Su Dingfang

Su Dingfang (traditional Chinese: 蘇定方; simplified Chinese: 苏定方; pinyin: Sū Dìngfāng; Wade–Giles: Su Tingfang) (591–667), formal name Su Lie (蘇烈) but went by the courtesy name of Dingfang, formally Duke Zhuang of Xing (邢莊公), was a general of the Chinese dynasty Tang Dynasty who succeeded in destroying the Western Turkic Khaganate in 657. He was born in Wuyi (武邑, in modern Hengshui, Hebei). Su Dingfang's victory over Western Turks expanded the western borders of the Tang Empire to their farthest extent. He was also instrumental in conquering Baekje in 660.

Su Dingfang was born in 591, during the reign of Emperor Wen of Sui. Toward the end of the reign of Emperor Wen's son and successor Emperor Yang of Sui, the empire was engulfed in agrarian rebellions, and Su Dingfang's father Su Yong (蘇邕) led a local militia in combating the agrarian rebels. Su Dingfang was then in his teenage years, and often served as part of Su Yong's forward troops. After Su Yong died, Su Dingfang took over the militia and continued to battle the agrarian rebels. According to Su Dingfang's biography in the Old Book of Tang, he was the one who defeated and killed one of the major rebel generals, Zhang Jincheng (張金稱), in battle. He also defeated another rebel general, Yang Gongqing (楊公卿).

Su Dingfang later followed the rebel ruler Dou Jiande the Prince of Xia, and he was particularly favored by Dou's major general Gao Yaxian (高雅賢), who treated him like a son. After Dou was defeated and captured by the Tang Dynasty general Li Shimin the Prince of Qin (the later Emperor Taizong) in 621, Xia domain was initially taken over by Tang, but Gao and a number of other former Xia generals rose later in the year, supporting the Xia general Liu Heita as the Prince of Handong, and Su served Liu in this campaign of resistance as well. After Gao's death in battle in 622, followed by Liu's defeat by Tang's crown prince Li Jiancheng (Li Shimin's older brother) in 623, Su returned to his home territory.

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