Chapter 484: Long-coveted, precious people and horses
This is a horse native to Liaodong. This is one of the reasons why Sun Quan sent troops to conquer Liaodong again. Sun Quan has coveted this horse for a long time.
If Jiangdong now only needs to protect itself, it will be enough to rely on the navy and the Yangtze River natural chasm, but if it wants to compete for world dominance, it will also need a large number of war horses.
Early the next morning, Quan Cong ordered the army to break out of camp and march towards Xiangping City, but still left a thousand men here.
On the way, Quan Cong on horseback did not forget to give an order: "Let the soldiers not torture the people or hurt the horses. The horses must gather them up. It will be of great use. Whoever wants to do these two things well, I will
I will personally ask His Majesty for credit for it!"
All the accompanying generals clasped their fists and said, "Don't worry, Grand Sima. Even if Grand Sima doesn't say anything, the servants will treat the people and horses well. After all, these are very precious to me, Jiangdong."
During the Han and Wei dynasties, animal power always played an important role in the power of land transportation. Whether it was war horses, cattle, donkey carts, mules, etc., many livestock breeds appeared successively.
As an ancient means of transportation, horse-drawn carriages are fast, convenient, and flexible, and played an important role in the ancient transportation process.
Horses have always been praised by people for their burly and upright bodies and their heroic posture in galloping thousands of miles.
As early as 4,000 years ago, horse-drawn carriages have been used in people's lives.
During the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, the ancients had always used horses to drive vehicles.
According to historical records, people learned to tame horses and drive horses during the Xia Dynasty, and carriages during the Shang Dynasty were already equipped with supporting facilities such as ‘spoke wheels and carriages’.
During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, horses began to be widely used as riding tools in people's lives. The princes even used the number of horse-drawn chariots to judge the strength of the country.
However, due to the large consumption of horses in wars, in the early Western Han Dynasty, the number of horses in the country decreased sharply. It was not easy for ordinary people and officials to own a living horse, let alone riding and driving. Even Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty was the emperor.
It was very difficult for Liu Bang to find four horses of the same color to drive when he went out, so he had to use mixed-color horses.
In order to obtain more horses, the imperial court promulgated relevant decrees, setting up a servant agency in the central government to take charge of official horses across the country, and setting up "priest gardens" in counties and counties to be responsible for raising horses, and required ordinary people to raise horses at home. In order to further encourage the private sector
Regarding horse raising, Emperor Wen of the Han Dynasty even issued a special order to exempt families who raised horses from corvee, which was considered a relatively generous policy.
During the reign of Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty, he accepted the advice of Wei Wan, the imperial censor, and strictly prohibited underage horses from leaving the customs. He also further expanded the scale of military horse ranches in border areas. He also set up 36 pastoral gardens in six counties of Hexi and raised horses for 30 years.
There are more than 10,000 horses. Such a large-scale horse breeding policy probably lasted for more than fifty years.
During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, he still insisted on developing the horse breeding industry. In order to obtain the fine breeds of BMWs from the Dawan Kingdom, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty did not hesitate to launch many military operations and sent generals to the Western Regions to obtain the bloody BMWs.
Later, due to the long-term military offensive against the Xiongnu, the loss of horses was very large. In the Battle of Mobei alone, the Han Dynasty lost more than 100,000 horses.
In order to meet the demand for war horses, horse breeding became a common practice in the Han Dynasty. Not only did the imperial court specially open large-scale horse breeding grounds, but also almost every household among the people raised horses. At that time, the number of horses in the country reached a historical peak.
In order to cultivate more horse breeds suitable for the battlefield, the Han Dynasty also arranged horse officials to improve the breeds of horses. Through continuous breeding attempts with Dawan sweat horses and Central Plains horses, new excellent horse breeds were finally cultivated.
.
Through the accumulation of practice, the knowledge and skills of horse breeding and horse appraisal in the Han Dynasty were effectively improved, and the entire society showed a high degree of interest in them, so many works specifically on horse appraisal appeared.
Ma Yuan, a famous general in the Eastern Han Dynasty, specially made bronze horse models on the basis of carefully studying the skills of his predecessors in horse-drawing, and used the models to train and educate people in horse-drawing skills.
Ma Yuan combines the characteristics of good horses such as the center, mouth, body, lip bun and other parts into one model, so that people can see clearly at a glance when observing, and easily grasp the characteristics of excellent horse breeds, achieving the purpose of long-term circulation. Ma Yuan's
This invention is of great significance and is highly valued by Chaoyan.
The Wei State has sufficient war horse resources. The Liaodong region and the Yong and Liang regions in the northwest produce excellent horses. In addition, the Wei State also has tribute horses from the Xiongnu, Korea, Wuhuan and other countries. It is precisely because of the sufficient war horses.
With limited resources, Cao Wei established a large-scale cavalry team.
The Kingdom of Shu and the Kingdom of Wu lacked war horse resources, and their armies had a small number of cavalry. The Kingdom of Shu could only obtain horses through caravans at high prices or by seizing them on the battlefield. There were very few horses produced on their own territory, while the Kingdom of Wu had even more horses.
They regarded horses as treasures. Since they could not form cavalry troops, they could only develop naval warships and use the Yangtze River natural moat to block the Wei army's galloping.
A horse-raising land like Liaodong is what Sun Quan has always longed for.
Of course, oxen are also a very important animal power in transportation. When it comes to the history of oxen carts, they are actually not shorter than horses. There are records of the use of oxen carts as early as 3,000 years ago. In the Book of Documents, there is also "submit oxen and ride horses".
clear record.
Due to the shortage of horses in the early Han Dynasty, it was very common for people to ride in ox-carts. Although in people's minds, riding in ox-carts was detrimental to dignity, but when the entire country lacked horse resources, they had no choice but to ride in ox-carts.
By the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the country's economy had developed, and the number of horses had greatly increased. At this time, even mares no longer bothered to ride, and ox-carts were despised by the rich and powerful.
At that time, cattle were more widely used by the people in farming.
Unfortunately, it didn't last long. Due to the long years of war, horses were greatly consumed. Later, horses became an important resource. Therefore, the means of transportation for princes and generals had to turn into ox carts. Therefore, during important banquets, ox carts were used in Chang'an City.
The cars are connected from front to back and stretch endlessly.
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, ox carts were favored by people, and even high-end ox carts appeared, becoming the exclusive means of transportation for wealthy nobles.
Although the advantages of ox-carts are not as convenient as horse-drawn carriages in normal times, ox-carts are of great significance when horses are in short supply.
Nowadays, because people generally like to ride bullock carts, they have developed superb driving skills in practice. Because bulls have a stable temperament and sufficient power, they can also be very fast as long as they are driven properly.
Of course, donkeys and mules are indispensable for transportation. After all, the number of horses is still far from enough.
Donkeys and mules have been used for transportation for a long time. As early as the Yin and Shang Dynasties, donkeys and mules from the northwest began to be imported. At that time, donkeys and mules were dedicated to the emperor as "tributes" and their value was quite precious.
By the end of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, although the number of mules had increased, they were still rare and rare animals of the royal family.
Since the Qin Dynasty, people in the mainland have regarded donkeys as rare animals, only for wealthy people to watch and entertain. The status of donkeys is much higher than that of ordinary livestock. It was not until Zhang Qian opened the Western Regions that a large number of donkeys and mules came to Chang'an along the Silk Road.
.
An interesting thing is that at the end of the Western Han Dynasty, the earliest shared transportation system-the "shared donkey" appeared in Chang'an.
Because transportation was underdeveloped at that time, donkeys had obvious advantages in driving and transportation, so they naturally became the preferred means of transportation for people to travel far away. However, donkeys were very expensive.