Li Shimin smiled and extended his hand in agreement, saying, "Yes."
The next moment, Ersha grabbed Genghis Khan, who was standing next to Li Shimin, and asked, "You've been doing well lately, haven't you?"
Li Shimin: "..."
We all burst into laughter, and I exclaimed, "So all the emperors are here?"
Just then, a beautiful woman in palace attire stepped out of Li Shimin's carriage. She was voluptuous and charming, yet possessed a touch of authority in her eyes and brows. I asked curiously, "Brother Li, who is this?"
Li Shimin said, "Oh, this is Meiniang. You can just call her sister-in-law."
I waved to the beautiful woman and said, "Hello, sister-in-law."
The beautiful woman smiled slightly at me and curtsied, saying, "Greetings, Your Excellency the Prime Minister." My identity in the Tang Dynasty was that of the Prime Minister.
Li Shimin said, "Meiniang, you can just call him Xiaoqiang. You don't need to stand on ceremony anymore."
The beautiful woman in palace attire replied obediently, "Yes, Your Majesty."
Upon seeing the arrival of the women, Fatty Ying called out into the house, "Sister Liu, come out and greet them."
Empress Lü responded and came out. The two women met and found that both were radiant and outstanding in appearance, and had a very similar temperament. They immediately felt a connection, and Empress Lü took her hand and led her inside.
I murmured, "Meiniang? That name sounds so familiar. What's your surname, sister-in-law?"
Li Shimin said, "His surname is Wu."
Genghis Khan, standing to one side, exclaimed loudly, "Wu Meiniang? Could she be the Empress Wu Zetian of later generations?"
Li Shimin said nervously, "Brother Khan, please be quiet." He then lowered his voice and said to me, "It is her. I am terrified that my Tang Dynasty will suffer the same fate as before, so now I have to take her with me wherever I go, and I dare not be separated from her!"
Genghis Khan said, "Brother Li, I'm not trying to be mean, but your wife is much more troublesome than Liu Bang's. Although Liu Bang's wife wasn't exactly easy to deal with, at least she knew what was going on inside and outside the home. But your wife is different; she's taken on all the responsibilities herself."
Qin Shi Huang hurriedly said, "Say it! Say it!"
Li Shimin sighed, "Brother Khan is right. But what can I do? I'm reluctant to kill her, and besides, Meiniang may not even be thinking about changing the dynasty now. Even if I wanted to kill her, I wouldn't have a legitimate reason!"
At this moment, a person emerged from the house and said in a low voice, "Aren't Xu Da and Chang Yuchun on my side the same?" It was Zhu Yuanzhang.
A man emerged from the other side and said, "Do you really have to kill them? Why don't you learn from my strategy of releasing military power over a cup of wine? What do you say, Xiao Qiang?" It was Zhao Kuangyin.
I hurriedly said, "Everyone, we'll discuss this separately later." I hadn't had a chance to tell them that they would be leaving the Heavenly Dao three months later, and I couldn't explain it clearly in such a rush.
All the emperors said, "Xiao Qiang, bring out your son so we can see him."
I ran inside and took the child out without thinking. A group of old men gathered around, looked at him for a long time, and said one after another, "This child, apart from his unpleasant name, is much better than Xiaoqiang!"
Li Shimin picked me up and lifted me up, laughing, "Oh, with that physique, you're definitely got the makings of a general who will protect the country." I quickly bowed and said, "Thank you for your great kindness, Your Majesty."
Li Shimin asked blankly, "Why are you thanking me?"
Genghis Khan laughed and said, "A ruler's word is law. Haven't you already appointed this child as Protector-General?"
Li Shimin paused, then sighed, "Xiao Qiang is getting more and more cunning. We must be very careful when talking to him in the future."
I chuckled and said, "Brother Li, for someone of your status, bestowing the title of general on our first meeting is nothing, right? If it were truly a hereditary title for me, the prime minister, wouldn't my family be getting impatient? Don't you think so, Your Majesties?"
The emperors looked at each other and laughed, saying, "Xiao Qiang is putting us in a difficult position."
Zhao Kuangyin said, "What's so good about being a general? All that fighting and killing. I'd much rather this child be a peaceful prince in the future..." He had barely finished speaking when he realized his slip of the tongue, and the others were all looking at him with schadenfreude. I bowed to him and said, "Thank you for your great favor, Your Majesty!" In the blink of an eye, our family had gained another peaceful prince.
Genghis Khan asked cautiously, "I didn't say anything, did I?"
I said, "Brother, by the time this child grows up, you'll have countless plots of land. You gave me a day's worth of land back then, so your little nephew should have at least a month's worth, right?"
Genghis Khan shook his head and said, "No, no, I can't stand him circling my royal tent for another month. How about this, I have four sons, and now I will recognize this child as my fifth son. In addition to the prince's inherent title of ten thousand households, other rewards will increase according to military merits."
I rolled my eyes at him and said, "No way! You've got a good plan. You think my son will lead Tang and Song dynasty troops to fight for you?"
Zhu Yuanzhang took the small object and said, "Actually, what Brother Tie said is right. Having a godfather is better than anything else."
I said, "Who's going to recognize whom as their godfather?"
Zhu Yuanzhang exclaimed in astonishment, "What the hell? Am I supposed to recognize him as my godfather?" Everyone was thrilled and started poking me excitedly. Zhu Yuanzhang pointed at my nose and shouted, "If you dare say 'Thank you for your great favor, Your Majesty,' believe me, I'll slap you!" Everyone burst into laughter.
As we were chatting and laughing, Li Shimin suddenly winked at me and said, "Your in-laws have arrived."
I looked and saw Zhang Liang leading a little girl towards us. Although everyone present was an emperor or a Khan, Zhang Liang was a Han dynasty citizen, so he greeted them with the usual etiquette: "Greetings, Your Majesties."
Li Shimin said, half-jokingly and half-seriously, "Zifang, come work for me. Call Han Xin and Xiao He too, since they ended up..." Genghis Khan pulled him back. Li Shimin realized some jokes shouldn't be made lightly and quickly shut up. Zhang Liang just smiled silently. I looked down and saw the little girl he was leading had rosy cheeks and long, fluttering eyelashes. I squatted down and said, "Oh, isn't this my daughter-in-law?"
Before Zhang Liang could teach her, the little girl called out in her childish voice, "Hello, Uncle."
I exclaimed with delight, "So young and already knows how to speak?"
The little girl looked at the baby in my arms and asked, "Is this my little brother?"
I smiled broadly and said, "It's my younger brother. Oh, by the way, you should call me grandfather-in-law."
The young wife, inexplicably frightened by my strange uncle-like appearance, hid behind Zhang Liang and timidly asked, "Father, what is a father-in-law?"
Zhu Yuanzhang chuckled wickedly, "That's the kind of person you're talking about, Eunuch." He pointed to a eunuch in the corner of the courtyard. I was about to retort when I saw the eunuch and was stunned. It was Zhao Gao. I'd been so busy lately that I'd completely forgotten about him. I've always had a problem with this guy. First, because I'm close to Fatty and can't stand anyone jeopardizing his empire. Second, I really like Little Hu Hai. After spending a lot of time with him, I've discovered that while he's simple-minded, he's not stupid and has a good heart. Third, I despise these androgynous types. Like Liu Bang killing Han Xin, or Zhu Yuanzhang killing Xu Da, regardless of whether their subordinates were actually disloyal, it was still a matter between men. A eunuch like him just barged in, causing trouble for others without gaining any power himself. It's a classic case of harming others without benefiting himself. Zhao Gao's act of calling a deer a horse was particularly egregious.
I immediately put on a stern face and called out, "Zhao Gao, come here!"
When Zhao Gao heard me call him, he hurriedly came over with small, ingratiating steps, and asked with a fawning expression, "What are your orders, King Qi?"
The others were taken aback when they heard that the man was Zhao Gao, and their expressions turned serious.