When Zhu Yuanzhang first ascended to the Ninth Five-Year Throne, he once sighed like this: There are no good horses in the Central Plains! It is true that during that period, he needed to consolidate his political power as soon as possible, and the most effective way was, of course, the use of force, but in feudal society, when there was no advanced weapon like today's, good horses were very important, and this was what the central plains people lacked the most.
Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang once ordered a search everywhere, and once bought war horses from Japan. It can be seen that in feudal society, the importance of horses. And today we are going to talk about a country that produces good horses. Unfortunately, there are very few records of it in history, and now we can only understand its development at that time through the excavated cultural relics.
Many people think that good horses must be produced in the north, and indeed, the vast grasslands and the cheerful character of herders give the best conditions for producing good horses. But you know what? Not only is there a good horse in the north of our country, this country is located in the south of our country, and there are enviable good foals. In 278 BC, a great general of the Chu state led his soldiers to the far southwest to pacify the rebels there.
After a period of fighting, they won. However, just as he was about to go back to describe the war to his monarch, he found that the way back was cut off by the Qin state. This general had a clear understanding of his army, and he knew that there was no benefit to fighting, so this time when he left home, he could never return to a familiar place, so he simply took everyone to stay on the spot and established his own kingdom, which was the later Dian Kingdom. Unfortunately, the people of the Chu state lived a rich life and the environment was suitable for living, and they thought that the southwest was too desolate to care about this place at all, so there was almost no writing about the Dian kingdom in history.
The country survived and developed in this way, until Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty sent troops to conquest, and after a simple battle, the king of the Dian Kingdom led the whole country to surrender in a very timely manner. From this time on, they were subordinate to the Great Han, and in order to show their sincerity and to gain the protection of the Great Han, they paid tribute to the Great Han every year, and Emperor Wu of Han also gave them a royal seal.
Before that, the country was developing very smoothly. There is a fragment in the "Records of History" that records that the envoys of the Great Han came here, and as kings, they naturally entertained the visitors according to etiquette, but he did not know much about the situation he was in at that time. At the time of the feast, the king drank a few more drinks, and then asked the messenger, "How do you see my country?"
The Messenger was naturally flattered, saying that the country was rich and the people were happy. The king asked again: Who is bigger in my country than the Great Han? This story was later circulated for a long time, and everyone said that the king was too blind, did not have a clear understanding of himself and his surroundings, did not have a big picture, and was not a competent monarch. However, from another point of view, doesn't this passage just show that the level of development in Yunnan at that time was really good?
Rice is mainly cultivated in Yunnan, and the staple food of the people there is naturally rice. But because of the water, they often eat some fish and shrimp and the like. Moreover, the Dian people immediately do quite well, and when there is no war, men will go out hunting, so many wild beasts are also their food sources. In the Yunnan kingdom, men were mainly responsible for heavy manual labor, while women were mainly engaged in agricultural activities.
Unlike in the Central Plains, women there also preside over sacrifices. In the Dian Kingdom, they were very superstitious from top to bottom, believing that the existing rich life came from the gifts of heaven, so they had to perform sacrifices every year. According to the documents unearthed, we learned that they would perform their sacrifices around the main pillar in the center of the place, and that a living person would be tied to this pillar. Prompted by superstition, the people at that time were even willing to use their lives to seek heaven's favor.
Many history books say that the Central Plains Dynasty obtained cattle, sheep, horses and other things from the Dian Kingdom, and the number was often amazing. The "Dianchi Ju" is a good horse that makes the warriors of the Central Plains drool, and in the legends of the Central Plains, this horse is even the descendant of the divine horse. Once tamed, it shines on the battlefield. Emperor An of the Eastern Han Dynasty liked to raise horses, and he raised such horses in his horse garden, which was deeply loved by him. Zhuge Liang, who is familiar to everyone, also knows that the Dian kingdom is good at raising horses, and when he hit here, he asked the local government to provide him with a large number of war horses every year for the use of the army.
Compared with the Central Plains at that time, the Development of Animal Husbandry and the degree of civilization of the Yunnan Kingdom were already very high, but we knew very little about the country. Knowing that in the 1950s of the last century, experts accidentally discovered the Wang Seal, which has attracted the attention of people from all walks of life ever since. Combined with the dotted records in the history books, and after a long period of exploration, the experts finally locked their eyes on Jinning County.
The farmers here once inadvertently dug out some bronzes that experts regarded as treasures, and just when the experts came here with pennants to express their gratitude, the simple farmers laughed loudly, it turned out that they dug up a lot of such objects, but they did not know what they were used for, and most of them were sold as worthless scrap iron.
The experts were very upset about this, but there was no way, after consultation, they gave the villagers a lot of food, hoping that they would move away from here, because the next experts would explore here on a large scale. Later, most of the local farmers agreed, hoping that experts would find more valuable cultural relics as soon as possible and uncover this long-sealed secret for us.