The Battle of the Defile (731 AD, 109 AH) was a military engagement between forces of the Umayyad Caliphate, led by the governor of Khorasan, and forces of the Turgesh Khaganate, led by the warlord Suluk, who had, since ten years earlier, been raiding and ravaging Transoxiana after kicking the Muslims out. The battle was a pyrrhic Muslim victory, preserving the Caliphate's border at the Oxus. Suluk was apparently killed a few years later, and the Turgesh Khaganate collapsed, becoming a political flashpoint in the Muslim-Tang Chinese contention for influence over Central Asia (which, as we all know, culminated in the Battle of Talas in 751).
But what if the Turgesh forces had managed to win the battle, coupled with more favourable events such as less internecine warfare that IOTL led to the death of Suluk?
Could the Turgesh execute raids into Khorasan? If things go smoothly, could we even see a Turgesh conquest of the province? How does this affect the instability of the late Umayyad Caliphate?
If the Turgesh Khaganate wards off Muslim incursions into its sphere of influence, could it end up growing to the point of becoming a threat to Tang China's western territories?
But what if the Turgesh forces had managed to win the battle, coupled with more favourable events such as less internecine warfare that IOTL led to the death of Suluk?
Could the Turgesh execute raids into Khorasan? If things go smoothly, could we even see a Turgesh conquest of the province? How does this affect the instability of the late Umayyad Caliphate?
If the Turgesh Khaganate wards off Muslim incursions into its sphere of influence, could it end up growing to the point of becoming a threat to Tang China's western territories?
