This is a deep and narrow alley, although it is not very wide, but it can also allow two horses to go side by side. The alleys are paved with bluestone slabs, and because of the autumn rain last night, you can still see damp marks on the ground, and occasionally you can see a lump of stinking horse manure on this stone pavement. However, this pile of horse manure will not be around for long, and will soon be collected.

In the Great Song Dynasty, the manure of people and animals can be sold as fertilizer! The officials of the imperial court were able to make a small amount of extra money by selling horse manure.

Because dung can be sold for money, there is no unpleasant smell of feces floating in the metropolises of the Song Dynasty, such as Kaifeng and Daimyo.

In addition, the metropolises of the Song Dynasty with a population of one million are unlikely to have cross-flow of sewage, because the cities of the Song Dynasty had drainage ditches and centralized water supply systems!

Among them, the more famous ones are the "Fushougou" in Ganzhou and the Pujian Mountain Spring Water Diversion Project in Guangzhou designed by Su Dongpo.

In the Kaifeng Mansion City, where Wu Haogu lived, and the current Daimyo Mansion City, Wu Haogu also saw a water supply system composed of a combination of canals, wells, and square wells for storing water. In some wealthy homes, there are even "water pipes" that bring clean water directly from the water source into the water storage tank at home, which looks like the tap water of later generations.

And on this narrow alley called Mashi Street in the Daimyofu Castle, Wu Haogu also saw several square wells that were supposed to be connected to terracotta pipes to store water. On the edge of one of the wells, there was also a stallion more than four feet three inches tall drinking water.

"How's this horse?" Wu Haogu asked a few people around him.

"It's about four feet three inches tall, and it looks like it's a Hebei native horse, and it can be ridden." Ma Zhi glanced at it, not very interested.

Although there are many horses in Liaoguo, although they do not pay attention to breeding, they mainly focus on shepherding close to natural growth. But the victory lies in the large number, you can pick one out of a hundred, and select the war horse. Therefore, Ma Zhi's family has a lot of good horses, so he doesn't look down on this Hebei native horse.

"This guest officer is so angry, my horse is almost four feet and four inches, even if it is qualified to be a war horse, but it can be ridden?"

It turned out that on the other side of this Hebei horse, there was a young man who was washing the horse, and when he heard Ma Zhi's comment, he refuted it loudly.

Wu Haogu walked a few steps and saw the man, who turned out to be a young man with a simple face and a rather tall figure, and while he spoke, he squatted and wiped the horse's legs, so he was covered by the horse's body.

"Soma can't just look at the height, but also the bones, coat color, teeth, shape, tendons, hooves, and whether the horse is stupid or smart."

Ma Zhi is also a good argument with others, and when it comes to horses, he is also the first to say, obviously a big expert in horse riding and playing with horses.

The young man had finished wiping his horse, got up and saluted, and said with a smile: "The guest officer turned out to be an expert, disrespectful, disrespectful."

However, the vision of the guest official is very high, and the good horse that can enter the eyes of the guest official is probably only the royal horse of the official family. ”

The horses in Ma Zhi's family, if they are brought to the Song Dynasty, will definitely surpass the quality of the imperial horse. Those royal horses are just good-looking, and you can't really ride them on the battlefield. And the horses in Ma Zhi's family are all able to go to the battlefield!

But Wu Haogu's vision is higher, and he wants to use the method of raising dogs in later generations to raise a better boutique horse breed than Khitan horses!

So this honest young horse, in fact, is just the eye that has just entered the martial arts.

"Xiao Langjun is right," Wu Haogu laughed and interjected, "This friend of a certain family is just saying it." I don't know what Xiao Langjun is called? ”

The honest young man said: "Xiaodi's surname is Yue Minghe, a native of Tangyin County. ”

Tang Yin Yue and? Haven't heard of it......

Wu Haogu only knew that there was a Yue Fei in the Song Dynasty, and he had probably not been born and raised yet.

"Your family breeds horses?" Wu Haogu asked again.

"My family raises horses and farms." Yue He answered truthfully.

It turned out to be a kulak.

Wu Haogu knew that the peasants who could afford to raise horses could not be too poor, most of them were rich peasants with dozens or hundreds of acres of land, and raising horses should be a sideline business - Henan people are many and the land is narrow, and there are very few farmers who take the initiative to raise horses. However, due to the impact of the Sanyi Huihe incident, the population around the Daimyofu was not as dense as it was, and there was more land per capita, so it was possible to raise horses.

Moreover, there is some demand in the Daimyo horse market, which has contributed to the emergence of the horse breeding industry.

However, the horse breeding industry will not be too large-scale in Hebei, just look at this somewhat cold and dilapidated horse market street. The business on the nearby Sheep Market Street and Donkey Market Street is quite hot!

According to Ximenqing, this Mashi Street is an extremely old street and alley, which appeared about the time of Wei Bo Fan Town in the Tang Dynasty. At that time, Wei Bojun had a great demand for war horses, which prompted the emergence of the horse market.

Nowadays, the officials and soldiers of the Song Dynasty were provided with war horses by the herdsmen and did not need to buy them from the market. The demand for horses is not as great as the demand for sheep and donkeys.

In addition, the people do not need tall and strong war horses, but the demand for horses, horses, and pack horses is greater - in fact, there are horses all over the Song Dynasty, there are Fanma and West Horses in the northwest, there are earth horses in Hebei, East horses in Jingdong, Huai horses in Jianghuai, Sichuan horses in Sichuan, and small rabbit horses in Jiangnan.

The so-called can't raise horses in the Great Song Dynasty is a legend.

And the fact that there is no interest in war horses in the horse market of the Great Song Dynasty is the truth - it is not that the Great Song Dynasty court does not need war horses, but the market does not need them.

Therefore, the "big horse" brought by Yue He is not easy to sell, and it is a loss-making unsalable horse.

"Is this horse okay?" Wu Haogu, who was blind, turned his head again to ask for Ximen Qing's opinion.

"It's okay," Ximenqing looked at the horse, "but if you want to ride it, you have to castrate it first, or it will definitely throw you off the horse." ”

Castrated stallions have a gentle temperament and are easy to handle. With the equestrian skills of Wu Haogu, he can be ridden, if he is not castrated, he will not know who rides whom.

"Don't castrate it," Wu Haogu hurriedly shook his head and said to Ximen Qing, "Let it be ridden for you." ”

"Give it to me?" Ximen Qing's cheeks flushed, and his head drooped.

"How much does this horse cost?" Wu Haogu's "account room" Zhang Xizai came forward to inquire.

"This horse costs eighty."

Eighty is a small amount of money for Wu Haogu.

But in Tangyin County, you can buy fifty or sixty acres of good land! For Yue He, a horse seller, these eighty taels can not only pay off the medical money owed by his father Yue Li's illness last year, but also be used to marry Sister Yao, a famous beauty in the neighboring village, and live a happy life with his wife and children on the kang from now on.

"It's too expensive...... "Zhang Xizai began to bargain.

In fact, he also understands horses, and knows that this horse is not expensive even if it costs a hundred. But...... Nobody buys it!

This kind of "big horse" can indeed be used as a war horse, but the premise is that you must serve it well when you buy it, not only to eat and drink well, but also to have a "good place to live", and a place to run a horse. But riders like Lin Wancheng, Lin Chong, and Lu Qian don't have a house to live in, so where do they let the horses live? Not to mention that there is a place to run horses.

Therefore, the basis for the establishment of cavalry in this feudal agrarian state must be a rich peasant, a landlord or a minor nobleman who had a place to raise horses, or simply a slave soldier of the MSL (the owner of the slave soldier bears the cost of raising horses). It is impossible to build a strong cavalry legion based on mercenaries raised in large cities, with or without horses.

"No, it's going to cost eighty." Yue He shook his head and resolutely refused to lower the price.

He didn't know much about business, and if it weren't for his father's health not healed, he wouldn't have come out to sell horses. When others do business, they will inflate the price and wait for the customer to counteroffer.

It's good for him, just give a fixed price!

"How's seventy?" Zhang Xizai said, "If not, I'll leave." You sell horses here, and you have to rent the horse shop owner every day, right? I have to write dozens or hundreds of dollars a day.

And your horse is just riding, and it can't be used to pack goods and pull carts, and it's delicate, and you have to live and serve, it's not as good as the rabbits and horses in the south of the Yangtze River. ”

"It's going to be eighty ......" Yue He's honest face showed a tangled expression, but he still refused to reduce the price.

"Just give eighty." At this time, Wu Haogu opened his mouth and interrupted Zhang Xizai, who was bargaining, "Brother Yue, below is Kaifeng Wu Haogu, who has always loved good horses. Let me ask you about something, in your Tangyin County, there are many people who raise horses? ”

"Thank you for the staff," Yue He replied with a smile, "If you go back to the staff, there are some horse breeders in Tangyin County, and I heard the old people say that Xiangzhou used to be called Ye County, and it has always been a place for generals, and now there are many people who practice martial arts and take martial arts, and there are slightly more horse breeders than elsewhere." ”

"I see." Wu Haogu nodded.

In addition to selecting officials, the role of the imperial examination is to guide the people to promote education. Wenju can introduce the folk to learn the way of Confucius and Mencius, and Wuju can allow the folk to learn the art of arching horses, which can theoretically achieve both civil and military skills.

It is a pity that there was a deviation in the process of specific implementation, emphasizing literature and ignoring military force, so that most of the people who entered the military were transferred to civilian officials. At the same time, the martial arts were carried out under the leadership of civil officials, and gradually favored the liberal arts, and now they have become a supplement to the liberal arts.

"That's it," Wu Haogu thought for a while, and said, "I'll give you ten more taels, please help me do something, and pay attention to which family in your Tangyin County has a good horse, whether it is male or female, I will buy it at a high price." If there is news, I will work hard for you to come to the Daimyo Mansion and report to Ximentang. Do you know where the West Gate Hall of the Daimyo Mansion is? ”

"Yes." Yue He replied, "However, the ten small bottoms given by the staff cannot be accepted, which is useless." ”

Wu Haogu smiled, "Okay, when you find a good horse for me, you can also give a commission." ”

Yue He nodded at this time, and arched his hand again: "Thank you for the martial arts." ”