The Successful Years of Tardu: 582-603
In 582, Tardu was trying to terminate officially the
relation with the Eastern Kingdom and was trying hard to unify both sides under his
protection. Tardu marched to China when China that was suppressing the Eastern Kingdom,
tried to collide the two brothers by being in the side of T'u-ti against the Khan Tülan.
But while he was successful in the North China, he became the victim of the tricks of the
above-mentioned general-diplomat Ç'ang Sun-şeng. This Chinese had poisoned the waters
and the springs on the ways where the Turkish armies and their horses would pass. Since
Tardu did not realize something like that, he had lots of lost and suffered losses. He had
to withdraw (600).
Until that date, the Khan Tardu had had lots of
success in the west, he was realized the dependence of the region of Hoten to the empire,
he interfered with the internal affairs of Iran during the wars between Byzantium and
Sassanids in the period of Şehinşah Ormudz V. "Turkish-son" (579-590), when a
Turkish commander was surrounding Derbend, another Gok-Turks' army was conquered the
region of Heart and Badgis. The Sassanids' famous commander, Bahram Çupi who stopped this
army, rebelled and made his son, Husrav Parviz, to ascend the throne after he dethroned
Ormudz. This event resulted in the confusions in the Sassanids Empire and Bahram defeated
with the intervention of Byzantium, had to refuge to the khan. In this manner, Tardu's
realization of his desire, even though for a little of time, to unify both of the kingdoms
under his control (towards 598), and at the same time his gaining a dominating position on
the Iran, was seemed to be shown in a letter he sent to Mauriacus, the Emperor of
Byzantium in the year of 598: "From the Khan, the king of the seven climates and the
leader of the seven races of the world, to the Roman Emperor…".
According to the
Chinese sources, in this date Tardu had the position as a sovereign in the regions of Ötüken,
North-west Mongolia, near the Lake of Aral, Kaşgar, Transoxiana and Khorasan until Merv
and he was known as "Wise Khan" as being the great khan. However, Tardu, in
order to realize the unity of the Gok-Turks, behaved severely. In 601, some Turkish clans
and foreign rebelled when they did not have a good result in the war done near the Chinese
capital. Tardu could not handle the events and disappeared in the region of Köke-naur
(603).
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