Princess Wencheng would rather be widowed for 30 years than return to the Tang Dynasty, but not because of the vulgar custom of "father dies and son succeeds" in the tribes of the Western Regions. The reason why she didn't go back was not because she couldn't go back, but because she didn't want to.
Staying in Tibet is much better than her running back thousands of miles. As for the reason behind it, let me tell you slowly.
The historical background of Princess Wencheng's distant marriage
Princess Wencheng married Songtsen Gampo in Tibet, and behind the seemingly wonderful love story is a complete political marriage.
Songtsen Gampo can be regarded as a rare male lord of Tibet, during his reign, he worked hard, and Tubo also emerged in the Western Regions under his governance.
Songtsen Gampo was the son of Langri Songtsen and ascended to the throne of Tibet at the age of twelve. He did not take the throne from his father, but from the hands of the rebellious nobles.
Therefore, Songtsen Gampo is young and old, and he has a special preference for dominating the entire Western Regions.
Presumably, this is just a small goal of his, he does not have so much strength when he gets involved in the Central Plains, you must know that at this time, the East is in Li Shimin's "Zhenguan rule".
It is not only required to survive, but also to seek development, and if you want to develop steadily in the Western Regions, you need support from Datang. At the very least, you can't become the enemy of Datang.
As a result, Songtsen Gampo asked Li Shimin twice for marriage and volunteered to be the son-in-law of the Tang Dynasty. But the daughter of Li Shimin's family is not blown by the wind, how can she give it to her.
As a result, Li Shimin rejected Songtsen Gampo's request twice before and after. This once made Songtsen Gampo feel very faceless.
When a man loses face, he has to rely on his own strength to earn it back. If you want to get the support of Datang, you must show a certain strength. So, in 636 AD, Tubo found an excuse to attack Tuyuhun, a subject state of the Tang Dynasty, and took the opportunity to attack Songzhou, a Tang territory, after the victory.
Unfortunately, due to his poor strength, he was beaten by Niu Jinda, the pioneer of the Tang Dynasty.
During this period, Songtsen Gampo made a lot of attempts, and both soft and hard ones were used. The attitude is also very clear, as long as you Li Shimin don't agree, I Songtsan Gampo will toss to the end.
At this time, there were many small tribes active around the Tang Dynasty, and since Tubo had been tossing for so long, in order to marry the Tang Dynasty, Li Shimin also agreed half-pushed, half-on-the-spot.
His own daughter was naturally reluctant to marry, so she found a woman in the clan, canonized Princess Wencheng, and married Tubo and her relatives.
The mystery of Princess Wencheng's identity
As mentioned above, Li Shimin was reluctant to give up his daughter, so he found a woman in the clan, canonized Princess Wencheng, and married Tubo and his relatives.
It is only recorded in the history books that she is the daughter of the clan, born in Rencheng, Shandong, and according to calculations, it is likely to be the daughter of Li Daozong, the king of Jiangxia.
In addition to this detail, Princess Wencheng married into Tibet and traveled thousands of miles to Lhasa, and Li Daozong traveled thousands of miles to see off her relatives. Moreover, after Songtsen Gampo received Princess Wencheng, he gave Li Daozong a son-in-law ceremony.
It can be seen from this that Princess Wencheng is to a large extent the daughter of Li Daozong.
Even though the love story between Princess Wencheng and Songtsen Gampo has been passed down for thousands of years, and Princess Wencheng has had a profound impact on the cultural communication and exchange between Tang and Tibet, this is not a big deal for the Tang Dynasty.
It can be seen in the records of the history books that the details of Princess Wencheng's identity and affinity are not detailed, and only a few strokes have been written.
But in any case, it was against this background that Princess Wencheng and Songtsen Gampo came together. And for the peaceful and stable development of Datang and Tubo, we will continue to contribute our own strength.
Songtsen Gampo died, where should Princess Wencheng go
By 650 A.D., at the age of 34, Songtsen Gampo had died. Princess Wencheng's nine-year marriage with Songtsen Gampo also came to an end, and this year, Princess Wencheng was only 25 years old.
Songtsen Gampo's grandson, Mangsong Mangtsen, became the next Zampu.
Songtsen Gampoyin and Princess Wencheng have no heirs, and this situation is very embarrassing. So someone proposed to let Princess Wencheng be martyred, but Princess Wencheng's entourage strongly refused, and Princess Wencheng was forced to continue to live because of the majesty of the Tang Dynasty.
At this time, it was the reign of Tang Gaozong Li Zhi, and after hearing what happened to Princess Wencheng, Li Zhi sent an envoy to Tubo, intending to take Princess Wencheng back.
But Princess Wencheng rejected Tang Gaozong Li Zhi's kindness and chose to continue to stay in Tibet.
I think the reason why Princess Wencheng chose this way is mainly due to the following reasons:
First, to continue to fulfill her mission, Princess Wencheng married into Tibet, which brought a nine-year period of peace between Tibet and the Tang Dynasty, and increased friendly exchanges between the two sides.
A large number of Tibetan people went to Chang'an to learn the culture of the Central Plains, and the trade between the two countries was getting better and better in continuous exchanges. Although Songtsen Gampo died, Songtsen Gampo's legacy should be continued by Princess Wencheng.
Second: there are good memories of Princess Wencheng and Songtsen Gampo, who are reluctant to leave; Songtsen Gampo built the Potala Palace for Princess Wencheng and named Princess Wencheng the queen.
Back to the Tang Dynasty, at the age of 25, she will inevitably become a tool for marriage again, and her situation may be more difficult at that time, and she is even more sorry for the dead Songtsen Gampo, so she rejected Li Zhi's kindness.
Third: stay and continue to complete the cause of Songtsen Gampo; Mangsong Mangzan ascended the throne at an early age, and there were many people with bad intentions in the court at this time. The young and vigorous Mangsong Mangzan was very susceptible to demagoguery, thus destroying the peace between Tibet and the Tang Dynasty.
Princess Wencheng stayed and continued to cooperate with Lu Dongzan to assist Mangsong Mangzan, so that Tubo and the Tang Dynasty could continue to be peaceful.
Fourth: Princess Wencheng was already the queen mother at this time, and her status was no longer suitable for remarrying in the Tang Dynasty;
If you return to Datang, you will have to remarry if you don't do well. People who are used to being queens, how can they be willing to accept the inferior status, rather than going back to the Tang Dynasty to entangle, it is better to be their own queen mother in Tubo.
postscript
Princess Wencheng spent a lot of energy for the peace between Tubo and the Tang Dynasty, but in 663 AD, it was the Tuyuhun problem that led to the war between the Tang Dynasty and the Tubo.
One after another, Datang and Tubo won and lost each other, but after all, Tubo's national strength was limited, and it gradually fell into disadvantage in the battle with Datang, and later Tubo had to pray to Datang again for peace.
By 680 AD, Princess Wencheng contracted black pox and died in Tibet. I think that when Princess Wencheng was dying, she never regretted staying in Tibet, and the most painful thing was that the two countries fought against each other.
But no matter what, Princess Wencheng used her life to exchange 22 years of peace for the Tang Dynasty and Tubo, which is great enough.