I Can Control My Ancestors

Chapter 536 - 52: Sudden Awakening, Father and Son (Part 2)

The two locked eyes, and the atmosphere in the Taiji Hall instantly plunged to freezing point.

——Li Chengqian’s gaze was inexplicably firm.

Though filled with fear of his father, the Emperor, he remained steadfast in his belief.

What was his fault?

It was precisely because he understood too well what his father wanted.

He was always firm on his own path.

In terms of national policy, he was much more radical compared to Li Shimin, but that was all.

As for killing those two people, so be it.

Is there a king without blood on his hands?

What fault does he have?

Li Shimin’s gaze shifted slightly as he looked at Li Chengqian before him, almost unable to believe that Chengqian still refused to submit.

Scenes from the past flashed rapidly before Li Shimin’s eyes.

The scene in front of him was so similar to the confrontation he had once had with Li Yuan!

Though their experiences differed, and their burdens were unlike,

the father-son confrontation was strikingly similar!

In an instant, Li Shimin’s body trembled uncontrollably. He stared hard at Li Chengqian, shouting in anger, "You think you’re not wrong?!"

"——Excessive extravagance, reckless minister-killing!"

"What is it?"

"Do you wish to become another Yang Guang?!"

Li Shimin trembled, clearly in a deep rage.

There was no helping it; the feeling Li Chengqian gave him was so much like the dictatorial Yang Guang.

Even though now it wasn’t evident,

wasn’t Yang Guang the same?

People are like this, ultimate imperial power can change so much.

"The hardest part is to maintain one’s original intention."

This phrase is not just words.

Even Li Shimin himself had changed somewhat over the years, not to mention Li Chengqian?

As an Emperor, Li Shimin couldn’t gamble, wouldn’t dare to gamble.

Because even the slightest accident could collapse everything he had built over a lifetime.

"Yang Guang?"

Li Chengqian never expected his father to compare him to a tyrant, struck like thunder, his face instantly turned pale. He stared blankly at the enthroned Li Shimin, his voice trembling with disbelief: "Father... actually compares your son to such a king of a defeated country?"

"Does Father truly believe that one day... your son will become such a dimwitted ruler?"

Li Shimin’s gaze was like a sharp blade, unyielding, and he sternly said, "Extravagant, despotic! How is this not like Yang Guang?!"

—— Needle against needle.

That’s how it was between the father and son now.

The affairs of Great Tang were incredibly weighty.

And Li Shimin was deeply resistant to the thought that his descendants might destroy it all, leading naturally to the current situation.

Silence;

Deathly silence!

Li Chengqian stared hard at Li Shimin, his body trembling uncontrollably.

The emblem of Yang Guang——

This was undeniably the most insulting evaluation of a Crown Prince in this current age.

And these words came from Li Shimin’s own mouth!

Li Chengqian knew very clearly, the moment Li Shimin said those words, his position as Crown Prince had come to an end.

Because it showed that Li Shimin entertained such thoughts.

No matter his anger afterwards, there was no way he could gamble on what the future might hold.

Countless thoughts surged through his mind.

Recalling everything he experienced over the years, his eyes instantly reddened.

Li Chengqian looked at Li Shimin like that, a faint, bitter smile tugging at his lips, his voice calm as a dead lake: "If Father says I have the air of Yang Guang...."

"Are you.... planning to depose the Crown Prince?"

Within the vast hall, these few words were like metal clanging to the ground, clear and resonant.

His tone was chillingly calm.

Only a pair of blazing red eyes betrayed a flood of grief and indignation.

Li Shimin also looked at this son, saying nothing, but the silence spoke volumes.

"Ha! Haha! Hahaha——"

Seeing his father silent, Li Chengqian burst into a long laugh as if liberated, with droplets of tears continuously rolling from his red eyes.

"Twenty-one years! A full twenty-one years!! "

"Your son... your son has borne the title of Crown Prince for twenty-one years already!!!"

He fixed his gaze on the throne, pent-up grievances and frustrations from years pouring out like a flood: "Since Mother’s passing and my lameness crippled me...."

"Father... did you even once look at your son properly?!"

"If not for the Grand General’s persistent protection back then, how could your merely titular Crown Prince’s position... have survived to this day?!"

"Your blessing of Prince Wei sparked the struggle between the Eastern Palace and the Wei Mansion, inciting unrest among the officials!"

"Helplessly, you appointed Duke Zheng to concurrently manage the Eastern Palace Chamberlain, hoping to quell the public’s murmurs."

"However—— did Father ever think of this!"

"How those Eastern Palace aides, officers of the Chamberlain’s Mansion, criticized your son?!"

"Constantly they chastised with ’lacking virtue’, ’improper conduct’!"

"Twenty-one years! A full twenty-one years!"

"Is that not enough to prove my virtue, unaffected in administering the country?!"

At his words, Li Shimin suddenly spoke, voice thunderous: "What I worry about is exactly this!!"

"Father worries wrongly!"

Li Chengqian almost instantly rebutted as Li Shimin finished speaking.

Even as he stood upright, silently watching Li Shimin: "The Emperor first values the merit of governance, not empty virtue!"

"Since ancient times, have those who became wise rulers all been Saints?"

Li Chengqian paused slightly, wiping away the lingering tears from the corners of his eyes, showing a peculiar sense of relief.

He silently gazed at the throne, emotion tumbling in his voice, hard to suppress: "Father... why do you favor Prince Wei so?"

At that moment, Li Shimin dared not meet his son’s gaze, instinctively turning his face away.