Battle of Yinshan
| Battle of Yinshan | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Tang campaign against the Eastern Turks | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Tang dynasty | Eastern Turkic Khaganate | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Li Jing Wei Xiaojie Li Daozong Chai Shao Xue Wanche (薛萬徹) | Illig Qaghan | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 20,000 | 40,000 | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Light | 100,000 captured, 10,000+ dead | ||||||||
The Battle of Yinshan (Chinese: 陰山之戰; pinyin: Yīnshān zhī zhàn) was fought on 27 March 630 near the Yin Mountains, close to the city of Dingxiang (定襄, in modern Hohhot, Inner Mongolia). Emperor Taizong (598–649) commissioned the famed Tang military officer Li Jing (李靖, 571–649), along with Li Shiji, Wei Xiaojie, Li Daozong, Chai Shao (柴紹), and Xue Wanche (薛萬徹) to attack forces under the command of Illig Qaghan, leader of the Eastern Turkic Khaganate, a nomadic confederation of Turkic peoples based in Inner Asia. The battle ended in defeat for the Eastern Turkic Khaganate and resulted in its dissolution, and was eventually replaced by the Protectorate General to Pacify the North, otherwise known as the Anbei Protectorate (安北都護府) in 647 after the Tang dynasty definitively conquered the Xueyantuo.