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Due to the entry of the Tibetan forces into the Western Regions, since the end of Zhenguan, the Western Regions that had been controlled by the Tang Dynasty had repeatedly fought between the Tang Dynasty and the Tibetan Dynasty.
During this period, neither the Tang Dynasty nor the Tibetans were able to invest a large number of troops in the Western Regions, so the chieftains of the remnants of the Western Turks became the object of competition between the two sides.
The Tibetan forces moved from south to north, passing through Khotan and Shule to the Broken Leaf area. The Tang Dynasty's power went from east to west, from Xizhou, Qiuzi to Broken Leaves. The line of Shaye, Shule, and Khotan became the main battlefields of fierce contention between the two sides, and the backward of the remnants of the Western Turks was a very important factor in the growth and decline of the power of both sides. As the struggle between the Tang Dynasty and the Tibetans intensified, the remnants of the Western Turks were divided into two different factions.
During this period, the Western Turk Khans who were canonized by the Tang Dynasty and served as officials of the Tang Dynasty included Ashina Miku, Ashina Buzhen, Ashina Yuanqing, Ashina Husero, etc., while the Western Turkic Khans who took refuge in Tubo and became enemies of the Tang Dynasty had Ashina Duzhi and Ashina Cheshu (whether it was canonized by Tubo is unknown), in addition, Tubo later canonized Ashina prisoners, Ashina Servoro and Ashina Babu and other Western Turkic Khans.
However, the appeal of the Western Turkic Ashina clan to the Western Turkic tribes has been greatly reduced, coupled with the support of the Tang Dynasty and the Tibetan faction, no one is able to organize a strong and unified alliance, this long-term division, the situation of ten surnames without a master, to the rise of the Turkish provides an opportunity.
1. The rise of Turgish
The Tang Dynasty had set up the Governor's Mansion in the mountains and the Governor's Mansion in the Suoga Mohe Division. After the Tang Dynasty destroyed the Western Turks, the Turkish were still under the jurisdiction of the Western Turkic Khan, who was ordained by the Tang Dynasty.
The first Turgish leader explicitly mentioned in the history books, Uzile, was appointed as Mohe Dagan under the Tang Dynasty's Ashina Husero.
According to the New Tang Dynasty Book: Turkic Biography:
"Hu Seluo is politically remnant, the public is displeased, and Wu Zhile can be caressed down, there is prestige, Zhu Hu is obedient, the tent is prosperous, it is placed twenty governors, seven thousand overseers each, Tun Broken Leaves Northwest, a little attack to break the leaves, that is, the migration of its teeth, said that the Broken Leaves River is a big tooth, Gongyue City, Yilishui is a small tooth, its land is adjacent to the North Turks in the east, Zhuhu in the west, Zhixi in the east, Tingzhou, and Hu Sero land. ”
Hu Seluo entered the court twice in history, first in the first year of Tianzhu (690) and the second in the third year of Chang'an (703), and apparently by 703 at the latest, the Turgish leader Uzil had actually taken control of the Western Turkic region.
The rise of the Turgish tribe and their replacement of the Ashina clan was a major event in the history of the Western Regions. If the Ashina clan still maintained its nominal dominance under the support of the Tang Dynasty after the last years of Zhenguan, then it was difficult to maintain even this name at this time.
The history records that "the people of Hu Sero were scattered, and they did not dare to return because they entered the court", which vividly illustrates the embarrassing situation of the descendants of the ten surnamed Khans, who are not unwilling, or even impossible, but "do not dare" to return to the Western Turkic homeland.
However, after the objective situation had changed fundamentally, the Tang Dynasty did not change its strategy towards the Western Turks, and still adhered to the practice that had been common since the end of Zhenguan, and appointed ten descendants of Khans to rule the Western Turkic region, which inevitably led to contradictions between the Turgish and the Tang Dynasty and aggravated the tension in the Western Regions.
A few years later (708), there was a controversy within the Tang Dynasty over the issue of canonizing Ashina as the ten surnamed khans, and Guo Yuanzhen, the protector of Anxi, sharply criticized the imperial court's practice of supporting the Ashina clan.
The failure of the guidelines caused the newly recovered Four Towns to fall into a battle with the Turgish.
As early as 698 to 699 (during the reign of Wu Zetian), the leader of the Tuqi Shi, who was promoted to the governor of Luzhou, had already moved the tooth tent to Broken Leaves, and Wu Gautian appointed Wu Zhile as the governor of Yaochi, expressing his recognition of his move to Broken Leaves.
However, in the first year of Jiushi (700), he sent Ashina Hu Seluo as the general manager of the Pingxi Army, stationed in Broken Leaves, and "ordered the people to be pacified".
It is evident that Huseroh is placed above the Uzhil and does not recognize the Uzel's rule over the Western Turkic tribes. Hu Seluo was unpopular, his people were scattered, and he was forced to return to Chang'an in 703 to die, by which time Uzhile had actually completely replaced the position of the original Ashina Khan with the surname of ten surnames.
However, in the fourth year of Chang'an (704), Wu Zetian also worshiped Hu Seluo's son Ashina Huaidao as the ten Khans of the Western Turks, and Huaidao was also unable to control the Western Turkic tribes. In the second year of Zhongzong Shenlong (706), Wuzhi strangled to death, and his son Suo Ge was established, and Zhongzong attacked the governor of Luzhou and the king of Huaide County with Suo Ge.
Suo Ge and his father's subordinate general Ashina Zhongjie were at odds and attacked each other internally, Tang Zhongzong adopted the opinions of Zong Chuke and others, and planned to help Zhongjie and eliminate Suo Ge, the purpose was still to restore the dominance of the Ten Khans Ashina clan in the Western Turks.
So Suo Ge divided his troops into four ways and captured the capital city of Qiuzi, where the Anxi Protectorate was located. It was only at this time that the rulers of the Tang Dynasty were forced to admit the fait accompli, adopt Guo Yuanzhen's opinion, and canonize Suo Ge as the Ten Khans, and the actual dominance of the Tuqi Shi Department was recognized by the Tang Dynasty for the first time, and the two sides called off the army and made peace. The Turgish not only de facto, but also nominally, took the place of the Ashina clan in the Western Turkic tribes.
2. Turgish and the Later Turks in the Western Regions
In the process of the rise of the Turgish tribe and the replacement of the Ashina clan, two major events occurred in the Western Regions north of the Tianshan Mountains, one was the establishment of the Beiting Protectorate, and the other was the western invasion of the Eastern Turks, and the occurrence of these two events was closely related to the Turgish.
The Beiting Metropolitan Protectorate was established in the Tingzhou area in the early Tang Dynasty, that is, in present-day Jimsar County, Xinjiang. Since the establishment of Tingzhou in the Taizong period, it has always been a military town in the northern part of the Tianshan Mountains.
When Ashina Helu rebelled, Tingzhou was attacked by Helu and was "depressed and deserted".
After 658, Tingzhou was renovated and enriched, and it was restored to its old size. In 662, Su Haizheng killed the Kunling Metropolitan Protector Ashina Mishe, the original Kunling Metropolitan Protector of the east of the broken leaves of the Wulu tribe group without a leader, and in the same year when the Ashina Duzhi rebelled, Tingzhou Thorn Shi Laiji died in battle outside the city of Tingzhou, probably after that, Tang Gaozong set up the Jinshan Metropolitan Protectorate in Beiting. The purpose of setting up the Jinshan Metropolitan Protectorate was to strengthen the defense of the northern Tianshan Mountains on the one hand, and on the other hand, to take over the responsibilities of the former Kunling Metropolitan Protector of the "Wulu Army" and pacify the old Western Turkic Department.
After the rise of the Turkish in the last years of Wu Zetian, the Tang Dynasty still adhered to the policy of supporting the descendants of the ten khans of the original Western Turks, and did not recognize the dominance of the Turkish tribe, and the relationship between the Tang Dynasty and the Turkish tended to intensify. In order to further strengthen the Tang Dynasty's control over the eastern region of the Western Turks, Wu Zetian established the Beiting Metropolitan Protectorate in the second year of Chang'an (702) on the basis of the original Jinshan Metropolitan Protectorate.
The fourth volume of the "Yuanhe County Atlas" says:
"Tingzhou, because of the name of the royal court...... In the second year of Chang'an, the Beiting Protectorate was replaced, according to thirty-six flowers. In the twenty-first year of Kaiyuan (733), the Beiting Jiedu envoy was changed to prevent the Tuqi Shi, Jiankun, and Chopping Si, and the Guanhan Navy (in the city of Beiting Duhufu), the Tianshan Army (in the city of Xizhou), and the Yiwu Army (300 miles northwest of Yizhou, Ganlu River). ”
This historical material is of great significance for us to understand the responsibilities of the Beiting Metropolitan Protectorate. The Thirty-six Tibetans refer to the tribes north of the Tianshan Mountains that were originally subordinate to the Western Turks, and the following "prevention and control of the Turks, Jiankun, and Chopping" specifically points out the main responsibilities of the Beiting Protectorate. Turgish and Jiankun are both nomadic tribes in the Western Regions, while "Chopping" refers specifically to the Eastern Turks.
Chop's real name is silent, and Chop is the name changed by Wu Zetian. The younger brother of Gululu was the brother of the Musi Khan (r. 691~716), and he was an important khan of the revived Eastern Turkic (also known as Post-Turkic) Khanate.
In the second year of Tianzhu (691), Gu Lulu died, and his son was young, and he established himself as a khan. During the reign of Mo Si, he conquered the east and the west, attacked cities and plundered land, and the power of the Eastern Turkic Khanate reached its peak, which became a great disaster for the Tang Dynasty.
The New Tang Dynasty Book of the Turks records:
"Silently sip defeat and defeat China, have pride, most of the soldiers and Jieli are slightly younger, the land is thousands of miles, and all the people are obedient. Fuli Lu Xi Lu is the left cha and Gu Lu Zi Mo Ju is the right cha, both of which command 20,000 soldiers; Zi Lu is a small khan, with two chases, and 40,000 soldiers with ten surnames such as Mu Kun in the pawn, called Tuoxi Khan. ”
Chumukun was one of the five land divisions of the Western Turks, and it is clear that the Eastern Turkic forces had penetrated deep into the Western Regions during the Mosi period.
The period of the Eastern Turks' large-scale westward invasion was just after the Turkish cavalry Shi Suage had just defeated Ashina Zhongjie and was officially recognized by the Tang Dynasty. At this time, the hometown of the ten surnames of the Western Turks was "divided" by Suo Ge and his younger brother Sha crossbow.
Dissatisfied with the fact that he had fewer people than his brother, he rebelled against the Eastern Turks and was willing to act as a guide to attack the Turks and Ishage. Mo Si took the opportunity to send troops, defeated the Tuqi Shi in the second year of Jingyun (711), captured Suo Ge alive, and killed Suo Ge and the crossbow together. There was a great turmoil in the ten regions of the Western Turks. The newly established Beiting Protectorate played an important role in pacifying the Western Turkic tribes and resisting the invasion of the Eastern Turks from the west.
In 711, the Tang Dynasty took the Western Turkic Ashina Xian as the envoy of the Ten Surnames, and in the first year of Xiantian (712), he appointed Ashina Xian as the protector of the Beiting Metropolitan and the leader of the Yixi Jiedu and the Han Navy, and began a large-scale conquest and pacification activities.
Between 714 and 715 (the second to third year of Kaiyuan), the three surnamed Ge Luo and Che Bi, as well as the five Lu and Wu Qi Jin tribes, all joined the Tang Dynasty.
In 714, Ashina captured and beheaded Dudan, the Western Turkic leader who rebelled against the Tang Dynasty, conquered Broken Leaves, and surrendered more than 50,000 tents of the Dudan tribe.
In the same year, the Eastern Turks sent his son Yine Khan to besiege Beiting with the same Russian special service, Huoba Jieli Fa Shi lost Bi, etc., and the right Xiaowei general Guo Qianqian led the army to counterattack and kill the same Russian special service, the Eastern Turkic army collapsed, and the Huoba soldiers did not dare to return to the country in defeat, and led his wife to surrender to Tang. The Eastern Turkic forces withdrew from the Western Regions.
For example, in the fourth year of Jinglong (710), the Tang Dynasty ordered Beiting and Tucai to join forces with the Tang army of Gan, Liang, Gua, Su and other prefectures to attack the Eastern Turks, mentioning that the official position of Beiting Protector Lü Xiujing was "the right leader of the army and the general of the Beiting Guard, and the guard of the North Courtyard and the Broken Leaf Town", and the army led by Lü Xiujing was "Hanhai, Beiting, Broken Leaf and other Han soldiers and 50,000 brave athletes".
Lu Xiujing led the Broken Leaf Town Guard as the Guardian of the North Courtyard of the Inspectorate, indicating that the Guardian of the North Courtyard did have Broken Leaf under his jurisdiction at this time. It is likely that since the establishment of the Beiting Protectorate in 702, the broken leaves have been transferred to the Beiting, although the names of the four towns under the jurisdiction of the Anxi Metropolitan Protectorate have not changed, but in fact there are only Qiuzi, Khotan, and Shule, until the seventh year of the Kaiyuan Dynasty (719) The Tang Dynasty prepared the four towns with Yanqi, and the number of the four towns began to be complete.
3. The expansion of Sulu Khan in the Western Regions
Da Shi is the name given to the Arab empire that emerged in the Middle East in the 7th century in the Chinese literature of the Tang Dynasty.
In 651 (the second year of Yonghui), the third caliph 'Uthman ibn Affan (644~656, the Old Tang Dynasty Book and the Legend of the Great Food) sent envoys to Chang'an, starting the formal exchanges between the Tang Dynasty and the Great Food.
From the middle of the 7th century to the beginning of the 8th century, the power of the Great Food Empire rapidly advanced to the east, conquering Khorasan and Tocharistan successively, and then crossing the Amu Darya River to the north and entering the Hezhong region, where it was connected with the Tang Dynasty's power in the Western Regions.
However, before the 8th century, to be exact, before the governor of Khorasan (704~715), the invasion of the region north of the Amu Darya River was mainly limited to predatory expeditions, and no real conquest was practiced.
It was only during the period of Qudibo's tenure as governor of Khorasan that the army of the Great Eclipse began to conquer the central region and the area north of the Syr Darya River.
In 712, after defeating Khorezm, Qu Dibo attacked Kang on his way back, and the king of Kang appealed to Shiguo, Pakhana, and the Turks for help, just as the army of the Eastern Turkic Khanate was defeated by the Turks and entered the remnants of the Western Turks. So the Eastern Turks took the opportunity to move south, entered the Transoxiana region and fought with the Great Eclipse, as a result of which the Eastern Turkic army retreated.
This was a large-scale contact between the Great Eclipse army and the Turks in the region north of the Amu Darya River. After that, the Eastern Turks withdrew from the Western Regions under the blow of the Tang Dynasty, and the rapid rise of Sulu of the Turkish Cavalry Division and the control of the Western Turkic Ten Regions became the biggest obstacle to the eastward invasion of the Great Eclipse, and also objectively became a barrier to avoid the direct contact between the Great Eclipse and the Tang Dynasty in the Western Regions.
During the Eastern Turkic invasion, the Turgish tribe was greatly traumatized, and between 714 and 715, the Tang army defeated the Eastern Turks, and the Western Turkic tribes surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, and the situation in the Western Regions took a new turn.
After the death of the Tuqi Shi Khan Suoge, Sulu gathered the remnants of the people, and soon grew to 200,000 people, and in 715, the Tang Dynasty awarded Sulu Zuo Yulin the general and the ambassador of the Jin Fang Dao Jinglu, and regained control of the Western Turkic region.
However, the Tang Dynasty only granted Sulu a fictitious title, and did not actually intend to grant Sulu the right to rule the Western Turkic homeland. With the defection of the Western Turks to the Tang Dynasty and the strengthening of the Tang Dynasty's control over the northern part of the Tianshan Mountains, the Tang Dynasty once again had the intention of worshipping the descendants of the Ashina clan, and at the latest in the fourth year of Kaiyuan (716), Tang Xuanzong had already worshiped Ashina, the grandson of Ashina Miku, as the Western Turk Khan, and made him lead the Western Turkic tribes.
However, the Tang Dynasty's arrangement was met with strong opposition from the Tuqi Shi Sulu. In the fifth year of Kaiyuan (717), Sulu seduced Dashi and Tubo, plotted to capture the four towns, and besieged the bowl to change the city and the big stone city.
Judging from the content of Tang Xuanzong's letters to Guo Qianqian and Ashina, the war was dismissed by the Tang Dynasty due to concessions to the Tuqishi. In the sixth year of Kaiyuan (718), Xuanzong reaffirmed the original appointment of Sulu and crowned the Duke of Shunguo as a measure to delay the army.
However, Ashina was still not allowed to enter the court, and Sulu was urged to accept Ashinaxian's rule. In the above-mentioned letters, Tang Xuanzong particularly emphasized:
"Shi Xian (i.e., Ashina Xian) ten chieftains, first worship the Khan; Although the Turgish tribe is a small crowd, it should fulfill its faith and think well, and An Ke should strive for the high? (Guo) Qian Qian will praise the words and be loyal; Sulu was first a great general, and he was not commanded. Today, he sent Zuo Wu Wei Yi Fu Zhonglang to make Wang Hui as an envoy, proclaimed my court's grace, and was registered as the Duke of the State (i.e., Shun Guogong), ordered the order of the dynasty, and gave 2,000 pieces and utensils, etc.; ”
On the one hand, the Tang Dynasty warned Sulu not to "strive for superiority" and nominally supported Ashina Xian, but at the same time, it believed that "Yi Di attacked each other, and Yuan was not sent by the imperial court, and if there was a big injury or a small destruction, it would be beneficial to the country", and was unwilling to openly clash with the Turgish, and adopted an attitude of staying out of the dispute between Ashina Xian and Sulu.
Since Ashina Xian could not receive military assistance from the Tang Dynasty and was not subdued by the Western Turkic tribes, he finally thought that Sulu was "strong and uncontrollable", and "returned to Chang'an" like his father and brother. Sulu took full control of the Western Turkic tribes. In the seventh year of Kaiyuan (719), Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty worshiped Sulu as the Zhongshun Khan, and after Suoge, the leader of the Turgish Dynasty replaced the Ashina clan again and became the Khan of the entire Western Turks.
In the same year, Sulu asked to be stationed in Broken Leaves, and Xuanzong agreed to Sulu's request, and Anxi Du Hu Tang Jiahui asked for the number of four towns to be prepared.
Yanqi replaced Broken Leaf, and the four towns of Anxi became the four towns of Qiuzi, Shule, Khotan, and Yanqi, while Broken Leaf was controlled by the Turgish.
4. The relationship between Tuqi Shi and Dashi and Da Shi and Da Tang
After the consolidation of Sulu's rule over the Western Turks, the relationship between Sulu and the Tang dynasty gradually stabilized. In the tenth year of Kaiyuan (722), Tang Xuanzong took Ashina Huaidao's daughter as the princess of Jinhe and married Sulu as his wife.
Princess Jinhe is not only the daughter of the original ten surnamed Khan royal family, but also ordained by the Tang Dynasty, nominally the princess of the Tang Dynasty, and the purpose of the Tang Dynasty marrying her to Sulu was to show friendship and trust in Sulu on the one hand, and on the other hand, to enhance Sulu's appeal to the Western Turkic tribes.
At this time, the power of Tubo and the Eastern Turks also had a great influence on the Western Regions, and Sulu also maintained contacts with the Tubo and the Eastern Turks in private while submitting to the Tang Dynasty. not only takes the women of the Three Kingdoms as Kedun, but also separates several sons as Ye Protector", and uses shrewd diplomatic means to maneuver between the major forces.
However, in addition to the Tibetans and the Eastern Turks, the Turks also faced the eastward invasion of the Great Eclipse in the west.
In the process of the eastward invasion of the Great Food Empire, the small Central Asian countries repeatedly asked the Tang Dynasty for help, but the Tang Dynasty was unable to take care of the Western Regions west of the Green Mountains at this time, and the turkish cavalry Sulu who submitted to the Tang Dynasty became an important force to resist the Great Food.
In 719, King An reported to Xuanzong of Tang that he said:
"Over the years, it has been invaded by the big thieves every year, the land is restless, and the begging heavens are enriched, and the ministers are suffering, and they still ask the Turkic (horseman) to give and order the ministers to be saved. ”
In the fifteenth year of Kaiyuan (727), the Tocharian envoys also complained:
"And Chengtian Khan (referring to Tang Xuanzong) punished the Turkic (horseman) Shi Khan Yun, and the Xitou affairs entrusted to you, that is, you must send troops to get rid of the big food. If it is true, the Khan of Wangtian will punish him. ”
These historical materials at least show that the Turgish Khan Sulu was operating in Central Asia under the banner of the Tang Dynasty at that time, otherwise the Central Asian countries would not have asked the Tang Dynasty to order the Turgish to send troops; and judging from the tone of the text, the Tang Dynasty's appointment of the Turgish to resist the Great Eclipse should be credible, and it was precisely because the Turgish accepted the appointment of the Tang Dynasty, but did not fully fulfill their obligations, that the Central Asian countries would make such a request to the Tang Dynasty.
The situation after the Turkish-Sulu took control of the Western Turkic tribes was complicated. Sulu gained control of the Western Turks by virtue of its own strength, but this region has long been subject to the Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty established a prefecture here, and set up official posts, which has a great influence, and Sulu wants to command the tribes and consolidate its rule, it must first be recognized and supported by the Tang Dynasty;
If Sulu wanted to maintain the position he had achieved, he had to maintain a certain degree of independence while submitting to the Tang Dynasty, posing a potential threat to the Tang Dynasty's power in the Western Regions, so that the Tang Dynasty had to recognize his status. Therefore, although Sulu submitted to the Tang Dynasty and accepted the canonization of the Tang Dynasty, it did not obey the orders of the Tang Dynasty, but actively carried out multilateral diplomacy and maintained relations with Tibet and the Eastern Turks. The New Tang Dynasty Book of the Turkic Biography says that Sulu was "cunning, impure and subordinate to the Tang Dynasty, and the Son of Heaven bound him", which reflects this delicate relationship between Sulu and the Tang government.
The threat of the Great Food Empire also had an important impact on the relationship between the Tang Dynasty and the Turgish. The eastward invasion of the Great Eclipse was a great threat to the rule of the Turgish tribe in the Western Turks, especially to the Central Asian vassal states that had long been subject to the Western Turks.
If the Tang Dynasty's attitude towards the Turgish was only incomplete trust, then the eastward invasion of the Great Food directly threatened the survival of the Turgish.
Maintaining the vassal relationship between the Turgish and the Tang Dynasty would be beneficial to both sides.
For the Tang Dynasty, although it knew that Sulu was "not purely subordinate to the Tang", it recognized the dominance of the Turkish in the Western Turks, which could stabilize the situation in the ten Western Turkic regions, and at the same time avoid a head-to-head confrontation between the Tang Dynasty and the Great Eclipse.
The relationship between the Tang Dynasty and the Turgish was an unstable relationship based on the relative balance of power between the two sides, and once this equilibrium was broken, the relationship between the two sides would also break down.
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