Donkeys were similar to horses in appearance. They were both good at running and were both long-distance runners. However, horses were more robust and powerful. In comparison, donkeys were thin and petite. Their speed and impact were too weak. Therefore, only horses could be trained to be war horses. Donkeys could never be trained to be war donkeys.
If one really did not believe it and insisted on training donkeys to be war donkeys, then there was nothing wrong with that. In ancient times, donkeys were also used to fight. However, donkeys' physical strength and endurance were not as good as horses. They were also inferior in speed. A cavalry team on horseback had an obvious advantage in all aspects when facing a cavalry team on donkeys. The donkey team was doomed to be defeated.
Since ancient times, donkeys were sent to the battlefield mainly to be used as logistics. Horses would charge at the front while donkeys would pull the heavy supplies step by step. They would provide sufficient supplies for the troops in front and ensure that the troops in front would be able to get a steady stream of supplies.
Even if they were directly sent to the front, they would be responsible for transportation. They would not let the donkeys charge forward. For example, in World War II, the Germans invented a donkey type anti-tank gun. In layman's terms, a single anti-tank weapon was placed on the donkey's back. The donkey was responsible for dragging the weapon along with the soldiers to save the soldiers' physical strength. When they needed to fight, they needed to remove the weapon from the donkey's back. It seemed a little troublesome, but at least it could save the soldiers' physical strength and allow the troops to move faster. It was still useful.
Donkeys were used very early. Almost in the primitive society, people had begun to domesticate wild donkeys. Thus, wild donkeys became domestic donkeys that could help humans. There were also many types of donkeys. The donkeys in front of Ang Lee should belong to the Central Sichuan donkeys. They were a unique breed of donkeys in the southwest of the Tang dynasty. They were also a small type of donkey. Although this type of donkey was very small and not very strong, its endurance was very good. It could pull a cart for a long time without any pressure. As long as it was given enough fodder, this type of donkey could pull a cart for humans every day and serve humans every day.
For the rich, it was more dignified to use horses to pull a cart. However, for the poor and businessmen, donkey carts were more cost-effective. The price of a donkey was far lower than a horse. In the case of not having money to buy a horse, it was best to buy a donkey to pull a cart.
At this time, in the Central Sichuan region of the Tang dynasty, donkeys and oxen were the main livestock used to pull carts on land. Generally, the carriages were high-end vehicles for people. For transporting goods, donkey carts and oxen carts were very good.
In terms of pulling carts, although oxen were stronger, donkey carts were more advantageous when the load was not high. This was because donkeys were much faster than oxen. It was true that oxen were strong, but their walking speed was too slow. On the other hand, donkey carts were relatively faster. For people who often transported light goods, donkey carts were more suitable.
Although oxen were not as good as donkeys in pulling carts, oxen were much better than donkeys in plowing land. When many people heard that livestock was plowing land, they immediately thought of oxen. In fact, donkeys could also plow land. Horses, mules, and other livestock could also plow land. However, oxen were the strongest and had very good endurance. Therefore, oxen were generally more advantageous in plowing land. In the case where there were no oxen, it was also quite good to use donkeys to plow land.
A donkey could plow three acres of land in a day without any pressure. Although it was not as good as oxen, it was much more efficient than people. It was much better to use a donkey than not use one.
Many people in the Tang dynasty raised donkeys to pull carts, push mills, and plow land. They did not raise donkeys for food. However, donkeys could reproduce. If there were many donkeys, they would sell some of them. After all, no one could raise an unlimited number of donkeys. Even if they were rich, they would not raise too many donkeys because they really did not need so many.
Most of the people who bought donkeys did so because their families needed livestock for work, or because they often needed to travel far. They couldn't afford horses, so they could only buy donkeys. Some restaurants would also buy donkeys and use them as ingredients.
In addition, donkeys that were naturally eliminated would eventually end up on the table of humans. After all, donkeys also had a lifespan. When they were old and could no longer work, they would be sold to restaurants and become delicious donkey meat. The donkey skin would be made into more useful donkey-hide gelatin, which was a top tonic. Rich women liked donkey-hide gelatin the most, especially after childbirth. Eating more donkey-hide gelatin would be of great benefit to the recovery of the body. Eating more donkey-hide gelatin was also good for health. It was also very good for the body.
"This breeding yard is really lively! So many animals are raised, hahaha! "
Ang Lee said as he walked to the side of the gate. After entering the gate, he entered the storage area, which was where the Yang Family Fields stored their stock. From a distance, there were many haystacks and granaries. It would be more spectacular if he went in.
"Assistant Minister Li, please."
The head of the family led the way, appearing very polite.
As soon as he entered, the first thing he heard was the barking of dogs. Not far away, there were a few white cats running around in fear. These were obviously raised by the Yang Family to protect this yard.
Dogs could be used to guard against theft. Once a stranger approached, the dogs would bark together and attract the attention of the owner. Cats were experts at catching rats. For a storage area, the most important thing was to guard against rats. There must be a lot of food stored in the storage area, and the granaries were the favorite places of rats. Without the deterrence of the cats, the rats would eat the granaries clean.
Two servants came forward and pulled away all the barking dogs to avoid annoying Ang Lee. The head of the family began to introduce his family's storage.
The stacks in front of him were all stored straw. These straw could be used as fuel, feed, and could be used to build thatched houses. There were many practical uses.
These haystacks were very large. Each haystack was more than one zhang in height, and its length and width were even larger. The entire haystack was a huge block. A lot of mud was smeared on the top of the haystack so that the weight of the mud could press down on the straw and prevent the grass from being blown away by the wind. It could also prevent the heavy rain from wetting the entire haystack, which would cause the inside of the haystack to rot. Once the haystack became moldy, it could no longer be used to feed livestock. If the livestock ate moldy food, it would cause them to fall sick.
Due to the fact that these were all dried grass, once they were ignited, the consequences would be extremely serious. It could even pose a great threat to the entire estate. Therefore, there were many large water tanks placed between the haystacks. These water tanks were all filled with clear water. In this way, if a fire broke out, the servants could quickly fetch water from the nearby area and extinguish the flames in the shortest time possible. This ensured the safety of the entire estate and ensured that the Yang Family's property would not suffer a great loss.
"Not bad! There are so many large water tanks and they are all filled with water. In this way, even if there is a fire, there is no need to worry. "
Ang Lee was very satisfied that the Yang Family's field had taken such adequate fire prevention measures. This method of prioritizing safety was very commendable. There was nothing more important than safety. Fire was the most terrifying thing. If adequate preparations were not made, a fire would be a terrible disaster.
"These water tanks can only be used as support. Every night, there will be people patrolling here. There can be no less than five people in this yard at any time. This is to ensure that if there is a fire, it can be extinguished as soon as possible."
The head of the family said.
The distance between the haystacks was relatively large. Moreover, there was a large pond filled with water between every two haystacks. It was very safe. In addition, there were people patrolling here and there day and night, so there would not be any problems. As long as no one deliberately set the fire, Ang Lee believed that this warehouse yard would not have an uncontrollable fire.
There were more haystacks in this yard. There were dozens of them. Most of them were wheat stalks and rice stalks. There were also some other stalks. In addition, there were half-dried weeds. These half-dried weeds were completely used as fodder. They were much stronger than wheat stalks and rice stalks.
After passing through the haystack area, the grain storage area appeared in front of them. The grain storage area was also divided into blocks. However, the haystacks were square, while the granaries were round. The bottom was a cylinder, and the top was a cone. This was the standard look of a granary. Because of its larger size, each granary could store a large amount of grain. The grain stored in a storage area was enough for a village to eat for several years.
There was more than one granary in front of them. There were at least a dozen granaries. If they were all filled with grain, it would be a very large amount. It was estimated that it would take decades to finish it. It seemed unnecessary to store so much grain.
However, since ancient times, the landlord's favorite thing to do was to store grain. There was an old saying that said, "If you have grain in your hand, you will not panic." In ancient times, no matter what dynasty, whether it was peaceful or chaotic, there would be natural disasters and man-made disasters. Once there was a natural disaster and man-made disaster, there would not be enough grain to eat. Many people would starve to death because there was no grain to eat. At this time, people who had enough grain in their hands could live a better life. At least they would not starve to death. Moreover, with grain in their hands, they would have more right to speak. They could gain prestige through giving grain. In addition, with enough grain, they could provide for a large number of guards. Thus, they could protect themselves well. Some larger landlords could provide for dozens or hundreds of guards. They also had relatively simple weapons in their hands. Ordinary bandits and robbers could be stopped by them.
The Yang family was a large family. In addition, they also had a large number of guards and servants. There were also many tenant farmers who could be regarded as their subordinates. With such a large population, if they did not store more grain in their hands, they would definitely not be at ease. With enough grain, not only could they ensure that they could eat and drink at a critical time, they could also protect the servants and guards in the family and the tenant farmers' lives. Only when such a large population had food to eat could the Yang family really safely survive the crisis in this area.
Since ancient times, grain was a war material. Food was the most important thing to the people. Without food, the people would rebel. In the face of hunger, the people would not consider any reason. As long as there was no food, they would definitely revolt. In short, in order to survive, the people at the bottom would do anything. Don't naively think that the people were simple. That was in normal times. The people were indeed more simple. But once there was a shortage of food, the people would become bandits.
Ordinary people didn't have surplus food, so they didn't need to think about hoarding food. Landlords, on the other hand, definitely had surplus food, so it was necessary to hoard food appropriately. In ancient society, food was a hard currency, so hoarding food was better than hoarding any other materials.
The people of later generations liked to hoard houses, but the people of ancient times preferred to hoard land and grain. This was because there were too many people in later generations and housing became a scarce resource. Because of the increase in grain production, the people would not starve. Naturally, there was no need to store grain on a large scale. In ancient times, the number of people was not too high. The people's requirements for living were not high, but grain was often in short supply. Therefore, grain was relatively scarce. Those who could afford it still preferred to hoard grain.
Everyone knew that the rarer something was, the more precious it was. Not only was grain often scarce, it was also food that everyone needed to survive. Without grain, no one could live. Therefore, once grain became scarce, it would be very dangerous. It would cause chaos in the world and bandits would swarm. In times of chaos, if one had grain in hand, they would not panic. They could calmly gather people to protect themselves. At least the servants and tenant farmers who depended on them would have rations to survive. In order to obtain these rations and prevent bandits from robbing, these people would definitely risk their lives to protect their master.
Since ancient times, many tyrants who had a lot of grain in hand were always able to gather enough strength to protect themselves. They formed independent forts, village forts, strongholds, and other defensive forces.
At this time, the Tang dynasty was still a peaceful era. There were not many bandits. Therefore, most of the tyrants' fields did not have too many exaggerated defensive facilities. However, the courtyard walls of each tyrant were as high as two people. It was really difficult for ordinary people to climb in. Relatively speaking, the defensive capability was not bad. For example, the outermost courtyard wall of the Yang Family Farm in front of them was as high as two people. It was almost as high as the city wall. There were also some defensive spikes on the top of the wall to further increase the defense and prevent people from climbing in.
There was also a three-person tall watchtower built near the outer wall of the granary. People standing on the watchtower could easily see the entire granary and see every movement outside the wall. If there were bandits coming, they would definitely not be able to escape the eyes of the guards on the watchtower.
Because they had enough financial protection, the Yang Family Farm had dozens of guards. However, most of these guards were their own family members. Generally, they were the children of the Yang Family.
The Apex
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