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The next day, Jiang Shaohua led the ministers to Biyang Racecourse.

Less than half of the cultivated land in Biyang County is occupied, and large areas of land have been enclosed and used as horse farms. Over the past 20 years, the racecourse has been continuously renovated. When you enter the racecourse, you can see endless pastures and fine horses of different heights and breeds. Dozens of horse slaves looked after the foal.

Such a grand scene is shocking.

The eyes of all the personal guards were almost shining.

Even Song Yuan was refreshed, and he rarely took the initiative to smile and said: "At first glance, I thought I was in the grassland outside the pass."

Meng Dashan was also amazed: "The last time I came here was when I followed the prince to patrol the racecourse five years ago. I haven't been here for a few years, and there are more horses in the racecourse."

As for Chen Jinyu, she was already dazzled and her eyes were almost exhausted.

Jiang Shaohua chuckled: "The horse farm has such a large-scale climate, and Magistrate Ma is indispensable."

With just one word, the horseman straightened his back.

It is a fact that the Ma family secretly seeks wealth. However, the Ma family has no ambiguity in opening a horse farm to raise horses. It takes about three to five years for a horse to be raised from birth to development. Biyang Racecourse can send about 500 excellent horses to the military camp every year. This number is enough to make the horse family proud.

Jiang Shaohua smiled and turned around and asked: "Mother Sheren, how many horses are there in the racecourse now?"

Ma Yaozong was well prepared and replied calmly: "Eight or nine hundred foals are born in the racecourse every year. After four or five years of raising them, they will be ready for use. A small and weak horse will be sold. Only strong horses will be sent to the palace elsewhere. The exact number cannot be calculated, but there is a rough number, about four thousand horses."

The real number is, of course, much higher.

However, Jiang Shaohua knows very well that there are no fish in clear water. The Ma family can raise five hundred fine war horses every year, which is a great achievement. The rest is minutiae.

"The princess plans to expand the guard camp," Jiang Shaohua said with a smile: "From this year on, the scale of horse breeding will have to be larger."

Ma Yaozong was a little embarrassed and said in a low voice: "To be honest with the princess, raising horses requires pasture and fodder. With the current scale of the horse farm, it is the limit to be able to raise four thousand horses. If you want to raise more horses, you must first expand the horse farm." The people in Biyang already have half the cultivated land compared to other counties. If they take over the cultivated land again, I'm afraid the people will be angry and cause trouble."

Jiang Shaohua had already thought about it and said calmly: "The land tax in Biyang County is half of that of the people in other counties. If we want to expand the horse farm in the future, we will not collect land tax. We will also subsidize some grain according to the population of each family." No matter what, we must ensure that the people have clothes to wear and food to feed them."

Ma Yaozong's scalp was numb.

No land tax is collected, but grain is subsidized. The two things the princess brought up while joking were not trivial matters. In the end, nine out of ten, the Ma family will have to cut off the flesh and bleed...

However, my grandfather had told me that no matter what the princess said, she would obey it first.

Ma Yaozong had to bite the bullet and said yes.

"You don't have to be nervous." Jiang Shaohua looked at the stiff expression of the horse owner and couldn't help but laugh: "I will not settle such a big matter with just a word. I will call your grandfather to discuss it after I return. It has to be agreed upon. We will come up with specific strategies and methods. We won’t have to ask Ma’s family or Yaxing to cut off the meat to supplement the income, so Ma Sheren can relax.”

Ma Yaozong was extremely embarrassed and laughed.

After all, he is just a fifteen-year-old boy who usually runs errands with his grandfather. Everyone respects him and everything goes smoothly. There has never been such an embarrassing situation.

Chen Jinyu saw this and found it funny. He handed over a clean handkerchief and said, "The man from the horse house is covered in sweat. Wipe it off!"

Ma Yaozong blushed and thanked him. He took the handkerchief and was reluctant to use it. He wiped the sweat with his sleeves and put away the handkerchief embroidered with a few green bamboo leaves. Chen Jinyu didn't think much, turned to Jiang Shaohua and smiled: "Princess, let's go and take a look."

Jiang Shaohua nodded happily, led everyone forward, and looked at each one carefully. A naughty white pony ran over. This pony only reached Jiang Shaohua's waist and had a pair of wet, big eyes that were so cute.

Jiang Shaohua smiled and touched the foal.

The horse slave on the side hurriedly brought a handful of fresh fodder. Chen Jinyu immediately stepped forward, took the fodder, and delivered it to the princess. Jiang Shaohua teased the foal with foals, chuckling from time to time.

Chen Zhuo saw this scene in his eyes and thought that his granddaughter finally understood. It's not in vain that he put in all the training.

Qin Hu, Meng Sanbao and other personal guards were already envious of the horse. They leaned their heads together and muttered a few words, and then Qin Hu bravely stepped forward: "Princess, there are so many good horses here, why don't you pick one and ride it for a spin?"

Jiang Shaohua smiled and glanced at Qin Hu: "You must be itching to see a good horse!"

Qin Hu grinned and rubbed his hands: "The princess is wise!"

Meng Dashan smiled and glared over: "Did San Bao instigate you to come here? You bastard, how can you be so arrogant in front of the princess!"

"Uncle Meng, don't be upset." Jiang Shaohua said with a smile: "Since we have come to the racecourse, it is only right to ride a horse for a spin. This is what I originally planned."

Meng Dashan was a little helpless: "Princess, don't be too spoiled to them. These days, I have been following the princess, and I can see it. The other soldiers are still doing their jobs, but Qin Hu and Meng Sanbao are the brave ones." Thick-skinned.”

Jiang Shaohua took over the conversation with a smile: "That's good for them."

Meng Dashan looked helpless, but he was actually very happy in his heart.

They are all direct line guards of the Nanyang Palace. Qin Hu is Qin Zhan's eldest son. Meng Sanbao's two older brothers died in infancy, so he is also his eldest son. The princess was particularly fond of Qin Hu and Meng Sanbao, firstly because they were loyal and skilled, and secondly because they were kind to him and Qin Zhan.

They don't have as many twists and turns as Magistrate Chen Changshima. It is a good thing that the princess values ​​the Three Treasures of Qin, Hu and Meng, and they can only hope for them.

……

After running around the racecourse for half a day and having a simple lunch, Jiang Shaohua met with several stewards of the racecourse and asked about the food, clothing and daily life of the horse slaves. Then, I went to see him again in person.

There are more than 600 manu in total, about 200 of them are children, and there are more than 100 teenage girls, and about 300 adults are needed.

Among them are the Kumoxi people, the Khitan people, the Rouran people, and the Gaoche people.

These manu live together as a family and eat two meals a day.

Ma Yaozong was afraid that the princess would be unhappy, so he explained in a low voice: "It is their custom to have two meals a day. Every meal is open for them to eat, even the children, until they are full."

Jiang Shaohua nodded slightly.

There was sudden movement ahead.

Qin Hu quickly came to report: "To inform the princess, there are several foreign women kowtowing to the princess." (End of this chapter)