Narsieh

Narsieh (Middle Persian: 𐭭𐭥𐭮𐭧𐭩 Narseh; simplified Chinese: 泥涅师; traditional Chinese: 泥涅師; pinyin: Nìnièshī) was a Persian general who fled to the Tang dynasty with his father, Peroz III, son of Yazdegerd III, the last Sasanian emperor of Persia, after the Muslim conquest of Persia. He was escorted back to Persia with a Chinese army led by Pei Xingjian in 679, in order to restore him to the Sasanian throne. Pei's primary objective, however, was to vanquish an insurgency led by Khan claimant Ashina Duzhi of a Tang protectorate, the Western Turkic Khaganate; the army stopped in Tokharistan after Pei Xingjian defeated the Turks. Concerned by the long route to Persia, Pei lost his interest in reinstalling Narsieh as the Persian king and left him in the Anxi Protectorate alone, although Narsieh was able to keep his many servants and a high quality of life. Minor Turkic chieftains in the region then pledged their loyalty to the Tang dynasty due to the defeat of Ashina. The overall result of Pei's expedition was a success for the Tang. Upon returning to China, Pei was appointed the minister of rituals and Great General of the Right Flank Guards. Narsieh then spent the next twenty years fighting the Arabs in Tokharistan until he returned to the Tang capital of Chang'an in 707, where he lived out the remainder of his life before dying from disease at some point after 708/709.