Horseshoe, also known as horseshoe, is an iron hoof-shaped object nailed to the hooves of horses, cattle and other livestock.

The horse's hooves are made up of two layers, the one that touches the ground is a layer of hard keratin about 2-3 cm thick, and the upper layer is a living keratin. The horse's hooves are in contact with the ground, and they will fall off quickly due to the friction of the ground and the corrosion of the water. The use of horseshoes not only protects the horse's hooves, but also makes the horse's hooves grip the ground more firmly, which is beneficial for both riding and driving.

The horseshoe was probably invented by the Romans and found in the remains of the first century BC.

The common horseshoe is made of iron, which is quite light, and is stamped from one side with a piercing nail hole. The edges of the horseshoe often have a wavy profile, and the unfixed ends are bent into a non-slip spur.

There were no horseshoes in the Tang Dynasty?

When Zhen Qian found out that there was no horseshoe nailed on the horse's hoof, he was embarrassed on ......the spot.

From the middle of the Tang Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, it was difficult for the Central Plains Dynasty to directly control the northwest region, and although there was a huge amount of trade with the surrounding ethnic groups in exchange for tea and silk, the technology of nailing horses to horses never spread in the Central Plains with the import of "Hu Ma".

Therefore, horseshoe technology has always been considered a novelty and extraterritorial.

Tracing back to the material of the horseshoe, broadly speaking, it has also used materials such as kudzu vine to wrap the hoof. "Iron feet of healthy horses" and "hoofs braided with kudzu", which can be seen that in addition to the iron forging horseshoe, there is also this extremely simple horseshoes.

In fact, strictly speaking, Datang is not completely unaware of the matter of nailing horseshoes on horseshoe, and the common thing is to use some hard wood, or directly wrap the horsefoot with materials such as Gebu rattan hemp to reduce the friction of the horse's hooves on the hard ground.

The people of Murowei also knew this for a long time, but the method used by the Murowei people was more direct, wrapping the horseshoe with soft and wear-resistant thick cowhide, which could have the same effect.

Why didn't the horseshoe appear in Datang?

In fact, this question is not difficult to answer at all, even if Datang knows the existence and benefits of horseshoes, it is impossible to equip war horses with horseshoes!

According to historical records, the Tang Dynasty produced 280,000 catties of iron per month, and the annual output was more than 1.6 million catties, equivalent to about 500 tons.

There is only such a little iron, which needs to be supplied to the whole country, of which agricultural tools and daily iron account for a large part, plus the demand for army weapons and armor, this iron material is simply not enough.

At the same time, the overall smelting level of the Tang Dynasty was also very low, and the charcoal was not used in the ironmaking process at all, which caused the phenomenon of iron shortage.

Of course, this is the official statistics, in fact, with the addition of private iron smelting, the iron output is much higher than the official one, but if you look at the iron production of the Song Dynasty, you can know the gap between the Tang and Song dynasties, which also confirms the degree of commercial prosperity of the entire Song Dynasty society from another aspect.

Zhen Qian didn't know what the iron production of the Tang Dynasty was at first, although he knew that the iron output in ancient times could not be more than that of a blast furnace in later generations, but the poor iron production in the Tang Dynasty still shocked Zhen Qian.

But at the same time, it is also a great opportunity!

Now eighty percent of the iron ore of the Wufeng Islands came to the world's largest Nanpu iron mine in later generations, due to the use of carboniferous technology, the annual iron output easily exceeded three or four hundred thousand catties, this is still the result of Zhen Qian's failure to control the Nanpu iron mine, if you wait until you have the strength to occupy the Nanpu iron mine, the iron output exceeds 1,000 tons is just a matter of time.

In ancient times, iron production was directly proportional to the strength of a country, and the daily iron used by the common people and the iron used by the army were both symbols of a country's wealth!

Zhen Qian may not have understood this simple truth before, but after becoming a person living in this era and coming into contact with this era, he found that making money is actually very simple.

This time, Zhen Qian provided 100,000 catties of refined iron to Black Domain City, but almost all the inventory of the Wufeng Islands was emptied at one time.

Murowei's demand for weapons is different from that of the Wufeng Islands, mainly based on blunt and heavy weapons, weapons suitable for cavalry combat, and not suitable for large-scale manufacturing, while the Wufeng Islands produce mostly standard weapons, which can be produced in large quantities from the assembly line, so only a part of the fine iron can be provided for the Black Domain City to build its own weapons.

With such a large number of weapons and equipment, in the next war with the western part of the Ling, Heiyu City has already occupied an absolute advantage in weapons and equipment.

Wang Peng didn't know what the horseshoe was, but Zhen Qian had already explained it in detail in his letter to Wang Peng, but now Wang Peng didn't know it.

Hearing Zhen Da's question, Wang Peng had the heart to open the letter now, but after thinking about it, he still didn't take it out, so he said perfunctorily: "This matter will be talked about tomorrow, this time Zhen Lang also sent a large amount of drunken immortal brew, take out a part of it and distribute it to the meritorious soldiers of Black Domain City, celebrate together!" ”

If you want to say that among the goods that Zhen Er brought back this time, what is the favorite of the Murwei people, is not the sophisticated weapon assembly, nor the powerful thunderbolt, but the drunken immortal brew that can make the Murwei people dream.

The amount of drunken immortal brew in the inventory of Black Domain City is already extremely rare, even a general like Zhen Da can only be allocated half a catty and eight taels when he goes out to fight in winter, and ordinary people in Murowei have long been waiting for Zhen Er to bring back the drunken immortal brew, so there are countless people to greet Zhen Er.

This time, Zhen Er brought back forty truckloads of drunken immortal brew at once, saving a little drink enough to last until this time next year.

"Oh!"

The Murwei people in the hall boiled all of a sudden, for these Murwei people, the cattle and sheep war horses couldn't arouse any interest in them at all, even if they robbed the beauties of other tribes, it was just a little exciting, only the rich drunken immortal brew was simply their favorite, especially in the far north of the cold and frozen, they could take a sip and sleep with the beauty in their arms, it was simply a fairy who didn't change.

"Hooray, hooray!"

When Wang Peng heard the taboo words, the corners of his eyes twitched, but he didn't care too much, and said: "Provide five catties for one hundred households every day, three catties for the chief, one catty for the chief of the army, half a catty for each of the other soldiers, and all the soldiers in the Black Domain City drink for three days!" ”

The people in the hall were also excited, there was no New Year's talk in Murowei, and there was a lack of New Year's flavor, plus the situation in Heiyu City was not optimistic, Zhen Da was still out with troops to fight in December, Zhen Er was out for almost two months, and now it was hard to get together, and I don't know if these people can still drink together in another month, so they simply let go, but it is more like the life of the Murowei people.