Gao Kan

In 650 the Tang sent Gao Kan against Chebi Khan. Chebi had set himself up in the Altai outside the protectorates and was gathering the tribes that had not submitted.^[1]

The campaign

The Tang sent Gao Kan to raise the Uyghurs and the Pugu and to strike with them. He was not to march a Chinese army into the mountains.^[1] The effect was immediate. The Karluk chief Nishu Que Ilteber, the Chumukun chief Moheduo Irkin and others turned their tribes against Chebi. They came over one after another.^[1]

When the Tang force reached the Axi mountains, the khan called his men and none came.^[1] Gao Kan took light cavalry after him and caught him.^[1]

The method

Nothing in the campaign required a battle. The khan’s strength was the tribes. The tribes were bought or frightened away from him before the armies met. What remained was a pursuit.

That is how the interregnum was held for fifty years. The Tang did not garrison the steppe in force. They made khans and unmade them, and they paid the tribes to do the unmaking. This worked until a leader kept his men together long enough to be out of reach.