Page:History of India Vol 2.djvu/367

INDIA, CHINA, AND TURKESTAN 323 The work of subduing the Turks, begun by the Emperor Tai-tsong, was continued by his successor, Kao-tsong (650-83), and, by the year 659, China was nominally mistress of the entire territory of the Western Turks, which was then formally annexed. In 661-5 China enjoyed unparalleled prestige, and had reached a height of glory never again attained. Kapisa was a province of the empire, and the imperial retinue in- cluded ambassadors from Udyana, or the Suwat valley, and from all the countries extending from Persia to Korea. But this magnificent extension of the empire did not last long. A terrible defeat inflicted by the Tibetans in 670 deprived China of Kashgaria, or the " Four Garrisons," which remained in the hands of the victors until 692 A. D., when the province was recovered by the Chinese. Between 682 and 691 the Northern Turks had re- gained a good deal of the power which had been shat- tered by the defeat of 630, and even exercised a certain amount of control over the western tribes. But internal dissension was at all times the bane of the Central Asian nations, and the Chinese well knew how to take advantage of the national failing. They intervened in the tribal quarrels, with the support of the Uigurs and Karluks, with such effect that in 744 the Uigurs estab- lished themselves on the Orkhon in the eastern part of the Turkish territory, while on the west the Kar- luks gradually occupied the country of the Ten Tribes, and took possession of Tokmak and Talas, the former residences of the Turkish chiefs.