Sui Shu (Book of Sui)

Translation

The ancestors of the Göktürks were the mixed Hu of Pingliang, and their family name was Ashina.

When Taiwu of the Later Wei destroyed the house of Juqu, Ashina fled with five hundred households to the Rouran. They lived for generations at the Golden Mountain and were skilled in ironwork.

The Golden Mountain is shaped like a helmet. In common speech a helmet is called “Tujue”, and from this they took their name.

Another account says that their forebears had a state on the shore of the Western Sea. A neighbouring state destroyed it and killed every man and woman, young or old.

There was one child whom they could not bear to kill. They cut off his feet, severed his arms and threw him into a great marsh.

A she-wolf always brought meat to the place where he lay, and the child ate it and so did not die.

Afterwards he mated with the wolf, and the wolf became pregnant.

That neighbouring state again sent men to kill the child, and the wolf was at his side.

As the envoys were about to kill him, the wolf, as if possessed by a spirit, suddenly reached the east of the sea and came to rest on a mountain.

The mountain lies to the north-west of Gaochang. Below it there was a cave. The wolf went in and found level ground with thick grass, over two hundred li across.

Afterwards the wolf bore ten sons. One of them, of the Ashina clan, was the ablest and became their chief. For this reason a wolf-head standard is set up before the gate of the headquarters, to show that they do not forget their origin.

Translation

There was one Axian She, who led his tribe out of the cave. They were vassals of the Rouran for generations.

By the time of Da Yehu, their kind had gradually grown strong.

At the end of the Later Wei there was Yili Khan. He attacked the Tiele with his troops and defeated them utterly. More than fifty thousand households submitted to him, and he then asked the Rouran for a marriage alliance.

Anagui, the ruler of the Rouran, was furious and sent an envoy to abuse him.

Yili cut down the envoy, led his people against the Rouran and defeated them.

When he died, his younger brother Yi Khan took his place and defeated the Rouran again.

When he fell ill and was close to death, he passed over his son Sheitu and set up his younger brother Qidou, who was called Mugan Khan.

Mugan was brave and full of cunning. He attacked the Rouran and destroyed them. In the west he defeated the Yida, in the east he drove off the Khitan, and all the barbarians of the north submitted to him. He stood against China on equal terms.

Later, together with the army of the Western Wei, he invaded the Eastern Wei and reached Taiyuan.

Translation

Their custom is to live by herding. They follow water and grass and have no fixed place.

They live in domed felt tents, wear their hair loose and fasten their robes on the left. They eat meat and drink koumiss, wear furs and coarse wool, and despise the old and honour the strong.

Among the offices there is the Yehu, next the She-Tegin, next the Silifa, next the Tutunfa, and so down to the petty offices, twenty-eight ranks in all. All of them are held by inheritance.

They have horn bows, whistling arrows, armour, lances, knives and swords. They are good at riding and archery and cruel by nature. They have no writing and cut notches in wood as tallies.

When they see that the moon is about to be full, they set out to raid.

Those who plot rebellion, rebel or kill are all put to death. Adulterers are castrated and then cut in two at the waist.

Whoever puts out a man's eye in a fight pays with a daughter, or with his wife's property if he has no daughter. Whoever breaks a limb pays with horses. A thief repays ten times the stolen goods.

When someone dies, the body is laid in a tent. The family and relatives slaughter many cattle and horses and offer them. They circle the tent wailing and cut their faces with knives, so that blood and tears fall together. They stop after seven rounds.

Then they choose a day, set the body on a horse and burn it, and bury the ashes. They mark the grave with wood and build a house inside it, where they paint the dead man's likeness and the battles he went through in life.

For each man he has killed, one stone is set up, and some have a thousand or a hundred.

When a father or elder brother dies, the sons and younger brothers take his many wives and his brother's wife as their own wives.

In the fifth month they slaughter many sheep and horses to sacrifice to Heaven. The men like gambling games and the women kick a ball. They drink mare's milk until drunk and sing and shout to one another.

They revere spirits and trust shamans. They value death in battle and are ashamed to die of illness. In general their customs are the same as those of the Xiongnu.

Translation

Shabolüe sent an envoy with a letter that said: “In the year of the Dragon, on the tenth day of the ninth month, the wise and holy Son of Heaven of the Great Göktürk realm, born of Heaven, Yili Julu She Mohe Shiboluo Khan, writes this letter to the Emperor of the Great Sui.

Your envoy, the Kaifu Xu Pinghe, has arrived and has condescended to convey your words. I have heard them in full.

The Emperor is the father of my wife, and so he is my father-in-law. I am the husband of his daughter, and so I stand in the position of a son.

Our two lands are different, but our feeling and duty are one.

Now we double our old kinship. For sons and grandsons, even for ten thousand generations, let it not be broken. Heaven above is my witness: I shall never go against it.

All the sheep and horses of this country are the Emperor's livestock, and the silks and brocades over there are all things of this country too. What difference is there between there and here!”

Gaozu replied in writing: “The Son of Heaven of the Great Sui sends a letter to Yili Julu She Mohe Shabolüe Khan of the Great Göktürk realm. I have received your letter and know that you have a great goodwill toward us.

Since I am the father-in-law of Shabolüe, I regard Shabolüe today no differently from a son.

Out of this old and warm feeling, I am sending, besides the usual envoys, the high minister Yu Qingze in particular to visit my daughter there and to visit Shabolüe as well.”

Shabolüe drew up his troops and displayed his treasures. He received Qingze sitting, said he was ill and could not rise, and added: “From my father and uncles onward we have never bowed to anyone.”

Qingze rebuked him and instructed him.

Princess Qianjin said privately to Qingze: “The khan has the nature of a jackal and a wolf. If you press him too hard, he will bite.”

Zhangsun Sheng argued with him, and Sheitu, at a loss for words, touched his forehead to the ground, knelt, received the sealed letter and placed it on his head.

Then he was deeply ashamed, and his men gathered and wept aloud.

Qingze then pressed him to declare himself a subject. Shabolüe asked his followers: “What is called being a subject?” They answered: “When the Sui speak of being a subject, it is as when we speak of being a slave.”

Shabolüe said: “That I may be a slave of the Son of Heaven of the Great Sui is the doing of Vice-Director Yu.”

He gave Qingze a thousand horses and married him to his younger female cousin on his father's side.

Translation

More than fifty years have passed since Heaven established the Göktürks. We have held the desert and ruled as kings in a corner of the frontier.

Our land extends over ten thousand li, and our men and horses are numbered in the yi. We have always had the strength to bring the Rong and Yi peoples together under us and to stand as equals to China in ceremony. Among the northern Di, none is greater than we.

Of late the weather has been mild, and wind and clouds have followed their order. I took it to mean that a great sage had arisen in China.

Now that we are moistened by your virtue and justice, your benevolent influence reaches us, and the custom of courtesy and deference fills the countryside from court onward.

I venture to say that Heaven has not two suns and the earth not two kings. The Emperor of the Great Sui is a true emperor.

How could I dare to rely on my troops and on difficult terrain and to usurp a title by stealth? I now long for your pure customs and turn my heart to the one who has the Way. I bend my knee, touch my forehead to the ground and shall be your frontier vassal for ever.

Though I look south toward the palace gate and mountains and rivers lie far between, I shall not neglect the ceremony of facing north as a subject.

I shall send a son to serve at court, offer spirit horses as tribute every year, and respectfully attend you morning and evening, looking only to your commands.

As for cutting our lapels and loosening our braids, changing our speech and following your rules, our customs are old, and I cannot yet change them.