the turkic tribes 457to buy several tens of thousands of horses a year, but these according
to the sources were of poor quality. That is not unlikely, since the
Uighurs not only had the upper hand but also were smart businessmen.
In 781, the T’ang court owed the Uighurs 1,800,000 strings of cash
for their horses. In 765 it paid 100,000 bolts of silk, in 782 100,000
bolts, in 787 50,000 bolts, in 790 300,000 bolts, in 792 70,000 bolts,
in 822 120,000 bolts, in 827 700,000 bolts, and in 829 230,000 bolts.
That adds up to 1,670,000 bolts or about 41,750 horses. Even if this
included silk owed for earlier years, the expense was a burden to the
T’ang. In fact, Emperor Tai-tsung had to dock the salaries of the court
officials for three month in 765 in order to come up with the required
amount. The Chinese were not fond of the Uighurs, but they knew
that, whatever the cost, they had to be appeased.
The sources record that the T’ang court was suspended for mourn-
ing after the deaths of qaghans in 789, 790, 795, 808, 821, and 833.
In 791, the court was suspended for mourning after the death of
the Junior Princess of Ning-kuo. In 789, 821, and 833, officials were
ordered to condole with the Uighur envoys at the Ministry of the
Grand Herald. Chinese envoys condoled in Karabalghasun after the
deaths of five qaghans in 759, 779, 821,824, and 833. They recognized
eleven qaghans in 744, 758, 763, 780 (repeated in 787), 789, 791, 795,
808, 821, 824, and 833, and six of the of Kan chou qaghans in 924,
928, 939, 1008, 1017, and 1023. They once condoled at the death of
a qatun in 768. This list is almost certainly incomplete.
The T’ang is not recorded to have conferred posthumous titles on
Uighur qaghans,^115 and that may be a historical fact. The qaghans
might have considered it an affrontery. A posthumous title was granted
to the Princess of Hsien-an, the wife of four qaghans, in 808, but she
was Chinese.
It stands to reason that the Chinese routinely informed the Uighurs
about the deaths of all emperors, as the Uighurs did in reverse for
their qaghans. But the texts omit to mention these instances, except
that Te-tsung announced the death of his father Tai-tsung in 779. This
gives the false impression that the Uighurs had to follow a protocol
which did not apply to the Chinese.
The most important evidence of the subservience of the Chinese
to the Uighurs is dynastic marriages. The Chinese used this device to
(^115) It did confer posthumous titles on early Uighur chiefs in 648 and 719.