In July 617 (the thirteenth year of the Sui Dynasty), Li Yuan (566-635 AD) remained in Taiyuan and led an army of 30,000 oaths to officially "rebel". In his published essay, he reprimanded the Sui Emperor for listening to rumors, killing Zhongliang, and using his troops to fight, causing the people's resentment to boil. Soon, Li Yuan conquered Chang'an, and in May of the following year, Li Yuan accepted the title of Emperor Gong of Sui and established the Tang Dynasty. And the reason why Li Yuan's "rebellion of the army" was completed was that an inconspicuous little township mayor should be the first to remember the merit! He was Liu Shilong, the mayor of Jinyang Township.
Liu Shilong was a native of Jinyang, Hezhou, whose year of birth and death is unknown, but he is known to be the richest man in Jinyang. In the last years of Sui Daye, he served as the mayor of Jinyang Township. In 617 (the thirteenth year of Daye), Li Yuan was appointed by the imperial court as the retainer of Taiyuan, and Wang Wei and Wu Yalang made Gao Junya a deputy retainer. At this moment, the world was in chaos, and various places were rebelling against Sui, and Li Yuan was also quite dissatisfied with the Sui Emperor, and he had the intention of raising troops against Sui, but the strength of the troops was insufficient. Therefore, Li Yuan began to recruit troops and expand his strength. Li Yuan's wanton recruitment aroused the vigilance of Wang Wei and Gao Junya. The two suspected that Li Yuan was going to rebel, so they plotted to trick Li Yuan's father and son into praying for rain at the Jin Temple in order to get rid of Li Yuan and ask the Sui Emperor for merit and rewards.
If they wanted to assassinate the local highest official, Wang Wei and others needed the cooperation of the local squire, otherwise it would be difficult to succeed. Because the Jinci Temple is in Jinyang Township, Jinyang County, the township chief is called Liu Shilong. A township mayor should not have anything to do with the governor of Taiyuan (taiyuan left behind is equivalent to the current governor of Shanxi province). As long as you give more gold and silver benefits, Liu Shilong will definitely support it. Moreover, Wang Wei and Liu Shilong still have some friendship in peacetime, and it should not be a problem for Liu Shilong to support them in killing Li Yuan.
In front of Liu Shilong, there were two paths: one was to kill Li Yuan with Wang Wei and Gao Junya and become loyal vassals of the Sui Dynasty; the other way was to follow Li Yuan to kill Wang Wei and Gao Junya, and rebel with Li Yuan. Between Li Yuan and Wang Wei and Gao Junya, Liu Shilong had already made a choice to support Li Yuan in his heart, but still agreed to kill Li Yuan with Wang Wei and Gao Junya. At this moment, Wang Wei and Gao Junya had already regarded Liu Shilong as their own and told Liu Shilong about the plan to assassinate Li Yuan. The two said to Liu Shilong, "Now that there is no rain for a long time, we plan to invite Li Yuan to the Jinci Temple to ask for rain." We will ambush the knife and axe hand at the Jinci Temple, and when Li Yuan comes to ask for rain, we will let the sword and axe hand kill Li Yuan. Liu Shilong expressed his support and was willing to go to the imperial court to fight the fire.
Unexpectedly, after Liu Shilong resigned, he immediately went to Li Yuan's mansion and told Li Yuan about Wang Wei and Gao Junya's plan. After Li Yuan knew, he came first and killed Wang Wei and Gao Junya.
Historical records record that the course of events is like this. This morning, Li Yuan was summoning his subordinates to a meeting. A junior officer named Liu Zhenghui came in and said to Li Yuan: I have an emergency to report to Tang Guogong (that is, Li Yuan's name). Li Yuan looked at Wang Wei and asked Wang Wei to take over the report. Wang Wei just wanted to get up and receive the report, and Liu Zhenghui said: The person who wants to report is Wang Wei, the deputy left behind. Li Yuan also pretended not to believe: What the hell is going on? He opened the report and turned back to Wang Wei and said: Wang Wei and Gao Junya secretly colluded with the Turks and prepared to attack Taiyuan. Wang Wei and Gao Junya understood what was going on at this time, and Gao Junya shouted: The rebels are going to kill us! Li Yuan, looking like a business official, had Wang Wei and Gao Junya imprisoned and then executed. Wang Wei and Gao Junya would not understand until they died, and the informant was Liu Shilong, the small township chief. And why did Liu Shilong help Li Yuan at a critical moment?
Of course, Liu Shilong did not know Li Yuan, but he must have known that the adult who stayed behind was the new Li Yuan. Coincidentally, one day shortly after Li Yuan took office, Li Yuan's old friend Fei Huan led a person to see Li Yuan, and this person was Liu Shilong. Liu Shilong was a squire, and Pei Ning was the deputy palace supervisor of Jinyang County (an official name during the Sui and Tang dynasties, a backbone member who participated in the planning of the Taiyuan uprising), and the two had close daily contacts. In the face of the visit of a small township chief, Li Yuan did not have the slightest official shelf on the top, but received him seriously with his usual hospitality. This caused different feelings in Liu Shilong's heart: it was really touching that such a big leader could treat such a small people as him in this way, and he was eager to take out his heart to repay Li Yuan. Therefore, it is not surprising that Liu Shilong helped Li Yuan.
At a crucial moment, a small township chief saved Li Yuan, and even saved the Tang Dynasty, which had not yet been born.
Because of his meritorious service, Liu Shilong was awarded the title of Yinqing Guanglu Doctor by the newly established Tang Dynasty (from the official position of Sanpin during the Tang Dynasty), and later to Hongxuqing (the official in charge of the court's protocol affairs during the Tang Dynasty), and After Li Yuan ascended the throne, he also changed his name to Liu Yijie, which can be described as extremely beautiful.