Yelü Zhilugu

Biography

Accession

Yelü Zhilugu was the second son of Emperor Renzong Yelü Yilie. When Renzong died, his heir was still young, so the emperor's aunt Yelü Pusuwan (Empress Regnant Chengtian) served as regent. In the fourteenth year of Chongfu (1177), the Chengtian Empress was killed in a coup. Yelü Zhilugu killed his eldest brother and ascended the throne, changing the era name to Tianxi and taking the title Gurkhan.

Later Reign and Decline

No historical records document Yelü Zhilugu's early reign. However, in his later years, Qara Khitai declined precipitously. Politics became corrupt, social contradictions intensified. Local officials (shahna) abused their power and oppressed the people. Meanwhile, threats from neighboring states grew. After the Battle of Katwan, Seljuk power completely withdrew from the Middle East, and Qara Khitai faced internal crisis and external threats simultaneously.

Kuchlug's Arrival and Usurpation

In 1204, the Naiman tribe was defeated by Genghis Khan. Kuchlug fled to Qara Khitai, was given a princely title, and married Yelü Zhilugu's daughter Princess Hunghu. In 1211, Kuchlug launched a coup while Qara Khitai was engaged with Khwarazm, usurping the throne and honoring Yelü Zhilugu as Retired Emperor. Yelü Zhilugu died in 1213, ending Khitan rule.

Yelü Zhilugu was the second son of Yelü Yilie, Emperor Renzong of the Western Liao. At Renzong's death his own son was young and his aunt, the empress dowager Chengtian, Yelü Pusuwu, took the regency; in 1177 she was killed in a coup, and Zhilugu took the throne after killing his elder brother. The sources say little of his early reign; in his later years the Western Liao declined steadily, their local officials, the shahna, lording it over the people while neighboring powers pressed ever harder.

In the west the Ghurid dynasty and Khwarezm rose first. The Ghurids took Balkh, which had paid tribute to the Western Liao, and expanded under the nominal authority of the caliph of Baghdad. When the Khwarezm shah Ala al-Din Tekish asked for help, Zhilugu sent a general west, crossing the Oxus into Khurasan in the fourth and fifth months of 1198. The Western Liao troops, ill-disciplined, burned and plundered as they went and were attacked at night by the Ghurids and the local people, many drowning in the forced crossing of the Oxus, with some twelve thousand lost. Shocked by the defeat, Zhilugu sent envoys to Khwarezm demanding ten thousand gold pieces for each of the dead, was refused and insulted, attacked Khwarezm and was beaten again, Bukhara being briefly taken.

In 1203 and 1204 war broke out again between the Ghurids and Khwarezm, and the shah Muhammad asked Western Liao aid. Zhilugu sent Tayangu with ten thousand men and the Qarakhanid khan Uthman ibn Ibrahim also joined; the Ghurid Shihab al-Din withdrew in haste and, checked on the road, was released only after the Western Liao exacted supplies and a large ransom. The victory cost them dear, and in 1205 the Ghurid governor of Balkh, Imad al-Din Umar, took territory under Western Liao control; the next year Shihab al-Din was assassinated on his Indian campaign and the Ghurids declined, leaving Khwarezm the only gainer from the mutual exhaustion. To steady the Western Liao, in 1206 Muhammad returned Termez to them and had his mother Terken Khatun entertain their envoys.

As the state weakened, its dependencies slipped away. In the spring of 1209 the Uighurs of Qocho, unable to bear Western Liao rule, killed the officials sent to them and went over to the rising Mongols; the next year the shah Muhammad executed the envoy sent to collect tribute, openly renouncing Western Liao overlordship, and the Qarakhanid Uthman, refused a marriage, also went over to Khwarezm. The Turkman prince Muhammad III of the Eastern Qarakhanids rose and was defeated and taken prisoner. The fatal blow came from the Naiman prince Küchlüg: when the Naiman were destroyed by Chinggis Khan in 1204 he fled to the Western Liao and was taken in, soon winning Zhilugu's trust, marrying his daughter and being entrusted with affairs of state. As the dependencies defected, Küchlüg proposed to return to the Emil region to gather the old Naiman following and help suppress the revolts; Zhilugu made him a khan and loaded him with gifts. Küchlüg gathered his troops, plundering as he went, and sent envoys to Muhammad of Khwarezm agreeing that whoever first took the Western Liao should have its land. In 1211 he seized power in a coup while the Western Liao were at war with Khwarezm, honoring Zhilugu as retired emperor, and on Zhilugu's death in 1213 the Yelü line of the Western Liao came to an end.

Under his rule the Western Liao had already lost effective control of the city-states along the southern Tianshan, their direct domain shrinking to the Ili and Chu valleys. After Küchlüg's usurpation the state existed in name only; in 1218 the Mongol campaign put an end to it, Küchlüg being killed in Badakhshan.

The Western Liao kept the offices and script of the Liao, and their city sites, coins and inscriptions are scattered through the Ili valley and Central Asia, important material remains for the study of their history.

The repeated conflicts of the Western Liao's last years with Khwarezm and the Ghurids changed the politics of Central Asia rapidly, and by the eve of the Mongol invasion no strong central power remained in the region.

Major Activities

Intervention in the Wars between Khwarezm and Ghur

During the rule of Yelü Zhilugu the Western Liao intervened repeatedly in the conflicts between Khwarezm and the Ghurid dynasty. The Khorasan campaign of 1198 (21st year of the Tianxi era, Western Liao) ended in a setback for the Western Liao. Afterwards, in 1203 (26th year of the Tianxi era) to 1204 (27th year of the Tianxi era), the Western Liao sent troops to aid Khwarezm, and the Western Kharakhanid khan mediated after the war, though the Western Liao also paid a considerable price. These actions show that the Western Liao still sought to influence the balance of power in Transoxiana and Khorasan, while its long-distance campaigns faced problems of supply and military discipline.

Maintaining Dependencies and Meeting Revolts

Under Zhilugu the Western Liao continued to exert military and political influence on its dependent states. The court asked passage through Western Xia to attack the Jin, responded to Khwarezm's arrears of annual tribute and sent troops to suppress a revolt in the Eastern Kharakhanid state; at the same time the Gaochang Uyghurs transferred their allegiance to the Mongols, and Khwarezm and the Western Kharakhanids gradually freed themselves from Western Liao control. The records from 1205 (28th year of the Tianxi era, Western Liao) to 1210 (33rd year of the Tianxi era) show the Western Liao meeting external pressure on several fronts.

Receiving Kuchlug

Zhilugu took in the Naiman prince Kuchlug, married his daughter, Princess Hunhu, to him and gave him a share in government. Kuchlug later built up power with the help of the old Naiman followers and finally seized the throne in 1211 (34th year of the Tianxi era, Western Liao). This is one of the immediate steps in the transfer of power in the last years of Yelü Zhilugu's rule.

Personal Relations

• Yelü Yilie**: Father, Emperor Renzong of Qara Khitai
• Yelü Pusuwan**: Aunt, Empress Regnant Chengtian
• Kuchlug**: Son-in-law, usurper
• Princess Hunghu**: Daughter, married to Kuchlug

Historical Assessment

Yelü Zhilugu reigned for thirty-four years, the longest-reigning emperor in Qara Khitai history. However, his later years saw political corruption and excessive extravagance that depleted the state's resources and caused widespread resentment, ultimately enabling his son-in-law Kuchlug's usurpation. His reign marked the completion of Qara Khitai's transition from a powerful Central Asian empire to a declining state vulnerable to external conquest.