天寶戰記਀吀栀攀 吀椀愀渀 䈀愀漀 圀愀爀 刀攀挀漀爀搀猀
਀倀爀漀氀漀最甀攀 嬀 輀啞⁞崀
Revision 1 - 11/7/2005਀
It was the 13th year of the Tianbao [ 天寶] era in the 43rd year of the reign of Emperor Xuan Zong [ 玄宗 ] and the empire of the Great Tang [ 大唐 ] had established an advanced and prosperous civilization never before achieved in the entire history of the the Central Plains.  Under the guidance of Emperor Xuan Zong, the empire flourished with immense economic, technical, and military progress.  The great armies of the Tang had realized an empire that stretched far into the western borders of Tubo, north into the vast desert regions of the Tujue peoples, east towards the kingdom of Xinluo, and south towards the tropical kingdom of Nanzhao.  Goods and exotic imports poured in from all the Protectorates of the Great Tang: tea from the southeast became a staple delicacy for the social elite, coal and gunpowder from the far west strengthened the military greatly, and fine cloths and tapestries made their way from the northeast to adorn the luxurious palaces of the government officials.਀
The Great Tang was able to achieve such luxuries because it had successfully pacified the lands and created an era of peace.  Andong [ 安東都護府 ], the Protectorate of the Pacified East, Annan [ 安南都護府 ], the Protectorate of the Pacified South, Anxi [ 安西都護府 ], the Protectorate of the Pacified West, and Anbei [ 安北都護府 ], the Protectorate of the Pacified North served as the focal strongholds of the empire, watching over the four expanses of the Great Tang.  ਀
The seemingly never-ending borders of the empire were tightly secured due in large part to the institution of regional Fanzhen [ 藩鎮 ] fortress-states.  A great portion of the imperial armies lay in the hands of appointed Jiedushi [ 節度使 ] who served as governor-generals of the border regions.  It was because these fortress-states had the autonomy to train and recruit soldiers that the borders of the empire had been secured for so long.  Because they required proper funding to support independent armies, the Jiedushi were given the power to levy taxes on the lands they looked over, in effect turning them into almost independent rulers of smaller kingdoms within the empire.  And thus, most of the power within the empire itself had been dispersed throughout the border fortress-states.਀
In the latter years of the Kaiyuan [ 開元 ] era, under the guidance of Chief Prime Minister Li Linfu, a devout legalist, the Emperor had sought to return power back to the Royal Court and weaken the position of the various Fanzhen fortress-states in an attempt to centralize the power of the Tang once again.  But in the many years following the Tianbao era, the aging Xuan Zong rarely participated in the affairs of ruling the country and left most of the duties to his administration.  Many factions sought to consolidate power for their own selfish reasons, as the Imperial Government of the Great Tang empire slowly deteriorated and spiraled into chaos.਀
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