WI: Narsieh forms an Sasanian-Rumpstate in Tokharistan against the Arabs, under Tang protection.

[GameBawesome]

In the 7th Century, Narsieh, son of Peroz III, and the grandson of Yazdegerd III, the last Sasanian Shah.

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, but the army stopped in Tokharistan. Pei Xingjian fought mostly with the Western Turks, but Pei then lost his interests in reinstalling the Persian King and left Narsieh in the Anxi Protectorate alone, although Narsieh was still able to maintain his many servants and a high quality of life.

Narsieh then spent the next twenty years fighting the Arabs in Tokharistan until he returned to the Tang China capital of Chang'an in 707, where he lived out the remainder of his life before dying from disease, never restoring the Sasanian Dynasty

What if, Pei Xingjian put more effort into restoring the Sasanian Dynasty? Instead, what if Narsieh sets up a Sassanid Rumpstate in Tokharistan, that is a protectorate of the Tang Chinese, that set up to fight against the Arabs?

 

[Abulabbas]

A very interesting scenario, but I believe that - ultimately - not much would change. The Sasanian rump state would probably suffer an existence similar to that of Trebizond and the other Byzantine remnants—a curiosity that leaves little impact on the wider current of history. The Muslims would conquer the region sooner or later, and the House of Sassan would thus be consigned to oblivion.