Tang campaign against the oasis states
| Tang campaign against the oasis states | |||||||||
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| Part of the Tang campaigns against the Western Turks | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
| Emperor Taizong of Tang (Emp.) and his generals Hou Junji (?), Guo Xiaoke (?), Ashina She'er (648) |
640 Unknown 644 Long Tuqizhi 648 Unknown |
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Emperor Taizong (r. 626–649) of Tang dynasty China, after subjugating the Eastern Turkic Khaganate, began to exert his military power toward the oasis city-states of the Tarim Basin, which were loosely allied with the Western Turkic Khaganate. In 640, Emperor Taizong sent the military commander Hou Junji to defeat and annex Gaochang—the first attempt by any Chinese dynasty to set up a permanent military and political presence in the region since Fu Jian in the 4th century. In 644, after Yanqi (Karasahr)—an ally in the campaign against Gaochang—turned against Tang and allied with the Western Turkic Khaganate, the Tang commandant at Gaochang, Guo Xiaoke, attacked and captured the Yanqi king Long Tuqizhi, but Yanqi subsequently rebelled. In 648, the ethnically Turkic Tang general Ashina She'er who was the second son of Shibi Khan, attacked both Yanqi and Kucha in the northern Tarim, conquering both. Kashgar and Khotan in the western Tarim then also submitted to Tang, allowing the dynasty to dominate the region until it was briefly seized by Tibet during the reign of Emperor Taizong's son Emperor Gaozong.
In contrast to its eastern cousin the Eastern Turkic Khaganate, the Western Turkic Khaganate did not pose a major threat to the Tang dynasty in the early years of Tang's existence, as it was farther from Tang territory and not attacking Tang. Moreover, the Western Turkic Khaganate constantly suffered from internal divisions and was unable to focus itself against the Tang. Its hegemony over the oasis city-states of the Tarim Basin therefore remained unchallenged by Tang. In turn, both the Western Turkic Khaganate itself and its vassal-allies in the region at times nominally submitted to Tang overlordship. For example, in 619, soon after Emperor Gaozu established the dynasty in 618 and was still battling for supremacy over China with a number of rival rulers, both the Western Turkic Khaganate's Tongyehu Khan Ashina Tong and Gaochang's king Qu Boya submitted tributes to him. In 625, Ashina Tong sought marriage with a Tang princess, and Emperor Gaozu initially agreed, but the Eastern Turkic Khaganate's Illig Qaghan Ashina Duobi was displeased about the potential of a Tang-Western Turkic alliance and warned Ashina Tong against it, such that the marriage never took place.
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