Among the heads of the Hu chiefs, the largest number of people came from the Western Regions.

Since the Han Dynasty, the power of the Central Plains dynasty has extended to the Western Regions, and the Western Regions have been known as the thirty-six countries. After entering the Tang Dynasty, this number has not decreased much, and it has increased, even as many as forty or fifty state regimes at one time.

These states have large and small forces. Although there are also countries such as Gaochang and Yanqi who were directly attacked and destroyed by the Tang Dynasty and directly ruled their people, there are nearly forty countries still in the Western Regions so far. This number does not include the regimes established by the ten Western Turkic surnames and their Miao forces, which shows how complex the situation in the Western Regions is.

Faced with such a complex situation of Hu's situation, the Tang Dynasty naturally needed a variety of means to maintain the normal operation of its throne.

The Anxi Protectorate, which is well known in later generations, is naturally the highest-level military and political institution in the Western Regions. Under the Anxi Protectorate, there are also sixteen governor's offices and seventy-two states. These restricted prefectures basically cover the Hu national forces of the Western Regions, and under the jurisdiction of the Anxi Protectorate, they jointly constitute the Tang Dynasty's throne in the Western Regions.

However, most of these banished prefectures were established during the reign of Emperor Gaozong Longshuo, which had just conquered the Western Turks, and had the strongest influence in the Western Regions. After that, the focus of the border affairs of the Tang Dynasty shifted to the Goguryeo in the northeast, and Tubo rose rapidly. After annexed Tuyuhun, he began to put his hands in the Western Regions and compete with the Tang Dynasty for hegemony in the Western Regions.

In the following decades, the four towns of Anxi, which represented the hegemony of the Western Regions, changed hands many times between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo. Although the Tang Dynasty finally consolidated its possession of the four towns by garrisoning in Anxi, in the process of fighting for hegemony, Tubo also made the countries of the Western Regions realize through practical actions that their country was a powerful regime that was not inferior to the Tang Dynasty.

Therefore, Tubo is also quite influential in the Western Regions. Many Western Regions powers that originally surrendered to the Tang Dynasty turned to Tubo. The surviving order created in the Western Regions during the reign of Emperor Gaozong was naturally difficult to maintain at its heyday.

In recent years, although the national strength of the Tang Dynasty has gradually increased, and Tubo itself is trapped in internal struggle and rarely provokes the Tang Dynasty in the Western Regions, it is still incomparable to the heyday of Emperor Gaozong in the old year.

Although the court specifically instructed the states to enter the capital to congratulate, nearly half of these state tribes that belonged to the Tang Dynasty's throne order did not enter the capital to congratulate, and even did not express basic tribute. This basically means that they broke away from the Tang Dynasty's throne system and arbitrarily terminated this jurisprudence relationship.

However, the decline of the Tang Dynasty's rule and influence in the Western Regions cannot be simply attributed to the incompetence of the Anxi Protectorate. In fact, the Anxi Protectorate can still maintain the hegemony of the Tang Dynasty in the Western Regions, which is already considered to be extremely outstanding.

It should be noted that the promotion of hegemony is backed by strong national strength, and at the same time, it also requires great war costs. It is always necessary to maintain the deterrent force that makes the conquered people dare not develop a sense of resistance.

In the past few years, to be honest, the Tang Dynasty did not provide Anxi with such conditions, and only maintained the military expenditure of the troops stationed in the four towns. As for the more specific and grand strategic concept, there was no such thing as this, which inevitably made the Huhus in the Western Regions feel contemptuous.

Just as the officials who entered the palace were still waiting outside the palace gate, Tang Xiujing, the great patriarch of Anxi, had already entered the palace first and was summoned by the saint in the inner hall.

Among the important civil and military officials of the New Kaiyuan Dynasty, Tang Xiujing is definitely an alien. In the Tang Dynasty's border minister system, the Grand Governor of Anxi is one of the most prominent official positions among the border ministers. Originally, according to the Tang Dynasty's tradition of focusing on the inside and over the outside, it would never be directly promoted among the border ministers. The court must send officials to control the military and political power of the Western Regions.

For example, his former Anxi Protector Wang Xiaojie served as an imperial guard general in the court and was sent to the Western Regions to recover the four towns and remain in the local area for several years.

Tang Xiujing was born in Mingjing and although he had served as an official position in the capital, he was a servant like the royal palace hall, and he was not even a real courtier. What's even more unlucky is that the prince he offered was King Li Ke of Wu.

During the Yonghui period, King Li Ke of Wu was destroyed by Changsun Wuji. Tang Xiujing, as his subordinate, was inevitably implicated and demoted to the capital and was directly exiled to Yingzhou on the border of Liao. Since then, he began his lifelong experience of fighting.

It has been nearly fifty years since he was expelled from Beijing during the Yonghui period. The young man in his prime has now become a veteran with a pine-haired crane. In the past fifty years, from the east to Liaodong and Xiji towns, Tang Xiujing has been traveling all over the border and never returned to the court to serve.

If someone else had experienced such a wasted life, I would have probably given up on myself. However, Tang Xiujing did not sink into it, gave up his life, and became an old gangster who was wandering around the frontier and unsuccessful.

He has been in the border areas for many years and has a rich experience of merit. First of all, when he was in Yingzhou, he defeated the Turks, and the joint cooperation between the Khitan and the Xi people was rebelled, and he was transferred to the Sima of Fengzhou for his merits.

Shortly after arriving in Fengzhou, the Later Turks rose to the south of the desert and plundered the northern borders of the Tang Dynasty. Even the governor of Fengzhou at that time was killed by the Turks. The court was shocked by this, and many people proposed to give up Fengzhou and retreat back to the Hequ land south of the Yellow River to defend the Turks' invasion.

However, Tang Xiujing strongly advised the court not to give up Fengzhou easily and defend the country under extremely unfavorable border defense situation, allowing the Tang Dynasty to maintain its rule and influence in the southern desert area north of the Yellow River, and became the basis for building the Three Revenge City.

Later, Tang Xiujing was transferred to the deputy governor of Anxi, and Tubo invaded a large number of invasions to compete for the hegemony of the Western Regions. Wei Daijin, who was sent by the court, was defeated in the Western Expedition, while Tang Xiujing picked up the defeated soldiers and stood in Xizhou for several years. And under Tang Xiujing's strong request, the court decided to send Wang Xiaojie to continue the Western Expedition and recover the four towns.

Of course, the highest moment of Tang Xiujing's life was the battle with the Hongyuan Valley of Tubo. In this battle, Tang Xiujing led the Tang army and commanded it. He was over 70 years old and personally wore armor to fight. He fought six battles and defeated Tubo and accumulated Tubo's corpses and built them into Jingguan.

This great victory can be said to be the most brilliant victory of the Tang army in the frontal war with Tubo after the Dafeichuan battle, which forced Tubo to give up its strategy for Longyou and the Western Regions and turn to the southwest to explore, indirectly causing the Tubo Zanpu Chidu Songzan to die in his prime.

In history, after the battle at Hongyuan Valley, Tang Xiujing finally gained the urgency of the rulers of the court and was recalled to the court as prime minister. At this time, it had been fifty years since he was exiled from the court in his early years!

During the Wu Zhou Dynasty, foreign wars were indeed a mess, but glorious figures like Tang Xiujing who worked hard on the frontier, fought for a lifetime, and eventually became the most powerful minister should not be erased in one sentence.

All the glory in history has never been obtained out of thin air. It is precisely because of the efforts of such heroes who do not care about honor and disgrace and sacrifice their lives to serve the country that they have the glorious history of the Central Plains dynasty. This spirit has never disappeared from the blood of this nation, so even if there is temporary decline, there will be a more brilliant rise!

The evaluation of Tang Xiujing in historical books is also very high. In the old books of Tang, it praises that Tang Xiujing is familiar with border affairs, and can remember all the key points of mountains and rivers from the west of Jieshi. And this extensive and extensive record is not obtained out of thin air, but is the precious wealth accumulated by Tang Xiujing through his life.

As for the "New Book of Tang", the prime ministers who were both civil and military, were praised even more. At that time, they were just Li Jing, Guo Yuanzhen, Tang Xiujing, and Liu Renyuan. They were representative figures of generals and prime ministers in the early Tang Dynasty.

Li Tong was naturally full of respect for a capable national minister like Tang Xiujing. Before they became famous, Li Tong had already set his sights on Tang Xiujing, so he formed a good marriage with his wife Tang Lingshu to first greed on others' grandfather and then to their health.

When Tang Xiujing, who was gray-haired but still energetic and vigorous, was leading the way down to the inner hall, he saw the saint standing in front of the steps outside the hall, and hurriedly walked to the front and bowed and said, "How dare the saint come out of the hall to wait..."

"I don't know how many gentlemen who have established a dynasty are so shameful that I am a man of great power! I am young and strong, and I am especially obsessed with the talent of the old and old ministers. If it is not restricted by common etiquette, it is not just waiting in front of the palace. When I return to the capital, I will ride my horse out of the city to welcome you!"

Li Tong took a step forward, bent down and helped Tang Xiujing up with both hands. This was not the first time he met Tang Xiujing. As early as the early years of Kaiyuan, the townsmen from all over the country came to Beijing to congratulate him.

However, when we met again this time, Li Tong still felt that he was not as famous as a scholar. Not to mention his talent, but just looking at his appearance and demeanor, Tang Xiujing had a heart-wrenching charm.

This veteran is now in his seventies, but his figure is still not as hunched and thin as an ordinary old man. If he stands upright, he is even slightly higher than Li Tong. At the same time, he is square and majestic, and has a demeanor that people dare not look down on.

Tang Xiujing was treated so politely by the saint, and a smile of relief appeared on his face. In the eyes of the saint, in addition to the respect of the ministers for the king, there was also a sense of appreciation of the elders for the children of the backwards.

Of course, Tang Xiujing did not dare to rely on his seniority in front of the saint, but his family was lucky enough to be favored by such a respected relative, which was also a pleasure that made Tang Xiujing laugh even in his dreams.

After the king and his ministers joined the hall and sat down, Li Tong did not ask Tang Xiujing about the border relationship between the Western Regions first, but said with a smile: "There was still some places where the country was relied on the country's elders before, and although they were reluctant to leave, they could only continue to rely on them. Now the country's elders have returned to the court. Although there is no more damage to the Spring and Autumn Period, the relatives have deeper feelings. I hope that the country's elders can stay in the capital. I wonder what the country's elders are thinking?"
Chapter completed!