Tang campaigns against Karasahr

Conquest of Karasahr
Part of Tang campaign against the oasis states

Map of the campaigns against the oasis states of the Tarim Basin, including the defeat of Karasahr
Date644 and 648
Location
Result

Decisive Tang victory

  • Tang military garrison installed in Karasahr
  • Tang loyalist is enthroned as ruler and Tang control of Karasahr is re-established (648)
  • Indo-European Tocharian influence in Central Asia declines
Belligerents
Tang dynasty Karasahr
Western Turkic Khaganate
Commanders and leaders
644:
Guo Xiaoke
648:
Ashina She'er
644:
Long Tuqizhi (POW)
648:
Long Xuepo'anazhi (POW)
Strength
3,000 infantry and cavalry Unknown number of Karasahr troops
5,000 Western Turkic cavalry
Casualties and losses
Light 7,000 dead and captured

The Tang campaigns against Karasahr (Chinese: 唐滅焉耆之戰) were two military campaigns sent by Emperor Taizong of the Tang dynasty against the Tarim Basin kingdom of Karasahr, a vassal of the Western Turkic Khaganate. The city-state, which later became part of Xinjiang), may have been known to its inhabitants by the Tocharian name Agni, which was rendered Yanqi in Chinese sources. The first campaign in 644 was led by the Tang commander Guo Xiaoke, protector-general of the Anxi Protectorate in western China, who defeated the oasis state and a Western Turkic army and installed a Tang loyalist as ruler. The second campaign in 648, which was part of the campaign against Karasahr's neighboring state of Kucha, was led by a Turkic general of the Tang dynasty, Ashina She'er, who defeated and conquered Karasahr.