Chapter 43: Standing on the Imperial Throne, the Great Hammer

  In the end of 623, Fu Gongyi, who had once rebelled with Du Fuwei, secretly plotted to revolt! Li Yuanji, as the commander-in-chief of Huainan, treated his subordinates like slaves, and almost caused a mutiny in Huainan by killing several generals under the name of martial arts competition! With the help of Li Jiancheng, he suppressed the dissatisfaction of the Huainan generals with slaughter! Du Fuwei persuaded the generals with his former prestige, but Fu Gongyi, who had been brothers with him before, despised Li Yuanji and believed that the Li family was using Li Yuanji to eliminate the old forces in Huainan in order to thoroughly control Huainan! They would die sooner or later...

  Du Fuwei's words convinced the Huainan generals, making Li Yuan and others very wary, as Du Fuwei's prestige was too high! After Du Fuwei left, Fu Gongyi pretended to follow Du Fuwei's orders and incited the Huainan generals to finally drive out the Tang army guards who were desperately protecting the seriously injured Li Yuanji from Huainan in mid-month.

  Li Yuan didn't know the inside story of the rebellion in Huainan, but after Du Fuwei left and came back once, he rebelled. Doesn't this clearly show that Du Fuwei was inciting him?! Considering himself as the emperor and also Li Yuan's father, Li Yuan ordered to capture Du Fuwei at Li Yuan's residence, regardless of life or death, and confiscate his wife and children!

  Who will accept such an order? This is a difficult problem! The civil and military officials below are looking at each other, no one dares to take the lead!

  "Huh? Is no one daring to take the order to capture Dou Jiawei?! Who is volunteering?! Must I personally name him or lead the troops myself to capture the rebel?!"" With these words, Li Yuan basically condemned Dou Jiawei as a rebel, upholding justice!

  "Your Majesty, I request your permission to capture the rebel Dou Fuwei!" The loud and clear voice came from King Qin Li Shimin!

  Li Shimin, who had been asked to take the lead by Li Yuan, said to his subordinates who opposed him: "Actually, I have thought this through! This time I am standing on the side of justice, no matter whether it succeeds or not, I will only have benefits and no harm! If my third brother did not stop us from capturing Du Fuwei, I would have made a great achievement, and he would be ridiculed by the world; if he intervened, I would immediately return to the palace to apologize, and Father Emperor would not blame me, but would scold him instead! And the people of the world would also disrespect him for using military force to protect the rebels. That's why I volunteered to take the lead!" His subordinates all agreed with him, and Li Shimin, full of energy and momentum, waved his hand: "All generals and soldiers, follow my orders, let's capture the rebel Du Fuwei together! Anyone who dares to resist will be executed on the spot!"

  But Li Shimin had just left the house with his men when he was blocked at his own gate by Li Yuanba, who rushed over in a frenzy! Without saying a word, Li Yuanba put down his big hammer, went forward and broke both of Li Shimin's legs, kicked him in the ribs, and let him faint into the arms of the following soldiers! That fierce god didn't even look back as he rushed straight to the imperial palace!

  Now Li Yuanba can be said to have a wealth of talent at his disposal, with Li Daoxuan and others using Li Yuanba's name to freely recruit followers across the land, allowing Li Yuanba to know any information he wants without even leaving his door. On the other hand, news unfavorable to Li Yuanba is also reported to him by someone! After Li Shimin received the imperial edict, there were already his informants in the palace, and when Li Yuan was going to send someone to kill his own father-in-law, he didn't even bother to notify Li Yuanba in advance! While all the civil and military officials in the court did not dare to accept the edict, only his good second brother dared to take the lead!

  Du Fuwei also heard the news, and with his wife and Du Qing, he knelt down to his son-in-law: "Yuan Bao, my only daughter married you. After Ling Yue's death, I was disheartened and abandoned the great power I had established over the years to retire here. Have I ever complained about your Li family? How did your brother treat my former subordinates? Did I say a word about your Li family? I personally returned to Huainan to persuade my former subordinates, all in plain sight, and after calming down, I hurried back without stopping to avoid suspicion. Can I have met with the rebellious brother in private? Now that the emperor wants to kill me, I didn't think of resisting, but my wife and children will also be implicated. I really don't want this! I brought them here now just to ask you to spare my wife and children on account of Ling Yue. I am willing to surrender and accept your Li family's punishment!"

  Li Yuanba was at a loss, trying to help his father-in-law and mother-in-law, Du Qing, get up. His mother-in-law, Shan Yunying, had been holding in her resentment for a long time and suddenly burst out, not waiting for Li Yuanba to help her, she stood up by herself and pointed at him, scolding: "You bunch of ungrateful dogs! My poor daughter has never complained since marrying into your family! At the wedding, I knew our Du family was doomed! Was my husband's power weaker than yours back then? Now you're accusing us of rebelling against you, isn't that a huge joke?! Your Li family is so powerful, how could you not protect my poor Lingyue?! Look at you, you're just a coward! You're supposed to be invincible and feared by all?! I think you're just a pitiful, sad, despicable, and pathetic weakling! Now that everyone can see you're just a thorn in the Li family's side, what use are you to them?! You were once invincible, but now you're nothing but a foolish insect being used by others! Husband, he can't even protect himself, how can we rely on him to protect us?! Let's go back to Huainan and stir up trouble for the Li family, even if it means death!"

  Du Qing gazed at Li Yuanba with tears in her eyes, not saying a word, only using force to repeatedly twist and pull the already shredded silk handkerchief.

  Shan Yunying's words were laced with a hint of uncontrollable true energy, and everyone in the entire mansion heard it clearly! Before they could even recover from this statement, a loud shout shook their eardrums!

  "Ah~~~~~~~~! Mother-in-law is right, but they are my family members, I have some ideas that I dare not think about! However, you can rest assured, whoever dares to harm you, I won't let a single one go! You wait for a moment, I'll be back!"

  Everyone says to follow one's heart and be decisive! But who can bear the guilt of killing one's father and brother? Although it is said that this struggle for the throne is full of such things, if Li Yuanba is not pushed to a certain point, he would not even dare to think about it! Although he wants to kill Li Shimin on the throne, why did Li Yuanba give Li Shimin so much time? There is still a glimmer of hope in his subconscious, but it seems that this hope is very slim... Killing one's father and brother is not as simple as imagined!

  Li Yuanba suppressed his anger and killed Li Shimin, knocking him unconscious and rushing to the imperial palace! From a distance, he saw the iconic large hammer, the guards at the gate of the imperial palace and the patrolling soldiers. They all made way for him at the fastest speed, and those who failed to react in time were crushed into pieces!

  Li Yuan and the ministers waited in the great hall for news of Li Shimin, while the lower-ranking officials below them discussed and speculated, forming a wave of unease, suspicion, and congratulations that constantly pounded against the ears of those present, each person's heart racing violently in this oppressive atmosphere!

  Li Yuan was tormented by anxiety, remorse and unease, but still used all his might to suppress his expression, making him appear calm as if waiting for something.

  Anxious, Li Yuan urgently wanted to kill Du Fuwei quickly! Regretful, it was really wrong to let his favorite son go and kill Du Fuwei! What's unsettling is Sanzi's reaction!

  Li Yuanba sprinted to the main gate of the grand hall, and with a loud crash, the gate behind him shattered into pieces. The majestic hall in his line of sight, standing across the vast square, made Li Yuanba want to smash it all the way to hell!

  Recovering from his frenzied emotions, Li Yuanba raised his massive hammer...

  Du Fuwei's hair was a few decades older, with strands hanging down to his shoulders. His depressed tone gave people a sense of twilight: "Yunying, your words are too much..."

  Yunying remained silent for a moment, then said with a hint of regret: "I just can't stand the way the Li family does things! It's said that being with a king is like being with a tiger - are all emperors this selfish and heartless? Why can't they even tolerate their own flesh and blood?"

  "Ah! I initially rebelled out of desperation! But when my power grew and I couldn't even let my own daughter marry the person she liked, I realized the horror of power! At that time, I thought that if my power grew to the point where I could ignore everything, I would be able to let my daughter find her own happiness! When this child came back strong, I knew that when my power reached that point, my daughter's happiness had already been lost! Human desires are endless, and if I became emperor, when I discovered a completely uncontrollable force beside me, no matter what it was, I would try to eliminate it. If I couldn't eliminate it, I would think of every way to keep this force far away from my own power until it felt nothing, only then would I be at ease! They say that tigers don't eat their own cubs, but this isn't absolute, especially for those in high positions..."

  Du Qing raised her head anxiously and asked, "Father, do you think Yuan Ba would kill his own brother and father? This is a heinous crime that would anger both men and gods! If only Yuan Ba were born into an ordinary family..."

  Du Fuwei stroked the head of his current daughter and said, "Qing'er, even if he was born in an ordinary family, but his martial arts skills that made the world fear him would have destined his fate to be bumpy! A tiger doesn't harm people intentionally, but do people not have the heart to kill a tiger?"

  "This time, it's up to heaven whether I'll bear the guilt of patricide! If you don't die, I hope you can understand my determination!" Li Yuanba finished speaking, and his massive hammer flew out of his hand, smashing straight into the center of the great hall, charging horizontally!

  "Your Majesty, be careful!" The seemingly calm Li Yuan was suddenly pushed away from the throne by a eunuch beside him. A loud and piercing whistle accompanied the sound of the grand hall's main gate being violently broken open, filling everyone's ears in an instant!

  Everyone looked towards the throne, on which a large hammer was standing upright. Below it lay a eunuch's corpse with flesh and blood scattered all over! Li Yuan, who sat paralyzed beside the throne, his pale face and purple lips trembling, barely managed to utter three words: "Why...?"

  After saying these three words, the giant hammer suddenly pierced through half of the imperial seat and inserted into the ground for three feet! The purple giant hammer emitted the owner's impending madness, as if saying: "There won't be a next time..."