The most legendary empire in human history-the Tibet Empire
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The power of Tubo occupied the Western Regions, spanning between the Arab Empire and the Tang Empire. The Tang Dynasty was so powerful that it could wipe out Turks and Goguryeo, why couldn't it conquer Tubo? The Tang Empire had a prosperous army and powerful combat power, and was in a strong position most of the time in foreign wars. Its territory reached more than 12.3 million square kilometers in its heyday, which was the peak of the Han dynasty. Even the powerful Turkic nomadic nation and the Northeast Asian hegemon, Goguryeo, were wiped out during years of entanglement with the Tang Dynasty, showing its strength.
However, when the Tang Dynasty swept the surrounding countries, it encountered a powerful enemy, Tubo. From time to time between the two countries, until the destruction of the country in the Tang Dynasty, did they have any other way to get Tubo? In fact, the power of Tubo at that time exceeded many people's imagination. The reason why it is strong is that Tubo at that time encountered the following factors that made it stronger:
First, the weather conditions are much wetter than now
The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in the Tang Dynasty was far less deserted and uninhabited as it is now. At that time, the climate in the plateau area was mild, and the excellent climatic conditions contributed to the first large-scale agricultural development in the history of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The Yalong River Valley in the south of Shannan, the birthplace of the Tubo dynasty, is a rare and fertile land with abundant aquatic plants on the plateau. In addition, the vast grasslands in northern Tibet provide unique conditions for the development of animal husbandry. Cattle, sheep, and war horses can be obtained from here. All of the above have become a powerful material support for the Tubo dynasty
The second is the powerful strength gathered by the unified regime
Before the Tang Dynasty, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was still in a chaotic state of constant disputes among various forces. This situation was completely reversed after its outstanding monarch Songtsen Gampo succeeded to the throne. Although Songtsen Gampo only lived to be 33 years old, he completed the great cause of basically unifying the various tribes of Tubo and laid a strong foundation for Tubo.
According to the law of historical development, most of the newly-born unified regimes have extremely high cohesion, which makes them show great strength to the outside world. During the Tang Dynasty, Tubo encountered this golden period of development and began to embark on the road of external expansion.
The third is the continuous influx of new technologies
At the same time that Tubo was reunified, its horizons continued to broaden. Zanpu in the past dynasties paid attention to the introduction of advanced technology. Although the most technologically advanced Tang Dynasty banned the export of technology, the Tubo people at that time took a different approach and mastered many advanced technologies such as iron smelting and smelting from the Central Asian and Indians, which promoted the prosperity of military power. But at least at the shortest technical level, it narrowed the gap with the Tang Dynasty. This is enough for the power of the kingdom of Tibet.
The fourth is a huge military reserve
Due to the great development of agriculture and animal husbandry, Tubo was able to feed a sufficient population at that time. In its heyday, the Tubo population reached more than 3 million. If you add other ethnic groups in the area under its control, there will be a population of nearly 10 million. This was simply a superpower at the time. You know, during the reign of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty in Zhenguan, the population of the whole country only recovered to more than 15 million due to the war in the previous hundreds of years.
The huge population provided Tubo with enough military reserves to cope with the continuous war consumption. According to historical records, the Tubo invaded the Tang Dynasty many times, and the army could be as large as 400,000. It is precisely these conditions that made Tubo one of the rare insurmountable forces during the 300 years of the Tang Dynasty, which demonstrates its strength.
Tubo was able to build an empire on the sparsely populated Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and compete with the two major powers of the East and the West for a century. It must be said that the Tubo people have created a miracle.