Bayanchur Khan

Mo-yun Chur (磨延啜) (713–759) or Eletmish Bilge Qaghan was second qaghan of Uyghur Khaganate. His Tang dynasty invested title was Yingwu Weiyuan Pijia Qaghan or simply Yingwu Qaghan . He was also known as Gelei Qaghan . His official regnal name in Turkic was Tengrida Bolmish Eletmish Bilge Qaghan . He ordered the erection of the Tariat Inscriptions.

Biography

Early life Bayanchur Khan was born in 713 in the Hanhai Protectorate (瀚海) near Ganzhou and Lanzhou to Kutluk Boyla. At time of his birth, clan chief Yaoluoge Dujiezhi (藥羅葛獨解支) had recently moved near the Tang border, avoiding expansion of the Second Turkic Khaganate. Yaoluoge Dujiezhi died in 715 and was succeeded by his son Yaoluoge Fudifu, who was followed by his son Yaoluoge Chengzong (藥羅葛承宗) sometime later. In 727, at the suggestion of the general Wang Junchuo (王君㚟), Emperor Xuanzong of Tang commissioned Wang Junchuo to attack the Tibetan Empire, and after a Tibetan incursion in late 726, Wang counterattacked and inflicted losses on the Tibetan forces commanded by the general Xinuoluogonglu (悉諾邏恭祿). Later in the year though, Xinuoluogonglu and another general, Zhulongmangbuzhi (燭龍莽布支) attacked and captured Wang's home prefecture Gua Prefecture (瓜州, roughly modern Jiuquan, Gansu), taking Wang's father Wang Shou (王壽) captive. As a result, Wang Junchuo did not dare to counterattack, and subsequently blamed the defeat on a number of tribal chiefs in the area and had them exiled. In response, Bayanchur's grandfather Yaoluoge Hushu (藥羅葛護輸) – the nephew of Yaoluoge Chengzong – ambushed Wang Junchuo and killed him, and while Yaoluoge Hushu was forced to flee thereafter, for several years the Tang dynasty did not engage in any offensive campaigns in the region. The 14 year old Bayanchur and his brothers had to follow his grandfather into exile.

He was made the eastern shad in 744 by his father Kutlug Bilge Khagan, who made his elder brother Tay Bilge Tutuq the yabgu of the west and heir. He spent the next 6 years ousting him to become heir.

Reign He spent 3 years fully consolidating his rule after he succeeded in his father in 747. He captured and executed his brother Tay Bilge Tutuq who was supported by the Karluks, Basmyls, and Khitans in 750. He was enthroned in Ordu-Baliq, a new capital that was built by Chinese and Sogdian architects. His royal court consisted of 60 nobles, Court Secretary Inancu Baga Tarkan Bögü Qaghan – commander of eastern part of the empire, succeeded his father.

He also adopted his sister-in-law and married her to Prince Li Chengcai (李承采), Prince of Dunhuang (敦煌王李承采), son of Li Shouli, Prince of Bin in 758. She was made Princess Pijia (毗伽公主) by Emperor Suzong.

In popular culture Portrayed by Yu Xiaowei in The Glory of Tang Dynasty. (2017)

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