Zhishi Sili

Zhishi Sili was a Göktürk chief and a confidant of Ilig Khan.^[1] He went twice to the Tang court on his khan’s behalf: in 626 to overawe it, and in 630 to offer the khaganate’s submission.^[1] After the fall of the khaganate he became a Tang general. He married a Tang princess.^[2]

At the Wei river (626)

In 626 Ilig marched on Chang’an with more than a hundred thousand horsemen.^[1] His army was beaten at Jingyang. He then sent Zhishi Sili to the court to find out how matters stood.^[1] According to the Zizhi tongjian, Ilig was at the north end of the Bian bridge over the Wei on the day guiwei of the eighth month, when he sent his envoy.^[3] Zhishi Sili boasted that the two khans had come with an army of a million men.^[4]

The new emperor Taizong answered that he had made peace with the Göktürks face to face. They had broken it.^[1] He recalled the jade and silk the Tang had given since its army first entered the capital. He told the envoy that a Göktürk too ought to have a human heart.^[1] Then he said that he would put him to death first.^[1] Zhishi Sili was afraid. He begged for his life.^[1] The Xin Tang Shu says that the ministers Xiao Yu and Feng Deyi advised sending him back with courtesy.^[5] The emperor refused. He had him held in the Chancellery.^[6] Ilig learned that his envoy was held. He was afraid, and he swore peace at the Wei bridge.^[1]

The submission (630)

In the first month of 630 the Tang general Li Jing fell on Dingxiang by night. Ilig moved his camp to the edge of the desert.^[1] In the second month Ilig withdrew to the Iron Mountain with several tens of thousands of men. He sent Zhishi Sili to the court.^[7] The envoy confessed his master’s fault and asked that the whole state be received in submission.^[1] The Xin Tang Shu says that his words of sorrow were feigned.^[5] The emperor sent envoys to reassure Ilig. Li Jing struck while they were in his camp.^[8]

In Tang service

His biography in the Xin Tang Shu calls him a chief of the Göktürks.^[9] It says that in the Zhenguan years he escorted the Sui empress Xiao to the court. He was made a general of the Left Lingjun guard.^[9] The chapters on the Göktürks credit Kang Sumi with the escort of the empress.^[6] After Ilig’s defeat Taizong sent him to win over the Hun and the Husa tribes.^[9] Twice he warned the emperor against the dangers of the hunt. The second time he did so with his cap and belt taken off, and the emperor gave way.^[2] When Taizong went to war in Liaodong, Zhishi Sili held the Jinshan road against the Xueyantuo with Göktürk troops.^[10] The Xueyantuo raided south of the river with a hundred thousand men. Zhishi Sili made a show of weakness. Then he beat them near Xiazhou and pursued them for six hundred li.^[10] He also took part in the war against the Tuyuhun.^[10] The emperor married him to Princess Jiujiang. The emperor also made him duke of Anguo.^[10] Under the emperor Gaozong he was condemned for his friendship with Fang Yi’ai. He was spared for his many campaigns and sent into exile. The princess asked to go with him and died before him.^[11] He died as prefect of Guizhou, an office he received in the Longshuo years, 661 to 663. In 664, after his death, he was made governor-general of Shengzhou.^[12]

Name

His name, 執失思力, is the same in all the histories.^[6] One of the prefectures that the Tang set up for the surrendered Göktürks bore the name Zhishi, beside others named Sunong, Ade and Bayan.^[13]