Shatuo

(Tokhara Yabghus, Turk Shahis) The Shatuo, or the Shatuo Turks[1] (Chinese: 沙陀突厥; pinyin: Shātuó Tūjué; also transcribed as Sha-t'o, Sanskrit Sart[2]) were a Turkic tribe that heavily influenced northern Chinese politics from the late ninth century through the tenth century.

Sometime before the 12th century, the Shatuo disappeared as a distinct ethnic group, many of them having become acculturated and assimilating into the general population around them.

[5] The Chuyue tribe members who remained in the Western Turkic Kaganate, under Onoq leadership, occupied territory east of the lake Barkul, and were called, in Chinese, Shatuo (literally "sandy slope" or "gravel sands", i.e. desert).

[14] The Shatuo consisted of three sub-tribes: Chuyue (處月), Suoge (娑葛),[15] and Anqing (安慶), the last of whom were of Sogdian origins.

[5] The Shatuo participated in wars on behalf of the Tang dynasty, including against other Turkic people like the Uyghur khaganate, which granted their leaders various titles and rewards.

[19] During the Mongol period the Shatuo fell under the Chagatai Khanate, and after its demise remained in its remnant in Zhetysu and northern Tian Shan.

The Shatuo population was never large but their warriors had a reputation for being brave and aggressive as well as proficient in siege warfare and archery.

[22] During the An Lushan rebellion in the 750s, the Shatuo provided significant military aid to the Tang alongside the Uyghur Khaganate.

[25] In 809, the Tang resettled several Shatuo tribes in Hedong (modern northern Shanxi), also called Jin based on the region's ancient name.

In the early 9th century, reports of 6,000-7,000 Shatuo tents point toward a population of just 30,000 people, including women and children.

[26] In 821, Zhuye Zhiyi, the great-grandfather of Li Keyong, led a failed attack on the rebellious jiedushi circuit of Chengde.

[26] The Shatuo Turks under Zhuye Chixin (Li Guochang) served the Tang dynasty in fighting against their fellow Turkic people in the Uyghur Khaganate.

In 839, when the Uyghur khaganate (Huigu) general Jueluowu (掘羅勿) rose against the rule of then-reigning Zhangxin Khan, he elicited the help from Zhuye Chixin by giving Zhuye 300 horses, and together, they defeated Zhangxin Khan, who then committed suicide, precipitating the subsequent collapse of the Uyghur Khaganate.

Zhuye Chixin (d. 888) abandoned it after he was bestowed the name Li Guochang by the Tang emperor for his role in the suppression of Pang Xun's rebel general, Wang Hongli, in 869.

In 880, tensions came to a head when Guochang's forces suffered a defeat to Tang mercenaries, costing him a loss of 17,000 men.

The Later Tang controlled more territory than the Later Liang, including the Beijing area, the surrounding Sixteen Prefectures, Shanxi and Shaanxi Province.

The Later Jin controlled essentially the same territory as the Later Tang except the strategic Sixteen Prefectures area, which had been ceded to the expanding Liao Empire established by the Khitans.

The death of the Khitan emperor on his return from the raid on the Later Jin left a power vacuum that was filled by Liu Zhiyuan, another Shatuo who founded the Later Han in 947.

Liu Jiyuan granted the imperial surname to the Han Chinese general Yang Ye and adopted him as a brother.