After having breakfast, everyone took the elevator again to the Faculty of Humanities on the 12th floor.
Instead of a smart computer, the Faculty of Humanities’s course selection center had a piece of rice paper with a schedule of classes written on it. The previous <Poetry Maze> course, they used a brush to select the course, and Yue Xingwen skillfully picked up the brush and drew a circle on the course <Dreaming Back to the Great Tang Dynasty> written on rice paper.
Sure enough, a familiar prompt popped up in front of them——
[Compulsory Course: The Great Tang of the Century]
[Faculty: Faculty of Humanities]
[Credit: 4]
[Examination Room Rules: The maximum number of people in the examination room is 12 (excluding X-team members)]
[Course Description: The Tang Dynasty in 618 ~ 907 AD was one of the dynasties with the longest unification time and the strongest national strength in feudal history, with a total of 21 Emperors]
[Exam Requirements: Complete the specified tasks according to the prompts and return history to the right track]
[Note: It is recommended to have teammates who have know more about the history of the Tang Dynasty]
Yue Xingwen turned his head to look at his teammates. “Complete the specified tasks according to the prompts, this time it’s actually a task-based class? It’s different from the puzzle solving, maze and escape we’ve encountered before.”
Ke Shaobin adjusted his glasses and analyzed carefully. “It’s a bit like the serial plot quests of online games, we may encounter a lot of NPCs, complete the tasks released by the NPCs, and complete the main story to pass the course.”
Qin Lu looked at her sister and said, “The exam requires ‘return history to the right track’, which means that there may be events that interfere with the course of history during the exam that we need to resolve?”
Qin Miao nodded. “En. I also understand it this way.”
The countdown prompt of ‘the exam is about to start’ popped up in front of him, and Yue Xingwen hurried up and said, “After traveling back to the Tang Dynasty, the chat channel of the Research Group is likely to be disabled, and the 12 of us may not be together.”
Everyone nodded and expressed their understanding.
Ke Shaobin said with a bitter face, “Can my Xiao Tu still be used in the Tang Dynasty? I’ll be treated like a monster if it pops up and sings ‘Find a Teammate’ song.”
Jiang Pingce said calmly, “Since we return to the Tang Dynasty, many modern tools and skills are likely to be banned, so everyone must be prepared for the worst.”
Yue Xingwen thought about it carefully and said, “In this way, if we scatter around, when the time comes, we will go to the largest restaurant in the city where we are currently located.”
As soon as the words fell, a familiar mechanical voice sounded in their ears: “The examination of <Dreaming Back to the Great Tang Dynasty> of the Research Group 183 is about to start, please get ready. Countdown 5, 4…”
The next moment, the scene in front of them suddenly changed——
Yue Xingwen came to an ancient courtyard with pavilions, which was very elegant.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
There was not even anyone around, Yue Xingwen looked down and found that he was wearing a strange light green costume, with his long hair tied up in a bun and tied up in a black official hat. He didn’t know his identity and couldn’t find his teammates, so he had to stretch out his right hand first to see if his skills were still there.
Among them, <Modern Writers’ Classic Anthology> could not be summoned at all, apparently because the anthologies were all written in later times, and characters like Zhu Ziqing and Lu Xun simply did not exist in the Tang Dynasty period.
However, the <Modern Idiom Dictionary> and <Book of Songs> could be used.
It was just that the skills of the <Book of Songs> drawn by Yue Xingwen were all related to falling in love, and could not be used at the moment. However, the idiom skills, such as ‘Golden Cicada Shell’ and ‘Fast as Lightning’, were all life-saving at critical moments, which made Yue Xingwen feel a little more confident.
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Where would Pingce be?
The exam had begun, what exactly was the task?
Yue Xingwen only felt confused.
At this moment, a few lines of obvious character hints flashed out of the transparent hover box in front of him——
[The plot task has been started.
Time: 6th lunar month of 626.
Location: East Palace.
Plot Characters: Li Jiancheng, Li Yuanji.
Your identity at this time is: Crown Prince Li Jiancheng’s guard officer Wang Die.]
Yue Xingwen was stunned and carefully read these simple lines.
He was not familiar with the character of Wang Die, and he didn’t know what he did, and he didn’t know how the task should be carried out, let alone any explanation.
However, in May of the ninth year of Wude, he remembered this critical time node very clearly—— This was the day when the famous ‘Xuanwu Gate Incident’ in history took place!
Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji characters appeared in the plot, which further proved that it was a task related to the change in Xuanwu Gate.
Yue Xingwen took a deep breath and quickly calmed down.
There was no one around, so he turned around first and walked around, familiarizing himself with the environment of the yard. The road in this courtyard was tortuous and complicated. Yue Xingwen walked all the way and found that there were many guards in the courtyard, and these guards obviously recognized him and did not block his way.
It was almost dark, and Yue Xingwen was anxious, but on the surface, he pretended to be calm.
He kept walking until he was near the backyard when he stopped.
The backyard was filled with women, and the Crown Prince’s wives and concubines were here, so it was not good for him to intrude. Perhaps, the four girls in the team were arranged to stay at the East Palace as maids or something like that? In such an important place as the East Palace, it stood to reason that he shouldn’t be alone. However, Yue Xingwen couldn’t get into the backyard now, and he couldn’t join his teammates.
According to the prior agreement, he could meet his teammates at the largest restaurant in the city, but the East Palace was full of guards, and it was not convenient for him to go out now, so it was better to sneak out late at night. If any of his teammates were also at the East Palace, why didn’t he leave a mark here first?
Seeing that there was no one around, Yue Xingwen quickly went to the corner and picked up a branch. He just wanted to leave a mark on the wall, but he saw that there were two words written on the wall that were very shallow, ‘Lu Miao’.
It was Qin Lu and Qin Miao.
It seemed that Qin Lu and Qin Miao were together, and their identities were most likely the maids of the Crown Princess of the East Palace, and the two of them couldn’t reach the front yard, so they were the first to come to this junction and leave a mark.
Yue Xingwen wrote the word ‘2nd earthly branch’ on the back and covered it with leaves.
At the 2nd earthly branch, which was 1~3 am, it was convenient for them to meet in the dead of night.
After doing all this, he hurried back to his original courtyard.
It was completely dark, the lanterns lit in the courtyard were very dim, Yue Xingwen wanted to find a chance to sneak out and at this moment, someone suddenly walked in from the gate, and the guards at the door immediately respectfully got out of the way. Yue Xingwen heard the people around him shouting ‘Your Highness’ from a distance.
This person was Li Jiancheng?
Yue Xingwen’s eyes lit up and he immediately remembered this key historical figure.
His current identity was just a low ranking official in the Crown Prince’s residence, of course, not qualified to go to close contact with His Royal Highness. Yue Xingwen didn’t dare to mess around, and watched the Crown Prince return to his room.
After a while, another person strode into the gate with his head held high, and the person who could enter the prince’s residence in such an open and honest manner, needless to say, must be Li Yuanji, the Prince of Qi, who had a close relationship with Li Jiancheng.
Soon, the light in the study was on, and the two sat together, seemingly discussing something.
Yue Xingwen thought about it for a moment and decided to go forward and listen, in case he was discovered, he also had the skills to save his life.
In the dark, Yue Xingwen directly used ‘Fast as Lightning’ skill acceleration, and the surrounding guards only felt a gust of wind blowing from the side. Yue Xingwen sneaked to the back of the study in just a few seconds.
He put his ear close to the door, and sure enough, he heard a conversation coming from inside——
A low voice said, “The Tujue is spying on the borders of the Tang Dynasty and want to take advantage of the opportunity to make a surprise attack. Today, Father Emperor has promised you to lead the army, you have been given tens of thousands of brave soldiers under the command of the Prince of Qin, and there are tens of thousands of mercenaries. I also have 3,000 Changlin soldiers under my command, so it will be easy to deal with Li Shimin.”
Another male voice laughed loudly, “Imperial Brother is right, General Yuchi and Qin Shubao from the Prince of Qin’s mansion have become my subordinates, and they will be accompanying me on my expedition in a few days.”
Li Jiancheng said, “General Yuchi Gong and the others, since they have fallen into your hands, you will take the opportunity of going on the expedition to take them all…”
Li Yuanji smiled and said, “Imperial Brother, don’t worry, I know what to do.”
The voice was deliberately lowered, and Yue Xingwen did not hear it clearly outside the door. But if he thought about it, he also knew that Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji wanted to take the opportunity of ‘leading the troops to the battlefield’’ to kill Li Shimin’s best generals and weaken Li Shimin’s power.
Yue Xingwen frowned and continued to listen——
Li Jiancheng said, “Before you set out on the expedition, I will ask the Prince of Qin to make a trip for you in Kunming Lake, and at that time, arrange for the soldiers to stab him to death in the tent, and then report to Father Emperor, saying that he died of a violent illness.”
Li Yuanji said, “As long as he dies, Father Emperor will definitely hand over the title to the Imperial Brother.”
There were whispers coming from inside the room, and Yue Xingwen didn’t hear the specific arrangement.
After a while, Li Yuanji came out of the study, coughed lightly and the guards who came with him immediately escorted him away, and Li Jiancheng turned around and went back to the backyard. Both of them looked calm, as if they were brothers gossiping about their families and nothing happened.
The bright moon hung high, and this night would be a turning point in the history of the Tang Dynasty.
If Li Shimin fell to grasp the news, the conspiracy of Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji was very likely to succeed, and the wheel of history would go off track. It was only at this moment that Yue Xingwen understood the meaning of ‘return history to the right track’ in the course exam.
In this course, 12 of them would play a variety of historical figures to drive the plot forward. They must ensure that history proceeded in its original direction and did not deviate from the trajectory.
Something must never happen to Li Shimin!
Yue Xingwen no longer hesitated, using the ‘Fast as Lightning’ skill to come directly to the corner of the backyard.
Sure enough, there were two girls dressed as maids waiting for him in the corner, both of them had long hair and looked exactly the same, it was none other than the sisters, Qin Lu and Qin Miao.
When Qin Lu saw Xingwen, he was obviously a little excited, and asked in a low voice, “Xingwen, the mark was actually left by you! What is your identity?”
Yue Xingwen said in a low voice, “This is not the place to talk, I’ll take you out first.”
A soft light suddenly appeared in the palm of his right hand, and he softly recited the idiom ‘Golden Cicada Shell’ and the next moment, the three of them teleported outside the East Palace.
When Yue Xingwen saw no one around, he said, “The identity assigned to me by the library is Wang Die.”
Qin Miao’s eyes widened in surprise. “Wang Die? An undercover agent arranged by Li Shimin in the Eastern Palace?”
Yue Xingwen nodded. “En. I just heard a conversation between Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji, and they plan to find someone to act as Li Yuanji at Kunming Lake, and assassinate Li Shimin there.”
Qin Miao frowned, and said calmly, “In the nine years of Wude, on the first day of June, there are only a few days left before the Xuanwu Gate Incident, we have to hurry up and tell Li Shimin the news.”
Qin Lu said helplessly, “If the news can’t be delivered smoothly, the Xuanwu Gate Incident won’t happen?”
Qin Miao said, “The process of history is all linked to each other, and no mistake can be made in each link. At this time, although Li Shimin and Li Jiancheng have many contradictions, they have not really turned against each other. After knowing that Li Jiancheng was going to assassinate him and trap his subordinates, he made up his mind to turn his passivity into initiative.”
The event that triggered his determination was this conspiracy between Li Jiancheng and Li Yuanji.
Yue Xingwen didn’t expect that the library would arrange such an important task for him. Although Wang Die was just a nobody in history, in the story of the Xuanwu Gate Incident, this small character could be regarded as the real fuse, which completely ignited Li Shimin’s anger.
The problem now was… How was he going to meet Li Shimin?
Ooooh drama. Gotta love palace intrigue. Thanks for the chapter!
History is a great subject
Thank you for your translation 💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚
Ohhh this is far more interesting, our Xingwen seems to be an undercover agent. So everyone will be very minor characters of history I’m assuming, especially since it’s also based off of real life events. Very cool.