March towards the Sun Part I

March towards the Sun Part I

''Great man are born from misery''

584 AD Central Asian Steppes

Western Göktürk Khan Tardu was not happy. His rival the Khan of the Eastern Göktürk had just asked for
protection against him from the Chinese a mighty people from the East to. This could be a hard time coming
for im in the next years.
However Tardu was not planning to stay into these miserable steppes that they had to call ''home''.
He wanted to move on towards the sun and the riches that might lay there. He could gain victory, wealth and power.
But he was stuck here for the coming years.

600 AD Western Göktürk Khanate Capital

Tardu had faced many problems in the last 16 years. He had to re-submit the vassal tribes of Tiele which was hard but not impossible for one part of the Khanate. With this done Tardu had to pose another treat.
His forces had to face the Eastern Khanate and their Chinese allies in combat.
This was were the experiences of the Tiele vassal tribes battles came in handy. Or rather the troops the Tiele had to give to Tardu to support him in combat. Both of the armies engage eachother in combat in spring 600 AD.

Tardu is defeated by a combined Chinese-Eastern Khanate force.And his capital is taken shortly after it but most of his army is intact.
With this army he gather supplies and attacks his capital and takes it back.
This battle was to be known as a very bloody battle indeed.
Tardu slaughtered the enemy armies without mercy.
This resulted in a truce and peace between
both of the Khanates, East and West.
The treaty ended up with the Western and the Eastern khanates uniting under Tardu.
Which was accepted by the Chinese as long as there were no attacks to come on their lands.
This point was taken lightly by Tardu who now had the power and soldiers to forfill his dream.

He would march... towards the Sun!

End of part I

So what do you think? Its a little plain but i want them to be another scourge for Western Europe

interesting idea.
but i would have thought that a "march to the sun" meant towards the east...

The sun sets in the west and if you follow it then youd have to go west wouldnt you?

Promethean said:

The sun sets in the west and if you follow it then youd have to go west wouldnt you?

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Yes, but it rises in the East.

So if he's marching sunwards, he marches east in the morning, south at noon and west in the evening. ....

Dathi THorfinnsson said:

Yes, but it rises in the East.

So if he's marching sunwards, he marches east in the morning, south at noon and west in the evening. ....

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I couldnt pick march to the west because it would be to much like Look to the West.

Two reactions are enough for a next part

March towards the Sun Part II

''The great ride of the Göktürk Khanate ''

601 AD The Khanate's borders
The soldiers of Tardu were preparing for battle, Göktürks, and Tiele's and members of tribe's in the areas. All of them had a respectable amount of horse's with them. And a large amount of arrows and their best bows.
When the Khan entered his tent the leaders of the tribe sat there drinking milk of the kajak. Among them even a Chinese man sat, probably a representative of the Emperor of China.
All was prepared for the Khan his plan. He would ride towards the lands of the Avars and from there he would gain information to further plan his attacks. In his way to the Avars he would drive all other tribes that live between the Khanate and the Avars foreward so that his reputation will truly become a feared one…

618 AD
Tardu had reached the Avar confederation and drove them over the Danube river into the Rum (Byzantine) Empire. The Avars would soon settle in the plain of Thessalonica…
In his great ride the Khan and his horde had driven several tribes like the Slavs, Vislanes, Maygars, and Croats further west into the lands we now as (Poland) today.
But the Khan was not finished yet, he would go into the lands of Bohemia to defeat them. He wasn't that interested in the riches the Roman Empire seemed to had. He thought of them as to weak to be a treat for his plans and with the Avars and some smaller Slavic tribes running amok in their territories to there was no need to go there. Bohemia seemed a tough land for his horse riders but he was sure that he could crack this nut to.
He was actually more worried about the bows which could get wet and unusable in the wetter weather of the northern regions.
When the Chinese emissary Fan Tai Wu heard of this he proposed something to the Khan.
''My people use a bow that needs little training to use and if wet still works, however I know you will consider this bow dishonourable for you warriors. That is why I propose to give them to your subjected people in these regions. They fear you so they wont try to use them against you. This might come in handy for your attacks on Bohemia''
Surprisingly the Khan agreed and ordered several hundreds of natives to be armed with Cross-bows.

619 AD
Tardu and his warriors marched into Bohemian territory. The Bohemians rather weakened by Slavic invasions quickly fell for the swift Horsemen of the Khan and the crossbow units proved their worth fast at the final battle against the Bohemian Tribal king.

Tardu's chronicler made a short essay of it.
There they came the Bohemians armed with axes and spears fierce, but not fierce enough. Our Khan ordered his crossbows slaves to position at the frontlines.
At his command the slaves unleashed their wave of bolts at the first line of enemies.
And they did it again… and again… when the Bohemians finally reached the Khan's soldiers the slaves retreated… cowards they were but all part of a plan.
After the faked retreat horseman from all directions began to slaughter the Bohemians.
Their king was killed personally by our khan, a huge blond barbarian found himself in a battle with our Khan who was riding his best horse Supreme Wind of the Steppe. And with one heap he sliced of their kings head. At the end of the battle the survivors were slaughtered or pushed out of their homelands. The land was virtually empty now and our Khan ruled an area from the Danube river to the inner lands of Europe.
This is were he heard of a great kingdom in the west rivalling that of the Rum Empire. The Franks.

In a chapter or two i will switch the point of view. From Tardu wo is dead by then. Towards a Frankish chronicer.

Looks interesting. I'm not really familiar with the Gokturks, so I would like to see more.

I hope there will be maps to go along with this at some point...

There will be maps later yes, i dont know much of the Gokturks either but its easy to use something with vague information for an AH.

March towards the Sun Part III

''A sad day and an epic ride''

620 AD Pannonian plains
Tardu khan died. Sadness filled his family and close friends, but above all the warriors that followed him. His successor was just 23 years old. He self died at the favoured age of 51, struck by an arrow during a battle with German tribes who invaded the area of the Boh-Turks a vassal state of the Gokturk khanate.
Tardu's sucsessor Tolga Khan immediatly ordered preperations to be made for a ride against the tribes of Germania.
The Allemanii tribes were one of the first non mere powers to hear of this.
In their fear of the Khan and his army the Allemanii sought protection. They would get it from the Frankish concentration of power which had grown in the last years since Tardu rode towards the Avars.

A chronicler of Tolga Khan made a summary for his lord about what the Romans called Germania.
The lands of (Germania) are varying in not only people and tribes but also in landscapes. The north is ruled by Frisian, Anglic and Saxon tribes who also seem to control an island at the other side of the sea. Since our great conquest the center of Germania is populated by Slavic tribes and some remainders of German tribes like the Thuringians. The South of Germania bordered by the great mountains who ended at the begin of the Boh-Turks regions is populated by the Bajovaria just next to us and the Allemania next to them. The Allemania bordered the Frankish kingdom of Austrasia which I qualify as German for it has lands at their side of the great river (Rhine) Since the great ride these Franks were pushed further and further west by Slavic and primarly German tribes.

(Germania) by Tolga Khan his servant Mazda Sufeiman.

624 AD German Swarzwald
The Khan was staring at the last fortress of the German tribe the Bajovaria. He had hunted them down south past the great woods into the mountains. He promised them to leave them alone in private bribery just before this battle.
A victory it was, but the army that made it possible was nothing like the one Tardu Khan invaded the Avars with in 616 or the army that conquered Bohemia in 619. It was very different, cavlary was still the most honorable duty in the army but instead of the light composite bows that they used first now spears and shorter simple wooden bows were in favor due to the wet climate of Germania. The infantry also became much more important. Above all the crossbow units who also wore spears and occasionally swords as a secondary weapon. These crossbow units were made up by the subjugated people of the Khan in Pannonia and Bohemia but also members from tribes who joined in during the Great Ride.

The last battle was a splendid example of this new army. The enemy would charge into their army with infantry made up of big strong warriors but they were useless against the crossbowbolts who easily penetrated the Bajovari armor if they wore one. When the bolts were out the cavlary would rage through the remainders of the army and slaughter all. If the Bajovari had a small noble cavlary force these were quikly outmanouvered and killed by the much higher quality of Khanate riders. This tactic seemed very effective against the warring tribes of Germania. And by the end of 630 Tolga Khan would stand at the borders of the Saxons.

The next instalment will be about the Volga Bulgarians invading somewere and the last bits of Germania being conquered by Tolga Khan.

March towards the Sun Part IV

''The ways of the warrior do not fail''

628-634 AD Danube river, border of the Roman Empire
The Bulgarians, once subjected to the Gokturks, but now a mighty tribe themselves. For the past years since they were expelled from their home grounds at the Volga river far away they had been traveling, looting and seeking for an oppertunity. Now here at the borders of the worlds strongest Empire. Or at least it was. A new treat had risen from the deserts. The islamic Arabians had overrun the borders of the Roman empire who were exhausted from their past wars with Persia. Now the Roman Empire was struggeling to keep its hold on the core of the Empire.
For the Khan of the Bulgarians this was a great oppertunity.
At the start of the spring 628' his forces invaded the Roman Empire.

Unlike the Gokturks the Bulgars still had an traditional army of horse-archers. These were still effective though in the terrain of Danube which was low and flat for miles. By the end of the spring the Bulgarians reached Adrianople a great and wealthy city and capital of the Roman province of Thracia. The Roman troops that were supposed to guard the danube had retreated here afer they were overrun by the Bulgarians.
(following Constantine's reforms the strongest part of the army is in the city)
However the city had great walls and a large garrison of troops inside of it. The Bulgarians decided to wait and so a long siege began.
Several Roman attempts to break through the enemy lines failed and these troops were slaughtered or captured by the Bulgarians. Meanwhile the court in Constantinople couldnt do anything agianst the Bulgarian ''plague'' for they were to busy on other frontiers.
Thanks to these factors the Bulgarians conquered most of Thrace expect for some small cities and fortresses. And even reached the Thessalian plains. The small Roman garrison there was quikly overwhelmed by the great Bulgarian army. Here it was that the Bulgarians decided that enough was enough. They had conquered a large new homeland and were still dominant in the area but they were now receiving a strong repel effect from the citizens of Greece a minor province in the Empire but the natives had stopped the Bulgarians who tried to loot their farms.
At the end of 632 AD Adrianople fell and in 634 a peace was made between the Roman Empire and the Bulgarian Khanate. Over time the Bulgarians would prove a strong ally for the Romans but not now.

631 AD Thuringia, Germania
The Khan of the Gokturks Tolga Khan was standing in the remants of the last Thuringian settlement that was free. In the last years he had driven the Thuringians over the Rhine making them a relevant treat for the Frankish kingdom of Austrasia which was forced to retreat behind the Rhine river and in 635 even to Rheims. The Thuringians had fallen, the Bajovarians had fallen, the Allemanii had fallen. All of them were driven over the Rhine. But Tolga Khan wanted more! He decided to attack the newly settled Slavic tribes of Northern Germania, purely for the laughs he explained later to his son. But actually the Slavs had been fleeing for a while and had just settled down in the area. During their flight they had looted several other tribes and the loot from these tribes was proven quite valuable to Tolga Khan who had to pay his soldiers and create new settlements for his people who were moving into Germania.

The settlements in Bohemia were flourishing rather well at this time. Smaller settlements grew fast and trade was re-emerging very fast in the region. This aided the use of infantry armies for the Gokturks who's horsemen proved themselves to be less and less usefull in the rough terrain of Germania. To compensate the speed of his horsemen which was rapidly decreasing in the terrain the Khan ordered the horses and horsemen to wear heavier armor and lances to charge into enemy lines. The long famed compositive bow was been replaced in these lands.

The last chapter out of the Gokturk point of view. Germania had been conquered and divided into tributary states and settlement areas. The Bulgarians have conquered most of th Roman balkan territory and Islam has taken Egypt & Antioch by now. Persia is being invaded and Mesopotamia will fall in the next update.

The slavic tribes will move into Northern France while the Franish kingdoms of Austrasia and Neustria will be destroyed mostly. Their populations will have to make room for the Slavs and Germans settling there and the Franks will move in Aquataine and Burgundy. The Lombards are stuck in Austria now but are being pushed down into Italy by German tribes (Allemanii and Bajovarii). Some German tribes have moved into modern Slovenia and the Avars are scattered around Illyria.

There will be a map included in the next update.

No more comments at all?

Shameless self bumpyness.

nice, tho i'm wondering why those germanic little tribes keep recovering after so many defeats.
they're a hard headed bunch

Very nice to see a thread about the Göktürks.

So is China still under the Sui Dynasty at the 630s? What's the new policy with their other eastern neighbour, the Korean kingdom of Goguryeo?

ilhan said:

nice, tho i'm wondering why those germanic little tribes keep recovering after so many defeats.
they're a hard headed bunch

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Well one lost battle isnt the destruction of a half nomadic people And i need migration.

Fire God said:

Very nice to see a thread about the Göktürks.

So is China still under the Sui Dynasty at the 630s? What's the new policy with their other eastern neighbour, the Korean kingdom of Goguryeo?

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Ive not really thought about it. But i suppose they are still in power. Perhaps a bit stronger.

Promethean said:

Ive not really thought about it. But i suppose they are still in power. Perhaps a bit stronger.

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The Sui? The end of that dynasty started with Emperor Yang's wars with Goguryeo. I haven't seen much information on the Göktürks during the war so I can't really make a conclusion about what would have happened if Sui China didn't have to worry so much with their northern neighbour therefore focusing more on the Koreans.

Even without the war, the Sui would have eventually fallen sometime as the rulers pretty much weren't very good in handling the economy.

Well with the power vacuum on the steppes it can focus on the Koreans.

And a map, expect the next part about the end of the week.