Qianqing Palace in the capital.

After Zhu Yuanzhang came back from the early dynasty, he felt that he was not in good spirits and a little tired, and he half lay on the soft couch and watched the twists and turns in various places. There is a treasure book placed on the imperial book case, which is a treasure pool box made of gold, which has a square carved with the gold seal of the seal book "Treasure of the King of Qin", on which is a turtle button, and below is a dragon carefully carved in white jade and gold.

The book is composed of two gold pages, carrying the regular script engraved by Zhu Yuanzhang himself, wrapped in three layers of red Luo pin gold and three layers outside, which is extremely exquisite and detailed.

Zhu Yuanzhang personally gave more than 20 pairs of similar treasure books, this time to the late Zhu Shangbing, the eldest son of the late King of Qin, and the elderly emperor had high hopes for his grandson who was about to inherit the throne of Qin.

Since Xu Hao expressed concern that the governor's mansion of the five armies gradually had a tendency to be controlled by the sons and daughters of the nobles, Zhu Yuanzhang immediately sent a cadre of military ministers to various places to elevate the real power of the governor's mansion and enhance the military power of the prince's palace in various places, forming a transmission mode in which the emperor's decree was directly transferred to the local palace through the military department, and then the prince stamped the golden seal and issued orders to the soldiers of the border guards in the fiefdom.

In fact, Zhu Yuanzhang has been doing this in recent years, and he trusts nothing more than his own flesh and blood, Xu Hao's proposal coincides with him, especially after killing a hero, as he gets older, the more he trusts the princes to the extreme, and he is almost paranoid that only the person surnamed Zhu is the most reliable.

Xu Hao understands Comrade Zhu very well, his son doesn't trust him, who else can he trust? Keeping the sons in various places not only avoided the tragedy of cannibalism, but also exercised their abilities. In particular, the kings of the north faced foreign threats all the time, and the princes learned to lead troops to fight since they were young, and there was a great chance that outstanding talents would appear from generation to generation.

I think the Han Dynasty did have the Rebellion of the Eight Kings, the problem was that the emperor was coerced by the eunuchs at that time, if it weren't for the descendants of the Liu family who were later divided, there was a Han Guangwu Emperor Liu Xiu Zhongxing, the Western Han Dynasty would have perished in the hands of Wang Mang and other rebels.

More than 200 years in the Eastern Han Dynasty and more than 200 years in the Western Han Dynasty. Not counting Liu Bei during the Three Kingdoms period, there is no doubt that it is the longest dynasty since the Qin Dynasty. Besides, the Tang and Song dynasties were all feudal systems for princes, and gathering future generations around the capital is tantamount to a way to die, and it is too easy to be taken by a nest.

Therefore, Zhu Yuanzhang did not disdain the advice of the ministers at all, and refused to divide the prince into a feudal seal in the interior to enjoy happiness, and the prince who did not have a military fief was like a tiger who had lost his fangs and claws, and in order to train his sons, even the king of Shu, whose fief was located in the country of Tianshu, had to repeatedly lead troops to fight the rebellion.

Xu Hao estimated that Comrade Zhu thought that even if the meat was rotten in the pot, it could not be taken by people of the opposite sex.

Gonggong Li cautiously approached and said, "Bixia." Temple Cheng Xu Hao outside the hall to see. ”

Zhu Yuanzhang, who was trying his best to think about the defense of the north, put down the twists and turns when he heard the words, and said weakly: "Xuan him come in." ”

Then Xu Hao strode into the Qianqing Palace, bowed in a loud voice and said, "Junior minister Xu Hao has seen the saint. ”

At this moment, Zhu Yuanzhang swept away his previous fatigue, his back was straight, and he groaned: "Recently, Qin Tianjian started to play, and there should be Hu soldiers in the vision." Geng Guo and the two veterans walked around, but they didn't find any changes in the Hu tribe in the north. I was not at ease, and ordered King Yan to urge the defenders of Shanxi to build two northwest fortresses of Yulin and Tiancheng, which dealt with the Hu cavalry who came and went like the wind. Unless it is fortified, it cannot be defended. I intend to order you to take a trip to Shanxi for me, and secretly inspect the border guards. ”

Xu Hao said: "Xiaochen was recently sent by his boss to raise horses, it's not good to leave Beijing immediately, please say hello to Bixia today." It is also good to let the minister act cheaply and leave for the north as soon as possible. ”

Zhu Yuanzhang was a little interested, somewhat drove away the tiredness, and said with a smile: "Let's hear it." Do you still have horses? ”

Xu Hao smiled bitterly and said: "Naturally not, the boss ordered the ministers to take care of two hundred horses that His Royal Highness King Ning honors you, and they are all Mongolian horses." The wild is untamable and unadaptable, and the minister is afraid of accidents, so he asks Bixia to allow the minister to replace the good horse with the old and weak horse in the imperial horse prison. ”

Zhu Yuanzhang said speechlessly: "Good horses for bad horses? If you come up with such a bad idea, even a bad horse can't be raised to death, that's to blame. ”

Xu Hao said: "The minister is going to take one stallion and three mares as the standard, and ask the military households outside the city who have experience in raising horses to raise them in captivity, so that the soldiers and civilians have livestock for arable land, and the minister can also worry about it." Every year, a foal of pure blood must be handed over, and as for the mules and horses that are born, Taifu Temple has the right of first refusal. In order to prevent people from taking advantage of the opportunity to accumulate wealth, it is necessary to send special personnel to follow up and record them regularly, and military households who have not given birth to foals cannot be levied in general, even if the horses die, the military households should be ordered to pay a small amount of compensation according to the reason. ”

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes lit up, and he said happily: "Your method is very good, so that the eliminated good horses can be cultivated, not to mention, and they can supply new horses endlessly without spending a penny of the imperial court, which is very good." ”

Xu Hao smiled honestly: "This method has long been effective, and the damaged war horse is useless, and some officials have come up with such a method, and the ministers are just learning from it." ”

Zhu Yuanzhang said happily: "You can talk about the benefits carefully." ”

Xu Hao said with a smile: "It is most reassuring to ask the military household to raise it on your behalf." The rent for farming can be used instead of the forage money for raising horses for a year, and once the mules and horses are produced, they can be sold for money or kept for their own use, and the military households may offset the cost or even some income. After all, it is not easy to get cattle in the north, although the horsepower can not be compared with the cow power, but it can save foot power, it is very convenient to pull a cart and ride a horse, and the good horse can be very haode to supplement the amount of loss of the Taifu Temple, the biggest benefit is to save manpower and material resources, and the military households who have tasted the benefits will undoubtedly be more carefully raised in the coming year, so the Taifu Temple and the military households are two-pronged, complementing each other, hoping to form a virtuous circle in the future. ”

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded and said, "It's really good." It's a pity that it still can't solve the situation of the lack of horses in the imperial court in one fell swoop, what advice do you have? ”

Xu Hao thought for a while and said: "Fight, hit a large vast pasture in the north, kill all the adult Hu people, capture the old, weak, sick and disabled of the Hu people, and teach me the experience of Han herding." ”

Zhu Yuanzhang smiled and said: "The child's words, the grassland is not easy to guard, and sooner or later it will fall into the hands of another group of Hu people." However, over the years, I have successively accepted hundreds of thousands of Hu people to raise horses on my behalf, otherwise I would have to be angry to death with the old officials of your Taifu Temple. ”

Xu Hao squinted his eyes and said, "Bixia is the surrender of the entire clan?" ”

Zhu Yuanzhang said proudly: "Well, the whole world is not the king's land, the Hu people are loyal to surrender, how can I kill the obedient people indiscriminately?" The people of the color eyes are not all tame now. ”

Xu Hao sighed and said: "The minister doesn't dare to agree, the people with the eyes are really speechless when they return to the ministers." The Mongols and other northern nomads, who are not of our race, have different hearts, and they can only stop killing by killing. Chancellor thinks throughout the millennia. The Hu people will take the initiative to join when they are weak, and they will rebel when they multiply, which is their national nature. In order to survive, they are accustomed to relying on killing and plundering the Han people to develop and grow. Bixia adheres to the heart of the emperor, treats all ethnic groups equally, and respects the ministers wholeheartedly, but he is afraid that he will be in trouble in the future. ”

Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes were deep, and he said hesitantly: "Why don't I know this? It is to take the initiative to wave the army to the Northern Expedition every year, just to make the surrendered Hu people dare not have the slightest betrayal, and to be completely assimilated after a few years. Blindly killing is unreasonable and not feasible. Otherwise, who will provide countless war horses for the imperial court? The Northland Hu people must not be given any chance to recuperate. ”

Xu Hao can understand the helplessness hidden by Comrade Lao Zhu, the Ming Dynasty cannot support the border wars for many years, and must ensure the long-term stability of the north, but the Hu people are used to war, the cavalry of the whole people comes and goes like the wind, and the tribe of a thousand people often has to mobilize more than 100,000 people to resist, and the victory cannot completely annihilate the enemy, and the defeat will easily wipe out the whole army. The people in the territory were tragically looted, so the imperial court could not be cautious.

For the leader of the Hu people who surrendered, even if he knew that the other party had ill intentions, in order to take care of the overall situation, he could only choose to forbear for the time being, hoping to educate the other party with Han civilization. Even if it doesn't work, he can take advantage of the prestige of the Hu leader and order all the clans to stop swordsmanship for a period of time, so that the border pass can rest and recuperate, and build castles and fortresses.

Xu Hao knew that modern civilization was the only way to completely solve the problems of the northern henchmen. With the advent of real large-scale thermal weapons, horseback riding is no longer useful, but it is a pity that invention and creation are not a one-time thing. In short, far water can't quench the thirst of the near.

Zhu Yuanzhang was also tired, and waved his hand: "Do your thing first, and give it to you to take your time in a few years, and if it can be effective, it can be promoted." Your business is to be over, take a trip to Shanxi and Hebei. ”

"Yes."

Back in the yamen, Xu Hao breathed a sigh of relief, the war horse was replaced by a bad horse, and if anything went wrong, it would be regarded as the loss caused by the order's experiment, and the impact was not great.

Asking military households to raise horses on their behalf saves a lot of trouble without mobilizing and just giving orders. In this way, Xu Hao reported the matter to the two adults Ma Niu, this law is a tacit secret of the horse farms everywhere, and the two adults did not obstruct it and agreed.

Xu Hao went to the military department, and the squire of the military department thought about it and nodded in permission, most of them were some bad horses eliminated by the imperial horse supervisor, and it was useless to raise them.

Next, the military department and the Xingtaifu Temple respectively issued official documents, selected a suburban guard station, and led more than 200 imperial horses.

With an establishment of more than 5,000 people, plus more than 20,000 family members, four horses were quickly selected and taken away, and more than 200 war horses were lost in an instant.

Xu Hao asked each family to simply press a handprint on the spot, not worrying about any changes at all, and explained the relevant regulations, in fact, there is no need for him to be verbose, the military order is like a mountain.

For military households, the cost of raising four horses is not small, but horses are large livestock, and they are the most valuable wealth of a family. If you have a horse at home, your children and grandchildren will be confident when they marry a daughter-in-law.

Of course, the royal horse is not easy to serve, you have to be careful to feed, and you have to ask others to learn everything about giving birth to horses as soon as possible, in order to give birth to foals as soon as possible in the next year, and the horses of the province are to be returned, and mules and horses are relatively simple.

As a result, Xu Hao was unexpected, no one gave up using royal horses to plow the land, all of them were carefully raised, and they were still mated with the standard of war horses. In the first year, most families took advantage of it, and in addition to handing in one foal every year, the extra one was sold at a high price, which was much more than the income from farming in one year.

Even if he didn't give birth to a foal, with Xu Hao's endorsement, the government would not pursue it, and he just paid some silver money due to old age and illness, compared to the rich return, what is a little loss?

At that time, many families saw the potential benefits and strongly asked to raise horses, but Xu Hao felt that the first point was too far and did not agree.

Who knew that it gradually became one of the horse politics of the Ming Dynasty, and Zhu Di attached great importance to this, stipulating that all military households must raise horses. At first, the effect was good, and the Ming Dynasty had enough war horses, but later it became increasingly ill and became a tool for officials to oppress military households. (To be continued......)