| Tibetan attack on Songzhou | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Tang dynasty | Tibetan Empire | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Hou Junji | Songtsen Gampo | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| Unknown | 100,000 (Tibetan sources) 200,000+ (Chinese sources)[1][2] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Light | Several thousands | ||||||
The first military conflict between China and Tibet occurred in 638. In the early 7th century, the westward conquests of theTang dynasty brought it into contact with the risingTibetan Empire. WhenEmperor Taizong of Tang refused a marriage alliance, the Tibetan emperorSongtsen Gampo sent an army to attack the Chinese frontier city of Songzhou (松州, in modernSichuan). After a Tang army inflicted heavy casualties on the Tibetans in a night-time attack, Songtsen Gampo withdrew. He sent emissaries and tributes toChang'an to apologize, and to again request marriage. Taizong decided to give Songtsen Gampo a distant niece,Princess Wencheng, in marriage. The peace held for the remainder of the reigns of Taizong and Songtsen Gampo, although Tibet would pose major military threats for most of the rest of the Tang period.
During the early decades of the 7th century, the major threat to the west of China was theXianbei state ofTuyuhun. Thereafter, Tuyuhun's southwestern neighbor, theTibetan Empire, rose in power.[3]
The existence of Tibet was unknown to the Chinese until 608, when Tibetan emissaries from EmperorNamri Songtsen arrived with tribute toSui China.[3][4] In 634, his son Songtsen Gampo sent tribute and a request for aheqin ("marital alliance"). In the interim, aNorth China aristocrat had defeated the Sui and declared himselfEmperor Gaozu of Tang. When Songtsen Gampo's marriage overture arrived, Taizong, the second Tang emperor, was battling the Tuyuhun and did not initially respond, but did send the emissaryFeng Dexia (馮德遐) to Tibet to establish peaceful relations.
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Meanwhile, in late 634, Taizong had sent the generalLi Jing against Tuyuhun and, in amajor campaign, overpowered Tuyuhun's Busabo KhanMurong Fuyun, who was killed in flight. The Tang thereafter appointed Murong Fuyun's sonMurong Shun as Tuyuhun'skhan and, after Murong Shun was assassinated late in 635, supported Murong Shun's sonMurong Nuohebo as khan.[citation needed]
Feng Dexia appeared to have arrived to Tibet around the same time. By then, Songtsen Gampo was aware that, in the past, the khans of theEastern Turkic Khaganate and Tuyuhun had arrangedmarriages of state with China and therefore sent an emissary to accompany Feng back to Tang with further tribute to request to marry a Tang princess.[1]
Taizong turned the proposal down. When the Tibetan emissary returned to Tibet, he informed Songtsen Gampo, falsely according to Tibetan historical sources, that Taizong was disposed to approve a dynastic marriage but changed his mind after hearing the Tibetans slandered by the Tuyuhun.[2] It was said that Murong Nuohebo had visited Tang and was interfering, leading to Taizong's refusal. Songtsen Gampo, believing the report, attacked Tuyuhun in late 637 and early 638, capturing some of them and forcing the rest to flee north ofQinghai Lake.[1][2]
In the fall of 638, Tibetan forces, apparently commanded by Songtsen Gampo himself, then raided the Tang frontier city of Songzhou (松州, modernSongpan County in Sichuan), but meanwhile sending emissaries to the Tang capitalChang'an, again offering tributes and declaring that they were intending to welcome a princess. The size of his army is given as 100,000 by Tibetan sources and over 200,000 by Chinese sources.[1][2]They defeated a force sent against them by the Songzhou governor Han Wei. According to the Chinese annals, Taizong responded by commissioning the generalHou Junji to command an army, assisted by the generals Zhishi Sili (執失思力), Niu Jinda (牛進達) and Liu Jian (劉簡). Led by Niu, the Tang army inflicted heavy casualties on the Tibetans in a surprise night-time attack. Alarmed, Songtsen Gampo withdrew, sent emissaries and tributes to Chang'an to apologize and to again request marriage. Emperor Taizong agreed this time.[1]
However, no further action was taken to carry out the marriage for about two years. In fall 640, Songtsen Gampo sent his prime ministerGar Tongtsen Yülsung (aka Lu Dongzan, 祿東贊) to Tang to offer tributes of gold and jewels, again requesting marriage. In response, Taizong created[clarification needed] a daughter of a kinsman,Princess Wencheng, preparing to give her to Songtsen Gampo in marriage. Impressed by Gar Tongtsen Yülsung's propriety in interacting with him, he also, over Gar Tongtsen Yülsung's own objection—that he already had a wife and that it would be inappropriate for him to marry before his king—gaveLady Duan, the granddaughter of Princess Langye,[a] to Gar Tongtsen Yülsung as a wife as well.[citation needed]
In spring 641, Taizong sent his cousin,Li Daozong, Prince of Jiangxia, to accompany Gar Tongtsen Yülsung back to Tibet and to escort Wencheng. When they arrived in Tibet, Songtsen Gampo was said to be so pleased that he bowed to Li Daozong, using ceremony appropriate for a son-in-law toward a father-in-law. He built a palace for Wencheng and changed into Chinese clothing before he met her. It was said that at that time, the Tibetan people had a custom that Princess Wencheng hated—that people would paint their faces red—and that he prohibited the custom for her sake.[5]
As part of the agreement, he also sent nobles and family members to Chang'an to study at Tang's imperial university, in an old custom which made them de facto hostages, while they learned Chinese customs and culture for better relationship. Songtsen Gampo also requested Chinese scholars.[6] Early inGaozong's reign, Tibet also requested technology transfers forsericulture,winemaking,gristmills andpapermaking.
The marriage alliance began two decades of peace between the two empires.[6][b] In 647, for when Taizong sent a force under the command of theGöktürk prince Ashina Shö-eul on a punitive expedition against the state ofKucha under its new king Hari Pushpa,[c] after his predecessor had refused to pay tribute in protest at China's interventionist policy,[10] Tibetan troops were requisitioned.[citation needed] Moreover, in 648, when the Tang emissaryWang Xuance became stuck in political turmoil of anIndian state, he sought aid from both Tibet andNepal and was assisted by both in defeating one of the factions in 649.
During this period, the Tibetans strengthened and expanded their empire. By the late 660s they had overrun the Tuyuhun, and were in direct contact with Tang territory.[11] The two empires fought sporadically over the following decades, and much of North western China fell to the Tibetan hands.[12] With the weakening of Chinese power consequent on theAn Lushan Rebellion (755–763), the Tibetans managed to recapture vast swathes of their lost territory, overrunning Songzhou and the surrounding area in 763, and even briefly capturing the capitalChang'an. Songzhou (TibetanSharkokWylie:shar khog) was thereafter reportedly settled by Tibetans fromNgari and identified in Tibetan geographical writings as part of the expanding Tibetan empire, classified variously as part ofAmdo orKham.[13] Sharkok and neighboring Khöpokok (Jiuzhaigou) remain Tibetan-speaking areas to this day (previously classified asAmdo Tibetan, now tentatively classified as five distinct dialects of an independent branch of Tibetan,Sharkhog Tibetan.).[14]
The effect of the resurgence of the Tibetan Empire was to facilitate the proselytization of Buddhism north and westwards, to the detriment of the expansion of Islam. It was a decisive factor in the rerouting of China's silk commerce and East-West trade patterns, which shifted northwards through Uighur lands.[15][16]