Great Tang: I, Li Chengqian, Keep Powerful Ministers in Line

In my previous life, I, Li Chengqian, rebelled and was stripped of my title. I was exiled to Qianzhou, where I died.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back in the fifth year of the Zhenguan era, thirteen years old, with my leg still lame.

At court, everyone was waiting to see when I would be deposed.

My father is Li Shimin. Changsun Wuji is my maternal uncle, and the most powerful minister in the Tang Empire.

But they don’t know that this time, I have something in my hands

not a sword, but the law.

Changsun Wuji’s mansion exceeds the legal limit by five inches and three tenths. I impeach him in court.

Zhang Yungu is falsely accused and sentenced to execution. I kneel in the autumn rain until my court robes are soaked through.

They think I’m just a limping avenger,

but what I want is to change the Tang Empire from “the emperor has the final say” to “the law has the final say.”

Wei Zheng risks his life to remonstrate on my behalf. Ma Zhou writes for me. Zhang Yungu enforces the law for me. Cheng Chumo wields a blade for me.

Changsun Wuji says I must die.

Li Shimin says I’m the son who most resembles his heir.

Empress Changsun tells me not to let myself turn to stone.

This road is harder to walk than fighting for the throne.

Because what stands in my way isn’t just Changsun Wuji,

but the old rules of the entire Tang Empire, where “power outranks the law.”

Changsun Wuji has already written in his secret chamber: This boy must be eliminated.

And I’m sitting in the Eastern Palace, using the law in my hands to shatter his Chang’an, one statute at a time.

This time, I won’t run.

Su Shi will wait for me beneath the lamplight.

I’ll keep that lamp burning from the fifth year of Zhenguan all the way to the twenty-third.

From deposed crown prince to the lawmaker of the Tang Empire.