“You want to make Prince Wei crown prince, so you let him move into Wude Hall!”
“You want him to become Li Shimin as he was nineteen years ago.
But I don’t want to become Li Jiancheng as he was nineteen years ago!”
“You ask me why I rebelled?”
“In the ninth year of Wude, the late Emperor Gaozu asked you the very same thing: why did you rebel?”
In the seventeenth year of the Zhenguan era, the crown prince Li Chengqian’s rebellion is exposed.
The court waits for the crown prince to be deposed. Hou Junji waits to be executed. Prince Wei, Li Tai, waits to take over the Eastern Palace.
But Li Chengqian clutches Empress Zhangsun’s memorial tablet and, dressed in the crown prince’s ceremonial robes bestowed by Emperor Gaozu, kneels in the Taiji Hall.
“I’m going to Mother and tell her what you’ve done.”
With that, he smashes his head against a pillar beside him. Blood gushes from his head, and he passes out.
Good, good, good, good, good