Map of Asia in 734: the death of Bilge Khan, Yiran Khan and Tengri Khan in the Second Göktürk Khaganate, Sulu of the Türgesh
734: Bilge Khan is poisoned by his minister and dies. His son Yiran follows and dies within months, and the boy Tengri Khan takes the throne. Modern map; the borders are drawn, not recorded.
Plate LXII in the Atlas → © Emre-E Yavuz 2026

Who ruled

And beyond the steppe

  • China Tang Xuanzong 712–756
  • Iran Umayyad Hisham 724–743
  • Korea Silla Seongdeok 702–737
  • Byzantium Isaurian Leo III 717–741

Eastern steppe

  • Environment · Central Mongolia turns drier, by the lake record, and stays so to 1300; the droughts of the Medieval Climate Anomaly (700–1300)

    Climate and the steppe empires · Orkhon valley

  • Bilge Khan is poisoned by his minister Meilu Chuo, has the minister and his faction destroyed before he dies, and dies in the Year of the Dog; his son Yiran is set up

    Bilge Khan · Yiran Khan · Buyruk · Second Göktürk Khaganate · Bilge Khan inscription

    Also dated 732 (Jiu Tang Shu 194): The Tang history puts the poisoning under the twentieth year of Kaiyuan, the same heading as Kül Tegin's death; the inscription's Dog year is 734.