Chapter Ninety-Three: Rough and Wooden

In these times, having a horse at home was practically the same as owning a carriage.

Wei Renshi went out early that morning to feed the horse.

The sooner it grew tame, the sooner he could ride it.

To gallop across the wind and thunder was every man's dream at heart.

"Eat up, have some more," Wei Renshi said as he fed it, keeping up a steady stream of chatter. "Now that you're here, you're family. No need to be polite."

Xi'er stood behind him in terror, watching her master balance on a small stool and chat with the horse, the washbasin in her hands nearly slipping from her grasp.

Especially when she thought of her master's uncanny power to cut down ghosts and spirits. Could it be that this horse was some sort of demon, and that was why it could speak with him?

Meanwhile, Wei Renshi continued talking to the horse. "Since you've come here, you need a name. I can't keep calling you 'the horse,' can I? Let's see, how about Jue Ti, Fan Yu, Ben Xiao, Yue Ying, Yu Hui, Chao Guang, Teng Wu, Xie Yi, Hualiu, Lyu'er, Dao Li, Qiji, Xian Li, Lei Shou... Which one do you like? You think those names are too lofty and not down-to-earth? Right, I think so too! In my opinion, why not call you Stomping Hoof? Down-to-earth, but with a touch of wildness! Hahaha, I knew you'd like it. It's settled, then!"

After christening the horse, Wei Renshi climbed down from the stool, dusted off his hands, and bade it farewell. "Stomping Hoof, eat well, drink well, and lick your salt."

When Wei Renshi and Xi'er returned to the front courtyard, Xi'er handed him the basin and asked, "It's only a horse. Why is Master so happy?"

"You wouldn't understand. That's a man's fixation on his carriage." Wei Renshi ruffled Xi'er's hair and laughed.

"I don't get it." Xi'er shook her head. "Master, breakfast is all ready!"

"Good, let's eat."

After washing his face and finishing breakfast, Wei Renshi was preparing to go see how the house construction was coming along.

Just as he stepped out the door, he saw Sun Laohan coming toward him.

When Sun Laohan reached the gate, he was holding a letter. Before Wei Renshi could ask, he handed it over and said, "Young Master, Sun Peng had the mule caravan bringing the wine send back a letter. The caravan reached Fuchang yesterday, but by then it was already dark and the city gates were shut. They had to spend the night outside Fuchang and only arrived at the brewery this morning."

Wei Renshi opened the envelope in front of Sun Laohan and took out the letter.

The handwriting was crooked, and there were several misspellings inside.

Still, the meaning was clear enough: it reported on the recent state of affairs at One Dream Tower, what had happened there, and at the end it mentioned that the proprietors of Nine Towers and One Pavilion in Luoyang wanted to invite Wei Renshi to a gathering.

Nine Towers and One Pavilion were the ten larger eateries and inns in Luoyang.

The nine major powers of the trade were inviting a newcomer to a gathering. This had all the makings of a banquet at Hong Gate.

Wei Renshi put away the letter and asked, "Sun, when does the wine caravan set out to return to Luoyang?"

"At daybreak the day after tomorrow," Sun Laohan replied.

Wei Renshi nodded. "Good. Then I'll go to Luoyang with them at dawn the day after tomorrow."

Since he was going to Luoyang, these next two days gave him time to make preparations.

He called over Shi Laoda, brought out the carriage, and for the first time Wei Renshi rode by carriage to Fuchang City.

Only... this carriage was a little too rough for comfort. Wei Renshi felt as though his backside was about to split open.

Once in Fuchang, he first informed Wang Laohan and told Wang Xiaosui'er to get ready to set out for Luoyang at dawn the day after tomorrow. Then he went to the blacksmith's workshop to place a new order, and after that he had to detour to the kiln to commission several more internal fireboxes, so that a few more coal stove prototypes could be made.

That finished the business in Fuchang.

He did not linger, but turned back for home.

On the road, with Shi Laoda driving the carriage, Wei Renshi found the jolting seat too painful to bear, so he sat up front instead, where it was somewhat better.

"Uncle Shi," Wei Renshi said, "I'm going to Luoyang the day after tomorrow. Come with me."

"Yes," Shi Laoda said with a nod. Then he asked, "So we're leaving for Luoyang the day after tomorrow... Then when we get back, we'll need to trim the horse's hooves. This horse only just came back from Weinan; the road was long enough that its hooves must be worn down."

At his words, Wei Renshi instinctively looked down at the horse's hooves.

Only then did he notice that there were no iron shoes on them at all.

"Don't horses need to be shod with iron shoes?" Wei Renshi asked.

"Iron shoes?" Shi Laoda looked puzzled. "I don't know what that is."

Wei Renshi froze. Could it be that horses had not yet been shod with iron shoes? He remembered iron horseshoes as having appeared very early.

"The things nailed to a horse's hooves to keep them from wearing down," Wei Renshi said, gesturing at the hooves.

Shi Laoda thought for a long moment. "Could the young master mean wooden clogs?"

Wei Renshi froze again. "Wooden clogs? What's that?"

Shi Laoda explained with gestures, "They're much like wooden sandals, only they fit over the horse's hooves. After you put them on, you wrap them in a layer of yak hide. They're used for crossing the Gobi so the hooves don't wear down so badly. When the Uyghurs cross the Gobi, they wrap their horses' hooves in those wooden clogs. But once the horse is wrapped like that, it can't run fast, so they have to take them off as soon as they get across."

Only then did Wei Renshi remember that although horseshoes had appeared very early in history, that seemed to have been in the West.

In China, it seemed to have first been mastered by the nomadic peoples of the north, perhaps not until the Five Dynasties period. By then, the Uyghurs of Ganzhou had already learned how to nail on horseshoes, while in the Central Plains they were not widely used until the Yuan dynasty.

So the Great Tang did not yet have the technology to shoe horses?

And from Shi Laoda's words, even the Uyghurs seemed to be using only wooden clogs wrapped in yak hide, rather than iron shoes forged and nailed to the hooves.

The importance of horseshoes to a horse was self-evident.

And what did horses mean to a state built chiefly on cavalry?

Good heavens. He seemed to have stumbled upon something extraordinary.

Wei Renshi swallowed hard and said to Shi Laoda, "Uncle Shi, let's turn back... no, don't turn back yet."

The advantages of horseshoes were obvious, and they were not difficult to make. If he rashly had a blacksmith forge them and fit them to horses, the matter would surely be discovered at once, and then imitated at once by others.

Just like folding fans.

These things were actually simple to make; what they lacked was only that first thought. Without the idea, of course they could not be made. But once someone had the idea, imitation required almost no technical skill at all.

If he were to offer this to the court for military use, it would surely be a tremendous achievement.

But if it first spread among the common people and only later reached the court's ears, things would be different.

His credit would surely be reduced by a great deal, and the court might not even bother to trace where it had come from or who had made it.

He would likely get nothing at all.

Fortunately, in the original course of history, horseshoes had not been mastered by the northern nomads until the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, and they were not widely used in the Central Plains until the Yuan dynasty. In other words, as long as he did not let horseshoes enter the world first, no one would yet be able to imitate them ahead of him.

He had to seize this opportunity properly.