Guli Peiluo (Huairen Qaghan)

Biography

Family and rise among the steppe tribes

Guli Peiluo belonged to the Yaoluoge clan, a leading family among the Uyghurs. His father Chengzong served as governor of the Hanhai region. In 727, after the Hexi military governor Wang Junzhuo accused several tribes of plotting rebellion, Chengzong was exiled to Lingnan, where he died. Guli Peiluo and his followers moved into the territory of the Second Turkic Khaganate. Bilge Qaghan assigned him authority over Uyghur groups in the north and around the Orkhon River.

After Bilge Qaghan died in 734, the Turkic political order weakened amid internal struggles. Guli Peiluo used this instability to enlarge his influence. In 742 he allied with the Karluks and Basmyls against Kutlug Yabghu Qaghan. The allies defeated the ruler and installed a Basmyl leader as qaghan; Guli Peiluo received the position of left yabghu. The alliance soon broke down over leadership of the steppe coalition.

Foundation of the Uyghur Khaganate

In 744 Guli Peiluo joined the Karluks against the Basmyls, defeated their ruler, and took the title Qutlugh Bilge Kül Qaghan. He established his court between Mount Ötüken and the Orkhon River, at the settlement known as Qara Balgasun. This marked the foundation of the Uyghur Khaganate as a major successor power to the Second Turkic Khaganate.

Guli Peiluo sent envoys to the Tang court. Emperor Xuanzong first recognized him as Prince Fengyi and then invested him as Huairen Qaghan. The titles affirmed a relationship in which the Tang court acknowledged the steppe ruler while the new khaganate retained its own authority. The court's recognition also opened channels for diplomacy, exchange, and the presentation of tribute.

Defeat of the Second Turkic Khaganate and succession

In 745 Guli Peiluo defeated Baimei Qaghan, the last ruler of the Second Turkic Khaganate. He sent the ruler's head to Chang'an and received the Tang appointment of General of the Left Agile Guard. With the collapse of the old khaganate, the Uyghur ruler held sway across much of the Mongolian plateau, from the eastern steppe toward the Altai and south of the Gobi.

The khaganate combined established steppe institutions with offices influenced by Tang administrative practice. Regional leaders governed the two wings of the realm, while officials monitored subordinate peoples and tribute. Guli Peiluo died in 747. His son Moyanchur succeeded him and later became known as Güllüg Qaghan. The state founded under Guli Peiluo endured for nearly a century and became a major political and commercial power in Inner Asia.

Major Activities

Founding a new steppe state

By defeating the Basmyl leadership and taking the qaghan title in 744, Guli Peiluo transformed a tribal coalition into a durable khaganate centered on the Orkhon. The new state inherited the political geography of earlier steppe empires while placing Uyghur leadership at its center.

Ending the Second Turkic Khaganate

Guli Peiluo's 745 campaign against Baimei Qaghan removed the final rival Turkic ruler. The victory consolidated Uyghur power across the northern steppe and established the khaganate as the principal successor to the Turkic political order.

Relations with the Tang court

Envoys to Chang'an secured titles and formal recognition from Emperor Xuanzong. Trade in horses and silk, the exchange of gifts, and regular diplomacy connected the Uyghur court with the Tang empire. These relations provided political legitimacy while supporting economic exchange across the frontier.

Governing a multi-tribal realm

The khaganate drew on Turkic steppe institutions and adopted a number of Tang-style offices. The division of authority between left and right wings, the appointment of military and administrative officials, and the placement of overseers among dependent groups helped the ruler manage a wide and diverse territory.

The founding of the khanate can be set out by year: in 742 (first year of the Tianbao era, Tang) he joined the Basmyl and Karluk in attacking the Later Turks, styling himself yabghu; in 744 (third year of Tianbao) he and the Karluk defeated the Basmyl and founded the Uyghur khanate, sending envoys to inform the Tang and receiving in turn the titles Prince of Fengyi and Qaghan Huairen; in 745 (fourth year of Tianbao) he attacked and killed the Qaghan Baimei, sent envoys to report the achievement to the Tang court and was appointed senior general of the left brave guards without portfolio. After him the khanate continued to use old Turkic institutions while adopting Tang ones, with offices such as yabghu, shad, tutuq and chancellor, and the horse-silk trade also developed from this time.

The Uyghur khanate lasted nearly a century thereafter, breaking up only in the middle of the ninth century under internal and external pressures; the Tang investitures of the new khanate, Prince of Fengyi and Qaghan Huairen, gave the two sides a formal political relationship, from which the horse-silk trade and other exchanges developed. The khanate's offices, titles and relations with the Tang continued long after him, showing that the arrangements established in the founding of his state had considerable durability.

The sequence of founding followed by Tang investiture is an instance of the way the Tang handled regimes in the Mongolian steppe.

His victories in the steppe coincided with Tang campaigns against the Later Turks, so the rise of the Uyghurs had two sides at once: replacing the Later Turks and receiving investiture from the Tang court.

Personal Relations

• Chengzong: Guli Peiluo's father and governor of Hanhai, exiled in 727.
• Moyanchur (Güllüg Qaghan): His son and successor.
• Emperor Xuanzong of Tang: Invested him with the titles Prince Fengyi and Huairen Qaghan and appointed him to a Tang honorary military office.
• Karluk leaders: Allies in the campaigns against the Turkic and Basmyl rulers.
• Basmyl leaders: First allies against the Second Turkic Khaganate, then defeated by Guli Peiluo in 744.
• Baimei Qaghan: Final ruler of the Second Turkic Khaganate, defeated in 745.

Historical Assessment

Contemporary and traditional accounts

Tang histories present Guli Peiluo as a capable leader who united Uyghur groups and expanded his power during the collapse of the Second Turkic Khaganate. The Tang court's titles and appointments reflect the importance it attached to his new state and to maintaining diplomatic relations with it.

Later assessments

Later histories treat the foundation of the Uyghur Khaganate as a major change in the political balance of the Mongolian plateau. The khaganate's rise is placed within the succession of steppe empires that connected Inner Asia with Tang China.

Modern scholarship

Modern studies of Uyghur and Turkic history examine Guli Peiluo's career through Tang chronicles, steppe political structures, and the archaeology of the Orkhon region. His reign is generally regarded as the formative period in which Uyghur power replaced the Second Turkic Khaganate and created a stable center for later regional exchange.