Late Reign
In spring 623, Liang Shidu's generals He Sui (賀遂) and Suo Tong (索同) defected to Tang, along with the territory they controlled. In summer 623, Duan Decao launched another attack on Liang, reaching Shuofang, but withdrew after pillaging. In response, the Liang general Xin Liao'er (辛獠兒) guided Eastern Tujue troops to attack Tang's Lin Prefecture (林州, roughly modern Qingyang), and then Liang himself guided Eastern Tujue forces to attack Tang's Kuang Prefecture (匡州, also in modern Yulin).
In fall 624, the major Liang official Bai Fuyuan (白伏願) defected to Tang.
In 626, Emperor Gaozu's son Li Shimin the Prince of Qin, ambushed and killed his brothers Li Jiancheng the Crown Prince and Li Yuanji the Prince of Qin, and then effectively forced Emperor Gaozu to yield the throne to him (as Emperor Taizong). Meanwhile, Liang himself saw his forces weakening, and suggested to Ashina Duobi that he invade Tang. Ashina Duobi and his nephew, the subordinate Tuli Khan Ashina Shibobi (阿史那什鉢苾), jointly attacked the Tang capital Chang'an, but withdrew after Emperor Taizong personally met them and offered additional tributes.
Read more about this topic: Liang Shidu
Famous quotes containing the words late and/or reign:
“It is a mischievous notion that we are come late into nature; that the world was finished a long time ago. As the world was plastic and fluid in the hands of God, so it is ever to so much of his attributes as we bring to it. To ignorance and sin, it is flint. They adapt to themselves to it as they may; but in proportion as a man has anything in him divine, the firmament flows before him and takes his signet and form.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Their Cause was gen’ral, their Supports were strong,
Their Slaves were willing, and their Reign was long;”
—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)