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Though China will only ever directly confront the armies of Islam once, and lose for that matter.

The mash nations of those great empires of the West will influence, both directly and indirectly,

the Middle Kingdom and the centuries and millennia to come.

So I invite you to join Elias Bel-Hedad in the history of Islam as he covers the inception

of it in the sands of Arabia to its expansion as the global faith it is today.

That is the history of Islam, part of the Agora Podcast Network.

And now enjoy the show.

Hello and welcome to the history of China.

Episode 112, Make Tong great again.

We finished out last time with the double death of the ancient Emperor Dudzon of Tong, as well as his paralyzed mute heir, Shunzon, who, in the six months or so that he sat on the throne

before dying and or being murdered, just managed to successfully appoint his own heir

before kicking off.

Thus on September 5th of 805, Dazong's 27-year-old grandson, Lou Chun, would inherit the throne

of the Tong Empire as Emperor Shienansong, his temple name meaning constitutional ancestor.

And assuming you're not just tuning in for the first time, you'll understand what a dubious

inheritance that was.

Tong China, let's face it, had seen better days.

Now I've been spending a goodly portion of the last

oh dozen or so episodes pounding in exactly what had been causing that and

I assure you we will do a little bit more of that pounding in again today.

But in brief the two biggest culprits had been, first, the economic gears of empire grinding to a screeching halt

...