Fragmented Tibetan Tribal Politics (1120s)

Timeline

1. 1125Qingtang City · QinghaiAfter the Jin army drove south in force, the Northern Song could no longer maintain effective rule over Hehuang through the Longyou Protectorate. Descendants of the Tibetan Empire, Qiang, Tangut, and other tribes each governed themselves, with monastic and secular chiefs holding their own territories, continuing the post-collapse fragmentation and becoming a buffer zone contested by Song, Jin, and Western Xia.
2. 1126–1127Huang Prefecture · QinghaiNorthern Song's Shaanxi pacification commissioner Qian Gai sought out Yima Dangzheng, a descendant of Gtsong-lha (brother of Longzan), who was long trusted by the Hehuang tribes; he was appointed to administer Huang-Shan affairs and given the name Zhao Huai'en, in an attempt to use his lineage's prestige to unite the Tibetan tribes and defend Hehuang. This was the Northern Song's last appointment in Hehuang, reflecting the Song court's policy of co-opting tribal chiefs amid fragmentation.
3. 1131Hehuang Valley · QinghaiIn the first year of Shaoxing, Jin forces occupied the Hehuang region, ending Northern Song rule there entirely. Zhao Huai'en led his followers south to the Southern Song in 1134, concluding a century of Gtsong-lha-descendant rule in Hehuang. The Hehuang tribes continued to split and recombine among Jin, Western Xia, and other powers, as the fragmented Tibetan political order entered a new phase.