In the second month of 620 Chula Khan brought the Sui empress Xiao and the Sui prince Yang Zhengdao to his court. He made Zhengdao king of Sui.[1] The Chinese who had come into the Göktürk lands at the end of the Sui were placed under him. They kept the Sui calendar and had officials of their own. They lived in the walled town of Dingxiang, ten thousand of them.[1] Chula planned to win Bingzhou for his king of Sui. He died before he could march.[2] The court in exile lasted until the Tang conquest of 630.[1]

Empress Xiao and Yang Zhengdao

At the end of the Sui, the Sui Shu says, countless Chinese went over to the Göktürks. The Göktürks grew strong enough to overshadow China. They took in the empress Xiao and placed her at Dingxiang.[3] The empress, the widow of the emperor Yangdi, and Yang Zhengdao had fallen into the hands of the rebel Dou Jiande.[1] Zhengdao was the son of Jian, the prince of Qi, whom the Zizhi tongjian names as Yangdi’s son.[4] He has also been called a posthumous son of Yang Jian, the founder of the Sui.[5]

Chula had become khan in 619, after the death of his brother Shibi. He had married the Sui princess Yicheng, the widow of his father and his brother.[1] In the second month of 620 he fetched the empress and Zhengdao to his court.[6] The Tongdian says the spring of 620.[7]

The king of Sui

Chula set Zhengdao up as king of Sui.[1] The Xin Tang Shu says that he did so to continue the Sui line.[8] All the Chinese of the Sui who lived among the Göktürks were made Zhengdao’s subjects.[1] They kept the Sui calendar and had officials on the Sui model. They lived at Dingxiang.[6] The histories count them at ten thousand. The Tongdian says more than ten thousand.[9] The court may have been a symbolic act. It gave the Göktürk interventions in China a measure of legitimacy. It was made at the same time as alliances with the warlords Wang Shichong and Dou Jiande.[5]

Chula kept the peace with the Tang at the same time.[1] When Li Shimin marched against the rebel Liu Wuzhou, Chula sent his brother, the Buli Shad, with two thousand riders to join the Tang army.[1] In the sixth month Chula came to Bingzhou himself.[1] The commander Li Zhongwen came out to receive him. The Göktürks stayed three days and carried off many of the women of the city.[1]

Chula’s plan

Chula wanted to take Bingzhou and give it to Yang Zhengdao.[10] His ministers advised against it. The Xin Tang Shu says that the divination was unfavourable.[8] Chula answered: “My father lost his state and was set up again by the Sui. That kindness must not be forgotten.”[2] The Xin Tang Shu has him say that the divination might be unlucky, but that he would decide for himself.[8]

The Zizhi tongjian sets a larger plan beside it.[2] The warlord Liang Shidu urged Chula to take the central plain while it was still divided.[2] Chula agreed.[2] The Moheduo Shad was to march by Yuanzhou. The Nibu Shad was to march with Liang Shidu by Yanzhou. Chula himself was to march by Bingzhou. The Tuli Khan was to march with the Xi, the Khitan and the Mohe by Youzhou.[2] All were to meet the army of Dou Jiande in the lands of Jin and Jiang.[2] Some scholars name Liang Shidu as the author of the plan. It has Dou Jiande cross the Taihang mountains to join the Göktürks.[5]

Chula’s death

Chula died as he was about to march.[2] The histories explain it in three ways. The Jiu Tang Shu says only that he died soon afterwards.[1] The Xin Tang Shu tells of blood that rained for three days and of dogs that howled at night in packs and could not be found.[8] In the same account Chula fell ill. The princess gave him the five-mineral powder. An abscess broke out, and he died.[8] The Zizhi tongjian says that the Tang envoy Zheng Yuanshu had been at his court shortly before.[11] When the khan died of his illness, his people suspected Zheng Yuanshu of poisoning him. They kept him prisoner.[11] Some scholars regard the poisoning as likely.[5]

The princess Yicheng passed over Chula’s son, the Aoshe Shad, as ugly and weak. She raised his brother Duobi as Ilig Khan.[1] Ilig married the princess in turn. He made Shibi’s son Töles, whose Chinese name was Shiboubi, the Tuli Khan.[1] The Zizhi tongjian has Ilig’s envoys announce Chula’s death at Chang’an in the eleventh month of 620.[2]

The end of the court

The court at Dingxiang outlived Chula by ten years.[1] In the first month of 630 the Tang general Li Jing fell on Dingxiang by night. Ilig fled.[1] The hu chief Kang Sumi then went over to the Tang. He brought the empress Xiao and Yang Zhengdao with him.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Jiu Tangshu (Old Book of Tang), juan 194
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Zizhi tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance), juan 188
  3. ^ Sui Shu (Book of Sui), juan 84
  4. ^ Jiu Tangshu (Old Book of Tang), juan 194; Zizhi tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance), juan 181
  5. ^ a b c d Yavuz 2025, p. 343
  6. ^ a b Jiu Tangshu (Old Book of Tang), juan 194; Zizhi tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance), juan 188
  7. ^ Tongdian, juan 197
  8. ^ a b c d e Xin Tangshu (New Book of Tang), juan 215
  9. ^ Jiu Tangshu (Old Book of Tang), juan 194; Xin Tangshu (New Book of Tang), juan 215; Tongdian, juan 197
  10. ^ Zizhi tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance), juan 188; Xin Tangshu (New Book of Tang), juan 215
  11. ^ a b Zizhi tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance), juan 189

Sources

Literature

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

Related

What links here5

Persons
Aoshe Shad · Buli Shad · Kang Sumi
States
Sui
Places
Dingxiang

Cite this article

Yavuz, Emre-E. “The Sui Court in Exile at Dingxiang (620).” Turkic Atlas, revised 8 November 2026. https://turkicatlas.org/events/sui-court-in-exile-620/

Last revised: 8 November 2026