Chapter 402: Internal Rebellion among the Uighurs
Not only Li Ke would not believe that Po-Ye would rebel, but even Li Chengqian himself would not believe it.
The Tang Dynasty had been kind to Po-Ye. At that time, Po-Ye's father, Tu-Midu, was killed by Po-Ye's cousin, Tu-Midu's nephew Wu-He, and the Khanship was seized. Po-Ye was also hunted down by Wu-He's men.
At that time, Wu-He planned to lead the Uighur tribe to betray the Tang Dynasty and join the Turkic Che-Bi Khan.
It was the Deputy Protector of Yanran of the Tang Dynasty, Yuan Lichen, who helped Po-Ye regain the Khanship and quelled the rebellion. Only then could Po-Ye inherit his father's Khanship.
The Tang Dynasty court appointed Po-Ye as the General of the Left Guard, the Great Shilifa, and the Governor of the Hanhai.
Po-Ye made outstanding contributions to maintaining the unity of the Tang Dynasty and national unity throughout his life. He never showed mercy to those who intended to destroy the Tang Dynasty and multi-ethnic unity.
He went to the Western Regions to help the Tang Dynasty quell the rebellion of Ashina Helu of the Western Turkic, and was finally awarded the title of Right Guard General for his merits.
"The governor of Hanhai in our Tang Dynasty will naturally not do anything treasonous. His loyalty is beyond doubt. I believe in it as much as you do, but..." Li Chengqian looked at Li Ke and paused when he said this.
After hearing Li Chengqian's trust in Po-Ye, Li Ke couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, for he was afraid that the emperor would get excited and be instigated by others and mistake the loyal minister for a traitor.
When Li Chengqian said "but", Li Ke knew that what he was going to say next was the key point, no matter how ridiculous what he said before.
Li Ke raised his ears and listened carefully. If the emperor really believed in any rumors, he would point them out immediately and advise the emperor not to believe in them.
Li Chengqian continued, "But, even if Poyan will not betray the Tang Dynasty, it does not mean that others will not betray the Tang Dynasty. If it is not Poyan who is in power, but someone else, the Uighurs may betray the Tang Dynasty."
Li Ke was finally relieved! The emperor did not doubt Poyan's loyalty to the Tang Dynasty, and he also heard other meanings from Li Chengqian's words.
"Your Majesty! Poyan is the Khan of the Uighur tribe. Who can shake his Khan position, and who has such great ability? I wonder if Poyan is alive or dead now?" Li Ke asked.
"Po-Ye is dead!" Li Chengqian said.
He also received news from the Jinyiwei active in various tribes in Mobei, which were sent back by flying eagles. He roughly knew that the Uighur leader Po-Ye was dead and that Po-Ye's nephew Bisudu had seized the position of leader from Po-Ye's son Bisu.
What made Li Chengqian speechless was that Bisudu was a Uighur leader who rejected the Tang Dynasty.
Li Chengqian discovered a strange phenomenon. The nephews of all the previous Uighur leaders who seized the position of leader liked to betray the Tang Dynasty, and they even hated the Tang Dynasty deeply.
As long as they seized the power of the Uighur leader and became the leader, the first thing these nephews of the previous leaders would do was to betray the Tang Dynasty and lead troops to attack the Tang Dynasty's Protectorate.
Whether it was Wuhe, the nephew of Tumidu, the first Uighur leader who surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, or Bisudu, the nephew of Po'er, the second Uighur leader who was pro-Tang, they all did the same thing, which was to oppose the Tang Dynasty.
It was as if these "nephews" and the Tang Dynasty had conflicting horoscopes, and the two sides could never see eye to eye.
"Po'er is dead?" Li Ke was a little bit unbelievable. A guy as strong as a bear was actually dead.
Li Chengqian nodded. Po'er was indeed dead. Now the one who held power in the Uighurs was Po'er's nephew Bisudu, a Uighur leader who hated the Tang Dynasty.
"Po'er is dead, then why was there no news from Mobei, and how did Your Majesty know about this?" Li Ke asked.
"Because the Uighurs blocked the news of Po-yan's death, it didn't reach Chang'an. I'm afraid the Western Regions are not peaceful! As for how I know this, it's naturally the news sent back by the Jinyiwei people on the eagle." Li Chengqian said.
Li Ke knew that Li Chengqian had a special agent who obeyed his orders directly, called Jinyiwei, which was organized according to the organization of sixteen guards.
Usually, the dragon is seen from the head but not the tail. Except for Li Chengqian and the internal personnel of Jinyiwei, no one has really seen the true face of this guard.
Jinyiwei is scattered in every corner, distributed among all kinds of people, and gathers all kinds of intelligence for the emperor.
Even Li Ke might have people from Jinyiwei around him.
"Why did Bisu hide the news of his father's death from the outside world? What did he want to do?" Li Ke was very puzzled. After Po'er's death, the position of the leader of the Uighurs and the governor of Hanhai was not Bisu's. Was it necessary to hide Po'er's death from the outside world?
"Now the one who controls the power of the entire Uighur tribe is not Bisu, Po'er's son, but Po'er's nephew Bisudu. He did this to prevent the news from leaking out."
"Bisudu hates the Tang Dynasty. He may have persuaded the Tongluo, Pugu and other tribes to rebel. I believe that the Yanran Protectorate will soon send back the news." Li Chengqian said.
Calculating the time, from the time the Jinyiwei discovered Bisudu's conspiracy to the time the news was sent back to Li Chengqian, it was enough time for him to launch an attack on the Yanran Protectorate.
Yanran Protectorate was attacked by the Uighurs and could not resist. Naturally, they had to report to the court and ask for help. Therefore, the messenger of Yanran Protectorate was on the way to Chang'an.
Yanran Protectorate was the protectorate of the Tang Dynasty to manage the Tiele and Uighur tribes. It was the representative of the Tang Dynasty in Mobei. Yanran Protectorate represented the Tang Dynasty to rule the Tiele and Uighur tribes.
Only by conquering Yanran Protectorate first, Bisudu could summon more tribes to follow him and embark on the road of destroying national unity and the unity of the Tang Dynasty.
Bisudu felt that Mobei was their Mobei, and they should not be managed by the Tang Dynasty people. They would manage themselves well.
Bisudu wanted to drive the Tang Dynasty out of Mobei and let Mobei re-establish their own Khanate, which would rule the entire Mobei instead of the Han Li Tang Dynasty. Bisudu
knew how powerful the Tang Dynasty was. If he rebelled alone, it would be like an egg hitting a rock. So he thought of gathering all the tribes to fight against the Tang Dynasty.
Many tribes were afraid of the Tang Dynasty. If he wanted these people to join his team, he had to destroy the influence of the Tang Dynasty in their hearts.
To achieve this, attacking Yanran Duhufu was the most effective way.
"Why is Bisudu in control of the Uighurs? Was Po-Yan killed by Bisudu? If so, the Yanran Protectorate is in danger. Your Majesty should immediately send a capable general to quell the Uighur rebellion." Li Ke said.
When Li Ke heard that it was Bisudu, not Po-Yan's son Bisu, who became the leader of the Uighurs, his first reaction was that Po-Yan was killed by Bisudu.
After all, the previous leader of the Uighurs, Po-Yan's father Tumidu, was killed by his nephew Wuhe.
It is not impossible for such a thing to happen again within the Uighurs.