Anbei Protectorate

The Anbei protectorate was the Tang office for the steppe north of the desert. Its name means the Pacified North. It belongs to the end of a line of northern offices: the Yanran protectorate of 647, the Hanhai protectorate of 663 and, by one modern account, the Anbei protectorate of the later seventh century.^[1]

Yanran, 647

In 647 the Uyghurs and the other Tiele tribes submitted, and the Tang gave their chiefs governorships. In the fourth month the court set up the Yanran protectorate over six governor-generalcies, Hanhai among them, and seven prefectures. Li Suli became its protector.^[2] The Xin Tang Shu places the protectorate at the old chanyu terrace.^[3] Li Suli treated the tribes with good faith. They offered horses and cattle, and he accepted a single cup of their wine and returned the rest.^[4] The year of the protectorate is the year of the banquet of the Wine Fountain.^[4]

Hanhai, 650 and 663

After the capture of Chebi Khan in 650 the Tang set up a second Hanhai protectorate beside the Shanyu protectorate. It had seven governor-generalcies and eight prefectures.^[5]

The Tang Huiyao says that in the second month of 663 the Yanran protectorate was moved to the camp of the Uyghurs and renamed Hanhai. The old Hanhai protectorate was moved to the ancient town of Yunzhong.^[6] The Xin Tang Shu dates the renaming to the first years of Linde, 664 to 665. It adds that the barbarian prefectures north of the desert belonged to Hanhai and those south of it to Yunzhong.^[7]

Anbei

One modern note says that the Yanran protectorate became the Hanhai protectorate in 663, was renamed Anbei in 669 and took the name Zhenbei in 756.^[1]

The title Grand Protector of Anbei appears in the histories around 700. When Qapghan raided the state herds of Longyou and drove off more than ten thousand horses, the court named Li Dan, Prince Xiang, Grand Protector of Anbei and marshal of the army. The raiders withdrew before the army marched.^[8] In the years before 714 Wang Jun held the office together with the deputy command of the army of Shuofang.^[9]

A memorial of 845 states that the Shanyu command became the Anbei protectorate in the first year of Shengli, 698, and became the Shanyu protectorate again in the eighth year of Kaiyuan, 720. It adds that the Anbei protectorate had originally stood at Tiande, and that from the twentieth year of Zhenguan it was moved to Ganzhou and shifted from place to place.^[10] In 845 an edict renamed the Shanyu protectorate Anbei once more.^[10] The sources used here do not fix the seat of the Anbei protectorate.