At the turn of the Sui and Tang dynasties, two thrilling sieges occurred in Daizhou, which were also landmark events that heralded the demise of the Sui Dynasty and the rise of the Tang Dynasty. Strolling through the ancient city of Daixian and looking at those ancient cultural relics and relics, the historical scenes that were once magnificent and majestic and tragic seem to appear in front of you.
Two historical dramas directed by Shibi Khan in the ancient city of Yanmendai County
There are two historical dramas of "siege", one is called "The Siege of Yanmen", a name that historians have long decided; the other is called "Chen Xiaoyi Shou Lonely City", the content of which is recorded in the "Book of Sui", "Chronicle of Daizhou" and other materials.
The protagonists of the "Siege of Yanmen" are the Sui Emperor and the Turkic Shibi Khan. The main story is that the Sui Emperor and the chancellor Pei Zhi, in order to weaken the power of the Turkic Khaganate, decided to marry the younger brother of the Shibi Khan, Ashina Lingji, and crowned him as the new Khan, in order to suppress the Shibi Khan, who was in the sky, and Pei Zhi also booby-trapped and killed Shi Shu Huxi, a major minister of the Shibi Khan, in the name of selling treasures. In this historical drama, Shibi Khan led an army to besiege the Sui Emperor in Daizhou City for 30 days.
There are also two protagonists of "Chen Xiaoyi Guarding the Lonely City", one is named Chen Xiaoyi and the other is called Liu Wuzhou. Liu Wuzhou came to Yanmen County from Mayi Commandery (Mayi Commandery) north of Yanmen Pass, and besieged Chen Xiaoyi and the isolated city of Dai prefecture he was holding for 100 days until the city ran out of food, and the lieutenant Zhang Lun killed Chen Xiaoyi and surrendered. According to the "Chronicle of Daizhou", there was a granary built in the city during the Sui Dynasty, in which the food stored was enough for 100,000 soldiers and civilians to eat for 20 days, and Chen Xiaoyi led his subordinates and people to rely on these grains for 100 days, and it is difficult to imagine how difficult their situation was at that time.
Some scholars believe that "Chen Xiaoyi guarding the lonely city" is a continuation of the "Siege of Yanmen", and the reason is that the author understands it this way. The Yanmen Daizhou City mentioned in "Chen Xiaoyi Defending the Lonely City" is the stronghold of the Great Sui Jiangshan Sheji, liu Wuzhou attacked the Yanmen Daizhou City, in fact, he was attacking the Jiangshan of the Great Sui for the Turkic Shibi Khan and destroying the Sheji of the Great Sui.
Shibi Khan was a great khan of the Heyday of the Eastern Turks, whose father was the famous Qimin Khan. In the fifth year of the Sui Dynasty (609), Qimin Khan died, and his son Ashina Jujishi succeeded to the throne, with the title of Shibi Khan. In the Turkic Khaganate, the succession to the throne of the Khan had a complete system of institutions, one of which was to remarry all the wives of the father except the birth mother. If Shibi Khan wanted to inherit all the political inheritance given to his father by the Sui Empire, he needed to report to the Sui court and obtain the approval of the Sui Emperor to marry Princess Yicheng. The Sui Emperor greatly respected the turkic cultural customs and ethnic policies, and ordered him to agree to marry Princess Yicheng. After Being remarried by Shibi Khan, Princess Yicheng not only became the official wife of Shibi Khan, but also was the Khoedun of the Turkic Khaganate, that is, the "empress" in Chinese, and The Shibi Khan also became the supreme ruler of the Turkic Khanate. In the ten years of the reign of Shibi Khan, the Turkic Khaganate entered its heyday, and some historians commented that his "strength and prosperity of Rongdi is unprecedented" and "Shibi's self-esteem is proud of his merits" and "He is proud of his merits".
Shibi Khan's "Yi Jiao"
So, why did Shibi Khan have to destroy Sui? After the end of the first round of the Siege of Yanmen, the Turkic Khaganate had the upper hand, and the Sui Dynasty was in a state of turmoil. Shibi Khan began to support all anti-Sui armed uprisings and provided them with financial and material support until the Sui Emperor was killed and Li Yuan sat firmly in the Tang Dynasty. During this period, he also gave Ying Yanglang of Shuofang Commandery the title of Liang Shidu as Vijaya Khan and Xie Shi Tianzi, and conferred the banner of wolf head, the symbol of the Turkic Khan; Liu Wuzhou, a lieutenant of Yingyang Prefecture in Mayi County, as Dingyang Khan and Dingyang Tianzi, and the wolf head banner; and Yulin as Zuo Yiwei Guozi and Pingyang Tianzi. Since then, Shibi Khan has become famous all over the world, and under his leadership, the anti-Sui armed uprising quickly spread throughout the country.
In the eleventh year of the Sui Dynasty (615), the Sui Emperor left the eastern capital Luoyang to inspect the northern territory, and on the way to Yulin, he received a secret report from Princess Yicheng, who learned that Shibi Khan was dispatching troops and plotting to ambush himself and his entourage. After much deliberation with his ministers, the Sui Emperor decided to withdraw to Dai County first and then return to Hui prefecture. At that time, Shibi Khan personally led an army of 300,000 to sweep through Yanmen County, occupying 39 county seats in a row, leaving only the two ancient cities of Dai County and Chengyang. Both ancient cities were located on the north bank of the Tuotuo River and in the hilly area at the foot of the mountain, where the Sui Emperor and his close subjects were trapped in dai county by the iron horse of The Qi Khan, while his son Yang Huan the Prince of Qi and the forbidden army behind the palace were besieged by the Turkic iron horse at the city of Kunyang. The originally planned northern tour became the "Siege of Yanmen", which could not help but make people sigh. However, even in the face of such a critical situation, the soldiers and civilians in Yanmen City did not want to escape and compromise, and everyone united in their will, determined to coexist and die with the city, vowing to die to protect the emperor, and the ministers who performed outstanding and recorded in the "Chronicle of Daizhou" included Xiao Yu, Fan Zigai, Yu Wenkai, and so on.
In fact, The Shibi Khan also faced many constraints, including those from the core power circles of the Turkic Khanate and from allies. He knew very well that Princess Yicheng had built her own network of contacts within the core circle of power of the Turkic Khaganate, and had a strong influence, and as long as she raised her arms, there would inevitably be some tribes gathered under her banner, causing the khanate to fall apart. Even more frightening was that Princess Yicheng, as the Khanate's Kogadun, also had the same power as him - to mobilize the khanate's army. In addition, Ashina Guhezhen also threatened his position to a certain extent, as a younger brother of Thekh Bi Khan's father, Qimin Khan, he was sent to the side of Emperor Wen of Chang'an by The Khan's grandfather Sha Baoliu Khan, and remained in the Sui Dynasty as the prince of the Turkic Khaganate for a long time, with the support of dual political forces from the Sui court and the Turkic Khanate.
The ending of the "Siege of Yanmen" was obviously difficult to convince the public, so when Tang Taizong Li Shimin was repairing the Book of Sui, he ordered the minister to supplement the reasons for the automatic release of the siege by Shibi Khan, that is, Princess Yicheng Xiushu told Shibi Khan, "The border affairs of the khanate are urgent, please come back quickly." On the other hand, the Sui Emperor hugged his son and cried so frightened that his eyes were swollen, and tried to force a breakthrough, but only gave up under the strong advice of the chancellor Fan Zigai.
Liu Wuzhou and "Chen Xiaoyi Guarding the Lonely City"
I have to admit that Shibi Khan was an excellent politician and military expert, and he understood the importance of supporting the anti-Sui forces, so he provided them with all-round and substantive support as much as possible, including giving the rebel leaders a title, strengthening military cooperation, expanding and solidifying the anti-Sui administrative regional plate, and vowing to bury the Sui Empire with his own hands. Most of the ethnic minority tribes around the Turkic Khaganate became its vassal states, such as the Khitans, MurongWei, Tuguhun and Gaochang and Guizi in the western regions. Due to the political influence and military strength of The bi Khan, some warlords in the Central Plains began to curry favor with him in order to gain the support of the Turks and improve the insurance factor for victory against the Sui. Even Li Yuan, the later founding emperor of the Tang Dynasty, was very respectful to The Khan at the beginning of the uprising, and in his letter he was "humble in words".
With the support of Shibi Khan, three major anti-Sui forces rose up at that time, namely Liang Shidu and his allies in the southwest, Dou Jiande and his allies in the northeast, and Liu Wuzhou and Li Yuan in the north.
There are three main armed rebel forces in the northeast, which are active in the areas of present-day Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei. The first was the Gaokaidao armed rebels in Yuyang County. Gao Kaidao of Yuyang County, a native of Yangxin in ancient Cangzhou, surrendered to Cao Kou Geqian of Hejian County in the last years of Daye, and later established himself as a gateway, and the early Tang Dynasty attacked and occupied Yuyang County, claiming to be the King of Yan. The second is an armed force headed by Luo Yi and with Zhuozhou as its base. Luo Yi, a native of Yunyang County, Jingbei County, whose father was Luo Rong, a military attaché of the Sui court and a general of zuo jianmen, was promoted to the rank of general of Hu Ben Zhonglang for his merits, stationed in Zhuo County, and later appointed himself the governor of Youzhou, and Li Yuan, the emperor of the early Tang Dynasty, made him the King of Yan. The third was the Dou Jiande armed forces in Leshou County. Dou Jiande, whose ancestral home was Fufeng Pingling, raised an army to rebel in the seventh year of the Sui Dynasty (611), divided one side, and held a ceremony at the junction of LeXian and Hejian in the thirteenth year of Daye (617), proclaiming himself the King of Changle and appointing officials according to the state structure.
There were also three armed rebel forces in the southwest, from north to south: Guo Zihe of Yulin County, Liang Shidu of Shuofang County, and Liu Jia of Diaoyin County. Guo Zihe was originally Zuo Yiwei, a military attaché of the late Sui court, who was exiled to Yulin for crimes, when Yulin was in the midst of famine, so he gathered local warriors to kill the imperial court official Wang Cai, opened a warehouse to help the people, and established himself as the King of Yongle. Liu Jiayan( 劉嘉論), a native of Yanzhou( Yanzhou), rebelled in the 10th year of the Sui Dynasty (614) and proclaimed himself emperor, and the county he occupied was in the southeast of present-day Yulin, Shaanxi, which was historically known as "Qin and Han Mingzhi" and "Northwest Dry Wharf". Liang Shidu, whose real name is Liang Xuanmo, is a native of the Wu clan of Anding, born in Longxi Haoyou, and worships the eagle Yang Lang general. In the thirteenth year of the Sui Dynasty (617), he killed Emperor Shizong of the Tang Dynasty and proclaimed himself The Great Chancellor, and after joining forces with the Turks to rebel against the Sui Dynasty, he took the throne as emperor and established the State of Liang, with the era name Yonglong.
The armed rebel forces in the north were represented by Liu Wuzhou and Li Yuan's father and son, who were mainly active in the areas north and south of Yanmen Pass, as well as in the areas of Hezhou and Jinyang. In the first year of Sui Yining (617), Liu Wuzhou established a political power and declared himself king. During the year, the anti-Sui regimes that existed at the same time were Changda, Taiping, Dingu, Yongping, Tianxing, Yonglong, Zhengping, Qinxing, Mingfeng, Tongsheng, Yihe, and Jianji. Liu Wuzhou's anti-Sui base was in Yanmen Guanbei Mayi Commandery, bordering the Turks, and he proclaimed himself Queen le, led his army to the west, and soon took Loufu Commandery ( Lou Fu Commandery ) , the seat of the Sui Emperor's palace, Fenyang Palace.
Liu Wuzhou was an official of the Sui Dynasty imperial court, who followed the Sui Emperor on three eastern expeditions to Goryeo, made many military achievements, was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant of Jianjie, and was later transferred to the general of Yingyang Prefecture in Mayi County. After Liu Wuzhou captured the Fenyang Palace, he selected many palace women and treasures and antiques to give to Shibi Khan. Shibi Khan made Liu Wuzhou the Dingyang Khan, made him a member of the core circle of power of the Turkic Khaganate, conferred the Wolf Head Banner (the wolf head is the tribal emblem of the Turkic people, the wolf god is the belief of the Turks, and the wolf is the ancestor of the Turks), and gave Liu Wuzhou important strategic materials such as war horses and weapons.
The reason why Liu Wuzhou dared to fight with the Sui Dynasty and later Li Yuan and Li Shimin's father and son was not only because he had the support of Shibi Khan, but also related to one of his generals named Song Jingang. Song Jingang was originally an uprising general who operated in the Shanggu Yi area, and after being defeated by Dou Jiande, he led his troops to the west to join Liu Wuzhou, who gave him half of his property and married his sister to him as his wife. Song Jingang not only made great achievements in the 100-day operation to besiege Dai County, but also led an army to sweep across the west and north banks of the Yellow River in the early Tang Dynasty, occupying all the territory of present-day Shanxi, directly approaching Chang'an, posing a great threat to the Li Tang regime.
After Chen Xiaoyi of Yanmen Commandery and Wang Zhiyi, the "Tiger General", learned that Liu Wuzhou had joined forces with the Turks against the Sui, they led an army out of the pass to fight him in order to quell the rebellion in the north of Yanmen Pass. Chen Xiaoyi and Wang Zhiyi attacked Yanmen Pass with a single blow and trapped Liu Wu around The Town of Sanggan, but the Turkic cavalry rushed to join forces with Liu Wuzhou in the town of Sanggan to attack the besieging army, and after Wang Zhiyi was killed in battle, Chen Xiaoyi led a small number of soldiers to retreat to Yanmen in defeat. At that time, the people in Yanmen City were unstable, and some of the generals saw that the General Trend of the Sui Dynasty had gone, and were ready to surrender their weapons, and after Chen Xiaoyi received the news, he arrested them all and sentenced them to death.
Later, with the support of the Turks, Liu Wuzhou led an army to besiege Yanmen County, which is today the city of Daizhou. Chen Xiaoyi and his soldiers stubbornly resisted and vowed to coexist and die with the ancient city. In the end, the city ran out of food and there was no food to cook, and Zhang Lun, who was then a lieutenant of Yanmen, assassinated Chen Xiaoyi for his life and surrendered to Liu Wuzhou, marking the tragic end of Chen Xiaoyi and the Sui Dynasty he was loyal to withdrew from the stage of history. (Yang Jidong)