376 the turkic tribes
dynasty by the Sui in 581, she was bestowed the imperial surname
of Yang and was entered into the imperial register. Her title was
changed to Princess of Ta-yi, and in 589 or soon thereafter she was
presented with valuable door screens which formed part of the loot
taken from the defeated Ch’en dynasty in south China. However, the
princess resented the fall of Northern Chou, and the Chinese believed
that she was enciting the Eastern Turks against them. Emperor Wen
therefore first demoted her to “Evermore Mean Princess”, then made
her a commoner, and slandered her to her husband (Chou shu 50:8a;
Sui shu 84:8a, 8b, 9b, 10a).
On May 5, 591, a maternal uncle of Tu-lan presented a jade staff
from Khotan. Emperor Wen appointed this envoy as Pillar of State
and enfeoffed him as a duke (Sui shu 2:7a; 84:9b).
On Jan.9, 593, envoys sent by Eastern Turkish chiefs presented
10,000 horses, 20,000 sheep, 500 camels, and 500 heads of cattle. A
subsequent mission negotiated with the Chinese the establishment of
border markets (Sui shu 2:8a; 84:9b).
At this time, the Chinese had begun to deal with a lesser Eastern
Turkish qaghan, who was a son of Sha-po-lüeh and consequently a
half-brother of Tu-lan. This was the T’u-li Qaghan. He sent envoys
to the Sui court and requested to marry a Chinese princess. At the
advice of his central-Asian expert P’ei Chü, Emperor Wen agreed in
593, on the condition that the hostile Chinese qatun be killed. She
was subsequently assassinated, the details being unknown (Sui shu 84:
10a;T’ung-tien 197:39a; Wen-hsien t’ung-k’ao 343:6b).
On Sep.10, 597, Emperor Wen approved the marriage of the
Princess of An-yi to T’u-li. He gave T’u-li preferential treatment and
sent envoys to him (Sui shu 84:10b; T’ung-tien 197:39a; Wen-hsien t’ung-
k’ao343:6b).
On Dec.28, 597, a Turkish mission was received at the Sui court.
It had been sent by T’u-li to escort his bride to his camp (Sui shu 2:
12b,Pei-shih 11:24b; 99:13a).
The Chinese policy of driving a wedge between T’u-li and Tu-lan
was successful, the former becoming friendly to Sui and the latter
halting his missions to the court and turning hostile. Open warfare
between the two broke out in 598 (Sui shu 84:10b).
In 599, T’u-li was defeated by Tu-lan and fled with five horsemen
and a Sui envoy. In the 6th month (June/July), Emperor Wen gave
him the new title of Yi-li-chen-tou-ch’i-min Qaghan or Ch’i-min for