carried on his horse!

When he was twenty-four, his father tasked him with managing the political chess game of the Hedong noble clans, while Shimin was only fifteen, secretly fraternizing with the Wagang rebels! Who were these Wagang people? They were merely wanted outlaws, salt smugglers, and ruthless bandits who had blood on their hands. Yet his brother considered them heroes! Even his father had praised Shimin for being "skilled at gathering all walks of life"! But the supplies for their initial uprising—seventy percent of them were squeezed out of the Hedong clans by him, Li Jiancheng!

As for those "heroes" Shimin befriended, when they campaigned against Xue Ju in the first year of Wude, those Wagang men massacred villages to claim false merits and even embezzled the spoils of war. Anyone who saw it would have called them "unruly bandits." In terms of battlefield tactics, his brother was indeed a heaven-sent genius, but the foundation of the Great Tang was never built on archery and horsemanship alone!

He remembered the Battle of Huoyi, where his brother Shimin took a fatal arrow meant for him; even while grimacing in pain, Shimin had urged him not to blame himself. Back then, he had naively believed that the Li Tang family would never suffer from a struggle for the throne!

When his brother was campaigning against Wang Shichong, he, Li Jiancheng, sat in Yongfeng Granary, overseeing the delivery of a hundred thousand stone of grain without a single day’s delay. Why was this never mentioned?

In the fourth year of Wude, when the Turks marched south and Jieli Khan led a hundred thousand iron cavalry toward Jingzhou, the court was in a panic. It was he, Li Jiancheng, who worked through the night to mobilize grain from Longyou, conscripted thirty thousand laborers to reinforce the city defenses, and sent scouts to burn the Turkic supply lines. Why was this never mentioned? Instead, they only spoke of how Shimin captured two kings at Hulao Pass and settled the fate of the realm in one battle! And as for him, Li Jiancheng... he was the one who won the hearts of the people in Guanzhong!

...

Shimin was celebrating the pacification of the south at the Tiance Mansion, but he did not know that the Turkic envoys had turned and fled north, fearing the Hebei defense maps on his, the Crown Prince's, desk! In the sixth year of Wude, when the Turks invaded, the world only knew that Shimin forced back a hundred thousand Turkic wolf-riders, and his fame spread everywhere in Chang'an, yet no one mentioned him, Li Jiancheng. It was he who allocated thirty thousand stone of military grain and ordered Xue Wanjun to hold the Lingzhou pass, severing the Turks' reinforcements.

Since he began his service... he had sat in Hedong, overseeing supply lines so that a hundred thousand troops never went a day without food; he pacified Shandong and suppressed the Turks, untangling the chaotic administrative affairs of the court like a master. He, Li Jiancheng, had not failed the title of Crown Prince, nor the title of Heir Apparent!

...

Looking at his brother on the screen, crowned as the Heavenly Khan—so spirited and full of life—and seeing his father smiling so happily, Li Jiancheng knew that even though he had not failed the Great Tang, he had ultimately lost. He let out a bitter laugh, a single tear tracing a path down his cheek. The grievances of so many years were something only he could understand.

"If fate granted me another ten years, I would not necessarily lose to him..."

Li Jiancheng took a deep breath, as if having made a monumental decision. He walked to Li Yuan, knelt on both knees, and said in a hoarse voice: "Father, today, I am willing to relinquish the position of Crown Prince."

"As the celestial screen has shown, my second brother possesses the talent to govern the world and lead the Great Tang to a golden age. While I believe I have committed no great errors, I am inferior to him in the art of statecraft and bringing peace to the realm. For the future of the Great Tang, I am willing to do this!"

Li Yuan stared at Li Jiancheng in shock, momentarily unable to speak. Li Shimin was also stunned; he had not expected his eldest brother to make such a decision. Li Yuanji, his head swollen like a pig’s, stared wide-eyed from the side, full of disbelief.

Li Jiancheng looked at Li Shimin, his eyes brimming with tears: "Second brother, I hope you will govern diligently in the future, never failing the people of the world, and... please, spare the lives of your eldest brother and our third brother's families, will you?"

Hearing this, Li Shimin could no longer hold back. Tears streaming down his face, he fell to his knees before Li Jiancheng: "Eldest brother, Shimin was wrong!"

Li Jiancheng wiped his reddened eyes and reached out to pull his brother up. He felt he had earned this kneeling, but in pulling him up, he was securing the lives of their entire family.

Li Yuan regained his composure. Watching the brothers, who were now showing such mutual affection, he too wept, his voice choked as he walked between them.

"This is... very good, very good indeed. Shimin, I want you to remember what you said... do not let your hands be stained with the blood of your own kin, can you do that?"

"Shimin will remember, Father!"

Li Yuanji, having just approached with his swollen head, was kicked away by Li Yuan, who roared: "And you... you little brat, if you don't restrain your temper in the future, don't blame your brother for being heartless, because I won't be able to save you then!"

Lying on the ground, Li Yuanji felt more aggrieved the more he thought about it, and he burst into tears. "Damn it, am I the only one who isn't his own son? I come over just to get beaten? Everything is my fault, isn't it? Mother... your Jiji misses you! Take me away with you..."

Sui Dynasty!

Yang Jian, watching the image of Li Er frozen on the screen, saw a flash of light in his eyes. A bold idea emerged in his mind. The idea was insane, but it was also logical! Once this thought took root, it spread through his mind, impossible to control.