Tonyukuk, also known as Ashide Yuanzhen, was the baga tarkhan, or supreme commander, and adviser of four successive Gokturk khagans: Ilterish Qaghan, Qapaghan Qaghan, Inel Qaghan and Bilge Qaghan. Born around 646 and dying around 726, he conducted victorious campaigns against various Turkic and non-Turkic steppe peoples, including the Tolis, Xueyantuo, Toquz Oguz, Yenisei Kyrgyz, Kurykans, Thirty Tatar, Khitan and Tatabi, as well as against the Tang dynasty. Historians such as E. P. Thompson and Peter Benjamin Golden have described him as a kingmaker.
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