The great man will live forever

Chapter 145 Fighting for Horses
In Weiyang Palace, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty looked at the people below and asked.

"Now, both Yang Pu and Xun Shen have a bad start, and the Huns are ready to make a move. What should we do now? Tell us."

"Your Majesty, I would like to lead a large army to attack North Korea." Li Guangli stood up. As the brother of Lady Li, the favorite concubine of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and Li Yannian, the Xielu Captain, he was considered a proper relative.

In recent years, Wei Qing's illness has become more and more serious. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty naturally wanted to support his new relatives and could not let Liu Han's family dominate.

Sang Hongyang said quickly: "Your Majesty, if we raise another army, it will be difficult to supply food and grass. North Korea is only a small country and cannot use a large army. I am even more afraid of the Huns coming, so I have to prepare reserves for a large army to attack the Huns."

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was also a little unhappy, but he also knew that the Han Dynasty had been at war almost all these years, and North Korea did not have to go to war.

"General Hussar, what do you think?"

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty looked at Liu Han. Liu Han, who was still in a state of wandering, quickly stood up and said, "I would like to go to the northeast and use the power of the army to conquer North Korea. I don't want to destroy the country and destroy it. Then it will be like the Dian Kingdom. After all, North Korea is too big." Far."

The previous year, when all the surrounding countries were destroyed by the Han Dynasty, and a large army invaded the southwest, the King of Dian surrendered to the Han Dynasty, and Emperor Wu granted the King of Dian a golden seal.

Just as Prince Liu Zheng was about to say something, Hou Weishan of Yiyang stood up and said, "The general is willing to go in place of General Hussar. A small country like Korea does not need me, General Hussar."

"Why, Prince, you haven't spoken. What do you want to say?"

"Back to my father, my thoughts are the same as those of the Grand Tutor. It would be best to surrender, but there is no need for the Grand Tutor to go in person. After all, the battlefield is dangerous. It would be bad if North Korea turns its back and endangers the Grand Tutor."

"Well, let's do this, Weishan, you will go there for me. The main thing is to surrender. I also plan to use troops in the Western Region."

"promise!"

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty continued: "In recent years, Loulan and Cheshi, several small countries in the Western Regions, have repeatedly attacked Han envoys to rob their finances. It is really intolerable. Last month, they killed me, a Han merchant. It was simply a provocation to me. , I plan to raise troops to destroy these two countries."

Prince Liu Zhi opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but he held back. He thought of what Liu Han said: listen more and read more, speak less and do less.

That year, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent Zhang Qian as an envoy to the Western Regions for the first time, marking the beginning of the Silk Road. It opened up a route starting from the capital Chang'an (today's Xi'an), passing through Gansu and Xinjiang, to Central Asia and West Asia, and connecting countries in the Mediterranean. Overland access.

That was more than 20 years ago, and Zhang Qian died, but it was in these years that the Silk Road truly prospered.

Twelve years ago, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, who was extremely ambitious and domineering and vowed to fight the Xiongnu to the end and completely defeat the Xiongnu, sent his most capable and invincible military god Wei Qing, as well as the god of war Huo Qubing.

The two men combined their swords and gathered the most elite [-] troops in the empire. They crossed the grasslands and crossed the desert to launch the most violent attack on the Xiongnu. After two Han-Hungarian battles that will be remembered for generations, Wei Qing defeated the Xiongnu Shanyu and abandoned his formation at night. Run away for hundreds of miles.

And Huo Qubing and Liu Han defeated King Zuo Xian, killed the Xiongnu generals, and captured more than [-] people. In one battle, they sealed the wolf in Xu and drank from the vast sea of ​​horses!

From then on, all the Xiongnu moved to the north, and there was no royal court in the south of the desert!

After this battle, the Han and Huns temporarily broke away from contact. The Huns hid in Yankou, Mobei, to recuperate, while the Han Empire was full of energy and began to use troops against the south.

In the end, under Liu Han's military front, he successively recovered the Nanyue Kingdom, Dongou Kingdom, Dongyue Kingdom, and Dian Kingdom, and continued to realize the great dream of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to expand the territory. These directly expanded the territory of the Han Dynasty by one-third. First, of course, most of them looked deserted, but that was also the territory of the Han Dynasty.

As long as the flag of the Han is planted in a place, it is the territory of the Han.

Looking around, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty felt that he had no opponents, so he set his sights on the Western Regions and Korea. The Silk Road began to flourish.

In order to ensure the safety of the Silk Road, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent Fuju General Gongsun Jia and 5000 cavalrymen to go out from Jiuyuan for more than [-] miles and return to Fujujing. He also sent Xionghe General Zhao Ponu to lead [-] cavalrymen. The remaining people traveled thousands of miles from Lingju to the Xiong River and returned.

These purposes were all to expel the Huns, ensure the safety of the flanks of the Hexi Corridor, and prevent Han envoys from being blocked. However, the Han army traveled thousands of miles without encountering a single Huns, which was very depressing.

There are no more Huns in a large area. In recent years, there have been particularly many envoys and merchants traveling to the Western Regions and the Han Dynasty, which has greatly promoted cultural exchanges and the prosperity of trade.

Such as cucumber, garlic, carrot, walnut, grape, alfalfa, watermelon, pomegranate camel, donkey, lion dance, cotton, pipa, Huxi, alfalfa, amber, Hushi (pilaf), Hubing (shaobing), tomato, Huqin, Huharp, shallots, walnuts, peas, pepper... These were all introduced from the Western Regions and brought many benefits to the Han Dynasty.

According to the envoy's description, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty even knew that there were 36 countries in the Western Region, with mountains in the north and south, rivers in the middle, more than [-] miles long from east to west, more than [-] miles wide from north to south, and connected to Yumen and Yangguan of the Han Dynasty in the east. The west reaches Congling.

Of course, the 36 countries are just a virtual reference. The main ones are the 36 countries. Most of them are scattered in desert and oasis areas. They are weak, weak in military strength, and easy to attack. The remaining tribes are even more numerous. In real terms, it is definitely more than 36.

They include: Qiuci, Yanqi, Ruoqiang, Loulan, Jingjue, Qiemo, Xiaowan, Ronglu, Mi, Qule, Pishan, Xiye, Puli, Yinai, Shache, Shule, Weitou , Wensu, Yuli, Gumo, Beilu, Wutanzi, Beiluhou State, Shanhuan, Pulei, Puleihou State, Xiqiemi, Jie State, Huhu, Shan State, Cheshiqian State, Cheshihou State , Cheshi Weidu State, Cheshi Houcheng State and other countries.

In addition, there are more than ten Western Region countries such as Wusun, Dayuan, Anxi, Dayuezhi, Kangju, Haohan, Kanjuti, and Wuyishanli.

Moreover, what made Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty even more overjoyed was that he actually got the bloody horse of Dayuan Kingdom.He cherished it very much and named it "Tianma". Subsequently, a series of envoys were sent to Dawan to search for the bloody horse.

"Historical Records: Biography of Dayuan" records Zhang Qian's report to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty after returning from his first mission to the Western Regions: "Dayuan is located southwest of the Xiongnu and directly west of the Han Dynasty. It is thousands of miles away from the Han Dynasty. The customs of the indigenous people are farming rice. "Mai, there is Pu Tao wine, there are many good horses, and the horses sweat blood, which is the innate horse child."

Although there is no complete name for "Sweat-blooded Horse" here, it had a decisive influence on the emergence of the name "Sweat-blooded Horse".

It is also recorded in "Historical Records·Biography of Dawan" that after the death of Zhang Qian, the Marquis of Bowang, "at the beginning, the emperor issued the Book of Changes and said, 'The divine horse should come from the northwest'. He got a good horse from Wusun and named it 'Tianma'" '. When he got the Dawan sweat horse, he became stronger and stronger, so he changed his name to the Wusun horse and called it 'Xiji', and the Dawan horse called 'Tianma' Yun."

The name of the sweat-blooded horse is clearly stated here, as well as the process of naming it a Pegasus.

Ying Shao's note in "Historical Records·Yue Shu" says: "There is a breed of Pegasus in Dayuan. It sweats blood from scratching on stones. The sweat comes out like blood from the front and shoulders, and it says that it is a thousand miles a day."It was also clearly stated that the Dawan Khan-blooded horse was a species of "Tianma", while the Wusun horse, which was previously named Tianma, was renamed the West Pole horse.

The skin of the sweaty horse is thinner, and the blood flowing in the blood vessels is easy to be seen when running.

In addition, the sweat glands on the shoulders and neck of horses are well developed. When horses sweat, they often get wet first and then get wet. For horses with maroon or chestnut coats, the local color will appear brighter after sweating, giving people the illusion of bleeding, so they are called It's a bloody horse.

It is usually about 1.5 meters tall, with a plump and graceful body, a slender head, a tall neck, slender limbs, thin skin, a light and elegant pace, and a slender and graceful body, which is complemented by a curved and high neck, outlining its perfect body curve.

The speed is even more remarkable. In ancient literary works, a sweaty horse can "travel a thousand miles in a day and eight hundred miles in a night." - Generally speaking, the top speed of a horse is about 150 kilometers per day, and the maximum speed is no more than 200 kilometers. In ancient times, the thousand-mile distance was 500 kilometers, which was more than twice that of ordinary horses.

汗血宝马的最快速度记录为84天跑完4300公里。经测算，汗血宝马在平地上跑1000米仅需要1分07秒。

Moreover, its endurance is very good, and the sweat horse is very thirsty. Even at a high temperature of 50 degrees Celsius, it only needs to drink water once a day, so it is especially suitable for long-distance treks.

Liu Han had seen them several times and rode them twice. He liked them very much and even asked Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty for them, but he was reluctant. After all, he only had one or two horses at the moment.

Who is Liu Han?
Marquis of Lanling, the God of War of the Han Dynasty, a hussar general, the nephew of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and the prince's tutor. At present, besides Liu Zhi, he is the most trusted and supported general by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and the successor of Wei Qing...

Even Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was reluctant to part with it, which shows how much he liked this horse. He also sang in praise of it: "Taiyi pays tribute to the horse, which is covered with red sweat and foam. It has galloped thousands of miles, and now it is a dragon." friend."

For this reason, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent people to Dawan to ask for horses one after another, but the results were not satisfactory.

The Han Dynasty continued to send envoys, and the quality of the envoys varied. As a result, some countries in the Western Region began to neglect, ignore or even refuse to provide food for the Han Dynasty envoys, and created many difficulties for the envoys.

They relied on the fact that the sky was high and the emperor was far away, and the Han Empire was beyond their reach, so their behavior became more and more outrageous.

What's more, especially the two small countries of Loulan and Cheshi, which were located on the only road from the Han Dynasty to the Western Regions, constantly attacked Han envoys. In addition, sporadic Xiongnu troops often intercepted them from time to time, providing a clear path for the Han Empire. Adding some obstacles and troubles to the Western Region.

Moreover, even if the envoys finally reached Dayuan, they still refused, saying that they would exchange them with gold of the same weight. This was simply too much bullying. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty almost couldn't bear it anymore and decided to kill Loulan and Cheshi first.

Therefore, this year, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ordered Zhao Ponu and Wang Hui to lead tens of thousands of troops to attack Gushi (Cheshi) and Loulan.

(End of this chapter)