In our impression, the ancient nomads were extremely fierce horsemen, and the current Mongols riding horses and archery are also a necessary lesson, so in the Mongolian plateau where trees are extremely scarce, how did the ancient nomads make so many bows and arrows?
▲The lush trees of Daxing'anling
In addition, the Huns had a very close trade with other peoples in Central Asia, and the Huns could obtain the timber they needed from the south through trade. On the other hand, the Huns had long-term contact with the Central Plains peoples and constantly harassed the Central Plains peoples, and through continuous plunder and invasion, the Huns could also obtain a lot of wood from the Central Plains.
Then in the era of the Five Hu and Sixteen Kingdoms, the northern nomads had a lot of contact with the Central Plains peoples, and some of them were integrated into the settlements of the Central Plains peoples, and partially integrated with the Central Plains peoples, and they learned the cultivation methods and iron smelting techniques of the Central Plains people, which greatly improved the skills of the ethnic minorities in making bows and arrows.
The ancient nomadic people who were most proficient in riding and shooting skills were the Khitans, who originated in the Changbai Mountains region of northeast China and ruled over the entire Mongolian plateau and the northern part of the Central Plains during their power.
Because the Khitan people originated in the northeast, the northeast is rich in large and small Xing'an Mountains, and there is enough wood for them to make bows and arrows. Five generations later, the founding emperor of the Jin Dynasty, Shi Jingyao, ceded Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures to the Khitans, allowing the Khitans to master the more advanced productive forces of the Han People, yanyun sixteen prefectures have endless mountains and rich products in the North China Plain, the Khitan people can get a steady stream of material support, where the Khitan can not only get horses and grain, but also get wood and iron ore for weapons. The acquisition of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun made the Khitan people's source of bows and arrows self-sufficient.
The situation of the Jurchens and the Khitans is similar, originating in the northeast, and has Yanyun Sixteen Prefectures as the basis, and the Jurchen rule has crossed the Yellow River Basin to the Yangtze River Basin, the bow and arrow can be completely self-sufficient, even iron, grain and other strategic materials, the Jurchens can not worry.
To say that the poorest nomadic people in ancient times were the Mongols, the Mongols lived in the water and grass, and the tribes were scattered, and many tribes not only did not help each other, but were enemies of each other, which led to the Mongols before the golden family era, it was completely scattered, at any time The Mongol warriors were brave and good at war, but the population of a single tribe was small and the materials were scarce.
After Genghis Khan unified the Mongol ministries, the Mongols' strength increased greatly. What the Mongols lack the most is grain and grass materials, because the Mongols are brave and good at war, advocating force, and their method of obtaining materials is also very simple, that is, plundering, with their strength, plundering the materials in the Central Plains. Bows and arrows, grain and grass were obtained through plunder, and they also had a "great" idea of turning the land of China into a pasture for the Mongols.
All in all, although the ancient nomadic peoples lived in the sparsely forested Mongolian plateau, they never lacked the materials to make bows and arrows, whether through trade or plunder.