The largest imperial pasture is in Longxi, which mainly breeds Western Horses. The second largest pasture is in Shuofang County below Yulin County, which mainly breeds Turkic horses.
Shuofang County, later known as Dengkou County in Bayannaoer City, Inner Mongolia, has a relatively complex terrain and belongs to the Hetao area. The eastern plain of the county is suitable for grazing. The royal pasture set up here in the early years of the founding of the Emperor was home to horses. Fifteen thousand horses, nearly 40,000 horses in the middle period, and 20,000 horses in the later period.
Not all horses are suitable to be war horses. Some people are better than others, and so are horses. Moreover, young horses and old horses cannot be used yet.
Some horses' personalities are not suitable for use as war horses, such as those that are timid, easily frightened, or dishonest. If horses that do not meet the standards are forcibly incorporated into the cavalry, they will have counterproductive effects.
Then the loopholes of corruption came. According to the Sui Dynasty system, war horses that did not meet the standards would be disposed of and sold to businessmen or civilians.
As a result, a large number of high-quality war horses were regarded as inferior horses and sold by the people of Taipu Temple. Of course, the good horses were sold at the price of good horses, but the price reported to the court was the price of inferior horses, and the difference in price was taken advantage of.
Therefore, the Sui Dynasty issued a law that horses between the ages of six and sixteen were not allowed to be sold. As a result, there were policies and countermeasures, and they began to tamper with the age of the horses.
Cui Junchuo, the minister of Taipu Temple, knew that the matter was of great importance, so he went to Longxi to inspect it early.
Yang Guang is not easy to fool. If he wants 100,000 horses, then he must have 100,000 qualified war horses. Can't he get it together? hehe
Yang Guang has a record of how many horses there are in all the royal ranches. No matter how much water there is, they will multiply it by three and ask you for horses according to this standard.
The emperor is not a fool. He doesn't know that he is lining his own pockets? Don’t forget, people have been lining their own pockets in Yangzhou, and they have come from experience in whatever officialdom there is.
The people in Taipu Temple also know that even if I steal and rob, I still have to make up this amount.
Yang Ming ordered his servant Shaoqing Qu Tugai to be responsible for inspecting Shuofang Ranch.
"I asked Fang Xuanling to go with you. It seems that you are the master and he is the slave, but in fact he is the master. Do you understand?" Yang Ming said in the East Palace.
Of course Qu Tugai understood that the prince was afraid that he would collude with local subordinates. If he checked his neck with his head, what would he find? So I don't feel comfortable letting him investigate.
"I understand that Xuan Ling is the principal in charge of this matter, and we strive to thoroughly investigate Shuofang's accumulated shortcomings in the past years."
Yang Ming snorted coldly and said: "Shuofang Ranch has always been in charge of you. In just a few years, 40,000 horses have become 20,000 horses. How much did you get out of it?"
Qu Tugai was stunned and said quickly: "Prince Mingjian, how dare I embezzle domestic products?"
"If there is anything that violates the law, Fang Xuanling will find out if he goes down," Yang Ming said: "Don't think that Qu Tutong can protect you. He can't even protect himself. If Fang Xuanling goes down this time, he will be missing a hair." , I’m the only one asking you.”
Qu Tugai knelt down and said with sweat: "I will never be corrupt or bend the law. Your Highness can rest assured about Xuan Ling's safety. I will never allow Xuan Ling to make any mistakes."
Yang Ming nodded: "Remember, it's a very important matter. The number of horses concealed and sold privately below must be found out and must be taken back. If you miss your Majesty's business, you can go and use it as cattle and horses for the soldiers." Go ahead."
"Yes, yes, I understand, I understand," Qu Tugai wiped his cold sweat and resigned.
The three major ranches of the Sui Dynasty were Longxi, Shuofang and Yanmen.
Nothing happened on the Yanmen side. After all, this is the border, and the court is keeping the tightest watch. The Yanmen prefect is also served by the Zuoyuwei General Qiu He, and Qiu He is a sensible person. He does not dare to make mistakes on the ranch. .
During lunch, Xu Jing came to report that Dugu Bailou was back.
Yang Ming went out in person and welcomed the other party in.
"Mommy, you're here just in time, let's have some together."
Dugu Bailou would not be polite to Yang Ming. After all, when Yang Ming was a child, she wiped his feces and urine.
"Mommy, there must be something going on when you come back, right?" Yang Ming said with a smile after the two sat down.
Dugu Bailou said while eating: "It's really interesting for you. Feng'er hasn't come back for so long, so you just urged her earlier. There hasn't even been a letter in the past two years. What's wrong? Have you forgotten this person? "
Yang Ming smiled bitterly and said: "It's because she doesn't want to come back, and it's not that I don't want her to come back. In recent years, the government affairs have been heavy, so I have really neglected it."
Dugu Bailou rolled his eyes and said: "No matter how busy you are, you won't even get a letter. Although that girl doesn't say it, I know that she has been looking forward to you writing to her. She is cold on the outside and hot on the inside. It’s not like you don’t know?”
"If she misses me, she will come back on her own," Yang Ming said while picking up vegetables. "If she doesn't want to come back, of course she doesn't miss me."
Dugu Bailou frowned and said, "She has her own reasons, you should understand."
"Why should I understand?" Yang Ming said in a deep voice: "The letter she gave me made it very clear: we sent each other our longings. She asked me to settle down with Zheng Anrao, and I did it for her. I also need to understand her. What?"
"What are you two so angry about?" Dugu Bailou was speechless.
Yang Ming raised his hand: "Mommy, stop talking. I know what you are here for. The Dugu family has already revealed to me before you that she was imprisoned. Dugu Zuan is trying to play tricks on me. , He also knows that no one in the world would dare to want his daughter, right?"
"Feng'er is yours, who else dares to want her besides you?" Dugu Bailou said.
Yang Ming slammed his chopsticks and said, "Does she also know that she is mine? If she knew, she would have come back two years ago. Do I still have to beg her to come back? Tell her not to come back."
After saying that, Yang Ming stood up and left, leaving Dugu Bailou speechless.
Finally growing up, Dugu Bailou sighed inwardly, Yang Ming was now the prince, majestic and domineering, and would not allow others to slight him.
Yang Ming was walking alone in the corridor of the East Palace.
He didn't have any resentment towards Dugu Feng'er, it was just a show.
The situation of the Dugu family is more complicated, because during the Kaihuang period, Dugu Jialuo was a relative and was protected by Dugu Jialuo. Dugu Jialuo naturally had both likes and dislikes towards the people in his natal family. Those who were more popular would naturally develop a sense of arrogance. , those who are not welcomed will suffer cold treatment.
As a result, the Dugu family is not very united, because they only respect Dugu Jialuo and ignore others.
As a result, Dugu Zuan, the head of the family, only had a false appearance but no real prestige.
Why doesn't Dugu Huaien take Dugu Zuan seriously? It's because he was raised by Dugu Jialuo when he was a child.
As for Dugu Zuan, his father, Dugu Luo, was imprisoned by Gao Huan for twenty years. His life could not be more miserable. After he was released, he was poor and miserable, with barely enough food to eat. Later, it was Yang Jian and his wife who found him. After buying a house and land and giving money as a gift, life has become stable.
Therefore, the eldest brother Duguluo is not close to the other brothers. Although he is the eldest brother, they have not seen each other for more than 20 years, and they will definitely not be close to each other.
But no matter what, he was the legitimate eldest son, he was imprisoned by Gao Huan, and he was also tricked by his biological father, Dugu Xin.
So after the founding of the Sui Dynasty, Dugu Jialuo asked his eldest brother Dugu Luo to attack his father Dugu Xin's Duke Zhao, and then Dugu Zuan attacked him again.
This is why Dugu Zuan loves money so much. It is really because he was afraid of poverty when he was a child.
As for what Dugu Zuan is thinking, Yang Ming can probably guess that the Dugu family is now in disarray, but its decline has become apparent. Dugu Zuan wants to bring the family together and unite, but he does not have enough prestige.
what to do? Use Dugu Feng'er.
As long as Dugu Feng'er legitimately becomes the crown prince's woman, he can rely on the identity of Dugu Feng'er's father to reunite the scattered family, and he can stabilize his position as the head of the family.
His ambitions are not big, he just wants to be a powerful head of the family.
But people's ambitions can change. As the saying goes, one mountain looks higher than the other. When Dugu Zuan truly takes control of the family, he will inevitably get involved in Yang Ming's harem family affairs.
Dugu Jialuo arranged this marriage for Yang Ming back then, with the intention of supporting Dugu Zuan to take over the family. Unfortunately, people are not as good as God, and Dugu Feng'er went crazy.
At the moment, Yang Ming does not want to see the Dugu family unite. In fact, he does not want any aristocratic family to be united internally.
The biggest resistance lies in Yang Guang. Yang Ming is almost certain that his father is not willing to let Feng'er come back.
This is why Pei Ju and Pei Yun can be favored at the same time. This is Yang Guang's way of using his strength to divide the Pei family from within. However, Pei Yun is a branch and no one in the family supports him. He really can't defeat Pei Ju. He didn't dare to have such thoughts.
Pei Ju was the most intelligent person, and people saw that Pei Yun was gaining momentum, and he and Li Yuan were related, so they simply planned to let Jiancheng's daughter marry his grandson Yang Jin, thus weakening Pei Yun.
I have to say that Pei Ju is so awesome, and he is so proficient in conspiracy.
On the way, Yang suddenly ran over, caught up with Yang Ming and said:
"Your Highness, the Crown Princess is looking for you."
Mrs. Yang is Yang Yinjiang's dowry daughter. Her full name is Yang Yuru. She is eighteen years old this year. She is also responsible for raising the third child, Yang Qi.
Yang Ming has never slept with her, mainly because there is no shortage of women.
"Why are you so anxious?" Yang Ming frowned.
Yang Yuru said: "The Crown Princess received a letter from the Second Master and asked me to come look for you afterwards."
Yang Yue? Yang Ming raised his eyebrows and said, "Go to Auntie Lou's place and settle in. She can stay here as long as she wants."
"Okay, I'll go right away," after saying that, Yang Yuru ran away covered in sweat.
After returning to the dormitory, Yang Yinjiang came out overjoyed.
"There is a good opportunity now to bring my uncle back to the court, but it is complicated and you have to make the decision."
Yang Ming took the letter, read it carefully, and frowned:
"I'm afraid it's not that easy. Is Yu Wenshu capable of this?"
Yang Yinjiang said: "Yuwenshu is now supervising the recruitment of war horses in Taipu Temple in the name of his father. I also know that he must have uneasy intentions, but opportunities are always rare. My uncle helped me take the blame at the beginning. Even if I fall into someone else's trap this time, I still hope that my uncle can come back."
In fact, Yang Yinjiang knew what the trap was, but she couldn't say it clearly because she knew Yang Ming was taboo about this.
She was afraid that Yang Ming would not help this time because of this taboo.
So she knelt down directly to Yang Ming and cried:
"I really can't bear that my uncle has fallen like this. Please have mercy on me, husband."
Yang Ming sighed inwardly, the difficulty of doing things is that there are too many people and things that you have to worry about.
(End of chapter)
