khagan, or great khan, of Mongolia from 716 until his death. His name literally translates as “Wise Emperor.”

Bilge assumed leadership of the T'u-chüeh, a tribe of Turks in control of southern Central Asia, when his brother instigated a palace coup against the old ruler. When the T'ang emperor Hsüan Tsung (Xuanzong) refused his offer of an alliance, Bilge decimated the Chinese army, forcing them to sue for peace in 721. Bilge is even better known, however, for advising his successors that the power of the T'u-chüeh came from their nomadic life and that to settle in agricultural communities on the Chinese border would weaken them.