Diplomacy and Trade in the Chinese World, 589-1276

(Jeff_L) #1
the turkic tribes 377

short.^2 Ch’i-min thanked in a letter which in the Chinese sources is
called a “memorial”. In this and further documents, he supposedly
referred to himself as “subject”. Since his Chinese wife, the Princess
of An-yi was no longer alive, Emperor Wen married another lady of
the imperial house to him, the Princess of Yi-ch’eng. Many Eastern
Turkish tribes attached themselves to him (Sui shu 84:11a-11b; T’ung-
tien 197:39a; Wen-hsien t’ung-k’ao 343:6b).
Tu-lan continued his attacks on T’u-li, and the latter temporarily
withdrew with his followers to grazing grounds in the Ordos Region
(map 10). Four Chinese armies were sent out against Tu-lan, and in
the course of this campaign he was killed by his own men (Sui shu 84:
11a, 11b; Pei-shih11:25b).
The qaghan of the Western Turks, Ta-t’ou (Tardu), a paternal
uncle of Sha-po-lüeh, had allied himself with Tu-lan against T’u-li
(Ch’i-min). After Tu-lan’s death, he attempted to make himself Great
Qaghan of all the Turks, adopting the title of Pu-chia Qaghan. This
embroiled him in a largely unsuccessful war against both the Chinese
and Ch’i-min. On Jan.21, 600, envoys of Ch’i-min to the Sui court
expressed his thanks for support and presented regional objects (Sui
shu 2:13b-14a; 84:6a, 11b; Pei-shih 11:25b).
From 601, Ch’i-min was was gradually recognized as qaghan by
Eastern Turkish tribes. But Ta-t’ou kept up the pressure and captured a
great number of people and domestic animals. Chinese troops pursued
and routed his forces and returned the captured people and animals
to Ch’i-min. After further fighting, Ta-t’ou was in 603 defeated by
the T’ieh-le, fled to the T’u-yü-hun, and disappeared from history.
Thereafter Ch’i-min was unchallenged as the Eastern Turkish ruler
(Sui shu 84:12a).
A son of Ch’i-min was received at the Sui court on June 9, 607,
and a nephew on June 18 (Sui shu 3:9b).
On June 23, 607, envoys of Ch’i-min proposed a meeting of the
two rulers on Chinese soil, which was rejected by Emperor Yang.^4
But the emperor soon had a change of heart. On July 10, he arrived
in Yü-lin commandery in what now is Sui-yüan, and there on July
19 met Ch’i-min and his qatun, the Princess of Yi-ch’eng. Ch’i-min


(^2) Wen-hsien t’ung-k’ao avoids Li Shih-min’s tabooed given name and calls him
Ch’i-jen. 4
He had succeeded his father Wen on Aug.13, 604.

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