The Tang Dynasty was a powerful period in China, their territory was vast, and the largest jurisdiction once completely included the north and south of the Tianshan Mountains, and as far west as the Onion Ridge to Dapos. In order to maintain the stability of the frontier, the Tang Dynasty established the "Anxi Capital Protectorate" in Moraine West (the Tang Dynasty's name for the Western Regions) to rule the four towns of Anxi.
During the Tang Dynasty, Tubo repeatedly competed with the Tang Dynasty for the four towns of Anxi, and in order to defend the frontier, the Tang Dynasty repeatedly sent reinforcements.
In 755, the Anshi Rebellion broke out, and Emperor Xuanzong of Tang fled. In order to quell the rebellion, the Tang Dynasty had no choice but to transfer a large number of garrisons from the Anxi Capital Protectorate to the interior, leaving only a small number of soldiers to defend the town, and Tubo took advantage of this opportunity to launch a large-scale attack and capture many places such as the hexi military town.
In 760, Emperor Suzong of Tang wanted to send troops to support Anxi, but considering that the interior was still unstable and unable to support more troops, he sent Guo Xin with a small number of troops to patrol Hexi, Anxi and other places, and sit in the four towns of Anxi. Guo Xin was the nephew of Guo Ziyi, a famous military figure of the Tang Dynasty, and his talent was extraordinary. After arriving in the four towns of Anxi, he immediately reorganized his military affairs and strengthened his defensive strength, even if there were not many defenders, he still fought with the Tubo army back and forth, so that Tubo could not attack for a long time.
Although it was not captured, Tubo cut off the passage between the four towns of Anxi and the imperial court, and if the four towns of Anxi were left alone and helpless, without the reinforcements of the imperial court, they would be "grinded to death" sooner or later.
Guo Xin also knew the stakes, and tried several times to restore communications but was re-disrupted, until 15 years later, they were able to reconnect with the mainland. Guo Xin took this opportunity to immediately send an envoy to the imperial court, which was already the time of Tang Dezong in 781 AD, and they did not know that the Tang Dynasty had changed its generation, and tang Dezong also knew very little about the four towns of Anxi, and even thought that they had been attacked by Tubo.
When he saw Guo Xin's emissaries, Tang Dezong was very happy, so he rewarded him and ordered the generals of the four towns to be promoted to the seventh rank according to their ranks. After receiving the emperor's reward, the frontier warriors were very pleased, and they were originally swept away by the haze of forgetting by the imperial court, which strengthened their determination to defend the country's territory.
However, after that, there was no news from the imperial court at the border pass, and the warriors could not get support, so they could only rely on the original team of people and horses to support them, and time flew by, and they were already old. In fact, the Tang Dynasty had indeed given up its control over the Western Regions, and Beiting and Anxi had become isolated and helpless!
Ruins of the Beiting Capital Protectorate
The number of people is gradually decreasing, and the veterans have died on the young grandchildren! But the number of newborns was far less than the number of dead, and anyone could see that there was no chance of winning the war, and even so, they still raised their guns until they fought until the last person.
The war did not end until the death of the last defender of the city in the third year of Tang Xianzong's reign (808). After the Tubo soldiers lifted their armor, they realized that the enemies who had fought with them in the past were actually some elderly soldiers and child soldiers!
"The ancestral territory should be guarded to the death, not the size and people" This sentence we have learned since childhood, as a boy, we must have a pride in defending the family and defending the country since childhood. And these forgotten troops of the imperial court still held the border pass alone for more than 40 years in isolation and helplessness!
In order to replenish the troops, the son will go to the battlefield when he grows up, and the grandson will also go to the battlefield when he grows up! Three generations of grandchildren have given their lives for the frontier, how great!