Tang Taizong's favorite mount in his life- Zhaoling Liujun

The Six Horses of Zhaoling were carved to commemorate the six warhorses that accompanied Emperor Taizong of Tang in his conquests. It was composed by yan Lide, a craftsman at that time, and a painter, Yan Liben. The six stone carvings of Tang Zhaoling adopt the high relief method, each of which is about 204 cm wide, about 172 cm high and about 40 cm thick, all of which are bluestone textures. The corner above each screen was originally engraved with a praise written by Tang Taizong in calligraphy by Ouyang, but it has now been weathered and no longer exists

The six juns of Zhaoling are respectively

Tè lè biāo

The "Teller Horse" was originally the first horse in the east, which was taken by Li Shimin when he pacified the Song King Kong. It is said that the horse's coat is yellow with white in color and the corners of the mouth are slightly black. In the relief, the left two legs of the Teller horse are raised, the right legs are on the ground, and the contralateral steps of one leg rising and falling together are the honor guard footwork that can be achieved after strict training, and this horse can be described as well-trained.

Teller

青骓(qīng zhuī)

Qingxiao was the second horse in the east, and was the mount of Li Shimin when he conquered the Luoyang Tiger Prison Pass. The green horse in the stone carving is galloping, the carving is carved on the tail of the green mane, the four hooves are crossed into a line, and the horse is hit by five arrows, all of which are shot head-on during the charge, but most of them are shot in the back of the horse, which shows the speed of the horse's gallop.

Shí fá chì

Shivachi was the third horse in the east and was also the warhorse that Li Shimin rode when he conquered tiger prison passes. The posture of Shivachi on the relief is similar to that of the green horse, and he also hits five arrows on his body.

Sà lù zǐ

Salu Ziyuan was the first horse in the west, and it was also a war horse ridden by Li Shimin in the Battle of Tiger Prison Pass, and because the coat color of this horse was purple, it was named "Salu Purple". This relief depicts a warrior pulling out an arrow for a war horse that has been hit in the chest. The man who was leading the war horse to draw arrows was called Qiu Xinggong, Qiu Xinggong had a curly beard, looked handsome and mighty, wore a battle robe, a hood on his head, a saber and a quiver at his waist, and made a posture of bowing down to draw arrows for the horse, reproducing the scene at that time. The sculpture is now in the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania.

Quán máo guā

The Fist HairEda is the second horse in the west, which is a black-billed yellow horse with a rotating hair, 6 arrows in the front and 3 arrows in the back, which was taken by Li Shimin when he pacified Liu Heimin. The 9 arrows in the body of the fist hair on the stone carving show the fierceness of this battle. The sculpture is now in the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania.

White-hoofed crow

This image is the third horse in the west. The horse's coat is dark and its hooves are white. The stone carved "White Hoof Wu" is strong and strong, with its head held high, its hooves soaring into the air, and its mane facing the wind, in the shape of a rapid gallop.

"Six Horses" refers to the six horses that Emperor Taizong of Tang and Li Shimin rode in the process of establishing the Tang Dynasty and unifying the whole country. Tang Taizong marched south to fight in the northern war on the occasion of the Sui and Tang dynasties, galloped across the battlefield, charged into the battlefield, and formed a deep affection with the warhorse. In November of the tenth year of Zhenguan (636), when he was building a Zhaoling Tomb for himself, he thought of the six warhorses with whom he had made many achievements in battle, and decided to carve the image of the six horses with bluestone, and personally "praised" it to show the majesty of the six horses and show off his martial arts. According to legend, Emperor Taizong of Tang ordered the painter Yan Liben to first paint the image of the "Six Juns", and then ordered the stone carver Yan Lide to carve them on the stone screen, and these horses were carved and placed in front of the east and west compartments of the north side of the Zhaoling Shrine, so people used to call them "Zhaoling Six Juns". The Six Horses of Zhaoling are, Namely, Teller, Saluzi, Qingxiao, Fist Hair, Shivachi, and White Hoof. The names of these horses were given by Emperor Taizong of Tang according to the mane and color of the horse.

Because in 1914, the Frenchman Goranz stripped off the "Sauerk Purple" and "Fist Hair" to prepare for smuggling. Unexpectedly, he was found by the local farmers and stopped. However, the "Erjun" fell into the hands of local warlords, and was later transported to Beijing and sold abroad for $125,000 by Lu Qinzhai, an antique dealer in China at the time, and is now in the Museum of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.