The Glory of the Tang Dynasty by Li Shimin

The establishment of the Anxi Protectorate was of cross-epochal significance. It existed for about two hundred years and played an extremely important role in handling affairs in the Western Regions. In the later period, the Tang Dynasty had no time to go west due to the Anshi Rebellion. The Anxi Protectorate changed hands several times. Hundreds of thousands of troops from the Tubo Uighurs besieged the city. The famous general Guo Xin led the Anxi army to resist desperately. At this time, the imperial court was no longer able to provide support. They even believed that the Western Region had already fallen. After half a century of resistance, the Anxi Army defending the city had turned from high-spirited teenagers into gray-haired old men. However, as long as they heard the sound of the war drums, they would stand firm and fight to the death to kill the enemy. Just for the final glory of the Tang Dynasty, when the food ran out, they ate war horses, and when the war horses ran out, they ate the corpses of enemy soldiers. They seriously ate the meat of Huns when they were hungry, and drank the blood of Huns when they were thirsty. He wrote a magnificent song in which Anxi alone defends the soul of the Tang Dynasty.