Töles, whom the Chinese call Tuli Khan, was the son of Shibi Khan and the nephew of Ilig Khan. He held the eastern wing of the eastern Göktürks as a lesser khan.[1] In 628 he told the Tang that he had fallen out with his uncle and asked them to attack Ilig.[1] When Ilig attacked him, he asked the Tang for help.[2] In the twelfth month of 629, as the Tang armies set out against Ilig, he came over with the Yushe Shad, the tegin Yinnai and their people.[1] The Tang campaign that ended the eastern khaganate three months later began with the khan’s own nephew on the Tang side.

The lesser khan of the east

When Ilig came to the throne in 620 he made Töles a khan and gave him a camp due north of Youzhou.[1] Töles governed the eastern tribes, among them the two peoples the Chinese call Xi, and several dozen others.[1] He taxed them without measure, and many of the tribes resented him.[1]

From the Wude years he had bound himself to Li Shimin, the later emperor Taizong.[1] Li Shimin treated him with favour, and the two swore brotherhood.[1] At the standoff at Binzhou in 624 Li Shimin reminded Töles of an earlier oath before both armies. Afterwards Töles asked to become his brother.[1]

The break

Early in the Zhenguan years the Xi went over to the Tang.[1] Ilig was angry that Töles had lost them. In the revolt of 627 he sent Töles north against the Xueyantuo.[1] Töles lost that army too. Ilig imprisoned him for more than ten days and had him beaten.[1] From then on Töles resented his uncle and meant to break away.[1] Ilig’s government fell into disorder.[1] He demanded troops from Töles again and again. Töles refused them, and the quarrel was open.[2]

In 628 Töles sent an envoy to say that he was at odds with Ilig and to ask the Tang to strike him.[3] The Tang ordered Qin Wutong to receive him with the troops of Bingzhou as the occasion allowed.[3]

The request for help

The Zizhi tongjian sets the next steps in the fourth month of 628.[4] Töles sent a memorial asking to come to court.[4] Taizong told his ministers that the Göktürks, once strong with a million bowmen, had grown arrogant and lost their people.[4] That Töles now asked to come to court showed how hard he was pressed.[4] The emperor said he was glad, because a weak steppe meant a safe frontier. He was also afraid, because a ruler who lost his way might end as the Göktürks had.[4] He asked his ministers not to spare their criticism.[4] The biography of Töles in the Jiu Tang Shu gives a speech to the same effect under 629.[1]

Ilig then sent troops against Töles, and on the day dinghai Töles sent to ask for help.[4] Taizong put the difficulty to his ministers. Töles was his sworn brother and had to be helped, but Ilig too had an oath with him.[5] Du Ruhui, the president of the Board of War, answered that the steppe peoples kept no faith and would break the treaty in the end.[4] To take a state in disorder, he said, was the way of old.[4] The emperor agreed and sent the general Zhou Fan to Taiyuan to prepare an advance.[6]

One modern account tells the break in a different order.[7] Soon after his release Töles fled to China, where Taizong gave him asylum and a residence in Chang’an.[7] On 21 April 628 he asked the Chinese at Chang’an for help against Ilig and submitted completely. Taizong made him a general in the war against his uncle.[7]

The crossing

In 629 the Tang sent their armies against Ilig under Li Jing.[1] In the twelfth month Töles, the Yushe Shad and the tegin Yinnai came over with their followers.[3] The Xin Tang Shu sets their coming after a Tang victory at Lingzhou, when reports of success arrived day and night.[8] The Zizhi tongjian has Töles come to court on the day wuchen of the twelfth month.[9] Taizong told his ministers that his father had called himself a subject of the Göktürks for the sake of the people, which had always pained him.[9] Now the chanyu bowed his head, and the old shame might be wiped out.[9] The emperor received Töles with great courtesy and sent him dishes from his own table.[1]

Afterwards

Ilig was taken in the third month of 630.[1] In the same month Töles was made a general of the Right Guard and prince of Beiping commandery.[9] In the fifth month he became governor-general of Shunzhou and was sent to lead his tribes.[9] Taizong told him why he would not make him khan. His grandfather Yami had been restored by the Sui and had never repaid the favour, and his father Shibi had become the scourge of the Sui.[1] He was made a governor so that China might have peace and his house might last. He was to keep the Tang laws and not raid.[1] The arrangement was one of the loose-rein prefectures by which the Tang governed the Göktürks. Töles was summoned to court in 631 and died of illness on the road at Bingzhou, twenty-nine years old.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Jiu Tangshu (Old Book of Tang), juan 194
  2. ^ a b Jiu Tangshu (Old Book of Tang), juan 194; Zizhi tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance), juan 192
  3. ^ a b c Jiu Tangshu (Old Book of Tang), juan 194; Tongdian, juan 197
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Zizhi tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance), juan 192
  5. ^ Zizhi tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance), juan 192; Xin Tangshu (New Book of Tang), juan 215
  6. ^ Jiu Tangshu (Old Book of Tang), juan 194; Xin Tangshu (New Book of Tang), juan 215
  7. ^ a b c Yavuz 2025, p. 377
  8. ^ Xin Tangshu (New Book of Tang), juan 215
  9. ^ a b c d e Zizhi tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance), juan 193

Sources

Literature

  • Emre-E. Yavuz, The Gokturk Empire: 2nd Edition (2025)

Related

What links here7

Persons
Ilig Khan · Princess Huainan · Töles Khan
Conflicts
Hegemony Wars in Northern China · Tang conquest of the eastern Khaganate, 626–630
Battles & Events
Revolt of the Tiele (627) · The Standoff at Binzhou (624)

Cite this article

Yavuz, Emre-E. “Defection of Töles (628).” Turkic Atlas, revised 28 October 2026. https://turkicatlas.org/events/defection-of-toles-628/

Last revised: 28 October 2026