In 601 the Sui emperor made Yang Su commander-in-chief of the Yunzhou route. He sent him north with Yami Khan, the Göktürk khan the Sui had raised.[1] The Huxue and other clans, which had first attached themselves to Yami, had now turned against him.[1] Göktürk raiders carried off Yami’s people and herds twice. Twice Yang Su broke them and brought the captives back.[1] The Zizhi tongjian enters the raid and the pursuit under 602.[2]

The year 601

The year began with a Sui defeat.[2] Tardush, who called himself Bujia Khan, raided the frontier. He beat Han Hong, the commander of Daizhou, at Heng’an.[2] The Sui Shu says that Han Hong was reduced to a commoner for it.[1] On the day jichou of the fifth month ninety thousand Göktürk men and women came to the Sui to surrender.[2]

The biography of Zhangsun Sheng, the Sui envoy at Yami’s side, tells how the campaign began.[3] From the wall of his town, he reported, he had seen a red mist spread over more than a hundred li north of the desert.[3] The books of war called it a rain of blood, the sign of a country soon to perish.[3] The emperor named Yang Su marshal. He gave Zhangsun Sheng full powers to march north with Yami and protect the people who had surrendered.[3] The Zizhi tongjian names Zhangsun Sheng envoy for receiving the surrendered. It has the army go north with Yami against Tardush.[2]

The raid of Awusili Irkin

Yang Su’s army stood north of the Yellow River when the irkin Awusili and others crossed to the south.[1] They carried off six thousand of Yami’s men and women and more than two hundred thousand head of livestock.[1] Yang Su went after them with light horse and the general Liang Mo.[1] He fought on for more than sixty li, broke the irkin and returned all the people and herds to Yami.[1] He also sent Zhang Dinghe and Liu Sheng by another road to cut the raiders off. They came back with many heads and much booty.[1]

When the army had crossed the river, raiders fell on Yami’s people again.[1] Yang Su and the cavalry general Fan Gui struck them southeast of the Kujie valley. They broke the raiders a second time and pursued them for more than eighty li.[1]

The Zizhi tongjian describes the pursuit as a ruse.[2] After the first rout the Göktürks fled north. Yang Su followed them and caught up with them at night.[2] Fearing that they would escape, he held his horsemen back. With only two riders and two surrendered Göktürks he rode alongside the enemy, who did not notice him.[2] When the enemy halted and had not yet settled, he called up his horsemen, fell on them and broke them. He recovered everything for Yami.[2] The biography of Zhangsun Sheng names the Beihe, the northern river, as the place where the army met Sili Irkin.[3] Zhangsun Sheng and Liang Mo drove the enemy back for sixty li, and many surrendered.[4]

Dating

The sources give three datings. The Sui Shu’s chapter on the Göktürks tells the whole campaign under the first year of Renshou, 601.[1] The Zizhi tongjian and the biography of Zhangsun Sheng put the raid and the pursuit in 602.[2][3] These are weighed against the biography of Liang Mo, which sets the campaign at the end of the Kaihuang era. It places the raid and its repulse between the end of 600 and 602.[5]

Consequences

From that time, the Zizhi tongjian says, the Göktürks fled far away. South of the desert there were no more raids.[2] For his merit Yang Su’s son Xuangan was made zhuguo, and his son Xuanzong was given the title duke of Huainan.[2] Zhangsun Sheng had Yami send envoys to the Tiele and the other tribes in the north to win them over to the Sui.[6] The same tribes rose against Tardush in the collapse of 603.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Sui Shu (Book of Sui), juan 84
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Zizhi tongjian (Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance), juan 179
  3. ^ a b c d e f Sui Shu (Book of Sui); Mau-tsai 1958, Turkish edition, p. 145
  4. ^ Sui Shu (Book of Sui); Mau-tsai 1958, Turkish edition, p. 145,146
  5. ^ Mau-tsai 1958, Turkish edition, p. 89
  6. ^ Sui Shu (Book of Sui); Mau-tsai 1958, Turkish edition, p. 146

Sources

Literature

  • Liu Mau-tsai, Çin Kaynaklarına Göre Doğu Türkleri (1958, Turkish edition)

Related

What links here5

Persons
Awusili Irkin · Niri Khan · Yami Khan
States
Sui
Battles & Events
Fall of Tardush (603)

Cite this article

Yavuz, Emre-E. “Yang Su's Northern Campaign (601–602).” Turkic Atlas, revised 8 November 2026. https://turkicatlas.org/events/yang-su-northern-campaign-601/

Last revised: 8 November 2026