Tang Xuanzang, who visited ancient India (Tianzhu) in the Tang Dynasty, can be described as a household name, and even the Ming Dynasty novelist Wu Cheng'en wrote a "Journey to the West" based on Tang Xuanzang's westward journey, which became one of the four masterpieces of classical Chinese novels. However, there is another important person in the Tang Dynasty who communicates between China and India, but little is known, he is Wang Xuance.
The exchange between ancient China and Tianzhu was not much, mainly because of the barrier of the Himalayas, but this did not stop the Tang Dynasty's enthusiasm for exploring the world. During the Zhenguan years, Tang Taizong Li Shimin sent several missions to the Tianzhu area to exchange economic and cultural aspects with the local area.
In the twenty-first year of Zhenguan (647 AD), Wang Xuance was ordered to lead a delegation of fifty people to set out again for the Tianzhu region, where he was cordially received by the kings of the four local countries. The kings had planned to send a group of emissaries to return to Dongtu with Wang Xuance to meet the Tang Emperor, but something major had changed.
The violent death of the king of Magadha, Luo Yiduo, led to the great rebellion in Tianzhu, and his minister Nafudi Alona took advantage of the chaos and usurped the throne as the king of Magadha. The attitude of the Nafu Emperor AlonaShun to the Tang envoys was not as friendly as that of other Tianzhu rulers, and even raised an army to attack Wang Xuance and his party. Wang Xuance's men were killed and wounded, and they had to flee to Tubo.
Wang Xuance did not expect that he had actually suffered such an insult as an envoy of the Shangguo, and could not swallow this breath in his chest, so he gathered the troops of neighboring countries in Tubo to try to attack Tianzhu. At that time, the Tang Dynasty had great prestige over neighboring countries, and Tubo and other countries naturally did not dare to neglect Wang Xuance, and sent troops to respond to Wang Xuance's call.
Wang Xuance gathered 1,200 Tubo soldiers and more than 7,000 mud Brahmin cavalry and marched towards the country of Magadha. Wang Xuance's army captured Luocheng and ChaGu in only three days, killing tens of thousands of horses under Alona Shun in this battle alone. Alonashun had to flee in ashes.
After the reorganization, Alona Shun was still not dead-hearted, and he still had to fight with Wang Xuance, only to be killed by Wang Xuance again and defeated, and he himself was also captured, I don't know if he regretted provoking Wang Xuance. Later, the remnants of the Magadha kingdom were killed under the revenge of Wang Xuance, and they wrote to ask for surrender.
Wang Xuance annihilated more than 10,000 Tianzhu soldiers, surrendered 580 cities, and captured more than 12,000 people, as well as more than 20,000 cattle and horses, which can be said to be a fruitful battle result. The other rulers of the Tianzhu region were also frightened when they saw the situation, fearing that the war would spread to their own territory. The corpse of the Eastern Tianzhu King, Jiuma, hurriedly sent out more than 20,000 heads of cattle and horses and a number of treasures.
Although Wang Xuance was a civilian official and did not have much military experience, the troops he led were all sharp brigades from the plateau region that could recruit good warriors. Who has Tianzhu ever seen such a battle? Moreover, Tianzhu's own military strength was not strong. Alonashun was so unwise that he misestimated his own strength.
Wang Xuance returned home with captives and treasures contentedly, and was rewarded by Emperor Taizong of Tang and Li Shimin. The story of Wang Xuance's "one man destroying one country" has also become a legend in the history of Chinese diplomacy and has been widely praised by future generations. This event also reflected the unparalleled influence of the Tang Dynasty in Asia, and even an emissary had the ability to destroy a country.
Wang Xuance used his fist to educate the Tianzhu kingdoms, and after that, Tianzhu did not dare to make a mistake again, and obediently exchanged and communicated with the Tang Dynasty in various aspects of economy and culture. Tianzhu's sugar making process has long been ahead of the Chinese dynasty, and since the Three Kingdoms period, the Central Plains people have realized that the stone honey from Tianzhu is very delicious.
However, there was little trade between China and India due to traffic factors, and sugar products from Tianzhu were very expensive in the Central Plains, and almost only the nobles could afford to eat. Part of the reason why Tang Taizong repeatedly sent Wang Xuance and others to Tianzhu was to learn advanced sugar making technology.
Wang Xuance made a name for himself in the Tianzhu area, and the Tang Dynasty was able to learn the sugar making process from the Tianzhu region, and the Tang Dynasty's sugar masters soon combined the craftsmanship from Tianzhu with local characteristics. Since then, China's sugar industry has developed rapidly, and more and more cheap sugar products have emerged.
On the basis of the sugar making technology of the previous dynasty, the "yellow mud water pouring white sugar method" appeared during the Ming Dynasty, marking the official entry of Chinese white sugar to the market. Not only did the Chinese people like these snow-white sugar products, but even foreign countries also appreciated Chinese white sugar, which was a luxury that even the nobility could afford in Britain at that time.
Until the late Qing Dynasty, sugar products from China were still sold all over the world, and it was the world's largest confectionery exporter at that time. Ancient China made a lot of money in overseas trade with its superb sugar making technology, which brought a huge amount of foreign exchange income to the government at that time.
And all this is inseparable from Wang Xuance's contribution. If it were not for Wang Xuance's horse Ping Tianzhu, I am afraid that China's sugar process would not have developed so rapidly. Of course, it is also because our ancient Chinese sugar masters were good at thinking and skilled, so that they could surpass India in sugar technology.