In the seventh year of the Wude era.
The conspiracy between Crown Prince Li Jiancheng and Yang Wengan of Bingzhou, a plot to rebel that had rocked the Tang Empire, ended in a way Li Shimin could never have imagined.
The dragon throne in the Taiji Palace seemed to grow ever more distant.
“Master Jiupin, do you think I can rise any higher in this life?” Li Shimin asked, his eyes full of yearning as he gazed at Xu Fenglei.
Xu Fenglei smiled faintly and held up his palm. “If Your Highness goes it alone, the odds are fifty-fifty.”
“And if you help me?” Li Shimin asked expectantly. “I am willing to take you as my teacher! Please come out of seclusion and lend me your aid!”
“If I make plans for Your Highness, and Your Highness follows them to the letter...”
Xu Fenglei smiled.
“Then victory is assured!”
Delighted, the Prince of Qin bowed and said, “With you, Master, I feel like a fish in water.”
The man who would direct the Xuanwu Gate Incident was chosen at that very moment...
