In 640, the marriage delegation sent by Songtsen Gampo headed by the Tibetan minister Gar Dongzan (that is, Lu Dongzan) came to Chang'an to propose to the Tang Dynasty with **5,000 taels and hundreds of other treasures. Tibetan historical texts record many touching stories of Gardontsen competing with other marriage envoys to marry Princess Wencheng.
At that time, in addition to Tibet, there were envoys from India, Persia, Chong Gesar, Badahor and other countries who went to Chang'an to propose marriage. The Tibetan envoys who proposed marriage lived in an inn in the northeast corner of the palace, while the envoys from other countries and regions lived near the palace and were often summoned by the emperor. In the past, there were wars between the Tang and Tibetan dynasties, and they competed with each other's forces, so the Tibetan envoys could still understand the Tang Dynasty emperor's approach. There is a Tibetan proverb that says, "A pair of heroes on the battlefield will become friends after the war." They believed that the sun would surely rise on the friendly relations between Tang and Fan. One day, Tang Taizong and his ministers went out of the palace, Gardong Zan stepped forward, presented ** generous gifts and gem armor, and respectfully explained the function of the armor to the emperor, asking the emperor to marry the beautiful princess to Zampu, and wrote a letter to the emperor of the Tang Dynasty - a presentation to the emperor. After Emperor Taizong read the letter, he felt that Tubo was a neighbor with a strong army, and Songtsen Gampo was also a brave and warlike monarch, but there were too many marriage proposals, and the emperor had to make a final decision on whether to marry the princess to Tubo.
A few days later, Tang Taizong summoned marriage envoys from various countries. When it was the turn of the Tibetan envoy to introduce, Gardonzan stepped forward and said: "The great minister of Tubo, Gardongzan Yusong, is specially ordered by the Tibetan holy Zanpu Songtsan Gampo to marry Princess Wencheng. "The envoys of various countries heard what you said and I said, and they quarreled, and everyone hoped to marry Princess Wencheng as their king's wife, as if they had not fulfilled their responsibilities as courtiers.
After seeing this situation, Emperor Taizong said: "Envoys, each of your countries has its strengths, but there is only one princess Wencheng, and I have been thinking about this problem for half a year, and now, we can only solve this problem by adopting one way, and this way is to compete in wisdom, whoever has superior intelligence will marry the princess to its king." The topics are being announced one after another. The first topic is, 100 mares, 100 foals, 100 hens, 100 chicks, identifying the relationship between mother and child. The deadline is three days.
The envoys are racking their brains to get Princess Wencheng and win honor for their country. On the third day, the envoys of all countries came up with their own tricks. Some are distinguished by color, red foal with red horse, black foal with black horse, white hen with white chick, flower hen with flower chick, tossing for a long time, the mare does not know the foal, snorting to scare the foal; The hen does not know the chicks, and pecks the chicks with her beak, and the chirping of the horses and the chirping of the chickens are loud, and although the envoys block the left and right, it is still the chicks that are the chicks, the hens are the hens, the mare are the mares, and the foals are the foals. The next day the Minister of Gar came to identify, he ordered the attaché to scatter a handful of lees all over the field, and then released the hens and chickens, those chicks and hens clucked, while eating and looking for their "mother" or "child", it didn't take long for the ten ** to have a goal, suddenly, there was a "chirp!" Hoohoo! "A few eagles chirped, and the hens croaked like sirens, pricking their feathers, lowering their wings, and turning in circles, and for a time the chicks were all under the hen's wings, and the hens were all with their chicks. Then Gardonzan ordered the stables of Guan and Guan mares to be opened, and the mares were swollen for a day, and the foals were hungry for a day, and when they saw it, there was a confusion like boiling water, and then everything was quiet, and the foals were intently sucking their mother's milk, and there was a peaceful atmosphere. The onlookers cheered in unison.
In the evening, Emperor Taizong invited envoys from various countries to attend a banquet. The hall is brilliantly lit. The guest and the host sat down, raised their glasses frequently, drank until they were half-drunk, and the kabuki played the music of King Qin's breaking formation; The maiko danced on the carpet, and after a while, some of the envoys were half drunk, and said some drunken words, crazy words, and foul words, and some even went to pester the palace maids. Gardonzan stroked his beard, drank some wine from time to time, kept his eyes open, and watched the excitement. At the beginning of the first shift, the Marquis of Chen Guo said: "Envoys, according to Emperor Taizong's dictation, the banquet is over, please find your own door and go back to rest." This also counts as an exam, and the winner of the second shift is the one who finds his own place to live! At this time, most of the envoys had drunk too much, and some were so drunk that they were snoring on their desks. Gardonzan deliberately burped, pretended to be drunk, and staggered back. He quietly looked back behind him, and there were very few people with him. After walking a short distance, seeing that there was no one in front of him, he took out the small lantern prepared during the day from his Tibetan robe, lit it, hummed a song, and returned to his residence leisurely.
After a few days, the third problem came out: divide the broken wood with a round line on the 100 sections and separate the roots. The envoys of various countries could not distinguish between them, and Gardonzan threw the wood into the water, the roots were heavy, and the tips were light, and they were quickly separated, so Gardonzan quickly became famous among the envoys of various countries. The fourth puzzle is to pass a ribbon through a very small nine-curved orb. This orb is a nine-song orb, with a twist in the middle, and no matter what method is used, it will never be able to pass through. Gardonzan tied a horsetail around the waist of an ant and put the ant into the hole of the Nine Curved Orb, and the black ant dragged the tail and crawled slowly inside, crawling over and over again, and finally came out from the other end of the hole.
Then came the fifth problem: the 100 marriage messengers had to slaughter 100 sheep, drink 100 catties of wine, eat mutton, and tann the sheepskins in one day, and demand that the site be clean and free of blood. None of the marriage emissaries from other countries dared to take the test. Gardonzan smiled and agreed. On the day of the competition, many people in the Tang Dynasty, wedding envoys from various countries and many people in Chang'an City rushed to come**, killing sheep is a simple matter for the shepherd, three times five divided by two, a hundred sheep cleaned up; Then everyone danced and sang while tanning the skin, and took turns to fish for meat in the pot to eat. And when the sun was on the west, the wine had been drunk, the meat had been eaten, and a hundred sheepskins had been tanned, and the field was clean and clean without blood. Everyone saw the most beautiful dance of Tubo and appreciated the cheerful and hearty character of the Tubo people. Many people also danced and sang along with them.
After winning five levels in a row, there is one final puzzle left: to identify Princess Wencheng among the five hundred palace maids who are dressed exactly the same. No one in the delegation had ever seen Princess Wencheng, and Gardonzan asked everyone to understand the princess's appearance, temperament, height, fat and thin through all relationships. However, in two days, these circumstances were clearly understood.
On this day, Tang Taizong brought hundreds of civil and military officials to the palace to personally conduct the test. Five hundred palace maids dressed gorgeously and similar in appearance, walked out of the palace gate in two teams in turn, like five hundred heavenly immortals floating from the air, light, chic, handsome, dazzling, Gar Dongzan wrapped his hand with silk, held a carved arrow, looked carefully, when he counted to the forty-ninth, carefully looked at the mole at the root of her ear, then rolled the collar of the "official girl" with a sheath, and led her to the seat of Taizong, Princess Wencheng saw Tang Taizong and immediately bowed: "The courtier Wencheng sees her father and emperor." ”
Taizong said: "No courtesy." I was also wondering in my heart, "This Gardonzan is really a bit of a god, how can he recognize Princess Wencheng so accurately?" On the one hand, he said to Wen Cheng: "My son married in Tubo, which is conducive to the friendship of Tang and Tibet for all generations, and I hope to cherish myself and live up to my good intentions." ”
After the marriage test, Tang and Fan agreed to set off from Chang'an in the mid-spring of the fifteenth year of Zhenguan. Before leaving, Tang Taizong summoned Gar Dongzan and said to him: "Tang and Tibet are about to get married, I admire the wisdom of Prime Minister Gar, and I specially named you the general of the left guard, and I want to marry Duan, the granddaughter of Princess Langya, to you, and let you stay in Chang'an, so that you can teach from time to time." Gardonzan hurriedly thanked him: "I already have a wife in Tibet, and I have four boys, so I really don't dare to add any more in-laws." When Taizong heard this, he was no longer reluctant.