How much benefit did the Tea-Horse Exchange bring to the Ming court and Tibetan areas?

Among the various ethnic groups in our country, the Tibetan people living on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau regard tea as "a food that cannot be eaten in a day" because "the food of the fishy meat cannot be eaten without tea; and the heat of highland barley cannot be treated with tea." "short" necessities for survival. However, the areas where Tibetans live do not produce tea, and tea-producing areas are mainly concentrated in Sichuan and Yunnan. In order to transport tea from Sichuan and Yunnan into Tibetan areas, and at the same time import local specialties from Tibetan areas into the mainland of the motherland, transportation lines mainly focused on tea trade were established among Tibetan, Han, and Hui ethnic traders, porters, and foot households. , the caravan was cut through the thorns and was opened up. It is like a strip of green ribbons, spanning the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, Loess Plateau and Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau between Gansu, Qinghai, Shaanxi, Sichuan and Yunnan, winding on the roof of the world. Passing through lofty mountains, gorges, long rivers, over snow-capped fields, and vast grasslands, it is like an endless link that connects the inland to the vast Tibetan areas. It is like a golden bridge that spans time and space, linking the brotherhood of Han, Hui, Tibetan and other ethnic groups. Teleport. Since the Tang Dynasty, this trade relationship has mainly been carried out in the form of the exchange of tea from the mainland and horses from Tibetan areas, so it was historically called the "Tea-Horse Mutual Market" or "Tea-Horse Trade". Along with this trade, the The business road is called the "Ancient Tea-Horse Road".

Porters and footmen on the Ancient Tea Horse Road

Speaking of the Ancient Tea Horse Road, people will naturally think of the prosperous and famous Sichuan-Tibet and Yunnan-Tibet Ancient Tea Horse Roads. It seems that the Ancient Tea Horse Road is far away from the northwest and is a matter of the southwest region and has nothing to do with the northwest region.

However, when you look back at history, China’s earliest Tea Horse Road and its main distribution areas are not in Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan in the southwest, but in the northwest of China. In the high mountains, plains and jungle wilderness of Shaanxi, Gansu and Qinghai, mysterious ancient roads stretch out. This is China's famous ancient cultural and economic communication and exchange road - the Ancient Tea Horse Road, also called the Shaanxi-Gansu Green Tea-Horse Ancient Road.

The Ancient Tea Horse Road Caravan

According to archaeological surveys, as early as the late Neolithic Age, there were certain cultural connections between Shaanxi, Gansu and Qinghai, with Gansu as the center. The Majiayao culture has a certain inheritance relationship with the Yangshao culture of Shaanxi and the Zongri culture of Qinghai. The famous Qijia culture is also widely distributed in Shaanxi and Qinghai, and is distributed in the Bronze Age Lajia settlement in Minhe, Qinghai. These The numerous cultural relics scattered throughout fully demonstrate that as early as the late Neolithic Age, a relatively smooth cultural transmission route and transportation route existed between Shaanxi, Gansu and Qinghai, which laid the foundation for the future Southern Silk Road and the Tang-Tibet Ancient Road. The formation and development of the Shaanxi-Gansu Green Tea Horse Road laid a solid foundation. In the Han Dynasty, according to "Zi Zhi Tong Jian", Zhang Qian made two missions to the Western Regions, both of which crossed the Yellow River into Huangzhong at Linjin Ferry (now Dahejia, Jishi County) and entered the Western Regions. In the Sui Dynasty, according to "Sui According to the book), in March of the fifth year of Daye (609), Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty, accompanied by Pei Ju and others, personally led an army, accompanied by a large number of civil and military officials, starting from Chang'an, passing through Fufeng and Lintao, crossing Hezhou, and starting from Linjin Crossed the Yellow River (now Dahejia, Jishishan County) to Xiping, surrounded and hunted Bayan Mountain (Hualong County, Qinghai), entered Changning Valley, crossed Xingling to Haomenchuan (Datong River Valley), surrounded Tuyuhun King Fuyun, and defeated him. The capital city fell into the city, and more than 100,000 of them surrendered.

Map of the Ancient Tea Horse Road

In the Tang Dynasty, after the intermarriage between Tubo and the Tang Dynasty, the relationship between the two sides in politics, economy, military, culture and other aspects became closer, which directly promoted This led to the final formation of the transportation route of the Tang-Tibet Ancient Road. In the Yuan Dynasty, in order to develop transportation between Tibet and the mainland, the Yuan government built about 19 post stations in Daxing Station in Tibetan areas, thereby greatly extending the Tea Horse Avenue between Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai and Tibet, and became the Tea Horse Avenue in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Mutual trading laid the foundation. The Ming Dynasty was a period of unprecedented prosperity for the tea and horse trade in the northwest. In the early Ming Dynasty, in order to appease the Tibetan ethnic minorities outside the northwest, the Ming court used tea as a weapon and implemented the "tea and horse trade" policy in the northwest. Tea leaves from the Hanzhong tea area and Sichuan and other places were transported to Qinzhou, Hezhou, Minzhou, Xining and other places, and horses from ethnic minorities outside the border were exchanged, so that "the Rong people can get the tea without harming them, and the Chinese can get the horses." "It's for my own benefit" and he took the lead in "establishing the tea horse department in Shaanxi and other places, listening to Xifan Nama Yicha". The tea-horse trade became a national policy to control the barbarians and protect the country. The Ming court formulated policies and laws to restrict the tea-horse trade.

"History of Ming Dynasty Food and Goods" says that "tea can be exchanged for horses, which can consolidate people's hearts and strengthen China." Therefore, the Ming government formulated regulations on the production, sales, trafficking, taxation, price, quality, supervision, etc. of tea used in Tibetan areas. A series of regulations and systems have curbed speculation by tea merchants. After the formation of the tea-horse mutual trade, it has played an indelible role in China's cultural and economic exchanges for thousands of years.

The Ancient Tea Horse Road Caravan

Function 1. Provided a large number of excellent horses to the Central Plains Dynasty, which improved the combat effectiveness of the Central Plains Dynasty’s army, especially the combat effectiveness of the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties. Played a decisive role in the improvement;

Function 2: When tea, salt, silk and other inland materials were transmitted to Tibetan areas, they also brought a large amount of Han, Miao and Hui culture to Tibetan areas, and Tibetan The Buddhist culture of the region was also introduced to the Han Dynasty, which made the northwest and southwest border areas of China more and more integrated with the Central Plains culture. Finally, during the Yuan Dynasty, the Liangzhou Alliance was reached with the Baita Temple in Wuwei, Gansu Province, and the Tibetan area belonged to the Central Plains Dynasty.

Caravans on the Ancient Tea Horse Road

In short, the now declining Ancient Tea Horse Road has played an indelible role in Chinese history, and the stories therein still require further exploration by modern people!