In the third month of 630 Ilig Khan, the last khan of the eastern Göktürks, was taken alive in the camp of his kinsman Suni Shi, the Shaboluo Shad.[1] The Tang deputy commander Zhang Baoxiang led the troops who came upon the camp.[2] Ilig was sent to Chang’an. There he was announced as a captive at the ancestral temple and brought before the emperor Taizong.[3] Taizong named his crimes. He spared his life for the sake of the oath sworn at the Wei river in 626.[4] With the capture the eastern khaganate had no khan left.

The flight

After the battle of the Iron Mountain Ilig rode away alone on a horse that could run a thousand li.[2] He made for the camp of Shaboluo.[5] The Jiu Tang Shu calls Shaboluo the son of a cousin of Ilig.[5] The Xin Tang Shu and the Zizhi tongjian identify the Shaboluo Shad as Suni Shi. He was a younger brother of Ilig’s father Yami and so Ilig’s uncle.[4]

Shibi Khan had made Suni Shi Shaboluo Shad over fifty thousand households. His camp lay north-west of Lingzhou.[4] Suni Shi ruled the households kindly. When Ilig’s government fell into disorder, his tribes alone stayed loyal.[3] When Töles went over to the Tang, Ilig made Suni Shi a lesser khan.[4]

The capture

The Zizhi tongjian tells the last days most fully.[6] Ilig came to Suni Shi intending to flee on to the Tuyuhun.[6] Li Daozong, the Tang commander of the Datong road, pressed Suni Shi with his army to seize Ilig and hand him over.[6] Ilig fled by night with a few horsemen and hid in a deserted valley.[6] Suni Shi took fright, rode after him and caught him.[6] On the day gengchen the deputy commander Zhang Baoxiang came upon Shaboluo’s camp, took Ilig and sent him to the capital.[6] Suni Shi surrendered with all his people, and the land south of the desert was left empty.[6]

The Jiu Tang Shu and the Xin Tang Shu name only Zhang Baoxiang. In their account he came on the camp suddenly and took Ilig alive.[2] The Cefu yuangui says that Ilig fled to a place in the west and that the army took him there.[7] The notes on variant accounts that accompany the Zizhi tongjian, as one scholar reports them, give two further versions.[8] According to the Veritable Records of Taizong, Suni Shi submitted and handed Ilig over to the Tang generals.[8] According to Suni Shi’s own biography, he charged his son Ashina Zhong with seizing Ilig and handing him over. The notes judge that he did so under pressure from Zhang Baoxiang.[8]

One modern account tells it in the same sense.[9] The Göktürk commanders surrendered one after another. One of them, Ilig’s uncle, handed the khan over with his own hands.[9] The ruler of the Göktürks had been betrayed.[9]

Of all the chiefs, only Ashina Simo had stayed with Ilig to the end. He was taken with him.[1]

The arraignment

The annals of the Jiu Tang Shu enter the capture under the day gengchen of the third month. They enter the announcement at the ancestral temple under jiawu, at the end of that month.[10] The Xin Tang Shu says that the capture was announced at the temple when Ilig reached the capital.[3] The emperor went up to the Shuntian tower, set out his guards and let the people of the city look on. The officials led the khan before him.[3] The Zizhi tongjian dates the scene to the day wuxu of the fourth month.[6]

Taizong charged him with five crimes. The two histories give two different lists.[4] In the Xin Tang Shu the first crime is that Ilig’s father had lost his state and been kept safe by the Sui, and Ilig had not lent a single arrowhead to save the Sui, so that its temples received no more offerings.[3] The next two are that he had broken faith with his neighbour and harried the frontier, and that he had used his army without restraint until his own tribes resented him.[3] The last two are that he had robbed the Chinese and trampled their crops, and that he had promised a marriage alliance and then delayed and run away.[3]

In the Zizhi tongjian the first crime is that Ilig had squandered the inheritance of his father and brothers in excess and cruelty and so brought about his ruin.[6] He had often sworn with the Tang and broken the oath. He had loved war, so that bones lay like grass. He had trampled the crops and carried off the people.[6] The fifth crime is that the emperor had pardoned him and preserved his state, and he had put off coming.[6]

Both lists end in the same way.[4] The emperor said that he had cause to kill him, but that he had not forgotten the oath on the Wei.[3] In the Zizhi tongjian he adds that since the oath at the Bian bridge Ilig had not invaded in force again, and that this saved his life.[6] Ilig wept, thanked him and withdrew.[6] The Jiu Tang Shu gives a milder speech without the list. In it the emperor never forgot a service and in the end did not remember a wrong, and since the oath at the Wei Ilig had committed no deep offence.[5]

In Chang’an

Ilig’s family was returned to him. He was lodged at the office of the imperial stables, and the state fed him.[2] The Xin Tang Shu says that he would not live in a house and kept a felt tent set up in the courtyard.[3] One modern account stresses that Taizong had him treated decently, not as spoils of war but as a noble guest.[9]

The Zizhi tongjian sets a scene at the Tang court beside the capture.[6] When the retired emperor Gaozu heard that Ilig had been taken, he recalled that the Han founder had been trapped at Baideng and never avenged it.[6] Now Gaozu’s son had destroyed the Göktürks, and Gaozu had entrusted the empire to the right man.[6] At a feast in the Lingyan pavilion Gaozu played the lute and Taizong rose and danced.[6] In the same spring the rulers of the four quarters asked Taizong to take the title of Heavenly Khan. From then on his sealed letters to the rulers of the north-west used it.[6]

Ilig lived four more years as a captive general and died at Chang’an in 634.[5] The fifty years of Tang rule over the eastern Göktürks began with his capture.

References

  1. ^ a b Jiu Tangshu (Old Book of Tang), juan 194; Zizhi tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance), juan 193
  2. ^ a b c d Jiu Tangshu (Old Book of Tang), juan 194; Xin Tangshu (New Book of Tang), juan 215
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Xin Tangshu (New Book of Tang), juan 215
  4. ^ a b c d e f Xin Tangshu (New Book of Tang), juan 215; Zizhi tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance), juan 193
  5. ^ a b c d Jiu Tangshu (Old Book of Tang), juan 194
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Zizhi tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance), juan 193
  7. ^ Cefu yuangui, juan 1000
  8. ^ a b c Mau-tsai 1958, Turkish edition, p. 193–194
  9. ^ a b c d Yavuz 2025, p. 378
  10. ^ Mau-tsai 1958, Turkish edition, p. 332

Sources

Literature

  • Liu Mau-tsai, Çin Kaynaklarına Göre Doğu Türkleri (1958, Turkish edition)
  • Emre-E. Yavuz, The Gokturk Empire: 2nd Edition (2025)

Related

What links here9

Persons
Ilig Khan · Suni Shi
Conflicts
Hegemony Wars in Northern China · Tang conquest of the eastern Khaganate, 626–630
Battles & Events
Battle of the Iron Mountain (630) · Ilig Khan's Dance at the Weiyang Palace (633) · Ransom of the Chinese from the Göktürks (631) · Submission of Yiwu (630)
Places
Lingzhou

Cite this article

Yavuz, Emre-E. “Capture of Ilig Khan (630).” Turkic Atlas, revised 8 November 2026. https://turkicatlas.org/events/capture-of-ilig-630/

Last revised: 8 November 2026