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

On the north bank of the Wei River, dark clouds loomed over the city.

The cold wind whipped up withered grass, scraping against faces like knives, causing a sharp pain. But colder than the wind was the heart of the Tang emperor and his officials at that moment.

On the opposite bank of the river, the endless felt tents stretched as far as the eye could see. The neighing of the Turkic warhorses, the clanging of scimitars against shields, and their unrestrained laughter converged into a massive wave of sound, crashing against the fragile walls of Chang'an like a tsunami.

The Khan of the Eight Tribes rode a tall, magnificent horse, holding a golden cup in his hand, his face trembling with menacing features.

"Li Shimin! Have you thought this through?"

He downed the wine in his cup in one gulp, then casually smashed the golden cup into the Wei River, splashing up a muddy wave. "Either empty the national treasury and deliver it to my tent, or my two hundred thousand men will have dinner in Chang'an!"

Li Shimin stood at the southern end of the bridge, with a thin defensive line behind him and civil and military officials with deathly pale faces.

He gripped the reins tightly, his fingernails digging into his palms, drawing blood.

humiliation.

An unprecedented humiliation.

But he couldn't move, he dared not move. Behind him lay Chang'an, and millions of people. He, the newly enthroned emperor, had to swallow his pride and bear this humiliation, even if it meant gritting his teeth and swallowing it down.

……

At this very moment, in the Eastern Palace.

In stark contrast to the tense atmosphere along the Wei River, this place was eerily quiet.

Under the old locust tree, Li Chengqian was lying on his expensively crafted rocking chair made of golden nanmu wood, with a copy of the Analects of Confucius covering his face. His chest rose and fell gently with his breath, as if he were truly asleep.

Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves, creating dappled patterns.

But this seemingly languid afternoon nap was tinged with a chilling oppression. All the palace maids and eunuchs in the East Palace had been dismissed, leaving the courtyard empty except for the lame old servant Xu Xiao, who stood like a stone statue in the shadows, head down, wiping a cold knife he had pulled out from somewhere.

The blade was cold and sharp, making not a sound.

"Your Highness! Your Highness, wake up!"

A flurry of footsteps shattered the deathly silence. The young eunuch in charge of gathering information scrambled into the courtyard, his face deathly pale, as if he had seen a ghost.

"Something terrible has happened! The Wei River can't hold out any longer!"

The young eunuch knelt on the ground, kowtowing with a sob in his voice, "Khan Jieli is making outrageous demands! Not only does he want to empty the national treasury, but he also... he wants Your Majesty to become his vassal! Your Majesty... Your Majesty has already sent for the imperial seal!"

"What?"

The rocking chair stopped rocking.

The copy of the Analects slipped off Li Chengqian's face and fell to the ground with a soft thud.

He slowly opened his eyes.

There was no trace of sleepiness in his eyes, only an unfathomable indifference. He didn't fly into a rage at the words "submission," but instead frowned and reached up to pick at his ear.

"So noisy."

Li Chengqian sat up straight, looking impatient, as if his morning grumpiness was building up from being disturbed from his sweet dream. "I can hear the hoofbeats of those Turkic barbarians from dozens of miles away. It's giving me a headache."

The young eunuch was stunned.

Quarrel?

Is this the time to complain about noise? The Tang Dynasty is about to perish, our ancestors!

"Your Highness, that's the sound of the Turkic army shouting battle cries..." The little eunuch trembled with anxiety.

"I know."

Li Chengqian stretched, his joints cracking. He stood up from the rocking chair, brushed off non-existent dust from his clothes, and stared northwards with a cold gaze as if he were looking at a group of dead men.

"Since they're challenging us, let's shut them up."

He turned his head and glanced at Xu Xiao in the shadows.

"Old Xu."

"This old servant is here."

Xu Xiao sheathed his cold knife with a crisp "click," and his hunched body seemed to straighten slightly at that moment. A strong stench of blood instantly filled the air, startling the cicadas in the trees into silence.

Li Chengqian yawned, his tone as casual as if he were ordering a servant to clean up the trash.

"I don't want the sound of Turkic horses' hooves to disturb my afternoon nap. Go and tell them to be quiet."

Xu Xiao grinned, revealing a set of broken, yellow teeth. His smile was ferocious and cruel, like a demon crawling out of hell.

"This old servant obeys."

He paused, a bloodthirsty red glint flashing in his cloudy eyes, and asked in a hoarse voice, "To leave no one alive, or...?"

Li Chengqian waved his hand, lay back down in the rocking chair, found a comfortable position, and closed his eyes.

"what ever."

"Just one thing, don't dirty the ground in Chang'an, I find it smelly."

"promise."

Xu Xiao turned around and dragged his crippled leg out. With each step, his aura rose higher. The moment he stepped out of the East Palace gate, the timid old servant was gone, replaced by the ruthless butcher of Beiliang who had once roamed the martial world and killed without hesitation.

……

North bank of the Wei River.

The wind grew stronger, making the Tang army's banners flutter as if they were sobbing.

Li Shimin's hands were trembling.

Wang De, holding the Imperial Seal of the State, knelt to one side, tears streaming down his face. Once this seal was affixed, the humiliating treaty known as the "Alliance of the Wei River" would take effect, and the backbone of the Tang Dynasty would be completely broken.

The Turks on the opposite bank had already begun their early celebrations. They brandished their scimitars, let out strange cries, and mocked the Tang people's cowardice.

Khagan Jieli was even more arrogant than before. He pointed at Li Shimin and laughed wildly, "Li Shimin! Hurry up! My patience is limited!"

"If you dawdle any longer, believe me, my 200,000 iron cavalry will raze you to the ground right now..."

Before he could finish speaking...

The earth suddenly trembled.

The tremor was very slight, like some kind of pulse coming from deep underground.

Jieli's laughter abruptly stopped. He frowned in confusion, tightening the reins. "What's going on? Did the earth shake?"

Then, the trembling became more intense.

It was a kind of uniform, heavy, suffocating frequency.

"Thump—thump—thump—"

It sounded like war drums, or like countless hearts beating at the same time.

The imperial seal in Li Shimin's hand hovered in mid-air. He looked up in astonishment at the northern horizon. All the Tang soldiers and all the Turkic cavalry instinctively held their breath at that moment.

Where the sky meets the earth, a white line appeared out of nowhere.

The white line was initially very thin, like a wisp of cloud on the horizon, but in just a few breaths it quickly grew thicker and larger, carrying a terrifying momentum that could destroy everything in its path, and it rushed madly toward the banks of the Wei River!

That was a wave.

That was an avalanche.

Those were three thousand cavalrymen clad in heavy armor and riding white horses!

They didn't utter a single shout; only the uniform sound of their horses' hooves, like rolling thunder, crushed all the noise on the battlefield.

A large black banner embroidered with the ferocious character "Xu" fluttered in the wind, like a black dragon churning in the white waves.

Jieli Khan's pupils contracted sharply to pinpoints, and his steed, the Ferghana horse, involuntarily neighed and retreated. His mouth gaped open as he stared at the terrifying army that seemed to have stepped out of mythology, his voice trembling:

"What...what is that?"