Unconstrained style

 

Unconstrained style

 

While Agudengba was chatting with the coachman Azhuo, he came across a horse team slowly walking towards them. This was a horse-trading team, and the leader of the team, Fang Shidi, told some stories about the origin and characteristics of the sweat-blooded horses in order to sell horses to Agudengba. It also gave Agudengba and the coachman Azhuo some knowledge of horse racing.

The crow Betty sang a horse song "Pegasus".

The coachman Azhuo said to the crow Betty: What song are you singing? I don't understand.

Crow Betty smiled:

This is a horse praising song that was popular during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. In the autumn of the fourth year of Yuanding reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, a Dunhuang prisoner named "Liu Chang" captured a bloody horse locally and presented it to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty got the horse, he was ecstatic and called it "Tianma". And wrote this song about horses. The meaning of the lyrics is: This sweaty horse is like a Pegasus, and the sweat shed is red but not blood. Galloping and galloping can cover thousands of miles, and the heavenly horse and the green dragon are friends.

Crow Betty smiled again and said: What we usually call the "dragon-horse spirit" comes from this allusion.

When I copied Han Fang, the earth also laughed: You are really a divine crow.

Fang Shidi said to Agudenba and the coachman Azhuo:

The earliest records of sweaty horses can be traced back to the fifth century BC. The ancient Greek historian Herodotus said in his work that "the vast territory of Eastern Nissa is rich in fine horses." This "Oriental Nissa" is Near today's Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan. The earliest record of horses sweating blood in China can be found in "Historical Records·Dawan Biography" written by Sima Qian more than 2,100 years ago: Zhang Qian of the Western Han Dynasty went on a mission to the Western Regions and saw that the country of Dayuan "has many good horses, and the horses sweat blood, and their horses are innate." It was through the Silk Road that the sweat-blooded horse was introduced to China and became the object of praise by many literati.

The Han Fangshi sighed to Agudengba and the carriage driver Azhuo:

In the early Western Han Dynasty, Han Emperor Liu Bang led an army of 300,000 people and was trapped by the Huns cavalry. The fierce and brave Xiongnu cavalry left a deep impression on Emperor Han. At that time, the sweaty horse was an important mount of the Xiongnu cavalry.

The prisoner of Dunhuang named "Chang Huali" dedicated a bloody horse captured locally to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty got the horse, he was ecstatic and called it "Tianma". Only one thousand-mile horse cannot change the quality of domestic horses. In order to capture a large number of "sweat-blooded horses", the Western Han Dynasty regime and the Dawan Kingdom in the Western Regions had two bloody wars.

When Zhang Qian was on a mission to the Western Regions, he found this kind of BMW sweating like blood in the Kingdom of Dawan. In order to obtain the BMW, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent an envoy with 200,000 taels of gold and a golden horse to Ershi City to ask for exchange. The stallion who hopes to get the Dawan horse back in exchange for a heavy gift.

The envoys of the Western Han Dynasty came to Ershi City, the capital of the Dayuan Kingdom, but were rejected by the King of Dayuan.

King Dayuan may have loved horses eagerly, or he may have considered it from a military perspective, because cavalry was the main force in the Western Regions, and good horses were an important part of the cavalry's combat effectiveness.

The King of Dayuan refused to exchange the Dayuan horse for the golden horse of the Han Dynasty. The Han envoy cursed the King of Dayuan with arrogant words. Seeing the rudeness of the Han envoys, the King of Dayuan ordered King Yu Cheng, the general guarding Yucheng City on the eastern border, to stop the Han envoys, kill all the envoys, and also robbed the golden horses brought by the Han envoys.

He was furious and decided to send troops to conquer Dawan and seize the bloody horse by force.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent troops for the first time. Li Guangli, the younger brother of his favorite concubine, Mrs. Li, was appointed as the general of the second division. He led 6,000 cavalry from the country and tens of thousands of elite troops from the county to attack. The road to the Western Region was long, and the small countries along the way closed their doors and refused to supply food and water. When they arrived at Yucheng, a city east of Dawan, they were defeated before their troops arrived. They retreated to Dunhuang and lost nine out of ten of their troops. When they returned, only one-tenth or two-tenths of the troops were left.

Emperor Wu was furious when he heard this and ordered those who retreated into Yumen Pass to be beheaded immediately. Li Guangli had to spend the winter in Dunhuang. Three years later, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty mobilized more than 60,000 prisoners and businessmen from all over the country, 30,000 horses, and 100,000 cattle. He also brought two horse physiognomy experts to Dayuan. Conquer Dawan again.

This time, the small countries in the Western Regions were afraid and prepared to welcome them. Only Luntai closed and refused, and the city was massacred. The Han army besieged Dawan City for more than forty days and killed countless Dawan soldiers.

At this time, a coup occurred in Dawan, and they negotiated peace with the Han army, allowing the Han army to choose their own horses, and agreed that Dawan would send two good horses to the Han Dynasty every year.

After the victory of the Han army, they selected dozens of good horses and 3,000 male and female horses of average and below average. However, after a long journey, only more than 1,000 sweaty horses were left when they arrived at Yumen Pass.

Emperor Wu was overjoyed and granted Guangli the title of Marquis of Haixi, and each officer received a reward.

Fang Shidi continued to say to Agudenba and Azhuo:

The Sweat Horse is in good shape, considerate, fast, and has good endurance. It is suitable for long-distance marches and is very suitable for use as a military horse. The cavalry of the Han Dynasty introduced the "sweat-blooded horses", and their combat effectiveness was greatly increased. There is even a story like this: During the battle between the Han army and foreign armies, there was a troop that was all made up of hard-blooded horses. The enemy was so large in number that they looked at them with admiration. The sweat-blooded horse that has been trained for a long time thinks that this is a stage for performance and performs dance moves. The opponent used a short Mongolian horse. Seeing that the Khanxue horse was tall, slender, and vigorous, he thought it was a strange animal, so he retreated without a fight.

At this time, crow Betty croaked: I always thought that the Silk Road was a road of national peace established through friendly exchanges when Zhang Qian was on his mission to the Western Regions. Now, I understand that it was a bloody road. The road of killing, without the ambition and bloody conquests to plunder the bloody horses, where would this history of the Silk Road be?

Crow Betty croaked a Western song "Conquest":

 

a long long time ago,

There is a country called Dayuan in the Western Regions.

The sweaty horse is a national treasure.

Galloping and running thousands of miles,

The dragon is your friend.

 

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty became ambitious,

Two conquests invaded small countries,

Blood was shed in a foreign country and troops and horses were seized,

The Silk Road has a strong smell,

Who remembers the sweat and blood?