In the sixth episode of "The Legend of the Archery Hero", Guo Jing accidentally got a sweat and blood BMW, and found that the horse was running with ribs like wings, but sweated like blood. The Chronicle of Dawan records that Zhang Qian reported to Emperor Wu of Han after returning from the Western Regions: "
Dawan... Many good horses, horse sweat blood, its innate horse seeds also.
"Emperor Wu of han, who loved horses, sent tens of thousands of troops to surrender to Dawan in 102 BC, and dozens of male and female horses of sweat and blood and more than 3,000 male and female horses below medium level were surrendered.
After that, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty had people cross the sweat and blood BMW with the Mongolian steppe horse to breed the Shandan army horse, so that the horse breed in the Central Plains could be gradually improved, and the combat strength of the Han army cavalry was also greatly enhanced. However, after the Han Dynasty, the sweat and blood BMW did not improve it from generation to generation, but fell. In particular, the cavalry at the end of the Ming Dynasty almost collapsed at the same time as nurhaci's Houjin cavalry encountered it, and the late Ming army basically reached the point where there were no horses to use. And to this day, China no longer has a native purebred sweat and blood BMW, some horse farms or horse breeding enthusiasts, can only be imported from abroad.
We can't help but ask,
Where did the sweat and blood BMW that Emperor Wu of Han exchanged for tens of thousands of lives?
Could it be that the result of successive generations of improvements has actually become extinct?
The Sweat Blood BMW, scientific name Akhal Tejin Horse, originating in Turkmenistan, is one of the oldest and most unique horse breeds in the world, dating back to 2400 BC. In fact, according to the historical records, Turkmenistan is not the origin of sweat and blood BMW, because the ancient Kingdom of Dawan is not in Turkmenistan, but on the border between Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. But this does not prevent Turkmenistan from treating the sweat and blood BMW as a national treasure, and even drawing its image to the national emblem and currency.
Why is sweaty BMW so favored? What is so unique about it?
Compared with other horse breeds, sweat and blood BMW has a delicate physique, lightness, good back and waist combination, beautiful shape, sensitive, susceptible to stimulation, light gait, elasticity, and is a typical hot-blooded horse. The horse runs briskly, strides in stride, and is light and agile when jumping. Because he often travels long distances in the desert, in order to save physical strength, he lifts his feet low during transportation, and his body is balanced and stable.
These advantages of the sweat and blood BMW were given excellent play during the Light Cavalry period of the Han Dynasty. After the Jin Dynasty, wars were frequent, the armor of the warriors and cavalry gradually thickened and aggravated, the sweat and blood BMW because of the waist and thin legs, although light and jumpy, the weight bearing ability was weak, the light cavalry used it handily, and the heavy armored cavalry was a little difficult to use. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, there were heavy armored cavalry of the Iron Floating Massacre, and the men and horses were fully armed, and the armor was extremely heavy. In this case, the sweat-blooded BMW gradually gave way to the stout and inflexible River Horse.
Hequ horse is produced in Qinghai.
Some people believe that the red rabbit horse ridden by Guan Yu has the dual ability of running and weight bearing, which may be a hybrid breed of sweat blood horse and river qu horse.
Moreover, this horse was brought by Dong Zhuo from Xiliang, which is the origin of the Hequ horse, and with Dong Zhuo's ability at that time, there should be no shortage of pure-bred sweat and blood horse descendants in his army. Now, there is some truth to this speculation. Sweat horses and river horses have a long lineage, and mating will have two negative effects, one is that the reproduction rate is low and the possibility of deformity is greater; the other is that the horses produced are impatient and difficult to control, so it is also possible to have a good foal like the red rabbit horse.
In short, since the Han Dynasty, the quality of central plains horses has improved significantly.
The Tang Dynasty had strict control over the pedigree of horses, horses were of pure blood, and good horses abounded. The Tang dynasty army was extraordinary in battle, largely due to the strong cavalry strength.
The war horses used by Emperor Taizong of Tang during his lifetime were also carved into the Six Horses of Zhaoling and displayed in front of the tomb.
The Song Dynasty emphasized literature over military force, and also implemented the system of official camp horse farms, and the soldiers did not take the cultivation of good horses as their responsibility at all. Coupled with the fatigue of coping with foreign aggression, the financial pressure is huge, the army and horses are seriously insufficient, the sweat and blood horses are not said to be breeding, and may not even be able to guarantee basic survival, so why talk about being re-armed and going to the battlefield? Although Yue Fei's Yue family army was mainly cavalry, what few people know is that
Most of the yue's warhorses were captured from the Jin army.
The Yue family army was the only team with cavalry as the main force at that time, with extraordinary combat strength and invincible, basically relying on the stolen Jinguo horse, not the Central Plains horse, not the sweat and blood horse.
In addition, the northern minorities used cavalry as the main military strike force, such as the iron harrier of the Western Xia or the continuous horse of the Jin Kingdom, which resembled heavy cavalry; the migratory military conquest of the Mongol legions had more demand for Mongolian horses with strong endurance and hardiness; and in the dense rivers or mountainous hilly areas of the Central Plains, sweat and blood horses could not play their specialties. As a result, the sweat horse gradually lost its market.
Surprisingly,
The Mongols, who were good at riding and shooting, were not good at horses.
Compared with the sweat horse, the Mongols found that the European war horse was much taller and more majestic than the Mongolian horse, and was superior to the Mongolian horse in terms of endurance and speed, but the Mongols did not abandon the Mongolian horse and use the European horse. In addition to relying on mobile and flexible tactics, the short and flexible Mongolian horses, as well as the characteristics of strong endurance and adaptability, also helped them a lot. This is also an important reason why the Mongols do not use sweat and blood horses.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the use of various firearms increased the weight of the army, and the requirements for the load and dragging ability of horses were also greatly improved, and sweaty horses were unable to play their specialties.
The sweat and blood BMW, which has been introduced since the Han Dynasty, has been breeding in the vast Central Plains for thousands of years, and it has gradually disappeared, which cannot but be said to be an incomprehensible thing.
When the sweat and blood BMW was introduced, including the Tang Dynasty, people were still able to strictly control the genealogy and ensure the excellent quality of the horse. However, factors such as war, economy, man-made and the absolute superiority of local horse breeds in China have made the original pure sweat and blood horses helpless."
Introduction - hybridization - improvement - backcrossing - disappeared
"This model is going down. In addition, war horses often have to be castrated before they can be used on the battlefield, and some good horses have lost their ability to reproduce, which has also accelerated the demise of sweat and blood BMWs to a certain extent.
Is this natural selection? Maybe, maybe not, after all, there are human factors in it, and in the end all we are left with is a sigh.
Let's go back to the time of Emperor Wu of Han.
In 110 BC, Zhonglang ordered Han Buxian to lead an envoy to Dawan. When they left Dunhuang, crossed Loulan, and crossed the desert, and finally arrived at the capital city of Dawan, thousands of miles away, half a year later, they were killed when they asked for horses. Subsequently, Li Guangli marched on Dawan twice in four years, slaughtering Luntai, extinguishing Yucheng, and encircling Dawan. Destroying a country, killing two kings, sacrificing tens of thousands of soldiers, and finally surrendering to Dawan, getting dozens of sweat and blood horses and thousands of other horses.
Through the lens of history, we seem to be able to see Emperor Wudi of han happily compose "Heavenly Horse Song" after getting the sweat and blood BMW:
Taiyi Gong Xi Tianma, red sweat and foam flowing ochre [zhě].
Chengrong and Xi [yì] Wanli, now Anpi Xilong as friends.
Naturally, Emperor Wu of Han would never have imagined this day of sweat and blood BMW.
(Note: 跇 - The meaning of transcendence.) ）