Animal Husbandry had an important position in the ancient agricultural economy. During the Qin and Han dynasties, the western and northern border counties had vast land and sparse people, abundant water and grass, and good conditions for the development of animal husbandry. For example, in "Records of the Grand Historian. Biography of the Cultivation" says: "Longmen, Jieshi north, many horses, cattle, and sheep." "Tianshui, Longxi, northern land, Shangjun and Guanzhong are the same customs as Guanzhong, but there are the benefits of Qiangzhong in the west and Rongzhai in the north, and animal husbandry is the best in the world." The "Han Shu Geography" also says: "From the west of Wuwei... the land is vast and sparse, and aquatic grass is suitable for animal husbandry, so the animal husbandry in Liangzhou is the best in the world." In the western and northern regions of the Han Dynasty, in addition to a large number of official animal husbandry, there were also private animal husbandry among the people. With the expansion of the animal husbandry base and the development of the animal husbandry economy, there were individual professionals mainly engaged in animal husbandry management emerged in some places at that time. As recorded: "The animal husbandry in Wushi, and the crowd, were sold,

After seeking strange treasures, he offered the relic of King Rong. King Rong paid twice and gave them the livestock. The livestock used grain to measure horses and cattle." (Note: Volume 129 of "Biography of Merchants and Breedings", Volume 91 of "Biography of Merchants and Breedings".) "Ban Yi avoided falling into the Loufu, causing thousands of horses, cattle and sheep... Therefore, most people in the north used the word "Yi" as the name." (Note: Volume 100 of "Biography of Merchants and Breedings".) "(Qi Yao took the opportunity of the official government to dismiss the border and spared the livestock)

He brought a thousand horses, twice as many cattle, ten thousand sheep, and ten thousand bells of millet." (Note: Volume 129 of "Biography of Merchant and Breeding".) "Bu Shi was a native of Henan... He entered the mountains for more than ten years, and he got more than a thousand sheep and bought land and houses." (Note: Volume 58 of "Biography of Bu Shi".) "(Ma Yuan) was located in the fields and herding, and there were thousands of cattle, horses and sheep, and tens of thousands of hu of grain." (Note: Volume 24 of "Biography of Ma Yuan".)

There are several characteristics of animal husbandry production in the Han Dynasty: First, the regional distribution continued to expand, gradually extending from the northwest to the Central Plains. Due to the long-term influence since the Zhou Dynasty, some places in the Central Plains also began to develop animal husbandry. As mentioned in history, Jizhou "lives suitable for cattle and sheep", Yuzhou and Yanzhou "lives suitable for six disturbances." That is, it is suitable for the shepherding of six livestock such as horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, dogs, chickens. Second, the breeds produced by animal husbandry have developed categories. In addition to horses, there are also cattle, sheep, donkey, mule, etc. Donkeys and mules were species that were not found in the Central Plains before the Qin Dynasty and were regarded as "strange livestock". After the middle of the Western Han Dynasty, "mules, donkeys, camels, and camels, and horses were all my livestock" (Note: "Salt and Iron Theory. Strength Farming".). Furthermore, the production scale of professional livestock households at that time was large and large. Some "lives to the grain to measure cattle and horses", while others "numbered horses, cattle and sheep".

There were thousands of people, some of them had "thousands of horses, cattle and sheep". During the Taichu period of Emperor Wu of Han, in order to conquer Dayuan, 60,000 troops were sent out to Dunhuang, "and there were 100,000 cattle, 30,000 horses, donkeys, mules, and tens of thousands" (Note: Volume 61 of "Book of Han" "Biography of Li Guangli".). Many of these many livestock, besides the official raising, were privately raised by the people. Another point is that the purpose of professional households' business is clear, it is not self-sufficiency, but to sell, and make profits through exchange. For example, Wushiwu was good at "animal husbandry", and "selled" their livestock, buying "inquiry of strange goods", and taking a while to offer Rong King. After raising "thousands of sheep", they "buy land and houses". It can be seen that their livestock business was a kind of commodity production. At that time, there were animal husbandry brokers such as "horse" and "cow" which also showed that the direction of commercialization of livestock was already obvious.

Horses and cattle have special status and important economic value in animal husbandry. History says: "Horse is the basis of armor and weapons and the great use of the country." (Note: Volume 24 of "Ma Yuan Biography".) "Cow is the basis of farming and farmers, and the people are the most respected, and the country is strong and weak." (Note: Volume 837 of "Taiping Yulan" quotes "Fengshu Tong".) It also says: "If you live, you will farm and fight when you go out." (Note: Volume 26 of "Food and Goods".

) At that time, due to the long-term war in border counties, horses were needed to develop cavalry; carriage transport and plowing required "cows"; and sheep were needed to sacrifice meat. Therefore, horses, oxes, sheep became commodities in the Han Dynasty, and the trading phenomenon was extremely common. As recorded in the "Han Shop": "In July of the second year of Yuanyan, Juyan Order Shang Chengzhong moved to Hejin Pass, the county's Daohe County, and sent the pavilion chief Wang Feng to buy horses and Jiuquan with an edict" (Note: "Juyan Han Shop A and Yi" 1703A.)

; "□ Book says: Zhang Zong, a man from Dachangli, was appointed as the chief of the Tunnel of Yanjia Canal and Zhao Xuan, Qian Fan, Qian Fan" (Note: "Juyan Han Shop A and Yi" 2291, 2292.); "The left-handed branch, Zhongqu Hou Lingshi Huang Shang bought a horse with private money" (Note: "Dunhuang Xuanquan Han Shop Interpretation", Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, 2001 edition, page 131.); "The construction officer bought horses for the county" (Note: "Han Tomb No. 9, Fenghuang Mountain, Jiangling, Hubei,

Bamboo Slips, see Li Junming and others' "Complete Collection of Bamboo Slips" in the Cultural Relics Publishing House, 1990 edition, page *); "Selling a cow in the middle of March of the third year of □Zhao" (Note: "Juyan Han Slip A and B"); "Buy one sheep in two hundred and fifty" (Note: "Juyan New Slip"). From the "Juyan Han Slip", there were many records of "buying horses", "buying horses and riding horses", "buying cows", "buying horses and cows" and "buying sheep" in the market at that time, indicating that there were frequent transactions.

In the Han Dynasty, the market prices of horses, cattle and other animal husbandry were recorded in different records, and they often vary according to time and place. Generally speaking, the prices of border counties were lower than those of the mainland. According to the "Juyan Han Shop Jia and Yi", there are "five horses to use 20,000 horses" and "the horses are straight and seven thousand". "The Liusha Piao" contains "nine thousand horses" (Note: "Liusha Piao" Volume 2 "Shushan Piao" Volume 2 "Shushan Piao" Examination Books" Examination Books and Books" Examination Books and Books of 56.) This is known that each horse is between 4,000 and 9,000. The price of horses in mainland China soared to tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of coins during war or famine years, and even "one horse is worth hundreds of gold". See "Records of the Grand Historian Pingzhuan Shu", "Records of Emperor Wu of Han", "Biography of Du Lin in the Book of the Later Han", "Records of Emperor Ling of the Later Han" and other documents.

The price of cattle is generally lower than that of horses. The "Juyan Han Shop" records that "using two cattle, straight five thousand", "using two cattle, six thousand", each head is 2500 to 3000 yuan. The price of cattle recorded in "Nine Chapters of Arithmetic" is 1200,1800,3700 yuan respectively. According to the "Juyan Han Shop", the price of sheep is "two sheep, straight five hundred", "a big mother and son seed from Junji to buy Jiaquan nine hundred", "a big mother and brother from Junji to buy spring thousand", "a big mother and brother from Junji to buy spring thousand", "a two hundred and fifty to buy sheep one". "Nine Chapters of Arithmetic": "The sheep is always twenty-one gold", "a sheep price five hundred", "a sheep price one hundred and fifty", etc., and each head is 250,500,150 yuan respectively. From the perspective of the prices of horses, cattle and sheep, there are huge differences between different places.

In order to facilitate the measurement of the economic benefits of professional animal husbandry, it is now calculated based on medium prices. If a horse is 7,000 yuan, a cattle is 3,000 yuan, and a sheep is 250 yuan. Qiao Yao, which has "a thousand horses, twice as many as a cattle, and ten thousand sheep", has a total income of more than 16.5 million yuan. Its assets are astonishing! As for Ban Yi, which has "thousands of horses, cattle and sheep", and Wushi, which has "a grain of livestock, and a grain of horses and cattle", its livestock market should make more considerable profits after being sold. In addition, Sima Qian in "Records of the Grand Historian"
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