Awusili Irkin

Awusili Irkin was a Göktürk irkin. He led a raid on the people of Yami, the khan the Sui had set up.^[1] The Sui Shu names him as the leader of the raiders whom the Sui general Yang Su broke in his northern campaign.^[1]

In 601 the Sui made Yang Su commander of the Yunzhou route and sent him north with Yami.^[1] His army stood north of the Yellow River when Awusili Irkin 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 pursued them with light horse and the general Liang Mo. He fought on for more than sixty li.^[1] He broke the irkin and returned all the people and herds to Yami.^[1] A second raid on Yami’s people was broken southeast of the Kujie valley.^[1] The Bei Shi tells the raid more briefly and states no numbers.^[2]

The Zizhi tongjian calls him Sili Irkin. It enters the raid under 602.^[3] The biography of Zhangsun Sheng, the Sui envoy at Yami’s side, has the same shorter name.^[4] It also puts the campaign in 602.^[5] One scholar weighs the sources and places the raid and its defeat between the end of 600 and 602.^[6]

The histories do not say whom Awusili Irkin served, whether Tardush or another. They do not say what became of him after his defeat.^[7]