Pan Die

Pan Die was a tudun, an officer of the khan of the Göktürks, whom Ishbara Khan sent to govern the Khitan.^[1] The Sui Shu names him at the end of its notice on the Khitan.^[1]

The notice describes the Khitan of those years. They lived two hundred li due north of Liaoxi, along the river Tuohechen. Their country measured five hundred li from east to west and three hundred from north to south.^[1] They were divided into ten groups, the largest with three thousand warriors and the smallest with over a thousand.^[1] They moved with their herds in search of water and grazing. In war their chiefs met in council. They raised troops by matching tallies.^[1] “The Göktürk Shabolüe Khan,” it ends, “sent the tudun Pan Die to govern them.”^[1] Shabolüe is the Chinese name of Ishbara.^[1]

The Bei Shi gives the same sentence and continues: the Khitan killed the tudun and fled.^[2] Neither history gives a year.^[3] Ishbara reigned from 581 to 587, so the appointment fell within those years.^[4]