First founded by Emperor Wu of Han in the wake of the successful reconquest of the area from Xiongnu tribes, it was dissolved during the late Eastern Han Dynasty and then reconstituted centuries later during the Northern Wei and Sui periods, before finally being dissolved during the Tang Dynasty.
Shuofang |
With much internal troubles, Ashina Duobi was unable to aid Liang, and later in 628, with Emperor Taizong's brother-in-law Chai Shao (柴紹) sieging Liang's capital Shuofang (朔方, in modern Yulin, Shaanxi), Liang Shidu's cousin Liang Luoren (梁洛仁) assassinated Liang Shidu and surrendered, ending the final rival claim to Emperor Taizong's for China's imperial throne.
Zhuye Zhiyi was able to make it through to Tang's Ling Prefecture (靈州, in modern Yinchuan, Ningxia), where the Tang military governor (Jiedushi) of Shuofang Circuit (朔方, headquartered at Ling Prefecture), Fan Xichao (范希朝), welcomed the Shatuo under Zhuye Zhiyi.