Xiang Tu Domesticates The Horses 相土作承马 | Chinese History - The Shang Dynasty E02

As we all know, the domestication of animals and the wild beasts were a great milestone in human history. Because apart from domestication for food sources, the greater impact actually came from the domestication of animals to be used as work companions and work partners, and even for war and battle purposes. So in today's episode, we are going to talk about a master domesticator or a genius domesticator of animals, the beast master if you would, how his efforts in domesticating the wild beasts you see around him, how his efforts changed the fortunes of his people, of his clan, and give them a great advantage over everyone else around them. So let's get on with it. Hello and welcome to the show. My name is Api Ngo, and I am the chain-smoking writer. Here, we share the myths, legends, and histories of the Chinese people, from the first creator to the last imperial dynasty. More than 6,000 years of stories, one video at a time. And if you are interested in joining us through this journey through time, remember, a thumb for the video, a sub for the channel, and remember to click the bell icon to be notified whenever a new video drops every Tuesday and Friday, 7pm Singapore time. That is GMT plus 8. And now, on to the story. Now in the previous episode, we spoke about Qi and how he founded the Shang people and the Shang clan. Now it is highly likely that Qi passed away well before Yu took the throne and founded the Xia dynasty. Qi's son and his successor, Zhaoming, building upon the foundations that his late father laid down in the area of animal husbandry and livestock management, actually led his people in further refining those techniques, knowledge, and skills. Now the Shang people, under Zhaoming's leadership, led a semi-nomadic lifestyle around the Ti Shi region, which is somewhere around today's Hebei, north of Shijiazhuang. And they led a semi-nomadic lifestyle, moving with the seasons, to where all the best grazing lands are. Kind of like the Gauchos of Argentina or the early days cowboys of the west of Western America, I guess it's kind of that kind of lifestyle. And as a result of this, their skills and their knowledge of animal husbandry and herd management, livestock management, were greatly improved upon. And their herds grew at a rapid pace under Zhaoming's leadership. And they became a small, they were still small, but they became a rather wealthy clan amongst their peers. Now, I mean, at this time, while the Xia people and the Xia dynasty has already transitioned over to a slave-owning society, the Shang clan was still in the early stages of this transition from a tribal community, a clan community, to a slave-owning society, a slave-owning system. And as such, while they were considered a relatively wealthy clan, they were not strong militarily or in terms of fighting powers, you know, not strong, not by any stretch of imagination. And, you know, if you're small and you're wealthy, and you don't have much fighting strength, you are basically easy prey for jealous neighbours who, you know, let's face it, it's a dog-eat-dog world, the survival of the blind, etc, etc. So, of course, the Shang people, the Shang clan had jealous neighbours that would, you know, constantly, constantly raid them, you know, on their journeys across the land for looking for grazing grounds. They would be constantly raided, you know, by jealous neighbours and greedy neighbours for their resources, whenever they saw an opportunity. Therefore, because of that reason, after Zhaoming passed away, his son Xiang Tu, who took over the role of clan chief as the third generation of Shang leader, led his people back home to the land of Shang, at Shang Qiu, to establish a stable base from which they could consolidate their wealth and their strength, and to grow from there. And, you know, it was not surprising that under Xiang Tu's leadership, he greatly expanded upon his predecessors' achievements. He made very good use of the resources and the foundations that his ancestors and his predecessors had laid down for the people in the clan. So, under Xiang Tu's leadership, livestock numbers continued increasing under his leadership, and now that they did not have to, you know, move with the herds, and they had a more stable lifestyle, now that they are settled in a land, in a base, they could actually dedicate more efforts into developing the land that they actually settled in. And so, you know, agricultural developments grew at an exponential rate, and even the level of craftsmanship, industrial production, so to speak, reached a new height, a new level of sophistication during this period. And, you know, and because they had excess produce, you know, they have excess food, they have excess reserves, excess livestock, they could also actively engage in trade with their neighbours, further increasing the wealth of the clan. Okay, now back to the protagonist, so to speak, of this story, Xiang Tu. Now, by all accounts, Xiang Tu was described and recorded as a big, muscular man with incredible physical attributes. Now, it was said that when he led his men out on hunting trips, he was able to run with the wild horses, and were frequently engaged in battles with, you know, the wild beasts they encountered, you know. He would, you know, wrestle wolves, he would wrestle tigers, and even elephants, which was still around in China back in the days, back in prehistoric China, there were elephants. No longer there, but they were there. So, he would wrestle these wild beasts, and, you know, many times, many times, he would emerge victorious in these encounters. And he was known to have tamed many of these beasts that he engaged in battle with. Now, through his many encounters, and through his experience in engaging with these wild beasts in the wild, and his observations of their habits and their temperaments, Xiang Tu came to the conclusion, he came to the feeling that, you know, the strong and fast horses would make great working partners for his people. I mean, there were a few reasons. I mean, they were strong, and they were fast, they would greatly improve the efficiency of, you know, carrying loads and transportation and travelling. That's for sure. But another very important point was that horses are herbivores. They eat grass. So, you know, feeding them, you know, rearing them in a domesticated setting would not have a big impact on the food sources of the people. And because they are not aggressive creatures, they would not pose any risk to the life and the safety of the people in the clan. And if they could be domesticated, their strength and their speed would prove invaluable to the advancement of the clan of the people. So, having, you know, come to that conclusion, Xiang Tu then spent the following days and months, you know, trying to domesticate these majestic wild beasts. And through countless attempts at fighting and battling and wrestling these horses and using, you know, all kinds of various different methods over the months and most probably years he attempted to domesticate the horses, Xiang Tu finally, you know, managed to tame a handful, just a handful of these wonderful animals. And once tamed, Xiang Tu personally saw to their care, making sure that the feed was suitable, you know, finding what the best grass or what the best hay or whatever horses eat, you know, what's the best feed you could give the horses. And working out how much land is needed for these horses to live comfortably. I mean, you obviously can't put them in paddocks all the time, right? Horses need space to run and to have fun. And so, Xiang Tu personally, you know, tried to figure out all these different aspects of keeping healthy horses. And he made meticulous observations about their habits and he kept refining his methods based on what he saw and what he observed. And over time, these horses adapted to being kept in captivity, to being reared in captivity. And, you know, they grew healthier and they grew happier. And as you know, if an animal was healthy and happy, they start reproducing offspring. And so, that's what happened. The horses in captivity started reproducing. And of course, the number in the herd started growing. Now, based on his experience in keeping horses, you know, Xiang Tu expanded his methods to include other animals being kept in captivity in the clan. And, you know, according to records, according to documents, the earliest domesticated animals kept by the Xiang people were horses, buffaloes, goats, pigs, dogs, and chickens. And these six animals became, you know, kind of like the official livestock animals used in official worship ceremonies and rituals throughout all subsequent dynasties in Chinese history. In fact, even today, the standard worship offerings for official Chinese religious ceremonies are still the chicken, the pig, and the goat or lamb, three of the six. So, while the chickens, the pigs, and the goats are served as the main food sources for the people, the buffaloes went from just being a food source or ritual offering to become the de facto beast of burden for the people, helping the people in tilling the land and transporting resources, carrying loads over distance. And dogs were used mainly in hunts as hunting dogs and for protection, to protect the settlement, to sound the alarm if there were invaders, stuff like that, you know. Basically, doing what dogs do even until today. Well, at least most of the time, not this fella. There were even accounts of dogs being trained and being used, being deployed in wars and battles as war dogs. So, yeah, definitely not this fella. Now, horses. Now, horses is a different story. They were the ones that left the biggest impact on the development of the Shang people. Now, not only were horses used as a mode of transport, which greatly expanded the travelling distance and the sphere where the people could go in a relatively short time, they were particularly useful in hunts, you know, where they could chase down prey. And ultimately, horses gave the Shang people a major advantage in wars and battles. I mean, imagine, you all know, you don't need to imagine, you know the advantage the cavalry gave to, you know, fighting men, you know. Cavalry against infantry, there's always an advantage there. So, yeah, the Shang people were among the first to have a horse cavalry, to deploy horse cavalry in battles. I mean, horse cavalry not in the sense that we know of it in medieval times with, you know, all the armour and everything. But definitely, it gave the Shang people great advantages on the battlefield when they have mounted soldiers fighting in the wars. Now, why do I say that Xiang Tu was a genius animal domesticator or even a beast master? You know, Xiang Tu's domestication efforts were so extensive, his efforts were so extensive that there were even accounts by later day historians that, you know, the Shang people were actually using war elephants in their battles against the Tongyi people to the east. War elephants! Can you believe that? This was like 2000 BC, they were using war elephants in battles. So, this was like mind-blowing when the rest of the clans of the land were still basically, you know, lightly armed infantrymen and maybe they had some light armour, but that was it. This guy was using elephants against men in battles. So, yeah. So, now that, you know, his people were settled and the clan has built up a sizable reserve of wealth and strength and they, you know, have a decent fighting force with animals being deployed in their army, in their fighting organisation, Xiang Tu turned his attention from internal administration to external expansion. You know, he wanted to expand the land and the influence of the Shang people and the Shang clan, and all he needed was actually just an opportunity. Now, this was just after King Qi of Xia fought his battles against the Youhu clan and put down the Wukuan rebellion. And if you'd like to know more about that, I am putting cards up here about those battles. There were a couple episodes on that. Yeah, it's here. There you go. And by this time, after those battles, the Xia court, the central court, was desperately, you know, in need of a rest by this time and they did not really have the energy nor the desire to interfere or intervene in the conflicts of their vassal tribes and vassal clans. And to add on to that, when Tai Kang, you know, ascended to the throne just a few years later, there was great political turmoil in the central court. I mean, with the Houyi incident and all that stuff going on. Yeah, another card for that episode up here. There you go. And, you know, the political turmoil further created this unprecedented opportunity for Xiang Tu to put his plan of expansion into action without really worrying about intervention from the throne. I mean, with all these favourable factors, you know, happening one after another and creating the perfect opportunity, Xiang Tu definitely, of course, he was not going to let this chance pass by. He grabbed on with it with both hands and just, you know, flew with it, so to speak. So, Xiang Tu embarked on an extremely aggressive expansion to the east during this period. And unfortunately, there were no, you know, detailed historical records of the route that Xiang Tu took in his push to the east. Neither do we know how many clans and tribes he destroyed or assimilated during this period. But, based on the worship eulogy of the Xiang people's descendants in the spring and autumn period, they basically became a Song kingdom in the spring and autumn. They were descendants of the Xiang. Based on the worship eulogy of these people, we know and we can safely deduce that Xiang Tu, at this time, expanded the Xiang clan's sphere of influence as far east as the coast of the Yellow Sea. And all the chiefs and clans and of the east were subservient to him at this time. Now, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the diligence and the political news of the first three generations of the Xiang leaders were actually instrumental in the clan's rise to power many generations later, as we have spoken before. In a way, Qi, the founder, laid the best possible foundation for his people's growth, while his son, Xiaoming, built upon and solidified that foundation. And by the time it came to Xiang Tu, you know, with his vision and his daring and the opportunity that appeared in his time, Xiang Tu then made good use of these resources and this foundation that his predecessors left behind for him. And he built the platform that catapulted within one generation, catapulted the Xiang people and the Xiang clan to the upper echelons of power in the realm. Well, I hope you enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed telling it as usual. And if you did, remember a thumb for the video and a sub for the channel. And remember to click the bell icon to be updated whenever a new video drops. And if you're considering supporting this channel beyond just the sub and the like, you can consider supporting the channel on Patreon. The links are available here and down in the description box below. Patreon supporters of all tiers and levels get access to early access videos. Basically, you'll get to see this video at least one week in advance ahead of the rest of YouTube. So yeah, if you're interested in that, you can do so on Patreon. Like I said, the links are here and down in the description box. As usual, I look forward to all your thoughts, comments, and feedback in the comment box. And I do personally go through all of them and I do personally reply and respond to all of them if possible. And so yeah, go ahead, put your comments in there. I look forward to it and I will see you in the next episode.