Just as Yunyi learned of her true origins, Li Yuan and his sons far away in Taiyuan also encountered a thorny matter. The Turkic forces, who had once suffered heavy losses at their hands, had relentlessly returned with renewed determination, besieging Mayi Commandery. Li Yuan ordered Gao Junya and Mayi Governor Wang Rengong to jointly resist them. Although their forces were not numerous, in Li Yuan’s view, as long as they followed the strategy he had established, if not driving back the Turkic forces, they could at least hold Mayi. Who would have thought that these two men would completely ignore his established tactics, arbitrarily changing the march route and battle formation, causing the army to suffer their first defeat since arriving in Taiyuan.

Seeing Gao Junya and Wang Rengong return to Jinyang with their broken and defeated troops, Li Yuan was furious. This battle could clearly have been won, but someone had to be clever and not follow his established plan, creating such a situation. Once this reached Yang Guang’s ears, he would surely not be forgiven. Though he was extremely angry, Gao Junya was after all someone Yang Guang had sent, so he dared not scold him too harshly. After saying a few words, he dismissed him.

Just as Li Yuan was alone brooding in anger, Liu Hongji was helped inside by someone. A few days ago, when Liu Hongji had left the residence on official business, he was suddenly attacked by assassins. Fortunately, his guards fought desperately to resist, allowing him to escape with his life, but he took an arrow to the abdomen and had been recuperating in the residence these past days. Afterward, everyone speculated that this assassination was the work of Wang Wei and his companion.

Seeing Liu Hongji enter, Li Yuan quickly rose to support him, “Sir, your wounds haven’t healed yet. Why have you gotten up?”

“Duke Li need not worry. I’m already mostly recovered.” Saying this, he continued, “I heard that in this battle with the Turkic forces, our army suffered a great defeat. Is this true?”

Mentioning this matter, Li Yuan sighed, “More than a great defeat – it was a catastrophic defeat. Many soldiers died or were wounded, and less than thirty percent returned. Since I began commanding troops, I’ve never suffered such a crushing defeat.” After a pause, he said, “Wang Rengong has always been timid and lacks decisiveness. It must have been Gao Junya acting cleverly on his own, deliberately changing the battle strategy I discussed with them. Had I known this would happen, I should have sent Shimin to accompany them. Now I don’t know how to resolve this situation.”

Liu Hongji shook his head, “It would be useless. Duke Li, you could prevent this once, but not the next time, or the time after that.”

Li Yuan asked in confusion, “What does Sir mean by this?”

“Does Duke Li truly believe that Gao Junya acted cleverly on his own, changing the battle strategy Duke Li had authorized, thus causing this great defeat?” Facing Liu Hongji’s inquiry, Li Yuan said, “Does Sir think otherwise?”

Liu Hongji didn’t directly answer his question, but instead said, “Does Duke Li believe that Wang and Gao truly wish to assist Duke Li in pacifying Taiyuan and resisting the Turkic forces?”

“Naturally not. They’re only compelled to comply due to imperial orders, or rather…” Li Yuan’s expression darkened as he slowly said, “They’re here to monitor me.”

Liu Hongji nodded, “Exactly. His Majesty both wants to use Duke Li and fears that once Duke Li has military power, he won’t be controllable. So he sent Wang and Gao to monitor Duke Li. But for Wang Wei and his companion, besides imperial orders, they also have personal grievances with Duke Li. So what they most want to see is not how Duke Li pacifies rebellions and drives back the Turkic forces, but Duke Li’s death!”

“I’m aware of this, but…” Halfway through his words, Li Yuan suddenly understood Liu Hongji’s intent and said in shock, “Sir’s meaning is that this time, Gao Junya deliberately lost the battle to harm me?”

Liu Hongji nodded, “Though I cannot be certain, there’s at least a seventy to eighty percent chance.”

Li Yuan heavily struck the table and said with hatred, “This Gao Junya is truly detestable! For the sake of personal grievances, he disregarded the lives of countless soldiers and common people. He deserves death!” After a pause, he suddenly shook his head, “No, that’s not right. If this battle was a great defeat, I would naturally face His Majesty’s punishment, but as the commanding general, he couldn’t escape responsibility either. These two have always been selfish – they shouldn’t use such a mutually destructive tactic.”

Liu Hongji smiled, “Duke Li is wrong. Neither of them will suffer any harm.”

His words puzzled Li Yuan, “What do you mean?”

“Duke Li must not forget that these two are His Majesty’s trusted confidants. One word from them is worth ten from Duke Li. For this great defeat, they will certainly push all responsibility onto Duke Li. If I’m not mistaken, before even returning to Taiyuan, Gao Junya had already sent a secret memorial to Jiangdu. By the time Duke Li’s memorial arrives, His Majesty will already have preconceived notions, and no matter how you explain, it will be useless.”

Li Yuan’s expression changed repeatedly. After a long while, he said dejectedly, “So this time, I’m doomed?”

“It appears so.” Saying this, he lowered his voice, “Actually, over these past few years, Duke Li has accumulated military strength and recruited capable people. You already have the ability to rise up. If His Majesty issues an edict demanding punishment this time, it would give Duke Li a legitimate excuse to rebel.”

Although Li Yuan had decided to rebel against Sui years ago, when truly approaching this moment, he still felt some trepidation in his heart. He sighed deeply, “I never imagined that while the Li family has been loyal for generations, in my hands, I would have to commit such treasonous acts. When I descend to the underworld in the future, I fear I’ll have no face to meet the Li family’s ancestors.”

“Duke Li is wrong. What you’re about to do is the virtuous act of saving the people of the realm from fire and water – something that will be praised for thousands of generations. The Li family ancestors will also be proud of Duke Li.”

Li Yuan smiled bitterly, “Whether honor or disgrace, having come to this point today, there’s no turning back. I can only continue forward and hope that the Li family ancestors can protect us.”

After this secret discussion, Li Yuan intensively prepared for the uprising. As he said, there was now no path of retreat – he could only stake everything on this one throw.

Just at this time, Yang Guang’s special envoy arrived in Taiyuan. Indeed, as Liu Hongji had predicted, Yang Guang’s edict only ordered the arrest of Li Yuan and Wang Rengong for punishment, while there was no word of blame for Wang Wei and Gao Junya.

When they learned that Li Yuan had been immediately dismissed from office and imprisoned in the commandery jail to await judgment, Wang Wei and Gao Junya drank in celebration. Gao Junya drained his cup of fine wine in one gulp and said with dancing eyebrows, “Everything happened exactly as Brother Wang predicted. Brother Wang’s divine calculations make you truly a godly person. Come, I toast you!”

After several cups of wine, Wang Wei’s fat, round face showed a few traces of red. In excellent spirits, he said, “I told Brother Gao long ago not to worry. As long as we push everything onto Li Yuan and send our memorial to Jiangdu first, there would definitely be no problems. But Brother Gao didn’t believe me at the time, as if I would harm you.”

Gao Junya felt somewhat uncomfortable being reminded of this and laughed awkwardly, “Such matters concern one’s life after all. It’s better to be cautious.”

After Wang Wei filled both their cups, he smiled, “Are you at ease now?”

“Of course I’m at ease!” Gao Junya said with a satisfied expression, “After being here so long, we’ve finally avenged our past grievances. It’s truly satisfying!”