Chapter 33 Chapter Thirty-Three Songtsan Gampo Sends Envoy Chang'an Princess Wencheng to Marry Lhasa

Songtsan Gampo's marriage proposal was not as friendly as people imagined, and conveyed infinite goodwill. He already has a wife. A few years ago, relying on his outstanding ability, he fought north and south, and soon threatened Nibhara (ancient transliteration, which is modern Nepal).King Nivalo was probably very afraid of this god of war from the north of the Himalayas, so he handed over his daughter Princess Chizun as a gift. So, before that, Songtsan Gampo already had a wife. When Chizun came to Tubo, he brought some craftsmen and a life-like eight-year-old statue of Sakyamuni. Songtsan Gampo welcomed Princess Chizun and continued to fight, making great achievements.Now, the arrival of Datang's envoy made him have fantasies.First, if you propose marriage rashly, you can see if Li Shimin is afraid of Tubo; second, first stabilize the Tang Dynasty's position, and strive to develop other places, and then attack aggressively when the strength is sufficient.

But Li Shimin's attitude caused quite a stir. Li Shimin explained to the envoy: "Old Fuyun told me about Tubo at the beginning, the altitude is too high there, and people from the Central Plains will be tanned as black when they go there." The Tubo envoy, who had been slack for a while, returned to Lhasa and told Songtsan Gampo the whole story.The specific process of the envoy’s report is as follows, “We have just arrived in Chang’an, Tian Khan treated people well, and promised to betroth the princess of the Tang Dynasty to you, but the envoys from Tuyuhun just arrived, and they spoke ill of us every day. The Tang Dynasty treated us well. Our attitude is getting worse and worse, and we haven’t mentioned the marriage since then.”

Ganbu was furious when he heard the words, and led the army to go north, beat Tuyuhun to the ground, and took away many people and animals. He didn't stop doing two things, taking advantage of his morale, he went all the way to kill Dangxiang and Bailan Zhuqiang, the purpose was to let the future father-in-law see how capable he is. Ganbu was really capable, and he fought for a thousand miles in one breath, forcing him all the way to the west of Songzhou. Just after Tuyuhun was restored to the country, more than half of it was bitten off by Tubo, and many cities on the border of the Tang Dynasty fell. The lesson is really painful.

Songzhou, Songpan, Sichuan, is located in the center of northern Sichuan Province. It is known as the "Gateway of Western Sichuan" and has always been a battleground for military strategists. Ganbu went to the west of Songzhou. Seeing that there was not enough manpower, he ordered the whole country to come. A few days later, a combined army of 200,000 troops was stationed here.An army of 200,000 is not a small number in any era.Comrade Gambo has had enough of flaunting his might, but give some gifts to the future father-in-law to show that his heart of marrying the princess of the Tang Dynasty has never changed.He sent envoys through Songzhou, all the way to Chang'an, with gold and silver treasures.

Ganbu waited patiently for Li Shimin's reply. After waiting for about a long time, not only did he not see the envoys from the Tang Dynasty, but even the envoys he sent did not know where they died. Ganbu is young and energetic, ready to kill Songzhou. The facts tell Songtsan Gampo that his arrogant emissary never arrived in Chang'an, but was detained by Songzhou officials as soon as he arrived in Songzhou. He was so stupid to wait for such a long time. The next day, 200,000 troops launched a crazy attack on Songzhou. The one who came to fight was Han Wei, governor of Songzhou. Before that, the Tang Dynasty had never fought against Tubo, and they would not understand how cruel a Tubo, which advocated the expansion of force, would be in war.When the 200,000 troops lined up neatly at the gate of Songzhou, Han Wei was shocked, and all the soldiers of Datang were also shocked.

What kind of people is that? Wearing armor, the whole body is protected, and even the face is covered, only a pair of black eyes are exposed. What's more frightening is that the Tubo people are really not afraid of death. They are fierce and warlike since childhood, and they must put the enemy to death.Facing such a group of iron cavalry galloping forward, although Han Wei could see the disorder, he was helpless. An ordinary person could not defeat a desperate person. The ferocity of Tubo left a deep impression on him.Han Wei underestimated the enemy too much, he only had a few thousand men.

The outcome was soon decided, Han Wei came back in a big defeat, and Tubo won again. The messenger once again brought Ganbu's letter: "When I come here, I am the princess. If the princess doesn't come, I will go deep and enter Chang'an." This is a naked threat! Since Li Shimin came to the throne, no one in the west dared to threaten him like this.Li Shimin was furious, very angry.At this time, there were still people pouring fuel on him to heat him up. They were Bie Cong Woshi, the governor of Yanzhou, and Paris, the governor of Nuozhou. Seeing that the situation was not good, the two led Quanzhou to rebel against the Tang Dynasty.

Officials of the Tang Dynasty in the two prefectures, including Qiang officials, tried their best to dissuade the two governors from rebelling against the Tang Dynasty. They do not want to have conflicts with the Tang Dynasty. Besides them, there is another group of people who do not want Tubo and the Tang Dynasty to fight. They are Tubo's Shang, that is, Tubo's ministers.The priests hope that Songtsen Gampo will understand the situation clearly and not provoke a war between the two countries, but they don't know whether Comrade Gambo is for women or to show off his might, so they just don't listen.The monks advocated death remonstrance, but Ganbu refused to listen, and simply hanged himself.

Ganbu cried a lot, ready to continue fighting. To the west of Songzhou, the 200,000 troops are still preparing for the next round of attacks. In the twelfth year of Zhenguan (638), on August 27th, the autumn was crisp, and Hou Junji (who was not dead at that time) became the head of the Dangmitao marching army and set off first. Two days later, the right-leading general Zhi Sisili was in charge of the Bai Lan Dao march, the left Wuwei general Niu Jinda was in charge of the Kuoshuidao march, and the right-leading general Liu Jian was in charge of the Taohe march. Songzhou City. Li Shimin didn't have many troops for Hou Junji, 50,000 people in total.

The murderous Datang Xuanjia rushed towards the Songzhou battlefield with billowing smoke and dust. Songtsan Gampo won successive victories, the army rested and waited quietly for the news of Li Shimin's permission to marry him. The envoy he was looking forward to did not come, but Niu Jinda, the head of the Kuoshuidao march. Prior to this, Ganbu had been wondering that when Tuyuhun was fought, the people there were herding sheep and cattle, and the army also ran away when they saw the Tubo elite. But when they reached Songzhou, although the governor of Songzhou returned in a disastrous defeat, the morale in the city remained undiminished.What's even worse is that the people of Songzhou also participated in the battle. They waved their flags and shouted. After two months, they ran out of ammunition and food. They killed cattle and sheep to satisfy their hunger.

The Tibetans fought in the Western Regions. The Western Regions are full of nomads. They ride horses and herd sheep, and they run away when they see someone with a knife.But they have never experienced such a disgusting battle in Songzhou City, because Songzhou has a dragon-like city wall.Apart from machetes and bows and arrows, Tubo really doesn't know how to fight the city. There are no siege equipment, no ladders, and they can't even touch the enemy's hair, which makes people very frustrated. Niu Jinda led 5,000 elite soldiers, approached quietly, and stabbed straight into the heart of the Tubo army camp. The Tubo army encountered such a sudden encounter, and the Tubo soldiers who had been fighting on their own were even more confused. They had never seen the weapons Tang soldiers held in their hands, and all kinds of weapons were hard to guard against.Although the Tubo soldiers are brave, it is absolutely impossible to disobey the command in battle. Niu Jinda ran back and forth several times, killing more than a thousand people, beheading more than a thousand people, and then retreated leisurely, withdrew the large army. Comrade Ganbu was stunned. Judging from the situation of several battles, the army of the Tang Dynasty was not so vulnerable (this sentence is "quiet as a virgin, moving like a rabbit"), and it was not as vulnerable as he imagined.Thousands of Tang soldiers have already disturbed the 50,000 troops who went to battle, and they can't find the north. Will they pay back in the future?After this battle, Ganbu analyzed that this was the vanguard of the Tang army, and it was estimated that there must be tens of thousands of people. If the follow-up troops arrive, I can't afford to walk around. Gan Bu finally understood the reason why those educated old men hanged themselves, and Li Shimin really couldn't mess with him. He retreated in a hurry, and went back to the country to stay honest. He immediately announced the withdrawal of troops, asked the envoy to bring a large number of dowries, and went to propose marriage sincerely.The Tang Dynasty somewhat saved some face, but Li Shimin did not want to marry his daughter to Tubo.But Songtsan Gampo wrote a letter apologizing, full of snot and tears, and no longer allowed to marry. If the war is minor, if he keeps fighting against each other, it will be very troublesome for the Tang Dynasty.Li Shimin agreed to Tubo's proposal, but he said that the princess was too sought-after and needed bidding and inspection.The Tubo envoys who came to Chang'an also found that the princess of the Tang Dynasty was indeed too sought-after. It is said that Tian Khan's own daughters were betrothed. The promise was definitely not his own daughter. So everyone began to fight for the daughter of the Li Shimin brothers, who was the daughter of Li Tang's clan.This time the canonized princess is very nice, everyone calls her Wencheng. The envoys from Tianzhu, Dashi, Zhonggesar, Huoer, and Tubo refused to give in to each other, and were determined to win the most beautiful, most touching girl who resembled snow lotus and nectar tea. Sixteen-year-old Wen Cheng gave the Tubo envoy such an impression. Later, Songtsan Gampo learned that Wen Cheng was not only knowledgeable, simple and generous, but also intelligent, virtuous and kind.The Tubo envoys passed five passes, beheaded six generals, and defeated the envoys from Tianzhu and other countries with wisdom, and won the right to propose to Wencheng. In the Jokhang Temple and Potala Palace in Lhasa, the murals of Li Shimin's "Five Trial Marriage Envoys" are still well preserved. It can be seen that there is something wrong. Princess Wencheng went to Tibet, and she brought a huge dowry with her.The grand send-off group headed for Lhasa in a mighty way, stretching for several miles. The car carried not only the twelve-year-old Buddha statue of Sakyamuni (this is very important), treasures, gold and jade bookcases, gold and jade ornaments, but also countless books (three hundred and six volumes of Buddhist classics, three hundred kinds of divination classics, There are 60 kinds of works on Ming Jian, construction, and crafts, 100 kinds of medical works, and 5 kinds of diagnostic works). In addition, Wencheng's family sending group also brought six kinds of medical equipment, as well as various cookable foods, various brocades and quilts with pictures and texts, various grains and turnip seeds. Songtsen Gampo in Lhasa was restless, he couldn't bear the pain of waiting at all. The young monkey was so impatient that he decided to lead all the officials to Bohai (Maduo, Qinghai) to meet his future wife.Comrade Ganbu waited for a huge send-off group, and under the colorful training, he saw a king with extraordinary appearance. "Your Majesty has worked hard, my son-in-law is being polite here." The person opposite Ganbu is Li Daozong, the famous general Jiangxia King. Some people say that he is Wencheng's father.Therefore, Ganbu performed the son-in-law ceremony first. The envoys of the two countries added up, and the battle line was doubled. Under the clear blue sky, the large troops traveled thousands of miles to Lhasa. The procession of seeing off and welcoming the relatives flooded into Lhasa city, where the Tibetan ceremonial team had been waiting for a long time. According to the etiquette of Tubo, when Princess Wencheng married Tubo Zanpu, she should have the etiquette of "Eighteen Talks".However, Comrade Gampo said that he willingly adopts Han etiquette.It's hard to say what Comrade Ganbu wants to do, but what is certain is that he is very envious of Tang Chao's courage.Li Daozong, the officiant, announced the start of the wedding, and the drums and music were played, which was very lively. Songtsen Gampo was finally willing to tell the truth: "My family and my father have never married Shangguo. I am so happy that I married Princess Datang today!" Wen Cheng, who was just 16 years old and young, gave Songtsin Gampo a big surprise. Her hair is like blue silk, her face is like a white egg, and she is dressed like a fairy. She is so beautiful that people are fascinated.Only those who have met Wen Cheng will know the temperament called Wen Shu. Wen Cheng quickly imitated Wang Zhaojun's appearance in an extremely wise way, making Songtsan Gampo change his mind.Gampo even swore that his father-in-law is half his own father, and anyone who has trouble with his own father in the future will have trouble with Songtsen Gampo.After the wedding has been going on for a long time, life returns to calm.However, the life in Tubo gave Wencheng many impulses to change it. She once wondered why Tibetans like to smear red mud on their faces, making them look like tabby cats. Ganbu told her that this is the custom and this is the style. Princess Wencheng: Do you know what love at first sight is? Songtsan Gampo: (staring at Wencheng for ten seconds)...I fell in love with you the moment I saw you.