According to legend, the Ferghana horses could gallop for impossible hours and “even reach 4300 kilometers in only 43 days” (Sweats). Most significantly, however, was the myth about the horse’s ability to sweat blood. The information was brought back to Emperor Wu-ti and he believed them to be descendants of the heavenly horses that would bring him fortune (Matsuda) (Tanka). Wu-ti sent envoys to Dayuan “with ‘a thousand pieces of gold and a golden horse” (Matsuda) (Tanka). The Dayuan rebuffed Wu-ti, so the emperor sent 6,000 cavalry soldiers and 20,000 infantry soldiers under Li Guangli (Peers). The first campaign failed and Wu-ti sent Guangli again, this time with a much larger army and livestock to carry supplies and feed the men on the one
