My Great Tang: How Dare Li Er Lay a Finger on It?

No System, no transmigration, no rebirth.

In the ninth year of Wude, Chang'an was drenched in blood beneath the moon. Crown Prince Li Jiancheng caressed the neck of his new beauty as he listened to Wei Zheng report on the disturbances at Xuanwu Gate. He smiled.

That night, Xuanwu Gate did not welcome the master it was destined to receive. Li Shimin's armor was stained with the blood of his own son, and iron chains bound him before the Taiji Palace as he watched his elder brother ascend the throne. The new emperor changed the era name to "Jingzhe." Spring thunder boomed, and all the insects cowered in terror.

Thus began the Tang dynasty under the rule of a mad genius. Li Jiancheng loved beautiful women and discarded them once he had his fill; he was a capable ruler with an iron fist; his temperament was unpredictable, his cruelty at the whim of the moment. He could conscript a million laborers to build a tower reaching the heavens, then, on a sudden whim, use the women of his harem as living pieces in a game of strategy. He changed era names as easily as he changed robes: "Tiangong" ushered in grand construction projects, "Taotie" saw him plunder the riches of the realm, and "Yongye" brought black paint to the palace walls.

The court officials cowered in fear, while enemy states on the frontier trembled beneath the iron hooves of his armies. Li Shimin was paraded around the country in an iron cage, watching his Tang dynasty be reshaped into a grotesque world he no longer recognized. And the emperor on the dragon throne marched toward utter loneliness amid the heights of absolute power.

This is not the Tang dynasty you know. It is the golden age of a madman, the paradise of a tyrant, the cage of a genius. My Tang dynasty will not be tainted by Li Er!