The Fulang Mountains are actually a rich and gently undulating plateau in the southern part of Laos. It is located in the provinces of Champasak, Attapeu and Sarawan, between the Mekong River and the western foothills of the southern section of the Annam Mountains. The range is approximately 100 km long from northwest to southeast, and 60 km wide from northeast to southwest, with an oval shape. It rises on a gentle hill at an altitude of 200-300 meters, surrounded by a steep cliff face 1,000 meters high, with a gentle undulation at the top, sloping from northwest to southeast, and the highest point is 1,877 meters.

With an average annual rainfall of 3,743 mm, the mountainous region is the wettest region in Laos. The abundant precipitation forms a system of rivers that converge into the Dong River and the Gong River, which flow into the Mekong River. There are dipterocarp, mahogany, red sandalwood and chestnut wood, as well as cardamom, sand kernels, resin and other specialties.

Here, at present, is the location of Hu Licheng's pasture, where a large number of horses, cattle, pigs and other large livestock are grazing, and livestock farms and vegetable gardens are dotted here.

Shouhan rode a two-way ship, such as a brig, up the Mekong River to inspect his territory.

The area is about 200,000 square kilometers of land, Siam in the west, Myanmar in the northwest, Yunnan in the Ming Dynasty in the north, Shouhan in the east, the sea in the east, and the former Zhenla in the south. The Mekong River has become one of the main and most important transportation arteries, running through almost the entire Laos. The Mekong River divides Laos into three parts, while the Phu Lang Mountains are located in a narrow strip of land in the south.

Escorted by brig gunboats, Shouhan and his party soon met Hu Licheng, who came to greet them.

Under Hu Licheng's painstaking management for several years, Fulang Mountain has become a huge pasture. Large and small herds of horses, cattle, sheep, and pigs haunt the pastures, and the horses galloping on the mountain meadows have long manes like the sails of warships at sea under the blowing of the wind. The shepherd, waving his whip and whistling, drove the horses, cattle and sheep through a bush of wood.

"My lord, it's windy here, so it's better for you to rest in my horse farm for a while, and then go out to see these horses." Seeing Shouhan's eyes staring at the herd of horses as brilliant as clouds in the sky without blinking, Hu Licheng couldn't help but feel a burst of pride in his heart.

Shouhan's face was full of endless smiles. The corners of the eyebrows and eyes are all happy. He slapped Hu Licheng on the shoulder fiercely, "Old Hu! Attaboy! ”

Now in the Fulang Mountains, the gift of the Hu family's livestock farm is also the blessing of the corn grass. Most of the Yao and mountain people here are employed by the Hu family's livestock farms. Become a laborer and shepherd here.

"Follow your advice. Not only do we carry out animal husbandry here, but we also grow a large number of cash crops in exchange for goods, food, salt, cloth and so on. to make up for the lack of investment in the early stage. Pointing to the crops such as cardamom, cocoa, and sand kernels in the distance, Hu Licheng proudly introduced his situation to Shouhan.

"What about the number of mules and horses?"

Shouhan was reluctant to listen to Hu Licheng's approach to large-scale agriculture, and his purpose was simply to see how many horses and mules he had at his disposal that could be used to build the industrial system and military power.

"At present, there are more than 7,000 mules, more than 2,000 donkeys, and nearly 20,000 horses of various types, of which more than 3,000 can be used as military horses for riding. The rest can only be used as horses and pack horses......"

"Lao Hu! Say no more! ”

Shouhan's face began to become gloomy, it was obvious that this number did not match the number of horses he first handed over to Hu Licheng, even in the past few years, in addition to the breeding of the horses themselves, he Hu Licheng had either bought or plundered them, but these nearly 30,000 mules, horses and donkeys of all kinds were not so easy to get!

"Say, Where do these horses and mules come from? Does the account match? If you dare to deceive and deceive the official, hehe! The three-foot military law is designed for you! ”

As soon as these words came out, a group of pro-soldiers and law enforcement officers who came to Shouhan immediately drew their swords and prepared to wait for Shouhan's next order, whether to tie up the guy in front of him who looked like an old slippery head, and then send him to the prison of the Law Enforcement Department.

"My lord! If you don't believe me, ask any one of them in this horse farm and ask them how many mules, horses, and donkeys are there in this horse farm for hundreds of miles!? ”

A man dressed as a doctor, presumably a veterinarian, who stood tremblingly on the side, opened his mouth to defend the old fox. "Lord, there are abundant water and grass here, it is indeed suitable for raising horses, and there is corn grass that you have found from thousands of miles away, this thing is a sharp tool for raising horses, and Lord Hu raises horses here, and it is indeed worrying and laborious, and conscientious."

Seeing that this person was dressed in a cyan robe and had a silk handkerchief wrapped around his head, Shouhan asked, "Are you from the Miao family?" ”

"Yes, it is the Miao family, the Miao family, Huang Duo, the current resident veterinarian of Hu's Animal Husbandry Farm. The lord is the uncle of Wang Bao, the former commander of the Phoenix Battalion. ”

Huang Duo's slightly ostentatious tone made Shouhan smile, "It turned out to be General Wang Bao's elder." I'm disrespectful here. I wonder what Mr. has to say? ”

Here in the Nanzhong Army, for those scholars who only know the so-called tied-hand talk and report to the king when they die, they all respect ghosts and gods and stay away, and they don't even respect them. People respect those who popularize cultural knowledge and promote technology and science, not those who want to monopolize this part of power and turn it into a tool for their own interests because they have the opportunity to read and write.

And Huang Duo happened to be one of the veterinarians who was incorporated by the General's Mansion with his single-handed technique of plowing pigs and geldings. Over the years, he has relied on his own craftsmanship and technology to travel all over the world, and has also earned a rich family business for his family.

For such people, the whole army of South China is very respectful.

"According to what you said, there is nothing wrong with what you said?"

"Yes, lord, don't forget, in this Fulang Mountain, there is not only the Hu family's livestock farm, but also Lord Huang Yishan, who you sent here to train horses, if Lord Hu talks nonsense, when you get to Lord Huang, you may not be able to cover up the past. Besides, production has always been concealed. In order to give himself a way back, he falsely reported the yield, so he had to hand over more harvests, which would be of any benefit to Lord Hu? ”

Shouhan smiled bitterly in his heart, how do you know that we have experienced a yield of 100,000 catties per mu! Falsely reporting high yields is also a shortcut to promotion, and the so-called numbers produce cadres, and cadres produce numbers is this truth.

"It's okay, just talk to Huang Yishan. Lao Hu. Where did this Huang Daying Officer go? ”

Heard Shouhan call himself Lao Hu again. The old fox Hu Licheng felt a sigh of relief in his heart, knowing that this turmoil had disappeared invisibly. He hurriedly stepped forward and said with a smile: "Officer Huang Ying's training of the horse team is very hard, and I want to command the horse team to go to this mountain near the left to play the horse training and soldiers. It is inconvenient to summon for a while. He glanced at Shouhan. But. In order to prevent someone from attacking our army in case of a sneak attack, there is an agreement between us. With the flag flower rocket as a signal, when he sees the signal, he will immediately return to the division. ”

A rocket exploded in the air, and in a few moments, another one.

After a while, in the mountains and forests on the east side, a rocket also took off into the sky, followed by another one.

"Huang Yingguan led the horse team to exercise there, and it is only a few dozen miles away from here, and it will be there in a moment."

As they spoke, they felt the ground tremble under their feet, and a burst of low voices came from far and near, and suddenly, at the bend of the mountain road leading to the racecourse at the foot of the eastern mountain, a group of people and horses crashed out. A rider rode in front, followed by two escorts, one of whom held a flag in his hand, which was torn by the wind, and the handwriting on the flag was not legible.

Behind the three men were rows of riders, a row of ten, slightly adjusted to the width of the road, but as soon as the road conditions permitted, they left and resumed into a column of ten. After about a dozen columns of riders, a less well-formed group of horses swept in like a red cloud, with their horses draped either with belly braids or harnesses. Obviously, these horses were used by the riders in front of them to replace them, or to serve as camp pullers to pull carts and tow artillery.

Behind were more horses, with no belly straps or harnesses on their backs, and even less bridle bridles. Groups spread along the road like a flood breaking the embankment. There are riders wielding long whips in front of and behind the horses, driving the horses that have been separated from the group back to the herd from time to time, shouting, neighing horses, and horses' hooves.

The herd of horses was followed by dozens of columns of knights, and in the middle of their ranks were a dozen or so baggage wagons, and seven or eight six-pounder and eight-pounder guns.

This is the scene of the riders of the left and right battalions of the Shouhan horse team selecting the adult horses of this year!

The establishment of the synchronous battalion and the artillery battalion of the horse team is slightly different, but the establishment of the same battalion is only more than 360 people, and the main consideration of the guard is that the riders and horses are not easy to find, so the first battalion of the horse team has only more than 300 combat soldiers. However, there were nearly two hundred veterinarians, saddlers, tanners, horseshoes, and breeders, and they cared for nearly two thousand horses of all kinds for the more than seven hundred riders of the two battalions.

"Horses are divided into four categories: war horses, riding horses, pack horses, and pulling horses."

Huang Yishan, who commanded two horse battalions, although he only had more than 1,000 people, was also the leader of a new branch of arms in the hands of Shouhan.

"What you said, what kinds of war horses eat bean feed, you according to the above four types of horse body consumption situation, make a statistic, each horse needs to consume about how many soybeans per day, write a note up, I let the household division and the military division, the camp office still allocate to you, at the moment the Mekong River is our water channel, all kinds of personnel and materials transportation is very convenient, as long as you can train the horse team well, I have how much food you want!"

Thanks to the corngrass, the horses, cattle, sheep, pigs and fish all received the best main feed, and on this basis, the pressure to increase nutrition for the horses was much less. Just add some soybeans and you're good to go.

"Now you can tell me how the numbers of these mules and horses came about, right?" Seeing that the number of military horses in the camp was by no means fictitious, Shouhan couldn't help but be happy in his heart, his mood was better, his expression and demeanor naturally relaxed a lot, and he asked everyone with a smile on his face.

"Lord, speaking of this Fulang mountainous area, it is indeed a good place to raise horses, cattle and pigs, with abundant water and grass, and there are no other wild beasts. However, such a sharp increase in the number of military horses is not only due to the favorable time and place, but also depends on the merits of people. ”

"Go and invite Lao He." In the hall of the cattle ranch. As the master of the game, Hu Licheng naturally had the responsibility to ask his subordinates to invite a certain master to the secret book in his hand.

A moment later, there was a push and shovel outside the door, and a person appeared at the door with great reluctance under the push and pull of everyone.

"It's you!"

Without waiting for Shouhan to speak, Mo Yu, who was the commander of the guard, sneered and stepped up, slashing his hand around the man's neck, not caring about the fact that there was a lot of dirt on the cowhide apron that the man was wearing, and even pulled the man to Shouhan.

The man was also a single, and did not resist or run away. It's just that there are words in the mouth. "I said I wouldn't come, you had to drag me here, this time it's over!"

"Lao He, I haven't seen you in the past few years. But you don't want to live the life of a mountain hermit here?! Shouhan saw that it was the horseman Lao He from the General's Mansion back then. It's also a bit of a surprise.

Lao He was originally a full-time groom in the general's palace who served the Arabian horses brought from Luzon. But it has been missing for several years.

Here's why. Yan Mei'er, who is the housekeeper's wife, went out one day only to find that the two Arabian horses that pulled the cart for her always looked listless and walked a little slowly. I asked the coachman, and the coachman couldn't tell why, only that the horses had been like this for the past few days, and they seemed very tired.

Yan Mei'er felt that there must be a reason, so she arranged for Mo Yu to secretly supervise. Mo Yu secretly observed for a long time, and found that Lao He, the groom who was responsible for raising these eight Arabian horses, led one or two horses out to walk the horses every night, which was a normal thing, but these horses belonged to the key guardianship objects, and after a further investigation, in the words of the guy from the law enforcement department, it was "income and expenditure are strictly inconsistent!" ”

That's a big deal! If something like this happens in the house, what if he is a thief? Just as he was about to conduct an in-depth investigation, or simply lock him up for interrogation, this Lao He was also a person with a keen sense of smell, and suddenly disappeared.

People are left with confusion.

However, after more than a year, people were surprised to find dozens of apparently mixed-breed horses on the streets of Ha Tinh. After some investigation, the owner of the horse said that it was Lao He who brought the horses to mate with his own mares and gave birth to these foals. Every time he breeds, Lao He has to collect five taels of silver. The owner of the horse is not allowed to be present at the time of breeding, so the process of this breeding is unknown.

Seeing the mixed-breed horses that haunt the streets and alleys from time to time, others don't care, but it just makes Mo Yu hate the root of his teeth. I met the initiator here today, how can I not make Mo Yu angry?

"Let him go!" Shouhan saw the looks on the faces of Hu Licheng, Huang Yishan and others who wanted to persuade and plead but did not dare, and knew that this person must have a great deal to do with the livestock farm, otherwise these two would not be so nervous.

"He can't run again."

"Lord, I don't know if Mr. He didn't live with the lord before, but since he came to the livestock farm, it can be said that he has made great contributions."

Hu Licheng pleaded for Lao He on the one hand, and ordered someone to get the account books, he knew that the most powerful weapon to persuade Shouhan was numbers.

"In the sixth year of the Apocalypse, a total of 5,596 mares were mated from the 13th branch to the end of September, with a pregnancy rate of 78.64 percent. There are 50 breeding horses and 6 breeding donkeys, with an average of 814 breeding animals per head, of which 6 donkeys are equipped with an average of 277.6 heads each, which is 72 times higher than the five years of the Apocalypse, which has the highest number of breeding heads. ”

Reading the statistics of breeding and pregnancy in the sixth year of the Apocalypse, Shouhan seemed to understand the contribution of the "fugitive" in front of him.

"Lao He, are the numbers in this account book also your masterpiece?"

"Returning to the lord, it is exactly what the little one did, and the little one came here, and he did not show the Hu Dongjia what he committed in the mansion, and it has nothing to do with the owner. I also hope that the lord will punish the small one, and don't blame the Hu Dong family. Lao He knelt on the ground, although he admitted the guilt in his mouth, but he was also quite proud of his actions.

"Naturally, you will be punished, you first explain to me the matter on this account clearly before you can deal with your matter."

"Since the lord asks, if you don't think this matter is pickled and filthy, the little ones will tell the lord one by one."

The Lao He family has been raising horses for generations, and there is an exclusive secret for matching horses with a hand, and he relies on this secret to use the resources at hand to earn a lot of extra money for himself, but because of a moment of greed, the number of breeding times is too frequent, so that Yan Meier found clues. Then he plunged headlong into the mountains.

“…… The stallion is treated like nobility. I have to feed him eggs and malt, and the horses I breed have to be clean, but often the horses are so dirty that they have to be washed. This work is not yet possible for ordinary people, because before washing, a mare in heat must be tethered in front of it, so that the stallion can speak out. I'm going to soak it in warm water and disinfect it with the prepared potion. Then it's time to count! I built a wooden frame out of wood, led the mare into the frame, and bandaged the tail base. Tie it to the left side of the horse's body with a rope. Leave the vulva exposed, and wash the horse's vulva, anus, and buttocks with clean, warm water. If the mare is a good kicker, it should be equipped with a stumbling block to prevent the stallion from being kicked and injured. To prevent the stallion from biting the mare's neck, a sack must be placed on the back of the mare's neck. Before mating, the stallion is led around the mare once or twice. Then lead to the back of the mare. When the stallion climbs across. If you find that the direction, position, and angle of the words are incorrect, you should gently correct the horse's words with your hands and introduce them into the mare's body. If the stallion is larger than the mare. The mare should be placed in a standing position to prevent the stallion from being inserted into the anus and causing the rectum to rupture and die. ”

"This seems to be a horse breed practice! How do you explain this sudden increase in the number of horses, mules, and donkeys?"

Holding the account book over the years, Shouhan asked Lao He sharply, he knew that the guy in front of him was still avoiding the important and trying to hide the core part of his technology, and this part should be artificial breeding and artificial insemination.

"The small ones can dilute the essence from the stallions at one time and give it to a few or even a dozen mares! Let them get pregnant! According to the step I just mentioned, during the breeding, let the selected stallion ride on the mare, and the person pushes it forward vigorously from behind, and the stallion's essence is sprayed into my pre-set container, which I dilute and then distribute to the mare. A stallion squirting a single semen is worth a lot of mare, but it must be done within a day or two, otherwise it will be invalid. Therefore, in a breeding season, a stallion can inseminate at least more than 100 or even thousands of mares, which is several times to dozens of times larger than natural mating. ”

That's right! Technically it makes sense! Shouhan closed the account book with satisfaction and looked at the people around him, "You all heard what Lao He said. What do you think should be done with Lao He? ”

"Lord, Lao He, this person, when he was serving in the house, he was greedy for small profits and made a big mistake. However, when he arrived at the pasture, he took everything he had learned, not only the breeding of horses, but also the multiplication of cows, donkeys, mules, and pigs. ”

Hu Licheng, Huang Yishan, and Huang Duo pleaded for Lao He.

"Lao He, so many people are interceding for you, what do you say?"

"Thank you for the kindness of all your colleagues and owners, thank you here!"

"In that case, let me ask you one more question, is there anything you haven't said about this matter?" Shouhan wants to dig out the know-how in all aspects of this primitive artificial breeding one by one.

"Yes! It's the quantity and formula of horse serums and dilutions! Lao He also poured out his courage, he knew that the more he talked about it at this moment, the greater the possibility of his survival, and the more he was secretive, he would throw himself into the prison of the Law Enforcement Department if he couldn't say that the one in front of him would throw himself into the prison of the Law Enforcement Department.

"Under normal circumstances, a stallion's essence should be as much as three taels of water, and I'm talking about filtered! In addition, the dilution I use is milk or mare's milk that has been steamed at high temperatures, and the fat in it is skimmed. Also, every time the essence of the stallion is taken out manually, the next day the horse must be mated with the mare it it likes, otherwise, after a long time, the horse will not lift! ”

"All said and done?"

Shouhan asked lightly.

"Back to the lord, the little ones are all finished."

"Good! Mo Yu! Pull it down, whip this guy ten lashes! What a fight! ”

Mo Yu agreed, and the two personal soldiers stepped forward, dragged Lao He outside the hall, and according to the secret instructions given to them by Mo Yu, they raised the leather whip in their hands high and slammed it towards Lao He. When the leather whip was about to fall on his body, the strength was slightly recovered, and the strength was consumed a lot in the process, and the strength on Lao He's body was not so heavy, but Rao was like this, and the ten whips came down, and he was also beaten to blood.

"Please judge the sentence!"

Seeing the ten whip marks crisscrossing Lao He's body, Shouhan nodded with satisfaction, "Lao He, we have dealt with the matter of stealing the horses in the mansion to breed for profit." You will carry forward the family heirloom skills, work diligently and meritoriously in the livestock farm, and reward you with five hundred silver dollars, and besides, will you be the head of my general's palace? Specializing in the breeding of cattle and pigs? ”

"The little ones are willing!"

"Congratulations, Lord He!" Hu Licheng, Huang Yishan and others on the side saw that Lao He not only disappeared from the previous disaster, on the contrary, because of the meritorious work in developing and breeding horses, they not only received the reward, but also became the head of the pastor, they couldn't help but be sincerely happy for him, and they came forward to congratulate him.

"Lord, you went to this Fulang Mountain to inspect, and when Lord He was newly promoted, it can be said that it is a double happiness, and his subordinates plan to pick up the wind for Lord He at night, and congratulate Lord He, I don't know what Lord Gong thinks?"

"This is a good thing, and it is also a good thing for everyone at the racecourse!"

Shouhan turned his head and faced Lao He, who was already wearing a cloth robe, "Lao He, can you bring more students out?" Why don't I share the work for you? Rest assured, your technology can be patented by the Craftsmen's Guild, and every horse or mule born in the future will have your benefits. ”

"Subordinates, subordinates must do their best to break their bones in order to repay the lord in case of emergency."

Lao He became a little speechless because of his excitement.

"Less nonsense, you're broken. Where do I go to find someone to breed a herd? That's it, I'll send a message to the academy when I go back, send two hundred students here, and come here to apprentice you, breed horses, and perfect your skills. ”

"You go back and plan to show it one by one, see how much food you need, what conditions, in order to better carry forward your technology, so that when you see your ancestors and ancestors of the He family in the future, you will be very proud to tell them, and people are grateful for your benefits."

Shouhan is very sensational to associate the broad prospects of this cause with people's filial piety, so that Lao He is very proud of the fact that he can leave this little bit of pickling skills left by his ancestors, and he can also promote it so openly.

"Will you be able to breed 100,000 horses in three years?"

The carrot was given, and a broad prospect was depicted, and Shouhan was going to start doing quantitative evaluation.

"Three years, 100,000? This one. There don't seem to be enough mares and stallions at the moment......"

Although it is said that a stallion or a donkey can sow many mares, the number of mares is also limited, and the gestation period of a mare is as long as 11 months, and there must be a long lactation period before the next round of pregnancy.

People were watching in the open space of the livestock pasture, watching the strong Miao men select the fattest beef cattle from the herd and drive them aside to prepare for the evening feast, when a cloud of smoke and dust moved quickly from the distant mountain road.

"My lord! There is an urgent military intelligence delivery on the southern front! ”

The military report on the southern front was that Ye Qi sent a speedboat to Cam Ranh Bay, and the people there sent a brig to chase them all the way along the Mekong River, and the general reported it to Shouhan, and it was only four days after Ye Qi sent the military report.

"After conquering the city of Manraka, the coast has advanced westward, and the army has recovered Lingjiawei Island, Banda Aceh, Penang and other islands."

Seeing such a result in the military newspaper, Shouhan smiled very happily, and he motioned to Hu Licheng, Huang Yishan, Huang Duo, Lao He and others to come over and let them circulate the military newspaper in their hands, "This time it's not 100,000 horses!" I'll get you Arab horses from India! You will get 120,000 horses out of me in three years! ”

"Of course, in three years, I will get you thousands of stallions, at least nearly ten thousand mares!"

"Lord, then our horse team, can we also expand the establishment?" Huang Yishan also fought snakes with sticks, wanting to take advantage of the good news that the Han was in a good mood when he heard the good news of expanding the territory to win the opportunity to expand his troops.

"Horse team, you can recruit about a hundred people from the eligible shepherds here, and I will send you a team of men and horses from each of the several guard battalions, and expand the two battalions into three battalions."

It's on the shelves, 7,000 words are sent, everyone will look at it first. Strive to code the word went. (To be continued......)