The Succession of 587

When Ishbara Khan died in 587, he left the throne by his will to his younger brother, the yabgu Bagha. He did not leave it to his son Yongyulü.^[1] Uncle and nephew each urged the other to take it. The envoys went back and forth five or six times.^[2] Bagha took the throne at last. He made Yongyulü his yabgu.^[2] He is known as Bagha Khan.

The death of Ishbara

In the first month of 587 Ishbara sent a son to the Sui court with tribute. He asked leave to hunt between the prefectures of Heng and Dai.^[2] The emperor agreed and sent him wine and food. Ishbara and his people bowed twice to receive the gifts.^[2] In one day Ishbara killed eighteen deer with his own hand. He sent their tails and tongues to the court.^[2]

When he came back to the Zihe garrison, his royal tent had been burnt by fire.^[2] Ishbara took it as an evil sign. A little more than a month later he died.^[2] One account speaks of an illness of a month as the cause of his death.^[3] The emperor suspended court for three days. He sent the officials of the sacrifices to offer condolence.^[2] He sent five thousand pieces of silk.^[4] The Tongdian records the three days of mourning in one line.^[5] The Zizhi tongjian enters the hunt, the death and the succession together after its entry for the fourth month of 587.^[6]

Five or six refusals

Ishbara thought his son Yongyulü weak. He left orders that his younger brother, the yabgu Bagha, should succeed him.^[2] Yongyulü sent envoys to fetch his uncle and make him khan.^[2] Bagha refused. “Since Mukan Khan,” he said, “we Göktürks have often had younger brothers take the place of elder ones and the sons of lesser wives the place of the heirs. We have lost the law of our ancestors and no longer respect one another. You must succeed, and I am not afraid to bow to you.”^[2]

Yongyulü answered through another envoy. “You and my father grew from one root and one body, and I am a branch and a leaf. How could I be lord, and make the root and the trunk the equal of branches and leaves, and set my uncle below my youth? And can my dead father’s command be set aside? I beg you, uncle, do not hesitate.”^[2] The offer and the refusal went back and forth five or six times.^[2] The Bei Shi repeats the exchange.^[7]

Accession

In the end Bagha took the throne.^[1] The Sui Shu calls him the Yehu Khan, and the Zizhi tongjian the Mohe Khan.^[1] He made Yongyulü his yabgu. He sent a memorial to the Sui court reporting what had happened.^[2] The emperor gave him drums, pipes and banners.^[2] The Zizhi tongjian adds that Zhangsun Sheng went with the emperor’s tally to invest him.^[6]

The Sui Shu describes the new khan as long-jawed and stoop-backed. His brows and eyes were clear. He was brave and full of plans.^[2] He took the Sui drums and banners west against Apa. In the capture of Apa he took him alive.^[2]

After the succession

On a second campaign in the west Bagha was killed by a stray arrow. His people raised Yongyulü as Tulan Khan.^[2] One account has Tulan follow Ishbara directly.^[3] Bagha had named the trouble of the house himself. Since Mukan, younger brothers had followed elder ones and the sons of lesser wives had displaced the heirs. The Göktürks had lost the law of their ancestors.^[2] In 587 the throne went to a brother once more. This time it went by the dead khan’s will and with the son’s consent, in the middle of the civil war.