Speaking of the ancient nomads, we are accustomed to the impression that they ride horses and shoot arrows on the grassland, drink wine and eat meat in big bowls, usually live on nomadism, good fighting bravely, once they lack something, they run to the hinterland of the Central Plains to plunder, in short, it is a very primitive and barbaric state, when it comes to their daily food, it seems that in addition to beef and mutton, they basically do not eat anything else, and the richness is far less than that of the Han people.
As we all know, now the breeding industry is fed with feed, and there are a lot of diseases and disasters to prevent disasters, so cattle and sheep can grow up quickly, but in ancient times it was different, natural artificial stocking, the growth rate of cattle and sheep is very slow, so many friends will ask, nomads eat meat every day, can the supply of cattle and sheep be sufficient?
Image: A still from a roast lamb being served
1. The need for meat among nomads
1. How many sheep are enough to eat
Before looking for the answer, we need to figure out one thing, whether the food of the nomads is a large amount of meat, according to the productivity of ancient times, if there are no natural disasters and epidemics, everything is smooth, a sheep needs about 2 years to grow to 100 catties, and at this time, about 40 catties of mutton can be obtained after slaughter.
In a nomadic tribe that can select 100 half-soldiers and half-pastoral warriors, the total population should be maintained at least 400 people, and according to the calculation of eating 3 sheep per capita per month, then 1,200 sheep will be consumed in a month, which is more than 15,000 in a year.
Combined with the records of historical materials, for most of the history of the mainland, the nomads living in the north generally had an army of about 200,000, and the consumption of 100 soldiers and their families was so huge, and the consumption of 200,000 soldiers would be a staggering 60 million sheep.
Speaking of which, we should also pay attention to one point, this huge number is only eaten, if you want to continue the scale of the flock, at least more than 200 million herds can be fully supplied, so what is the real breeding situation?
According to the available data, as of 2020, with the continuous blessing of today's high-end technology, the western, northwestern, and southwestern regions of the continent plus the northeastern provinces have only reached about 200 million.
Image: Stills from sheep herding
2. Meat is not something you can eat if you want to
In fact, everyone always thinks that nomads are barbaric, and eating meat at every turn is a stereotypical cognition, but also a wrong cognition, and our Central Plains society, in the ancient nomadic people, meat is still a very precious and scarce resource, generally only the aristocratic class can enjoy it on weekdays, and it is not to say that every meal can be eaten.
You must know that even in the hinterland of the Central Plains, where the productive forces are advanced, it was not until the middle and late last century that the Chinese people popularized meat, and it was only a few decades later. So don't be led astray by some literary works or the plot in TV dramas, which is obviously not in line with reality.
For the average nomadic people, feeding a large number of sheep, cows, and horses is actually more like a job, or has other special purposes, rather than to be used as food to meet their daily diet. Except for the fact that meat can be eaten on special festivals or major ceremonies of some tribes, there is no doubt that they cannot afford to eat it if they eat it every day.
Image: Roast lamb stills
2. The main food of the nomads
1. Food sources
Since it is impossible for the nomads to eat meat every day, what is their main source of food? First of all, wild animals such as yellow sheep, rabbits, and elk, which are written in books such as "The Secret History of Mongolia", when Genghis Khan Temujin's family was exiled by the clansmen, because the family had few livestock, they were not willing to eat at all, and most of the time they wanted to get food, they went out to hunt on the Mongolian plateau, and the methods included shooting, trapping, and so on.
Due to the special environment on the plateau, the types of animals are still relatively diverse, as long as you understand the activity area and Xi of various animals, you will definitely have a harvest, and these animals hunted, in addition to filling their stomachs, their fur can also be exchanged with the traveling merchants in the tribe such as salt, iron, tea, clothes and other materials.
In fact, this is a microcosm of the living conditions of nomads, and at the same time, because the people of the nomadic tribe have been hunting everywhere since they were young in order to survive, they have naturally created the ability to be "skilled in arching horses".
Image: Stills from a hunting trip
Secondly, there are a large number of dairy products, including cheese, milk tea, etc., in ancient times, there was no refrigerator and other equipment to keep fresh, so as far as meat is concerned, it must be killed and eaten.
Although this practice has indeed existed for a long time in history, you must know that a large amount of salt must be used in the raw materials for making jerky, which is a typical scarce resource in ancient times, and even for nomads, the value of salt is far higher than that of meat, so it is impossible to make jerky in large quantities, unless you don't want to live a good life.
In contrast, dairy products can provide people with sufficient nutrition, such as cow's milk, mare's milk, goat's milk, camel milk, etc., are the best choice for nomadic tribes, in addition to drinking directly, can also be made into milk tea, milk wine, cheese, ghee dried milk and other foods, these foods are very easy to store.
Image: Stills from pouring milk wine
2. Other foods
The above two are the main food sources of nomadic people, and there are two other ways to obtain different types of food, the first is farming, which is what they are not very good at, but it does not mean that there are none, many places on the plateau have good conditions for agricultural development, so people will also learn to grow millet, wheat, barley, buckwheat and other crops like the Han people.
Although their agricultural technology is not advanced enough, and they will encounter the harsh natural climate of the special plateau, but at least enrich the variety of their own diet, it is worth mentioning that history books often say that nomads will plunder a large number of people in the Central Plains when they go south, in fact, the captured Han people are to farm or work as handicraftsmen.
Image: Stills from wheat planting
The last method is relatively simple and crude, that is, plundering everywhere, the ancients once summed up a sentence, called "the Huns to kill for farming, in ancient times only see white bones and yellow sand fields". What does that mean? That is, the nomads burned and looted everywhere in order to obtain food, and in some special periods, this method will rise to become one of the main sources of food.