The Silk Road is long, the camel bell rings, and the horse's hooves are obtained. Located in Gansu, the golden section of the Silk Road, the cultural relics are as bright as the moon and as many as the stars. China has a long history and a vast civilization, which is the foundation of our self-confidence and the source of our strength. To protect cultural relics is to preserve history and to watch over our spiritual home. Let the masses remember the vicissitudes of history, see the traces of time, and retain the roots of civilization, so that we can use the power of culture to promote national progress and national prosperity.
In order to carry forward the excellent traditional Chinese culture, the new Gansu client uses the technical advantages of the provincial technology platform "New Gansu Cloud" of Gansu Province, and links the financial media centers at all levels in the province to launch a special planning column of "Light of the Silk Road, Saying Treasure", which tells the story of Gansu through cultural relics from all over the country, conveys the voice of Longyuan, shows the rich historical resources and profound cultural heritage of Gansu, and uses cultural power to promote the construction of a happy and beautiful new Gansu.
In this issue, "The Light of the Silk Road: Saying Treasures" walked into Zhangjiachuan County and got a glimpse of the ancient luxury cars.
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Chariots, also known as military chariots, leather chariots, military chariots, light chariots and long hubs, are vehicles used for offense and defense in ancient warfare. Since the beginning of the Xia Dynasty, chariots have been built, and small-scale chariot battles have occurred. From the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Spring and Autumn Period, chariots have always been the main equipment of the army, and chariot warfare was the main mode of combat at that time.
The two-wheeled chariot of the Shang and Zhou dynasties enhanced the mobility of the army, and the bronze weapons and equipment of the armor soldiers on the chariot exerted the greatest power of the weapons at that time, and the chariot was also equipped with flags, drums, duos, and cymbals to ensure the communication and combat command of the army. During the battle, the armor soldier stood on the cart and the unarmed soldiers followed the cart, and when one of the carts was defeated, the victory was a foregone conclusion.
Therefore, the war at that time was mainly a battle between chariots, so chariots were very popular.
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Before the Warring States Period in China, the most powerful combat arm was the charioteer, this chariot was called "Cheng", which means a four-horse horse-drawn chariot, and there were three members on the car: one driver, one archer (long-range attack), and one Ge (for close combat), and the chariot was a tank at that time, attacking in a queue, and it was very powerful.
During the Warring States Period, the Seven Kingdoms competed for power, and the Qin State at that time had a million armor, thousands of cars, and 10,000 horses. At that time, the Qin State was located in the Guanzhong Plain, known as having a million male divisions, and from the perspective of the strength of the Qin State at that time, the cavalry was in the order of 10,000, and the chariots were in the order of 1,000.
War horses are very important strategic resources in that era of scarcity of materials, and it is a very remarkable thing for a country to have hundreds of chariots, so there is an idiom to describe the country's strength, advanced weapons and equipment, and strong military strength - "the country of a thousand times".
Therefore, it can be said that the number of tanks at that time was equivalent to the military strength of a country, for example, the tanks at that time were like modern countries with nuclear weapons, the more tanks they had, the more they represented the strength of a country, and the more they could deter neighboring countries.
M14-1 I. (Kingen)
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The M14-1 Type I car (Jingen car) unearthed from the cemetery of the Xirong nobles of the Warring States period in Majiayuan, Zhangjiachuan County, is one of the most luxurious models of chariots unearthed in recent years, and belongs to the princely car, which was unearthed in the No. 14 tomb.
The whole car has no bristle paint, and it is the one with the clearest decoration of the front bezel beads. The compartment is a wooden fence type, and the left and right columns are additionally decorated with side panels, which are higher than the wooden fence. The side panel is curved, with 28 pieces of tin square openwork ornaments neatly arranged in the middle, and the corners of each square ornament are fixed by a hemispherical copper bubble. The outer ring of the wheels is decorated diagonally on the spokes with triangular pewter openwork florals. The middle of the spoke is semi-wrapped with a tin tube, and the inner ring is decorated with a gold and silver foil animal motif, and then decorated with light green and cream beads.
Photo courtesy of Zhangjiachuan County Majiayuan Cheyu Museum
The body is wrapped with pure gold and sterling silver and beads of various textures, in its compartment side panel and spoke part, there is a hollow pattern decoration composed of Han blue Han purple and white material beads, the hollow pattern is also called the hollow pattern, with auspicious wishes and wealth does not look back. At the top of its carriage side panel, there is the decoration of the tin lying sheep, and it is also the only one with the decoration of the tin lying sheep in the 69 carriages unearthed, because the Xirong people feel, "sheep, auspicious", so they decorate the lying sheep on the carriage, in order to highlight the identity and status of the tomb owner, and also have the beautiful meaning of auspiciousness.
Photo courtesy of Zhangjiachuan County Majiayuan Cheyu Museum
This car is known as the first luxury car in ancient times, and the Gansu Provincial Institute of Archaeology spent more than 220 yuan to build a one-to-one gold root car restored by pure gold and sterling silver, which is very representative, and was the car of the king of Rong and the tribal leader at that time. Therefore, it is completely comparable to all kinds of luxury cars we have now.
M14-1 I. (Kingen)
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The popularity of chariots greatly affected the combat of the army at that time. As the Spring and Autumn Period, which influenced the history of China for thousands of years, it can be said that etiquette penetrated into all aspects at that time, and even the war followed etiquette and paid attention to uprightness. In the early days of the war, the momentum was emphasized, and the process of the war was relatively simple - people had to arrange the troops, that is, they arranged the formation like chess before they began to fight, and at that time they mainly relied on infantry to fight, so the unit of the (chariot) was very powerful on the battlefield, one person drove a horse, one person commanded, and one person took a fight to attack, which can disrupt the opposite formation, and the means of war that can be attacked and retreated can be described as invincible.
However, after the Han Dynasty, the "appearance rate" of chariots was very rare, because with the development of the times, the expansion of territory, the continuous expansion of the scale of warfare, and the battle with nomads, the limitations of chariots gradually appeared.
First of all, it is expensive to build and a lot of horses are used. This was a very large military expenditure for the country at that time, and the relatively weak country could not support this expenditure at all.
Secondly, the chariot at that time did not have the shock absorption device of the current vehicle, so the requirements for the road were very high, as long as there were a slight potholes, it would feel very bumpy, which would affect the performance of the sergeant on the car, so the chariot was only suitable for flat and open terrain. However, after the expansion of the battlefield area, there are more terrain in the mountainous and southern water networks, coupled with the increase in the number of soldiers, the vehicles cannot be arranged.
Thirdly, the vehicle does not turn well, and there are more restrictions. The chariot usually had at least three people, one of whom had to ride a horse. Two people have combat effectiveness, and multiple horses must be in the same position, so flexibility is greatly reduced, and if a horse is frightened or killed or injured on the battlefield, it will cause more trouble. The combat effectiveness of the chariot in the plains is acceptable, and if it reaches the mountains, it is far less flexible than the cavalry. Therefore, this chariot began to become unsuitable in the wars against the northern ethnic minorities during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, because the nomads in the north did not use chariots but fought directly on horseback, which seemed incredible to the countries of the Central Plains at that time, but it was this flexible cavalry that defeated their chariots.
The most important thing is that when the time entered the late Warring States period, the war no longer paid attention to etiquette, and the intrigue officially entered the war, and the disadvantages of the chariot were very obvious, and the soldiers on the chariot often became "live targets", resulting in very heavy casualties.
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The Qin people raised horses and made cars. The Majiayuan site in Zhangjiachuan County was selected as one of China's "100 Archaeological Discoveries in 100 Years", which is one of the most important archaeological discoveries in the 21st century, and the horse-drawn carriage is the most typical representative among the 3,600 sets of cultural relics unearthed.
Cars were an important criterion for measuring a country's comprehensive national strength and an important embodiment of comprehensive manufacturing capacity in the pre-Qin period. With the support of unearthed cultural relics and the extension of the restoration of Xirong cars, the Majiayuan Cheyu Museum deeply analyzes the early car-making technology and car etiquette in the mainland, reproduces the cultural characteristics of Chinese civilization that are inclusive and inclusive, and vividly reproduces the historical picture of Qinrong's exchanges, exchanges and blending, integrating the restoration of cultural relics and the experience of cultural relics into modern life, so that the excellent traditional Chinese culture can be creatively transformed and innovatively developed.
The heat of a bowl of Malatang makes the thousand-year-old civilization of Tianshui once again displayed in front of the world, after eating Malatang, come to Zhangjiachuan, see the Guanlong Ancient Road, appreciate the luxury cars of the Warring States Period, eat Tianshui cherries, and feel the different Tianshui culture.
Special thanks to: Zhangjiachuan County Majiayuan Cheyu Museum Zhangjiachuan County Rong Media Center
Source: New Gansu