In a passage in the Chiu T’ang Shu, chap. 195, reporting on Tibetan occupation of Beshbalygh (Pei-ting tu-hu fu) that took place in 790, it is said that the people of the city were ruthlessly exploited by the “Tibetans” (吐蕃), the word which has been emended to “Uyghurs” (廻紇) in the Palace edition, obviously on the basis of its context. Despite Ecsedy’s proposal to read “Tibetans” as in the text of the Po-na edition, “Uyghurs” is definitely a better reading, when the Uyghur-Tibetan contest over Beshbalygh and its outcome are taken into consideration. Four Uyghur, one Arabian and one Chinese sources, on analysis, lead us to the following conclusions regarding the fate of Beshbalygh and the subsequent situation in Central Asia: The contest over the city, the initial Tibetan victory notwithstanding, turned out finally in favor of the Uyghurs. Nor did the Uyghur power gradually decline thereafter; on the contrary, they extended considerable influence over Central Asia, the northern and eastern parts of the T’ien Shan Mountains at least, politically, religiously and, through their control of the Manichaean Sogdians, economically as well. The Kansu Corridor and the southeastern fringes of the Tarim Basin, in the meanwhile remained in the Tibetan hands.
