Ashina Simo

Ashina Simo held the title of khan for about four years and never commanded the obedience that went with it. The sources show in his career what the Ashina name was worth by itself, and what it was not worth. No other career gives clearer evidence.

The man two khans would not trust

He was a clansman of Ilig.^[1] Shibi and Chula thought his face looked like that of a Hu, a Sogdian, and not like that of a Göktürk. They suspected on that ground that he was not of Ashina stock at all. Through the reigns of Chula and Ilig he was therefore kept as Jiabi Tele. He was never allowed to command troops as a shad.^[1]

The remark decides a question of descent by appearance. Two khans made it about a man who carried their own clan name. The Chinese chapter records it without comment.

He answered the exclusion with loyalty. He came to the Tang court with tribute several times in the Wude years and was made Prince of Heshun.^[1] The khaganate fell apart, and most of the tribes went over to China. Simo alone stayed with Ilig and was taken prisoner with him.^[1] The Tang emperor rewarded that loyalty rather than punishing it. He gave Simo a general’s commission and the command of Huazhou, and he put him in charge of Ilig’s old tribes in the land south of the Yellow River.^[1]

The khanship of 639

In 639 a nephew of Ilig attacked the imperial camp at night and was cut down.^[1] The attempt failed. It nevertheless convinced the court that keeping the Göktürks inside China was dangerous, and the policy of 630 was reversed.^[1] The tribes were sent back north of the river. Simo was made khan over them with the imperial surname Li.^[1]

The move ran into the Xueyantuo at once. Simo and his people feared them and would not go beyond the frontier. The emperor had to send a letter north to guarantee the arrangement before anyone would move.^[1] The chapter quotes the letter in full, and its terms are precise. The Tang had destroyed Ilig for the harm he did, not out of greed for land or horses.^[1] The Xueyantuo were to hold the country north of the desert and the Göktürks the country south of it. Each was to guard his own borders, and whoever crossed would be called to account.^[1]

Only then was Simo invested. The Prince of Zhao carried the document to his camp, an altar was built on the river bank, and Simo was given drums and a standard.^[1] Ashina Zhong was made Worthy King of the Left and Ashina Nishu Worthy King of the Right as his seconds.^[1]

Failure of the settlement

The Xin Tang Shu puts the crossing in 641. Simo set his court in the old town of Dingxiang.^[2] A hundred thousand people crossed the river with him, forty thousand of them able to fight.^[1] The chapter judges what followed in one sentence: Simo could not manage his people, and none of them were content.^[1]

In 643 they rebelled together and crossed back south of the river. They asked to be settled between Sheng and Xia.^[1] The court agreed.^[1] Simo rode to Chang’an alone and resumed being a Tang general.

No reason is given for the failure, and the sources do not let one be established. The chapter does say this about him elsewhere. His own khans had refused to let him command troops. A foreign court then gave him command of a hundred thousand people, and the people did not accept the arrangement.

The end

He followed the Liaodong campaign of 645 and was struck by a stray arrow. The emperor sucked the blood from the wound himself. The chapter offers this as a sign of his standing at court.^[1] He died at the capital not long after. He was made Minister of War and commander of Xiazhou posthumously. He was buried in attendance at Zhaoling, and his grave mound was raised in the shape of the Baidao mountain.^[1]