Lijicha

Lijicha was a leader of the Göktürks. The first Sui emperor named him in his edict of 583, which ordered war on the Göktürks.^[1] The edict recalls his defeat by Goguryeo and the Mohe. It presents the defeat as one sign that all the neighbours of the Göktürks wished to destroy them.^[1]

The Sui Shu quotes the edict in full. It lists the enemies of the Göktürks on every side. The peoples of the east nursed private grudges, and the chiefs of the west held old resentments.^[1] Tardush had attacked Jiuquan. Afterwards Khotan, Persia and the Hephthalites had risen at once.^[1] Ishbara had marched on Zhoupan. Tribes inside his own realm had risen.^[1] “In past years,” the edict goes on, “Lijicha was badly beaten by Goguryeo and the Mohe, and Suopi Shad was killed by the Hezhi Khan.”^[1] The Bei Shi quotes the edict with the same sentence.^[2]

The edict gives no year and no place for the defeat, and no title for Lijicha. No other passage names him.^[3] One translation of the Sui Shu adds the title shad to his name in brackets. It also calls the Mohe a Tungusic people.^[4] His name ends in the same character, 察, as that of Diqincha, a cousin of Ishbara.^[1]