Göktürk raid of 542

Every year, once the river had frozen, the Göktürks came raiding into the territory of the Western Wei. Until 542 the villagers of the frontier were sent into the walled forts before them.^[1] In that year Yuwen Ce took over the acting governorship of Suizhou on the northern frontier. He let the villagers stay in their homes. Instead he had firewood piled at several hundred places along the main roads. He sent his scouts far out to watch the raiders’ movements.^[1]

In the twelfth month of 542 the Göktürks came in by Liangu, some tens of li from the border. Yuwen Ce had all the piles fired at once. The Göktürks took this for the approach of a large army. They fled in fear, trampled one another and left behind more livestock and baggage than could be counted.^[1] Yuwen Ce gathered the spoils at his leisure and gave them out to the people. From then on the Göktürks did not dare to come again. Yuwen Ce asked for a standing garrison on the frontier.^[1]

The account comes from the biography of Yuwen Ce in the Zhou Shu, the dynastic history of the Zhou. It names no Göktürk commander.^[1] The raid is attributed to Bumin, who led the Ashina from 542 onward. The source does not say so. It was not the first Göktürk incursion into Wei lands. The same passage speaks of raids every winter.^[1] The year 542 stands out because the defence was new and the record dates it.

Course and significance

The raid did not open the War of Independence, which dates from the break with the Rouran in 546. It failed without a battle and cost the raiders their livestock and baggage.^[1] Three years later the Wei chancellor Yuwen Tai sent an embassy to the Göktürks.^[2]

The size of the raiding party can be reckoned in the hundreds or thousands. The source gives no number.