I come across a couple of articles mentioning a Tang official by the name of Wáng XuánCè (王玄策).
According to the articles, circa AD 641, during the reign Lĭ Shì Mín, envoys from a northern Indian kingdom arrived at the Court of Tang. Were these remnants of the Gupta Empire that continued to rule the region known as Magadha? I am assuming it as probable as the Chinese articles named them as 摩揭陀帝国 (Mó Jiē Tuó), and 玛卡达 (Mă Kă Dá).
Wang XuanCe was appointed deputy envoy in the diplomatic trip from Tang to return the courtesy, departing AD 643 and returning AD 646.
He was appointed the ambassador for the second trip in AD 647. Unfortunately, there was a war whereby the previous dynasty in Ma Ka Da was defeated, and the diplomatic entourage were captured. According to the article, Wang XuanCe managed to escape to Nepal, and based on Tang's diplomatic marital relationship with Tibet, borrowed 7,000 cavalry, together with Tibet's King Songtsen Gampo military assistance, waged a victorious campaign against his captors, the 阿尔裘那 (Ā Ěr Qiú Nà) - which could be the Hunas or Alchons.
The article further went on to illustrate Wang's forces defeating the elephant cavalry of his enemies at the banks of the Ganges (甘地斯河), and while besieging the city of 茶博和罗 (Chá Bó Hé Luó, where could this be?), Wang deployed some of China's siege engines such as the cloud ladder (云梯), catapult (抛石车) etc.
After various campaigns, the article narrated Wang pacified the kingdom and brought the enemy leader in chains back to the Tang Court to present him to the Tang Emperor in AD 648. This would have been the year just before Li Shimin's death.
In AD 658, he was appointed again as an envoy to India by Emperor Gaozong (高宗), primarily to pay homages at various Buddhist temples.
As he had done practically nothing within Tang's borders itself, few knew of his deeds. He left behind accounts of his travels in the books 《中天竺行记》 (now lost), 《法苑珠林》, 《解迦方志》
Questions:
1. What were the names of the places he went to in India, and the names of the kings he encountered?
2. Were there any records of him in Indian history?
References:
中国历史上最厉害的大使
中国古代最牛的使者王玄策