In my dream of returning to the Tang Dynasty, I snatched Wu Zetian from my lap.

Li Yuanchang could not accept either of these.

"Your Majesty, I have spoken out of turn in court. I am willing to accept punishment."

"But Lord Changsun's words are alarmist; I'm afraid I cannot reason with him!"

"How dare you!" Li Shimin roared.

"Guards, expel this madman from the Liangyi Hall and punish him with twenty strokes of the cane!"

"Your Majesty!" Cheng Yaojin and many others pleaded for mercy.

"My colleagues, there's no need to plead for me. I misspoke, and I deserve punishment, but I will never accept this injustice!"

"The blood oath is a fake; someone in Anzhou must have tampered with it!"

Li Yuanchang spread his arms wide and shouted, then turned around and walked away quickly.

The sound echoed throughout the hall, thoroughly muddying the waters.

Changsun Wuji's eyes were gloomy.

The civil service officials looked at each other, their brows furrowed, realizing they had somewhat overplayed their hand.

The original intention was to impeach Li Ke, but Li Yuanchang's fierce resistance led to the incident being exposed prematurely. Now, who would dare to add fuel to the fire?

Li Shimin was furious: "Add another twenty!!"

"Father, no! Forty strokes of the military rod will kill someone!"

"Please forgive me, Father."

"Shut up! If you beg again, you'll be punished too!"

"Father, this matter arose because of me, and I am willing to be punished along with the Prince of Han!" Li Ke said through gritted teeth, showing great righteousness.

"Drag him away!" Li Shimin shouted, his mood irritable.

It was clear to the naked eye that after the Prince of Qi and the Crown Prince successively rebelled, Li Shimin had lost his former composure regarding these matters.

Thus, Li Yuanchang and Li Ke were expelled one after another and dragged directly to Baiyu Square to be tortured.

After the two left, the atmosphere in the court changed completely, becoming oppressive.

With two princes punished in succession, even Changsun Wuji couldn't speak up again, because that would seem too eager, and Li Shimin wasn't stupid.

With the situation becoming so ugly, the King of Han cried out for justice, pointing directly to the political frame-up. Who would dare to defy the wind and commit crimes?

The art of politics often involves retreating to advance.

Li Yuanchang was not worried at all that his expulsion would allow the other party to slander him even more recklessly.

He knew very well that although he was punished and appeared to have lost, he had actually won.

Li Ke received twenty of the forty strokes of the cane, and the executioners happened to be the Left and Right Guards, a branch of the Imperial Guards that Li Yuanchang was quite familiar with, having once gone on a marriage alliance with them.

They secretly let things slide a little, not hitting them hard, so it wasn't as serious as people imagined.

After the forty strokes of the cane were finished, the two men were carried away one after the other.

"..."

The Prince of Han's Palace.

"ah!!"

From the side room in the east courtyard, Li Yuanchang gasped in shock, his voice tinged with pain.

He was given twenty strokes of the cane, and they even went easy on him, but he still suffered terribly, with blood seeping from his waist and hips.

One can imagine how terrifying caning in ancient times must have been.

Situ Lan and the other women helped him stop the bleeding, apply medicine, and change his clothes.

Qin Keyu burst into tears: "How could Your Majesty treat His Highness like this? His Highness has made so many contributions, and you just beat him like that, and so severely!"

"It's nothing, just a minor injury." Li Yuanchang turned around and wiped away her tears.

"Your Highness, don't move, your wound is bleeding." Although Situ Lan didn't shed tears, her gentle face was also pale, and she was extremely distressed.

Li Yuanchang had no choice but to continue lying down.

With her large pregnant belly and increasingly voluptuous figure, Chi Lian said, "Your Highness, why don't you resign and we return to Liangzhou?"

"Serving the emperor is like serving a tiger; Chang'an is not safe."

"Yes," Cui Wanqing said, her brows furrowed as she carefully handed over the medicine.

Li Yuanchang grinned: "It's not that easy."

"Don't worry, it's alright. Although I appeared to be beaten, I have actually escaped danger."

Situ Lan laughed in exasperation: "Your Highness, do you want to look at your backside? You've escaped danger."

"Please don't be so impulsive in the future."

Li Yuanchang found it difficult to explain the intrigues and political struggles within the court to them, so he could only say, "Yes, yes, ladies, rest assured, I will be even more careful in the future."

Hearing this, the women felt a little relieved and worked together to clean Li Yuanchang's wounds, apply medicine, and change his clothes.

As soon as things ended at the Han Prince's Mansion, the white-haired old man Fang arrived, leaning on his cane.

"Your Highness, Lord Fang has come to visit you."

Li Yuanchang's eyes lit up.

"Please come in quickly."

"yes!"

Situ Lan and the ladies left one after another.

Before long, Fang Xuanling was led into the room.

"King of Han".

"Fang Gong".

"King Han, no, no, no, you should lie down." Fang Xuanling quickly stopped him.

Li Yuanchang twitched a few times, wincing in pain. This wound wasn't as severe as a knife or arrow wound, but he was still unable to move.

"Master Fang, thank you for your trouble, it's really kind of you to make this special trip."

Fang Xuanling sat on the edge of the bed, put down his robe, and said with a wry smile, "Your Highness, you flatter me."

"How are you feeling?"

Li Yuanchang grinned: "It's alright, he won't die."

Fang Xuanling chuckled, then sighed. Clearly, at his level, there was nothing he couldn't understand.

He clearly saw the current situation in the court, including the motives, the process, and the outcome.

It was precisely because he understood it so well that he didn't know what to say.

"Lord Fang, what happened after I was expelled?" Li Yuanchang asked directly.

Fang Xuanling made no attempt to hide it; he dared to come and visit, and had no intention of concealing it.

"After His Highness and the King of Wu were expelled, His Majesty summoned a group of great calligraphers, including Chu Suiliang, to verify the blood oath written in their pledge."

"Most people believe that the handwriting is nine-tenths similar to that of the King of Wu."

Upon hearing this, Li Yuanchang's heart sank to the bottom, and his face changed color.

Fang Xuanling then added, "However, the ink used for the blood oath is incorrect. Based on our deductions, Chu Suiliang believes it was made with new ink and paper, and was no more than a month old."

"This doesn't match the timing of King Qi's rebellion, so His Majesty ultimately did not convict King Wu."

"Furthermore, we have already sent people to Qizhou to demand an explanation!"

Hearing this, Li Yuanchang breathed a sigh of relief, wiped his sweat, and was speechless. "Master Fang, why don't you just finish what you said in one go!"

"What about Anju?"

"His Majesty also sent people, but they were not court officials, but two eunuchs from the Inner Palace Secretariat."

Li Yuanchang nodded.

The Inner Palace Secretariat was no less important than any other department of the previous dynasty. The eunuchs served Li Shimin without any bias, which shows that Li Shimin listened to their advice.

We must neither favor the civil service nor fail to investigate thoroughly.

From this perspective, the probability of Anzhou being tampered with is very low, since the blood oath as a pledge is no longer valid.

Fang Xuanling, looking old and frail, said, "Judging from the current situation, I think that the King of Wu has been framed, and his problem is not serious."

Li Yuanchang raised an eyebrow, sensing the unspoken meaning.

"Does Lord Fang think that I, the King, have a bigger problem?"

Fang Xuanling smiled wryly, feeling somewhat troubled. On one side was the emperor he was loyal to, on the other was his longtime comrade-in-arms Changsun Wuji, and on yet another side was his close friend and mutual acquaintance Li Yuanchang.

"If you, Lord Fang, are caught in the middle and in a difficult position, then there's no need to say anything, it's alright." Li Yuanchang saw his predicament and showed great generosity.