After transmigrating to the first year of the Zhenguan era, Li Chen became Li Yuan's most doted-on youngest son, Li Shimin's guilt-ridden full younger brother, and the Prince of Zhaowang Who Guards the Nation, ranking as the Tang heir apparent's younger brother!
The Retired Emperor fiercely protected him, the current emperor indulged him, and the civil and military officials at court only hoped this living ancestor would refrain from rebellion.
Li Chen had planned to lie flat at Furong Garden and enjoy life as a wealthy idler.
That was until one night, when disaster struck the Duke of Ying's residence. Wu Meiniang, only fourteen and covered in blood, climbed over the wall into Prince Zhaowang's estate. Kneeling, she offered him the salt and iron ledgers from Jiangnan and begged desperately for help:
"Meiniang is willing to serve as your slave. I beg Your Highness, the Ninth Prince, to shelter me and lend me a blade to kill the traitors!"
[Ding! The causal link between the Heaven's Chosen Empress and the rebellion against the Tang has been severed. The Great Tang's Destiny Furnace is now bound!]
[Wu Meiniang has developed affection and loyalty toward the Host. Her devouring of the Tang imperial fortune has been transformed into the fortune of a flourishing age!]
[Conversion rate: 1%. Reward: modern blast furnace ironmaking technology and ten thousand dan of high-yield sweet potatoes!]
[Conversion rate: 10%. Reward: complete blueprints for the Divine Arm repeating crossbow and a penicillin purification method!]
Looking at the stubborn, bedraggled little black lotus before him, Li Chen pulled her into his arms. "Why become a slave just to kill a few petty villains? From this day on, I grant you command over all the wealth in the land."
After that, the Great Tang went completely mad.
The Five Surnames and Seven Great Clans tried to force the emperor's hand with a grain crisis. Wu Meiniang struck back with ten million dan of divine grain, smashing a thousand-year-old clan system to pieces;
When Jieli Khan of the Turks reached the Wei River, three thousand heavily armored Tang crossbowmen taught the barbarians a lesson in an instant!
Li Shimin stood outside the prince's estate every day, begging to see him. "Nineteenth Brother, I'm begging you as your elder brother. Please show your sister-in-law a little more affection tonight. I still haven't seized that Turkic territory!"
And the future empress, famed throughout the ages, rested her head on Li Chen's lap, her eyes reddening at the corners. "What do imperial power and the realm have to do with me? In every life, Meiniang will wield a blade for you alone, Your Highness."
