A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1195: King of Shule

After returning from Chang'an to pay homage to the emperor, King Pei Shi of Shule immediately set out on the road to Suiye, regardless of his tiredness from the journey.

He and his party first went to Qiuci, and then crossed Lingshan Mountain via Bohuan City.

It was the most difficult season to travel on Lingshan Mountain. In many places, people had to cut ice ladders to pass through, and the people and horses stumbled up and down. The ice road across Lingshan Mountain was 100 miles long, including 30 miles of ice ladders and snow roads, 30 miles of climbing the ridge, and 20 miles of flat roads. It took Pei Shi and his party seven days to walk just the 100 miles.

The most difficult part of this icy road on Boda Ridge is that the ice and the ice stairs grow and fall unpredictably.

There was a section of the road where the ice ladder was too steep for horses to pass, so the horses had to be lowered down from the cliff on one side with ropes.
The journey was extremely difficult and dangerous, but Pei Shi could not wait until the road was easier to travel.

He had to hurry to Suiye to meet Wu Huaiyu. If he went too late, he was afraid that Wu Huaiyu would come with the Anxi Army to attack him first.

Finally we crossed the Boda Ridge.

This place is more than 400 miles away from the east coast of Rehai.

Pei Shi wore a golden lion crown and had a worried look on his face. He didn't know whether this trip would be successful. Last winter, he went to Chang'an to make a pilgrimage and plead guilty to the emperor, hoping to resolve the disaster brought by the Asikya tribe's rebellion against the Tang Dynasty. However, the trip to Chang'an was not ideal.
Last year, all the states south of the Tianshan Mountains went to Chang'an to pay tribute to the emperor.
For example, the King of Yanqi, Longtuqizhi, was canonized as the King of Yanqi and granted the titles of Governor of Yanqi and General of the Left Guard.

The King of Kucha, Baihelibushibi, was also enthroned as the King of Kucha, the Governor-General of Kucha, and the General of the Right Guard.

The King of Khotan, Yuchi Fujiexin, was also canonized as the King of Khotan, the Governor of Khotan, and the General of the Left Guard.

Among the countries south of the Tianshan Mountains, Qiuci, Shule, Yutian, and Yanqi were the strongest. They all paid tribute to the Emperor of Tang together, and the other three countries were granted titles, gold belts, brocade robes, and even mansions in Chang'an.

Only Pei Shi, the King of Shule, was not granted any title.
The Emperor of the Tang Dynasty did not even officially confer the title of King of Shule on him.
It seemed as if he had been forgotten.
Some other small states were also granted titles, except for Shule, Kepantu and Zhujubo.
The King of Bolor did not come to Chang'an in person, but only sent a prince to pay tribute. The emperor conferred titles such as King of Bolor, Governor-General, and General on him, and even the prince was given the rank of third-rank general.

In Chang'an, he was treated coldly.

Fortunately, Pei Shi received guidance from his great-uncle Pei Chuo.

His great uncle Pei Chuo was once the king of Shule. In the 11th year of Daye, he went to Luoyang to pay tribute to the emperor of Sui. Later, the Central Plains was in chaos and he was stranded and unable to return. In the Wude period, the Tang army broke through Luoyang. Pei Chuo returned to Chang'an and joined the Tang Dynasty. He was granted the title of Yingyang General and Duke of Tianshan County by Li Yuan. From then on, he stayed in Chang'an and became a naturalized citizen of Jingzhao.

Pei Chuo was also the first king of the Shule royal family to use the Chinese surname Pei.

His original name was Amozhichuo. Amozhi was the title of the king of Shule, and Chuo was the Turkic official title awarded to Shule after it surrendered to the Western Turks.

The title of Amozhi actually came from a long time ago when the Kushan Dynasty sent troops to conquer Shule. After the dynasty changed, the Kushan governor was sent to lead the Shule Kingdom.
This Amozhi means the Kushan governor, who ruled Shule for six or seven hundred years.

During the Daye period, Emperor Yang of Sui, on the advice of his minister Pei Ju, opened up the Western Regions and recruited various countries. The King of Shule went to the Central Plains twice and later stayed in Luoyang. He gave himself the Han surname Pei and the given name Chuo. It is said that because two of the five nobles in the court had the surname Pei, especially Pei Ju, who was the minister in charge of the Western Regions, Amozhichuo gave himself the surname Pei and changed Chuo to Chuo as his given name.

Pei Chuo had stayed in the Central Plains for more than 20 years and had long since become naturalized, becoming Jingzhao Pei Chuo.

The current King of Shule, Pei Shi, is the great-nephew of Pei Chuo.
When Pei Chuo went to the Central Plains and stayed there, a palace coup took place in Shule. In the end, his nephew became the King of Shule, and then the throne was passed to his great-nephew Pei Shi.

Pei Chuo could have returned to Shule during the Wude Dynasty, but after learning about the changes in Shule, he chose to stay in Chang'an.

This time Shule encountered a crisis.

When Pei Shi was feeling coldly received in Chang'an and was feeling anxious, Pei Chuo sent someone to invite him to a meeting.
Pei Chuo gave Pei Shi some pointers.
Shule was in crisis because of its treasonous alliance with Asijie. To solve the current crisis in Shule, the key is Wu Huaiyu in the Western Regions.
Pei Chuo told Pei Shi that the emperor now fully trusted Wu Huaiyu in all the affairs of the Western Regions of the Tang Dynasty, and all of them were handed over to Wu Huaiyu.
The life and death of the Three Kingdoms of Shule depends entirely on Wu Huaiyu.

After receiving the guidance of his great uncle, Pei Shi officially gave himself a Chinese name, Pei Shi. He also publicly announced in Chang'an that he would give up the title of Jie Lifa granted by the Western Turks.

He also submitted a petition to the imperial court, requesting the establishment of the Shule Military Governor's Office in Shule, the creation of a prefecture and a county, and making it a territory of the Tang Dynasty.

This request finally received a response from the court.

The imperial court agreed to set up the Shule Military Governor's Office like the other states of Kucha, but did not appoint Pei Shi as the military governor. The position was not granted for the time being.

Pei Shi did not stay in Chang'an for long.
After the New Year, he rode back at full speed in the wind and snow. Once he arrived in Shule, he prepared a lot of gold and silver and headed to Suiye again.

"It's getting late, let's camp here and rest for the night."

The guards chose a sheltered place and began to set up their tents.

"call out!"

Suddenly an arrow hit the snow.
The guards immediately stood alert and protected the king in the middle.
"who?"

"Who are you?" A voice came from the forest, first in Turkic, then in Chinese, and then in Sogdian.

Pei Shi understood everything. Shule belonged to the Sai people. Shule, Kepandu and Usha all spoke the Sai language of Shule. Khotan and Zhasadan used the Khotanese Sai language. Quzhi and Baluka used the Tocharian language.
These languages ​​are all Sai languages ​​and are basically the same.

However, during the years when the Turks ruled the Western Regions, most of the countries in the Western Regions used the Turkic language, and the Sogdian merchants, whose goods were traded all over the world, also brought the Sogdian language to various places in the Western Regions.

Many upper-class nobles in the Western Regions also learned Chinese.

Pei Shi was proficient in Sai, Indian, Turkic, Sogdian, Chinese, etc.

He didn't know who the people on the other side were. His initial judgment was that they might be the nomadic Nushibibasai cadres in the south of Rehe, which was several hundred miles away from Rehe. They might also be the Qibi and other Tiele tribes in the north of Rehe.
"I am the envoy of the King of Shule, and I am going to Suiye City. Who are you? Are you a cadre of Basai?"

"What are you going to do with the leaves?"

"The king sent us to meet the Grand Protector of Anxi!"

There was no sound from the other side, and no one came out.

The Shule guards were a little nervous.

"Friends, we have wine and meat here, let's have a barbecue and drink together." Pei Shi shouted.

At this time, a figure walked out of the woods.

He was wearing iron armor, a robe, a white cloak, and holding a bow.

When Pei Shi saw this man, he immediately realized that he was a Han Chinese, definitely not a Turkic Basagan, nor a Tiele Qibi.

Nor could they be Sogdians or Kucha people.
The opponent's equipment is also very sophisticated.
A word emerged in his mind: the Tang Dynasty's Anxi Army.

But this place is more than a thousand miles away from Suiye City. How come they are here?
The man with a purple face stood several dozen steps away from them.
"Once you cross the Boda Ridge, you will have entered the territory guarded by Chishan in Suiye Town, Anxi, Great Tang. Please accept our inspection!"

Pei Shi was shocked when he saw the purple-faced man and found out that he was from the Anxi Army.

The Anxi Army has already established a military town at the foot of Boda Mountain, more than a thousand miles away from Suiye City, and stationed soldiers to garrison there?

The purple-faced soldier was Xiong Kuohai, the temporary commander of Chishan Garrison.

Their Chishan garrison camp was fifty miles away from Boda Ridge, but this mountain pass was also their garrison territory. Even in the ice and snow, they insisted on patrolling.

Today, I happened to be patrolling this mountain pass and discovered a team coming over the mountains.

This is the first team to arrive at this time of year.

"Are you really from the Anxi Army?" Pei Shi was a little surprised.

Xiong Kuohai took out his badge.
"The Great Tang Anxi Army's Grand Protectorate, temporarily serving as the guard of Chishan in Suiye Town, Zhuocheng, and the commander of Chishan Garrison, Xiong Kuohai!"

Pei Shi confirmed his identity and was still shocked.

"I didn't expect that the Anxi Army has already stationed troops here."

"I am the envoy of the King of Shule, and I am going to Suiye to pay a visit to Prime Minister Wu."

At this time, a woman suddenly shouted from the back of the Shule team, "He is not the envoy of the Shule King, he is Shule Jie Lifa Amozhi."

The woman came straight to Xiong Kuohai,

"you are?"

Pei Shi tried to pull her behind him, but she pushed him away.

"I was originally a Turkic princess, and later married Amozhi as queen."

Xiong Kuohai looked at the "Turkic princess" and "Queen of Shule" who were dressed in men's fur coat, and felt half-believing and half-doubting.

Pei Shi saw this,

I had no choice but to bow.
"I am indeed the King of Shule,"

"She is the Turkic princess, the Queen of Shule?" Xiong Kuohai asked.

"She is the daughter of Shabharadish Khan, and is indeed my king's queen."

What Xiong Kuohuo couldn't understand was that the King of Shule seemed to have a bad relationship with the Queen?
Pei Shi revealed his identity and said that he was going to Suiye to meet Wu Huaiyu.

After Xiong Kuohai confirmed their identities, he finally blew a whistle to call out the patrol team hidden in the forest.
Zhu Can, You Junda and others were surprised when they heard that this team was actually the King and Queen of Shule and were going to Suiye to pay a visit to Wu Huaiyu.

They knew that Wu Xiang had said last year that he would send troops to Shannan this year to destroy the three kingdoms of Shule. So why did the King of Shule take the initiative to come to Suiye with his queen?

And why is this queen at odds with the King of Shule?

They didn't know that Pei Shi went to beg Wu Huaiyu for mercy, and they didn't know that in order to show his loyalty, he decided to send the Turkic princess queen, who was married to the Western Turks in order to strengthen their control over Shule, to Wu Huaiyu.

You can't catch a wolf without sacrificing your child.
In order to preserve his country and throne, the King of Shule sent his Turkic wife away.

The queen also knew Pei Shi's intention, so she argued with him all the way.
Xiong Kuohai walked aside and discussed with You Junda and others.

"Are these people really the King and Queen of Shule?"

"It should be correct."

"Isn't this fat meat delivered to our mouths? Why don't we capture them and take them back to Suiye?" Zhu Can said.

"They took the initiative to go to Suiye to pay a visit to Aye. When two countries are at war, they still don't kill or envoy."

"Send a few people to take them to Suiye and let Aye deal with them."

Zhu Can looked at the team over there and said, "That queen is quite young and pretty. You said they must have brought a lot of gold and silver treasures. If we kill them secretly and divide the treasures, it will be enough to live comfortably for several lifetimes, right?"

Xiong Kuohai glared at Zhu Can, "Bullshit, we are soldiers, Anxi soldiers, led by Aye, not bandits, don't talk nonsense like this again, or you will get into trouble."

"I was just joking," Zhu Can said quickly.

Although the Shule King's troops were not numerous, they still had several hundred people. Their Chishan Garrison had only twenty-five people in total, and the patrol team here had only ten people.

Even if he really has the guts, he doesn't have the strength to do it.

(End of this chapter)