Princess Wencheng, a woman who was revered by the Tubo people as a "god", her entry into Tibet and her relatives brought great changes to the people of Tubo and the Tang Dynasty, alleviating the contradictions between the two countries.
But we all know that her contribution is great, but we don't know her follow-up, especially her ending. So what will be the outcome of such an outstanding woman, a woman loved by the people of both countries? Is there still a reversal?
and pro premise
As we all know, the women who can be called princesses after the Han Dynasty are the biological daughters of the emperor. However, according to historical records, Princess Wencheng was actually only the daughter of the clan, and her biological father, place of birth and time are not recorded.
According to the history books, she could only be a county lord at most.
In fact, it is also very good to be a county lord, under the open culture of the Tang Dynasty, women have a tasteful life.
Li Bai once wrote a poem in which he accidentally whipped his horse whip into a carriage while out in the spring. Unexpectedly, the lady in the carriage pulled open the curtain and wanted to scold people, only to see the handsome Li Bai, not only not angry, but invited Li Bai to her home as a guest.
This poem is the more famous "Stranger to the Beauty".
Just imagine, ordinary women in the folk already have such a free space for activities, for the princesses and county lords in the clan room, it is even more comfortable, why do you have to marry away to suffer sin?
However, the lively and prosperous Sheng Tang also has its own troubles.
In the eighth year of Zhenguan, Tubo Songzan Gampo sent an emissary to the Tang Dynasty, and the purpose of the emissary's visit was nothing else, that is, to ask the Tang Dynasty to marry a princess.
At that time, the Tang Dynasty was a superpower, and if you could marry a Princess of the Tang Dynasty, it could actually be regarded as an honor and recognition.
According to modern parlance, it is called "weak countries have no diplomacy", so if you can marry a princess from the hands of a strong country, then you must be able to join the ranks of a strong country.
When Li Shimin learned of this, he was furious and immediately refused the request of the Tibetan emissary.
In fact, Songtsen Gampo can blatantly come to propose relatives, not blindly confident. The historical Songtsen Gampo was not an ordinary person, he unified Tibet, established a de facto regime, and developed agriculture, formulated writing, and under his leadership, Tibet gradually became stronger in a short period of time.
Looking at the surrounding countries, except for the powerful Sheng Tang, there is no opponent.
The heroes all have a desire for the approval of others, and although Songtsen Gampo made Tibet a powerful country, it has not been recognized by the Tang Dynasty. It can even be said that he has not yet defeated the Tang Dynasty.
So Songzan Gampo thought of a way to have the best of both worlds, that is, to ask the Tang Dynasty for a princess as his wife, because even Tuguhun, a defeated general, could marry a Tang princess.
If the Tang Dynasty agreed, then even if it approved the Tubo he led, if he did not agree, then he could use this as an excuse to attack the Tang Dynasty to show his strength.
As a result, Li Shimin's answer was right in the middle, and Songzan Gampo immediately arranged all the preparations for the attack on the Tang Dynasty, and finally after finding an excuse 4 years later, he sent an army to Tuguhun and then directly attacked Songzhou (present-day Songpan, Sichuan).
Of course, the slogan of Songzan Gampo was also aggressive, threatening that if the Tang Dynasty did not marry a princess, his army would pierce Songzhou like a sword and then penetrate the heart of the Tang Dynasty.
However, at this time, the Datang Dynasty was full of talents, and it was not as pitiful as in the future. Therefore, Li Shimin sent a strong army to Songzhou to resist Tubo.
Unexpectedly, before the main army of the Tang Dynasty could participate in the battle, the forward troops led by the left general Niu Jinda beat Tubo to the ground and looked for teeth.
Songtsen Gampo was stunned and immediately ordered the withdrawal of his troops.
After that, there was the incident of Songtsen Gampo making atonement for his sins and mentioning his relatives again.
Li Shimin was also annoyed by his harassment, so he casually promoted a princess from within the clan to marry her to Tubo and gave her the title Wencheng.
Who would have thought that such a casual move would benefit the people of the two countries a lot.
The princess's contribution and helplessness
When he entered Tibet and kissed, Wen Cheng was only 17 years old, and he was still a little girl who had not yet entered the world. But she is different, she shoulders the responsibility of peace and affection. To put it mildly, she was a hostage.
However, unlike her and the pro-Han Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty behind her is powerful and powerful, as long as she can reconcile from it, things will only get better and better.
In addition, she is a virtuous and versatile woman, who is not only able to help Songzan Gampo in difficult times, but also teaches the classics of Han culture to Songzan Gampo, which benefits her a lot.
Under the influence of Princess Wencheng, tubo culture gradually civilized, followed by a breakthrough development in trade, military and political management.
In addition to the influence of the princess herself, the dowry she brought was also extremely precious to Tubo, such as books and tools in various aspects of medicine, architecture and craftsmanship, which made Tubo also have a great breakthrough in these aspects.
Of course, in order to thank the princess for her contribution, Songtsen Gampo built the Potala Palace for her, and the couple has been very affectionate since then.
However, things are good and bad, and although the culture and trade of the two countries have developed very smoothly with the joint efforts of the husband and wife, after the death of Songtsen Gampo, all good things have come to an abrupt end.
At this time, Princess Wencheng was 26 years old and was still in her prime.
The death of Kefu jun, coupled with the fact that the two have never had children, Tubo internally for the sake of the regime, so that the princess is suffering.
First of all, the new emperor was the grandson of Songtsen Gampo, and because of his young age, the power fell into the hands of the prime minister.
What is infuriating is that this prime minister did not inherit the legacy of Songzan Gampo, and always wanted to expand abroad, even to the Tang Dynasty.
Although the princess tried her best to reconcile, she had no power in her hands and could only watch the two countries fight each other.
Tragic ending
More than ten years later, when Princess Wencheng was 39 years old, Tubo's strength reached its peak, and its ambitions could not be followed.
So Tubo directly sent troops to destroy the Tang Dynasty's vassal state Tuguhun, and then launched a large-scale attack on the regimes in other regions, and defeated and annexed them one by one.
Eventually, Tubo occupied the entire Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
This made the Tang Dynasty intolerable and sent the mainstay Xue Rengui on a western expedition, and the two countries completely tore their faces and moved from friendly to hostile.
Although there are very few records of Princess Wencheng in history at this time, seeing such a situation, I think her heart is very painful. The peaceful situation that she and her husband had painstakingly managed had thus vanished, so how should she face her hometown in the future?
In 680 AD, with endless regrets, Wencheng died alone in Lhasa due to smallpox infection, at the age of 56.
It can be seen that Princess Wencheng's ending is somewhat tragic, and she has not returned to her hometown since marrying into Tubo. Since then, from the age of 26 widowhood, to the next 30 years, she has lived in torment, on the one hand, she misses her husband, on the other hand, she feels guilty about her hometown, she misses her husband's kindness to him, and she feels guilty that she has not been able to complete her mission.
However, the world did not blame her, but gave her a high evaluation, especially the Tubo people, not only respected her as a "god", but also built a temple for her.
If she knew that the world loved her so much, she would have been able to see it.
References: History of Tubo, Old Book of Tang