If you specifically read the history of China's horse politics, you will come across a sentence that says, "There is nothing more detailed about horse politics than the Ming Dynasty, and there is no harm to the Ming Dynasty."
It is because Zhu Yuanzhang learned the lessons of horse administration in previous dynasties and formulated a relatively complete horse administration. However, after the corruption of official administration, the extremely complete horse administration caused too many disasters.
Generally speaking, there were three ways to obtain war horses in the Ming Dynasty.
One is official animal husbandry, which is easy to understand. The court demarcates pastures for raising horses. Zhu Yuanzhang set up an institution called Taipu Temple to manage this, which was placed under the Ministry of War (later, Yuanma Temple was added).
No matter what the name was, the emperor sent a group of people to manage a piece of grassland and be responsible for raising horses.
The reason for the subsequent deterioration is also obvious, that is, the pastures were occupied by vassals and landlords. Of course, the reasons are very complicated, because when the country was founded, there were few people and there was no place to raise food. As the population increased, some land had to be reclaimed to grow food, so some of it was occupied by the military and civilians.
The second is the tea-horse trade. It mainly trades tea with nomadic peoples in Tibet, the Western Regions and the north in border areas. Until now, some places still have a scenic spot called: Tea Horse Road.
But this channel was ruined by tea smuggling.
The third way is the source of huge disasters, and a word has even been coined called 'thieves'.
This method is called Minhu.
The policy of civilian animal husbandry was borrowed from the Northern Wei and Song Dynasties, which allowed the common people to help the court raise horses.
The general principle is to help me raise horses. If they are well raised, I will exempt you from taxes. If they are spoiled, you will pay for them. Generally, there are two methods of raising horses according to household and horse raising according to acres. These two methods are to raise one horse on this fifty acres of land, or you and fifteen families can raise one horse together.
But as time went by, problems arose.
First of all, as a commoner, the court gave me a healthy horse today, but damn, I am just unlucky. What should I do if the horse suddenly dies of illness tomorrow?
Then you have to pay for it. A horse is very valuable, at least twenty taels of silver, so families continue to go bankrupt because of raising horses.
Secondly, if we raise horses together, there will be situations where powerful people bully the people. For example, twenty of our families raise a horse together, and each of us will keep it for thirty days. Then powerful people will choose seasons when the vegetation is lush and people are not busy to herd horses.
For example, in the season when there is no grass and the horses are extremely busy, the poor people are allowed to herd horses. Not only does it delay the farming season, but also the horses have to travel further and to more places to herd horses, so the people are miserable.
It is not easy to have enough to eat on the land all year round. This delay will basically lead to starvation.
This problem has no solution. As long as each family raises horses together, it will definitely happen. This phenomenon occurred during the Hongwu period.
Furthermore, when the court gives a horse to the common people to raise, it will ask you to give birth to a foal every year. However, if the foal is qualified, it must be sent for examination. This examination has knowledge, because There must be officials responsible for the inspection.
This is a law enforcement post.
Ordinary people hold their horses for inspection, and whether they pass the test depends only on whether the foal is bouncing around.
Therefore, from the beginning of Hongzhi to the Jiajing and Longqing years, ordinary people stopped raising horses.
Isn't it just compensation? I would rather compensate than support. Raising a horse costs people, time and money. I might as well scrape together some money and just pay for it.
….
Therefore, there were many cases of "abuse of ponies" recorded at that time. Even a good foal must be killed because it is not raised anyway.
But it's easy to say this, but many ordinary people basically have to sell their sons and daughters. Such a heavy burden caused the people of Hebei, the place where horses were raised, to live in dire straits.
During the Zhengde period, the Liu Liu Liu Qi uprising broke out in Wen'an County, Bazhou, Zhili, and was known as the "Thieves and Bandits". This uprising was quite large in scale. The rebels started fighting in northern Zhili and reached Shandong, and even returned to attack the capital. , of course, failed, but later moved to Henan, Huguang, Southern Zhili and other vast areas.
It took three years of fighting before it was settled.
This is the hinterland of the Central Plains, and the agricultural country has been fighting for three years. What is the loss?
so
Carefully sort out the above three ways to obtain war horses. Not to mention Zhu Houzhao, even the top talents in the country such as the cabinet began to bow their heads and remain silent, not knowing what to do.
Liu Gelao talked for a long time, which was nothing more than optimizing Yang Yiqing's suggestion. Yang Yiqing said that "illicit illicit transactions should be strictly prohibited, and all the tea in the cage would be beneficial to the palace." In fact, it was to prohibit tea smuggling. Liu Gelao said that the court should support it.
As for the racecourse occupied by Zongfan, Emperor Hongzhi's biggest move so far was to refuse the petitions of King Qi and King Yong.
And checking the acres is something that will not be done in the near future.
This was the dilemma of the country in the feudal era. Because there were so many vested interests, an army was necessary to carry out reforms. But to have an army, one had to tap out those interests. Isn't this an endless cycle?
Zhu Houzhao felt that this was a major matter that could not be solved in one or two edicts or a month or two.
"...What do you think of Yang Yiqing's strict crackdown on tea smuggling?"
Li Dongyang raised his hand and said, "I thought I might as well give it a try."
This is to let Yang Yiqing charge into the battle and withstand the thunder. Naturally, everyone didn’t have much opinion. Anyway, it was Yang Yiqing who did the offending thing.
"Han Shangshu."
In Korean, "I am here."
Zhu Houzhao asked: "You are in charge of money and food. Why do you think tea smuggling is so prevalent outside the tea-horse trade?"
Han Wen said rightly, "Of course the benefits are huge, and many people would rather take the risk."
Originally it was a government monopoly. If foreign businessmen wanted to obtain tea, they could only trade with the government, so that the government would have pricing power. During the Hongwu period, one horse sold 37 kilograms of tea.
But how can the price of private tea be so expensive? Wouldn't it be a huge profit to exchange such a small amount of tea for a horse and then sell it for money?
In the face of huge interests, tea smuggling cannot be stopped. It is a bit like exchanging bread for airplanes in the Soviet Union.
Zhu Yuanzhang even killed a son-in-law to show his determination. But he and Zhu Di and his son could control people, but which emperor would be able to control them later?
Just ask Emperor Hongzhi to kill a son-in-law, even though he doesn't have a son-in-law.
Moreover, foreign businessmen do not like to do business with the government because private tea merchants are cheaper.
This made the court very embarrassed. If this behavior was to be completely eliminated, the human and financial resources invested would be quite large, and the administrative costs would suddenly rise.
"Since the profit is huge..." Zhu Houzhao thought for a while, "then it must be very difficult to completely ban it using thunder means. In the end, the movement is loud and the effect is poor."
….
A grenade is used to blow up fleas, but it doesn't solve the problem.
At this time, Tu Fu, the Minister of Civil Affairs, said, "The imperial court monopolized the tea-horse trade. The original intention was to exchange less tea for more war horses in the Western Regions, but the reality is that this is no longer available. Merchants in the Western Regions will only sell high-quality war horses to private individuals." , inferior trade to the imperial court. Your Highness, what if... the imperial court relaxes the ban on the tea-horse trade?"
Zhu Houzhao raised his eyebrows, "You mean to set up a special tea and horse trading place like the Shibo Division, allowing merchants to trade legally, and the court will use this to collect taxes."
"No!" Wang Yue immediately objected, "Due to food problems, the Western Regions are extremely short of tea. The imperial court controls tea not only for military purposes, but also to control the lifeblood of the countries in the Western Regions. Once the ban is lifted, what will happen if they become strong in a few years? Don’t you know it will cause military trouble?”
He looked at it from the perspective of war.
It does make sense. How can such strategic resources be opened for export?
Headache.
In fact, the imperial court had a monopoly on tea, and it was still related to Chayin.
Salt, tea, and iron are all government-owned, and it is unlikely that these things can be changed easily.
After all, the feudal dynasty is always lacking. Either this is missing or that is missing.
In fact, one of these reasons is that the people in power don't pay enough attention to horse administration. Because the horse farm is in a remote border area, the life of herding horses is also difficult, so most of the people who work there are officials who have been abandoned by the imperial court.
Bima Wen, which emperor selected him?
Do you want the officials you care about to do this job?
That's fine, if the top doesn't pay attention, the bottom will naturally do whatever they want.
Zhu Houzhao thought for a while and said, "Let's reply to Yang Yiqing this way. First of all, he said that tea smuggling will be strictly investigated. Let's see how far he can go. In addition, according to what he reported, there are still 60,000 horses in Shaanxi Horse Racing Farm. How long is it? First, run the existing horse ranch in the imperial court. It is now a period of peace, and the vacancies of war horses in various places can be slowly filled. Anyway, there is a shortage. A shortage of one hundred horses is a shortage, and a shortage of two hundred horses is also a shortage. Liu Ge Lao, Wang Shangshu and Tu Shangshu,"
"I'm here."
"When you go back, sort out the officials in Taipusi and the horse ranches in Shaanxi as a whole. Those with poor political performance will be dismissed. Re-appoint officials 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 Fu has become much more familiar with various officials.
If you haven't moved for ten years, you won't be taken seriously.
"Remove him, replace him with Prince Xian Ma Liang Chu, and put him in charge of the court officials' horse ranch."
"yes."
"Tell Yang Yiqing to guard the more than 60,000 hectares for the imperial court. If anyone wants to occupy it again, let him write a memorial and hand it over to me." Zhu Houzhao arranged this section and thought about it again, "Wang Shangshu, Mrs. Pusi is under your jurisdiction, so you should also contact Yang Yiqing to see how many strong horses his Shaanxi horse farm can provide in a year."
"Then gather these excellent horses and train an elite cavalry unit. That Yang Shangyi was recommended by you. He still excelled in this military academy assessment. When you return, you will order him to serve in Datong as a cavalry general. And he is required to report to the imperial court every six months on the development of this cavalry. I want to read this memorial, Liu Jin."
….
[To be honest, I have been using @@ recently to read and catch up on updates. I can switch sources and read aloud with many sounds. It can be used on both Android and Apple. 】
"My slave is here."
"If I forget. Remember to remind me."
"yes."
This reminder is to tell everyone present that no one is allowed to stop Yang Shangyi's performance.
When everyone heard this, they felt that Yang Shangyi had been hit by a pie falling from the sky.
In fact, looking at this government affairs alone, Yang Shangyi somewhat possessed the secret power that later ministers in the Qing Dynasty had.
This is no small matter.
In addition, feudal countries are not without power.
The key is to see who uses this power. Just like Emperor Zhengde personally commanded the Battle of Yingzhou in history. Although the country has no money, the emperor is commanding from the front line. Can the logistics support be the same as that of a general commanding from the front line?
The same is true now. Zhu Houzhao personally inspected the more than 60,000 hectares of horse farms in Shaanxi, reassigned officials, and sent out a cavalry unit to raise the horses. As long as he keeps an eye on them, it will definitely be effective.
"Once we have this cavalry and defeat the Tatars, we will go outside the Great Wall and herd horses!"
"There is nothing wiser than a prince!"
In fact, there is no other way. Otherwise, what would you do? Let Emperor Hongzhi order that all the princes of the Zhu family be killed and all the pastures returned?
I'm afraid the world will be in chaos.
The tea-horse trade is even more complicated.
Of course, Zhu Houzhao was still a little concerned,
"This was the case for official animal husbandry and the tea-horse trade. The harm done to the people and animal husbandry was shocking. The people were trapped in the horses and had no idea where to escape. If there were horses, they would die seeking them, but if there were no horses, they would be happy to celebrate. I would rather make money back than raise horses. If things go on like this, I'm afraid the people's hearts will be lost."
The eldest son of the Ming Dynasty.
royal hired cat
