The film and television world begins with the battle for the throne in Kowloon

Chapter 729 Tit for tat
Li Ke, whose wound had been bandaged, looked at An Heihu who was supported by someone, and walked to the back of the carriage where Cheng Yunliang was sitting despite the other guards' obstruction. He lifted the curtain and took a look, and his eyes suddenly opened as wide as copper bells.

Li Ke seemed to be frightened by the scene in the car. He stared at Cheng Yunliang, who looked miserable in the car. He was shocked and scared. His face turned red and black, changing constantly, and finally turned pale.

With an unnatural shake of his arm, the curtain fell silently.

The guards of the palace also saw the scene inside and were shocked. The person lying inside could no longer be considered a corpse, but a pile of rotten meat. Cheng Yunliang was stabbed dozens of times, and blood flowed all over the carriage. Above the waist, he had no shape.

His face was unrecognizable and his head was chopped off.

Now, even if the best officials from Chang'an and Wannian counties came, they would not be able to recognize who the people inside were.

If the previous assassination attempt was enough to shock Li Ke, the situation in the carriage completely frightened this teenager who was only in his teens. The horrific death of Cheng Yunliang kept appearing in his mind. Li Ke was shocked, afraid and angry, and he felt a bad air in his chest that was really uncomfortable.

This is Chengtian Street in front of the Taiji Palace, the best place under the feet of the emperor. The other party was so unscrupulous. Under the emperor's nose, in the name of assassinating him, he chopped a dignified fourth-rank official into pieces on the street.

It's just crazy and lawless
Li Ke gnashed his teeth, veins on his forehead throbbing, and he could no longer suppress the anger in his heart and roared, "Hou Junji!"

"Why does the King of Shu want to replace this old minister?" At this moment, a rough voice came from behind Renjun.

The soldiers turned around when they heard the noise and saw a general in armor and more than ten soldiers on horseback coming over. They quickly made way for him and saluted, saying, "Greetings, Duke Lu."

"Meet Duke Lu"

Hou Junji lightly lifted the reins of his horse, squeezed his legs together, and leisurely came to the center of the scene with more than a dozen officers.

In the court, the prince is of the first rank, while the prince and the duke are both of the second rank, and are of equal rank.

But the princes of the royal family are of royal blood after all. Generally, when the meritorious officials and dukes in the court see such people, even if they are just ordinary members of the royal family, they will bow to greet them. This gesture is for the royal family to show humility and respect.

Not to mention Li Shimin's son, who was even more respectful.

Normally, Hou Junji should have dismounted and paid homage to Li Ke as soon as he saw him, but Li Ke had just been stripped of his princely title, and Hou Junji's duke and prince were of the same rank, so he didn't need to pay homage. Moreover, Hou Junji was wearing armor at the time, looking like he was busy with military duties, so he could pay homage or not.

Even if you bow on horseback, it is not considered rude.

But at this time, Hou Junji seemed to have forgotten this and had no intention of getting off the horse. If he didn't get off the horse, the officers behind him had to stay on their horses. The officers were wearing armor and had to follow the military rules. They couldn't go beyond the general's orders.

As the warhorse slowly approached, Hou Junji's face became as cold as frost, and the iron-blooded might of a brave general on the battlefield was unreservedly released towards Li Ke. The tall warhorse, coupled with the cold iron armor, a group of more than ten generals slowly pressed forward.

The ripping sound of armor and the condescending gazes of the crowd immediately created an inexplicable murderous aura between the two sides, which poured out unscrupulously on Li Ke and his group.

Not only were the patrolling soldiers around unable to withstand this momentum and retreated unconsciously, but even the people in the Prince of Shu's Mansion had tense and grim expressions on their faces. They tensed their muscles and looked as if they were facing a formidable enemy.

Li Ke's pupils shrank, and he immediately felt Hou Junji's murderous intent and intimidation towards him. Panic and cowardice flashed in his eyes, but the pride of the emperor and the stubbornness in his bones made him swear to die rather than bow to Hou Junji. He gritted his teeth and looked up at Hou Junji unwillingly.

He believed that Hou Junji would not dare to do anything to him in public.

But the guards behind Li Ke could not bear such a depressing atmosphere and could not help but take a step back. Then they gathered together and came forward to protect Li Ke, looking at Hou Junji with a wary look.

Hou Junji on his horse saw that Li Ke did not retreat at all in the face of his force, and the hostility and hatred in his eyes were not concealed. Thinking of his honest and simple son-in-law, Hou Junji suddenly felt murderous in his heart, and his right hand unconsciously grasped the long sword at his waist.

The two men, one on horseback, stared at each other. Hou Junji did not dismount either, but looked down at Li Ke who was stubbornly refusing to retreat.

"Humph"

After a long time, Hou Junji looked up in the direction of the palace, as if he saw the majestic eyes of Li Shimin sitting high in the Taiji Hall, as well as the other party's tolerance and love for him. Finally, he restrained his inner desire.

Hou Junji exhaled heavily, but didn't go too far in the end. He got off his horse. When Hou Junji did this, the officers behind him dismounted one after another, holding their horses and standing behind. Hou Junji perfunctorily raised his hand and said with extreme contempt: "Greetings, Lord Shu. Please forgive me for not being able to perform the salute while wearing armor."

With Hou Junji's move, the oppressive atmosphere between the two gangs instantly dissipated. The guards of the palace breathed a sigh of relief. Li Ke also subconsciously relaxed. Only then did he feel a chill on his back. It was probably because of the short moment just now that the cold sweat on his body soaked his clothes.

Hou Junji was a duke of the current dynasty and a senior military veteran. As long as he showed his seniority, even though he had just been riding a horse and showing off his might, and had slightly bullied the King of Shu, he still acted according to etiquette.

First of all, Li Ke is not the emperor, and the ministers only need to respect the etiquette on the surface. After all, they are much older and have more achievements than you, the emperor. As for whether the ministers are respectful in their attitude, you are not qualified to be picky.

Secondly, Hou Junji played a trick. He rode his horse a little too far, dismounted a little late, withdrew his power a little slowly, and performed the ceremony a little perfunctorily.

But what about attitude?

It can only be based on the feelings of the parties involved. It is difficult to have a clear standard to measure. The court has no regulations on when the Duke should dismount when meeting the Prince, at what height he should raise his hand, and what words he should use. It is not so detailed.

If Li Ke used these things to make a point, he would only be seen as harsh and thus offend all the officials in the court.

Li Ke could only suffer in silence due to Hou Junji's arrogance and contempt.

The only ones who could truly empathize and feel offended were the princes and dukes of the royal family. However, some time ago, Li Ke personally led his troops to search Hou Junji's mansion and "framed" Hou Junji for embezzling one million strings of public funds.

This is a crime punishable by death, confiscation of property and extermination of the clan. Li Ke obviously wants to kill Hou Junji. This is a mortal feud. Hou Junji hates Li Ke, so it is normal for him to be perfunctory during the meeting. Even a clay Buddha can get angry, let alone Hou Junji, who has a fiery temper.

With the personal grudge in the past, Hou Junji's rudeness would not be representative, and the kings would not regard Hou Junji's behavior as a provocation to the kings as a group. No one would sympathize with Li Ke. He was a weak man who kept jumping around on the heads of these ruthless warriors. He deserved to be punished.

"This humble general and I are here to see the King of Shu!"

The officers and generals behind Hou Junji did not have the confidence that Hou Junji had. They had no personal grudges against Li Ke, so they all knelt on one knee and performed a standard military salute.

Seeing the soldiers kneeling down in a large group, Li Ke's depressed mood was relieved a little. He looked at Hou Junji proudly as if in protest and said, "No matter how arrogant you are, you still dare not disobey. Your subordinates still have to kowtow to me."

He was thinking of asking the other party to kneel for a while longer, so as to vent the bad temper of Hou Junji who was looking down on him from his horse. But when he glanced around, he saw that Hou Junji looked indifferent, with a hint of complacency in his eyes.

Looking at the soldiers around him and the crowd watching in the distance, he suddenly felt aggrieved and secretly asked about Hou Junji's eight generations of ancestors.

Hou Junji clearly wanted to offend the generals. In this case, the longer he made the generals kneel, the more dissatisfied they would be with him. The people around him would also feel that he had gone too far, so they took the opportunity to anger the generals and punish them to kneel.

Most of the soldiers in the army are upright men with generous temperaments. They will definitely regard this as a great humiliation and hate themselves in the future.

Thinking that Hou Junji could use the rules to squeeze him, but he couldn't do the same in return, Li Ke felt so depressed that he almost vomited blood.

Not daring to delay, he quickly forced out a friendly smile and said, "Generals, please stand up quickly. You are wearing armor, so there is no need to perform such a grand ceremony."

"Thank you, Prince!"

All the generals stood up suddenly and looked at this scene in surprise. They were all middle-level generals newly recruited by the Flying Tiger Army, most of them were from the palace soldiers in Luoyang area. They were not well-informed and did not know the grudge between their commander-in-chief and the Prince of Shu. They just felt that the two seemed to have a bad relationship.

Li Ke nodded, then looked at Hou Junji and said in a veiled tone, "I have important business to attend to in the palace. Who would have thought that there would be an assassination incident just as I got here? And just as those assassins escaped, General Hou appeared. What a coincidence!"

"Your Highness, you don't know that they are all newly recruited generals. After the court was dismissed, I was taking them to the military camp outside the city and happened to pass by here."

Hou Junji said casually, "Seeing that this place was blocked and surrounded by people watching, I thought that the Jingzhao Yin's yamen runners were lazy again, allowing some tricksters to occupy the street and play here. Who knew that someone would actually assassinate the prince."

"It's such a blessing that the prince was only slightly injured." Hou Junji said it was a blessing, but his face showed an undisguised expression of gloating and infinite regret.

(End of this chapter)