The zheng sniffed around Princess Xingxing, then slowly backed off and began to stroll leisurely among the crowd.
Li Jingyun even took out a piece of roasted mutton and fed it to the zheng. The zheng gobbled it up in one bite and nuzzled Li Jingyun's face affectionately, making her giggle.
The Zhenzhu Tong Simu and his entourage were stunned at the sight.
Could it be true that what was said at the banquet that day about the little princess being protected by the immortals?
This strange beast that ordinary people feared was so close to her? Was this the gap between people?
When it came before Emperor Li Shimin and his wife, the zheng even lowered its head in a gesture of submission.
After walking around, it came to Lu Dongzan. Lu Dongzan was so scared that his soul almost flew away. He looked around but couldn't find the exit. Panic-stricken, he could only climb up a pillar and stared intently at the zheng's movements.
If he were eaten, wouldn't Songtsen Gampo take over his position? This couldn't happen!
He let out a sigh of relief when he saw the zheng leave, but still didn't dare to come down.
Some people fled in a hurry, some huddled trembling under the tables, and some looked around for an exit.
The whole banquet was in chaos.
The zheng held its head high, looking energetic. Finally, it returned to the Zhenzhu Tong Simu. The Turks around the Zhenzhu Tong Simu had already run away. He wanted to find someone to shield him, but there was no one.
He could only keep backing away. Finally, he lost his balance and fell to the ground with a thud.
"What are you all doing? I'm the mastermind! If I die, you'll all be punished! Come and save me!" the Zhenzhu Tong Simu shouted in panic, but no one wanted to come near. They all tried to stay as far away as possible.
Li Shimin sighed inwardly. The once brave and resourceful Turkic general who feared neither life nor death had become such a coward in his old age.
Bullying the weak and fearing the strong, being greedy for life and afraid of death, he no longer showed any of his former bravery.
Li Shimin wondered what Jieli Khan of the Eastern Turks would think if he saw his old rival like this.
The zheng stepped closer and closer. The Zhenzhu Tong Simu wished he could grow wings and fly away. He even tried to grab a young eunuch to be his scapegoat, but fortunately, the eunuch was fast and managed to escape his grasp.
The eunuch even taunted him, "You're old!"
Finally, the Zhenzhu Tong Simu was cornered. He cried and howled helplessly, "Why do you have to kill me? Just because I killed a few more people when I was young? Aren't they the same? Who in this palace is really innocent? Aren't you a divine beast? Why can't you see this?"
"You massacred a whole city back then. Don't you remember what happened to the Eastern Turks? You abducted the women and killed all the men taller than the wheels of a cart. Countless people died," Chancellor Changsun Wuji reminded him.
These used to be the Zhenzhu Tong Simu's proud achievements, but now he shook his head desperately, wishing he could pin them on someone else.
The zheng opened its mouth and bit down on the Zhenzhu Tong Simu's head. Just as the Zhenzhu Tong Simu's vision went black and he knew he was going to die, the zheng suddenly disappeared.
Everyone was looking at him.
His subordinates rushed over and tried to help him up, but he shook them off angrily.
He slumped in the corner, gasping for breath. His heart was pounding so hard that it felt like it was about to burst out of his chest. His face was abnormally red. He scanned the faces of the Tang royal family one by one.
Each of them was looking at him with a half-smile, their eyes full of mockery.
He finally realized that he had been tricked by these people!
He supported himself against the wall and slowly stood up. "Your Majesty the Heavenly Khan! Such a disruption at the banquet. Shouldn't you give us an explanation?"
Lu Dongzan also climbed down from the pillar and stood beside the Zhenzhu Tong Simu. Their expressions were similar. If it weren't for their different costumes, people might mistake them for being from the same country.
Princess Xingxing walked out from behind the screen. "May I ask the envoys to explain? Abandoning the princess to save yourselves. Is this how the Turks act?"
"Yes, were all your words just to scare us?" Li Jingyun said.
"Your Highness, the situation was urgent. Moreover, we weren't sure if it was real. We didn't dare to approach easily," the Zhenzhu Tong Simu said righteously.
The door that had disappeared before was still there. It was pushed open from the outside, and a Taoist priest with an otherworldly air, wearing a floating white robe and looking ageless, walked in. "I, Taoist Gong Wenlin, greet you all. What you saw just now was an illusion created by me."
"So it was you, sneaking around and creating that zheng! You just wanted to make fun of us, didn't you?" Lu Dongzan pointed at Gong Wenlin's nose and cursed.
Li Shimin was annoyed. He gave Wang De a look.
Wang De screeched, "In the presence of His Majesty, how dare you be so rude and noisy? Be quiet!"
"Humph, Your Majesty, it was you who were rude first. You treated us like entertainers for your amusement! Shouldn't you apologize to us?" Sangbuza, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke up.
His body was still trembling involuntarily. He was the one who had been hiding under the table just now. He had even occupied that spot and refused to let anyone else share it with him.
"Actually, His Majesty was being merciful. He knew you had never seen such a wonderful illusion, so he invited you here to enjoy it! Who would have thought that you would turn the tables on us!" Changsun Wuji put down his chopsticks and started to retort.
Li Chengqian followed suit. "Why did you avoid the zheng? Isn't it because you have a guilty conscience? How can you say that we're amusing ourselves at your expense? If you had been calmer, things wouldn't have turned out like this."
With their words, the situation was completely reversed.
The Zhenzhu Tong Simu was so angry that his chest heaved. Looking at the Tang court officials, he wished he could bite them.
He seemed to hear Changsun Wuji shouting at him, "We just put on a show together. We just tricked you. What can you do about it?"
His heart was already beating fast, and now it felt like it was about to explode. His blood rushed to his head, and he felt dizzy. If it weren't for the fact that he had to lean against the wall and confront the Tang Dynasty to demand an explanation, he would have collapsed long ago.
Xu Jingzong was also at the banquet. He took a sip of wine to calm his nerves.
He didn't know that the zheng would appear. The other small officials with him didn't know either. He had the courage not to run away because he had observed Li Shimin's expression.
Everyone had done a few wrong things in their lives. Li Shimin had done even more, and he wasn't in a hurry to run. So why should he be?
He didn't look at Li Jingyun. She wasn't a good reference. Li Jingyun was only five years old. She hadn't even had the chance to learn how to do evil. Looking at what Li Jingyun had done, like building the library, inventing cement, and making sweaters, she should be worshipped.
Empress Changsun said in a deep voice, "If you envoys show such disrespect to our Tang Dynasty, then there's no need for us to continue this negotiation."
"Your Majesty the Empress, you can't say that!" Lu Dongzan was anxious. "We can't let the matter of the sweaters go like this!"
He was still waiting to finalize the sweater trade so that he could atone for his sins when he returned.
A dusty soldier rushed in. "Please forgive this humble general's crime. I have urgent news!"
After Li Shimin heard the news, he said something that was unacceptable to both the Tubo and the Turks. "Ten thousand Tubo soldiers were defeated by a thousand soldiers led by Niu Jinda. Over a thousand enemy heads were cut off. The Turks didn't provide any support. It is said that there was a heavy snowfall in the Turkic territory, and countless people froze to death in the snow."