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The revolt which came near bringing down the T'ang dynasty was led by a Khitan mercenary, a Mongol in Chinese service named An Lu-shan. This adventurer possessed himself in swift succession of the two Chinese capitals, Loyang (755) and Changan; the emperor Hsuan-tsung fled to Szechwan. Hsuan-tsung's son, the emperor Su-tsung (756-762), undertook the task of reconquering his states and therefore appealed for aid to the Uigur Turks, ath that time lords of Mongolia. In 744, as has been noted, the Uigur Turks had supplanted the eastern Tu-chueh in the Mongolian empire. The Uigur khagan, called Mo-yen-cho by the Chinese, or Ko-lo khagan (745-759), readily welcomed the request of the emporor Su-tsung, and in return was granted the hand of a Chinese princess in marriage. An Uigur army, arriving from Mongolia, thereupon co-operated with the imperial forces and afforded them vigorous aid in recapturing from the rabels the city of Loyang (757). The emperor Su-tsung loaded the Uigur chiefs with acknowledgements and titles, and before their departure promised them an annual present of 20,000 pieces of silk. But civil war in China was not yet smothred, for other rebels imperiled the T'ang throne. Mo-yen-cho's successor, the new Uigur khagan, called in Chinese Teng-li Meu-yu (759-780), circumvented by the envoys of the rebels, thought at first to take advantage of the diffculties by which the T'ang were beset. He even started for China with his army with the intention of co-operating with the rebels, but on the way an astute Chinese diplomat induced him to change his mind; he reverted to the imperial alliance and on the empire's behalf recovered Loyang from the rebels (November 20, 762). He also conscientiously plundered that city. Although the undoubted savior of the T'ang dynasty, he became a somewhat burdensome defender and a dangerous ally. In March, 763, however, he finally took the homeward roas to Mongolia. The Uigur khagan's prolinged stay in Loyang had important conse-quences in the spiritual sphere, for it was there that he became acquainted with Manichaean missionaries-no doubt of Sogdian origin-whom he took back with him to Mongolia and by whom he was converted to Manichaeism. This ancient Persian religion, born of a curious Mazdeo-Christian syncretism and persecuted both in Iraq and Iran by the Arabs, was thus the benificiary of an unexpected stroke of luck: the conversion to its doctrine of the Uigur empire, then at the height of its power as lord of Mongolia and the ally of China. Manichaeism indeed became the state religion of the Uigur. This same khagan is refered to in the Karabalgasun inscription as the "emanation of Mani" (zahag i mani). An exalted Manichaean dignitary, a mu-sho (Chinese transcription of the title mojak in Sogdian and moje in Pahlavi), took up residence in Uigur territory as head of the new state church. The Manichaean clergy quickly came to exert considerable political influence. A Chinese T'ang text of the period relates that "the Uigur always confer with the Manichaeans on government affairs." The Uigur Empire remained the dominant power in Central Asia under succeeding khagans. Alp Qutlugh, whom the Chinese named Ho Ho-tu-lu (780-789), asked for and obtained the hand of a Chinese princess. The T'ang court could refuse nothing to these Turks whose hostility might destroy it, whose alliance had saved it, and who negotiated with it on equal terms - something new in Sino-barbarian relationships. The Karabalgasun inscription lists a number of other khagans desigated by the same epithets: Tangrida bulmysh kulug bilga (789-790), Tanrida bulmysh alp qutlugh ulugh bilga (795-805), Tangri bilga (805-808), Ai tangrida qut bulmysh alp bilga (808-821). It was during the reigh of this last "celestial khagan," and as a eulogy to him, that the celebrated inscription was carved in three languages-Chinese, Turkic, and Sogdian - near Karabalgasun on the left bank of the Orkhon. He too had asked for the hand of a Chinese princess, but because of delays she married his son and successor Kun tangrida ulugh bulmysh kutshlug bilga ch'ung-to, who reigned from 821 to 824. |