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The war between the Sui Dynasty and the Turks was a war in which the Sui Dynasty defended against the attacks of the Turks, who had split into Two khagnates, and fought back.

The war lasted for 21 years, from the invasion of the Turks in 581 to the surrender of the Eastern Turks in 602. After the war, the situation became even more tense. Due to internal instability, the Eastern and Western Khans abandoned the Sui Dynasty in 607 and 611 respectively. As the Sui Dynasty gained a great advantage in this war, it was able to launch the war to destroy the Chen Dynasty and unify China.

The Sui Dynasty sent troops to defend the border and took the initiative to counterattack, and finally adopted Changsun Sheng's policy of "making friends with distant countries and attacking nearby countries, separating the strong and uniting the weak" to divide and alienate the various Turkic tribes. The Turks fought without strategic policies such as plundering materials and waging wars, and the Khans could'nt unite closely and finally collapsed. The victory of the Sui Dynasty in the war against the Turks was conducive to protecting the economy and culture of the Central Plains.

Background

The Turks rose up in the southern foothills of the Altai Mountains as early as the Northern Wei Dynasty. They broke away from the Rouran and unified the country between 546 and 552. After three generations of conquests by Ili Khan, Yi Khan, and Mugan Khan, they finally conquered the Ruru and became a powerful monarchical steppe empire in the south and north of the desert. During the time of Shaboluo Khan, the Turkic territory stretched from the Xianbei Mountains in the east to the Caspian Sea, the Black Sea, and the Sea of ​​Azov in the west, from the Mongolian Plateau in the south to the North Sea in the north, stretching 10,000 miles from east to west and 5,000 to 6,000 miles from north to south. The Khanate (capital) was located in Yudujin Mountain (now the northern mountain of Hangai Mountain in the upper reaches of the Orkhon River). Because the Turks often went south to plunder the population and wealth of the Han area, the monarchies of the Northern Dynasties (Western Wei, Northern Zhou, and Northern Qi) adopted a policy of marriage or tribute to appease the Turks. At the beginning of the Sui Dynasty, the Turkic nobles had an internal conflict, and the Great Khan Shaboluo Khan had to separate Anluo as the second Khan, Daluo as Apo Khan, and Dianjue as Datou Khan, who were collectively called the Four Khans to share power. In addition, there was Buli Khan.

Yang Zhong, the father of Yang Jian, a powerful official of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, was one of the twelve generals of the Western Wei Dynasty. Yang Jian's daughter Yang Lihua was the empress of Emperor Xuan of the Northern Zhou Dynasty. After the death of Emperor Xuan of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, he replaced Zhou as the emperor in February 581 and established the Sui Dynasty. Emperor Gaozu of the Sui Dynasty established a monarchy, and the Empress of the Sui Dynasty neglected the Turks and paid meager tribute, which made the Turkic tribes resent the Sui Dynasty. The princess of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, who married Shaboluo Khan, was unwilling to see the Northern Zhou Dynasty usurped by Emperor Gaozu of the Sui Dynasty, Yang Jian, and repeatedly persuaded Shaboluo Khan to send troops to avenge the Zhou Dynasty.

The War

The first Turkic attack

In 581, the Turkic Shaboluo Khan and Gao Baoning, the former Northern Qi garrison commander and governor of Yingzhou (now Chaoyang City, Liaoning Province), invaded the Sui Dynasty. Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty urgently ordered the border defense to strengthen its vigilance and build the Great Wall. He sent Yin Shou to lead troops to Youzhou (now Beijing), Yu Qingze to Bingzhou (now Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province), and Crown Prince Yang Yong to Daxingcheng (now Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province) to jointly resist the Turks.

In 582, the Turkic Shaboluo Khan led his army to invade the Sui Dynasty. Sui generals Han Sengshou and Li Chong successfully resisted the Turkish army. In May, Gao Baoning of Yingzhou led the Turkish soldiers to attack Pingzhou (now Lulong County, Hebei Province). Shaboluo Khan mobilized all his own troops of ~100,000 and led the Second Khan, Apo Khan, Datou Khan, and Buli Khan, and led a total of ~400,000 troops to attack the south of the Sui Great Wall. In June, Sui general Li Huang defeated the Turkish soldiers in Mayi (now Shuozhou City, Shanxi Province). The main force of the Turkic Khan Shaboluo fought a fierce battle with the Sui general Daxi Changru. At that time, the Turkic army had more than 100,000 soldiers and the Sui army had only 3,000. The Sui army gathered together in a turtle formation and resisted from all sides. They fought fiercely for three consecutive days and 14 times. When the Sui army ran out of weapons, they fought with fists, and all the bones in their hands were exposed. This fierce battle killed more than 10,000 Turkic soldiers, and the Sui army also lost 70% to 80% of its soldiers (about 2,100-2,400 people died in the battle). The Turkic soldiers withdrew.

Sources

• Book of Sui
• Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 175

• 《Compendium of Chinese General History 》 Part III, Volume 1, Fan Wen Lan, published by People's Press
• 《A General View of Chinese History 》 edited by Zhou Yiliang, Published by Oriental Publishing Center

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