Prince Li You of the Great Tang Dynasty begs the noble families to their deaths!

"...In July of the third year of the Wude era, Li Shimin led his armies to attack Wang Shichong in Luoyang. Li Shimin used light cavalry to lure the enemy, but he inadvertently overplayed his hand. Outnumbered, Li Shimin was surrounded, and his men were terrified. Li Shimin ordered his men to return to camp first, while he led the army alone at the rear. Wang Shichong's brave general Shan Xiongxin led several hundred cavalrymen to press forward from both sides, vying to attack first. Li Shimin was almost captured alive. But Li Shimin's second son drew his bow and shot arrows from both sides, and the enemy fell without a hit. In the end, he even captured Wang Shichong's general Yan Qi!"

"Amazing, that's incredible!"

"This guy is so awesome, who can possibly beat him?"

"You're right, Li Shimin was the most powerful and fierce man in the world at that time!"

"After eliminating Wang Shichong, Dou Jiande, and Liu Heita, the country gradually became peaceful. Emperor Yang of Sui was killed in Jiangnan, and Li Shimin's father eventually ascended the throne and became the new emperor."

"When it came time to reward meritorious service, everyone said that Li Shimin's contribution was the greatest, so his father bestowed more than a dozen official titles upon him in one go, such as General of Heavenly Strategy, Grand Commandant, Minister of the Imperial Secretariat, Grand Chancellor of Shaanxi East Circuit, Governor of Yongzhou, and Governor of Puzhou..."

"The official position was secondary; the key issue was that the most capable strategists and generals at the time were all gathered in Li Shimin's Prince Qin's residence. In the Tang army, people only knew of the General of Heavenly Strategy, but not of the emperor."

"...So, is he the emperor, or is his father the emperor?"

"Yes, you're very smart; you saw the essence of the problem right away."

The king's sudden praise brought a smile to the face of the soldier who often chimed in.

This kid has a talent for being a straight man in a comedy duo.

"What's your name?"

"Your Majesty, my name is Zhou Chuji."

"Zhou Chuji? What a fine name. You're quite good; from now on, you'll serve as my personal guard."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

"Uh...where was I?"

"The people of the world only know of the Heavenly Strategy General, but they know nothing of the Emperor!"

"Yes, that's right. Next up is the War for Imperial Succession, which is... the Xuanwu Gate Incident!"

In the Xuanwu Gate Incident, the supporting characters became Li Yuan, Li Jiancheng, and Li Yuanji, while the protagonist remained Li Shimin.

"...And so, Li Shimin killed his two brothers with arrows. No matter how unwilling his father was, he had no choice but to pass the throne to them, because he only had this one son."

"Tsk tsk tsk, that's ruthless!"

"When fighting over inheritance, can you do it without being ruthless?"

"Exactly! If I had been ruthless back then, how could my father's shop have fallen into the hands of outsiders?"

"Your family also owns a shop?"

"Alright, that concludes my story. What do you all think of this man named Li Shimin's abilities?"

"That's ruthless! He's a tough guy!"

"To win so many battles, his martial arts skills must be extremely strong!"

"He's at least much better than his father!"

Li You nodded and gestured with his hands to signal the soldiers to be quiet.

"Gentlemen, it is precisely because Li Shimin is so powerful that I have led you here."

"Li Shimin is the current emperor!"

"In other words, he is my father!"

"If he finds out I've rebelled, he'll definitely send troops to kill us, and then we'll all be finished!"

The scene fell silent.

"Your Majesty...are you telling the truth?"

"Of course, you always call me King. Why am I King? Because my throne was bestowed upon me by Emperor Li Shimin."

"Huh? Li Shimin is so powerful, can we...can we defeat him?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, why don't we run away quickly!"

Li You smiled slightly: "Run? No need to run anymore. I have been leading you on a run for more than ten days. This place is now called Dafu Mountain, and further south is Yunmeng Mountain. Even though Li Shimin has heavenly soldiers and generals at his command, he would never have imagined that we would run here."

These words immediately eased the soldiers' tension.

"Your Majesty, is Li Shimin really as capable as you say?"

"You think I'm making this up? If Li Shimin were truly so weak, you and I would have been living a carefree life in Chang'an by now. I could at least be an emperor, and you could all be generals, eating and drinking to your hearts' content, with plenty of beautiful women to enjoy every day. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"

"Now that we have finally escaped, the next step is to focus on developing ourselves. Once everyone has recovered and strengthened their forces, I will lead you out to conquer the world. At that time, you will be able to experience the might of Li Shimin's soldiers."

"...They're so strong, we'd better avoid fighting them."

"Look at you, you good-for-nothing! No wonder your father gave the shop to outsiders!"

The soldier who owned a shop was robbed, and the other soldiers all burst into laughter.

"What I'm saying today isn't just for you. When we return to camp, tell your companions what I've said today as well. Make sure everyone knows why we've come here and what we're going to do next."

"Furthermore, I must tell you that although Li Shimin is very strong, he is not strong enough to destroy us! As long as we work hard and persevere, one day we will defeat him, conquer him, and force him to obediently hand over the world to us!"

Soon, the story of Li Shimin spread throughout the entire team.

The story had a remarkable effect; Yan Hongxin quickly discovered that the rumors in the ranks had decreased, and the soldiers' morale had soared once again.

However, not everyone was in high spirits. The soldier whose ancestral shop had been taken away by his cousin was in a very bad mood. Now many people were laughing at him for being spineless.

Li You took the initiative to find this person.

"Brother, what does your shop sell?"

"Your Majesty, it is an oil pressing shop, mainly pressing rapeseed oil for wealthy families in town."

"Rapeseed oil? That's a good business. Tell me the truth, why didn't your father pass it down to you?"

"My dad said I'm too stupid, slow at everything, and don't have my cousin's cleverness."

"That's hard to say. People all look pretty much the same, so why would he be smarter than you?"

"Your Majesty, you may not know this, but after my cousin took over the shop, the production has increased significantly. Young ladies from wealthy families in the neighboring town have also come to buy oil."

Li You asked with some confusion, "Young ladies from wealthy families? What do they use rapeseed oil for?"

"They take it home and apply it to their hair, and some even apply it to their faces."

It turns out that during the Tang Dynasty, oil was scarce and was mainly used not for cooking, but as a hair conditioner.

Ancient people discovered that rapeseed oil could moisturize the ends of hair and improve hair quality, so they often applied it to the ends of their hair and massaged it before washing their hair, then wrapped it in a towel for a while, and finally rinsed it clean with water.

It can only be said that the wisdom of the working people is boundless, and the pursuit of beauty by beautiful women is even more boundless.

Li You thought about it and felt that the oil pressing technique might be useful in the future.

"What's your name?"

"Your Majesty, my name is Niu Qibao."

"Qibao, if I find you some rapeseed, can you extract oil from it?"

"This...we'll need to build a whole set of oil pressing tanks..."

"An oil pressing trough? What does that look like?"

Seeing that the King of Qi was interested, Niu Qibao began to tell him the story.

After listening for a long time, Li You was completely confused and had no idea what the guy was talking about.

"Stop, stop... Qibao, I finally understand why your father refused to pass the shop on to you. Here, draw what you've said on the ground with a twig and let me see it."

Niu Qibao nodded, and without looking for a branch, he started drawing on the ground with his hand.

Looking at what he drew, Li You finally understood the ancient oil pressing process.

Simply put, the process involves first grinding oil crops such as rapeseed into powder, then wrapping it in straw to make oil cakes about two feet in diameter.

Then, stack dozens of oil cakes together and place them in the oil pressing trough.

Then, using the mechanical principle of the oil press, external force is applied to squeeze the oil cake, thus extracting oil.

"Very good. Qibao, you will also serve as my personal guard."

"When we rise to power in the future, I will give you a large oil pressing shop."

"Thank you, Your Majesty!"

Given the current difficult conditions, the promises King Qi makes to his subordinates are all about the future, which is something that can't be helped.

Through his interactions with the soldiers today, Li You stabilized the morale of his troops and gained two more personal guards, making it a very fruitful day.

Next, we need to prepare for our trip into the mountains.

This is no easy task.