Li Deyu, the chief minister of Emperor Wuzong, wrote the court’s letters to the ruler of the Kirghiz. The first of them answered the petition of the envoy Ta-bu-he-zu in 843.[1] The Xin Tang Shu names him as the minister who, after the audience of the second envoy, proposed a Picture of the Gathering of Kings.[2] The first letter tells the Kirghiz what became of Princess Taihe. It traces the common descent of the two houses from the Han general Li Guang through Li Ling. It offers the khan an imperial appointment with a fine title.[3] The letter of the summer of 843 explains that Tengri Khan was a former Uyghur title that the Tang had granted. It offers instead to make the Kirghiz the Jiankun nation in the appointment.[4]
Li Deyu says that he wrote the draft of the last letter in plain language so that the Kirghiz delegates could understand it. The letter may show the limits of the Kirghiz in written Chinese.[5] The second letter calls the ruler king, not khan. It may be a draft for the first.[6] A Tang draft letter to the Uyghur minister quotes the petition of the first envoy. The petition gives the reason for sending Taihe home: the Kirghiz nation had originally had the same surname as the Tang.[7]
The passage
就中中受降城不過三五十人，
古城摧斷，都不修築。
今虜眾在陰山之北，
山中盡有過路，
若突出山南，便入二城，
即天德、振武當時隔斷。
其中受降城本是突厥拂雲祠，
最是要地，
今天德人力不及，
望令太原、振武共出三千人，
速與修築，便令鎮守，
即天德形勢自壯，虜騎不敢窺邊。
Of these, the Central Shouxiang city has no more than thirty or fifty men,
its old wall is broken down and nothing has been repaired.
Now the enemy host is north of the Yin Mountains,
and there are passes all through the mountains.
If they break out south of the mountains, they will enter the two cities,
and Tiande and Zhenwu are cut off from each other at once.
The Central Shouxiang city was originally the Fuyun shrine of the Göktürks,
and it is the most important ground.
Now Tiande's manpower is not enough,
so I ask that Taiyuan and Zhenwu together be ordered to send out three thousand men,
to rebuild it quickly and then have them hold it,
and then Tiande's position will be strong of itself and the enemy horsemen will not dare to spy on the frontier.
況前代以來，盡有故事：
漢朝呼延邪單於款塞，其下大將烏厲屈、烏厲溫敦並來降附，漢宣帝封以列侯；
又國初頡利可汗之破敗也，
降者甚眾，
酋豪首領，至朝廷皆拜將軍，僅百餘人，無不撫納。
Moreover, from earlier ages on there are precedents in plenty:
when the Chanyu Huyanye came to the frontier of the Han court, his generals Wuliqu and Wuliwendun came with him to submit, and Emperor Xuan of Han enfeoffed them as marquises;
and when, at the beginning of this dynasty, Xieli Khan was defeated and ruined,
very many surrendered,
and the chiefs and leaders who came to the court were all made generals, barely a hundred or so, and none was refused kind treatment.
前年回鶻宰相等向漢使云：
「李靖擒頡利後，國中隻有三二十人，便郤興複。」
雖在危困，尚爾張皇，
可汗深察此言，豈得不慮？
In the year before last, the Uighur chief ministers and others said to the Chinese envoy:
“After Li Jing captured Xieli, there were only twenty or thirty people left in the country, and yet it was restored at once.”
Even in danger and distress they still make such a show,
if the khan weighs these words closely, how can he fail to be concerned?
References
- ^ Drompp 2005, p. 125
- ^ Xin Tangshu (New Book of Tang), juan 217
- ^ Drompp 2005, p. 288–292
- ^ Drompp 2005, p. 139,302
- ^ Drompp 2005, p. 146,308
- ^ Drompp 2005, p. 135
- ^ Drompp 2005, p. 276
- ^ Li Deyu's Letters to the Kirghiz, juan 13
- ^ Li Deyu's Letters to the Kirghiz, juan 5
- ^ Li Deyu's Letters to the Kirghiz, juan 6
Sources
- Xin Tangshu (New Book of Tang), juan 217 (after Jiu Tangshu)
Literature
- Michael R. Drompp, Tang China and the Collapse of the Uighur Empire: A Documentary History (2005)
Unresolved source identifiers: quan-tang-wen
Articles resting on this source 2
What links here3
- Persons
- Li Deyu · Princess Taihe
- Battles & Events
- Kirghiz Embassies to the Tang (842–848)
Cite this article
Yavuz, Emre-E. “Li Deyu's Letters to the Kirghiz.” Turkic Atlas, revised 8 November 2026. https://turkicatlas.org/sources/li-deyu-letters/
Last revised: 8 November 2026
