Chie-she-shuai

[Boorchi Noyan]

Up to me, one of the most honorable man in Turkish history...

This man's name is Jiesheshuai in Chinese and we don't know anything about the real Turkish name. There are some who call Kur Sad, but Kur Sad is not a name, it is only a title and invented by Nihal Atsiz . I also prefer using Kur Sad instead of Jiesheshuai.

Kur Sad was the brother of Tuli Kagan and came to China in 629. He gained the titles: "General of Zhonglang" and "General of Palace Guards" there. Because of a personal argument or disagreement with Emperor Taizong, he decided to get revenge and contacted with 40 Tujue dignitary men to plan a foray to the palace and take the emperor as a captive. So they would choose Heluoho (son of Tuli) as the new Kagan and be free again. But at the night of the foray, it was raining heavily, Kur Sad decided to go inside the palace as there was a danger for the plan to be miscarried. They disrupted four defence lines in the palace but they couldn't be successful; Kur Sad and some of his men tried to run away, but what a pity they were killed near the river Wei.
They were unsuccessful but they frightened the Chinese... And the palace began to send the Tujues back to the steppes.


Source: Tigin ))

[tengrikut]

Kür Shad is the real name i think.... But as we know, people used to change their names with their ranks. And we don't know Kur Shad's childhood name.

[H. İhsan Erkoç]

Hi my dear yullugtegin, welcome

tengrikut, we have no historical sources which proove that Jiesheshuai 結社率 had the Turkic title Kür Shad (Shad is written with the She 設 [most of the time, this one was used], Sha 殺, Sha 煞 and Cha 察 characters in Chinese). It was Nihâl Atsýz who created the Turkic title Kür Shad for this historical character in his novels. This person was real in history, but his title was not Kür Shad (at least, we do not have any evidences for that).

[H. İhsan Erkoç]

According to Prof. Dr. Edwin Pulleyblank, the Tang-period pronounciation of 結社率 was "Kjiat-shia-suj".

[BAWIR$AQ]

OK, now that I got the info, I could find out who that person was.

In famous Soviet oriental historian Leo Gumilev's book "Ancient Turks", I found the mentioning of his rebellion.

His name is spelled as Gesheshuai (Гешешуай) in Russian.

Here's the expert from Gumilev's book:

"But if it was possible [for Emperor Taizong] to purchase the loyalty of the [Turkic] khan, it was far from simple to purchase the loyalty of the [Turkic] people. Simo [Ashina Simo, kagan of Kök-Türks who surrendered to Tan dynasty] lived in Ordos for three years, but he still could not bring the people closer to himself. On contrary, many of his subjects went away to north. Even those Kök-Türks who were included in the [Tang] guard were not reliable. In 639, the younger brother of Tolos-khan, Gesheshuai, arranged a plot with the purpose to steal the heir of the Kök-Türk throne, son of Tolos-khan, Khelokhu, from the Chinese, to run away to north, and to resume the fight [againt the Tang dynasty]. But the unexpected attack on the Chinese camp did not succeed. Khelokhu was killed at the attempt to escape, and Gesheshuai ran away to the mountains."

After this paragraph, Gumilev gives the following references:

Bichurin N.Ya. Collection of information (Sobranie svedenij)... T.I. p.260,
Liu Mau-tsai. Die chinesischen Nachrichten..- S.203,
Julien S. Documents... Vol. 4, PP.240-241.

The book continues:

"This incident made Chinese officials again to give the emperor an idea of the necessity to deport all the Kök-Türks out from Chinese borders as unreliable subjects. Emperor could not object it, and he was forced to consent. However, he found a method not only not to offend his nomadic subjects, but to tie them to himself even more. He called Simo khan, and as on a great favor allowed him along with his people to move across to the north bank of the Yellow River and to occupy the steppe pastures south of the Gobi desert.

By doing so, he attained three aims: by presenting Kök-Türks a land where "flocks are vast, soil is the best", he tied the [Turkic] people closer to himself, created a barrier against Xeianto who saw Kök-Türks as natural enemies, and got a magnificent equestrian army necessary for his foreign wars. The migration of Kök-Türks was finished by 641, and although many of them, not wishing to serve their winners, moved away to north, yet others with their military exploits gained the Tang army an extraordinary glory in Asia."

Source: gumilevica.kulichki.net/OT/ot17.htm

[BAWIR$AQ]

Unfortunately, I did not read Atsız's "Bozkurtların Ölümü" (Death of the Gray Wolves).

Does the general plot coincide with the history provided above? What are the differences?

[H. İhsan Erkoç]

Khelokhu was killed at the attempt to escape, and Gesheshuai ran away to the mountains.

Not exactly; Jiesheshuai and his comrades were killed while escaping and Heluohu got captured alive. He was later sent to exile in a deep area of China.

Unfortunately, I did not read Atsýz's "Bozkurtlarýn Ölümü" (Death of the Gray Wolves).

You should read it, it's a good literary work. Actually you can read it and it's following book "Bozkurtlar Diriliyor" from here (in Anatolian Turkish):

www.turkcu.net/bozkurtlarin_olumu.html
www.turkcu.net/bozkurtlar_diriliyor.htm

[BAWIR$AQ]

Lev Gumilev was a big expert in Kok-Turk history, and I am sure you can ascertain his information in the references provided by him.

Thanks for the links, but, unfortunately, my Anadolu Turkish is not as good as I want it to be. Are there English translations of Atsiz?

[H. İhsan Erkoç]

bawirsaq said:

Lev Gumilev was a big expert in Kok-Turk history, and I am sure you can ascertain his information in the references provided by him.

Yes indeed but he also has many errors so one should be careful when reading that book. I have the original sources, Jiesheshuai was killed on the banks of River Wei.

bawirsaq said:

Thanks for the links, but, unfortunately, my Anadolu Turkish is not as good as I want it to be. Are there English translations of Atsiz?

I have no idea