Aconitum repens

Aconitum repens

Baitiwu, one of the six horses in Zhaoling, is a pure black horse with four white hooves. It is the mount of Li Shimin and Xue rengao when they fought. According to the records of Liuma tuzan of Emperor Taizong's Zhaoling collected in quantangwen (Volume 10), Jun and baitiwu were the mounts of Li Shimin and Xue rengao (the son of Xue Ju) during the battle in qianshuiyuan (now northeast of Changwu County, Shaanxi Province) from September to November in the first year of Wude (618). They were ranked at the bottom of the three Jun on the west side of the altar (arranged from south to North).

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In April of 617, the 13th year of Daye in Sui Dynasty, Xue Ju and Xue rengao fought in Jincheng county. In July, Xue rengao became emperor. In December, Xue Ju and his son mobilized 100000 troops to seize Chang'an in Guanzhong while Li Yuan and his son were not stable. In June of the next year, Xue Jun occupied Jingzhou (now Wuli north of Jingchuan County, Gansu Province), and then drove all the way to Chenzhou (now Binxian County, Shaanxi Province) and Qizhou (now Fengxiang, Shaanxi Province). Li Yuan, Emperor Gaozu of the Tang Dynasty, appointed Li Shimin as the marshal of the western expedition and sent troops to fight against it. The two armies had a stalemate for more than two months in Gao (Yanshu) city (now North of Changwu County, Shaanxi Province). In November, Xue's army was in a dilemma because of poor food and grass. Li Shimin took advantage of the opportunity to attack both inside and outside. Li Shimin first used a small amount of troops to lure the enemy in the shallow water, and dragged down the elite Luo Hou Department of Xue army. Then, unexpectedly, he personally led a strong army to attack the enemy's rear. He rode "baitiwu" with only a few elite cavalry and took the lead in fighting against the enemy. Xue's army was in chaos and his soldiers fled to Zheshu city (now the northeast of Jingchuan County, Gansu Province). In order to wipe out the enemy completely, Li Shimin urged "Bai Ti Wu" and led more than 2000 cavalry to catch up closely. They galloped for more than 200 miles day and night, surrounded Xue rengao's defeated army in Zhehui City, guarded the key road, and forced Xue rengao to lead the remnant to open the city and surrender. The war of shallow water tableland laid the political and economic foundation of Tang Dynasty based on Guanlong. The stone inscription "Bai Ti Wu" has strong muscles and bones, four hooves flying in the air, and manes flying in the wind. It shows that it was carrying Li Shimin to chase Xue Jun on the Loess Plateau. Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty praised it: "relying on the sky and long sword, chasing the wind and strong feet, pulling the bridle to level the dragon, returning to the saddle to settle Shu."

name

For thousands of years, people have been saying that "white hoof" is a pure black horse with four white hooves. However, Mr. Ge Chengyong believes that as the praise and proper name of Mount of "Tian Khan" Taizong, the name of "Bai Ti Wu" is not enough to explain the meaning of Li Shimin's great achievements. He believes that the word "white hoof" comes from the Turkic word "bota", which means young horse or camel, and means "less sweat". "Baitiwu" should be an honorary horse with the meaning of "Shaohan" in the Turkic language. Its symbolic meaning is not only in line with the Turkic custom of praising the mount of the upper leaders, but also in line with the traditional way of praising the emperor in the Tang Dynasty. Therefore, the Turkic word "bota" should be the real original meaning of the Chinese word "Baiti." (GE Chengyong, research on the six steeds of Tang Zhaoling and the Turkic burial custom, Chinese literature and history collection, Volume 60. The source of GE's theory quoted below is the same.) the author thinks that Mr. GE's theory is the same.

Chinese PinYin : Bai Ti Wu