Chapter 2 narrates the beginning of Gao Pian’s military career on the northwestern frontier. Gao forged his military temperament during twenty years in the harsh and remote environment of the Hexi corridor, a conduit for trade and diplomacy as well as a zone of conflict with competing Inner Asian powers. The chapter opens with a discussion of the imperial “Divine Strategy” or Shence army and its place in Tang border defense policy. Like several of his forebears, Gao entered government service through that army, which was also responsible for the security of the imperial palace. In “Defense Commissioner of Qinzhou,” Gao is invested as a general and placed in charge of recovering Tang frontier prefectures lost to Tibet a century earlier. In “Turning the Tide,” he significantly contributes to containing the Tibetan Empire and renewing Tang’s ascendancy in Inner Asia. “Spirit of the Valley” was the religious epithet of the author of Daoist tales Pei Xing who joined the writers in Gao Pian’s orbit in Gansu and became a lifelong retainer. Under “Palace Politics,” Gao’s growing prominence at court exposes him to the intrigues of inner palace eunuchs.