After Song Zhihuan finished speaking, Huang Qiong frowned and said, "Your father did not sell horses to party members, so can you guarantee that the officials under your father have not done such a thing? If the officials under your father have done so, For something like this, your father cannot escape the charge of lax control of his subordinates."
"I know that all the horses produced by the herdsmen of our dynasty are specially used by the officers and soldiers of our dynasty, so they are branded with certain marks. If anyone is among the Dangxiang people, they will really see the solemn mark on the horses. The horse branding from the Zhouqun Animal Husbandry Prison is not a false accusation against your father."
In response to Huang Qiong's rhetorical question, Song Zhihuan sighed and said: "With my father's personality, it is indeed possible for officials from several horse farms under his subordinates to privately sell a few unbranded young horses to Han horse dealers, but It is simply impossible to sell horses to party members. My lord, even if you are looking for money, the risks are nothing compared to the benefits."
"At the beginning of the rise of our dynasty, the Dangxiang cavalry has always been our strong enemy. When Taizu entered Chang'an, the Dangxiang cavalry rebelled against the former Tang Dynasty and even reached Baqiao outside Chang'an City. The Dangxiang people grew up freely on horseback. It can be said that the Dangxiang cavalry grew up freely on horseback. If you can walk, you can ride a horse, and the party horse is the best war horse in the world."
"At that time, most of the horses in the cavalry of my court were confiscated horses that were originally used to drive shafts and plow the fields. Only a small number of horses were real war horses that were captured from Japan. Not only were the horses inferior, but the farmers who had been farming since childhood were not riding horses. There is no way I can compete with a party member who has grown up on horseback."
"After several battles, although our cavalry had a large number, they were no match at all. We lost consecutive battles and forced Emperor Taizu to almost give up the city. If it hadn't been for the battle of Tongzhou, when the Guilin County King used newly made cannons to defeat Dangxiang's cavalry, It’s really hard to say what the situation was at that time.”
"However, although the battle of Tongzhou defeated the party's cavalry, our court has always been unable to deal with these highly mobile and heavily armored cavalry. After Taizu Dingding Guanzhong, these cavalry entrenched in Youzhou and Xiazhou The Dangxiang cavalry has always been like a thorn in the back. After the Battle of Tongzhou, although the Dangxiang cavalry was unable to attack Chang'an, they continued to harass Guanzhong."
"And sent cavalry, taking advantage of the fact that our dynasty had no time for the Northern Expedition and the former Tang Dynasty was even more unable to control, they successively captured Yinzhou, Suizhou, and Jingzhou. Although Emperor Taizu sent envoys many times to recruit surrender, he refused to surrender. He also killed our dynasty's envoys several times. However, the main force of the Qi army was in the process of conquering Guandong and Jiangnan, and it was really unable to solve this serious problem."
"It wasn't until Jiangnan and Lianghuai were evaluated that Emperor Taizu was ready to divide his troops to attack Shu, so he sent Meng Kai to command 30,000 cavalry, 100,000 infantry, ten cannons made by the prince of Guilin, and more than 10,000 kilograms of gunfire to march northward, with all his strength Eliminate the Dangxiang people who occupy the five states. But even if the Qi army has an absolute numerical advantage, facing the powerful Dangxiang heavy armored cavalry, this battle is still extremely difficult."
"Although the Dangxiang people only had land in five states, this battle still took more than a year and more than 30,000 troops were lost before the leader of the Dangxiang people was killed. , completely flattening the northwest. If it weren’t for the fact that the expedition against Shu did not require too many cavalry, the Qi cavalry would have almost lost their vitality, and it would even affect the subsequent battle against Shu.”
"After this battle, the powerful combat power of the Dangxiang cavalry left a deep impact on the court. In order to weaken the strength of the Dangxiang people, the court divided the Dangxiang people into three and left one group to graze where they were. Some were forcibly relocated to the Hexi Corridor and around Qinghai Lake. In order to move westward, various ministries and parties were forced to demarcate the nomadic range. Once there are any nomads who exceed the range, they will be killed without mercy."
"Not only that, but also established alliance leaders in each ministry and awarded them as governors. The original chiefs and leaders were respectively assigned to regiment training envoys, vassal envoys and other positions. However, although the governors can be lifelong and cannot be hereditary, the imperial court will select from various regiment training envoys and vassal envoys. Let the central committee designate people to take charge of it, so as to internally divide the various party departments."
"In addition to these means, young men and women were constantly recruited from various parties to fight against the Northern Liao, Tubo, and Uighur tribes, weakening the strength of the party members from the outside. During the reign of Taizu, the king of Guilin attacked Tubo, and during the reign of Gaozong , the imperial court fought more than ten battles with the Northern Liao cavalry who went south, causing heavy losses to all party departments, with more than 100,000 casualties lost, and they have not been able to fully recover to this day."
"In addition to these means, various restrictions have also been set up by law. Not only does it stipulate that party members and horses are not allowed to graze more than thirty horses per household. If a horse breeder grazes more horses than the number of households, each household will have to graze more than thirty horses. Every year, a horse must be paid to the court as a tax. If a household has five members, five horses must be paid every year."
"Those who herd cattle and sheep need to pay much lighter taxes every year. Each household only needs to pay three sheep or one cow every year, no matter how many people they have. The imperial court did this to allow the party members to pay their own taxes in order to survive. Then we gradually reduced the number of horses grazing and replaced them with mainly cattle and sheep that pose no threat."
"The Dangxiang people have lived on horseback since childhood. They can be said to be natural cavalry. But all this is based on having a large number of war horses. Without enough war horses, the Dangxiang people's riding and shooting will become It’s just an empty threat. Besides, although the Dangxiang people are mainly nomadic, they are constrained by the fact that the nomadic areas do not have as vast grasslands as those in Beiliao.”
"Whether it is the Xia, You, Yin, Sui, Jingzhou, or Laochao Tongwancheng that were originally occupied, the richness of water and grass is far less than that of the Turkic homeland occupied by the Northern Liao. Although there is a lot of horse production, it is far less numerous than the Northern Liao. . Even in its heyday, it could only achieve one horse per army, far less than the number of one man and three horses of the Northern Liao cavalry."
"The imperial court imposed heavy taxes on the Dangxiang people to raise horses and encouraged them to herd cattle and sheep, which further weakened the strength of the Dangxiang people. Although the Dangxiang horses are the best in the world and are the best war horses in the world, there are not enough horses. Over the past ten years, the party's population has multiplied and gradually begun to recover, but the number of cavalry is not enough to pose a threat to the imperial court."
“The imperial court not only adopted various means to divide and weaken the Dangxiang people from within, but also ordered several group pastoral supervisors established in the northwest that year to punish those who dared to sell horses to the Dangxiang people privately. Although the party members currently cannot form a large-scale cavalry due to insufficient horses."
"But unless they encounter natural disasters or intend to rebel, the Dangxiang people basically have no shortage of horses. After all, although the Dangxiang people are mainly nomadic, under the education and even coercion of the former Tang Dynasty and our dynasty, some people They turned to farming to make a living. Herding has long ceased to be the only way of survival for Dangxiang people."
"And the imperial court's original customization also left some leeway in order to dispel the doubts of some Dangxiang chiefs. For example, no tax is levied on horses that are grazed according to the number of Dangkou per household. At present, although the number of horses in the hands of Dangxiang people is It is already different from what it used to be, and we cannot allow the party members to form a large number of cavalry, but they can barely have the ability to protect themselves."
"At least internal attacks, or short-term campaigns against the surrounding Tubo, Tuyuhun and other tribes, are enough. Because the imperial court's alliance chief system for the Fan people is not only for the party members, but also for the Tubo tribes who surrendered to the imperial court. Department, and so on. Everyone's strength is basically the same, even if there is a fight between each other, the scale is very limited. "
"So it is impossible for Dangxiang people to take risks, and there is basically no need to buy horses from the herdsmen of the imperial court. Even if they do buy horses, I am afraid it is only occasionally, and it is impossible to buy too many. And they sell horses to Dangxiang people privately. , once it is discovered that the Nine Clans will be executed, the risk is too great."
"Few officials, no matter how poor they are, don't have the guts to do this kind of thing. They have plenty of ways to make money, so why take the risk? If nothing else, every year when a young horse is born, There are quite a few horse dealers from the mainland who go to Suzhou and try their best to buy horses. It is at least much safer to buy horses from a few group herd supervisors than to buy them from Zhufan."
"If there are people in the Qunmu Supervisor who secretly sell horses to Han horse dealers before they are branded, it is possible that the Suzhou Qunmu Supervisor has several horse farms located in Suzhou and Ganzhou, and they have almost captured the entire The Hexi Corridor area can be said to be vast. The entire group of herdsmen produces more than five horses every year. Including the horses in stock, the entire group of herdsmen has more than 50,000 horses. "
"Suzhou Qunmu Supervisor is the largest of the four group herdsmen established by the imperial court in the entire northwest, including Xiazhou Qunmu Supervisor, Lanzhou Qunmu Supervisor, and Xining Prefecture Qunmu Supervisor, and it also produces the best horses. Suzhou The horses produced by Qunmu Supervisor and the Hequ horses produced by Qunmu Supervisor of Xining Prefecture became the main war horses used by the cavalry of our dynasty."
"With such a large output of young horses every year, and the horse farms being widely distributed, it is unavoidable that some officials will commit theft. However, as the false accusation says, only 70% of the young horses produced each year are reported to the court. It is simply impossible to sell 30% of it to Zhufan privately, and it is simply a crime to be punished."
"I know the rules of the group pastoral supervisor. It is possible that the birth rate of the puppies born every year is 90% or 85%. Because from the time a person is born to growing up, he will encounter many diseases. I am afraid that the number of children who die every year is countless. They can't even be counted. What's more, those horses that can't talk? People have plague, and horses also have horse plague."
"It is impossible for every herd supervisor to report the number of young horses they produce every year truthfully. At least they have to leave themselves a way out. Otherwise, if they encounter a plague, where will they find a sufficient number of young horses to fill the vacancies? But To say 30%, no official would do that. If the difference from the previous year or a few years is too big, the official would not need to take the job."
Song Zhihuan's explanation made Huang Qiong's brows, which had only been slightly frowned, become more and more wrinkled. If things are really what this guy said, the matter about his father at least seems to be a complete false accusation. But if we were to frame a six-bu minister or a pacifier along the way, even an official like Zhizhou would still be possible.
At least if you pull them down, you may have the possibility of ascending to the top, or get other benefits. What was the purpose of the Qun Mu Supervisor Du Jian who falsely accused him of being in a harsh and cold place that even some officials regarded as a place to avoid, making him unwilling to go there? Apart from the strictly controlled military horses, there is nothing good to be gained there.
The reason for framing him shouldn't be because he wanted to buy a horse from him, but he couldn't, so he resorted to such despicable means. Either to kill one person as a warning to others, or to replace him with someone who is greedy for money and obedient. Otherwise, no one can think of any benefits that would be enough to make people take such despicable measures. After all, the position of Suzhou Qun Mu Superintendent and Superintendent is actually not as attractive as a magistrate in the mainland.
