This is enough to show that at least in the Southern Dynasties, wooden cows and flowing horses were still in use.
Unfortunately, people who learned about this technology in later generations were so arrogant that they refused to spread the word at all. Including Zu Chongzhi himself. Many machines designed and manufactured by Zu Chongzhi were later lost. Why is it lost?
Zu Chongzhi refused to describe the principle of manufacturing machinery in detail, but only gave a general description. As for the drawings, don't even think about it. Zu Chongzhi, the bodhi old zu chicken thief, rarely leaves drawings. For many things, Mr. Zulao only kept the real thing. What he did was recorded in many documents, but all of them were rough descriptions. At most, there was a rough sketch, and other details were swallowed up by Mr. Zu Lao.
Think about it, a great scientist like Zu Chongzhi is so secretive that he won't tell anyone, let alone others, after learning about Zhuge Liang's manufacturing method. In the Southern Song Dynasty, when Fan Chengda wrote "Return to the Sea and Zhi Heng", he also briefly mentioned that in Miannan area at that time, machinery based on Zhuge Liang's wooden ox and flowing horse appeared among the people, which was the last time that the real wooden ox and flowing horse was mentioned in orthodox literature. After that, Mu Niu Liu Ma should be completely lost.
Therefore, in fact, after Zhuge Liang's death, the wooden ox and flowing horse he made was still used by people, but because of the great value of this technology, everyone who knew it refused to spread it and kept it a secret until it disappeared. Therefore, by the time of the Song Dynasty, it was rare to see the true face of Liu Ma, a cow. For example, Gao Cheng's Things of Jiyuan, or the compilation of The Back Hill and Historical Records, all think that Liu Ma, a cattle herder, is just a "Jiangzhou car" (unicycle).
On the one hand, these literati are arrogant and self-righteous and despise ancient treasures; On the other hand, what knowledge do these sven scum who only know how to sit at home have? I have never been out of hutong in my life, which also led to the spread of rumors.
If there were no sages like Fan Wenmu Gong, I'm afraid we wouldn't have reached the Song Dynasty, and people wouldn't know what a wooden cow is.
In Zhuge Liang's story, the legend of "Liu Ma the Cow" is a mystery. Aside from the "Romance" component of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the highly reliable Records of the Three Kingdoms and Zhuge Jiliang are all described, which shows that it is likely to exist, but no one has been able to elaborate on it since Zhuge Liang, let alone write a book. Although some people say that it copied Zhuge's "Cowherd Liu Ma", later generations
"Liu Ma the Cow" is actually two things.
According to Zhuge Jiliang, herding cattle appeared during Zhuge Liang's fourth Northern Expedition, and at the same time there were eight arrays and Zhuge Liang's crossbows, which were high-tech at that time.
What kind of object is a wooden cow? The literature only briefly describes its manufacturing method, does not explain how to use it, and does not leave design and manufacturing drawings.
Literature describes the word "cow" as abstract. Different people have different understandings of such abstract words, and even the same person may have different views with the increase of research time:
Experts speculate that "Mu Niu" may be an improved unicycle. The so-called "one foot and four legs" is a wheel and four legs. When traveling, a wheel and an artificial fulcrum are used, and the wheel shares huge weight, so that it will not overturn through four supports when parking, so that it can easily travel on rugged mountain roads.
CCTV Discovery Channel once held a festival to show wooden cows and horses. One view is that "Mu Niu" is actually a kind of unicycle popular in Sichuan and Sichuan, which coincides with the expert's inference.
What is a "flowing horse"?
Liu Ma appeared in Zhuge Liang's fifth Northern Expedition. Like Mu Niu, the history of "Liu Ma" is unknown, and there is only a brief description of its manufacturing method, but there is no instruction manual, design and manufacturing drawings.
However, compared with Mu Niu, the text introduced by "Liu Ma" is more detailed, which not only has the size of each part, but also clearly indicates that it is porous and has a larger aperture, which indicates that "Liu Ma" may be assembled by tenons.
It is called a "flowing horse" instead of a "wooden horse". It should be related to water, and it should be something that can slide on water. Things in the water are not called boats, but things on land, which means they can also be used on land.
According to this inference, experts infer that "Liu Ma" is probably an amphibious transportation tool that can be disassembled and assembled.
Conclusion:
The inventions of 1, "herding cattle" and "Liu Ma" belong to Zhuge Liang.
2. "Cattle herding" and "Liu Ma" are two kinds of means of transportation, one for land use and the other for amphibious use.
3. The troops of "Cowherd" and "Liu Ma" were used to transport grain and grass. Therefore, "herding cattle" and "Liu Ma" definitely exist in the world, not legends.
4. These two objects are probably still used by ordinary people now, but they use another name or two instead of "Mu Niu" or "Liu Ma".
reference data
What do you think of "wooden cows flowing horses"?
The northern song dynasty once wrote: there is a car in Shu, pushing eight stones alone, like an ox in front and a car in the back. Four people push ten stones, and Mu Niu Liu Ma also. It is also recorded in the Story written by Gao Cheng in the Song Dynasty that the front axle of the car is a wooden cow and the wheelbarrow pusher is a flowing horse. Judging from their descriptions, in fact, Mu Niu Liu Ma's previous life was a unicycle.
Where is Shuzhong? Sichuan basin, of course. Zhuge Liang assisted the Shu army in the northern expedition to Shu. As the saying goes, the soldiers and horses have not moved their food and grass first, which means that the logistics supply must go first, and sufficient logistics support is needed to let the army go to the battlefield without worries. Many times, it is because the grain and grass can't keep up with the progress of the army, which eventually leads to the delay and even defeat of the fighter plane. How could Zhuge Liang not understand this?
In ancient times, there was also a saying to describe the hardships of coming out of Sichuan, which was called "it is difficult to get through the Shu Road" and "it is difficult to get to the sky". This shows that although the Sichuan Basin is a granary, it is difficult to think of it because of the steep geographical barriers around it, let alone large-scale military operations, and it is even more difficult to transport grain and grass. The steep road made it difficult for the carriage to move forward. Finally, Zhuge Liang invented cattle herding Liu Ma to transport grain and grass.
That kind of narrow and rugged mountain road, under the condition of underdeveloped productivity in ancient times, can only be built because of geographical conditions, so the road is narrow and rugged and not suitable for carriage transportation. Finally, a tool suitable for walking and transporting on narrow and rugged mountain roads has been invented, and the unicycle balance car is very suitable for walking and transporting under such road conditions. In fact, it is a kind of vehicle car. At least in history, many people have recorded this kind of thing.
Of course, many people now believe in this kind of thing, especially some in TV dramas, and make it a tool that can walk and transport by itself without manpower. To tell the truth, this kind of tool can't exist at all. It should be a practical and convenient car. Of course, it needs external force to move. It is inconvenient to use a carriage on the road, so it is more convenient to use a tool that is especially suitable for walking on rugged mountain roads. In fact, the car is the most labor-saving, you can pull more.
Of course, it is not only a cart with wheels, but also involves the design of some hand bars to support the whole car through the steps that cannot be reached on wheels. Of course it can't be a rickshaw with only wheels. However, when Zu Chongzhi later copied cow Liu Ma, he only said some general structures, but did not fully express the complete appearance, structure and production technology of cow Liu Ma, so now people only speculate, but did not say absolutely.
In modern archaeological discoveries, through the analysis of some historical documents, a conclusion is also drawn that the so-called wooden ox and flowing horse is actually a kind of human vehicle, which is only designed to be suitable for walking and transportation on narrow mountain roads. It is not as magical as we thought, but it should use some mechanical lever principle, at least for now, but the technology at that time was very magical and high-grade, and the wisdom and ability of the ancients were really extraordinary.
The image of a wooden ox and a flowing horse in the novel is imagined by the legend and the author. At that time, the real wooden cattle and horses were vehicles such as cars and boats. A wooden cow is a cart drawn by a cow and a horse, and a flowing horse is a boat.
Anyone who knows a little about physics will understand that doing work requires motivation. Where does the legendary power come from? Wheels are the most ideal means of transportation. Like animals, they carry loads with their legs, which is inefficient and consumes a lot of energy. The compass was invented in the era of the Yellow Emperor. The ancients were not stupid, and Zhuge Liang would never let it become a vehicle with legs.
Now someone imitates the wooden ox in the TV series. It's ok to play, but if it's used to transport grain, it's exhausted!
Zhuge Liang invented it himself, so when Zhuge Liang died, it was gone.
From the historical data, it is analyzed that Liu Ma, a cattle herder, is not a cow-shaped or horse-shaped cart, but a four-wheeled cart and a two-wheeled cart. Liu Ma for herding cattle is designed according to the rugged mountain road in Hanzhong, Sichuan, and should be based on the principle of adding files.