In 608 the Sui emperor Yangdi sent the court usher Cui Junsu with a letter to Heshana, the khan of the western Göktürks. Heshana was later called Heshana Khan.[1] Heshana received the envoy haughtily and would not rise to receive the edict.[2] Cui Junsu reminded him that his mother, a Chinese woman, lived at the Sui capital. He told him that she would be put to death if he refused.[2] Heshana rose in alarm and wept. He bowed twice and knelt to receive the letter.[2]

The khan’s mother

Heshana was the son of Niri, the western khan. His mother, the Lady Xiang, was Chinese by birth.[2] After Niri’s death she married his brother Poshi Tegin.[2] At the end of the Kaihuang era Poshi and the Lady Xiang came to the Sui court.[2] The troubles of Tardush kept them from going back. They stayed at the capital, lodged in the office for foreign guests.[2]

Early in the Daye era Heshana’s people rebelled against him. The Tiele beat him badly in the revolt of 605.[2] The official Pei Ju was drawing the western states to the Sui from Dunhuang. He heard that Heshana’s state was in turmoil and that the khan longed for his mother.[2] He proposed an embassy, and the emperor sent Cui Junsu with a letter of comfort.[2] The Zizhi tongjian dates his departure to the day jimao of the second month of 608.[1]

Cui Junsu’s speech

The Sui Shu gives the speech in full.[2] The Göktürks, Cui Junsu began, had been one state. Divided in two, they had become enemies.[2] They had fought each other every year for decades. Neither could destroy the other, because Yami and Heshana were evenly matched.[2] Now Yami had submitted to the Son of Heaven with his tribes, close to a million soldiers.[2] He had done it only because he hated Heshana and could not defeat him alone. He served the Son of Heaven humbly to borrow Chinese troops and destroy the khan.[2] The officials had asked that his request be granted. The army was to march any day.[2]

Then Cui Junsu came to the mother.[2] The Lady Xiang, he said, had heard of the edict and feared for her son. She had waited at the palace gate day and night in tears.[2] The Son of Heaven had pitied her and stayed his plan.[2] She had begged for an envoy to summon her son into submission, on the same terms as Yami.[2] If the khan called himself a vassal and bowed to the edict, his state would have lasting peace and his mother a long life.[2] If not, the Lady Xiang would have deceived the Son of Heaven.[2] She would be executed, and her head would be sent to the khan’s court.[2] The armies of the Sui and the hosts of the northern peoples would fall on him from both sides.[2] “Why grudge the rite of two bows and destroy a loving mother’s life, why begrudge one word ‘subject’ and lose the realm of the Xiongnu!”[2]

Heshana rose in alarm, wept, bowed twice and knelt to receive the edict.[2] The Zizhi tongjian gives the speech in a shorter form and the same answer.[1]

The second proposal

Cui Junsu went further.[2] Yami, he said, had come over first and grown strong and rich on the gifts of the late emperor.[2] Heshana came later. He had to show his loyalty by a deed, since the road was too long for him to come to court.[2] Cui Junsu named the deed. The Tuyuhun were the mother’s family of Yami’s youngest son, the Moheduo Shad.[2] The emperor had given Yami the princess Yicheng, and Yami had since broken with the Tuyuhun. The Tuyuhun had stopped their tribute.[2] If Heshana asked leave to punish them, the emperor would grant it. The Sui would strike from within and the khan from without.[2] Then Heshana could come to court with the road open and see his old mother.[2]

Heshana was delighted and sent envoys with tribute.[2] The Zizhi tongjian says that his envoys went back with Cui Junsu and brought sweating-blood horses.[1]

Dating

Two dates stand. The Zizhi tongjian sets the embassy in the second month of 608.[1] The Sui Shu tells it after Heshana’s defeats early in the Daye era, which began in 605. It gives no year.[2] The Sui Shu gives Pei Ju the rank of Huangmen shilang, which the Zizhi tongjian has him receive at the end of 607. In this the Sui Shu therefore agrees with the later date.[3] The threat to the mother may belong at a later point. If so, his rival drove Heshana to Gaochang. He refused allegiance to the emperor at first and gave way only when told that his mother in China would be killed.[4]

Consequences

The submission did not last. The emperor went west and summoned Heshana to meet him. Heshana’s people would not let him go.[5] The Sui then turned to his rival Shegui. The fall of Heshana followed.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Zizhi tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance), juan 181
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af ag ah ai aj Sui Shu (Book of Sui), juan 84
  3. ^ Sui Shu (Book of Sui), juan 84; Zizhi tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance), juan 180
  4. ^ Yavuz 2025, p. 342
  5. ^ Sui Shu (Book of Sui), juan 84; Zizhi tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance), juan 181

Sources

Literature

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

Related

What links here8

Persons
Heshana Khan · Lady Poshi · Lady Xiang · Pei Ju
Battles & Events
Fall of Heshana Khan (611) · Tiele Revolt (605)
Institutions and Titles
Diplomacy of the Steppe Empires · Envoys and Embassies

Cite this article

Yavuz, Emre-E. “Embassy of Cui Junsu (608).” Turkic Atlas, revised 8 November 2026. https://turkicatlas.org/events/embassy-of-cui-junsu-608/

Last revised: 8 November 2026