Rehan Tegin

Rehan Tegin was one of the envoys of Ilig Khan whom the Tang held at their court in the early 620s.^[1] He was set free when the two courts made peace after the Göktürk raid on Yanmen.^[1]

Ilig had detained the envoys the Tang had sent to him, among them Zheng Yuanshu and Changsun Shunde. The Tang held his envoys in turn, several of them one after another.^[1] In the fourth month of 621 Ilig attacked Yanmen and was driven off.^[1] Afraid, he sent Changsun Shunde home and asked for peace.^[1] With the request went several dozen jin of fish glue, so that the two states might hold together like the glue.^[1] The emperor Gaozu was pleased.^[1] He released Ilig’s envoys, the tegin Rehan, Ashide and others, and sent them home with gold and silk.^[1]

The Xin Tang Shu puts the release in the following year, 622. It names Rehan alone.^[2] The Zizhi tongjian dates it to the day gengzi of the third month of 622.^[3] Where the Jiu Tang Shu names his companion Ashide, 阿史德, the name of a Göktürk clan, the Zizhi tongjian has Ashina De, 阿史那德.^[4]

Name

The texts write the title first, 特勒熱寒, the tegin Rehan.^[1] The Tongdian names an office rehan, written 熱汗 with a different second character. Its holder watched over wrongdoing and kept the order of precedence.^[5] It gives the office in the title Funi Rehan.^[5] Whether Rehan is the envoy’s name or that office, the texts do not say.