Üç Tuğlu Khan

Üç Tuğlu Khan is the name given to Yukuk Shad. He was the khan of the Duolu tribes and split the western Göktürks in two.^[1] The tribes of the left set him up in 638 as Yipi Duolu Khan against Ishbara Tolis.^[2] He took the Ili for a border. He killed the next khan of the Nushibi, conquered Tokharistan and raided Hami. Then he lost his own people over a division of booty.^[3] In 642 he fled to Tokharistan. The histories record only his death there some years later.^[3]

Name

欲谷設ChineseXin Tangshu 215
乙毗咄陸可汗ChineseXin Tangshu 215
咄陸可汗ChineseXin Tangshu 215
Üç Tuğlu KhanTurkish

The Chinese write his name as 欲谷設, Yukuk Shad. The same characters name a shad of the eastern Göktürks, Yukuk Shad, whom the Xueyantuo, the Uyghurs and the Bayirku drove off in 627. The two are different men.^[4] His title from 638 was 乙毗咄陸可汗, Yipi Duolu Khan, khan of the Duolu, the five tribes east of Suyab.^[3] Some scholars call those tribes the Üç Tuğlu and name him after them.^[1]

Great khan of the rebels (about 637)

He first appears when the Ten Arrows turned on Ishbara Tolis. The Axiji Que Sijin and the Tong Tudun called the people to make Yukuk Shad great khan and Ishbara Tolis lesser khan. The tudun was killed. Yukuk Shad was beaten by his own sijin. As a result, Ishbara Tolis recovered his lands.^[2] The setback lasted a year. In the twelfth year of Zhenguan, 638, the western tribes gave him the title Yipi Duolu Khan.^[2]

Two states (638–641)

He fought Ishbara Tolis in great battles, with many dead in both armies. The two withdrew and made a pact at the Ili. The tribes on one side of the river took orders from Duolu, and those on the other side from Ishbara Tolis. The western Göktürks were two states.^[3] He set his court west of Mount Zuhe and called it the Northern Court. The Jueyueshi, the Basmïl, the Boma, the Kirghiz, the Hexin and the Chumukun all submitted to him.^[3] Then he plotted with Ishbara Tolis’s own tudun and sijin. Ishbara Tolis fled to Ferghana and died.^[3]

The Nushibi set up Irbis Ishbara Yabgu Khan in the south. The two fought repeatedly. Envoys of both reached the Tang court at the same time. The emperor instructed them in sincerity and harmony and ordered both to stop. Duolu would not listen.^[3] He sent the tudun of Chach against the Yabgu Khan. Duolu killed him and annexed his state.^[3] The Nushibi were not his in their hearts. They rebelled.^[3]

Tokharistan, Hami and Sogdiana (641–642)

His army grew. The states of the western regions came to submit again.^[2] He attacked Tokharistan and took it. Then he raided Yizhou, which is Hami. The protector of Anxi, Guo Xiaoke, came out from Wugu with two thousand light horse and beat him. Duolu besieged Tianshan with Chuyue and Chumi troops and failed. Xiaoke pursued him. He took the city of the Chuyue sijin and reached Mount Esuo. He cut off more than a thousand heads and brought the Chumi over.^[3] The Jiu Tang Shu’s arrangement puts the campaign in 641. The Tongjian gangmu puts it after the seventh month of 642.^[4]

He was arrogant by nature. He detained the Chinese envoys Yuan Xiaoyou and his colleagues and told them: “I hear the Son of Heaven of the Tang is a great warrior. I am going to punish Kangju; you will see whether I am the Son of Heaven’s equal or not.”^[3] He took the envoys with him against Kangju. He fell on the state of Mi, which is Maimargh. He took its people captive and kept the spoil for himself. His general the Nishu Chuo was angry and seized his share by force. Duolu beheaded him as an example. The Nishu Chuo’s general Huluwu then fell on the khan and killed many of his men. The state was in uproar.^[3]

Flight (642)

He meant to withdraw to Tokharistan. His ministers urged him to return to his own country. He refused. He led off his following and crossed the Ye river toward Chach. By the time he reached it, his entourage had nearly all deserted.^[3] He took refuge in the city of the Katun. He went out lightly to gather the rebels and fugitives, but the Axiji Que Sijin met and beat him. He then seized the Sogdian town of Baishui, two hundred li south-west of Talas, to live in.^[3] The Nushibi did not want him for khan. They sent to the Tang to ask for an appointment. The emperor sent Wen Wuyin with a sealed edict. Wen Wuyin was to choose, with the ministers of the state, a worthy man among the sons and grandsons of the khans. The choice fell on Irbis Shegui.^[3]

Irbis Shegui sent the Nushibi against Baishui. Duolu led his men out of the city with drums and horns and fought hand to hand. The Nushibi could not form up. A great many were killed or taken.^[3] On the strength of the victory he called his old tribes to him. They all answered: “Of a thousand who fought, one is left. We will not follow you.” He understood that the people were against him. He fled to Tokharistan.^[3] After that the Tang histories name him as a landmark. He is the khan whose flight let Irbis Shegui harry Helu, and whose old lands Helu took in 651.^[3] They record his death once more, in the year Cheng Zhijie was appointed to march against Helu. His son Zhenzhu Yabgu asked to fight Helu in his father’s place. Helu drove him back.^[3]

Assessment

He was the strongest of the khans of the Ten Arrows and the one who failed most completely. He held the north. He took the south by murder, and Tokharistan and Maimargh by arms. A share of booty withheld from his own men ruined him. The reply of the tribes, one man in a thousand, is the judgement the sources pass on his reign. What he left was a claim. Nine years later Ashina Helu seized the “old lands of Duolu Khan” to make himself Shaboluo Khan.^[3]