The Garrison Pattern In The Region Around Tarim Of Tang Dynasty And Its Contemporary Enlightenment

The ancient territory of Xinjiang Province surrounded by the Silk Road, named region around Tarim,mainly refers to the southern and eastern Xinjiang Province, which is in the south of Tianshan Mountains,geographical region mainly including Hami Basin, Turpan Basin, Yanqi Basin and Tarim Basin. From 7 to9 century, in nearly 160 years of time, the Tang Dynasty threw large number of military strength into the region around Tarim, which effectively curbed the invasion of Tubo and other nomadic tribes, and ensured the long-term stability of the western regions.Since the establishment of Tang Dynasty in 618, Asia’s political pattern was changing gradually. On one hand, the Tang Empire rose ceaselessly, on the other hand, the dominance of Turkic in the north gradually decreased because of its internal division. The Tang Dynasty directly opened up the road to the western regions according to the victory against the East Turkic. The establishment of Yi State, Xi State and An’xi Western Protectorate initially laid the garrison basics of Tang Dynasty in the region around Tarim. In634, the conflict between Tang Dynasty and Tubo broken out, then the Tubo gradually became the biggest threat to the Tang Dynasty from the West and north of the border. The region around Tarim was extremely important for both the Tang Dynasty and Tubo. Since the middle of 7 century, the Tang Dynasty and Tubo fighted for the region around Tarim in a long time, so the four garrison commands of An’xi established and abolished alternately. In 692, while Wang Xiaojie recovered the four garrison commands, the Tang Dynasty strengthen the defence in the region around Tarim. Then, in nearly a century of time, the An’xi Western Protectorate and the four garrison commands of An’xi had never stopped, which periodly achieved the purpose: “cutting the left arm of Tubo”.The military deployment system of Tang Dynasty in the region around Tarim was reasonable. On one hand, Xi State, located in the eastern, was the rear base of garrison strategic in the region around Tarim.There were so many military towns, posts, beacon towers widely istributed, which indicated the convenient traffic in the region. In addition, the manpower resources was adequate and the cultivation was widely distributed. On the other hand, in the region around Tarim, including An’xi Western Protectorate and parts of Sha State, there were large military towns widely distributed. The tubo must pass through the region around Tarim if they wanted to go north, so the Tang Dynasty set many military towns here, including the four garrison commands of An’xi. Obviously, the region around Tarim had become the front where the Tang Dynasty could curb the aggression of Tubo and prevent the union between Tubo and Turk.The garrison pattern of The Tang Dynasty in the region around Tarim has practical significance for the governance in Xinjiang. In the new period, the stability of southern Xinjiang has become the most important, thus the sufficient armed force is an important guarantee of the stability in southern Xinjiang. At the same time, practice has proved that the Xinjiang production and Construction Corps can effectively deal with the new characteristics of the separation and violence fear events, which play an important role in promoting long-term stability of Xinjiang. Therefore, we should continue the policy of developing the Xinjiang production and Construction Corps, and make it fully effective in promoting stability and garrisons. Specifically, we should further improve the layout of the Corps, strengthen the armed force, and speed up the urbanization of the Corps in the south Xinjiang.