Emperor Taizong's campaign against the Western Regions

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Conquest of the Western Regions
Part of the Tang campaigns against the Western Turks
Date 640–648 Location Tarim Basin Result Decisive Tang victory Annexation or vassalization of the oasis states Western Turkic sphere of influence removed from the Tarim Basin Establishment of the Anxi Protectorate Territorial changes Annexation of Karakhoja Occupation of Tarim Basin
Belligerents
Tang dynasty Allied Turkic cavalry	640: Karakhoja 644: Karasahr 648: Karasahr, Kucha Western Turkic Khaganate
Commanders and leaders
Emperor Taizong of Tang 640: Hou Junji 644: Guo Xiaoke 648: Guo Xiaoke † Ashina She'er Qibi Heli	640: Qu Zhisheng (POW) 644: Long Tuqizhi (POW) 648: Long Xuepo'anazhi (POW) (Karasahr) Haripushpa (POW) (Kucha) Nali † (Kucha)

In the years following Tang Taizong's subjugation of the Eastern Turkic Khaganate, the emperor began to exert his military power toward the oasis city-states of the Tarim Basin (part of the area known in Chinese histories as the Western Regions). These states, populated by Tocharian and Saka peoples, were loosely allied with the Western Turkic Khaganate. In 640, Emperor Taizong sent the military commander Hou Junji to defeat and annex Gaochang (Karakhoja)—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.^[1] In 644, after Karasahr (Yanqi)—an ally in the campaign against Karakhoja—turned against Tang and allied with the Western Turkic Khaganate, the Tang commandant at Karakhoja, Guo Xiaoke [zh], attacked and captured the King of Karasahr, Long Tuqizhi [zh], but Karasahr subsequently rebelled. In 648, the ethnically Turkic Tang general Ashina She'er who was the second son of Shibi Khan, attacked both Karasahr 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.