Liu Ji was not unexcited when he suddenly saw Zhang Liang, whom he had fought with together, but he was the emperor after all, so he could only suppress his joy and asked calmly, pretending to be reserved,
"Your Majesty, you are well. I thought you would find an excuse to practice Taoism and escape into the desert."
"Your Majesty is seeking pleasure from my old minister again."
Zhang Liang waved his hands repeatedly, his white hair trembling wildly.
"I can't bear to leave your majesty, my wife and children in Beijing, and I can't bear to leave this mortal world.
Besides, seeing that the Huns were not honest, the old minister also wanted to contribute to the court again. "
Everyone laughed. Liu Ji heard that there was obviously something in his words, but the lingering sound was still lingering. He also saw a meaningful smile brewing on his face. He was moved in his heart and asked quickly,
"Could it be that in these short few months, you have made some breakthrough in the matter of Ma Zheng?"
Zhang Liang's smile grew wider, and there was a hint of lust in his eyes. Liu Fei beside him, who was young after all, couldn't hold back anymore and rushed to say,
"Mr. Zifang is a talented man. He has come up with a magical method that can improve the horse breeds in our animal husbandry!"
Everyone in the house was astonished, and Xia Houying, the servant in charge of carriages and horses, stood up excitedly. Seeing how impatient he was, Zhang Liangcai explained the whole story.
It turned out that he took Liu Fei to the pastoral gardens of the border counties. Although the new foals he visited this spring were not satisfactory, Zhang Liang learned a tacit understanding of the locals during the exchange of cups and cups with the military households. secret.
"Master Zhang, do you know how the Huns herded their horses?"
The drunken old soldier looked at Zhang Liang with side eyes.
***
Zhang Liang raised his neck and drank up the cup of home-made wine. The wine was coarse and spicy. As soon as he took his mouth, his throat felt like it was on fire. He felt a line of fire running straight into his stomach and intestines, and his internal organs were about to burn.
He wiped his lips and asked humbly,
"I don't know. I'm just waiting to ask you for advice."
"Hey, they never keep horses in confinement except in winter and spring. They let the horses run wild in the mountains and fields, sometimes for tens or even hundreds of miles without caring.
The horse is smart, knows its companions and knows the way. When it is tired from running outside, after ten days and a half, it will return to the vicinity of its owner's felt tent.
Even if they can't find their way home, by the end of autumn, they will send out a few prime-age herdsmen to gather them along the way, and they will all be together. "
"Oh?" Zhang Liang was startled, not knowing where the old soldier's words were going.
"So, we horse breeders sometimes want to try our luck, so we learn from the Huns and select a few mares in late spring and early summer and rush them to the other side of the border."
What kind of person Zhang Liang is, he already understood the key in a blink of an eye. He kept silent, only picked up the wine pot with slightly trembling hands, and filled the pottery wine glass in front of the old military household again.
The old soldier picked up a piece of the high-quality goat's milk cheese that Zhang Liang brought, put it in his mouth and chewed it, took another sip of wine, smacked his lips with satisfaction, and continued to preach,
“Our mare also knows the way and won’t run too far, just wandering around a few nearby hills.
When autumn comes, we sneak out again and get the mare back early, and guess what—"
"how?"
“If you’re lucky, the mare will probably have a calf in her belly.
These are the cubs of those good horses on the grassland. They will be born next spring. They are all unique and can be sold for a good price. "
Zhang Liang asked,
"Does your method work every year?"
***
"Nine times out of ten, nine times out of ten."
The old herdsman drank another cup and said mysteriously,
"However, this is our private method, just used to make some money occasionally, it's not easy to talk about it openly.
If it leaks out and is easily labeled as an enemy, the gain will outweigh the loss. "
Zhang Liang hummed heavily.
The Han and the Huns have been at odds all year round, and horses are the most important strategic material. Dare to put the horses into the Huns' territory without permission. This can be a big or small crime, but it is not something that ordinary military families can afford.
"It can be seen from this that the public pastoral supervisors naturally do not dare to use this method."
Zhang Liang had a drink with the old soldier and sighed inquiringly.
"That's natural,"
The old soldier glared, as if laughing at his whims.
"The horses in Muyuan are all the property of the imperial court, and they are registered one by one.
Which supervisor would take such a big risk just for a job?
If the mare cannot be retrieved, wouldn’t it be worth the loss? "
"That is, that is."
Zhang Liang said silently, for many supervisors who have nothing to do, one more thing is worse than one less thing. They would rather do nothing than do something wrong, and it is not worth taking the risk to try.
But he is different. He would rather make a mistake than give it a try.
"Now that Jiuxia is about to die, is it not too late to let the mare out at this time?"
“It’s just in time...
But Mr. Zhang, aren't you here for inspection? Why do you need to do this? "
Before waiting for the other party's reply, the old soldier was so drunk that he fell down on the mat and fell asleep.
***
"You should tell me quickly. Did you really find some mares and put them in the Huns' territory?"
Xia Houying was overjoyed and asked eagerly, just like when he started his business, a group of old buddies gathered in a dilapidated palace in the old capital of Yueyang, talking to each other excitedly, thinking about the future.
"It was almost summer, and time was tight. I even worked hard for more than ten days to find horses and lead horses. I gathered together 360 strong, mature mare horses and sent them all across the border."
"Why are there still parts and pieces?"
Liu Ji muttered.
Liu Fei hurriedly explained,
"Reporting to my father, don't underestimate these three hundred and sixty horses. Mr. Zifang and I dug three feet into the ground and exhausted all the treasures to find these.
Not one more horse will do. "
Lu Zhi asked with a smile,
"You've probably scattered all your belongings, right?"
"My mother is wise, who can say she isn't?"
Even though it had been several months, Liu Fei still had a wry smile on his face when he recalled how embarrassing he was looking for horses everywhere.
"Muyuan's horse has fallen down. There are two of us, a prince and a Tutor, who are relatively thin-faced. We can borrow them just by opening our mouths and sealing our seals.
At first, we collected more than 200 official horses from Muyuan and Yichuan. I thought it would be enough for business, but Mr. Zifang still found it too few.
In desperation, they could only rely on the county magistrates to go door-to-door to the homes of local wealthy families to collect horses.
Mr. Zifang also said that civilian horses are different from official horses. The actual price must be clearly stated. Even if you buy it on credit, you must keep enough deposit according to the market price.
In order to buy a horse, the Tutor had nothing to gain, and his sons and ministers were even worse. They even pawned their robes and boots, and also owed a debt of gratitude. "
Seeing Liu Fei complaining vividly and vividly, Zhang Liang couldn't help laughing and said again,
“The eldest prince has gone too far.
It's just that the northwest counties are already poor. They don't have much money left from taxes at the end of the year. They don't have time to ask the inner counties for allocation, and they don't dare to alert the court before the matter is completed. "
Liu Ji laughed,
"That's the truth. If you recruit horses from rich families, you have to pay them.
It doesn't matter, how much money you spent, just ask Xiao He for it. "
Xiao He was busy answering the question, and Xia Houying pressed him and asked,
"Zifang, you are just talking about irrelevant things. How many percent of the 360 horses have been recovered?"
Upon hearing this question, Zhang Liang's old eyes lit up, like the twinkling candlelight in the dark night.
"Before we set off, we took stock twice -
A total of 93% were recovered, including 300 pregnant horses. "
