Tanhan Mountain

Tanhan Mountain, 貪汗山, was a mountain north of Gaochang on the edge of the Tiele lands.^[1] In its notice on Gaochang, the Sui Shu puts the Red Rock Mountain north of the kingdom and Tanhan Mountain seventy li north of that.^[1] Snow lay on it in summer. North of it began the country of the Tiele.^[1] The received text of the notice wrote the second character as 污. Its editors corrected it to 汗 from the Sui Shu’s chapter on the Göktürks, from the Bei Shi and from the Tongdian.^[1]

The Tiele khan

In 605, the first year of Daye, the western khan Heshana, then called Chuluo Khan, attacked the Tiele tribes. He taxed them heavily.^[2] He distrusted the Xueyantuo and the others and feared a rising. He gathered several hundred of their chiefs and had them all killed.^[2] The tribes rose together and refused him. They raised Geleng, a chief of the Qibi, as Yiwuzhen Mohe Khan. He took his seat at Tanhan Mountain.^[2] A Xueyantuo chief named Yedie became lesser khan beside him.^[2]

After Heshana was beaten, the Mohe Khan grew great.^[2] His courage won the hearts of his people, and his neighbours feared him. Yiwu, Gaochang and Karashahr all adhered to him.^[2] The Bei Shi and the Tongdian repeat the account with the same name for the mountain.^[3] The Xin Tang Shu’s notice on the Xueyantuo says that Geleng ruled over Tanhan Mountain.^[4] Shegui Khan made the western Göktürks strong again. Geleng and the Xueyantuo khan then gave up their titles and submitted to him.^[4]

The divided Xueyantuo

The Tongdian’s notice on the Xueyantuo says that after the fall of the Rouran the people passed to the Göktürks. It says they were divided.^[5] The part at the Yudujun mountain belonged to Shibi Khan in the east. The part at Tanhan Mountain belonged to the Yabgu in the west.^[5] In the Xin Tang Shu’s version of the same notice, the Xueyantuo leader who belonged to the Yabgu Khan in the west lived in the Altai.^[4]

The name

The same two characters name Tanhan Khan, a friend of Apa. Ishbara took his people from him before deposing him.^[2] The Sui Shu does not connect the khan with the mountain.^[2] Mount Danhan, 彈汗山, is written with a different first character. The Xianbei leader Tanshihuai set his court there, according to the Hou Han Shu.^[6]