Degei Confederation

Degei Confederation
701-1355
Flag
Capital	Khovil
Religion	Paganism
Government	Monarchy
Khan of the White Waste
Legislature	Koroltai

The Degei Confederation also known in other sources as the Ulus Ayanga was a Degei state founded and ruled by Ayanga Khan and his descendants in the early 8th century after establishing his dominance over the Degei tribes. The Confederation was an important player in central and southern Dolong for most of its existence, its history and that of the Degei people being firmly intertwined. It was known as the Ching dynasty during the 9th and 10th centuries and its elites began a process of acculturation with Daxian culture and practices. The state was headed by the Gurkhan, a Degei term equivalent with emperor; it was often shortened to Khan. The state eventually fell under the direct influence of the Qian dynasty and lost its independence by 1355. Most of its former territory is today part of the countries of Daxia, Canpei and Huoxia.

History

Formation

Mengu and his men attacking the Badai tribe

The Degei tribes have inhabited the central grasslands of Dolong since at least the year 550 CE when they are theorized to have arrived from northwest Audonia in a migration. The Degei tribes were warlike and lived in a state of constant contention with one another for resources such as grazing lands and access to water. The Degei were known to the Liang kingdom, there are numerous Liang written sources for raids across the Hongse river by the former on Liang towns. The Shang dynasty also established contacts with the tribes directly and at times employed them as mercenary troops, especially in its conquest of the Liang kingdom. In 676 the chieftain of the Badai tribe, Ebugen, rallied a coalition of six tribes for an attack on Daxian frontier territories. The first Shang emperor Cao Kun dispatched the eunuch Ma Fuyeng to establish a series of forts on the northern approaches of the Hexi Corridor to deter further attacks. The largest of these fortresses was dubbed Daopian and from there Ma Fuyeng exerted a tenuous hold on the southern marshes of modern day Huoxia and checked the power of Ebugen's coalition, this area is now known as Zuolihi. In 679 Ebugen raided and subsequently destroyed the settlements that had started to form around Daopian and attempted to invest the fortress, later being defeated in open battle by a Shang relief army. Ebugen and the other Degei chiefs were forced to abase themselves before Shang and were forced to accept the humiliating Treaty of Daopian. The treaty stipulated the Degei would become tributaries of the Shang dynasty, henceforth they were forbbiden from raiding imperial lands or taking any imperial subject as slaves, they would migrate beyond the Urgal river and settle there, leaving the southern Tanhai plain for Shang colonization. In addition they would be charged with supplying cavalrymen to serve in Shang armies when called upon.

The humiliating defeat of Ebugen and the tribes allied to him weakened them greatly and threw the Degei prevailing balance of power into chaos. Almost immediately the chief of the small Duwa tribe and grandfather of Ayanga Khan, Mengu, began attacking Ebugen's weakened allies and taking their lands. Mengu married a woman from the Buzan tribe to make an alliance with them, now outnumbering Ebugen's Badai tribe, he defeated and killed Ebugen in battle and forced the surviving Badai to join him. The advance of the Duwa tribe was halted when Mengu rode his horse off a cliff while drunk and died, starting an internecine war between his three adult sons for control of the tribe. Esim, Baidar and Oboi (Ayanga's father) fought for three years until only Esim was left. Ayanga and the rest of Oboi's immediate family members were exiled by his uncle Esim, they took refuge with Ayanga's Badai relatives. Esim would stop his father's campaign of subjugation of the other tribes, Mengu's death was seen as an ill omen and punishment for his ambition. Instead he began a persecution of his dead brother's supporters inside the Duwa tribe and spent the rest of his time in leisure; hunting, drinking and whoring. Esim was deposed by his own supporters a mere five years after taking control of the tribe and Ayanga was recalled; Ayanga had his uncle executed by tossing him inside a cauldron full of boiling water and later encrusted his skull with gems and used it as a drinking cup. Ayanga's rise to leadership of his tribe signified a reignition of their expansionist subjugation of other Degei clans. Ayanga defeated a coalition of tribes at the Battle of Chigu forcing all eastern Degei to submit to him, he married several of his children to the eastern clans to cement the alliance. A tactical defeat at the Battle of Khoja prevented Ayanga's total dominance for one year but he completed his conquest of the Degei tribes next year in 701. Proving a sagacity and acumen unusual for his age, Ayanga was mostly generous to his defeated foes, only executing one chief who spat at him and one other who tried to kill him in a peace parley; both were buried alive as an example. He also recognized that his hold over the other tribes and their submission was not truly firm, only an external enemy would truly unite them under him. It is at this point that a distinct Degei organized state begins to emerge for historians, though the Degei themselves never called their state the Degei Confederation instead calling it Ulus Ayanga which translates to the Realm of Ayanga. The word confederation was used by outsiders who wrongly believed the Degei to remain fractious even under Ayanga Khan, who held them together only by great political skill and martial prowess; this is disproven by more precise historical sources.

Consolidation of the state

Crown of state used by the Degei Khans in their role as Emperors of the Ching dynasty. The crown depicts a scene of two dragons guarding the Imperishable Flame.

At a meeting of all tribe heads in 702, Ayanga Khan was chosen as the Gurkhan (Emperor) of the Degei peoples, a title that no one chieftain had ever held since the times of Degei myth. Assuming the style of Master of the White Steppe, the new ruler of the Degei set forth to consolidate his power and prepare for war. Ayanga built a military structure around his position staffed by the most capable people from all subject tribes, recognizing that favoring only his own tribe would in time create resentment against his leadership. He only went against this principle in the staffing of his personal guard, only members of his own Duwa tribe were allowed with weapons near him. On the administrative and bureaucratic management of his growing territory, the Khan relied at first simply on the established chiefs to collect taxes and arbitrate disputes in his name but he soon aimed to build a professional core of administrators in the style of the southern realms of Daxia. Learned slaves were very important to this objective as the Degei did not have literary traditions of their own; an Ankivaran slave given the name Rinpoche was one of the pivotal figures of this early Degei bureaucratization. By the time of Ayanga's grandson the use of slaves had been curtailed, enough Degei could read and write adeptly enough to be employed in the administration of the state. Ayanga mandated the construction of a fortified capital from where he could hold court; this was not entirely unheard of for the Degei who gathered in large camps that were fortified with palisades, branches and piled rocks. Ayanga's capital was instead ringed by stone walls who would grow thicker and more artisanal as the years of his rule went by. The capital was named Khovil, a Degei term for King's Mound and was located in the southern part of his domain to serve both as his capital and forward base of operations for his planned invasion of the southern kingdoms.

In order to blood his troops, Ayanga sent a troupe of envoys to demand outrageous tribute from the Liang kingdom, arguing that Ayanga Khan was owed their allegiance and that their continued presence in the steppe was conditional on his goodwill; this was a calculated provocation. King Chu simply demurred, telling the Degei envoys that he would be willing to invite Ayanga Khan to meet him and discuss his list of demands. Choosing to interpret this as a blanket refusal, in 706 the Degei began a series of skirmishes on the border as a prelude to the actual invasion. During this time Ayanga Khan died of dysentery due to possibly eating horse meat gone bad. Ayanga Khan ruled as Gurkhan for just under six years but during that time laid down the foundations of a state that would endure for almost 700 years. Ayanga's pre-imperial rule of the Degei tribes was officially added to the tally of years of his imperial rule to add to his prestige, his father Mengu was also posthumously made the first emperor. Ayanga's elder son Ishval who was off raiding in northwestern Liang immediately headed back to Khovil to be acclaimed Gurkhan when the news reached him. Only a minority of tribes refused to pledge allegiance to Ishval Khan, claiming that they had been bested by Ayanga and chosen to follow him for his lifetime and would follow no sons. The new Gurkhan quickly put down this rebellion before refocusing his efforts on the Liang kingdom. After increased military pressure and a catastrophic defeat in the Azure plains, King Chu offered one of his daughters in addition to the tribute demanded by Ayanga Khan to achieve peace. The opportunity to create a claim on the throne of Liang and the dynastic link to the Neng royal family satisfied Ishval Khan, this union would result in the intermixing of the Liang and Degei royal clans and a wary peace between the sides until the conquest of Liang by the Shang dynasty. This period of peace was known as the 'Blossoming of the steppe flowers', with Degei territorial ambitions rerouted away from the southern direction and towards the east and west. Tanhai was attacked again and more parts of Zuolihi were taken but there was no great breakthrough towards the sea, Ishval's forces suffering from a serious outbreak of monkeypox; the campaign ended in a truce but in practical terms the border would stand without modification for the next two hundred years.

Expansion into Liang

Seal of the King of Liang under the House of Ayanga-Neng

Ishval Khan's children with his Liang queen were born as part of both the House of Ayanga and the House of Neng, at their mother's insistence they were allowed to have tutors that instructed them in the culture of the Liang and its language. The Khan's children even went to spend seasons with their grandfather, the old King Chu. All of these liberties had a specific purpose in Ishval Khan's designs, to prepare his children to build alliances in the south and prepare them to incorporate the Liang kingdom in the future. Ishval's heir, Bartan, was a popular figure at the court of his grandfather and served as a military advisor there; he was even granted permission by his father to marry a second wife, a distant Neng cousin. While his father lived, Bartan was charged with maintaining Degei influence in the Liang court and he did so very successfully by amassing a 'Degei clique', a group of his retainers and influential statesmen who favored continued peace and alliance with the Degei confederation. This faction was opposed by Liang traditionalists who wanted to turn towards the Shang dynasty, they were led by King Chu's eldest son and official heir, Prince Wang. Wang was also highly suspicious of Bartan, assuming he might try to steal the throne once King Chu passed. As the Liang king reached senility and ill health, the tensions began increasing greatly, to the point Ishval Khan sent Bartan's brother Udutai with a retinue of 200 Degei warriors, ostensibly to present a gift of steeds to the king. In truth they were to reinforce Bartan's hand in the struggles at court. King Chu passed away in 742 at the age of ninety-two, the factions of Prince Bartan and Prince Wang waited a single day after the royal funeral before coming to blows. On the night of the day after the funeral, Udutai and his warriors broke into the quarters of Prince Wang and slew a sleeping figure who they thought to be him. Unknowingly to them, Wang slept elsewhere for safety and they had killed a decoy. Knowing he was outnumbered by Bartan's people, Wang gathered some supporters and rode south of the city hoping to rally the southern baronies to him and petition the Shang to send an army to his aid. Bartan outmaneuvered him and had set mounted patrols around the capital even before Chu's death. When Wang's party was intercepted, they refused to stop and were attacked. In the ensuing melee Wang was speared through the stomach and most of his companions were killed. As a precaution and to prevent any outrage, the prince's body was buried in a field, only his signet ring was delivered to Bartan as proof of death. Bartan was crowned as king of Liang, the first sovereign of the House of Ayanga-Neng; soon after being crowned he officially recognized his father as his overlord. Upon Bartan's accession in 749 to the position of Emperor, he merged both offices such that there was no longer a separate coronation as king of Liang. He also introduced the name of Ching for his dynasty as an alternative, a name more familiar to his numerous non-Degei subjects.

The stark differences between the Degei north and the Liang south made unified administration a long term project, Bartan appointed his brother Udutai to serve as his representative and administrator in the traditional Degei lands, which granted a tax exemption status due to their source of the dynasty's military power. This status simplified the burden of administering them and most Degei continued living as they always had, the exception being those who began moving into the few walled cities such as Khovil which served as centers of trading and royal power. Bartan Khan himself spent most of his time governing in the south from the city of Baitian, still he undertook frequent inspection tours north to mingle with his chieftains and their extended families. Bartan was cognizant enough of the differences between his two subject peoples, the Degei would not be ruled by bureaucrats like the Liang, only by himself or those Degei nobles appointed by him. He reorganized and consolidated the old chiefdoms into a Council of Ten Great Princes. These princes were the foremost Degei nobles and landholders and would act as the foremost commanders for the dynasty during times of war. Periodically the princes would taken on Liang concubines as secondary wives to rekindle their ties to their sovereign's southern subjects. The south remained under its same administrative system, employing centrally appointed governors from among court scholars and bureaucrats, southerners were not allowed to serve in the army until later rulers allowed their induction. The Ching dynasty would become embroiled in hostilities with the Shang dynasty once their territory abutted based on claims that the Liang kingdom was unlawfully taken over by the Degei, the Shang truculently claimed the kings of Liang as their vassals. Claims aside the Shang normally got the worse of the conflicts as the dynasty was well into its decline; this was exacerbated with the eruption of the internal Thrice Cursed War that lasted for the final twenty eight years of the Shang era. The Ching supported general Cai Rong's rebellion against central Shang authority by lending him money and starting a military offensive of their own on the northeastern frontier of Shang territory. By 856 the Shang were deposed and the remaining members of the dynasty were on the run and Cai Rong had inaugurated the Chen dynasty. But his control was yet weak and infirm and the Ching under Bodo Khan not only demanded immediate repayment of their loans, they also demanded an imperial bride for Bodo Khan's heir and fifty thousand pounds of silver as dowry. Cai Rong had no choice but to accept the demands but the Chen dynasty did not forget the opportunism and began to plan revenge against the Degei. The death of Bodo Khan in 864 led almost immediately to the outbreak of a civil war between Bodo's two sons for the Ching throne, Besugen and Qorgrot each had the support of five great princes and southern governors. Whoever could make a deal with the Chen court would be almost guaranteed to defeat the other brother. Qorgrot's supporters refused to accept a deal with Daxia on humiliating terms but Besugen accepted tentative vassalage and was given the moniker of Guoyi and the title of Marshal of the Great White Waste. With Chen support and Hurch mercenaries hired with Chen gold, Besugen Khan was able to overcome and kill Qorgrot but not without raising and spending a considerable number of his own Degei troops in the fighting. In the aftermath of the civil war, Besugen Khan who at first had thought to repudiate his terms with the Chen court after his victory, found himself too weakened, too much in debt and with too many former supporters of his brother around to be able to shake off the yoke of the Chen dynasty. To compound his difficulties, the Hurch mercenaries demanded extra payment and a short war broke out to expel them back to eastern Huoxia.

Besugen Khan is recorded as traveling to Daguo in 867 to take part in the traditional haggling session with Daxian functionaries to determine his level of tribute, an account of Besugen Khan's visit was recorded by court officials and turned into a short story named The humbling of the North. The Degei Confederation's tally would remain in the Hall of the Tributaries until the end of the Qian dynasty. Besugen was also warned to drop the title of Gurkhan and use the style of Khan forevermore. Besugen spent the rest of his reign putting his own house in order so he could eventually throw off the status of vassal and regain his freedom of action but it would be his son Erdeni Khan who would make a first attempt. In 882 with the Chen main armies distracted fighting the Muslims in Rusana, Erdeni crossed into their territory and began raiding it. In response the Chen hired the Hurch again who then surprised Erdeni's forces as he laid siege to the fortress of Hoikhan. According to accounts of the battle the Degei were completely routed and Erdeni Khan was killed by Hurch archers as he sought refuge in a ravine while trying to get away. Erdeni's death again plunged the Degei into fratricide as his brother and son began fighting each other.

Ching-Zhong war

Equestrian painting of Darukh Khan, authorship unknown.

Having unseated the Chen dynasty by treachery and with the stain of defeat on the battlefield against Northern Shang, Emperor Gong of Zhong wanted nothing more than to raise new armies to reclaim what he saw as imperial territory in revolt. However the destruction caused by his own insurrection, the pressure on a depleted treasury to pay the wages and bonuses of his standing army and a restless population that were tired of war and high taxes were insurmountable obstacles to realizing his ambition of fully reunifying the empire in the short term. By 918 the Degei Confederation that had entered into a tributary relation with the Chen dynasty were close to revolt, with pro-Daxian nobles and officials being forced to flee their lands by a certain Darukh Khan agitating to reunify the tribes under his command. Darukh Khan was the son of a local Degei chief and functionary who was distantly related to Ayanga Khan. Darukh had served in a Chen cavalry unit and was considered a capable soldier. Angered by the reduction of imperial stipends going to him personally and other local chiefs, and the resulting disruption of local patronage, Darukh Khan renounced his Daxian titles and began arresting Zhong tax collectors. Darukh Khan proved to be a charismatic orator for he was able to convince thirteen other clan chiefs to follow suit and mount an attack on the garrison town of Baliq where they killed the town guards, shaved the moustache of the local magistrate before kicking him out of town and forced the townspeople to prostrate themselves before Darukh. Darukh proclaimed himself Great Khan of the Degei and Emperor of a reformed Ching dynasty, with both titles implying universality of his rule, Daxian historians name him as the Fourth Great Impostor of the period for his ambition was to rule not just his fellow nomads but to advance south into the empire. In his desire not to be seen merely as a savage invader and out of his own personal sensibilities, Darukh Khan retained many aspects of Daxian customs and political culture. The Daxian language continued as the language of government in his territories, while the Degei dialect was mostly used in the army. Darukh Khan would wait until the spring of 920 to make another move. The Degei did not spend the rest of 919 in idleness however, sending envoys to the United Cities to reach agreement on the formation of an anti-Zhong alliance. The document recording the treaty has been lost to time but Zhong documents of the time record the expiration of the ten year truce once agreed between Emperor Gong and Tengu Peg-Leg, once ruler of the United Cities. So while the specifics of the alliance are unknown, that they collaborated from 920 and onwards is a widely accepted fact.

In 920 a large army personally led by Darukh Khan descended on the Naxia commandery once more and this time the governor's outnumbered forces were comprehensively destroyed at the Battle of Hashu, with Kai Kiu barely escaping with his life. An official account from the time states the governor and his surviving retinue rode south without stopping for three days and nights to warn the closest imperial garrison at Kuchig. Back in Naxia, Darukh Khan issued a proclamation where he claimed to be fighting for the restoration of the Chen dynasty, denounced the Zhong as illegitimate usurpers and invited all servants of the state to switch their allegiance. This was a clear threat to the position of the budding Zhong dynasty even if the proclamation was issued by a 'foreign' ruler of nomadic stock, many officials did indeed switch sides. To compound the Zhong's dire situation, the United Cities honored their agreement with the Degei and sent ten thousand of its Iron Legion under Warmaster Shing to support Darukh Khan's invasion. Crucially the Iron Legion brought with them siege weaponry and had the expertise to employ it efficiently to take walled cities, a crucial military necessity the Degei lacked and one that would be key in any advance further south. Darukh's total forces during the campaign are thought to never have exceeded one hundred thousand men between his own tribesmen, United Cities allies and Zhong defectors. The Zhong for their part had the emperor's own battle tested personal army of around forty five thousand men, at least three provincial armies of wavering loyalties and fifteen thousand levies sent by the Lakdu and Ghanim tributaries. Rather than meet the invasion head on, the Zhong adopted a strategy of playing for time by fortifying strongpoints, avoiding large scale battles against its more mobile foes and employing diplomatic overtures and bribery to try to degrade Darukh Khan's coalition. Darukh Khan resumed his campaign with a two pronged attack , Darukh himself laying siege to the provincial capital of Taizhou and sending half of his force under his brother Orgai to bypass the city and continue moving south to stop any relief force that might be sent. The siege lasted for seven months and saw some of the first use of military sappers to undermine the city walls, with the Zhong using rudimentary rockets against the Iron Legion siege towers. The Zhong defense was tenacious and they carried out multiple sallies, with one night raid reaching dangerously close to the Khan's royal pavilion. However with no relief coming, by the winter of 920 the walls of Taizhou were finally breached and after a few hours of resistance in the streets the remains of the garrison surrendered. The city was sacked and the remaining Zhong soldiers conscripted into the invading army. Orgai for his part continued riding south, engaged and defeated a blocking force near Pianqu after which the city opened its doors to him.

Sovereigns of the Degei Confederation-Ching dynasty

Official portrait of Bodo Khan, Great Emperor of Ching.

• Mengu Khan 664-687
• Ayanga Khan 687-706
• Ishval Khan 706-749
• Bartan Khan 749-773
• Onogur Khan 773-776
• Bodo Khan 831-864
• Besugen Khan 864-878
• Erdeni Khan 878-882
• Gidai Khan 882-888
• Darukh Khan 918-926