Yitewushi Khan (伊特勿失可汗), personal name Duomozhi (咄摩支), was the last
khan
Khan may refer to:
*Khan (inn), from Persian, a caravanserai or resting-place for a travelling caravan
*Khan (surname), including a list of people with the name
*Khan (title), a royal title for a ruler in Mongol and Turkic languages and used by ...
of
Xueyantuo
The Xueyantuo were an ancient Tiele people, Tiele tribe and khaganate in Northeast Asia who were at one point vassals of the Göktürks, later aligning with the Tang dynasty against the Eastern Turkic Khaganate, Eastern Göktürks.
Names Xue ...
.
Little is known about Duomozhi's background, other than that he was a nephew of Xueyantuo's greatest khan, the
Zhenzhu Khan Zhenzhu may refer to:
*Zhenzhu Khan (died 645), khagan of Xueyantuo
* Zhenzhu Yabgu (died 659), claimant to the throne of Western Turkic Khaganate
* Zhenzhu Subdistrict, Zhen'an District, Dandong, Liaoning, China
*Zhen Zhu, a variety of the ornamen ...
Yi'nan. In 646, during the reign of Yi'nan's son and successor, the
Duomi Khan Duomi Khan (多彌可汗) (died 646), personal name Bazhuo (拔灼), full regal name Jialijulixueshaduomi Khan (頡利俱利薛沙多彌可汗), was a khan of the Xueyantuo. After the death of his father, the Zhenzhu Khan Yi'nan, he disputed with ...
Bazhuo, Xueyantuo fell into a state of confusion due to a combination of attacks by the
Tang dynasty
The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, t= ), or Tang Empire, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907 AD, with an Zhou dynasty (690–705), interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dyn ...
, misrule by Bazhuo, and rebellions by the
Huige
The Uyghur Khaganate (also Uyghur Empire or Uighur Khaganate, self defined as Toquz-Oghuz country; otk, 𐱃𐰆𐰴𐰕:𐰆𐰍𐰕:𐰉𐰆𐰑𐰣, Toquz Oγuz budun, Tang-era names, with modern Hanyu Pinyin: or ) was a Turkic empire that e ...
. Bazhuo was killed in a Huige attack, and Xueyantuo forces collapsed. Some 70,000 people fled west and supported Duomozhi as the Yitewushi Khan. Under Duomozhi, they returned east to their old territory, but, with Huige having taken much of the old Xueyantuo territory, Duomozhi soon renounced the title of khan, sending an emissary to Tang to request permission to move to the area north of the
Khangai Mountains
The Khangai Mountains ( mn, Хангайн нуруу, Hangain nuruu, ); form a mountain range, range in central Mongolia, some west of Ulaanbaatar.
Name
Two provinces of Mongolia are named after the Khangai mountains: Arkhangai (North Khangai) ...
.
Emperor Taizong of Tang
Emperor Taizong of Tang (28January 59810July 649), previously Prince of Qin, personal name Li Shimin, was the second emperor of the Tang dynasty of China, ruling from 626 to 649. He is traditionally regarded as a co-founder of the dynasty ...
initially sent the official
Cui Dunli
Cui Dunli (崔敦禮) (596 – August 29, 656 ), né Cui Yuanli (崔元禮), courtesy name Anshang (安上), formally Duke Zhao of Gu'an (固安昭公), was an official, general, and diplomat of the Chinese Tang Dynasty, serving as chancellor du ...
to try to comfort Duomozhi, but at the same time was concerned that if Xueyantuo were rebuilt, it would cause problems for Tang later. Meanwhile, tribes of the
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...
confederation, which had previously been Xueyantuo vassals, did not want Xueyantuo rebuilt either and reported their fear of that event to Emperor Taizong. Emperor Taizong therefore sent the general
Li Shiji
Li Shiji (594?The ''Old Book of Tang'' indicated that Li Shiji was 75 at the time of his death, while the ''New Book of Tang'' indicated that Li Shiji was 85 at the time of his death. Compare ''Old Book of Tang'', vol. 67 with ''New Book of Tang ...
with an army toward Duomozhi's location—with the instruction to accept Duomozhi's surrender if he wanted to surrender, and to attack if Duomozhi did not. Li soon arrived at the Khangai, and Duomozhi's assistant Tizhen (梯真) surrendered. Duomozhi fled to the south into the canyon. Li sent his subordinate Xiao Siye (蕭嗣業) to comfort him, and he surrendered to Xiao. Not all of his subordinates were willing to surrender, however, and Li attacked them, killing and capturing many of them.
In fall 646, Duomozhi was delivered to the Tang capital
Chang'an
Chang'an (; ) is the traditional name of Xi'an. The site had been settled since Neolithic times, during which the Yangshao culture was established in Banpo, in the city's suburbs. Furthermore, in the northern vicinity of modern Xi'an, Qin Shi ...
. Emperor Taizong commissioned him as a general. Xueyantuo was at its end. Duomozhi himself would die before Emperor Taizong's death in 649 and was said to have been mourned with honor.
[This account of Duomozhi's death was according to the '']Tang Huiyao
The ''Tang Huiyao'' () is an institutional history of Tang dynasty compiled by Wang Pu and presented it to Emperor Taizu of Song in 961. The book contains 100 volumes and 514 sections, it has an abundant content for the period before 846, and scar ...
'', vols. 95 and 96. However, there was a historical reference to an ethnic Xueyantuo general named Xue Duomo when Wu Zetian
Wu Zetian (17 February 624 – 16 December 705), personal name Wu Zhao, was the ''de facto'' ruler of the Tang dynasty from 665 to 705, ruling first through others and then (from 690) in her own right. From 665 to 690, she was first empres ...
held an archery contest in 690, which might have been to Duomozhi. See ''Zizhi Tongjian
''Zizhi Tongjian'' () is a pioneering reference work in Chinese historiography, published in 1084 AD during the Northern Song dynasty in the form of a chronicle recording Chinese history from 403 BC to 959 AD, covering 16 dynast ...
'', vol. 204.
Notes and references
* ''Zizhi Tongjian'',
vol. 198.
Xueyantuo rulers
Tang dynasty generals at war against Xueyantuo
640s deaths
Year of birth unknown
7th-century rulers in Asia
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