A large number of archaeological and cultural relics in Qinghai have shown that the emergence of animal husbandry economy is later than the agricultural economy; the rise of large-scale animal husbandry economy in Qinghai is in the Cayo culture period of the Bronze Age, and the emergence of nomadic economy is in the late stage of Cayo culture. ①
Before the Western Jin Dynasty, the main body of the nomadic people in Qinghai was the Qiang, who "lived in impermanence, followed the water and grass, had few grains on the ground, and took the production and animal husbandry as their occupation." (2) The level of animal husbandry development is relatively high, as can be seen from the fact that Duan Hao of the Eastern Han Dynasty only obtained a total of 8 million Qiang people, horses, cattle and sheep when he attacked the Qiang people (3).
In the Western Jin Dynasty, Tuguhun in eastern Liaoning moved to the Ganqing area, and later developed into the "Tuguhun State", which further brought the animal husbandry industry in Qinghai to an unprecedented stage. Legislation "killing people and the death of horse thieves", raising horse breeding to the same height as people to be attached to it, which not only made the number of horses reach an astonishing level, but also bred valuable breeds such as "Dragon Stallion", "Qinghai Horse", "Dancing Horse" and so on.
During the Sui and Tang dynasties, Tuguhun and Tubo, which were mainly based on animal husbandry, had a huge and urgent demand for grain, silk, tea, handicrafts, etc. in the Central Plains; at the same time, due to the needs of war, the Central Plains Dynasty also urgently needed the excellent horses produced by Tuguhun and Tubo to equip and enrich the army, so it was imperative or opportune to exchange trade with each other.
In the Sui Dynasty, it was once in Chengfengshu (承凤戍, in present-day Guide County, Galang Township, Qianhuzhuang area) in The city of Mutual City.
In the Tang Dynasty, after Tubo occupied the tuguhun homeland, Hequ, an important horse herding land in the former Tang Dynasty, was once assigned to Tubo, which seriously affected the development of Tang guanma. Emperor Xuanzong of Tang sent his servant Wang Maozhong to preside over ma zheng and exchange tea and silk with Tubo at Chiling (present-day Yueshan) to replenish the military shortage. After the Anshi Rebellion, Tubo occupied the Longyou region, causing Tang to "run out of national horses, and the quota of the Superintendent and the Seven Horse Fang were abolished", and in the first month of the tenth year of Yuan He (816), when Tang rebelled against Wu Yuanji, he also "ordered the envoy to make ten thousand city horses in Hequ." (4), these are the prototypes of the "tea horse mutual market" in the future. (To be continued)
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(1) Cui Yonghong, Qinghai Economic History, p14
(2) Book of the Later Han Dynasty, vol. 87, "Biography of the Western Qiang"
(3) Book of the Later Han Dynasty, vol. 65, "Duan Jiao Chuan
(4) "Tang HuiJiao" volume 72 "Horse"