Friday, September 7, 2012

Tufan and The Tang

Following the marriage of King Srong-btsan sgam-po and Princess Wen Cheng, he political relations between Tufan and the Tang Dynasty showed great improvement. In 648 a Tang emissary, Wang xuance, was attacked on the way to Sindhu by an  armed gang from there. He withdrew into the Tufan area with his party. At the Tang official's  request, King Srong-btsan sgam-po promptly dispatched a cintingent of  troops which helped rout themarauders. At the same time he sent a tribute to the Tang emperor in Chang'an. The next year when a new Tang emperor, Gao Zong, came to the throne, conferred on the Tibetan king the office of ''Imperial Son -in - law Governor'' with the little of honour ''West sea Prince''. Thus honoured, King Srong-btsan sgam-o wrote to the Tang court pledging his allegiance. He stated, ''At this time when the new emperor has just ascended the throne, in case somebody has the audacity to launch a rebellion, I will lead my Tufan army and other loyalists to help suppress it.'' To commend the Tibetan king's loyalty, Emperor Gao Zong added a new title, ''Treasured Prince'', to him. Meanwhile he had a stone statue carved of the Tibetan king and placed it at the tomb of Emperor Tai Zong together with other statues of the dynasty's prices, ministers and generals.
When the Tibetan king died in Lhasa in 650, the Tang court sent a general, Xianyu Kuangji, with an imperial edict to the Tufan caital to attend the funeral service. It should be noticed here that this was not the first time that the Tang court had sent an emissary to Tufan. In 634 prior to princess wen cheng's marriage with king srong-btsan sgam-po, the Tang court has sent an official to Tufan in appreciation of Tufan's having sent an envoy with a tribute and a ledge of allegiance. From that year until 846, the year the Tufan Dynasty collapsed, it is estimated that there were 191 exchanges of emissaries, averaging one every 13 months. It was to a large extent due to such mutual contacts that the political lies between Tufan and the Tang steadily strengthened.