Fall of Tardush (603)

In 603 the realm of Tardush, who called himself Bujia Khan, fell apart.^[1] More than ten tribes of the Tiele, the Pugu among them, rose against him. They went over to Yami Khan, the khan of the Sui.^[1] Tardush’s host broke up, and he fled west to the Tuyuhun.^[1] The Sui envoy Zhangsun Sheng escorted Yami to Qikou, the mouth of the desert. Yami took over all of Tardush’s people.^[1] With it the civil war ended. The khaganate remained two states.^[2]

Before the collapse

Tardush had held the east as Bujia Khan since Tulan’s death.^[3] The Sui had beaten him at Mount Dajin. Yang Su’s campaign had driven the raiders back from Yami’s lands.^[3] Some scholars have Tardush defeat Yami in 602. In the next year the tide turned with the help of Chinese troops.^[2] According to the biography of Zhangsun Sheng, he had Yami send envoys to the Tiele and the other northern tribes to win them for the Sui.^[4]

The rising

The histories give two accounts of who left Tardush.^[5] The Zizhi tongjian has the Pugu and more than ten other Tiele tribes rebel and submit to Yami.^[1] The biography of Zhangsun Sheng names them as the Sijie, the Fuliju, the Hun, the Xiesa, the Aba, the Pugu and others. It says that they wished to become subjects of the Sui.^[4] The Sui Shu’s chapter on the Göktürks tells it more briefly.^[3] That year Niri, the western khan, and his yabgu were both beaten by the Tiele. Soon after, Tardush’s state fell into great disorder, and five tribes of the Xi, 奚, and the Xi, 霫, came over within the frontier.^[3] The Tongdian repeats this sentence.^[6]

All the accounts end the same way. Tardush’s host scattered, and he fled to the Tuyuhun.^[7] Some scholars have the Tiele and the other tribes drive him out. In that case he sought refuge in northern Tibet and died there in 603.^[8] The Chinese histories do not follow him further.^[7]

Yami at Qikou

Zhangsun Sheng escorted Yami to the mouth of the desert and settled him there.^[1]^[4] Yami now held Tardush’s people. He sent tribute to the Sui every year.^[3] Some scholars add a march into Ötüken. Yami entered the sacred land with Göktürk and Chinese troops and took the title of khan. In doing so he broke the taboo that kept armies out of it.^[9] After his victory over Tardush he chose not to return to Ötüken. He settled at Qikou, at the entrance to the eastern Gobi.^[2] The choice was strategic and also a sign of his bond with China.^[2]

Dating

The Zizhi tongjian enters the collapse under 603. The biography of Zhangsun Sheng gives the third year of Renshou, 603.^[1]^[4] The Sui Shu’s chapter on the Göktürks tells it after the campaign of 601, with the words “that year” and “soon after”.^[3] Some scholars think that “that year” there cannot mean a year earlier than 602. Part of the events before it belongs to 602.^[10]

Consequences

The year 603 completed the division of the khaganate into an eastern and a western half. The civil war had begun that division in 584.^[2] In the east the Sui client Yami ruled until his death.^[3] In the west Niri’s son Daman, called Chuluo, held the khanate. He is the Heshana Khan of the later histories.^[3]