After the turmoil was first pacified, Su Dingluan appeared out of nowhere to attempt to a.s.sa.s.sinate Taizong. Fortunately, the grandmaster, Zen Master True Compa.s.sion, was hidden nearby. Taizong was unharmed. Su Dingluan was a third-ranked general of Northern Han. His nature was violent, adept at killing enemy commanders and seizing standards. There was nothing that he could not break through. He would frequently precede the main force and was nicknamed the “Vanguard General.”

—Yong Dynastic Records, Biography of Taizong