Chapter 2 Chapter Two The Rise and Fall of the Turkic Dynasty

As the saying goes, a hero without an opponent is lonely, and feudal dynasties are no exception, but in every powerful feudal dynasty in Chinese history, there is always a foreign enemy who appears at the right time to set off its "great martial arts".For example, the opponent of the Han Dynasty was the Xiongnu, and the opponent of the Ming Dynasty was Mongolia first, and then Jurchen. Throughout the Sui and Tang dynasties, there was also a powerful opponent-the Turks. Speaking of Turks, modern people are both familiar and unfamiliar. I say familiar because this powerful nation has been mentioned more than once in both ancient romance novels and modern martial arts legends, but modern people are particularly familiar with this nation. Strangeness: Where did it come from, where did it end up going, why did it become strong, and why did it decline.This series of problems is a mysterious veil shrouded in the Turkic Empire.

During the period when the Turkic dynasty grew, northern China first experienced the "five chaos in China", then the Xianbei people ran across the Central Plains, and finally Yang Jian seized power.During this period, the northern grasslands were not lonely because of the many minority regimes going south. On the contrary, upstarts such as Rouran rose up and continued to deal with the dynasty in the Central Plains. When Rouran was weakened by the blows of the Northern Wei and Northern Zhou However, a more powerful opponent - the Turks, quickly rose in the grasslands.To be honest, although before the Turks, the banners of the kings changed on the top of the northern grasslands, and countless "heroes" emerged, but only the Turks were qualified to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Huns in their powerful days.Because compared with other tribes who are short-lived in the pan and the land is a prison, the Turks controlled the vast land from the three northeast provinces in the east to the Caspian Sea Basin in the west when they were in their heyday. In the end, it can be said that the Central Plains Dynasty of China has faced the most powerful opponent since the Xiongnu moved westward.

Where did this opponent come from, and how did it become stronger? In the historical materials of the Central Plains Dynasty, the Turks originally had two disgraceful names: Rouran Iron Workers and Rouran Blacksmiths. These two names vividly illustrate their initial status—little servants. The ancestors of the Turks, it is generally said in modern times that they came from the two tribes of "Dingling" and "Tiele" during the "Five Huranhua" period. They were originally nomadic in the upper reaches of the Yeseni River. After they were conquered by Rouran, they migrated to the Altai Mountains in Xinjiang.For a long time, they were just a subsidiary tribe of the Rouran nation.When the Rouran nation was strong, most of its swords and other weapons were smelted by them. Therefore, in the classics of the Central Plains, they also had the titles of Rouran Iron Workers and Rouran Forging Slaves.The Turks got their name because after they migrated to the Altai Mountains, the Altai Mountains were named "Turks" because they were homonymous for the shape of the Altai Mountains, which resembled a war helmet "Douhou".The earliest record of the Turkic invasion of the Central Plains Dynasty should be in the period of Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty. At that time, they followed the Rouran tribe and plundered the Datong area of ​​Shanxi in the Northern Wei Dynasty. ".However, in the war at that time, their population and strength were far from being compared with the powerful Rouran tribe, at most they were only a subordinate tribe.

The real turning point in the fate of the Turks was the battle against Rouran by Emperor Taiwu Tuoba Tao of the Northern Wei Dynasty.In 429 A.D., Tuoba Tao, Emperor Taiwu of the Northern Wei Dynasty, fought in person. He fought six consecutive battles and wiped out the once powerful Rouran tribe. He cumulatively killed more than 50,000 prisoners of the Rouran army and basically relieved Rouran of northern China. border threat.The tribal alliances of nomadic peoples have always been loose. When they are strong, they are united as one, but once they suffer a disastrous defeat, they are easy to fall apart. Rouran, which was hit hard, gradually lost control of its subordinate tribes. At the end of the same year, the Altai Mountains Tiele's tribes launched a riot and broke away from Rouran's rule.About 300,000 people moved from the Altai Mountains and surrendered to the Northern Wei Dynasty.In the grasslands of western China, a huge "vacuum" suddenly appeared.Compared with the choice of the brother tribes, the Turkic tribe chose to stay behind.Since then, the Turks have started a long war against Rouran oppression.At the same time, out of the need to contain the Rouran tribe, the Central Plains dynasty at that time also established ties with the Turks one after another. The first to bear the brunt was the Western Wei Dynasty, the predecessor of the Northern Zhou Dynasty.In 542 AD, when Ashina came to serve as the Turkic chieftain, he began to send people to the Great Wall to trade with the Central Plains Dynasty, and the Western Wei Dynasty at that time also tried its best to win over the Turks.In 545 A.D., Yu Wentai, a power minister of the Western Wei Dynasty, sent Hu Shang An Nuopan as a special envoy to Turkic. This was the first contact with Turkic in the history of the Central Plains Dynasty.The following year, Turkic missions came to Chang'an to pay tribute to the then Western Wei Dynasty. In 551 AD, the Western Wei Dynasty married Princess Changle to Turkic Khan Ashina.Turkic, the newly-emerged prairie upstart, became the "son-in-law" of the Western Wei Dynasty.In the same year, Ashina dispatched 50,000 cavalry to attack and harass the Rouran tribe in northern China. Rouran Khan Anahuan committed suicide in despair under the attack from both sides. , his strength soared, and Ashina came to the door and called himself "Yili Khan".Afterwards, the Turks went on an expedition to the Western Regions and entered Central Asia. In 567 AD, the Turks joined forces with the Persian Sasanian Empire and wiped out the remnants of the nomadic Huns living in the Aral Sea. Empire - Turkic Khanate.

In the initial stage of the full expansion of the Turkic Khanate, the Western Wei regime in the Central Plains, which was adjacent to the Turkic Khanate, provided a lot of assistance to the Turkic Khanate. He is extremely obedient and has repeatedly sent envoys to communicate well.The Turks began to "turn their faces" after they eliminated Rouran. From 560 AD, they frequently invaded the northern border states and counties, and the degree of harassment was even worse than that of Rouran.During this period, the Northern Zhou and Northern Qi regimes in northern China were busy attacking and killing each other, and had no time to look northward. Therefore, when they invaded the Turkic Dynasty, they mostly used methods such as win over, rewards, and marriage, but sought peace and tranquility.At the same time, the Turks also actively intervened in the civil war in the Central Plains. For example, when the Northern Zhou Dynasty attacked the Northern Qi Dynasty, the Turks joined forces with the Northern Zhou Dynasty to attack Jinyang. After the Northern Zhou Dynasty defeated the Northern Qi Dynasty in 577 AD, the Turks took in the Northern Qi who had fled to Mobei. The clan Gao Shaoyi made him Emperor Qi.At the same time, the exchanges between the Northern Zhou Dynasty and the Turks became increasingly close. The Empress Ashina of Emperor Wu of the Northern Zhou Dynasty was the Turkic clan, and the wife of the Turkic Sabril Khan was the Princess of the Northern Zhou Dynasty.Such a close relationship has enabled the Turks to benefit greatly from the perennial civil wars in the Central Plains, and they are more accustomed to "balancing" among the various regimes in order to seek the greatest benefit.After 581 AD, Yang Jian replaced Zhou and established the Sui Dynasty. Of course, the "balance" in previous years no longer existed.Compared with the "marriage", "marriage" and "forbearance" of the previous dynasty, what Yang Jian sought was to establish a mighty Sui Empire. At that time, the Turks were in the reign of Sabriel Khan and had 40 cavalry. Dowan is already the overlord of the desert grassland.Between the two regimes, there is bound to be a needle-to-head collision.

What God blesses the Central Plains is that in the year when Yang Jian accepted the "abdication" and became self-reliant on behalf of Zhou, a far-reaching civil strife occurred in the Turkic Khanate, which was eyeing the Central Plains - the incident of the five khans standing side by side. During the Northern Zhou Dynasty, the Turkic khan was Tabo Khan. The previous Turkic khans followed the principle of "brothers end up with brothers". However, after the death of Tabo Khan, the situation changed.Daluo, who was appointed by Tabo to take the throne, was opposed by the clan because of his low status and could not convince the public. Under the competition of various forces, he finally adopted a compromise method. He took the picture taken by his nephew as the Great Khan, that is, Sasha Bolue Khan, in addition to Xiangluo's Second Khan, Daluobian's Abo Khan, Datou Khan who ruled the Western Regions, and the Greedy Khan stationed in eastern Xinjiang.Although Sabriel was the ruler of the Turkic Khanate, the Turkic Khanate, which was originally loose, had hidden cracks. Naturally, this crack could not be hidden from the eyes of the wily and calculating Yang Jian. The strategy was implemented shortly thereafter.

Regarding the Turks, Yang Jian adopted a cold policy from the very beginning. In the early years of his ascension to the throne, the rewards to the Turkic envoys were extremely weak.He once said to his ministers, "Hungry wolves are in the north, what's the benefit of serving them?" He regarded Turks as hungry wolves who couldn't get enough to feed.After Sha Bolue came to the throne, he continued to marry Princess Qianjin of the Northern Zhou Dynasty who was originally his Bo Khan's wife. This princess hated the fall of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and gave Sha Bolue "pillow wind" all day long. , declaring, "I am the son-in-law of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, and I shall avenge the Northern Zhou Dynasty."In 582 A.D., under the banner of avenging the Northern Zhou Dynasty, Sha Bolu raised an army of 400,000 and divided his troops into four groups to attack the Sui Dynasty.Prior to this, the Turks had already had a small-scale conflict with the Sui army. In the first year of Emperor Wen's ascension to the throne, they sent troops on the eastern front and captured Qinhuangdao, Hebei.Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty ordered all the troops to strictly guard the border, repair the Great Wall, and increase troops in Youzhou and Bingzhou.

In April 582 AD, 400,000 Turkic troops were divided into multiple groups and launched a large-scale invasion of the borders of the Sui Dynasty. From Hebei and Shanxi in the east to Shaanxi and Gansu in the west, there were continuous wars.This is the first time in the history of China's feudal dynasty that it has been attacked by nomads across the board.Facing the Turkic aggressive offensive, Emperor Wen Yang Jian of the Sui Dynasty responded calmly. He did not defend passively. , Resolutely crack down on Turkic aggression.The war was unfavorable at the beginning, and the Turkic forwards once approached the Hanzhong Plain.During the Battle of Qingyang, Gansu Province, Sabriel led an army of 100,000 troops and drove straight in. He encountered Daxi Changru, the general commander of the Sui Dynasty's march who was guarding the place. Their own casualties were also heavy, and there were less than a hundred guards and soldiers left.At the same time, the Sui army who took the initiative to attack suffered consecutive defeats in the Battle of Youzhou and the Battle of Lintao, and lost more than 10,000 troops. In August of that year, the Turks actually broke through the Sui Dynasty's Ningxia Guyuan defense line, drove straight into the interior, and plundered Ningxia, the northern prefectures and counties of Shaanxi, Yan'an and Honghua of Shaanxi, and Lanzhou of Gansu were all looted. The Sui Dynasty adopted the tactics of fortifying the walls and clearing the fields, and the troops took strict precautions to defend, and finally contained the Turkic offensive.At this time, after the Sui Dynasty took the initiative to attack in the early stage, it had turned to a full-scale retreat. Turkic losses were also heavy. Although they repeatedly broke through states and counties, they could not last long. A total of nearly one million troops from the DPRK and the Turks confronted the northern border, and the two sides were deadlocked.

The turning point of the war appeared in 582 AD. After the spring of that year, due to the long-term war, the veterans of the Turkic division were exhausted. Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty immediately decided to fight back.First, "National Mobilization" was carried out, and an imperial edict was issued to enumerate the crimes of the Turks, and then Yang Shuang was appointed as the commander of the march, and the troops were divided into eight groups to fight back against the Turks.Yang Shuang knew the truth of "capturing the thief and capturing the king", so he decided to concentrate his main force and attack Sha Boluo Khan's direct line troops first.In April of that year, the Sui army encountered the main force of Sabriel Khan in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia. Sui general Li Chong selected 5,000 elite cavalry and launched a surprise attack at night. He saved his life by hiding in the grass.After that, the Turkic front collapsed, and the Sui army took advantage of the momentum to march into Liaodong, eliminated the Gao Baoning regime that was attached to the Turks, put the land of Liaodong under the rule of the Sui Dynasty, and cut off the left arm of the Turks.At the same time, the Sui Dynasty launched a major counterattack across the board. The Turkic Apo Khan was defeated by Dou Rongding, the governor of Qinzhou in Gansu, and had to withdraw from the Hexi Corridor in Gansu.It was in the Battle of Gansu that Sun Sheng, the commander of the army of the Sui Dynasty, successfully instigated the rebellion against Abo Khan, which caused him to turn against Khan Sabriel.

The great counterattack of the Sui Dynasty in 582 A.D. completely dealt a blow to the Turkic forces. According to the report of the 8th Army at that time, the Sui army had killed more than 100,000 Turkic soldiers in total. This was the first time that the powerful Turkic Dynasty suffered a heavy blow. The blow, just like the Rouran Khanate back then, the Turkic Dynasty, which had a loose structure, immediately fell into division.The fuse was that Shabo Khan accused Abo Khan of running away. Abo Khan refused to accept it, and even turned against Sha Bolue under the instigation of the Sui Dynasty. Khan turned to the Western Regions to seek help from other khans. Since then, Turks have fallen into division and civil war.From 583 A.D., Abo Khan gathered his troops to occupy the northwest, established the Western Turkic Khanate, and established a good relationship with the Sui Dynasty. However, Sabrina Khan's population strength was greatly reduced and he became the Eastern Turkic Khanate.Later, under the disintegration and disintegration of the Sui Dynasty, Sha Bolue was hit repeatedly, and finally surrendered to the Sui Dynasty.After Sha Bolue's death, several of his sons fought each other for the throne of Khan, and were even used by the Sui Dynasty. After his son Dulan seized the throne of Khan, the Sui Dynasty canonized his other son Tuli as Qiminke Khan, for the Sui Dynasty border barrier.Changsun Sheng's "distance and close attack" has now become a reality, and the Turkic Dynasty, which was caught in a civil war, cannot pose a threat to the Great Sui Empire for the time being.

Turks became stronger again during the reign of Shibi Khan.At this time, the Central Plains had fallen into the doomsday of Emperor Sui Yang's rule. The world was in chaos, and naturally lost control of the northern border. Shibi Khan, who took advantage of the situation, became the great enemy of the Central Plains Dynasty. Shibi Khan is the son of Qimin Khan. After Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty canonized Qimin Khan, he gave generous rewards every year, and his power gradually grew.During the period of Qimin Khan, they always adopted a submissive policy towards the Sui Dynasty, but repeatedly launched the Northern Expedition to attack other factions of the Eastern Turks, constantly expanding their territory, and gradually became the strongest in the north.After Shibi Khan came to the throne, faced with the chaotic situation in the Central Plains at this time, he moved to get rid of the Sui Dynasty's self-reliance.In 615 AD, taking advantage of Emperor Sui Yang's northern tour, Shibi Khan mobilized hundreds of thousands of cavalry and besieged Emperor Sui Yang at Yanmen Pass. Life.But the two sides have been torn apart so far, and then all the heroes of the Sui Dynasty came together, and various forces opposed the Sui Dynasty one after another.Shibi Khan also learned from the Sui Dynasty’s strategy of far-distance and close-range attacks. Several major anti-Sui forces in the north, such as Liu Wuzhou, Liang Shidu, and Guo Zihe, all had the support of Shibi Khan, and even Li Yuan, who later established the Tang Dynasty, Before he raised troops in Taiyuan, he also sent Liu Wenjing as an envoy to Sibi Khan to communicate with him.In order to get the support of Shibi Khan, Li Yuan even promised to give all the precious and beautiful women in the captured cities to the Turks. Only then did the Turks send troops to help. After that, the Turkic tribes began to intervene in the civil war in the Central Plains.For example, when Liu Wuzhou raised his troops, he seized the northern palace of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty. He gave all the maids in the palace to the Turks as gifts, and exchanged them for 3,000 excellent war horses from the Turks. His cavalry once dominated the world. "Dingyang Khan".When Guo Zihe raised his troops, he sent his son as a hostage to the Turks, and the Turks canonized him as "Son of Pingyang".In 619 AD, when Liu Wuzhou and Li Yuan attacked each other, they once captured Jinzhou with the help of the Turks. Shibi Khan took the opportunity to attack the Yinchuan area of ​​Ningxia and plundered for several days. .But at this time, Shibi Khan died of illness suddenly. Afterwards, Li Yuan "redeemed" the Hetao area from the Turks with hundreds of thousands of dollars as a price, and a great war was just resolved.Even so, for the Li Tang Dynasty, which raised troops in the early years, the relationship with the Turks was extremely humiliating. Li Yuan once professed a vassal to the Turks. Filial piety".The result of spending money to buy peace is that the Turks were greedy for immediate interests and did not take the opportunity to grab territory in the Central Plains. The Li and Tang dynasties also successfully completed national reunification. But for the Tang Dynasty, which ended the split and was waiting for prosperity, the Turks were also a serious problem.Li Tang Jianguo faced a mess that was more dilapidated than that of Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty.At this time, the Turks, after the death of Shibi Khan, not only did not decline, Chuluo Khan, who succeeded Shibi Khan, was also a strongman. Helping the Tang Dynasty and sometimes helping other forces, making profits from the attacks of various princes, the Tang Dynasty had no choice but to continue to donate money and continue to spend money to buy peace.After the death of Chuluo Khan, Qimin Khan's third son, Jieli Khan, came to the throne. During his reign, the power of the Eastern Turks expanded, and they continued to attack the Western Turks from the west. They completely overwhelmed the forces of the Western Turks and became the overlord of the grassland.At this time, he was no longer satisfied with the situation where the Central Plains dynasty spent money to buy peace.In the early days of his accession to the throne, he forced the Tang Dynasty to cede the country, and ceded to him all the Wuyuan City in Saibei, which was used to defend against the Turks during the Sui Dynasty.At this time, the Tang Dynasty had just completed the unification of the country, and its vitality had not recovered, so it could only continue to swallow its anger.In 621 AD, Jieli Khan led an army to invade Daizhou of the Tang Dynasty, and Wang Xiaoji, the general manager of the Tang Dynasty's marching army, was wiped out.In 622 A.D., the Turkic troops besieged Shuozhou again, and the guard of the Tang army, Li Dayen, was killed. Tang Gaozu Li Yuan couldn't bear it, and decided to go to war with the Turkic. Duan Decao left Xiazhou, and the four armies all marched against the Turks.As the founding emperor of the Tang Dynasty, Li Yuan knew very well that the country was dilapidated, and the idea of ​​going to war with the Turks was not over-the-top. The war made the Turkic people know how powerful they were, and they used war to force peace.Therefore, the Tang army came out together, and began the first collision with the Turks. Contrary to Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty's war against the Turks, the Tang army progressed smoothly at the beginning. They fought the Turks in Bingzhou, Fenyang and other places, beheaded hundreds of them, and forced the Turks to retreat.Unexpectedly, the good times will not last long, the Turkic tactic this time is a "strategic detour".The Turks first pretended to retreat, attracting the main force of the Tang army to go north, but the elite Turkic cavalry suddenly attacked from the west, breaking through Dalong Mountain in the Tang Dynasty and Hongzhou in Gansu in one fell swoop, and approaching the Guanzhong Plain.After being defeated, the Tang Dynasty had no choice but to give in temporarily, and promised the Turks to take away all the treasures of the prefectures and counties they had looted, and give them money.Jieli Khan was also hesitant about whether to withdraw his troops. At this time, Qin King Li Shimin was rushing from Shanxi for reinforcements. After hearing the news, Jieli Khan stepped off his donkey and retreated back north.Tang Jun, who swept across the Central Plains, lost completely in the first collision with the Turkic elite.In the next few years, the scale of Turkic invasion continued to expand. Each time, after siege and plunder, they waited for the Tang Dynasty to seek peace, and then sat down to receive gifts from the Tang Dynasty.It is worth mentioning that in the spring of 626 AD, the Turks invaded Lingzhou, Shuozhou and other places in the Tang Dynasty on a large scale, and the Tang Dynasty again dispatched troops to prepare for the enemy.It was this invasion of foreign enemies that made Li Yuan decide to put Prince Li Jiancheng in command of the expedition, and enlisted the cronies of King Qin Li Shimin to accompany the army. Unwilling to be weakened, Li Shimin launched a mutiny at Xuanwu Gate, killing Prince Li Jiancheng and Qi King Li Yuanji , forcing Li Yuan to "abide" the throne to him.The "Xuanwumen Incident" that changed Li Shimin's fate was actually the unintentional instigator of Turkic. After the Xuanwumen Incident, Emperor Taizong Li Shimin came to the throne in August of that year. During this period, the Turks never stopped invading the borders of the Tang Dynasty. Due to the civil strife in the Tang Dynasty, there was no time to take care of the borders. From Shuozhou to Lingzhou, east and west On the front line, the Turks broke through all the way to the south and fought all the way to the vicinity of Chang'an.Then, Li Shimin, who was newly enthroned, met with the Turkic Jieli Khan on the edge of the Weishui River and angrily denounced the Turkic aggression. After promising to continue to give the Turkic treasures, Jieli Khan decided to withdraw his troops.In fact, at this time, the Tang Dynasty dispatched troops, and the army gathered in the Guanxi Plain. The reason why Jieli Khan withdrew his troops was because he was worried that his army would go deep and the Tang Dynasty might cut off his retreat.But no matter what, in the several confrontations after the founding of the Tang Dynasty, the Tang army lost more than they won, and the previous battles were almost defeated.At this time, the Eastern Turks were already dominating the grasslands, forcing the Tang Dynasty with troops, and the Weishui alliance was the culmination of the glory in the military history of the Eastern Turks. Of course, it was also the death knell of their downfall. Why did the Tang Dynasty fail to defeat the Turks?In fact, in the early battles between the Tang Dynasty and the Turks, the failure of the Tang army was nothing more than three words-mobility.The Turkic cavalry is the strongest in the grassland at this time, coming and going like the wind. In the battle between the Turks and the Tang Dynasty, the Turks rarely took advantage of the city battles. Most of the victories came from avoiding the real and attacking the weak. In a roundabout way, the defense line of the Tang Dynasty was flanked, so as to defeat it in one fell swoop.At this time, the Central Plains Dynasty had gone through wars, horses were scarce, and there was no strong cavalry. Naturally, they could not compete with the Turks in the field.Unlike modern people's imagination, the "military technology" of East Turks was also extremely developed at this time.The Turks themselves are known for their proficiency in smelting. In the early years of the war between the Sui Dynasty and the Turks, the strong bows and crossbows of the Sui Dynasty army dealt a great blow to the Turkic army.From the time when Qimin Khan returned to the Sui Dynasty, the Turks actively learned military technology such as crossbow manufacturing from the Central Plains. Especially in the battle of Jieli Khan's attack on Lingzhou, he attacked the city with hard crossbows, which led to the annihilation of the entire Tang Dynasty defenders.In addition, the Turkic army is also very developed in siege equipment. The elite "Yajun" of Jieli Khan has hundreds of types of siege equipment, many of which are made by Han "technicians" taken in by the Turks.For the Tang Dynasty, the Turks were a powerful opponent with both nomadic mobility and the "high technology" of the Han nationality. Its strength was even far better than that of the Huns, who were dominated by nomadic cavalry back then. After Tang Taizong Li Shimin ascended the throne, he made the suppression of the Turks his top priority.During his reign, he resumed production, lightened corvees and paid less taxes, and rested with the people. At the same time, he also carried out a series of reforms to the army, especially the reform of the government military system that appeared in the Northern Wei Dynasty, and changed the original separation of soldiers and farmers into a combination of soldiers and farmers. , recruiting a large number of able-bodied peasants into the army not only expands the source of troops but also enhances combat effectiveness, and also reduces the country's military expenditure.At the same time, he also carried out horse administration, encouraged private horse breeding, set up officials in charge of horse breeding and requisition, and increased the national war horse reserve.The tactics of the Tang army are also different from those of the previous Southern and Northern Dynasties and the Sui Dynasty. Compared with the Northern Zhou and Sui dynasties, which often used heavy armored cavalry, the Tang Dynasty began to change the heavy to light from this time, vigorously developing hard crossbows and light cavalry, and being good at Tang Dao infantry to deal with the cavalry attack.It was this tactical reform that played a key role in the Tang Dynasty's sweep of Siyi. The opportunity to counterattack came in May 627 AD. In this year, a large-scale snowstorm occurred in the northern grasslands, and many tribes suffered heavy losses. For the nomadic Turks, this blow was heavy.At the same time, the conflicts between Jieli Khan and many tribes became increasingly intensified.Compared with the khans of the Turkic dynasties, Jieli Khan is very special. In terms of administration, he trusts the Shanghu from the Western Regions he recruited more, and alienates the clan and nobles of the Turks. Therefore, the tribes are increasingly alienated from him, especially when he was an ally. Tuli Khan, because of Jieli Khan's serious raids, the conflict between the two became increasingly intensified.In the same year, a rebellion broke out in the Tiele tribe in western Turks. Jieli Khan ordered Tuli Khan to lead his troops to suppress it. Li Khan raised his troops to rebel and was defeated by Jieli Khan. In desperation, Tuli Khan surrendered to the Tang Dynasty.How could Li Shimin let go of this god-given opportunity. In October 628 AD, the Tang Dynasty decided to send troops to the Northern Expedition. At this time, the Jieli Khan had rebelled, the Khitan and other tribes in the east had rebelled, and the Xueyantuo Khanate and Tiele tribe in the west He also broke away from the rule, and years of famines caused economic difficulties, but he just added fuel to the fire, led his troops into Mayi, and showed off his force to the Tang Dynasty, thinking that the Tang Dynasty would spend money to buy peace as before, but this time he waited for it. , It was a head-on blow to the Tang Dynasty. In November, the Tang Dynasty took Li Jing, Shangshu of the Ministry of War, as the chief of the army, and led the six-way army to go out. The Tang army won the first battle and defeated Jieli Khan in Mayi.In this battle, the Tang army demonstrated their new tactics. They used long-sworded infantry as a square formation, and arranged hard crossbows behind them to prevent the Turkic cavalry from charging.What surprised the Turks even more was that the Tang army even equipped its infantry with horses, and the infantry rode to the battlefield and dismounted to fight on foot.After several years of recuperation, the Tang army has accumulated sufficient strength, and can use its strong combat effectiveness and strong national power to fight a hearty field battle with the Turks. After the Battle of Mayi, Jieli Khan was defeated and fled in a panic. After his subordinates surrendered to the Tang Dynasty, they confessed the location of Jieli Khan's garrison. Then the Tang Dynasty sent Li Jing, Chai Shao, Li Daozong, Wei Xiaojie, Li Shiji, Xue Wanshu The troops were divided into six groups and tried their best to encircle and suppress the Turks. Jieli Khan retreated steadily, and his tribes surrendered to the Tang Dynasty one after another.In the first month of the following year, Li Jing led 3,000 fine riders to go straight to Dingxiang, the old nest of Jieli Khan, while Li Shiji's Northern Route Army detoured to Hohhot and attacked Jieli Khan back and forth. When he arrived in Tieshan, Inner Mongolia, there were only more than 10,000 remnant soldiers left. While sending envoys to the Tang Dynasty to seek peace, he wanted to take the opportunity to escape, but the shrewd Li Shimin would not give him this opportunity.Not long after Tang Jian, the envoy of the Tang Dynasty, entered the camp of Jieli Khan, Li Jing's army rushed to kill him. Jieli Khan's army was killed and wiped out. The local tribe rebelled, but Li Daozong of the Tang Army was blocked there. As a result, Jieli Khan, who once dominated the grassland, was finally captured in Lingzhou, Gansu.The once mighty Eastern Turkic Khanate has now perished. After Jieli Khan was captured, all the Eastern Turks had belonged to the Tang Dynasty, and the Tiele tribes who had rebelled against the Eastern Turks in the early years also joined them one after another. The territory of the Tang Dynasty during this period can be said to own the entire Outer Mongolia grassland today.In March of the same year, the chiefs of the original Turkic tribes gathered in Chang'an and respected Li Shimin as "Heavenly Khan". Tang Taizong adopted an extremely enlightened policy towards the Eastern Turks who surrendered. He not only pardoned Jieli Khan’s crimes, but also treated the Turks who surrendered equally. At the end of Tang Dynasty, Turkic officials were an important force in the political arena of the Tang Dynasty. Zhili Shisi, Ashina Simo and others are all important officials of the Tang Dynasty.In the Zhenguan Dynasty alone, there were more than 100 Turkic officials of the fifth rank or above.There are more than 1,000 Turkic people living in Chang'an City.Of course, there was disharmony among them. For example, in 639 AD, Tuli’s younger brother organized more than 40 people in an attempt to assassinate Tang Taizong Li Shimin. After the conspiracy was smashed, Tang Taizong adopted a tolerant policy. Set up tooth tents and let Turks become a barrier on the border of the Tang Dynasty. After the defeat of the Eastern Turks, as before, the power vacuum in the northern grassland reappeared, and the power of the Western Turks, which was originally suppressed by the Eastern Turks, also grew again. After that, the Xueyantuo Khanate and other tribes rose one after another, but they were all suppressed by the Tang Dynasty.The Tang Dynasty established Shanyu and Hanhai Duhufu in Mobei, and later merged into Anbei Duhufu, appointed local tribal leaders as officials, and brought Mobei Grassland under the rule of the Tang Dynasty.And the Western Turks, which became more powerful, failed to fill the gap in the grassland after the defeat of the Eastern Turks.During the Tang Dynasty’s dealings with the Eastern Turks, the Tang Dynasty had always adopted a friendly policy towards the Western Turks, trying to support the Western Turks to contain the Eastern Turks. However, the Western Turks were beaten too badly at first, and after the defeat of the Eastern Turks, their strength quickly recovered. swell.When Tang Taizong Li Shimin was in power, the sphere of influence of the Western Turks was mainly the northern and western regions of Xinjiang today. After the Tang Dynasty extinguished the Eastern Turks, Xue Yantuo and Gaochang Kingdom in the east of the Western Turks successively returned. After that, the Gaochang Kingdom rebelled, and Tang Taizong sent Hou Junji was settled.Before Hou Junji pacified the Gaochang Kingdom, the Western Turks had always supported the Gaochang Kingdom, but the Tang army made a surprise attack on Gaochang by traveling 700 miles at night, and it took only one night to pacify the entire territory of Gaochang.In September 640 A.D., the Tang Dynasty established the Anxi Protectorate in Turpan, and the Western Turks were included in the territory of the Tang Dynasty.Since then, the Western Turks, like the Eastern Turks, fell into division due to internal discord, and the Tang Dynasty pressed on step by step. Taking Anxi Duhufu as the starting point, they continued to recruit and surrender the Western Turkic tribes, and canonized the chiefs of the various tribes of the Western Turks. Officials of the Tang Dynasty.It is worth mentioning that many of the troops sent by the Tang army to pacify the Western Regions were from the former Eastern Turks, such as the famous general Ashnadur.In 642 A.D., Guo Xiaoke, the general of the Tang Dynasty, defeated the Western Turkic Khan Yipidulu successively. The rebellious Yipidulu surrendered in the following year, and the entire territory of the Western Turks was brought under the rule of the Anxi Dufu in the Tang Dynasty. When Tang Taizong Li Shimin died in 649 AD, the governor of Yaochi in the Tang Dynasty, the Turkic Ashina Helu launched a rebellion. The Tang Dynasty adopted a soft policy at the beginning, but Ashina Helu expanded everywhere. He once dominated the Western Regions and called himself Shabo Luo Khan.The Tang Dynasty made many conquests, but they all returned without success because of their remoteness.In 655 A.D., the Tang Dynasty took Su Dingfang as the general manager of the march, and made a large-scale westward expedition to Ashina Helu.Su Dingfang adopted a strategy of both soft and hard tactics, while appeasing the Turkic tribes, while concentrating on attacking the headquarters of Ashina Helu. In the Battle of Kale Irtysh River, the Tang army used the infantry phalanx tactics to defeat the Turkic cavalry of Ashina Helu. After that, he chased after him on a snowy night and broke Ashina Helu's lair, Jinya Mountain. After Ashina Helu fled to Tashkent, he was handed over to the Tang Dynasty by the local chief. . Under the blows of Emperor Taizong and Emperor Gaozong of Tang Dynasty, the once mighty Turkic Khanate finally came under the rule of the Tang Dynasty. Wars broke out in the dynasty, but it was no longer the biggest problem of the Tang Dynasty.After the division of the Turkic tribes, most of them became the border barriers of the Tang Dynasty. They opened up the territory for the Tang Dynasty. Under the attack of the Tang Dynasty, it failed.The last time the Turks fought against the Tang Dynasty was when Emperor Xuanzong Li Longji was in power in 744 AD. The Dushi Wang Zhongsi joined forces with Huihe to attack and wipe out this rebellious force.Since then, the Turks, as a nation, have completely withdrawn from the stage of history. Their tribes either merged into the Han nationality, or merged into the Huihe and other grassland nations, or moved westward to Central Asia. For the Tang Dynasty, it was already a historical concept.