eldest son of Ming dynasty

Chapter 147 Preliminary Discussion on Horse Administration ([-])

If you read the history of horse politics in China specifically, you will come across a saying, "There is no detail in horse politics in the Ming Dynasty, and there is nothing harmful in the Ming Dynasty."

It is because Zhu Yuanzhang has learned the lessons of the horse administration of the past dynasties and formulated a relatively complete horse administration. However, after the corruption of officials, the extremely complete horse administration has caused too many disasters.

In general, there are three ways to obtain war horses in the Ming Dynasty.

One is the official herdsman, which is easy to understand. The imperial court demarcates pastures for raising horses.For this purpose, Zhu Yuanzhang set up an institution called Taipu Temple to manage it, which was hung under the Ministry of War (Yuanma Temple was added later).

No matter what the name is, anyway, the emperor specially sent a group of people to manage a piece of grassland and be responsible for raising horses.

The reason for the subsequent corruption is also obvious, that is, the grassland was occupied by suzerains and landlords. Of course, the reason is very complicated, that is, when the country was founded, there were few people and there were places to raise them.As the population grows, some land has to be reclaimed to grow food, so some of it is also occupied by the army and civilians.

The second is the tea horse trade.It is mainly in border areas, where tea is exchanged for horses with Tibet, Western Regions and northern nomads.Until now, there is still a scenic spot in some places called: The Ancient Tea Horse Road.

But this channel was ruined by tea smuggling.

The third way is the source of huge disasters, and even created a word called 'Thieves'.

This method is called Minmu.

The policy of people and animal husbandry is borrowed from the Northern Wei and Song dynasties, which is to let the people help the court raise horses.

The general principle is to help me raise horses, I will exempt you from taxes if they are well-raised, and you will pay me if they are bad.Generally, there are two ways of "raising horses by household" and "raising horses by mu", that is, one horse is raised on the [-] mu of land, or one horse is raised by your fifteen families together.

But as time went on, the problem came,

First of all, as a commoner, the imperial court gave me a healthy horse today, but I just have bad luck, what should I do if the horse dies suddenly tomorrow?

Then you have to pay, a horse is very precious, let alone more than twenty taels of silver, so families continue to go bankrupt because of raising horses.

Secondly, when raising horses together, there is a situation where the tyrants oppress the people. For example, our 30 households raise a horse together, and each of us raises it for [-] days.Then powerful people will choose a season when the vegetation is lush and people are not busy to graze their horses.

For example, when there is no grass and the season is too busy, the poor people are allowed to let the horses go. Not to mention the delay in the farming season, the horses have to go farther and more places, so the people suffer unspeakably.

Originally, it was not easy to have enough to eat all year round on the land, and this delay basically resulted in starvation.

There is no solution to this problem, as long as each family raises horses together, it will definitely appear. This phenomenon occurred during the Hongwu period.

Furthermore, when the imperial court entrusts a horse to the common people to raise, it will ask you to produce a foal for me every year, but the foal will be sent to test whether it is qualified or not. This test is learned, because There must be officials responsible for the inspection.

This is law enforcement.

Ordinary people carry their horses to the inspection, and whether they pass or fail depends only on whether the pony is alive and kicking?

Therefore, from Hongzhi to Jiajing and Longqing years, the common people stopped raising horses.

Isn't it just compensation? I would rather pay than pay.Raising a horse is expensive, time-consuming, and money-intensive.I might as well scrape together a sum of money and lose it directly.

Therefore, there were many cases of "pony abuse" recorded at that time.Even a well-behaved foal should be killed, anyway, just don't keep it.

But it's easy to say "I'll compensate you", because many ordinary people basically have to sell their sons and daughters.Such a heavy burden caused the people in Hebei, the land of raising horses at this time, to live in dire straits.

During the Zhengde period, the Liuliu Liuqi uprising broke out in Wen'an County, Bazhou, Zhili, and was called "thief horse robbers". , Of course it was unsuccessful, but later moved to Henan, Huguang, Nanzhili and other vast areas.

It took three years of fighting to settle down.

This is the hinterland of the Central Plains. The agricultural country has been fighting for three years. What kind of concept is lost?
So carefully sort out the above three ways to obtain war horses, not to mention Zhu Houzhao, even the top talents in the country like the cabinet began to bow their heads and remain silent, not knowing what to do.

Mr. Liu Ge talked for a long time, nothing more than optimizing Yang Yiqing's suggestion. Yang Yiqing said that "strictly prohibiting private use, and making the best use of tea to benefit the palace", in fact, it is to prohibit tea smuggling.Liu Gelao said that the court should support it.

As for the racecourse occupied by the vassals, the biggest move of Emperor Hongzhi so far was to refuse the begging of King Qi and King Yong.

And checking the fields is something that will not be done in the near future.

This is the predicament of the country in the feudal era. Because there are so many vested interests, it is necessary to have an army to carry out reforms, and to have an army, you must dig out those interests. Isn't this an endless loop?

Zhu Houzhao felt that this is a major matter, and I'm afraid it can't be resolved in one or two imperial decrees and one or two months.

"... What do you think of Yang Yiqing's strict investigation of tea smuggling?"

Li Dongyang raised his hand and said: "I think you might as well give it a try."

This is to let Yang Yiqing go to the front line and stand up to the thunder.Naturally, everyone didn't have much opinion.Anyway, it was Yang Yiqing who offended people.

"Han Shangshu."

The Korean text comes out, "The minister is here."

Zhu Houzhao asked: "You are in charge of money and food. Why do you say that tea smuggling is prevalent outside of the tea-horse market?"

Han Wenzuo is right, "Naturally, the profits are huge, and many people would rather take the risk."

It was originally monopolized by the government, and if foreign merchants want to obtain tea, they can only trade with the government, so that the government has the power to set prices.During the Hongwu period, a horse sold 37 catties of tea.

But why is the price of private tea so expensive? If you really exchange such a little tea for a horse and then sell it for money, wouldn't it be a lot of money?
In the face of huge interests, the smuggling of tea for horses is unstoppable. This is a bit like exchanging bread for planes in the Soviet Union.

Zhu Yuanzhang also killed a son-in-law to show his determination.But he and Zhu Di and his son can control people, which emperor behind can still control them?

You can ask Emperor Hongzhi to kill a son-in-law, even though he has no son-in-law.

Moreover, foreign businessmen don't like to do business with officials, because private tea merchants are cheap.

This embarrasses the imperial court. If this kind of behavior is to be completely eliminated, the manpower and financial resources invested will be quite large, and the administrative cost will go up all at once.

"Since the profit is huge..." Zhu Houzhao thought for a while, "Then it must be very difficult to completely ban it by means of thunder. In the end, there is too much movement and the effect is poor."

The fleas are bombed with grenades. It looks lively, but it doesn't solve the problem.

At this time, the Minister of the Ministry of Officials, Tu Yu, said, "The imperial court monopolized the tea horse trade. The original intention was to use less tea in exchange for more war horses in the Western Regions, but the reality is that it is no longer possible. Merchants in the Western Regions will only sell the best war horses to private individuals. , inferior transactions to the imperial court. Your Highness, what if... the imperial court lifts the ban on the tea-horse trade?"

Zhu Houzhao raised his eyebrows, "You mean, like Shibosi, set up a special tea horse trading place to allow merchants to trade legally, and the court collects taxes based on it."

"No!" Wang Yue immediately objected, "Because of food problems, there is a shortage of tea in the Western Regions. The imperial court controls tea not only for military horses, but also to control the lifeblood of the countries in the Western Regions. Once the ban is lifted, how can it be a few years later when it becomes strong? Don’t you know it will lead to military disaster?”

He looked at it from the perspective of war.

It does make sense.How can such strategic resources be opened up?

Headache.

In fact, the imperial court has a monopoly on tea, and it has something to do with tea introduction.

Salt, tea, and iron are all government-operated, and it is impossible to change these things easily.

In the final analysis, the feudal dynasty is always missing.Either this or that is missing.

In fact, among these various reasons, there is another point, that is, those in power do not pay enough attention to horse administration, because the horse farm is in a remote border area, and the life of horse herding is also difficult, so most of the officials who go there to be officials are officials who have given up by the imperial court.

Bi Mawen, which emperor selected officials he valued to do this job?
Well, if the top doesn't pay attention to it, the bottom will naturally do it casually.

Zhu Houzhao thought for a while and said: "Let's reply to Yang Yiqing in this way. First of all, what he said is to strictly investigate tea smuggling. Let's see how far he can do it. In addition, according to what he said, there are still 6 horse farms in Shaanxi. How much is it? Let’s manage the existing horse ranch of the imperial court first. Now it’s the time of peace, and the vacancies of war horses in various places can be filled slowly. Anyway, there are still shortages. A shortage of [-] horses is a shortage, and a shortage of [-] horses is also a shortage. Liu Ge Lao, Wang Shangshu and Tu Shangshu, "

"The minister is here."

"After you go back, you will sort out the Taipusi and all the officials in charge of the horse farms in Shaanxi. Those who have poor political performance will be dismissed together. Re-appoint an official with a better reputation. Who is the minister of Taipusi now?"

"Your Majesty, this person's name is Wang Ji, and he has held this official position for nearly ten years." Since the last reminder, Tu Yu is now much more familiar with the officials.

If it hasn't moved for ten years, it really doesn't get paid attention to.

"Remove him and replace him with Crown Prince Xianma Liangchu, and order him to be in charge of the royal horse ranch."

"Yes."

"Tell Yang Yiqing to keep the more than 6 hectares for the imperial court. If anyone wants to invade again, let him write a memorial and submit it to the palace." Zhu Houzhao arranged this section and thought about it, "Wang Shangshu, Mrs. The servant temple is under your jurisdiction, so you have to contact Yang Yiqing to see how many strong horses his Shaanxi horse farm can provide in a year."

"Then gather these excellent war horses and train an elite cavalry unit. That Yang Shangyi was recommended by you, and he is still excellent in the military academy assessment. After you return, you order him to serve in Datong as the general of the cavalry. And asked him to report the development of this cavalry to the imperial court every six months, this memorial, I want to see, Liu Jin, "

"The servant is here."

"If I forget. You remember to remind me."

"Yes."

This reminder is to tell everyone present that no one is allowed to stop Yang Shangyi from writing.

When everyone heard this, they felt that Yang Shangyi was hit by a pie falling from the sky.

In fact, looking at this government affairs alone, Yang Shangyi somewhat possessed the "secret authority" that the ministers of the Qing Dynasty later had.

This is no small matter.

In addition, feudal countries are not powerless.

The key is to see who uses this power, just like the historical Emperor Zhengde who personally commanded the battle of Yingzhou. Although the country has no money, the emperor is in command at the front line. Is that the same as the logistics support of a general commanding at the front line?
The same is true now. Zhu Houzhao personally visited the 6-hectare horse farm in Shaanxi and re-appointed officials. The horses raised will be brought out by a cavalry unit first. As long as he keeps an eye on them, it will definitely be effective.

"When we have this cavalry and defeated the Tatars, let's go outside the Great Wall and herd horses!"

"The wise and innocent prince!"

This is actually no way, otherwise what would you say?Let Emperor Hongzhi order to kill all the princes of the Zhu family and return all the pastures?
I'm afraid that the world will be in chaos.

The tea horse trade is even more complicated.

Of course, Zhu Houzhao is still concerned,
"Official animal husbandry and tea-horse trade were like this first. The festival of civilian animal husbandry is deeply harmful and shocking. The people are trapped by horses, and they don't know where to escape. If they have a foal, they will die for hope, and if they have no foal, they will celebrate each other. I'd rather pay money than raise horses. If things go on like this, I'm afraid the hearts of the people will be lost."

　The author of Emperor Jiajing's new book "Crafting Emperor's Brother" claims to be a closed-door disciple of the eight-pocket elder of the beggar gang. Down.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)