Campaigners › Frontier Generals
Geshu Han
Tang general of Turgesh Geshu descent under Emperor Xuanzong who governed Longyou and Hexi, took the Tibetan fortress of Shibao and was made Prince of Xiping; defeated at Tongguan in the An Lushan Rebellion, he was captured and later killed by the rebels.
On a desert ridge, a rammed-earth watchtower and a long wall run across sand and rock toward the distance; a sentry stands on the tower with his back turned, smoke rises from a far beacon tower, and a small camel caravan crosses the sand at the right.
Also known as Xiping Junwang · Duke of Liang · Shi Wumin
Geshu Han, descended from the Geshu tribe of the Turgesh, was a leading general under Emperor Xuanzong of Tang; his father Daoyuan was deputy protector-general of Anxi, where the family lived. He served as military governor of Longyou and Hexi and was made Duke of Liang and then Prince of Xiping. In 749 he led the armies that stormed the Tibetan fortress of Shibao, and the frontier ballad Geshu Ge, 'The Dipper hangs high, Geshu carries his sword by night', celebrates his guard of the border. When the An Lushan Rebellion broke out he was ordered to hold Tongguan in 756; forced to give battle outside the pass, he was routed, handed over to An Lushan by his own officer Huoba Guiren, and killed by the rebels in 757. He was posthumously named Grand Commandant with the posthumous name Wumin. His biographies are in both Tang histories.
Life and times
- UnknownBorn
Tang - 749Geshu Han Takes Shibao Fortress
In 749 Geshu Han, on Xuanzong's orders, took the Tibetan-held Shibao Fortress with over 60,000 men, capturing 400 defenders at the cost of tens of thousands of Tang dead. - 757 CEDied
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