Chapter 47: The Spoiler, A Stallion Giving Birth?

"This old fellow is acting quite well!" Upon hearing this, Li Shimin's eyes, hidden behind the strings of beads on his imperial crown, narrowed imperceptibly as he cursed inwardly. However, his face showed an expression as if his interest had been piqued, and he pursued, "Oh...? What kind of joyous occasion is it that has made the Duke of Lu lose his composure so completely as to laugh out loud in the imperial court?"

"Let Us hear it."

"Hehe..." Cheng咬金 (Cheng Yaojin) cracked his broad mouth, revealing a row of white teeth, as if genuinely embarrassed by a somewhat unspeakable excitement, and rumbled, "Your Majesty, actually... it's nothing about state affairs. I'm afraid telling it would dirty the ears of Your Majesty and all the lords."

"We told you to speak..." Li Shimin's tone was flat.

Cheng Yaojin rubbed his fan-like large hands, smiled sheepishly, and said, "Reporting to Your Majesty, it's actually... it's that peerless, magnificent steed, the Snow-Treading Wuzhui horse, that Your Majesty bestowed upon this old minister all those years ago... it gave birth to a foal yesterday!"

"Oh my goodness, it made this old Cheng so happy!"

"You have no idea, the little fellow is sleek and shiny, with four white hooves, looking just like a carbon copy of the Snow-Treading Wuzhui. I was so excited last night that I didn't close my eyes for a single wink!"

"And so, just now, while my mind was still picturing that little foal frolicking about, I wasn't paying attention for a moment and... hehehe..." As he spoke, he gestured with his hands, saliva practically flying, as if the newborn foal were right before his eyes.

"..."

The entire Taiji Hall plunged into an eerie silence.

All the officials, including the military generals who were still holding back their laughter, were petrified on the spot.

The Snow-Treading Wuzhui?

That legendary warhorse that shook the Western Regions?

That was clearly a... stallion in the prime of his life, radiating majestic vigor!

Which of the military generals in the imperial court didn't know this? After all, that old rascal Cheng had always dragged that horse out to show off to them!

The air seemed to freeze for a few breaths before being broken by a few very faint gasps of breath that people simply couldn't hold back.

Upon hearing this, Li Shimin rolled his eyes behind his imperial tassels, and a sense of sheer absurdity rushed straight to his head, almost causing him to faint on the spot!

This Cheng Zhijie! This utterly brazen old scoundrel!

How dare he stand in the Taiji Hall, before the entire civil and military court, and tell such a blatant lie with his eyes wide open! A stallion giving birth to a foal?

Trust him to come up with such a thing!

This was no longer a breach of court etiquette; it was sheer deception of the emperor!

A wave of fury instantly surged into Li Shimin's heart, but the very moment this anger flared up, another thought flashed through his mind like lightning, forcefully choking the reprimand that was about to escape his throat.

Li Shimin instantly understood the purpose of Cheng Yaojin's utterly absurd excuse.

Wasn't this the best way to thoroughly muddy the waters and turn the serious and tragic impeachment by Li Tai and his faction into a complete farce?

After all, since even a "stallion giving birth to a foal" had been dragged into this, who could possibly take the impeachment seriously anymore?

"This old fellow... he really did hit the mark by a fluke!" Li Shimin felt a mixture of exasperation and amusement in his heart. The tense, frozen lines on his face involuntarily relaxed a fraction, the corners of his mouth curving upward in the faintest of smiles, before he immediately resumed his majestic demeanor.

"Oh? The Snow-Treading Wuzhui has actually produced a fine foal?" Li Shimin cleared his throat, following Cheng Yaojin's lead, and said in a tone that sounded quite earnest yet was filled with amusement, "That truly is a joyous occasion worth celebrating!"

"The Snow-Treading Wuzhui is a magnificent steed chosen from a thousand!"

"The foal it sired must surely be no ordinary creature."

"Who knows, it might just be another dragon-steed capable of galloping a thousand miles a day!"

Hearing this, Cheng Yaojin's silly grin grew even wider, and he nodded repeatedly as if he had received the greatest praise in the world.

"Indeed, indeed! Your Majesty is wise, this old minister thought so too!"

However, no sooner had his voice trailed off than Li Shimin abruptly changed the subject, his tone turning severe: "However... Duke of Lu, for causing a disturbance in court etiquette before the throne and disrupting the imperial assembly, you have committed a grave crime of disrespect after all. If you are not punished, how can we uphold court discipline?"

The smile on Cheng Yaojin's face instantly froze, his heart skipping a beat as a sense of foreboding washed over him.

Sure enough, Li Shimin said leisurely, "Well then, considering that you had a reason and that it is your first offense, We will deal with you leniently."

"We sentence you to... present this newly acquired Snow-Treading Wuzhui foal to be raised in the imperial stables within the palace."

"Firstly, it will serve as your penance for breaching court etiquette."

"And secondly, it will prevent you from recalling this joyous occasion every time hereafter,"

"and once again failing to restrain your laughter in the imperial court, thus disrupting the court deliberations."

"How about it?" Li Shimin asked faintly, with a trace of unperceived mischievousness.

"What?!" Upon hearing this, Cheng Yaojin's eyes nearly popped out of his head!

His large face instantly turned a purplish-red, and he was so anxious he almost jumped up!

"Your Majesty, this must never be!" He raised his voice by an octave, carrying a hint of a cry, "This... this simply won't do, Your Majesty!"

"This old minister... this old minister only has that one darling of a Snow-Treading Wuzhui, which was personally bestowed upon me by Your Majesty's own golden words back then!"

"That is my lifeline!"

"And now... now that the heavens have finally opened their eyes and allowed this old Cheng to have a little one to bring joy to my knees... uh, no, to bring joy to the stables, and I haven't even had enough time to cherish it, how... how can Your Majesty bear to take it back?" Cheng Yaojin spoke with utmost urgency, his words tumbling out somewhat incoherently. But the moment the words left his mouth, he realized they were inappropriate. Still, he couldn't care less at this moment; his mind raced, and he immediately added, "Besides, Your Majesty, when you bestowed the Snow-Treading Wuzhui back then, you never said that in the future... um... if it had offspring, they would have to be sent back to the palace, did you?"

"A sovereign does not go back on his word, a sovereign does not go back on his word, Your Majesty!" Cheng Yaojin's face was red, his neck thick, saliva flying as he waved his arms and argued genuinely with the emperor.

His posture was as if Li Shimin were about to rob him of his family heirloom.

"Cheng Zhijie, you are too audacious!" Li Shimin feigned anger, slamming his imperial desk. "We are ordering you to present the horse as a punishment for your breach of etiquette!"

"How dare you bargain with Us?"

"And what was that about 'a sovereign does not go back on his word'?"

"We may not have said back then that the foal belonged to the palace."

"But today, ordering you to present the foal as a punishment—is that not an imperial decree?"

"Your Majesty! This punishment makes no sense!" Cheng Yaojin stiffened his neck, fully displaying his brazen nature as he retorted in a resonant voice, "The Snow-Treading Wuzhui is a stallion, how can a stallion give birth to a foal? This old minister was just blinded by joy and talking nonsense!"

"With Your Majesty's brilliant and penetrating insight, surely you can tell that this old Cheng was making it up?"

"You cannot take the nonsense I made up and treat it as an imperial decree to punish me!"

"Isn't... isn't this creating a miscarriage of justice? Your Majesty, you must investigate clearly!" Since things had come to this, he simply threw his trump card of the "stallion" on the table. Anyway, everyone knew it was nonsense, so he might as well break the jar and muddy the waters even further.

"Good grief, Cheng Yaojin!" Li Shimin was so angry that his mustache practically curled up. He pointed at Cheng Yaojin and scolded, "Can such treasonous nonsense as a stallion giving birth to a foal be spouted so casually in the imperial court?"

"And now you claim you were just making it up?"

"No, it seems punishing you by making you present the horse is too lenient. The crime of deceiving the emperor is increased by a grade!"