Deposed? I couldn't be happier! I wouldn't even be a dog to the crown prince.

The Western Regions, the Kingdom of Gaochang.

This place is the throat of the Silk Road and also the most prosperous of the Western Regions.

Inside the Gaochang Royal Palace, everything was resplendent in gold and jade, and the music of the Hu people was intoxicating.

King Ju Wentai of Gaochang, dressed in an incongruous Hanfu, sat amidst a mountain of goods, his face flushed.

His eyes were shining, like a hungry wolf eyeing the green glow of fresh meat.

"Great stuff! It's all great stuff!"

Ju Wentai held a crystal-clear glass in his hand, reluctant to put it down.

"Is this the glasswork that little prince of the Tang Dynasty made? Wow, its clarity is amazing, even more beautiful than the crystal from the West!"

Scattered around his feet were bolts of fine Shu brocade and boxes upon boxes of exquisite porcelain.

These were originally goods belonging to the imperial merchants of the Tang Dynasty, priceless commodities destined for Persia and the Abbasid Caliphate to be exchanged for gold.

But now, it has all become Ju Wentai's private property.

"Your Majesty."

A prime minister with a goatee approached, his face showing some worry.

"Did we...go too far this time?"

"This is a caravan of the Tang Dynasty royal family. I heard that the Crown Prince Li Chengqian, known as the 'Living Yama,' is behind it."

"We not only seized the goods, but also arrested the people. If this angers the Tang Dynasty..."

"What's there to be afraid of!"

Ju Wentai slammed his wine glass on the table, his face full of arrogance and domineering.

He stood up, pointed to the vast Gobi Desert outside the hall, and spat as he spoke.

"The Tang Dynasty? The Tang Dynasty is a hundred and eight thousand miles away from here!"

"Separated by thousands of miles of desert and Gobi, their army wants to come over? They'd better drink two kilograms of sand first!"

"Besides, haven't you heard?"

Ju Wentai lowered his voice, his eyes gleaming with self-righteous shrewdness.

"The Tang Dynasty just fought a battle with the Turks. Although it won, it was a Pyrrhic victory! The national treasury is definitely empty, and the troops are certainly exhausted."

"The current Li Shimin is like a tiger with its teeth pulled; he looks intimidating, but he's actually quite weak!"

The prime minister still hesitated: "But..."

"There's no 'but' about it!"

Ju Wentai waved his hand, interrupting the Prime Minister.

"The Tibetan king has already sent me a letter."

"Songtsen Gampo was a remarkable figure! He said that the Tang Dynasty was now just a paper tiger, easily broken."

"If our two families join forces and cut off the Silk Road, the Tang Dynasty will have no choice but to submit!"

"Then, we'll have whatever we want!"

At this point, Ju Wentai's greed completely overwhelmed his reason.

He recalled the "snowflake salt" that was touted as miraculous in Western Region legends.

I heard that thing sells for two coins a pound in the Tang Dynasty, but when it's transported to the Western Regions, it's worth the same amount of gold!

"go!"

Ju Wentai kicked the clerk who was kneeling on the ground.

"Write a letter of state to Li Shimin!"

"Just say... his caravan was suspected of smuggling, violating the laws of Gaochang, and was detained by me in accordance with the law."

"Want to ransom them? Sure!"

Ju Wentai stretched out a finger and pointed it sharply in the air.

"Bring 100,000 catties of snowflake salt in exchange!"

"And those wool sweaters, we need ten thousand of them!"

"Less than enough, and I'll chop off a merchant's head!"

"Tell Li Shimin not to even think about sending troops. I have the Tibetans backing me. If he dares to make a move, I'll contact the remnants of the Western Turks and we'll rebel against him together!"

The clerk was so frightened that his hands trembled, and ink dripped onto the paper.

"Your Majesty...isn't that tone a bit...too harsh?"

"tough?"

Ju Wentai chuckled, picked up the glass of wine, tilted his head back, and drank it all in one gulp.

"This is called—the majesty of a great nation!"

"In this small corner of the Western Regions, I, Ju Wentai, am the ruler!"

……

Chang'an, Taiji Hall.

Today's morning court session was originally peaceful and harmonious.

Li Shimin was listening with great satisfaction to Dai Zhou's report on last month's fiscal revenue, pondering whether he should give that rebellious son an award or something.

Sudden.

Tang Jian, the Minister of the Court of State Ceremonies, with a livid face and clutching a crumpled official document in his hand, rushed into the main hall like a whirlwind.

"Your Majesty! This is outrageous! This is absolutely outrageous!"

Tang Jian, who was usually a kind-hearted man, was now so angry that he was trembling all over, and his official hat was askew.

"What's the matter?"

Li Shimin frowned, a bad feeling creeping into his heart.

"The Kingdom of Gaochang... has rebelled!"

Tang Jian knelt down with a thud, raising the imperial letter high with both hands.

"King Ju Wentai of Gaochang has detained thirteen imperial merchant caravans of my Great Tang Dynasty and robbed them of goods worth millions of strings of cash!"

"He also killed two of my Tang Dynasty officials who were accompanying me, and imprisoned the rest in death row!"

"This is...this is the ransom note he sent!"

boom--!

The hall erupted in chaos instantly.

A million strings of cash!

That was Li Chengqian's hard-earned money, earned through his own efforts in generating revenue!

It was actually robbed by a small kingdom in the Western Regions?

This is not robbery, this is clearly a slap in the face to the Tang Dynasty, a slap in the face to Li Shimin!

Wang De walked down shakily, took the letter of state, and presented it to Li Shimin.

Li Shimin grabbed it and unfolded it to take a look.

His handwriting was illegible, and his tone was arrogant.

The entire text contains only two words—

I need money!

They demanded not only money, but also salt and clothing, and even made a veiled threat that if they didn't get what they wanted, they would join forces with Tibet to cause trouble.

"Snapped!"

Li Shimin slammed his hand on the dragon table, and the table, made of the finest golden nanmu wood, cracked under his blow.

"You bastard!"

"How dare a mere tiny, insignificant country, an ant that only survives by relying on my Great Tang Dynasty, be so arrogant?!"

Li Shimin stood up, his chest heaving violently, his eyes bloodshot.

He recalled the humiliation of the Wei River Alliance.

I was reminded of the despair of being trapped in Longmen Mountain.

After finally defeating the Turks and becoming the Heavenly Khan, he thought that from then on, all the world would submit to him and all nations would come to pay tribute.

The results of it?

A tiny, run-down country whose name he'd almost forgotten dared to shit on his neck?!

Do you need another 100,000 catties of fine salt?

Why don't you just rob it?!

Oh, you really are robbing me!

"He's courting death!"

Li Shimin squeezed out these words through gritted teeth, crushing the official letter in his hand to shreds.

"Does he think that just because Chang'an is far from Gaochang, I can't cut off his head?!"

"Does he think that with Tibet backing him up, I wouldn't dare to touch him?!"

"Since he wants to die, then I will grant his wish!"

"Sizzle—"

A crisp sound.

The imperial letter representing the fate of the Gaochang Kingdom was reduced to countless flakes in Li Shimin's hands, falling like snowflakes in winter.

Every fragment carries the boundless rage of the Tang emperor.

"Issue my decree!"

Li Shimin's voice was icy cold, echoing throughout the hall.

"Summon the Crown Prince!"

"Summon Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, and Changsun Wuji!"

"And... summon that Hou Junji, who's been sitting at home doing nothing but getting bored!"

"I want to convene a court assembly!"

"I want that fool Ju Wentai to know that there is only one consequence for challenging the majesty of the Tang Dynasty—"

"The country is destroyed! The family is ruined!"

All the officials and civil servants were terrified when they saw the furious Li Shimin.

They knew that this time, His Majesty was truly determined to kill.

Gao Changguo, it’s over.

But what they didn't know was...

The Eastern Palace at this moment.

What will the real "living Yama" do upon hearing this news?

By the pond.

The fishing rod in Li Chengqian's hand trembled slightly.

A plump koi carp has just taken the bait.

Qinglong stood behind him, having just finished reporting on the situation in the Western Regions.

Li Chengqian did not rush to lift the fishing rod.

He simply watched the ripples on the water's surface, a cruel yet amused smile slowly creeping onto his lips.

"100,000 catties of salt?"

"One million strings of cash?"

"Ju Wentai, Ju Wentai, your appetite... is bigger than I imagined."

"Since you can eat so much..."

Li Chengqian flicked his wrist, throwing the koi carp ashore, watching it struggle helplessly on the grass.

"Then I'll send you to the underworld so you can eat your fill."