My hotel is full of emperors throughout history.

Inugami Mitasuki and Yakushi Ebisu were already terrified, collapsing to the ground, their minds blank and filled with an icy chill—it's all over, all over!

Li Shimin continued angrily.

"I treated you with sincerity and hosted a welcoming banquet, yet you harbored malicious intentions, concealed murder weapons, and openly attempted to assassinate one of my most trusted ministers in the Linde Hall, before all my officials!"

"Slaying the emperor in court! Do you have no regard for the law?! Do you have no regard for me, the emperor?!"

His voice suddenly rose to a high pitch, like a dragon's roar from the heavens, making the palace beams vibrate.

"I may have been lenient with you for your previous overstepping and spying, considering your remoteness and ignorance!"

"How dare they commit such a treasonous and outrageous act! Do they really think the blades of our Great Tang are ineffective?!"

"Do they really think I, Li Shimin, am so easily fooled?!"

"Your Majesty! Innocent! Your Majesty, please see the truth!"

Inugami Mita finally managed to regain a voice from his extreme terror, tears streaming down his face as he banged his head on the ground.

"This person...this person is insane! He must be insane! This has nothing to do with our mission! Nothing to do with Japan! We beg Your Majesty...we beg Your Majesty to have mercy! Investigate thoroughly! Investigate thoroughly!"

"Irrelevant?"

Li Shimin interrupted him sternly.

"Is this person a member of your delegation?! Is he carrying a weapon from Japan?! The evidence is irrefutable, witnessed by all! Do you still dare to deny it?!"

He gave the Japanese envoy no further chance to explain, and abruptly waved his sleeve.

"You all have seen it! Japan's wolfish ambitions are crystal clear!"

"They send envoys to pay tribute on the surface, but harbor treacherous intentions! They spy on our borders and probe our secrets, and now they even dare to send assassins to kill the emperor in front of the palace!"

Such behavior is intolerable under both heaven and the law!

He took a deep breath, his gaze sharp as lightning.

"Issue my decree!"

"The entire Japanese delegation is to be immediately detained and subjected to severe interrogation to uncover their accomplices! A proclamation is to be issued to the world, listing Japan's ten heinous crimes of overstepping its bounds, spying, and assassination!"

"General Cheng Zhijie of the Left Valiant Guard is hereby appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Expeditionary Army to Pacify the Japanese Pirates! Attendant Gentleman of the Yellow Gate Liu Ji is hereby appointed Military Supervisor! Immediately dispatch 30,000 elite troops from Guanzhong and Hedong to Dengzhou and Laizhou!"

"The Imperial Workshop is ordered to expedite the construction and repair of ships, and the Naval Command is to immediately prepare and recruit helmsmen and sailors familiar with sea conditions!"

"The Ministry of Revenue is responsible for coordinating grain supplies, and the provinces of Shandong and Henan are to provide full support without fail!"

"A decree to the four seas: The Japanese have murdered their lord in defiance of Heaven and severed themselves from China! All subjects of the Great Tang have the duty to punish this traitor! Anyone who offers advice, assists the army, or captures and kills Japanese spies will be richly rewarded! Anyone who colludes with the Japanese, aids the enemy, or spreads rumors will be executed along with their entire clan!!!"

"The emperor guards the nation's gates; the monarch dies for the state!"

"Once the navy is fully prepared and the sea conditions have stabilized, I will personally lead the royal army to cross the sea to the east!"

"We will not avenge this humiliation until we have trampled the Japanese islands, captured their false emperor, burned their ancestral temples, and wiped away the shame of this incident that startled our emperor..."

"I swear I will never return to court!"

"Write these words in a proclamation and proclaim them to the world! Let the people of Japan know what divine retribution their actions today will bring them!"

Inside the Linde Hall, there was complete silence.

Then, without exception, all the ministers stood up.

"Your Majesty, we humbly obey Your Majesty's decree! Your Majesty is wise and your divine might is manifest!!!"

Li Shimin withdrew his gaze and looked around at the assembled officials in the hall.

"Since none of you have any objections, then each of you shall perform your duties and act swiftly!"

"The Japanese delegation, arrest and imprison them immediately!"

The sound of armor clashing came from outside the hall.

The guards filed in and dragged out the limp, unconscious Inugami Mitasuki, Yakushi Eiji, and the rest of the deathly pale Japanese attendants.

One man's crotch was wet, leaving a faint watermark where he dragged himself, but no one cast a mocking glance his way.

Finally, Li Shimin turned his gaze to the minister who had been stabbed to death, his face showing sorrow.

He was silent for a long time.

"Wang Gui..."

He was posthumously awarded the title of Minister of Rites and given the posthumous name "Yi".

"Yin Yi's son entered officialdom with a real position and was granted the rank of Senior Seventh Grade. He was also given 500 bolts of silk, 100,000 strings of cash, and 50 hectares of permanent land."

"The funeral arrangements shall be handled by the Directorate of Works, and the procession shall be carried out with the regalia of a third-rank official, with attendants buried with the deceased..."

He paused for a moment, then continued.

"...The burial items shall include a coffin made of catalpa wood, a three-beamed official hat, and a gold-embroidered leather belt. A stele shall be erected in front of the tomb, and I shall personally inscribe the title of the stele."

After saying this, he walked to Wang Gui's body.

"Shujie...I..."

"I……"

Li Shimin's face grew increasingly grief-stricken.

"I'm so sorry!"

When the ministers saw Li Shimin's appearance, they were all deeply moved.

"His Majesty--"

An elderly minister with gray hair and beard staggered out of the ranks, tears streaming down his face, covering his face with his sleeve, his shoulders trembling violently.

"Your Majesty, with your supreme status, how could you... How could you do this... If the Imperial Advisor Wang could know this in the afterlife, he too would not bear to see Your Majesty harm your health!"

Another person stepped forward.

"Your Majesty's grief is deeply felt by us. However, the remonstrating official Wang served his sovereign with integrity and died in service to the king, a rare honor for a subject. Your Majesty has already granted him a grand funeral, bestowed posthumous honors upon his son, and personally inscribed his tombstone—an unprecedented act of grace. If Your Majesty were to further harm Your Majesty in this matter, we would be condemned to death!"

He raised his head, his eyes red-rimmed, and his voice choked with emotion as he spoke.

"Your Majesty, please accept my deepest condolences!"

Another person knelt down.

Another one.

In a short while, a huge mass of people knelt down beneath the throne.

Those high-ranking officials who usually argued fiercely in the court, each refusing to yield to the other, were now surprisingly united.

"Your Majesty, please accept my deepest condolences!"

"For Wang Jianyi to have met such an enlightened ruler, he could die without regret!"

"If Your Majesty's grief harms your health, how can we, your subjects, face our ancestors?"

The voices of advice surged toward the throne like a tidal wave.

Only a few people knelt down, but they were filled with emotion.

His Majesty's acting is fucking divine!!!

I don't know who deliberately arranged for him to be opposite that person.

Now even the powerful families are probably getting restless.

Not only did they eliminate the powerful families, but they also brought them to this side, and they even had a reason to send troops to Japan. In the end, they even used the corpses to win over a group of loyal followers.

Your Majesty has killed four birds with one stone this time!

Fang Xuanling, Changsun Wuji, and the others exchanged glances, their faces full of admiration.

As expected, His Majesty is still His Majesty!