Chapter 57 148 Princess Wencheng enters Tibet

After Tang Taizong destroyed the Eastern Turks, he sent Li Jing to defeat the Tuyuhun (one of the ancient ethnic groups in our country, in today's Qinghai Province, Guyinyu) in the southwest, and opened up the passage to the Western Regions.Countries in the Western Regions communicated with the Tang Dynasty one after another, and Tubo (the regime established by the Tibetans in ancient China on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in ancient my country, the sound of Bo) in the far southwest also sent envoys. At that time, Tubo Zanpu (the title of the Tubo king) was named Songtsan Gampo, and he was a talented man capable of writing and martial arts.When he was thirteen years old, he was proficient in various martial arts such as horse riding, archery, and fencing. He also loved folk songs and was good at writing poems, so he was loved by the Tubo people.After his father died, the Tubo nobles launched a rebellion, and Songtsen Gampo quickly put down the rebellion by virtue of his bravery and wisdom.

The young Songtsan Gampo was not satisfied with the aristocratic life in Tubo. In order to learn the culture of the Tang Dynasty, he sent envoys to travel long distances to Chang'an to request the establishment of friendly relations with the Tang Dynasty. Tang Taizong also heard about Tubo's reputation and was willing to make friends with them. He also sent envoys to Tubo to pay a return visit. Two years later, Songtsan Gampo sent envoys to Chang'an to ask the Tang Dynasty for marriage, but Emperor Taizong did not agree.The Tubo envoy was afraid that Songtsan would reprimand him for not being able to do things. After returning to Tubo, he lied to Songtsan and said, "Tang Tianzi is about to agree to marry the princess to us, because the king of Tuyuhun also went to ask for marriage, so he delayed our marriage proposal." gone."

Tubo and Tuyuhun were already at war, and Songtsan Gampo resented Tuyuhun even more after hearing the envoy's report.He immediately dispatched 200,000 troops to attack Tuyuhun.King Tuyuhun saw that the Tubo army was attacking fiercely and could not resist, so he retreated to the area around the sea. Songtsan Gampo defeated Tuyuhun, took advantage of the victory and went to Songzhou (now Songpan, Sichuan) in the Tang Dynasty, and won another big victory.Songtsan Gampo became proud, and sent someone to threaten Tang Chao: "If you don't marry the princess to me, I will lead my troops to fight to Chang'an."

Tang Taizong became angry and sent general Hou Junji to lead troops to fight back against Tubo.The Tubo soldiers were originally unwilling to provoke Songtsen Gampo to war with the Tang Dynasty, but when they saw the Tang Dynasty sending a large army, they all demanded to retreat.Seeing that Songtsen Gampo would continue to work recklessly and was about to fail, he asked the Tang Dynasty for peace. Tang Taizong originally wanted to be friendly with Tubo, so he agreed to make peace. In 640 A.D., Songtsan Gampo sent another capable envoy, Lu Dongzan, with a team of 100 envoys, and prepared generous gifts of 5,000 taels of gold and many treasures to Chang'an to propose marriage.

Tang Taizong received Lu Dongzan.Lu Dongzan conveyed their young king's wish to be friendly with the Tang Dynasty, and he spoke eloquently.Tang Taizong was very satisfied, so he chose a beautiful and gentle daughter from the royal family, named her Princess Wencheng, and promised her to marry Songtsen Gampo. It is said that the envoy Lu Dongzan was a very clever man.Later, among the people on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, there was a moving story of "the envoy of the five difficult marriage proposals": When Lu Dongzan was seeking marriage in Chang'an, many envoys from various countries came to propose marriage.Tang Taizong issued an order to ask the envoys who came to ask for marriage to answer five difficult problems first.If the envoy of any country can answer the question, he will agree to make peace with that country.

The first question is to pass a very thin silk thread through a pearl with nine curved channels.Lu Dongzan tied the silk thread around the waist of an ant.The ants carried the silk thread and crawled through the nine-curved tunnel of the pearl, and the silk thread was brought over. The second problem is to put one hundred mares and one hundred foals together and ask to identify which foal was born by which mare.Lu Dongzan separated the mare and foal for a day, and cut off the foal's feed and water.The next day, put them together again.The famished foals ran to their mothers to nurse.Their mother-child relationship is also recognized.

Lu Dongzan passed one test after another, and the last one was to find out who was Princess Wencheng among 2,500 beautiful young women.With his keen eyesight, Lu Dongzan immediately recognized the graceful princess. These legends are unlikely to be true, but they reflect the Tibetan people's wish for friendship with Tang and Tibet and the praise of the envoy who completed this mission. In 641 AD, the 24-year-old Princess Wencheng set off for Tubo under the escort of Jiangxia King Li Daozong.The Tang court prepared a very rich dowry for the princess.Gold, silver, jewellery, silk and satin are of course indispensable. In addition, there are many grains, fruits, vegetable seeds, medicinal materials, and silkworm eggs that are not available in Tubo.She also brought a large number of books on medicine, tree planting, engineering technology, astronomy and calendar.

The news of Princess Wencheng's marriage spread to Tubo. From the border of the Tang Dynasty to Tubo, people prepared horses, yaks, boats, and food along the way to pick up Princess Wencheng.Songtsen Gampo personally rushed from Luoxie (now Lhasa, Tibet) to Bohai (now Ering Lake or Zhaling Lake, Qinghai) to meet him.Songtsan Gampo and Princess Wencheng held a grand wedding there. After the wedding, Songtsan Gampo and Princess Wencheng crossed the snow-capped mountains and plateaus to Luoxie City.On the day when the princess entered the city, some people lined the streets with songs and dances as if celebrating a grand festival.Songtsan Gampo still built a city palace specially for the princess according to the architectural format of the Tang Dynasty for the princess to live in.

Princess Wencheng has lived in Tubo for 40 years, and she has contributed to the friendly relations between the Han and Tibetan people and the development of Tibetan economy and culture.Until now, statues of Songtsen Gampo and Princess Wencheng are enshrined in the Jokhang Temple and Potala Palace in Tibet.In 650 AD, Songtsen Gampo died.Tang Taizong also died of illness the year before, and he was replaced by Prince Li Zhi, who was Tang Gaozong.