Wang Rengong had no idea about his concubine’s affair with Liu Wuzhou, and naturally had no intention of eliminating Liu Wuzhou. Everything was orchestrated to provoke Liu Wuzhou into killing Wang Rengong and launching a rebellion.

Afterwards, Liu Wenjing assumed a false identity to join Liu Wuzhou, inciting him to betray Li Yuan, declare himself king, and even ally with the Turks. Though Liu Wuzhou possessed some capability, he could never have imagined that Li Yuan would orchestrate such an elaborate scheme, so he harbored no suspicions whatsoever.

From beginning to end, Li Yuan had never intended to recruit Liu Wuzhou. His existence, though posing certain threats, allowed Li Yuan to legitimately conscript troops and lay the foundation for his future formal rebellion against the Sui. The disadvantages outweighed the advantages.

“Lord Li speaks too highly of me. Since I’ve decided to serve Lord Li, I will certainly exert all my efforts to strategize for him.” Speaking thus, he continued, “I have already contacted many men of insight in Jinyang. They should soon come to serve Lord Li.”

“Excellent!” Li Yuan nodded emphatically. “I will certainly spare no effort to pacify the chaos under Heaven and not disappoint the two Master Lius.”

As for Wang Wei and his companions, they fully expected that since they supported Li Yuan in this manner, he would certainly allocate some of the recruited soldiers to them. Who would have thought that after waiting for quite some time without news, they went to sound out Li Yuan, who merely said that those soldiers were still in training and would be allocated after some time.

The two men thought this reasonable and patiently waited for another period. However, what they received was news they could not accept – Li Yuan had actually assigned these twenty-thousand-plus soldiers to be commanded by Li Shimin, Zhangsun Shunde, and Liu Hongji respectively, while Wang Wei and Jinyang Palace Supervisor Peiji were put in charge of military provisions, responsible for ensuring the soldiers’ grain supplies. As for Gao Junya, he was dispatched to guard Gayang City – once Liu Wuzhou attacked, Gayang City where Gao Junya was stationed would bear the brunt.

Hearing this arrangement, Wang Wei’s fat face turned completely black, and Gao Junya’s expression was equally unsightly as he complained, “Has this Li Yuan gone mad? Having Li Shimin command troops is one thing, but both Zhangsun Shunde and Liu Hongji are criminals of the court – how can such men be allowed to command troops!”

Wang Wei gritted his teeth and said, “Not only is he not mad, he’s extremely shrewd – shrewd enough to completely fool us all.”

Gao Junya didn’t understand his meaning and asked, “Brother Wang, what do you mean by this?”

Wang Wei said coldly, “Don’t you understand? From the moment we began discussing how to deal with Liu Wuzhou, we stepped into Li Yuan’s trap – or perhaps even earlier. He first used us to achieve his goal of conscripting troops in advance, then kicked us aside, while we were too stupid to realize it!” Speaking with growing hatred, he slammed his fist heavily onto the hard table surface!

After Gao Junya connected his words with Li Yuan’s recent actions, he said in horror, “Could it be… Li Yuan truly intends to rebel?”

“He’s even using Zhangsun Shunde and Liu Hongji – eight or nine chances out of ten, he means to rebel!” Speaking thus, Wang Wei said through gritted teeth, “To think I’ve been shrewd all my life, yet this time I was played like a monkey by him!”

“Then… then what should we do now?” Gao Junya asked helplessly. “Li Yuan harbors deep enmity toward us both. Once he raises his banner openly and launches a rebellion, the first people he’ll target are us. At most we have barely over a hundred men under our command – how can we contend with him? Brother Wang, you’ve always been resourceful – quickly think of a solution. I don’t want to die here.”

Wang Wei paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back, saying irritably, “Am I not thinking of a solution? Stop your noise!”

Gao Junya immediately shut his mouth and waited anxiously for Wang Wei to devise a plan. After a full half-incense-stick’s worth of time, Wang Wei finally stopped in his tracks and asked, “Do you remember Liu Shilong?”

Gao Junya thought for a moment and said, “You mean that Jinyang village chief Liu Shilong who answers only what is asked and never says an extra word?”

“That’s him!” Wang Wei nodded. “Since coming to Taiyuan, I’ve had several interactions with this man. He’s an honest person who shouldn’t have the courage to rebel and raise arms together with Li Yuan, so we can work on him.”

Gao Junya nodded, then said, “But he has no troops under his command.”

Wang Wei smiled coldly, “He has no troops, but he has people. We can go to him to conscript soldiers and strike first before Li Yuan becomes aware, killing him first. As for Liu Shilong, I believe as long as we promise him some benefits, he’ll agree.”

Gao Junya thought this made sense and nodded emphatically, “Good, we’ll do as Brother Wang suggests. Time is of the essence – let’s go find Liu Shilong now.”

Wang Wei nodded. When they met with Liu Shilong, everything went as they had predicted. Liu Shilong was very cooperative, guaranteeing that within three days, he would assemble a force of at least a thousand men, and his side happened to have a batch of ready-made armor.

Wang Wei was very satisfied with this. Li Yuan, encountering me is destined to be the greatest misfortune of your life. After killing you, this traitor, His Majesty will certainly reward me handsomely, and from then on I’ll enjoy inexhaustible wealth and glory.

On the morning of the fifteenth day of the fifth month, which was precisely the three-day deadline previously agreed upon with Liu Shilong, Wang Wei and Gao Junya were about to leave early in the morning. However, they had barely reached the front courtyard when they were stopped by two soldiers who bowed and said, “Honorable Lords, the General is currently discussing matters with the various lords in the main hall. He has specifically ordered us to invite both lords to participate in the discussion together.” The General they referred to was naturally Li Yuan.

Wang Wei’s mind was focused on Liu Shilong’s affairs, so he said, “We two have urgent matters to attend to right now. We’ll go to the main hall later.” As he spoke, he was about to leave, but after taking just one step, he was again blocked by that soldier. “The General has given orders that the matter is of great importance, and both lords must be invited to make the trip.”

The moment those two soldiers appeared, Wang Wei felt an ominous premonition in his heart. How could he be willing to follow them? He darkened his face and said, “I order you to step aside immediately!”

His words had no effect whatsoever. Those two soldiers still stood before them like wooden stakes, not letting them leave by even half a step. “We are bound by duty – please forgive us, honorable lords.”

Seeing the stalemate continuing, Gao Junya pulled Wang Wei aside and said in a low voice, “Continuing this standoff will only make them suspicious. Let’s first go with them to the main hall for now. Since Li Yuan hasn’t formally rebelled yet, presumably he wouldn’t dare do anything to us for the time being.”

Though Wang Wei harbored suspicions about Li Yuan’s sudden summons, there was indeed no other option at the moment, so he nodded and went with Gao Junya to see Li Yuan in the main hall.

However, when they stepped into the main hall, they saw someone who absolutely should not be there – Liu Shilong!

At first, Gao Junya thought he was seeing things and vigorously rubbed his eyes several times. When he opened them again, Liu Shilong was still sitting there perfectly fine – he had not been mistaken.

What on earth was happening? Today was their agreed-upon three-day deadline. Liu Shilong should be in the village waiting to receive them at this moment – why had he come here instead? Could it be that Li Yuan had summoned him? But Liu Shilong was neither a military commander nor held high office – by no means should it be his turn to participate in such discussions. At least during their long stay in Taiyuan, they had never seen Liu Shilong participate in discussions of military affairs and important matters. How strange indeed.