Illig Qaghan


Illig Qaghan, later Tang posthumous title Prince Huang of Guiyi, was the last qaghan of the Eastern Turkic Khaganate.

Background

He was a son of Yami Qaghan and his Tuyuhun wife Poshi. He was raised by Tuyuhun general Külüg Tarkhan. After coming of age, he was given title Baghatur shad and was assigned to rule eastern parts of empire.

Reign

He declared himself Illig Khagan after death of his older brother Chuluo and marrying his widow as well. He created his nephew Ashina Shibobi as Tolis Qaghan afterwards, assigning him his own former tribes. He continued his predecessors' pro-Sui politics, supporting puppet emperors.

Raids into Tang

His first contacts with Tang were very hostile. In 621, Tujue forces attacked Fenyin and Xi territories, reaching as south as Yanmen in April. As a response, Turkic ambassadors were arrested in China and vice-versa. In May, khagan's forces crushed Tang forces commanded by Li Shuliang, Gaozu's cousin who died from arrow wounds after a month. They were repelled later by Yang Shidao.
Later raids were accompanied by Gao Kaidao and Yuan Junzhang, a general formerly under Liu Wuzhou. To stop raids, Gaozu offered khagan a tribute and a Chinese princess. Khagan accepted the proposal and both states released arrested envoys.
Soon raids restarted, in 623, khagan were assisted by Gao Kaidao and Liu Heita in sieging Mayi and capturing it. Yuan Junzhang was appointed governor of Mayi. But Mayi was soon reverted by Tujue in hopes of attaining a marriage to Tang princess.
Later Liang Luoren, the brother of Liang Shidu attacked with assistance from Eastern Tujue to Ling prefecture. However Li Daozong was able to repel him, and further expel the khagan's nephew Ashina Yushe from the Wuyuan.
As raids were becoming more frequent in 624, Li Shimin stepped up to accuse Ashina Shibobi of breaking his brotherhood vows, which made Illig Khagan to grow suspect towards Shibobi. Khagan soon attempted to seek peace, sending his nephew Ashina Shibobi and his uncle Ashina Simo to negotiate.
In 625, khagan attacked Ling Prefecture. Emperor Gaozu sent the general Zhang Jin to resist Tujue with Wen Yanbo serving as Zhang's secretary general. When Zhang engaged khagan, however, he suffered a major defeat, and Wen was captured. As Wen was an important official, khagan put him under interrogation and asked him about the strengths and weaknesses of the Tang state. Wen refused to answer and khagan moved him to the Yin Mountains region.
In 626, just 19 days after Emperor Taizong took the throne, Shibobi and Illig were just across the Wei River from Chang'an. Emperor Taizong, accompanied by Gao Shilian and Fang Xuanling, was forced to meet Tujue across the river and personally negotiate peace terms, including tributes to Eastern Turks, before Illig withdrew.

Civil war

In 627 he attempted to levy horses from the vassal Tiele tribes after all his livestock died from a snowstorm. The Tiele revolted under a Xueyantuo coalition. Emperor Taizong of Tang wasted no time in allying with these Tiele and the Khitans in a joint attack. Illig was already facing internal dissent from the Göktürk generals jealous of the influence of Illig's Sogdian vizers.
As response, khagan gave 100.000 cavalry to command of Yukuk Shad to suppress revolts. However shad was defeated by Huige forces commanded by Pusa near Malie. Later for more generals of Tujue were defeated by the Xueyantuo.
In 628 Kumo Xi tribes also rose in rebellion against Tujue. Eastern governor Ashina Shibobi was unsuccessful in defeating rebels, which made khagan angry and ordered him to flogged and imprisoned for 10 days. Taizong used this opportunity to invite him to flee to Tang.

End of reign

In summer 628, when a number of Khitan tribes surrendered to Tang, Illig offered to trade Liang Shidu for the Khitan tribes, but Emperor Taizong refused stating Liang was already on verge of surrendering himself and Khitan were no Turk. Meanwhile Emperor Taizong sent his brother-in-law Chai Shao and the generals Xue Wanjun, Liu Lancheng, and Liu Min to pressure Shuofang. They soon defeated Eastern Tujue forces and put Shuofang under siege, and Eastern Tujue forces were unable to lift the siege. When the food supplies ran out, Liang Shidu's cousin Liang Luoren assassinated Liang Shidu and surrendered the city to Tang
Around the new year 630, with Eastern Tujue in internal turmoil, khagan attacked Ashina Shibobi. As a reaction Emperor Taizong commissioned Li Jing, Li Shiji, Wei Xiaojie, Li Daozong, Chai Shao, and Xue Wanche to attack Eastern Tujue, with Li Jing in overall command. Li launched his attack in a surprise manner, from Mayi through Wuyang Range, capturing the important city of Dingxiang. In fear, khagan retreated to Qikou. Li Jing then sent secret messengers to persuade his associate to surrender. One of them, Kangsumi, took Emperor Yang's wife Empress Xiao and their grandson Yang Zhengdao, whom Chuluo khagan had created the Prince of Sui, and surrendered to Li Jing. Khagan sent messengers to Emperor Taizong, offering to submit and to pay homage to him later, but was still considering fleeing further with his forces. Emperor Taizong sent the official Tang Jian as an envoy to khagan, but also ordered Li Jing to escort khagan. Li Jing, reading between the lines and believing that Emperor Taizong's order was to attack khagan, after joining forces with Li Shiji, launched the attack. They defeated and captured most of khagan's remaining forces and killed his wife, Sui's Princess Yicheng. Khagan fled further, and was soon captured by his own men Ashina Sunishi and Ashina Nishu who handed him over to Li Daozong and Zhang Baoxiang. He was brought back to Chang'an to face Taizong in 29 March, 630. After listing his crimes against the Tang, Taizong spared the former Qaghan.

Later years

In his later years, former qaghan grew ill in morale. He was created a commander and appointed to be a governor of Guó Prefecture which was rich with deers 632 by Taizong, but he declined. He died in 634 and was created Prince of Guiyi and named Huang by Taizong posthumously. His teacher Kulug Tarkhan also reported to take his own life upon sadness. Cen Wenben was ordered to write memorial stone. His tomb is still not found.

Family

He was married to Princess Yicheng of Sui and a number of wives. He had at least five issues: