The Tang Dynasty is one of the most prosperous historical periods in Chinese history. Tang Taizong and Li Shimin's literary and martial arts opened up a generation of prosperity. Although under the efforts of the rulers of the Han, Sui and Tang Dynasties, the territory of China has been expanding, especially in the Tang Dynasty. The territory of China extends to the Sea of Okhotsk in the east, Congling (Pamir Plateau) and the vicinity of the Amu Darya River in the west, and includes Now Vietnam is all Chinese, and the northern border reaches Lake Baikal. However, after the Tang Dynasty was established, border problems have always been one of the most troublesome problems in the Tang Dynasty.
, like the East Turks in the northwest, has been very rampant. After the Xuanwu Gate, the Jieli Khan sent troops to attack Datang, and went all the way to the north bank of the Weishui River, threatening Chang'an City. Taizong Tang was forced to form an alliance with Jieli Khan under the city , Turks withdrew their troops only after some looting. In order to eliminate the East Turks, Emperor Taizong Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty decided to use the strategy of distant and close attacks to support an enemy behind the East Turks. Xue Yantuo was originally a small tribe nomadic in the Mobei grassland. They were subjects of the East Turks and were oppressed and exploited by the Turks. Therefore, Tang Taizong sent envoys to find Xue Yantuo's khan and canonized him as a great khan. After that, the two countries entered into a covenant to jointly attack the East Turks.
Thanks to the help of the Tang Dynasty, Xue Yantuo got rid of the rule of the East Turks, and together with the Tang army, attacked the East Turks on both sides. Under the attack of the two countries, the tyrannical East Turks perished. The Tang Dynasty occupied Monan, Xue Yantuo conquered Mobei, and the two countries divided the homeland of East Turks. Xue Yantuo also grew from a small tribe to a big country with 200,000 troops.
lost a common enemy, the relationship between the Tang Dynasty and Xue Yantuo began to deteriorate sharply, so the two countries met repeatedly. In the battle, the tyrannical Tang army ran rampant in the desert, and the Xue Yantuo people could not resist at all, and they retreated steadily. In the constant failures, Xue Yantuo smelled the danger of subjugation and extinction. To avoid this, Xue Yantuo decided to follow the example of the Xiongnu Huhanxie Shanyu and make peace with the Tang Dynasty. So Xue Yantuo Yi male Khan wrote a humble letter, hoping to marry Tang Taizong's own daughter, and be the son-in-law and subject of the Tang Dynasty for generations.
Although Tang Taizong agreed to Xue Yantuo's marriage proposal, the boss was still reluctant to marry his precious daughter to a barbarian. However, Tang Taizong was a resourceful commander after all. As soon as his eyes rolled, a clever plan appeared in his mind. Tang Taizong said to Xue Yantuo: "The daughter of the emperor is not so easy to marry. A huge betrothal gift must be paid. We don’t want anything else, let’s take your cattle and sheep as gifts!" Xue Yantuo heard it very much. In principle, to marry Princess Datang, you must show some sincerity.
In order to marry the princess of the Tang Dynasty, Yi Nan Khan decided to go all out. He gritted his teeth and raised livestock from various ministries, including 50,000 horses, 10,000 camels, and 100,000 sheep, and offered them to the Tang Dynasty three times. You know, Xue Yantuo is not a wealthy tribe, and its strength is far weaker than that of the East Turks. It is already the limit to produce so many livestock. However, what Yi Nan Khan didn't expect was that all his gifts were creatures, but they would die. Under the harsh climate of Mobei, a large number of livestock died during the long journey, and by the Tang Dynasty, more than half of them had died. After examining the bride and groom, Tang Taizong furiously faced Xue Yantuo’s envoy to the beat case: “Just want to marry the princess of the Tang dynasty with the bride price. This is an insult to the big country. You don’t have to come again if you don’t give out the full amount of cattle and sheep!” Thus, Emperor Taizong drove out all the envoys of Xue Yantuo.
Tang Taizong, who deceived a large number of cattle and sheep, was quite proud of his strategy. He said: "Yinan did not marry my daughter and gave us a large number of cattle and sheep. They will inevitably lose the loyalty of their tribes. Because they understand, Datang has abandoned Xue Yantuo, and these tribes will definitely fight for the opposite.”
In the end, the development of history was just as Tang Taizong expected. The Yi male khan rebelled against relatives and the surrounding tribes fought against each other. The tyrannical Xue Yantuo finally came to an end. . In 645 AD, under the leadership of the famous general Li Ji, the Tang army aggressively attacked Mobei and wiped out the Xue Yantuo Khanate almost effortlessly. (Little Fan Fan Talks about History)
