Gao Xianzhi
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| Gao Xianzhi | |
|---|---|
| Chinese name | |
| Traditional Chinese: | 高仙芝 |
| Simplified Chinese: | 高仙芝 |
| Hanyu Pinyin: | Gāo Xiānzhī |
| Wade-Giles: | Kao Hsien-chih |
| Korean name | |
| Hangul: | 고선지 |
| Hanja: | 高仙芝 |
| Revised Romanization: | Go Seonji |
| McCune-Reischauer: | Ko Sŏnji |
Gao Xianzhi (died in 756) was an ethnic Goguryeo and a Tang imperial army General, who led the Chinese conquest of Western Regions, over the infamous Pamir Mountains, all the way to Aral Sea and Caspian Sea, expanding the Chinese territory once again to the Central Asia after the Han dynasty expeditions. He was Tang army commander during the Battle of Talas against the Arab Abbasid Caliphate in 751, which ultimately contributed to the transfer of high-level technology of East Asia, including paper and compass.
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[edit] Early life
Gao was descended from a noble family of Goguryeo. As his ancestors failed to escape when the homeland of Gao's family - some of old territory of the Goguryeo - was captured by Tang, the Gao family chose to serve the Tang's Army instead of leaving. Gao's father, Go Sagye, was a former Goguryeo general but was taken captive by the Tang army and had served in the Tang army as an officer. Gao was born during his duty in Tang's west regions.
Unlike most soldiers of his day, historical records say Gao was not muscular or extraordinarily strong like other professional army officers; Go Sagye always worried about his son's poor health. However, he demonstrated great courage from early age, and he had good skills in cavarly and archery.
Although Gao was a ethnic minority, his loyalty and bravery allowed him to be promoted to the position of General of the Tang's Army at the age of 20, serving his duty in Central Asia near Kashgar in the Taklamakan Desert along with his father. Although he was considered an extraordinary tactician, the Jiedushis of the Kashgar province resented him and did not recognize his skills as commander, only when the new jiedushi came was he promoted to the assiatant commander position for the first time against local Tocharian tribes.
[edit] First Western Campaign
Gao established his name in the fighting against the combined forces of Qiang and Muslims. He defeated a combined attack from Qiang and Saracen in 747, and led his army of 10,000 cavalry on a massive counterattack, pursuing the enemy across the Hindu Kush and Pamir Mountains, reaching local Hindu and Persian kingdoms of present-day Afghanistan. As the result of Gao's first campaign, Tang Dynasty ended up with a hostile relatiohship with Umayyad Caliphate and Qiang. About 72 local Indian and Sogdian kingdoms became Chinese subject, ending the Qiang dominion of Pamir Mountains. Until 755 he was the Tang's Jiedushi of Central Asia, controlling Tokmak, Kucha, Kashmir, and even having an outpost at Kabul, Afghanistan and Gilgit, Pakistan.
[edit] Second Campaign and Battle of Talas
In 750, Gao led another campaign against Sogdian kingdoms, conquering Samarkand and Tashkent and sending captured Sogdian king to Tang capital Chang'an. However, Gao executed the king of Tashkent, which outraged Sogdians and Turks of Central Asia who largely defected to newly-established Abbasid Caliphate. Arabs, supported by Persians from Khorasan, attacked Chinese territories with a larger force of possibly up to 150,000 men.[1] Gao led his forces of 70,000 men to Talas to confront Arab advance.
Gao was beaten at the hands of the Abbasid Caliphate at the Battle of Talas in 751. The Karluk mercenaries defected to Abbasid side while the battle was ongoing. Despite losing the battle, he did inflict heavy loss on the Arab counterpart especially the Arabian light Cavalry. As a result of his defeat, Tang empire lost much of their influence in Central Asia even though no territorial changes was seen after the battle. Paper making technology was transmitted westward through the Tang prisoners of war in this battle.
Returning to his commandary, Gao wanted to made a counterattack quickly but his deputies persuaded him that they do not have enough manpower to aid them in the battle and the plan was aborted.
[edit] Arrest and Execution
Four years later, the great rebellion of An Lushan broke out, and Tang court ordered the withdrawal of the bulk of imperial garrison forces from the western frontier, leaving the gateway open to a Qiang invasion which could have cut off the Tang's western garrisons. Subsequently, Chinese influence diminished and Central Asia was affected by the Muslim culture pushing eastward.
Gao was later recalled to duty during the rebellion by An Lushan and was in charge of defending the capital Chang'an. However, he disregarded the initial imperial order and moved his entire forces to Tong Guan, the gateway to the capital with the strategic importance. He also brought all the supplies and foods from Taiyuan, one of the major cities in the Northern empire which eventually fell to the rebellians.
Tang court, under Emperor Xuanzong, began to fear the growing power of many of its Jiedushis. Particularly after An Lushan, who was a powerful Jedushi, rebelled against the empire. After the rebellion broke out, the Tang court started to reduce the power of all Jiedushis, including Gao and Geshu Han.
When one of his deputies, who had personal hatred toward Gao, secretly reported Gao's action as going against imperial order, charging him of corruption and embezzlement of army supplies. The Tang emperor Xuanzhong finally gave order to arrest Gao and execute him for treason. Gao was immediately arrested; most of his deputies wanted to prove his innocence but Gao allegedly refused to receive any help from them, and was subsequently beheaded together with another famous Tang general Feng Changqing.
[edit] Legacy
The success of Gao, who was ethnic Goguryeo and was born as a subject of the Tang empire, is perceived as extraordinary by many Koreans. At the time, Tang Dynasty was composed of people with various ethnic background from all over the east and central Asia, who became Tang subject after their nation was conquered by the Tang empire, or came to China to seek their fortune. For the majority of them, the only way to success was to become a soldier, and Gao was such an example.
His tactics, which helped him to defeat many Sogdian troops with superior power, was well recoginized among Koreans. Many Korean historians praised him as one of greatest army commanders in both Korean and Chinese history. One British archaeologist admired Gao and once said he might be far better a military commander than Hannibal Barca or Napoleon Bonaparte, upon travelling the deadly Pamir Mountains and infamous desert of Central Asia, where Gao led his army through his conquest.
He is also considered historically important by many Koreans since he once led Tang army in the Battle of Talas, despite being the commander of losing side, helped spread the paper and compass to the rest of the world. With the help of the paper, which was introduced to Europe around 1300s and made many ancient and Islamic knowledge available to more Europeans, and ultimately bringing the Renaissance in Europe. The compass, which spread to Europe through the Muslim World, became important tool in navigation and led the way to the Age of Exploration.
[edit] Notes
- ^ The exact number of Arab forces was not recorded by either side.
