Cattle had a very high status and importance in ancient times and were important participants and contributors to farming civilization and economy. People use plowing cattle to break open the sleeping land, plow the fields, and share the heavy physical labor of people, so that they can cultivate better.
Many people don’t know or understand the importance of cows to an ancient farm family. They even think that in ancient restaurants, they could easily shout “waiter, here are two pounds of beef.” If you really shout like this, you probably won’t be able to eat the beef. Yes, I can have a taste of prison food.
Countless men died in ancient wars, and families were torn apart. How did these broken families sustain themselves and survive? Are they really relying on meager pensions?
No!
It depends on cattle!
It's because the men in the family died, as well as the women and the cows!
As long as there is a cow to help, a woman can cultivate the land, raise the family, raise the weak children, and send the old parents to their end.
If this family doesn't even have cattle, they can only use themselves as cattle. They have to live and farm even if they are tired. This is the cattle spirit in the hearts of countless people at the bottom.
In ancient times, beef was not something that could be eaten casually. Even if the emperor of Zhou wanted to eat beef, he would have to wait until he was offering sacrifices to heaven and ancestors to take a few bites, and the princes were not qualified to eat it.
During the Qin Dynasty, farming cattle were treated as "population", and they were registered directly. People would also be sent to your home from time to time to see if your cattle were still alive. If they were injured or dead, it would be good for you. The days are over.
Even if the cow accidentally fell while walking and died, or it was too old and died of natural causes, you are not even qualified to kill it with a knife. You must wait for the government to come and investigate the cause of the cow's death first to make sure it is not. After your kid kills himself for beef, it will be recorded in the record, and then the beef will be distributed. As for whether your family will be divided into cow legs or cow heads, it depends on the mood of the officials.
If the investigation shows that you killed the cow deliberately, then fine, if the cow dies, you should be buried with it.
Killing a cow is a capital offense, this is no joke.
In the Han Dynasty, we could eat some beef. According to the "Han Law", cattle are allowed to be slaughtered after they are old. However, before slaughtering, it needs to be reported to the government, and the presence of the government officials is also required. Killing cattle without permission is also a death penalty...
In the Tang Dynasty, eating beef was banned.
Legal awareness in the Song Dynasty improved a lot, and it was believed that killing cows was a capital crime, which was somewhat inappropriate. After all, killing people should be a capital crime. How could cows be compared with humans?
Therefore, in the "Song Xingtong" of the Northern Song Dynasty, it was stipulated that those who killed cattle would be taken away to serve a term of one and a half years. The Southern Song Dynasty thought it was too light, so it was extended to three years...
A cow, three years in prison.
By the time of Zhu Yuanzhang, cattle were still highly valued and were written into the "Da Ming Law":
If you kill other people's horses and oxen for any reason, you can get a staff of seventy, and it will last a year and a half; if you kill your own horses and oxen without permission, you will get a staff of 100. If a farm cow dies from an injury or illness, it is exploited privately without reporting it to the government, and is punished with forty floggings.
If you don't have a good relationship with the government on weekdays, you will die if you are hit with dozens of sticks.
The emphasis on cattle farming in the past dynasties is basically due to the emphasis on agriculture. Without cattle, it would be too difficult to open up wasteland. Without cattle, it would be too difficult to cultivate fields. Without cattle, it would be too difficult to haul crops.
In a word, without cattle, it is difficult to increase the number of acres, and increasing agricultural production is a joke.
Zhang Bing was a little anxious. With so many people coming, the land was about to be divided. These lands were not old land that had been cultivated for many years, but wasteland that had been deserted for many years. It was either trees, grass, or puddles.
It's freezing now, so you can cut down trees to save some firewood, or burn weeds to apply fertilizer, but next spring, these lands need to be thoroughly plowed.
Without cattle, how can we plow the land or turn over the soil?
"Find a way to get at least 10,000 cows, one cow for three households will do!"
Zhang Bing paced and said sternly.
With a grimace on his face, Xu Yuhe spread his hands and said, "My chief envoy, we never have enough cattle in the Ming Dynasty. Where can we find them?"
Zhang Bing slapped the table and said sternly: "I just want results. I will give you three months to solve the cow problem. If you can't solve it, I will solve it for you!"
Xu Yuhe was stunned, what is this...
Seeing this, Cao Yu, who was participating in the political affairs, said quickly: "Zhang Buzheng, this matter is indeed difficult to handle. The so-called clever woman cannot make a meal without rice, and cattle do not fall from the sky. Just brag a few words. I think it is better to give the court a letter." , let the court think of something?"
Zhang Bing shook his head and said sternly: "It is the duty of the chief envoy to solve the people's livelihood. If this matter cannot be solved, why am I, Zhang Bing, still sitting here? Besides, the imperial court has immigrated 500,000 people, and Henan and Shandong have more Difficult, even if the imperial court has cattle, it will give priority to those two lands, how could it be our turn?"
Cao Yu and Xu Yuhe were silent.
What Zhang Bing said is true. Henan and Shandong are indeed very difficult. Henan was hit by floods last year. Although it did not cause a major disaster, heavy rains still flooded countless fertile fields. This year, we managed to have some harvests and were barely self-sufficient. With the immigration of immigrants, it was completely It is supported by the imperial court.
Not to mention Shandong, where dredging will cost a lot of money. This year, we encountered the rebellion of Qingzhou King Qi and the White Lotus Rebellion, which cost money both inside and outside. I heard that the chief minister of Shandong has already lived on pickles. , there is no extra money to buy cattle, and it is difficult even if the court does not support it.
Relatively speaking, Peiping's finances were relatively well-off, especially due to the farmland sales of the Wei Institute and the new business strategy. This was also Zhang Bing's confidence in building a large-scale construction and resettling immigrants.
If Peiping asks the court to help, the court will not only be embarrassed, but may also get angry and punish several officials.
Cao Yu thought for a long time, clapped his hands and said, "Mr. Chief Minister, we don't have cattle, but others do. Not to mention more, it won't be a problem to buy five thousand cattle."
Zhang Bing looked at Cao Yu and asked eagerly: "Where can I buy it?"
Cao Yu smiled and said: "Northern Yuan and North Korea."
After Zhang Bing heard this, he waved his hands repeatedly. After King Ning and King Yan launched an attack, Beiyuan fell into an internal melee. The Tatars no longer dared to stay in Hulun Lake and had already moved towards the central part of the Mongolian Plateau. Wala was performing a full-scale martial arts campaign. There will be no one to do business for a while. As for North Korea, it is not suitable now. The emperor just refused the canonization and left a princess in the palace. Li Fanguo should be worried about how to survive at this time. Where can he go? There is time to pay attention to Daming's transactions.
"This won't work, that won't work either, there's really nothing we can do."
Cao Yu was a little embarrassed.
Zhang Bing looked at Cao Yu and Xu Yuhe seriously and said without any discussion: "If there are no cattle to open up wasteland, it will be difficult for the two hundred thousand people to be self-sufficient in the coming year, and it will definitely become a drag. By then, the people of Peking will not be able to make a living. What will be compromised is the interests of all colleagues. I don’t care what methods you use, you must..."
Snapped!
Xu Yuhe clapped his hands and shouted: "Zheng Buzheng, what we want is to open up wasteland, not necessarily cattle..."
Zhang Bing looked at Xu Yuhe and asked, "You don't need oxen, are you going to open up wasteland?" Xu Yuhe looked at his body, and if he went to open up wasteland with this physique, it's hard to say how much land he would open up, he would definitely be exhausted. There, seeing that Zhang Bing looked unhappy, he said, "It's hard to find plowing oxen, but we still have horses. Isn't it possible to use horses for plowing?"
"Ma Peng?"
Zhang Bing and Cao Yu looked at Xu Yuhe with blank expressions on their faces.
In fact, horse farming is not a rare thing. There have been records of horse farming a long time ago. For example, in the Han Dynasty, there were records of "herds of cattle and horses, and farmers used horses to plow".
Another example is that plowing in the West is mostly done by horses.
Ancient China was dominated by cattle farming. There are many reasons. In addition to intensive farming, the more reason is that there are not many horse farms in China. The number of horses is insufficient for any Central Plains dynasty. There are almost no war horses. , where are the horses to pull you to farm? Isn’t this a joke?
Who could have imagined that such a large country had less than 50,000 war horses. Peiping, Jizhou, Daning and other places together accounted for half of the horses in the Ming Dynasty. The remaining war horses were distributed in Datong. Such as important towns and important places in the capital, and various military posts.
You, Xu Yuhe, now say that you will use war horses to plow the fields. Isn't this going to cost Ping An's life? Can he take out that precious lump and let you plow the land? Zhang Bing wanted to scold Zhang Yuhe, but he also knew that this seemed to be the only feasible solution at the moment.
"Just tell Ping An directly about this kind of thing, I'm afraid you will be kicked out."
Cao Yu was a little worried.
Xu Yuhe said confidently: "Then don't find peace..."
Zhang Bing looked at Xu Yuhe, sat down helplessly, rubbed his temples, and said: "If we don't find peace, who will give us horses?"
Xu Yuhe grinned: "There is a big pilgrimage in December."
Zhang Bing simply closed his eyes. This guy wanted him to go to the capital to directly talk to Zhu Yunwen about borrowing horses, and let Zhu Yunwen give orders to Ping An...
The Hajj is a big event. It is a banquet held once every three years for officials, where promotions and demotions, rewards and punishments are decided. When meeting the emperor on such an occasion, one should say something nice instead of causing problems or trouble for the emperor.
"It's better to have some peace with Ping An first."
Zhang Bing could imagine Ping An's refusal, and he would have to slam the table and show off his weapons.
But there is no way. Immigrants have arrived, and land reclamation will begin after spring. This matter cannot be delayed. The farming season will be delayed. No one can bear the consequences. After all, the court cannot always provide free rations to a population of 500,000.
After arriving here, the immigrants must have food rations in the first year and basically achieve self-sufficiency. In the second year, there will be some surplus to buy some furniture and clothing. If these cannot be done, large-scale immigration will fail, and the consequences of failure will be interlocking poverty and even turn into a disaster.
No one can bear this result.
Zhang Bing made up his mind, stood up and said: "Let's go to Wanping County to see our people. Ru Yu made harsh words, and one of them will freeze and starve to death. He wants our official hats and uniforms. You don't want to be killed by one." Has the cabinet minister taken off his hat?”
Xu Yuhe and Cao Yu were worried. Ru Yun was the governor of Shanxi and could not come to Peking. However, he was still a cabinet minister and a bachelor of Wuying Palace, so he couldn't afford to offend him...
ps:
I will post two updates in the next few days, not because Jingxue is lazy, but because I want to save two days of manuscripts to avoid interrupting updates in August.
But don’t worry, everyone, try to get more snow in August. July will have more snow than June, and August should have more snow than July...
Let me take a breather for a few days, thank you all for your understanding and support.
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