According to the records of the Han Dynasty, there is a high mountain near the second division city of Dawan state. There are wild horses on the mountain. They can’t be caught. The people of Dawan put the five color mares at the foot of the mountain in spring. When a wild horse and a mare mate, they are born into a sweat BMW. When they sweat on their shoulders, they are as red as blood, and their threats are like wings. They travel thousands of miles a day. Generally speaking, the top speed of a horse is about 150 kilometers per day, but at most it is only more than 200 kilometers. The fastest speed of BMW was 4300 kilometers in 84 days. It is estimated that it takes only 1 minute and 07 seconds for a BMW to run 1000 meters on the flat ground.
China’s earliest record of the “sweat and blood horse” was in the Western Han Dynasty 2100 years ago. During the Baideng war in the early Han Dynasty, the emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty led 300000 troops to be trapped by the Hun cavalry. The fierce Hun cavalry left a deep impression on the emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty. At that time, the sweat and blood BMW was an important mount for the Hun cavalry.
In the autumn of the fourth year of Yuanding reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (112 BC), a prisoner of Dunhuang named “profiteering leader” captured a bloody BMW locally and dedicated it to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. When Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty got the horse, he was overjoyed. He called it “heavenly horse” and sang it. The Song said: “Tai Yi Gong came down from the heavenly horse, stained with red sweat and flowing ochre. Galloping with Xi for thousands of miles, Xi Long is a friend today.” Only one thousand mile horse could not change the quality of domestic horses. In order to capture a large number of “sweat and blood horses”, China’s Western Han regime had two bloody wars with Dawan state in the western regions at that time. At first, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent a delegation of more than 100 people to Dawan with a horse made of pure gold, hoping to exchange heavy gifts for the stallion of Dawan horse. After arriving at Ershi City, the capital of Dawan state (now Ashgabat city in Turkmenistan), the king of Dawan may be eager for horses, or he may refuse to exchange Dawan horses for Golden Horses of the Han Dynasty from a military point of view (because cavalry is the main force in the western regions, and good horses are an important part of cavalry combat effectiveness). On the way home, the Han envoy was robbed in Dawan state, and the Han envoy was killed. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was so angry that he decided to seize the bloody BMW by force.
In 104 B.C., Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ordered liguangli to lead tens of thousands of cavalry men to March more than 4000 kilometers to reach the Dawan border city Yucheng. However, the initial war was unfavorable and the Dawan state could not be conquered, so he had to return to Dunhuang. When he came back, only one or two tenths of his troops were left. Three years later, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ordered Li Guang to go on an expedition again. He led 60000 troops, 30000 horses and 100000 cows. He also took two horse experts to Dawan. At this time, there was a coup in Dawan state, which negotiated peace with the Han Army, allowed the Han Army to choose its own horses, and agreed that Dawan would send two good horses to the Han Dynasty every year. The Han Army selected dozens of good horses, including 3000 male and female horses below the medium level. After a long journey, only more than 1000 sweat and blood horses were left when they reached Yumen pass. The sweat blood horse is good in shape, considerate, fast and has good endurance. It is suitable for long-distance marching and is very suitable for military horses. The cavalry of the Han Dynasty who introduced the “sweat and blood horse” really increased their combat effectiveness. Even such a story happened: during the battle between the Han Army and foreign forces, a troop was formed by sweat and blood, and the number of enemies was so large that they looked at each other with new eyes. The long domesticated sweat blood horse thinks that this is the stage for performance and performs the dance steps. The opponent used a short Mongolian horse. When he saw that the sweat blood horse was tall, thin and vigorous, he thought it was a strange animal and retreated without fighting.
From the Han Dynasty to the Yuan Dynasty, the sweat blood horse was prosperous for thousands of years, but why did it disappear later? According to the historical data, the number of sweat blood horses introduced at that time was quite large, and the proportion of male and female was relatively moderate, so it was feasible to breed. However, due to the absolute superiority of local horse breeds in China in terms of quantity, any introduction of horse breeds will follow the following pattern: Introduction – hybridization – improvement – backcross – disappearance. In this process, the “sweat blood horse” was abandoned by later generations due to its own shortcomings. Although the sweat blood horse is fast, it has a slim body and relatively weak load-bearing ability. In the ancient cold weapon era, soldiers fought on horseback, wearing armor and carrying weapons. The total weight is quite large, so they prefer to choose strong horses. And because of the harness, the sweat blood horse could not drive the shaft, while the strong Mongolian horse had no such disadvantage. Finally, almost all the stallions introduced from central and West Asia died out. In June2002, ahdashi (meaning precious stone), the dream horse “blood BMW” that has disappeared from the vision of the Chinese people for thousands of years, came to China through the ancient Silk Road from its hometown Turkmenistan in Central Asia. The horse was presented to Chinese leaders by the president of Turkmenistan as a symbol of peace and friendship between China and Turkmenistan. Speaking of the origin of “ahdash”, it is really unusual: its ancestor was the mount of Zhukov, the famous field marshal of the Soviet army. Zhukov rode it to defeat German Marshal Manstein in Ukraine, and rode it to participate in the city entering ceremony of the liberation of Berlin.
In the international market, the price of sweaty BMW is very expensive, usually hundreds of thousands of dollars per horse, and some even as high as 10million dollars. Turkmen ambassador to China kasemov once pointed out that “Turkmen treat horses as relatives and only give them to their best friends”.