Chapter 655: Searching for Puppet

In early August, after suppressing the rebellion of his brother Chijishe, the Turkic Shibi Khan's negotiations with the Sui Dynasty broke down. The Sui Dynasty closed the mutual trade. At the instigation of his favorite minister Shi Shuhusi, Shibi Khan led an army of 400,000 south to intimidate the Sui Dynasty to reopen the market.

However, this is different from the historical Turkic invasion of the south. In history, the Turks took the Yunzhong route, that is, they invaded from Datong area, and finally surrounded Emperor Yang Guang who led the army in person at Yanmen Pass.

This time, the Turkic invasion route was through Hetao, threatening Lingwu County, and a large number of people in Lingwu County fled south.

The reason why Shibi Khan went through Hetao to attack the Sui Dynasty was related to the several trips of the Sui Dynasty envoys to the grassland for negotiations in the past two years. The Sui Dynasty demanded that the Turks return Hetao. Hetao was temporarily lent to Qimin Khan by the Sui Dynasty in order to accommodate him. But in the end, Qimin Khan gave Hetao to his eldest son Rangan and did not want to return it to the Sui Dynasty. After Rangan ascended the throne and became Shibi Khan, he would not return Hetao to the Sui Dynasty.

Shibi Khan's march southward along the Hetao route was largely to assert his sovereignty, and to tell the Sui Dynasty clearly that if you have the ability, you should take it back by force, otherwise don't think about taking Hetao again.

Of course, the Turks had a deeper strategic intention. In supporting puppet regimes in the Sui Dynasty, they were no longer satisfied with one-time looting, but hoped to support puppet regimes to achieve the goal of actually occupying the northern part of the Sui Dynasty and allow these puppet regimes to provide long-term blood transfusions to the Turks.

Previously, Liu Wuzhou of Mayi County was a puppet supported by the Turks. Dou Jiande of Hebei, Luo Yi of Beiping, and Li Yuan of Taiyuan were all in secret contact with the Turks, hoping to gain their support.

After completing the layout of the eastern and central borders of the Sui Dynasty, the Turks shifted their strategic focus to the western part of the Sui Dynasty. This southern expedition was to establish their own puppet regime in Shuofang and Hexi.

Yang Gongren, the governor of Shuofang Road, learned that the enemy was powerful and was well aware that he could not hold Shuofang. On the one hand, he urgently asked the court for help, and on the other hand, he led his troops to escort the people of Lingwu County and Huaiyuan County to retreat to the south of the Great Wall, and led 20,000 troops to defend the new Great Wall in Hongjing County.

This was the Great Wall that Emperor Yang Guang had just completed building. It started from the Yellow River north of Hongjing County in the central part of Shuofang, and extended along the mountain ridge to the southeast to Wuyuan County in Yanchuan County, and then east to Yincheng County in Diaoyin County, constantly building the Great Wall along the mountains.

The Turkic army set up a large camp north of the Great Wall, with tents stretching for dozens of miles. Of course, the 400,000-strong army was only a fictitious number, and the actual strength was only a few hundred thousand.

Inside the king's tent, Shibi Khan was sitting on a thick felt carpet drinking and having fun, while several strong men were fighting for fun. At this time, Shi Shuhuxi hurried in.

Shi Shuhushi was a Sogdian merchant who had been selling large quantities of Western pig iron to the grasslands for many years and was deeply trusted by the Turkic rulers. He simply married a widow of a Turkic noble and infiltrated the Turkic ruling class, becoming the minister in charge of trade in front of Shibi Khan. In dealing with the rebellion of his brother Chijishe, it was Shi Shuhushi who gave advice and bribed several tribal leaders within the other side, leading to internal divisions on the rebel side and Chijishe had to flee far away.

So to some extent, Shi Shuhuxi was also the military advisor of Shibi Khan.

Shi Shuhuxi stepped forward, bowed and said, "Khan, I have a way to take down the Great Wall!"

The Turkic army was composed entirely of cavalry and carried no siege weapons. Faced with the Sui army defending the Great Wall pass, Shibi Khan was at a loss what to do.

Shibi Khan was invigorated and asked quickly, "What good ideas do you have?"

Shi Shuhu Xi smiled and said, "I used to trade with Shuofang, and I have close contacts with several of their generals. They have been privately selling contraband to us. The leading general is Liang Shidu, an Eagle General of the Sui Army. If the Khan allows him to be the leader of Shuofang, I can persuade him to surrender."

Before the Turkic invasion to the south, they formulated a strategy to support a puppet regime and make the Hetao area their granary. Shibi Khan had not made up his mind who to support, so Shi Shuhuxi recommended Liang Shidu to him.

"Is this Liang Shidu capable of great use?" Shibi Khan asked again.

Shi Shuhuxi nodded, "He is a local tyrant with great ambitions. The Khan can accept him as a Han minister!"

When Shibi Khan heard that Liang Shidu was a local tyrant, he said happily: "You can send someone to contact him secretly. If he can offer the Great Wall and let my army enter the pass, I can make him the ruler of Shuofang." After a pause, Shibi Khan said: "Let the people of Beiyan Palace do this!"

Beiyan Palace is an intelligence agency of the Turks, but it is not an official office of the Turks. They have more of a cooperative relationship. Beiyan Palace was founded by a Han Chinese and was originally a bounty hunter organization in Mayi County, catching thieves for the government and doing dirty things for others for money.

Later, because of accidentally killing a member of the Northern Zhou royal family, they were wanted by the Northern Zhou court and the organization was disbanded. The leader fled to the grassland with his wife. The couple soon established a new bounty hunter organization that specialized in smuggling contraband across the border.

After her husband's death, his wife renamed the organization Beiyan Palace, which specialized in smuggling and gathering information for various tribes on the grassland. Qimin Khan recruited and bestowed titles on them many times, and Beiyan Palace gradually evolved into an intelligence agency of the Turks.

Beiyan Palace has more than 200 members, covering various nationalities, including many Han people.

During this Turkic expedition to the south, Beiyan Palace also sent a small team of Han people to follow.

The leader of the team was Li Raofeng, a Han Chinese from Yanmen County, who was a wanted thief by the government. He and two of his men disguised themselves as merchants and climbed up the mountain. The three of them used hooks to climb over the Great Wall.
Theoretically, the Turkic army could have crossed the Great Wall without war horses, but the Turkic army without war horses probably would not have fought, not to mention that they were numerous and easy to be discovered.

The three of them came to the military camp at the back and said to the soldiers guarding the gate, "We are the family of General Liang Shidu and we have something urgent to discuss with him."

Soon, Liang Shidu came out in a hurry. He was about 30 years old and very strong. He was the eldest son of the powerful Liang family in Lingwu County. He was cunning and cruel by nature. He didn't know these three people and was puzzled, so he asked, "What letter are you delivering?"

Li Raofeng stepped forward and said, "My name is Sha Hu, and I am delivering a message to the general on the orders of the old lady."

Liang Shidu's face suddenly changed. Shahu was the name he used when smuggling contraband. No one else could know it except his trusted subordinates and the Turks on the opposite side. Moreover, his mother died of illness last year, so how could there be an old lady?
Li Raofeng whispered, "It's Madam Shi!"

"what!"

Liang Shidu then realized that the other party was Shi Shuhu Xi's man.

His expression changed several times, and after a while he said, "The army has rules, only one person can enter, come in with me!"

The other two men were waiting outside the military camp, and Li Raofeng followed Liang Shidu into the camp.

After entering his tent, Liang Shidu asked his confidants to stand guard outside the door, and then he said with a gloomy face: "What does Shi Shuhu Xi want from me?"

Li Raofeng took out a letter and handed it to Liang Shidu. Liang Shidu took the letter and took a look at it. He was immediately shocked. It turned out to be a handwritten letter from the Turkic Shibi Khan to him.

Liang Shidu opened the letter and read it, then pondered for a long time. The letter made it very clear that if he could surrender to the Turks, he could be appointed as the ruler of Shuofang, and his family would be the kings of Shuofang for generations, and he could even be crowned emperor.

Liang Shidu could not refuse this condition. Thinking that he would become the ruler of Shuofang and had the support of the Turks, and that the imperial court would not dare to do anything to him, Liang Shidu's blood began to boil.

He finally made up his mind, called Li Raofeng up, and said to him: "I will be transferred to guard Helan Pass tomorrow. If the Khan wants to go to the Great Wall, he can go to the west bank of the Yellow River."

(End of this chapter)

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