Since the twelfth year of Hongzhi, the Crown Prince has presided over the official system of horse administration and reorganized official horse farms across the country.
In the capital, he supported the reform of the administrative structure by Liang Chu, the minister of Taipusi. Taipusi took charge of the official horse farms across the country, including horse breeding, dispatching, troop transport, etc., and no longer divided the supervisors into separate supervisors. 'To carry out line management. Xingtaipu Temple was established in the local area and was directly responsible to the central Taipu Temple.
At the local level, he supported Yang Yiqing in comprehensively rectifying official horse farms throughout Shaanxi.
In the spring moon, the grass grows, and the horses ride in the garden. When the grass dries up in winter, harvest it and feed it. By the seventeenth year of Hongzhi,
Shaanxi Ma Zheng has taken on a new look under the governance of Yang Yiqing. He himself went to Shu: The ministers traveled through the area and decided on the third level. Kaicheng and Anning were the Shangyuan, with an annual horse capacity of 20,000; Guangning and Wan'an were the Zhongyuan. The number of horses can be eight thousand horses per year; Qingping and Heishui are the lower gardens, and the number can be four thousand horses per year.
Zhu Houzhao still remembers that in the twelfth year of Hongzhi, there were only more than 2,000 horses in the Shaanxi racecourse...
In addition, the number of horse racing farms is also increasing. This year, a new Anding Garden was built in Pingliang Prefecture. It is also a Shangyuan that can handle 20,000 horses per year.
The numbers are indeed a bit prettier,
In fact, historically, Yang Yiqing was a very effective agent in the horse administration of Shaanxi. During the Yongle period, there were 96 official horse ranches in the country, but by the end of the Ming Dynasty, only 9 gardens remained... Looking from Shaanxi, there were 24 official horse farms in the Yongle period, and there were 24 official horse farms in the Hongzhi period. There are only 6 gardens left, plus the new ones built this year, there are 7 gardens...
Behind such tragic data, during the period from the late Hongzhi period to the early Zhengde period, when Yang Yiqing acted as an agent for Ma Zheng, the situation of Ma Zheng improved greatly.
However, after Yang Yiqing left office, only a dozen years later during the Jiajing period, the situation in Shaanxi Ma Zheng returned to its original state.
Of course, although the situation at the official horse farm has greatly improved, the general characteristic of insufficient horses has not changed.
Yang Shangyi's cavalry unit needs strong horses that can fight.
More than that, what the cavalry troops actually see is a horse. Once they fight, they must be followed by three horses as a guarantee.
First of all, horses suffered heavy casualties in the war;
Secondly, the food required by horses is also large and very refined, which needs to be transported... Basically, the food of a fine war horse can feed 25 people.
Therefore, raising horses does not mean you will have a powerful cavalry force. It is just a necessary condition.
It is really difficult to feed an army of hundreds of thousands if people eat what horses chew.
So far, Yang Shangyi's cavalry is no more than four guards, totaling 22,000 people.
The 200,000 or 300,000 cavalry imagined by later generations were simply unaffordable unless the country was at its peak.
But fortunately, Zhu Houzhao is only fourteen years old, so he still has time.
This is a level that does not pay attention to politics but pays attention to practical results.
At the political level,
Yang Yiqing made Zhu Houzhao very confused, because Yang Yiqing had a good relationship with Liu Daxia.
In fact, in the history of Zhengerbajing, the reason why Yang Yiqing suddenly changed from a sinecure in Nanjing to a feudal governor of Shanxi was because he was recommended by Liu Daxia.
Yang Yiqing was later promoted to the position of Trilateral General Secretary, and was also recommended by Liu Daxia.
We can even speculate why Yang Yiqing was able to do Ma Zheng so well in Shaanxi? Taipu Temple is under the control of the Ministry of War. Without the support of the Minister of War, how can he do good things?
So the relationship between these two people is mutual appreciation.
Liu Daxia had already started to take action on the Zhejiang matter. At this time, he suddenly recommended Yang Yiqing, which made Zhu Houzhao very alert.
In the Nuan Pavilion of Qianqing Palace,
The emperor saw that his face was not happy, so he asked: "But Yang Yiqing's performance is not good? Shaanxi Ma Zheng has been sorted out by him, and it has improved greatly. Why does the prince still look distressed?"
Zhu Houzhao first suppressed his doubts about his relationship with Liu Daxia and responded: "My son is worried about whether there will be such a capable official after Yang Yiqing."
The current Trilateral Chief Controller Qin Hong was too old and unavailable, so Liu Daxia began to recommend that Shaanxi Governor Yang Yiqing be promoted to the position of Chief Trilateral Controller.
This wasn't the first time he mentioned this. Yang Yiqing had always done a very good job. Logically speaking, promotion was no problem. But it hasn't been touched in five years. In fact, it is the prince who is holding this person down.
The excuse is that Ma Zheng needs him.
In fact, after the reform of Taipu Temple, the efficiency has been greatly improved, but it is not impossible to live without Yang Yiqing.
"Yang Yiqing said he would come to Beijing before, has he arrived yet?" Emperor Hongzhi asked.
Xiao Jing replied from the side, "We should arrive in two days."
This is Zhu Houzhao who wants to meet Yang Yiqing.
It was actually not a good idea for the prince to meet important military officials at the border. But Emperor Hongzhi agreed.
Even the emperor no longer cares about many of the prince's actions, and he has nothing to control. Zhu Houzhao would not deliberately be so smart as to embroider a dragon robe for himself.
On the contrary, he always paid attention to maintaining the emperor's imperial power.
"When the time comes, I will ask him to go to the East Palace, and the prince can also ask him if he has any operators to recommend."
Zhu Houzhao thought for a while, and that was probably all he could do now, so he raised his hand and wrote the word "has read" on the memorial with a red pen, and that was the end of the memorial.
Since the 16th year of Hongzhi, the father and son have spent a long time together every day, and the work they faced was memorials.
If the emperor was in poor health, he would not come and Zhu Houzhao would be here alone.
Even if the two of them were together, what they discussed were all major events picked out by Zhu Houzhao, such as the appointment of the trilateral chief controller.
Put down a book,
Pick up another book,
This is written in Korean by the Minister of the Ministry of Finance,
In the fourteenth year of Hongzhi, the prince ordered the Ministry of Household Affairs to inspect seven granaries built near the capital. To his great relief, the prince found that grain storage was still in good condition in the middle of the Ming Dynasty.
Because there is a shortage of food in the north, 4 million shi of grain must be transported from the south to the north every year by water. The royal family and dignitaries in the capital depend on this. Therefore, unless it is the late Ming Dynasty, the government still attaches great importance to the capital at other times.
Because of this, this incident did not cause any waves like Ma Zheng.
But Zhu Houzhao did not stop there. He began to order the Ministry of Revenue to conduct random inspections of the grain storage conditions in two provinces every year.
Starting from the 15th year of Hongzhi, first came Shandong and Southern Zhili, and then came Shaanxi and Sichuan in the 16th year.
In the seventeenth year of Hongzhi's reign, Shanxi and Huguang were recorded in Korean.
This was a common practice, and there was no need for Zhu Houzhao and the emperor to discuss it, but Han Wen also mentioned in his memorial that two new granaries would be built in Datong Prefecture, Shanxi.
It's not a big deal either.
But the sudden start of food storage in Datong actually meant that the prince began to prepare for the border war.
Emperor Hongzhi glanced over, stood up, and wandered around the Nuan Pavilion, "...I am not worried at all. I still say the same old saying, the prince has always done things safely. But you cannot plan to conquer the front line personally."
Don't say this nonsense. As a father, if you say this, your son will have to resist your will, otherwise he will never be in front of the army.
"Father." Zhu Houzhao knelt down and asked for the order in a serious manner, "I have always abided by my father's will. But I want to ask my father to take it back. The emperor guards the gate of the country, and the king dies in the country. If that day comes, I will also go to the front line."
The emperor was anxious, "How can that be done? I will allow you to do anything else, including raising and storing food in Datong. But you must not go to the battlefield!"
"Is it just this time that I can't go?"
The emperor clicked his tongue and gave him a roll of his eyes, "As a son, you are playing tricks with me. You are the only one who is smart, right?"
"Father," Zhu Houzhao stepped forward and began to soften the offensive, "that son promises you that he will never plan a personal expedition until he marries a wife and has children."
The emperor thought for a while and said with a bit of arrogance, "No, you have to raise him until he is sixteen years old."
"In June, my father still wanted to lead a military expedition in person." Zhu Houzhao murmured the last half of the sentence, "My son is only fourteen years old..."
"Hey. You little bastard." The emperor patted his head gently, "Are you trying to undermine me?"
Xiao Jing was on the side, looking at this scene and giggling, but in the end he got an angry scolding from the emperor, "You dare to laugh at me?"
"I don't dare, I don't dare." Xiao Jing took two steps back.
Emperor Hongzhi angrily sat down on the dragon chair again, "Get up. Doesn't your knee hurt when you kneel?"
"My father promised my son, and my son will naturally stand up. Otherwise, with my father's decree, the country will really be in a critical moment, and my son will not be able to go to the front line to encourage the soldiers."
"When the time comes, you can be flexible!" The emperor was helpless and said in a long voice. But he was not unhappy, in fact he was very satisfied.
Zhu Houzhao's gesture implies a meaning, that is, even if you are no longer here, as long as you put down your words, I will still listen to them when I become emperor in the future.
This is a positive interaction.
The emperor had great trust in the prince, and the prince never disobeyed him.
When Zhu Houzhao heard what he said, he immediately stood up and said, "Then my son will do what his father said and make some changes when the time comes."
Emperor Hongzhi nodded at first, and then immediately felt that something was wrong. What does flexibility mean? You can adapt at any time, so what he said before was in vain.
"Okay, now your wings are strong, don't you dare to trick me."
The emperor pretended to take out the soles of his shoes and kill them.
Zhu Houzhao was shocked and said, "My father is the mouth of Chrysostom. He can open it immediately and cannot go back on it!"
"You've already told me what I shouldn't regret. Just now you asked me to regret it!"
Seeing that he had really taken off his shoes, Zhu Houzhao, who was still standing stupidly, turned around and walked away.
"Oh, please be careful, Your Highness." Xiao Jing, who was on the side, saw him running and was afraid that he would fall.
But the prince has grown up and has learned some boxing and kicking in the past few years. His legs and feet are so brisk that he disappears with a puff of smoke.
From the looks of it, it's obviously not the first time.
Emperor Hongzhi also doted on him to no end. But he actually enjoys it himself.
He was still laughing now, "He can run fast."
When I lowered my head to read the memorial in the book, I did not forget to add another sentence, "The work is not done yet."
He had no choice but to write with his own ink pen.
But when I think about it, the prince has been running like this for several years. He was still a child at that time, and he has grown so tall while running.
Two days later, Yang Yiqing entered Beijing smoothly.
His link is related to the most important war horse in military operations, so it is not unimportant.
However, the various preparations made by the prince were obvious in the court, and it was impossible for Liu Daxia and other officials not to make any remarks. He was the kind of person who would stick to the end for his own right.
