Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors

The arrow in the hand of Lord Qin had already left the bowstring, and with a whistling sound as it cleaved through the air, the large arrow entered from the back of the Crown Prince and pierced through his chest.

He fell from his horse, dead on impact.

For the Crown Prince, his death was both sudden and reasonable. Just like so many souls lost to Lord Qin's arrows, he was no different. In the face of the great arrow, his noble status as Crown Prince and elder brother bore no significance.

But for Lord Qin, the moment he personally killed his elder brother marked the removal of his greatest political rival. And yet, something had also irretrievably left him.

It is said that in his later years, Lord Qin once lamented, "In the year of my death, I was merely twenty-six."

Clearly, physically eliminating his opponent had never been Lord Qin's first choice. He had always tried to use various methods to elevate his own prestige, hoping that Emperor Gaozu of Liang would change his mind and make him Crown Prince instead.

If so, he wouldn't have had to demonstrate his resolve in such a place.

But that possibility had ultimately vanished.

What followed did not require much intervention from Li Hongyun, as the events largely unfolded according to the historical records.

Prince Qi was pursued by Yuchi Jingde and, in his panic, fell from his horse after being struck by a stray arrow. But upon fleeing into a small grove, he happened upon Lord Qin, who had been thrown to the ground by his startled horse.

Thus, Prince Qi snatched the bow from Lord Qin's hands, intending to strangle him with it, but Yuchi Jingde soon arrived on the scene. Prince Qi hastily released Lord Qin and attempted to flee toward Wude Hall, but Yuchi Jingde caught up on his fast horse and shot him dead.

At this point, the generals of the Eastern Palace had already led more than two thousand elite soldiers to attack Xuanwu Gate, but Zhang Gongjin alone, with his extraordinary strength, managed to hold the heavy palace gate for a long time.

The Xuanwu Gate guards, having decided to stand with Lord Qin, also joined the fray. Although two generals fell due to being vastly outnumbered, they managed to hold the situation.

Seeing the critical situation at Xuanwu Gate, and as the generals of the Eastern Palace began to clamor to change their attack to the unguarded Lord Qin Mansion, Yuchi Jingde suddenly arrived, tossing the heads of the Crown Prince and Prince Qi on the ground.

With that, the morale of the Eastern Palace's troops was utterly shattered, and they dispersed in all directions.

Yuchi Jingde then rushed to the Sea Pond, where he found Emperor Gaozu of Liang boating with his ministers...

However, upon seeing this, Li Hongyun suddenly felt that something was wrong.

"Wait a moment!"

Everything that had transpired seemed unproblematic; the details matched the historical records and were logically consistent.

The details of the Xuanwu Gate Incident were meticulously recorded in history, with Emperor Taizong instructing his ministers to "eliminate superfluous words and write down the facts as they were." Hence, even the details about how he was thrown off by the startled horse into the grove and was nearly strangled by Prince Qi with a bowstring were included.

Compared to the ambiguous deaths in history, Emperor Taizong granted both brothers the respect they deserved. He openly wrote the act of killing his brothers and committing fratricide in the historical texts.

But Li Hongyun still felt that something was missing.

If one were to analyze from the historical records, they might not notice it.

Because the records were succinct and highly condensed, focused mainly on Lord Qin, the Crown Prince, Yuchi Jingde, Prince Qi, and others, everything seemed tightly woven without any omissions.

But as the specific scenarios unfolded before Li Hongyun, this odd feeling gradually intensified.

From the images, it was clear to see that Lord Qin's men were all armored, while the Crown Prince and Prince Qi were not.

By their status, they were allowed to carry swords or bows and arrows into the imperial palace, but they were not permitted to wear armor.

Wearing armor was akin to an explicit declaration of rebellion.

Thus, the prepared Lord Qin wore armor, while the unprepared Crown Prince and Prince Qi did not.

From an aerial view, one could clearly see the structure of the entire imperial palace.

Entering from the northernmost point, Xuanwu Gate, lay the North Sea, West Sea, and South Sea—three man-made scenic ponds—followed to the south by Linhudian Hall.

Obviously, Linhudian Hall drew its name from its proximity to these three scenic ponds.

Passing Linhudian Hall to the southeast was Ganlu Palace. Southward beyond Ganlu Gate were Liangyi Palace and Taiji Palace, while to the east and then south from Ganlu Palace was the destination Prince Qi was trying to reach during his flight: Wude Hall.

In other words, the battle between Lord Qin and the Crown Prince and Prince Qi took place in a wide area surrounding Linhudian Hall.

And the Sea Pond was actually right beside Linhudian Hall, a necessary passageway for the Crown Prince and Prince Qi to enter.

It's even possible that before entering the palace, the Crown Prince and Prince Qi had seen the boating on the Sea Pond, unaware that their own father the Emperor and numerous ministers were aboard.

Therefore, analyzing the whole situation, the scene at the time must have been exceedingly clear.

Lord Qin, along with dozens of fully armored cavalry, lay in ambush around Linhudian Hall.

As the Crown Prince and Prince Qi passed by the Sea Pond to Linhudian Hall, Emperor Gaozu and his ministers were boating on the Sea Pond.

Moreover, after killing the Crown Prince and Prince Qi, Yuchi Jingde went directly to see Emperor Gaozu, armored head to toe, spear in hand, and covered in blood. Yet, there is no historical record of him being stopped by the guards.

So, why did the Emperor not notice the fight between Lord Qin and the Crown Prince?

Even if the Emperor did not realize it when Xuanwu Gate had just been opened and Lord Qin had just entered, when dozens of armored cavalry audaciously laid their ambush near Linhudian Hall, could none of the palace guards have noticed?

Even if the guards didn't intervene, shouldn't they have reported to the Emperor? With such a major event unfolding, how could the Emperor still be leisurely boating?

Even when the Crown Prince and Prince Qi were killed, their screams echoing to the heavens, and the Eastern Palace's generals were already leading their men to Xuanwu Gate, Emperor Gaozu remained oblivious.

When Yuchi Jingde went to see the Emperor, he encountered no hindrances at all, as if the Emperor himself had no guards.

An absurd feeling emerged in Li Hongyun's mind. He paused the images and revisited the whole process from a bird's-eye view.

Emperor Gaozu inexplicably vanished from action. As an Emperor, he did nothing and received no news at all.

This was clearly unreasonable.

After all, at this point, he was still an Emperor with real power, not a figurehead who had been sidelined. Even if part of the palace was swayed by Lord Qin, there must have been many guards that were completely loyal to him.

Li Hongyun instantly realized what Chu Ge meant by "the only thing to pay attention to in the historical records is Emperor Gaozu."

Obviously, this was the key that the historians hardly dared to write about.