Xueyantuo - History

History

Initially the Xue and the Yantuo were two separate tribes. The Xue appeared earlier as Xinli but were not referred to again until the 7th century. After Yishibo, the Xueyantuo founded a short-lived Qaghanate over the steppe under Zhenzhu Khan, his son Duomi Khan and nephew Yitewushi Khan, the last of which eventually surrendered to the Chinese.

On March 27, 630, the Xueyantuo allied with the Chinese to defeat the Eastern Qaghanate in the Yin Mountains. Illig Qaghan escaped, but was handed over to the Chinese by his subordinate qaghan on May 2.

After Eastern Gokturk Illig Qaghan Ashina Duobi was defeated by Tang in 630, the Xueyantuo effectively took over control of the Eastern Gokturks former territory, at times submissive to Tang and at times warring with Tang and the subsequent khan of the Eastern Gokturks that Tang supported, the Qilibi Khan Ashina Simo.

In 632 they repulsed an army of Si Yabgu Qaghan from the Western Qaghanate, then subjugated the Qarluq at the Ulungur and Irtysh River, and the Yenisei Kyrgyz tribes. In 634 one of their rivals, Dubu Qaghan (Ashina Shier), son of Chuluo Khan, who ruled much of the eastern half of the Western Qaghanate, was eliminated before escaping to China.

After that they maintained a friendly relationship with the Chinese until 639, when a raid on the Chinese capital was planned by the Gökturks under Ashina Jiedushuai (阿史那结社率), who had been disparaged by the Chinese emperor. He allied with his nephew Ashina Heluohu (阿史那贺逻鹘), choosing him as the leader of the raid on May 19. They were unsuccessful and over 40 rebels were executed. Heluohu was spared and expelled to the far south.

After this incident, an arraignment was made on August 13. A deportation of all Goktürks north of Ordos was carried out, in an attempt to restore the puppet Eastern Qaghanate as a barrier against the Xueyanto, to disperse their attention over the territorial competition in the west.

Among the Göktürk nobles, Ashina Simo was selected as the qaghan (Qilibi Khan) with his capital at the border. The plot failed, as he was unable to gather his people, many of his tribesmen having escaped to the south by 644 after a series of unsuccessful incursions by the Xueyantuo supported by the Chinese. Those defeats by the advancing Chinese had made their tribal allies lose confidence in them. The crisis deepened the next year when a coup d'état took place within the clan.

On August 1, 646, they were defeated by the Uyghur (Huihu, 回纥) and the Chinese. The Xueyantuo's Duomi Khan, Bazhuo, was killed by the Uyghur. A Tang army led by the general Li Daozong, the Prince of Jiangxia crushed the Xueyantuo forces. The last Xueyantuo khan, the Yitewushi Khan Duomozhi, surrendered. The Uyghur took over the former Xueyantuo territory. For a (disputed) relationship with the later Shato Turks, see Shato. Their remnants were destroyed two years later, on September 15.