After Tang Dynasty destroyed Eastern Turkic Khanate and Xueyantuo Khanate, five major protectorates were successively established in Mobei and Monan, namely Shanyu Governor's Mansion, Yunzhong Governor's Mansion, Yanran Governor's Mansion, Hanhai Protectorate, and Anbei Protectorate. . The five main protectorates did not arise at same time, but appeared in pairs, and had mutual inheritance relationships. The relationship between them is very complex, so in this article we will simply understand.

1. Settling in Eastern Turkic Prefecture of Jumi

In 630, Eastern Turkic Khanate finally perished under joint attack of Tang Dynasty and Xueyantuo Khanate, and its Monan land also belonged to Tang Dynasty. How to resettle these Turkic tribes became a headache for Tang Dynasty. Tang Taizong Li Shimin called a special court session for this purpose, and let emperor's relatives discuss it. There are three main points of contention: (1) whether to force Turks to abandon their nomadism and take up farming; (2) whether original tribes of Turks should be dismantled; (3) whether Turks should be resettled in the Central Plains.

Tang Taizong formulated three main directions of policy of governing Turks after summarizing opinions of his officials: (1) advocated that they continue their nomadic lifestyle and not change their life customs; , will also prefer partial displacement; (3) keep your tribe, but replace its leader. The reason Emperor Taizong of Tang made such an agreement was because remaining Turkic force was still there, so "Huairou" could bring more Turks to surrender; at same time, Xueyantuo Khanate in Mobei was strong and retained a certain Turkic strength that could serve as protection for Tang.

The concrete implementation of three main policies mentioned above is introduction of a detention system. After 630 AD Tang Dynasty established ten prefectures in Monan, among which Dingxiang and Yunzhong were founded by Han people rather than Jimi prefectures, Peining, Bei'an, Beifu and Beikai were located in south of Yellow River. and were called "The Four States of Henan"; Shun, Hua, Feng and Chang are located in north of Yellow River, known as "Four States of Hebei". The rulers of above eight capitals are all Türks, that is, "all tribes."

2. Control over Yanran Dufu in northern part of country.

By 649, Tang Dynasty had destroyed Xueyantuo Khanate, so eleven Te Le tribes in Mobei surrendered to Tang Dynasty one by one, naming Tang Taizong "Tian Khan", and asked to establish jurisdiction in Mobei. At that time, Thiele's ministries also opened a desert road as a route for tribute trade, called "Santian Khan Road". Under such circumstances, it was necessary for Tang Dynasty to establish a higher level military establishment to control various tribes in north and south of desert, and that establishment was Yanran Protectorate.

Distribution of tribes in Mobay

The seat of Yangran Protectorate is not in Mobei, but in Surrendered City in Monan. The first defender of Yangzhou is Sima Li Suli. The Tang Dynasty also conferred titles of Dudufu and Zhou to various Mobei Tiele tribes. The Huihe Tribe was canonized as Hanhai Governor's Mansion at that time.

3. Education of Anbei and Shanyu

In 649, Tang Dynasty allied with various Thiele ministries to launch an attack on Yizhu Chebi Khan, remnants of Eastern Turks entrenched in Altai mountains. By 650, Yizhu Chebi Khan was destroyed, and north and south of desert completely entered sphere of influence of Tang dynasty. At this time, Tang Dynasty wanted to control more tribes, and former Yanran Dudu Mansion was no longer able to adapt to evolving situation. Under Tang Dynasty, prefectures of Jimi Desert began to adapt.

Settings for two main guards

Firstly, Hanhai protectorate was established in Monan to govern original Eastern Turks and Xue Yantuo tribes. The original Turkic Jimi prefectures were abolished, and more Jimi prefectures were now restored to house Turkic and Xueyantuo ministries. At same time, due to death of Xue Yantuo, Khitan, Xi, and other tribes that were originally under Xue Yantuo's sphere of influence came under influence of Tang Dynasty. In 663, it was renamed Yunzhong Dufu. In 664 it was renamed Shanyu Duhufu.

At that time, Yanran Duhufu was in charge of Mobei military. In addition to managing "six prefectures and seven prefectures" in past, he also added two prefectures and nine prefectures. Department, Baijiao (xí) Department, Ate Department, Ge Luolu Left Chamber Department, Ge Luolu Right Chamber Department, Zemantuo Department, Knotus Department, etc.

However, Yanran Protectorate Mansion's base is in Monan, and nominally ruled tribe is in Mobei, which makes Yanran Protectorate Mansion seem a bit out of reach. Thus, in 663, Yanran Duhufu moved to Mobei and changed her name to Hanhai Duhufu (which can be understood as promotion of Hanhai Dudufu to Duhufu). This is equivalent to supporting Huihe as leader of Mobei, and leader of Huihe is also called Protector of Tang Dynasty and Khan of Mobei. In 669, Hanghai Duhufu was changed to Anbei Duhufu.

After strengthening of Turkic Khanate, north and south of desert were again occupied by Turks, and main rulers of Tang dynasty were forced to leave. In 698, Shanyu Duhufu was abolished, and soon Anbei Duhufu was forced to move south to Senei. Only after death of Turks were two main guards restored. After that, Great Khan of Uighur Khanate continued to be canonized as protector of Anbei, and Chanyu governor's mansion also continued to rule Monan.

Recommended reading

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War Between Tang Dynasty and Eastern Turks (Part 2): Li Shimin Luqi Challenged a Khan Worthy to Be Emperor for Ages

The Tang Dynasty Destroyed Xueyantuo Khanate: Supporting an Enemy Country, Destroying Allies, and Raising a Stone to Shoot Yourself in Foot

It took Han Dynasty two hundred years to destroy Xiongnu. Why was she able to destroy Turks in early days of Tang Dynasty?

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