"Ma Yong, Ma Wu, why don't you meet Lord Guard... Sir, these are the brothers of the Ma family. They are both from green forest backgrounds like the humble ones. They have fast horses and scimitars, and are superb in martial arts. I heard that Lord is recruiting talents, so I came here. Run away!"
…
"The common people pay homage to the Lord Guard!"
"Two heroes, please get up quickly."
The two young men knelt down on one knee to salute, and Qin Feng quickly reached out to support them.
At the same time, Han Shanjun introduced the two young men as brothers, one Ma Yong, 25 years old, and the other Ma Wu, 24 years old, from Ningxia Qianwei, born in Mahu.
Don't get me wrong, being a horse owner is not a donkey, but a profession.
Horses are the foundation of armor and soldiers, and the great livestock of the country. They are an extremely important war resource!
However, since ancient times, the mainland of the Central Plains has lacked good horses, so the cavalry has been suppressed by the nomads in the north. In desperation, a lot of manpower, material and financial resources were spent to build the Great Wall to block the cavalry of the nomads.
After the establishment of the Ming Dynasty, in order to solve the problem of insufficient military horses, Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang personally issued an order: Choose places with abundant water and grass and sufficient sunshine in the north, and set up many pastures to raise horses, and also set up specialized horse breeders. It's called Mahu.
Horse owners do not have to pay taxes or perform corvee labor. They only need to raise the stallions issued by the government, let them thrive and multiply, and then turn in qualified horses regularly.
In the beginning, this policy was implemented very well, providing the country with a large number of horses, which greatly strengthened the strength of the cavalry team. In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Emperor Yongle Zhu Di was able to conquer Mobei in five battles and the Mongols they fought were able to escape, thanks to this Ma Zheng.
However, as time went by, the Ming Dynasty became increasingly corrupt. Princes, eunuchs, officials, and profiteers colluded with each other and used various means to encroach on large amounts of pasture land, resulting in a decrease in pasture, shortage of feed, and horses becoming emaciated and even dead.
According to the law: if a stallion dies or fails to deliver qualified horses on a regular basis, the horse owner must pay money according to the price.
In the mainland of the Central Plains, a high-grade horse is worth thirty taels of silver, a medium-grade horse is worth fifteen taels of silver, and a low-grade horse is worth eight taels of silver... These are the prices during the Hongzhi and Zhengde years.
In the Wanli, Tianqi, and Chongzhen dynasties, due to the frequent wars in the country, the demand for horses increased greatly. The price of horses naturally increased, and it went up several times. Now in the mainland of the Central Plains, a low-grade horse can be sold for More than thirty taels of silver, and the best horses are worth more than a hundred taels of silver, and they are often expensive but not marketable.
As a result, many horse owners have lost their money and their families due to the compensation!
The families of Ma Yong and Ma Wu are avant-garde hereditary horse owners in Ningxia. They learned to raise horses from their elders since they were young, and they interacted with horses every day, so they developed superb riding skills.
However, life in Mahu was too hard. He could not even afford a full meal and was often oppressed by corrupt officials.
Three years ago, several good horses that Ma Yong and General Ma had worked hard to raise were handed over to the local government. Unexpectedly, the officials in charge of the review insisted that the horses they turned in were too thin and unqualified. To impose a fine of money is actually to extort money.
The two brothers couldn't bear it anymore, so they beat up several officials, and then dragged some fellow villagers to leave the Ningxia avant-garde, ran to the border area between Han and Mongolia, and became horse thieves!
They are said to be horse thieves, but in fact, more often than not, they purchase horses, cattle, sheep, and camels from Mongolian herdsmen, and then smuggle them into the interior of the Central Plains to earn some hard-earned money.
When Han Shanjun was a bandit, he often went to Shanxi and found it dirty, so he had frequent contacts with the Ma brothers and their friendship was quite good.
On the way back this time, the two parties happened to meet on the bank of the Yellow River. After a conversation, they learned that Han Shanjun not only abandoned the dark side and turned to the bright side, but also became an officer. Now he is prosperous. The Ma brothers are very envious and follow suit. heart of.
Pull off the skin of a traitor, put on official uniform, establish a career, make a wife and a wife...and then return to your hometown in glory and let the people in your hometown look at you differently. This is the choice of an aspiring man.
Han Shanjun and the Ma brothers have known each other for a long time. He knew that they were not only highly skilled in martial arts and proficient in riding and shooting, but also had good character. Although they were forced to become horse thieves, they never did anything harmful to nature. Now they sincerely abandoned the secrets and turned to the bright side, so he led them After the two came back, they recommended it to Qin Feng.
"Brothers from the Ma family, do you really want to abandon the dark side and join the army?"
"The two of us sincerely surrender, and we ask the Lord Guard to take us in!"
"Okay, I will accept you two. As long as you strictly abide by military discipline and work seriously, I will never treat you badly."
"Thank you for taking me in, sir. We two brothers will definitely be loyal and repay you for your kindness!"
"Okay, come on, let's have a banquet and let's celebrate, haha!"
Mr. Han Shan is upright and calm, and the people he recommends will definitely be good. Therefore, Qin Feng happily accepted the Ma brothers.
Two bears were collected first, and two horses were acquired. Such a happy event naturally required a great celebration. Qin Feng ordered a banquet to be held to welcome the four of them to join the Mighty Heavenly Army!
The sumptuous food and wine were quickly placed, and everyone ate and drank together, toasting and drinking!
While eating and drinking, Qin Feng asked the Ma brothers about the situation in the Ningxia Wei area, especially about the Ma households.
The Tianwei Army has a cavalry battalion, but it is just an empty frame with no combat effectiveness at all. There are two fundamental reasons: first, there are no outstanding soldiers, and second, there is a lack of enough good horses.
There is no way, there is a shortage of horses in the mainland of the Central Plains, especially good horses, which are difficult to buy with money. There are many horses on the northern grasslands, but unfortunately there is no way to get them in large numbers.
The same is true for soldiers. They don't just drag someone over and pair them with a horse to become a cavalry.
A qualified cavalry requires long and hard training, and the training cost is extremely high. The money to support one cavalry is enough to support five or six infantry.
The problem of the cavalry battalion has never been properly solved, and the appearance of the Ma brothers has brought hope for solving the problem!
You know, Ningxia Weiyi has a ranch set up by the imperial court, where a large number of horse households live. These people have been raising horses for generations. Not only do they know the habits of horses, but they are also proficient in riding skills. With a little training, they can be the best. Excellent cavalry.
If we draw these people over, wouldn't it solve the problem of cavalry battalion soldiers?
Thinking of this, Qin Feng said: "Ma Yong, Ma Wu, how many people do you have, and where are they placed now?"
"Sir, there are a total of fifty-eight people including the two of us. They are all from Mahu. They are all proficient in riding and shooting. They are now placed in a forest on the east bank of the Yellow River. They can come over at any time."
"Oh, are there many mahus wandering around like you now?"
"There are too many, too many. Corrupt officials are rampant now, and all the good pastures have been occupied. In addition, there is no rain, and the pastures have withered. Horses have died in large numbers. Horse farmers have been forced to have no way of survival and can only flee their hometowns. Wandering around, life is miserable!"
"That's right, I have a cavalry battalion under my command that is short of high-quality soldiers. You two brothers should work hard to recruit the wandering horse farmers. The more the better, this is your military salary and recruitment funds. "
While talking, Qin Feng had someone carry a large box, which contained more than a thousand taels of gold. It was obtained from the smuggling caravans of the eight major Shanxi merchants, and was now used to recruit cavalry.
Looking at a large box of golden gold, the Ma brothers' eyes widened. They both came from poor backgrounds. They have lived for more than 20 years and have never seen so much gold!
One tael of gold can be exchanged for ten taels of silver.
More than one thousand taels of gold is equivalent to more than ten thousand taels of silver, which is enough for ordinary people to buy a house and land, and live a wealthy life.
"Sir, with so much gold, would you like to send a few more people to join us in recruiting troops?"
"No need, the gold is left to you, and it's up to you to decide how to use it!"
"Sir, aren't you afraid that the two of us will run away with the gold?"
"Haha, you don't trust those who employ you, and you don't trust those who doubt you. Since I have entrusted the gold to you, I have absolute trust in you, so go ahead and do it boldly!"
"Thank you for your trust, sir. We two brothers will do our best to live up to your trust!"
The Ma brothers looked at each other, and then they both knelt on the ground, with tears in their eyes. On the first day they met, they entrusted them with a thousand taels of gold. How much trust was this!
Brother Han is right. This guard is not very old, but he is generous and sincere. He is a person worth following!
Qin Feng patted the two of them on the shoulders, helped them up again, and gave them a few words of comfort.
As the saying goes: If you don’t have wealth, scholars will not come; if you don’t reward, scholars will not go; there will be dead fish under the bait; there will be brave men under the reward!
As a superior, you must be generous and treat money like dirt so that your subordinates can fight to the death. However, people who are stingy and stingy with rewards will never become great. Liu Bang and Xiang Yu in history are both positive and negative. Two prime examples.
The book returns to its true story.
Everyone continued to chat while drinking and eating meat. As a result, while chatting, they talked about the injuries of the Ma brothers.
"Ma Yong, Ma Wu, how did you get injured?"
"To be honest, sir, we were chopped down by people from the Fan family ranch, just over ten days ago!"
"The Fan family ranch, that Fan family?"
"It's the Fan family, the leader of the eight Shanxi merchants. You must know, right?"
"Yeah. I know!"
Qin Feng nodded. He knew more than that. Just a dozen days ago, he led his men to ambush the smuggling caravan of the eight major Shanxi merchants. He personally killed the thirteenth son, Fan Renxiong, and buried more than eight hundred people alive. ...This relationship is not an ordinary 'intimate' relationship!
I just didn't expect that the Fan family actually had a ranch, not far from here.
"Why did the people from the Fan family ranch chop you?"
…
"We sold the horses and they took the horses, but the price was too low. We didn't reach an agreement and we didn't want to sell. They bought and sold the horses by force, and as a result, both parties came to blows!"
"They had more people, but we had fewer people. As a result, we suffered a bit. We injured more than a dozen brothers. We each received a knife, and the horse we finally got was also impounded!"
The Ma brothers quickly explained the whole story clearly with just one word from you and me.
