The Tang Dynasty was once the most powerful dynasty in Chinese history. Especially before the "Anshi Rebellion", the political situation was unified, the economy was prosperous, the nationalities were united, the surrounding areas were stable, and the four seas were at peace. Speaking of these prosperous scenes, people often refer to the Tang Dynasty's open and compatible foreign policy and enlightened and harmonious ethnic policy, but there is a special group that is often overlooked, and they are the princesses who play an important role in this policy.
In the west of Qinghai Riyue Mountain, there is a beautiful river, legend has it that when Princess Wencheng married to Tibet, passing through Riyue Mountain, looking west, a desolate, can't help but be sad, the princess's tears converged into a river, this river is today's backward river. Today, if this legend is to be reinterpreted, in this river, it is more likely that the tears of another princess are flowing, she is the first princess of the Tang Dynasty, Princess Wencheng of The Early Wencheng, who married the Tuguhun King Nuoyu Bowl a year.
If it were not for the discovery of a tomb group in Wuwei, the story of Princess Honghua may still be buried in the ground.
In that year, when Princess Wencheng turned over the Sun Moon Mountain, she had a brief encounter with Princess Honghua. But later, no one expected that history would stage a dramatic scene. The situation of the two princesses, like the fates of the two dynasties, has changed completely differently. A princess is famous and a household name; A princess is unknown and neglected. A dynasty continues to grow stronger; A dynasty is in decline. In the end, the Tubo Dynasty, where Princess Wencheng belonged, led to the demise of the Tuguhun Kingdom, where Princess Honghua married.
Tuguhun, where Princess Honghua is located, is an ancient ethnic minority in the mainland, who first lived in the northeast of the mainland, originally belonging to the Xianbei Murong clan of Liaodong, and later migrated to the northwest. It first came to the vicinity of Linxia in present-day Gansu, and then continued to expand to the southwest, gradually occupying the whole territory of Qinghai and the surrounding areas, and establishing a grassland kingdom with Tuguhun as the national name.
Soon after the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, Tuguhun united with the Western Turks on the Silk Road leading to the western regions, often invading the Tang borders, attacking merchants, blocking the political, economic, and cultural ties between the Central Plains and the northwest frontier, and also hindering the economic and cultural exchanges between the Tang and the Middle East and European countries. On the one hand, Emperor Taizong of Tang sent the generals Li Jing and Hou Junji to use force to force them to surrender; On the one hand, it adopts a gentle policy and unites Tuguhun in a kind and pro-family way.
In the eighth year of Tang Zhenguan (634), the increasingly powerful Tubo tribe, under the leadership of the leader Songzan Gampo, attacked Tuguhun from the west, and the following year under the attack of the Tang army, Tuguhun was defeated and split into two parts. Tuguhun in the west, centered on The Good Mountain of Xinjiang, later surrendered to Tubo; Tuguhun in the east was led by Murong Shun, centered on the city of Fue (in present-day Gonghe County, Qinghai Province) and attached to The Tang. The Tang Dynasty made Murong Shun the Prince of Xiping Commandery. Later, Murong Shun was killed by his subordinates, and the Tang court made his son Nuoyu the Prince of Yan the King of Tuguhun and made him the King of Heyuan Commandery, also known as "Wudi Ye Baqindou Khan". After coming to power, Nuo Yubao promulgated the Tang Dynasty calendar, took the Tang Dynasty era name, and married Princess Honghua.
Today, in the cultural square of Wuwei, there are statues of Princess Honghua and Nuoyu Bowl. Why did the people of Wuwei give the statue of Tuguhun King Nuoyu and Princess Honghua in Qinghai? What kind of historical relationship does Tuguhun have with the thick Wuwei?
In nanying Township, 20 kilometers south of Wuwei City, there is a Qingzui Lama Bay. Located in the southern foothills of the Qilian Mountains, with undulating peaks and valleys, originating from the Binggou River and the Dashui River in Tianzhu Tibetan Autonomous County, where the two waters meet, it is a reservoir built in the middle of the 20th century, and the tomb of Princess Honghua is located on the hill opposite the reservoir.
During the reign of the Qing Dynasty, due to the decay of the Qing government, social unrest, and disasters, the local people went up the mountain to avoid disasters. When digging a cave, a family surnamed Liang happened to dig a tomb and found a large number of burial utensils, in addition to a large number of wooden utensils such as painted wooden figurines, wooden horses, wooden camels, etc., there are also many bronzes and gold and jade jewelry, this tomb is the tomb of Princess Honghua.
Fortunately, since people at that time only focused on gold and silver jewelry, most of the precious cultural relics such as epitaphs were not greatly damaged. In April 1915, the tomb of the princess was excavated again by the local people, and the epitaph was taken for himself by the gravediggers. At that time, Wuwei Zhi County was called Tang Shirong, and he came to Liangzhou to be an official, believing that this was an important town in the western region, and there must be relics buried in the ground or scattered among the people, so he instructed Jia Tan, the president of the Chamber of Commerce, to pay attention to the search.
When the news of the excavation of the princess epitaph spread, Jia Tan, who loved gold stones, immediately drove to it, and finally transported the princess epitaph back to the Temple of Literature for preservation. At this point, people learned that the first and pro-princess of the Tang Dynasty, Princess Honghua, was buried in the land of Wuwei.
The epitaph of Princess Honghua is square, with a side length of 68 cm and a thickness of 6 cm, and consists of two parts: Zhi Gai and Zhi Di. The seal book "Epitaph of princess Xiping of the Great Zhou Dynasty" is surrounded by carved tangled grass leaves patterns, which are extremely exquisite. There are 25 lines of Zhidi text, 24 characters in full lines, and the font is dignified and beautiful, which has both the beauty of the Calligraphy of the Sheng Tang Dynasty and the remains of the Wei Epitaph Inscription.
"The Daughter of the Emperor of the Spirit, Xiu Qi is in Lianbo; Tuo Ti Wang Ji, Zhan Qingyi Yu Guiluo. Gonggong Bingxun, the Chenyou of the Mu Prenatal Sect; From the epitaph, it is not difficult to see that Princess Honghua is a beautiful, intelligent, virtuous and kind girl.
Princess Honghua, also known as Princess Xiping, was born in the fifth year of Tang Wude (622) and was the daughter of Li Daomin, the king of Huaiyang in the Tang Dynasty. In the tenth year of Zhenguan (636), in the month of La, the Tuguhun king Nuoyu Bao went to the Tang capital Chang'an to advise Tang Taizong and proposed marriage, and Emperor Taizong promised to give him Princess Honghua. In the twelfth month of the thirteenth year of Zhenguan (639), that is, the marriageable age of Princess Honghua, NuoYubao came to Chang'an to marry, and after some preparation, in February of the following year, the 18-year-old Princess Honghua, escorted by her father Zuo Xiaowei general, Li Daomin the Prince of Huaiyang, and Murong Bao, the general of right Wuwei, left her homeland of Chang'an, and arrived at tuguhun state in Qinghai to marry Nuoyu Bao, and since then she has lived a nomadic life of "having a city but not living, following the water and grass tent as a room, and using meat and cheese as food".
According to historical records, Princess Honghua was not only intelligent and virtuous, but also had superhuman boldness. After Princess Honghua married into Tuguhun, the relationship between Tuguhun and the Tang Dynasty was greatly improved, because Tuguhun had to send emissaries to pay tribute to the Tang Dynasty every year, which caused the dissatisfaction of many ministers in Tuguhun, and Tuguhun Xiangxuan and his two younger brothers conspired to prepare to abduct the Nuoyu Bowl and Princess Honghua to defect to Tubo during the sacrifice of the mountain. After learning this news, NuoYuBao was a little overwhelmed for a while, Princess Honghua did not panic, she and Nuoyu Bowl with a small number of soldiers, ran to the capital city (Xining) overnight, and with the help of Du Fengju, the assassin of Duzhou, smashed the plot of King Xuan in one fell swoop, and Tuguhun's country soon settled down.
In 650, Emperor Gaozong of Tang succeeded to the throne, and Fengnuo Yubao was made a vassal of Ma Duwei, and then Nuoyu Bowl presented tang to the Tang court with Tuguhun's famous horse, and the relationship between Tang and Tuguhun entered a new period. In the third year of Tang Yonghui (653), Princess Honghua wrote a letter requesting to return to Chang'an Province, and Emperor Gaozong of Tang sent the general Xian Yu Kuangji to greet her. In November of that year, Princess Honghua returned to Chang'an for the first time after 13 years of marrying Into Tuguhun, where she met Emperor Gaozong of Tang, becoming the only princess among the dozen or so princesses of the Tang Dynasty who had ever returned to Chang'an. Emperor Gaozong not only warmly received this clan sister, but also crowned Nuo Yubao, who accompanied him, as the king of Qinghai, and also married murong Zhong, the eldest son of Princess Honghua, with the daughter of the clan daughter Jincheng County (the third daughter of Li Daoen, the king of Huiji County), and the second son of the lord of Jinming County.
Soon after the return of Chang'an, the western part of Tuguhun was re-established, and the increasingly powerful Tubo people continued to expand into the Ganqing region, conflicts between Tuguhun and Tubo occurred from time to time, and Tuguhun's territory was constantly eroded. In 663, in a large-scale battle, the Tuguhun tribe was completely defeated by the Tubo attack, and all the territory of Tuguhun was occupied by the Tubo. Princess Nuoyu and Princess Honghua, who had lost their territory, led several thousand remnants to retreat to Liangshan in Liangzhou, north of the Qilian Mountains, and sent envoys to the Tang Dynasty for help, while resting in order to make a comeback.
In the first year of Xianheng (670), the Tang Dynasty sent the general Xue Rengui to lead troops to attack the Tubo army, intending to help Nuoyu bao recover his homeland. Who knew that the morale of the Tubo army at this time was booming, coupled with the Tang army's long journey and not adapted to high-altitude combat, in the battle of Dafeichuan (present-day Cheji Township, Hainan Prefecture, Qinghai), the Tang army led by Xue Rengui was almost completely destroyed.
Tuguhun's hopes for the restoration of the country were dashed, and Princess Honghua also lived a life of exile from then on.
In the third year of Xianheng (672), the Tang Dynasty moved the Nuoyu Bowl to the south of the Datong River in Duzhou (present-day Ledu, Qinghai), and because of its proximity to Tubo and the small size of the place, the Nuoyu Bowl was afraid of Tubo and "uneasy about its residence", so it "began to move its people to the land of Lingzhou", which is in the territory of Tongxin County, Wuzhong City, Ningxia. In order to place the Nuoyu Bowl and the Tuguhun tribes under his command, Emperor Gaozong of Tang chose a place under the Sun Mountain, that is, the town of Weizhou in today's Tongxin County, and specially established Anle Prefecture, which means "want its peace and happiness", and appointed the Nuoyu Bowl as the thorn history, and the jurisdiction area was part of the three counties of Zhongning, Tongxin, and Yanchi in present-day Ningxia Hedong. Although it was subordinate to the Lingzhou Governor's Office, due to the particularity of the Tuguhun people, it was administered by them autonomously, which also set a precedent for the earliest ethnic autonomy in the mainland.
In 688, after the death of NuoYubao due to illness, his son Murong Zhong succeeded to the throne, and the Tang Dynasty was crowned the King of Qinghai and continued to govern Anle Prefecture.
In 690, Wu Zetian was proclaimed emperor and changed the name of the country to Great Zhou. For the experience of Princess Honghua and the Tuguhun people, Wu Zetian knew it well, so he changed the title of Princess Honghua to Princess Xiping of the Great Zhou. Therefore, the cover of the epitaph of Princess Honghua that we see today is inscribed with the words "Epitaph of Princess Xiping of the Great Zhou Dynasty".
On the third day of May 698, Murong Zhong, the last king of Tuguhun, died, and coincidentally, Princess Honghua also died on this day. For this strange event, it is reasonable to speculate that Princess Honghua, who is still alive in the wind and candles, died at the age of 76 after hearing the news of the death of her beloved son. So far, she has lived in Anle State for 26 years.
In March of the following year, Princess Honghua and her son Murong Zhong, the King of Qinghai, arrived in Liangzhou and were buried in Qingzuiwan.