Although Tibetan forces were fighting the Chinese between 799 and 803, with battles in Yanzhou (鹽州, present day
Yanchi County,
Ningxia), Lingzhou (麟州,
Zoigê County,
Sichuan), Weizhou (維州,
Li County, Sichuan), Yazhou (雅州,
Ya'an, Sichuan) and Suizhou (巂州,
Xichang, Sichuan), envoys began travelling regularly from 804 onwards between Lhasa and Chang'an, although no formal treaty was signed. When
Emperor Dezong died in 805,
Ralpacan sent gifts of gold, silver, cloth, oxen and horses for the funeral. The Tibetan army continued to attack the Arabs to the west and, according to
al-Ya'qubi, they besieged
Samarkand, the capital of
Transoxiana at the time. Finally, the Tibetan governor of Turkestan presented a statue made of gold and precious stones to the Arab
Caliph al-Ma'mun (r. 813–833). This statue was later sent to the
Ka'ba in
Mecca. ==Death and succession==