In the impression of history book lovers and ordinary people, the pace of the Tang Empire's external expansion was affected by the Battle of Talas, and even the national fortunes of the entire empire were inextricably related to the Battle of Talas.
In addition, Gao Xianzhi, who represented the Tang Dynasty in the war against the Arab Empire, was known as the Tang Dynasty's governor in Central Asia.
This famous general of the Tang Dynasty who led the Anxi Army to slaughter all countries and destroy countless countries in the Anxi Protectorate, in fact, was only a right Yulin general in the Tang Dynasty.
Moreover, the battle of Talas, which has been discussed a lot, is not a key point that affected the transformation of the national fortunes of the Tang Empire.
At the very least, after the Battle of Talas, the Anxi Army of the Anxi Protectorate rose rapidly and regained a strong strategic influence over Central Asia.
The history books can't remember the date of Gao Xianzhi's birth, but the history books have a detailed record of Gao Xianzhi's rise.
In 741, Gao Xianzhi was sent to the Anxi Protectorate of the Western Regions and served as the deputy capital of the place.
Here, Gao Xianzhi ushered in the highlight moment of his life, and also began the war of annihilation of the countries of the Western Regions.
After Gao Xianzhi took office, Tubo secretly manipulated more than 20 countries in the northwest in the Western Regions, betrayed the Tang Dynasty, and all countries stopped paying tribute to the Tang Dynasty.
This kind of rebellious behavior naturally ushered in the punishment of the Tang Dynasty, and at this time, Tang Xuanzong was still in the stage of political clarity and sober-mindedness, so he directly issued a combat order to Gao Xianzhi to crusade against the small Bolu Kingdom.
In March 747, Gao Xianzhi's life of conquest finally began.
In this national extermination operation, Gao Xianzhi only used more than 10,000 soldiers to take down the small Bolu Kingdom.
Since then, it has been out of control, and in just 4 years, Gao Xianzhi has destroyed more than a dozen countries.
When it comes to the Tang Dynasty in Central Asia, countries and people often think of Gao Xianzhi first, and then the Tang Dynasty.
Gao Xianzhi had become the agent of the Tang Dynasty in Central Asia, and in the view of Westerners, the Tang Dynasty was the governor of Central Asia, managing all the affairs of Central Asia.
However, in fact, Gao Xianzhi's official position in the Tang Dynasty was not high.
In the first month of 751, Gao Xianzhi wanted to return to the court to report on his work, so he dedicated many of the kings he had captured to Tang Xuanzong.
In the face of another feat of the Tang Dynasty generals abroad, Tang Xuanzong did not hesitate to give Gao Xianzhi a great reward and canonized him as the general of the right Yulin.
Of course, this Right Yulin General is just a martial artist of Zheng Sanpin.
Gao Xianzhi's war of annihilation not only won unlimited territory for the Tang Dynasty, but also set up many hostile forces.
Because, before that, when Gao Xianzhi destroyed the Shi Kingdom in 750, he had caused his prince to flee and ask for help from the black-clothed Great Food.
As a result, there was the later Battle of Talas, and the Battle of Talas was not the attack of the Great Food on the Tang Dynasty, but Gao Xianzhi took the initiative to attack and led the army to expedition to the Great Food.
The fighting, in fact, took place outside the Tang Dynasty, in the far south of Kazakhstan.
After returning to the Western Regions, Gao Xianzhi was extremely excited, and in the face of the information collected about Prince Shi, Gao Xianzhi did not wait passively, but took the initiative to attack.
In April 751, he led an expedition from Anxi to Dashi, and the army he led was only 30,000 men, but there are different legends about the composition of these 30,000 men.
Based on the Anxi Army's combat experience and combat effectiveness level in the Western Regions, Gao Xianzhi was confident that he would lead a powerful Anxi Army to deter the Great Food Empire.
Among these 30,000 people, the Anxi army accounted for the vast majority, and the troops of other vassal states were relatively small.
On the contrary, in the introduction of Zizhi Tongjian, the Tang Dynasty's expedition to the Great Food Empire had only a few thousand troops, and other vassal states accounted for the vast majority.
Regardless of the composition, Gao Xianzhi's marching speed had already exceeded Da Shi's expectations.
It took him three months to cross the Pamirs, cross the desert, and in July of that year, he came to the Great Cannibal.
The armies of the two countries met at Talas, and the decisive battle took place at this moment.
Of course, the battle proceeded very quickly, and in five days, the two armies decided the result.
Under the command of Gao Xianzhi and the cooperation of Li Siye of the Tang Mo Sword Team, the 130,000 Arab coalition troops were defeated by the 30,000 Tang Army.
However, Gao Xianzhi did not win the final victory, because there were traitors in his vassal army.
The sudden rebellion of the Qarluq army complicated the predicament faced by the Tang army, and the supply problem made Gao Xianzhi have no choice but to retreat.
This became the regret of Gao Xianzhi's life, and this regret was forced to end in 756, because Gao Xianzhi was mistakenly killed in the Anshi Rebellion in this year.
It is also because of the Battle of Talas that people have come to the conclusion that the Tang Dynasty was in decline, and at the same time, it also alludes to the end of the Tang Dynasty's foreign expansion.
However, this was not the case in practice, and after the Battle of Talas, in 752, the Anxi army regrouped and continued to carry out extermination and deterrence operations in the Western Regions.
After Chang Fengqing took over the banner of Gao Xianzhi, he destroyed the Great Bolu Kingdom and conquered Tibet, so that the Arabs understood that the Tang Empire was as powerful as ever.
There is also a record of the Arab initiative to sue for peace, which shows from the side that the Battle of Talas was not a turning point in the national fortunes of the Tang Dynasty, and the real turning point appeared in the Anshi Rebellion.