In the five thousand years of chinese civilization, the most prosperous and splendid dynasty is the Tang Dynasty. Whether economic, military, or cultural, the Tang Dynasty was the first in the world at that time. It is precisely because of this that the Tang Dynasty attracted envoys from various countries to come to observe and study, forming a prosperous atmosphere of all states coming to the dynasty.
Although the Tang Dynasty was an era of extremely tolerant civilization, not all countries were willing to accept the cultural output of the Tang Dynasty, so there were many conquests and frictions during the Tang Dynasty.
Among the countries that fought against the Tang Dynasty, there was one country that had been fighting with the Tang Dynasty for more than two hundred years, and this country was Tubo. What kind of deep hatred did Tubo and Datang have, so much so that they refused to give up their conquest with Datang for two hundred years?
And India's military strength is weak, why can it be at peace with Tibet?
The rise of Tibet
In 633 AD, a regime established by ancient Tibetans stood on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the Tubo regime established by Songtsen Gampo.
On the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which is extremely high above sea level, there have long been Tibetans living there. These Tibetans are scattered on the plateau in a loose tribal situation, each tribe follows different traditions and rules, and most of these Tibetans live by herding, and the disputes between the tribes caused by grazing occur from time to time.
Moreover, in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau at that time, in addition to the Tibetans, there were also some Descendants of Qiang tribes and Xiongnu people. On the basis of uniting the Tibetan tribes and maintaining stable development, Songtsen Gampo attacked these foreign tribes and established the Tubo Dynasty.
After establishing his own dynasty, Songtsen Gampo vigorously developed agriculture, began to create the Tibetan language, and formulated a unified law. The Tubo dynasty gradually developed from a loose tribal federation to a powerful dynasty with its own civilization and order.
Although Songtsen Gampo, with his excellent leadership skills, changed the once loose situation of the Tibetan people. However, the degree of civilization in Tubo was still extremely backward at that time, and the Tubo Dynasty only completed the first step from scratch.
At that time, Tubo still used animal husbandry as the main economic source, and agriculture was dominated by hardy crops such as barley and wheat, and the yield of such crops was extremely low, and their food and clothing problems were still the most important problem.
Tubo hardly had any manufacturing technology for handicrafts, resulting in the living environment of the Tubo Dynasty still being very primitive and backward. Such a dynasty has only one way out in seeking development, that is, to seize the resources of life by force.
At the same time, the Tang Dynasty was also rapidly rising. Unlike Tubo, the Tang Dynasty inherited a long Chinese civilization, with a highly mature culture and technology, and the farming technology has been very developed.
The Tang Dynasty, which had great strength, also expected to expand abroad, but the purpose of expansion was completely different from that of Tibet.
The temperament of the Tang Dynasty
Since the Tang Dynasty began with the rule of Tang Taizong Li Shimin, Chinese civilization has entered an extremely prosperous stage, known in history as the "rule of Zhenguan". After experiencing the turmoil of the Sui Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty quickly regained its national strength, and after accumulating enough strength, Li Shimin decided to start a plan of external expansion.
On the one hand, Datang's external expansion is to have a longer military buffer area to consolidate the existing Jiangshan. On the other hand, it is also to explore the wider world and enable Chinese civilization to communicate with other civilizations.
Tang Taizong Li Shimin was extremely inclusive in the exchange of civilizations, which laid the foundation for the integration of the Tang Dynasty with other civilizations. Therefore, in Chang'an at that time, there were "international students" of different nationalities, and even these people voluntarily stayed in Datang after completing their studies.
The Tang Dynasty accepted the people of all countries with a grandeur that was extremely rare at that time. Because of this, Li Shimin was called "Heavenly Khan" by many nomadic peoples to express his support and love for the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty.
The powerful Tang Dynasty and the popular Tubo both want to expand outward for different purposes. As a result, the two countries met unexpectedly on the road of foreign expansion, and war naturally occurred inevitably.
After the Tang Dynasty pacified Tuguhun as a threat to itself, the new Tubo Empire began to harass Tuguhun in order to expand to the east. Tuguhun became a place of contention between Tubo and Tang.
After several confrontations, Tubo was defeated by the Tang, and Tang Taizong appeased Songzan Gampo with a policy of gentleness, and married Princess Wencheng to Songzan Gampo to maintain peace in a peaceful manner. The Tang Dynasty, Tubo and Tuguhun gained temporary peace.
When Songtsen Gampo died, Tubo resumed its external expansion, and Tuguhun once again became a target for Tubo. After encroaching on Tuguhun's territory, Tubo territory bordered The Tang Dynasty.
At the same time, the Tang Dynasty's sphere of influence had expanded to the Western Regions, and the center of gravity of the contradictions between Tibet and the Tang Dynasty had also shifted to the Western Regions.
Tubo and Tang are like a pair of old enemies, fighting endlessly between them for more than two hundred years, winning and losing each other. From the birth of the two empires to the demise, there has always been a conquest. The Tianzhu state, which is also adjacent to Tubo, is today's India, and although there are occasional frictions with Tubo, Tubo seems to have no interest in its territory.
What is the reason behind The seemingly unreasonable phenomenon that Tubo would rather fight with the powerful Tang Dynasty on the battlefield than attack India, which is far weaker than itself?
Interests ahead
The reason why Tubo did not invade Tianzhu can be summed up as a matter of economic interests in the final analysis, although attacking Tianzhu is much easier than fighting with the Tang Dynasty, but the economic benefits are not the same, it can be said that attacking Tianzhu is meaningless to Tubo.
Attacking a country, the first thing to be included in the planning is the territory, if Tubo attacks Tianzhu and incorporates the territory of Tianzhu into its own territory, Tubo wants to own this land for a long time, it must send troops to garrison, and the cost of maintenance is too high.
Because the terrain of Tubo and Tianzhu is completely different, it is difficult for Tubo people who have adapted to the plateau climate to adapt to the climate of Tianzhu, and the hot temperature is unacceptable to the Tubo people no matter what.
Second, after the annexation of land, the acquired land must play its role in order to become the wealth of an empire. The main source of economics in Tibet is animal husbandry, and although it also grows crops such as barley wheat, it is only a small amount of attention, and it is not familiar with the cultivation of other crops such as rice.
For the Tubo people, the best land is a large grassland. And the fertile land of Tianzhu is almost worthless to them. Whether it is the Tang Dynasty or the Western Regions, Tubo is fighting for grassland areas that can be grazed, and these lands have economic benefits for them.
Finally, there is the significance of border extension after the expansion of territory. If Tubo invaded the Tang Dynasty, it could border the hinterland of the Central Plains, which was more convenient for both grazing and looting wealth, and it was more conducive to trade in the western region.
After the attack on Tianzhu, there was no follow-up action that could bring economic benefits. Therefore, no matter from which point of view, for Tubo, attacking Tianzhu is a superfluous move, and expanding to the Tang Dynasty and the Western Regions is the development path of Tubo.
epilogue
In any era, military warfare is an extension of the conflict of economic interests. Therefore, behind any war, there are economic interests that drive it.
Tubo would rather choose the powerful Tang Dynasty as its opponent, and the two sides have been fighting for more than two hundred years, rather than turn around and attack the weak Tianzhu, the essential reason for this is the question of whether there are economic interests. Benefits can be derived from war, and such a war is a meaningful war.
On the contrary, if the benefits cannot be gained from the war after it is started, then the war, whether it is won or lost, is a lost war.