Life
After the death of Kara Qaghan from illness, his brother Mukan took the throne of Turkic Khaganate. Before Kara Qaghan died, he had willed his brother Mukan to become the khagan. The throne change that took place in 553 did not cut the way of the Göktürks, who were growing very fast. On the contrary, it was even better. The information given by all Chinese sources about Mukan's personality is that he was intelligent, knowledgeable, tactical, commanded his soldiers well and was extraordinarily brave. And Mukan Qaghan will show these in his twenty years as Khagan.
Finishing Juan-Juans
As soon as Mukan Qaghan came to the throne, he immediately wanted to finish off the Juan-Juans. He killed the remaining Juan-Juans with his raids on them and made the Central Asian lands completely Turkic lands. Some Juan-Juans that scaped from Mukan Qaghan, took refuge in another Chinese state, the Northern Chi Dynasty. There, Emperor Wenxuan decided to protect them from the Göktürks. Mukan Qaghan wanted to completely destroy this Tungusic people named Juan-Juan, who called his father slaves. The Juan-Juans made a mistake and tried to attack the Göktürks again by leaving the Northern Chi territory. But Mukan Qaghan defeated them again. This time, the Juan-Juans took refuge in the Western Wei Dynasty, which was an ally of the Göktürks. Mukan Qaghan demanded their immediate extradition. Thereupon, Western Wei immediately handed over the remaining 3000 Juan-Juans to the Göktürks. Mukan Qaghan killed them all and he has avenged his entire family.
War against Khitans and Western Wei
Mukan Qaghan again prepared for war in 555. This time he defeated the Khitans in the east and annexed those lands to his state. In the same year, the Turkic people Kyrgyz in the north, also obeyed Mukan Qaghan. Thus, the state grew much larger. Mukan Qaghan, meanwhile, made a peace treaty with the Northern Chi Dynasty, with whom he had previously had trouble. However, an unknown problem arose with their former ally, the Western Wei Dynasty. That's why Mukan Qaghan went to war with Western Wei and plundered their lands many times. Western Wei were then able to make a peace treaty with the Göktürks in exchange for 100,000 silks.
War against Tuyuhuns
Mukan Qaghan wanted to attack the Tuyuhuns, a Tibetan state after their victories. However, for this he had to pass through the Western Wei lands. Western Wei granted a military pass to Mukan. When the Göktürk army arrived at the place called Fanho, the Tuyuhuns realized that they would be attacked, and immediately fled to Nanshan. Mukan wanted to follow them immediately and divided his soldiers into various branches and ordered them to meet in Chinghai. Mukan Qaghan then attacked and captured the wife and son of Kualü, the ruler of the Tuyuhuns. All the valuable treasures of the Tuyuhuns thus passed into the hands of the Göktürks. Mukan defeated the Tuyuhuns and looted all his property and returned much richer.
War against Northern Chi
The Göktürk ally, the Western Wei Dynasty no longer existed. It was replaced by the Northern Chou Dynasty. Mukan Qaghan, on the other hand, made an alliance with Emperor Wu of Northern Chou. And Mukan had agreed to fight together against their greatest enemy, the Northern Chi state. Together, the Chou and Göktürk armies entered Chou territory and besieged Chinyang. But because the Chou army was afraid, they came with not so many soldiers. And according to the agreement, they would attack first. They attacked and were defeated. Mukan saw that Northern Chi was stronger than Northern Chou and realized that fighting was pointless. And he returned, plundering a vast territory of Chi. The Göktürk alliance with Chou continued. 1000 Turkic soldiers settled in the capital of Chi for military control. And Emperor Wu agreed to pay taxes to the Göktürks every year.
Death
In 572, the messengers who sent news from Ötüken announced that Mukan Qaghan was dead. Everyone was so saddened by Mukan's death that at his funeral, his soldiers and people inflicted minor wounds on his face with knives.