Wu Haogu never thought that on the other side of the Jiehe River, that is, on the territory of the North City of Jiehe Shang City, there would actually be a horse farm!

It's a horse farm!

On the afternoon of the second day after Wu Haogu arrived at Jiehe Shang City, he and Ma Zhi took a private boat from Ma Zhi to cross the wide Jiehe River and arrived at the land belonging to the Liao State on the other side.

Compared with the situation of a "prairie" on the side of the Great Song Dynasty, the other side of the Jiehe River is still more prosperous. At least not the "steppe", but large tracts of farmland, scattered villages and tall forts. Only the area near the boundary river is relatively barren because it is often flooded.

Ma Zhi has already expropriated tens of thousands of acres of land at a very low price, which will be used as the principal of the Yan four investors in the market, offsetting 40,000 yuan.

After getting the land, Ma Zhi was not idle, but asked people to build a small wharf opposite the site where Huang Zhisheng chose to build the wharf. Not far from the marina is a lush wood. Ma Zhi led Wu Haogu along a path into the woods, and after walking for about a quarter of an hour, Wu Haogu realized that there was actually a world in the woods on the bank of the Jiehe River.

A large area of trees in the middle of the forest has been cut down and planted with grass seeds, turning it into a pasture enclosed by trees. On the northern edge of the pasture, another row of sheds and houses was built. From afar, you can see two tall and thin horses with earthy yellow and pure black coats strolling slowly outside the house.

Wu Haogu now knows a little bit about horses, and at a glance, he knows that it is a "high horse", and he doesn't know if it's good or not, maybe he has suffered on the road and lost his weight. But this height is still there!

"What a tall horse!" Wu Haogu blurted out.

Ma Zhi said with a smile: "I have long promised to help you find the sweaty horse, but the sweaty horse is really difficult to find, don't say that there is no one here in the Liao Kingdom, even if you go to the Uighurs, it is rare." However, the two Persian horses were finally found, and it was not a broken promise. ”

"Persian horses?" Wu Haogu thought to himself: I've heard of Arabian horses, but I haven't heard of Persian horses, but Persian cats know it, blonde and blue-eyed, and have the opportunity to get two "only" to raise......

"In fact, these two horses were not produced in Persia, but were good horses bred by some Persian tribes in the Western Regions."

Ma Zhi said: "This horse is a famous horse in the Black Khan Uighurs, and the price is extremely high!" If it weren't for the good fortune of a certain family in the past two years, becoming the deputy patrol envoy of the Nanjing Provincial Police, and carrying a few big businessmen from the Black Khan Uighurs, there would really be no way to get these two Persian stallions. ”

When the two were talking, they had already walked quickly to the vicinity of the two Persian stallions, and one of the fanren grooms, who was about forty years old with a slightly hooked nose and slightly sunken eyes, stepped forward to salute Ma Zhi, and then said in a skilled Chinese dialect: "My lord, do you want to ride a horse?" ”

"I'm not riding today," Ma Zhi waved his hand, "bring a friend to take a look." ”

The groom saluted Wu Haogu again, and then dodged aside.

Ma Zhi stepped forward, grabbed one of the black "tall horses", and gently got up.

Wu Haogu also stepped forward, and the scholar Ma Zhi's appearance ** the horse's buttocks, and said in a low voice: "This horse looks so thin." ”

"That's the kind of seed it is." Ma Zhi said, "Don't look at it thin, but it runs fast, has excellent endurance, and is very smart, the only bad thing is that you recognize people a little, you have to raise it for a while, get along with it more, and let you ride it when you are familiar." ”

"It's a stallion!" Wu Haogu shook his head, "I don't dare if you let me ride it...... Let's keep it for breeding. ”

In fact, Ma Zhi found a really good horse for Wu Haogu, now called the Persian horse, and later called the Turkmen horse and the Akha-Tak horse, which is one of the ancestors of the later Don hippopotamus - the Don hippopotamus is a cross between the Mongolian horse (now probably called the Khitan horse), the Akha-Tak horse (now called the Persian horse) and the Arabian horse (big eating horse).

However, even if you don't cross the Don hippopotamus, the Persian horse breed alone can be called a famous horse!

"By the way," said Wu Haogu to Ma Zhi, "I have also gotten two tall mares, both four feet seven tall at the shoulder, just right for breeding with them. ”

"If you want to breed, you have to hurry up now." Ma Zhi understands horses, and he immediately said, "Now is the peak season for estrus, and when the weather is hot, it will be light, and it will not be estrus in autumn." ”

"Then I'll have two mares sent tomorrow." Wu Haogu glanced at the fan who could speak Chinese, "Second Brother Ma, do you have a good groom in your family?" ”

"Yes." Ma Zhi pointed to the Bai Fan man, "His name is Mi Erbao, he is a Uighur from Xizhou, who used to sell horses in Xijin Province for a living, but later went bankrupt, so he followed my uncle. This time, he personally went to the Black Khan Uighurs and brought you two Persian horses. Da Lang, if you don't have anyone to raise horses, this Mi'er Bao will also give it to you. ”

This groom can actually give it away, obviously the status of a slave. However, he was a slave who could raise good horses, and his treatment was naturally not comparable to that of ordinary slaves.

Wu Haogu was not surprised, he knew that the Liao family had domestic slaves. He asked gently, "Mirbao, right?" ”

"Little bottom exactly."

"Do you believe in Mingzun or Buddha?" Wu Haogu asked again.

Mi'er Bao said: "Xiao Di is a disciple of the Buddha. ”

"Are there many Uighurs in Xizhou who believe in Mingzun?"

"Very little." Milbao said, "Only nobles believe that Xiaodi is a horse breeder." ”

"You're a horse breeder." Wu Haogu nodded, "Then do you know the method of breeding?" ”

Mirbao smiled: "Horses are naturally going to be bred, how can I not know the little bottom?" ”

Wu Haogu thought for a while and asked, "Then do you know the method of sibling breeding and mother-son, father-daughter matching?" ”

Hearing this question, Ma Zhi on the side suddenly coughed: "Da Lang, what did you say?" That's called the 'method of internal matching' and 'the method of anti-matching'. In addition, there is also the 'method of external mating', which is to introduce good breeds that are not related to the horse herd to improve the quality of the horse herd. ”

"Well, I know, I was afraid he wouldn't understand." Wu Haogu smiled bitterly, what he just said was indeed inappropriate. Fortunately, Ma Zhi heard it, and if a certain scholar and civil official who often regarded the ethics outline as greater than the sky knew, he might have to break off his friendship with him.

"Mirbao," Wu Haogu then asked, "is it easy for a foal raised by the method of internal and reverse matching to become deformed?" ”

Mirbao nodded and said, "There are some, just kill them."

In addition, if a senior official wants to breed good seeds, he must be patient and cannot ask for quantity. Because horses are not very fertile, they usually can only give birth to one litter at a time, and they are 11 months pregnant. Moreover, mares usually conceive at the age of three, and are not able to give birth by the age of ten. That is, only 6-7 foals can be laid in a lifetime. If a good breed is required, only one or two of the 6-7 foals are good. Everything else has to be disposed of in time, so the expansion of the herd is slow. It will take twenty or thirty years for the breed to be finalized before the population can be expanded. ”

This is a real know-how!

Wu Haogu, who had raised a good dog in later generations, was very satisfied with this Milbao - in fact, it was impossible not to be dissatisfied, a wealthy family as powerful as the Ma Zhi family would not be able to find one or two who could raise horses?

Ma Zhi himself is obviously a person who knows how to raise horses, he is afraid that Wu Haogu will not understand, and explained: "When it comes to raising horses, breeding is the most important." If there is no good breed and only seeks to raise more, just like the Khitans and divination people, there are only five or six people who can fight in a hundred horses. Without a herd of millions of horses, it is impossible to raise a sufficient number of war horses by raising more.

Therefore, the oasis tribes in the Western Regions, because there is not enough grassland to breed more, have adopted the method of breeding and selection for thousands of years, raising good seeds, and then breeding. The herd may be small, but they can fight. ”

"I see!" Wu Haogu listened to Ma Zhi's words, and a little suddenly realized.

No wonder Da Song kept crying and shouting that there were no horses, and the original way to raise horses was wrong. The Northern Song Dynasty raised horses on the "grassland route", established a government-run horse farm, and won by numbers. At the same time, because the economic structure of the Northern Song Dynasty also changed, the manor economy completely collapsed, resulting in the aristocracy (not the people, but the aristocracy, small farmers and small landlords did not need to raise war horses) and no longer needed to raise good horses.

And the number of government-run horse farms seems to be 200,000 horses at most, and according to the ratio of five or six of the hundred, Dingtian can provide 10,000 war horses...... However, considering the management ability of the civil officials of the Northern Song Dynasty, it is estimated that it will have to be discounted.

As for the way of raising good horses by private individuals and selling them to the imperial court, it did not work in the Great Song Dynasty. Because raising good horses is too time-consuming and money-consuming. If you don't have the way and financial resources of Wu Haogu, you can get Persian horses, big food horses and many large mares, and you won't be able to raise good horses for a hundred years.

And the purchase price offered by the Great Song Dynasty to a first-class horse with a shoulder height of four feet seven was only more than 300 yuan. It's not worth it to make this money by breeding from generation to generation!

So what Wu Haogu is going to do now, it must be a loss-making business! The value of a few stallions alone is probably as high as tens of thousands. It will take twenty or thirty years to buy tall mares at any cost, to build a vast horse farm, and to hire and even train high-level grooms and veterinarians...... In the future, it will only provide 2,000 "boundary hippos" with a shoulder height of nearly five feet a year, and the value will only be 6,700,000 yuan.

But if you don't invest a lot of money in raising horses now, you won't be able to buy two thousand good horses even if you spend six or seven million dollars in the future.

"Okay!" Wu Haogu patted the horse's buttocks again, and said to Ma Zhi with a smile, "Second Brother Ma, our brothers are also divided between you and me, let's set up a horse farm together to cultivate the hippopotamus." I also asked a big food merchant to find a big food horse, and I also collected some tall mares, all of which will be brought to the boundary river in the future. Second Brother Ma, you also have to think of a way to find more tall mares. Money is not a problem, you have as much as you want. There is time, twenty years, even if it is thirty years, I can afford to wait! ”

"Good! Since Da Lang has this idea," Ma Zhi smiled, "then let's do it together." ”