Tulun cost the Rouran the Gaoche. The loss outlasted him by sixty years. In his reign Afuzhiluo founded a Tiele state in the west. This state was the enemy that every later khan of the house fought. It was still there when the Göktürks rose. The Wei Shu portrays Tulun as having the harshest character of any khan of the house.[1]
Accession and character
Tulun succeeded his father Yucheng in 485 with the title Fugudun Khan, “constant”. He proclaimed the era Taiping.[1] According to the chapter, he was cruel by nature and fond of killing.[1] His ministers Houyiyin and Shiluohou remonstrated with him more than once, in loyal words. They urged him to keep the peace with the neighbouring state and not to raid China.[1] In anger, Tulun accused Shiluohou of treason and killed him. He also exterminated Shiluohou’s family to the third degree.[1] In the chapter’s words, he was “particularly inclined to murder”.[2]
Secession of the Gaoche (487)
The Gaoche chapter of the same history tells what the killing cost. The Fufuluo, one of the twelve Gaoche clans, had been subject to the Rouran. In Tulun’s time, “when the Rouran were in disorder and their tribes scattered”, their chief Afuzhiluo and his cousin Qiongqi together led more than a hundred thousand tents of Gaoche.[1]
In 487 Tulun raided the Wei frontier.[1] Afuzhiluo and the others remonstrated firmly but were not heard. Angered, they led their people west in revolt, to the north-west of the Former Division of Gaochang.[1] There Afuzhiluo set himself up as king with the title Houloufule, which the Wei glossed as “great son of heaven”. He made Qiongqi Houbei, “heir”.[1] The two ruled in concord: Afuzhiluo in the north, Qiongqi in the south.[1] Tulun pursued them, but Afuzhiluo defeated him again and again. Tulun led his people east.[1]
In modern accounts, the secession was a revolt of the Tiele under Rouran control. They migrated north and west and, at a safe distance, declared themselves independent.[2]
Campaign of 492 and death
In the eighth month of 492 the emperor Xiaowen sent seventy thousand horse against Tulun. The commanders were the prince of Yangping, Yi, and the vice-director Lu Rui, together with twelve generals.[1] The Rouran chapter places the Gaoche secession at this point.[3] Afuzhiluo led more than a hundred thousand tents west. He set himself up as ruler.[3]
Tulun and his uncle Nagai set out in pursuit on two roads. Tulun went north of Mount Junji and then west. Nagai marched from the Golden Mountain, the Altai.[3] Afuzhiluo beat Tulun again and again. Nagai, by contrast, won victory after victory. The people held that Heaven was helping Nagai and wished to make him ruler.[1] Nagai refused: “I cannot even be a minister, how could I be ruler”.[1] When the people pressed him, they killed Tulun and his mother and showed Nagai the corpses. Nagai took the throne.[1] Tulun could not defeat his former subjects. He was toppled and killed.[2]
Assessment
Tulun’s reign is the turning point of the khaganate’s history. Before it, the Rouran fought the Wei. After it, they fought the Gaoche, who were harder opponents.
Some scholars hold that the Tuoba frequently attacked the Rouran and kept them off balance at least until about 490. According to them, the disturbances of these decades contributed to the movement of the Oghur tribes of the Tiele confederation into the western steppes.[2]
According to the same chapter, Tulun’s widow, of the Houlüling clan, was the woman whom Futu afterwards married. She bore Chounu and Anagui. The last two khans of the house were therefore the sons of the widow of the khan whom the people had killed.[1]
References
Sources
- Wei Shu, juan 103
Literature
- Peter B. Golden, An Introduction to the History of the Turkic Peoples (1992)
- Emre-E. Yavuz, The Gokturk Empire: 2nd Edition (2025)
What links here9
- Persons
- Afuzhiluo · Futu Khan · Nagai Khan · Yucheng Khan
- States
- Rouran Khaganate
Cite this article
Yavuz, Emre-E. “Tulun Khan.” Turkic Atlas, revised 8 November 2026. https://turkicatlas.org/persons/tulun-khan/
Last revised: 8 November 2026
