In 615, Emperor Yang placed him in charge of the operations against agrarian rebels in the Hedong (河東) region (roughly modern Shanxi), but recalled him in 616.
The Chang'an officials were panicked by the vision of a new Khitan rebellion and ordered Prince of Zhong Jun, as commander in chief assisted by 18 generals, to go north with warriors recruited from as far as Guannei, Hedong, Henan and Hebei to crush this Khitan-Xi rebellion.
Hedong |
Consort Yujiulü, sister of Yujiulü Pi (郁久閭毗) the Prince of Hedong, posthumously honored as Empress Gong
He thus requested that he be allowed to leave the Jin capital Taiyuan and be made the military governor of Datong Circuit (大同, headquartered in modern Datong, Shanxi), which would be carved out of Hedong Circuit.