Chapter 18 3. Tubo righteousness

In the second year of Gaochang's subjugation, Princess Wencheng walked into the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is the roof of the world with an average altitude of more than 4,000 meters, and it is also a mysterious world that is out of reach in the eyes of the world.There, the Himalayas stand tall, the Yarlung Zangbo is galloping, and the waters of Namtso and Yamdrok Lakes are clear.When Gesang flowers bloomed all over the mountains and plains, a nation and dynasty flourished in the Yalong Valley. Their name is Tubo (pronounced Rubo). The establishment of the Tubo Dynasty was about the same time as Li Tang.At the beginning of the seventh century AD, the founders of the dynasty subdued the ancient Qiang people's Subi (Vidu Rupi, Subi is in the north of Tibet and the southwest of Qinghai Province) and Yangtong (that is, Zhang Zhung, in the north of Tibet today) by force. tribes, and moved their capital to Luoxie (now Lhasa, Tibet).A magical kingdom has since stood on the snowy plateau.

The person who moved the capital was Songtsen Gampo. Songtsan Gampo's identity is Zanpu, the king of Tubo.In the Tubo language, Zan means strong, Pu means man, Ganbu means deep, and Songzan is his own name.Therefore, the title Songtsan Gampo Tsampo translates as: deep Songtsan, a strong man, the king of the Tubo people. This is the real creator of Tubo history.In fact, before him, I am afraid that very few people knew the existence of this nation.Yes, the sturdy Turks, the elegant Kucha, the nearby Goryeo, and the distant Persia all attract the attention and attention of China.Tibet?Sorry, unheard of that.

However, Songtsan Gampo soon caught the world's attention. Things were sparked by a marriage proposal.We know that from Han Gaozu, the Chinese Empire had a tradition of "marriage" and Tang Taizong vigorously promoted this policy after he came to the throne. Prince Ashinasheer married Li Shimin's imperial sister.When Songtsan Gampo heard about this kind of thing, he thought that he should also share the honor. Unfortunately, Emperor Taizong underestimated the fighting power and aggressiveness of Tubo.He hastily rejected Songtsen Gampo's request and made Tsampo's emissaries think he was being slighted.The deep Songzan decided to give Datang a little color, but his front was directed at Tuyuhun (Gu read as you want).

This incident is very meaningful. Tuyuhun is the regime of the Murong tribe of Xianbei, located in today's Qinghai, Gannan and northern Sichuan, and was founded in the Western Jin Dynasty.After the founding of Tuyuhun, although the land of China suffered years of wars, the kingdom was far away from the center of the storm and survived in the cracks of various powerful forces until the Zhenguan period of the Tang Dynasty. Then, why did Songtsan Gampo fight Tuyuhun? The apparent reason was the words of the Tubo envoy.After the envoy returned to Lhasa, he cried to Songtsan Gampo: The courtiers of the Tang Dynasty were treated with great courtesy.However, as soon as the mission from Tuyuhun arrived, the treatment changed immediately, and the promised marriage fell through.

But is it really that simple? of course not. Just look at the schedule.It was in the 11th or 12th year of Zhenguan that Tubo sent troops to Tuyuhun.In the previous ninth year of Zhenguan (635), Datang had already turned Tuyuhun into a puppet under his control through war.Therefore, Tubo sent troops this time not only to squeeze persimmons, but also to beat dogs for the owner to see. More importantly, the main road leading from the Qaidam Basin to the Western Regions is in the territory of Tuyuhun, which even the Tang Dynasty has coveted for a long time, not to mention that there are many Tibetans under the rule of Tuyuhun.Therefore, sooner or later, Tubo will make a move.They finally perished in Tuyuhun in 663 AD, which is the proof.This time, it was just a small test.

Such killing three birds with one stone, this Zanpu is really deep. Tuyuhun, who had long been a vassal of the Tang Dynasty, was no match for Tubo at all, so he had to flee to the north of Qinghai in embarrassment.However, Songtsan Gampo was on the rise, and took the sheep and conquered the two Qiang tribes next to Tuyuhun-Dangxiang and Bailan. Unfortunately, Datang seems to have not yet awakened. The future son-in-law had to declare war on his prospective father-in-law.In July of the twelfth year of Zhenguan (638), Songtsan Gampo led an army of 200,000 troops to station Songzhou in the border town of Datang (approximately in today's Aba Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan), and threatened to come to marry the princess.The suitor even declared that if he could not see the princess, he would have to march on with a heavy dowry to show his sincerity.

Now it was Tang Taizong's turn to be surprised, and he paid a heavy price to drive Songtsen Gampo out of the border.However, the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty was also soberly aware that this terrible neighbor must not be underestimated.Therefore, when Songtsan Gampo proposed again, Tang Taizong immediately agreed, even though he did not marry his own daughter. The profound Songtsan also gave Taizong enough face.He sent his right-hand assistant, Prime Minister Lu Dongzan (Gar Dongzan) to Chang'an to express his admiration for Princess Datang with huge sums of money and generous gifts.The shrewd and capable Lu Dongzan did not disgrace his mission, and negotiated with the emperor and ministers of the empire neither humble nor overbearing.As a result, Emperor Taizong looked at him differently and hoped that the envoy would marry a girl from the royal family.

Lu Dongzan politely declined His Majesty's offer of "buy one get one free".He replied: "I already have a wife in the country. How can I abandon the one my parents hired?"What's more, Zanpu hasn't seen the princess yet, so how dare the attendants take the first step? The emperor was greatly praised when he heard the words, and at the same time he strengthened his determination to win over.So Tang Taizong ignored it and forcibly married his sister's granddaughter to Lu Dongzan.This is probably without precedent in the history of imperial marriage. It is of course no problem to agree to Songtsen Gampo's marriage.

In the first month of the fifteenth year of Zhenguan (641), Princess Wencheng entered Tibet. The wedding was grand and pompous.The Tang Dynasty sent a prince who served as the Minister of Rites to escort the princess and preside over the wedding ceremony; Songtsan Gampo came from Lhasa to today's Qinghai Province, and greeted His Royal Highness in the old place of Tuyuhun, which was annexed by them.He even built a special palace for Princess Wencheng in Lhasa, and he took off his Tibetan robe and put on a Tang suit, looking like a good son-in-law of the Tang emperor. It now appears that the money was well spent.

In fact, the marriage between Datang and Tubo won peace for the people of the two places for at least 20 years, and the two monarchs were able to work on their own.Emperor Taizong successfully curbed the invasion of the Western Turks and brought the countries of the Western Regions into his pocket; Songtsen Gampo made his expansion and conquest to the extreme, and lost no time in teaching the Indians. More importantly, cultural exchange. According to records, when Princess Wencheng entered Tibet, she not only had Sakyamuni Buddha statues and rare treasures, clothing and furniture, cooking ingredients, etc. , doctors, and engineering technicians are simply huge cultural delegations and poverty alleviation task forces.

Songtsan Gampo also sent overseas students to the Tang Dynasty, most of whom were members of the Tubo royal family and children of wealthy chieftains.However, the deep Zanpu did not hang himself on the tree of Datang, but kept a balance with all aspects.He married a princess from Nepal and imported culture from India.Moreover, it was also in the era of Songtsen Gampo that this intelligent nation created its own characters. Tubo rose peacefully, although at the same time it was accompanied by force. There is no doubt that everything has two sides, and the prosperity of neighbors may not always be a blessing to Datang.In fact, Tubo's successors were not as easy to talk to as Songtsan Gampo.In the first year of Emperor Gaozong Xianheng of Tang Dynasty (670), Tubo and Western Turks joined forces to attack Tang Dynasty, and captured Khotan, Shule and Qiuci successively. As a result, the four towns of Anxi were abolished, and the property created by Emperor Taizong was wiped out. After Tubo succeeded, he didn't stop there.On the contrary, during the Anshi Rebellion, they took advantage of the momentum to occupy Chang'an in the first year of Zong Guangde (763) of the Tang Dynasty, and took the Longyou and Hexi areas in Gansu as their own.Afterwards, they also occupied strategic places such as Turpan, and placed Dunhuang under their rule for sixty years. The rise of Tubo has finally become a headache. As a result, there were two alliances between the Tang Dynasty and Tubo, and the Peace Monument written in both Chinese and Tibetan languages ​​still stands in Lhasa.It's just that at this time, both Tang and Tibet have begun to decline.By the middle of the 9th century AD, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty was finally reduced to a puppet in the hands of eunuchs, while the Tubo Dynasty was torn apart and completely collapsed amid civil strife, and the prosperity of the past had all become fond memories. The Gesang flower has withered, although it will still bloom.

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Notes: Volume one hundred and ninety-five, one hundred and ninety-six.Please also refer to Cui Ruide's "Cambridge History of China's Sui and Tang Dynasties", (US) Bai Guisi's "Tubo in Central Asia: History of Tubo, Turkic, Dashi, and Tang Dynasty Competition in the Early Middle Ages", and Kiga Ze Yasuki's "Glorious World Empire: Sui and Tang Dynasties".