In fact, these six horses are bluestone relief stone carvings on the altar north of Li Shimin's Zhaoling Tomb of Emperor Taizong of Tang. Also known as "Zhaoling Liujun". Liu Jun (六君) was a war horse that Li Shimin had ridden before the establishment of the Tang Dynasty, named "Fist Hair (Guā)", "Shi (Shí) Vachi", "White Hoof Wu", "Teller (Biāo)", "Qingqi (zhuī)", and "Sa (sà) Luzi". In order to commemorate these six warhorses, Li Shimin ordered the craftsman Yan Lide and the painter Yan Liben to depict six warhorses in relief columns in front of the mausoleum.
"Teller", the yellow horse white beak is slightly black, the coat color is yellow and white, so it is called "Horse", "Teller" is the official name of the Turkic tribe, which may be a gift from a Turkic teller. Related allusions
In 619, Li Shimin rode on this horse to fight against Song Jingang, and history records: In the early Tang Dynasty, the world was undecided, Song Jingang fell into Huanzhou (in present-day Shanxi), the soldiers were very sharp, and the "special service" carried Li Shimin bravely into the enemy position in this battle, engaged dozens of rounds in a day and night, fought eight hard battles in a row, and established meritorious achievements. Tang Taizong's praise for it was: "Ying Ce Vacates the air, and accepts the voice of half a Han; Natural danger destroys the enemy and takes advantage of danger to help. It was taken advantage of by Li Shimin when he pacified Song Jingang.
One of the Six Horses of Zhaoling, the "Fist Mao Qi", was a war horse that Li Shimin Wude rode during his battle with Liu Heimin (formerly Dou Jiande's general) in Shuishui (i.e., Zhangshui, in present-day Quzhou County, Hebei Province) during his battle in Hebei from December 4 to March of the following year, and was listed in the middle of the three stone carvings on the west side of the altar. The horse black mouth, the whirling hair around the body is yellow, the original name is "Luo Ren Qi", is the DaiZhou assassin Shi Xu Luoren in the Tiger Prison Pass (汜水關) forward to Li Shimin's mount, so it was once named after Xu Luoren as the horse name. Xu Luoren was buried with Zhaoling after his death, and his tombstone recorded the imprisonment of Wu Prison (see "Zhaoling Stele Stone" and "Xu Luoren Stele", Sanqin Publishing House, 1993 edition). Descendants or because the horse's body is swirling and curly, also known as "fist hair".
In January 2017, the Zhaoling Museum in Shaanxi Province published the article "Zhaoling 'Erjun', China Waits for You to Return Home", stating the reasons from multiple angles, demanding that the Penn Museum return the "Erjun" stolen during the Republic of China period - "Salu Zi" and "Fist Hair".
According to the Old Book of Tang. The Biography of Qiu Xinggong (vol. 59) records that during a battle between Li Shimin and Wang Shichong at Luoyang Mountain, he and his entourage were separated, followed only by the general Qiu Xinggong. Suddenly, a long causeway crossed in front of them, and Wang Shichong's cavalry shot another arrow at the warhorse that was chasing and blocking the "Salu Purple," and at this critical juncture, the great general Qiu Xinggong turned his horse's head in a hurry, shot a few arrows at the enemy's company, and then turned over and dismounted, giving up his mount to Li Shimin, holding the injured "Salu Purple" in one hand, and with Li Shimin in the other hand, "making a huge leap and shouting, cutting off several people, bursting out of the line, and entering the army." Back at the camp, after Qiu Xinggong pulled out the arrow in his chest for "Salu Purple", "Salu Purple" fell down.
In order to commend Qiu Xinggong's battle exploits of desperately escorting the car, Li Shimin specially ordered the drawing of arrows to be carved on the stone screen. The stone carving "Salu Purple" captures this momentary situation, and the "Salu Purple" after the arrow is snuggled up, his eyes are low, his hips are slightly reclined, his limbs are slightly weak, and the severe pain makes his whole body tremble. The samurai in front of him was Li Shimin's general Qiu Xinggong who was drawing arrows. This kind of rescue is really inseparable and deeply emotional. Li Shimin praised Wen Ri for his inscription: "Purple Swallow Super Leap, Bone Tengshen Jun, Qi Qi Sanchuan, Wei Ling Eight Arrays."
The White Hoofed Wu, one of the Six Horses of Zhaoling, is a pure black warhorse with four white hooves, which was the mount of Li Shimin when he fought against Xue Rengao. According to the Quan Tang Wen (vol. 10), which records the Six Horses Tuzan of Emperor Taizong's Zhaoling Tomb, Jun and "White Hoof Wu" were mounts mounted by Li Shimin and Xue Rengao (Xue Ju's son) during their battle in Shallow Water Plains (northeast of present-day Changwu County, Shaanxi) between September and November of the first year of Wu De (618), and were listed at the end of the Three Horses (arranged from south to north) on the west side of the altar. Regarding the name of the "white-hoofed crow", for thousands of years, people have been holding the saying that it is a pure black horse with four white hooves. However, Mr. Ge Chengyong's research believes that as a praise for the great military achievements of "Heavenly Khan" Tang Taizong and the name of the mount, the name of "White Hoof Wu" is not enough to explain the meaning of Li Shimin's great achievements. He believes that the word "white hoof" comes from the Turkic word "bota", which means young horse or young camel, which means "little khan". The "White Hoof" should be a mount with an honorary proper name in the Turkic word for "Young Khan", "with a praise title or a variety of noble official titles before the name of a black horse with military merits, and its symbolic significance is not only in line with the Turkic custom of praising the mounts of the upper leaders, but also with the Traditional Tang Practice of Praising the Holy Emperor." Therefore, the Turkic word 'little khan' (bota) should be the real original meaning of the Chinese word 'white hoof'. (Ge Chengyong, "Tang Zhaoling Liujun and Turkic Burial Customs Research", Chinese Literature and History Series, No. 60.) The source of Ge's theory quoted below is the same) The author consulted relevant information and believed that Mr. Ge's theory should be.
The horse on the stone carving flew through the air, and was hit by five arrows, all on the horse's hips, one of which was shot from behind, and it could be seen that he was injured in the charge. In this major battle, Li Shimin was born and died, suffered three casualties on war horses, and basically completed the great cause of reunification.
"Shivachi" is a pure red horse arranged at the end of the east side of the altar. Regarding the name "Shivachi", the Japanese scholar Harada Shuren believes that "Shiva", or translated as "叱拨", is an abbreviation of the Persian word "Shiva", that is, the Chinese meaning of "horse". In addition, in modern Cantonese, which is more recently similar to the ancient Tang dynasty, "Shiva" and "叱拨" are pronounced very similarly.
According to the literature, the horse "Qingxiao" was the mount of Li Shimin and Dou Jiande (the leader of the peasant rebel army in Hebei and Shandong in the last years of the Sui Dynasty) at the battle at Wugaoguan in Luoyang, and was listed in the middle of the three horses on the east side of the altar. At the Battle of Wugaoguan, Li Shimin was the first to mount the "Qingqiao" horse, led an elite cavalry, like an arrow off the string, straight into the 20-mile-long army position of Dou Jiande's army, left and right, crushed Dou Jiande and more than 100,000 troops, and captured Dou Jiande at Niukouzhu (12.5 kilometers northwest of present-day Fenshui County, Henan Province). After a big battle, the horse "Qingxiao" was hit by five arrows (one arrow in the front and four arrows in the back), all of which were fired from the oncoming, which showed that it ran rapidly and abnormally. The stone carving "Green Horse" is in the shape of a gallop, showing the scene of galloping into the formation. The great victory of Wu Prison Pass enabled the tang Dynasty to achieve a decisive victory in the unification war in the early years of the Tang Dynasty.
Therefore, Li Shimin praised the "green horse" as a "horse". "Footlight movie, divine chance, Cezi flying training, set me in clothes."