Song Zhizhao's words fell, Huang Qiong frowned and said, "Your father didn't sell horses to party members, so you can guarantee that the officials under your father haven't done this kind of thing?" If your father's subordinate officials have done something similar, your father will not be able to escape the charge of lax royal authority. ”

"This king knows that all the horses produced by the herd overseers of our dynasty are marked with certain marks on the horses because they are exclusively for the use of our officers and soldiers. If someone is in the party and really sees the brand of the horses from the Suzhou Qun Pastoral Prison, it is not a false accusation against your father. ”

In response to Huang Qiong's rhetorical question, Song Zhizhao sighed and said: "With my father's person, the officials of several subordinate horse farms privately sell a few young horses that have not yet been branded, and it is indeed possible to sell horses to Han horse dealers, but it is impossible to sell horses to party members. Prince, even if you want money, you can ask for this wealth, and the risks are nothing compared to the benefits. ”

"At the beginning of the rise of our dynasty, the party and the iron cavalry have always been our fierce rivals. When Taizu entered Chang'an, the party attached himself to the former Tang Dynasty, and even hit the Baqiao outside Chang'an for a time. Dangxiang people grow freely on horseback, and it can be said that they can ride horses when they can walk, and the Dangxiang horse is the best war horse in the world. ”

"At that time, most of the horses in the cavalry of our dynasty were confiscated and originally used to drive and plough the fields, and only a small number of war horses were captured real war horses. Not only are horses inferior, but farmers who have been farming since childhood have no way to compete with the party members who have grown up on horseback since childhood. ”

"After a few big battles, although the number of cavalry in our dynasty is quite large, it is not an opponent at all. After successive defeats, Emperor Taizu almost let the city go. If it weren't for the battle of Tongzhou, the king of Guilin County defeated the party and the iron cavalry with a newly cast cannon, and the situation at that time was really hard to say. ”

"However, although the battle of Tongzhou defeated the party's iron cavalry. But I have always had no way to deal with these extremely mobile and heavily armored cavalry. After Taizu settled in Dingding, these party iron horses entrenched in Youzhou and Xiazhou have always been like thorns in their backs. After the Battle of Tongzhou, although the Dangxiang Iron Cavalry was unable to attack Chang'an, it continued to harass Guanzhong. ”

"And sent cavalry, taking advantage of the fact that our dynasty had no time to go north and the former Tang Dynasty was even more powerless to control, and successively captured Yinzhou, Suizhou, and Jingzhou. Although Emperor Taizu sent envoys to surrender many times, he refused to submit to him, and killed the envoys of our dynasty several times. It's just that the main force of the Qi army is passing through Kwantung and Jiangnan, and it is really powerless to solve this big problem. ”

"It wasn't until Jiangnan and Lianghuai assessed that Emperor Taizu was ready to divide his troops to attack Shu, so he sent Meng Kai to command 30,000 cavalry, 100,000 infantry troops, and carry ten cannons cast by the king of Guilin County, ** more than 10,000 catties to march north, and make every effort to solve the party people who occupied the land of the five states. It's just that even if the Qi army has an absolute numerical advantage, it is still extremely difficult to fight in the face of the strong party heavy cavalry. ”

"Although the party people only have five states, but this battle still took more than a whole year, more than 30,000 soldiers were lost, before the leader of the party was killed. If it weren't for the fact that there were not too many cavalry in Shu, the cavalry of the Qi army who almost injured their vitality would even affect the subsequent battle of Shu. ”

After this battle, the strong combat power of the party's iron cavalry left a deep impact on the imperial court. In order to weaken the strength of the Dangxiang people, the imperial court divided the Dangxiang people into three and left one in place for grazing, and most of them were forcibly relocated to the Hexi Corridor and the vicinity of Qinghai Lake. In order to move westward, the nomadic scope was forcibly demarcated. If there are nomads beyond the range, they will be killed. ”

Not only that, but the league chiefs of each ministry were appointed and conferred the titles of governors, and the original chieftains and chieftains were respectively appointed as regimental training envoys and feudal envoys. However, although the governor could not be hereditary for life, the imperial court appointed a person from among the various regimental training envoys and vassal envoys, so as to divide the party departments from within. ”

In addition to these means, he also constantly transferred young men from various party departments to fight against the Northern Liao, Tibetan, and Uighur tribes, thus weakening the strength of the party members from the outside. During the reign of Taizu, the king of Guilin County crusaded against Tubo, and during the reign of Gaozong, the imperial court and the northern Liao iron cavalry that went south fought more than ten battles, which caused heavy losses to the party departments, and lost more than 100,000 Dingkou, and has not fully recovered its vitality. ”

In addition to these means, there are also legal restrictions. Not only is it stipulated that the number of horses for the party shall not exceed 30 per household. If a horse breeder grazes more horses than a household, each household is required to pay a horse to the court as a tax every year. If a household is five dings, it has to hand over five horses every year. ”

"On the other hand, cattle and sheep herders have to pay much less taxes each year, and each household only needs to pay three sheep or one cow per year, regardless of how many they have. The court did this in order to let the party members gradually reduce the number of horses grazing in order to survive, and instead focus on cattle and sheep that were not a threat. ”

"The party members have lived on horseback since childhood, and they can be said to be natural cavalrymen. But all this is based on the fact that there are a large number of war horses, and without enough war horses, the cavalry of the party will become an empty threat. Moreover, although the party members are mainly nomadic, they are subject to the fact that the nomadic area is not as vast as the grassland of Northern Liao. ”

"Whether it is the Xia, You, Yin, Sui, and Jing prefectures where they were originally entrenched, as well as the old nest of Tongwancheng, the abundance of water and grass is far inferior to the Turkic homeland occupied by Northern Liao. Although there is a lot of horse production, it is far less numerous than that of Northern Liao. Even in its heyday, it could only achieve one horse per army, far less than the number of one person and three horses of the Northern Liao cavalry. ”

The imperial court imposed heavy taxes on the horses raised by the party members, encouraging them to graze cattle and sheep instead, which weakened the strength of the party members. Although the party horse can be called the best in the world, it is a first-class war horse in the world. But there were not enough horses, and even if the party members had gradually begun to recover in the past ten years, the number of cavalry was not enough to pose a threat to the imperial court. ”

"The imperial court not only adopted various means to divide and disintegrate the party members from within and weaken the strength of the party members. He also ordered that several herdsmen who had the courage to sell horses to the party members in private would be punished once the nine tribes were discovered. At present, the party members were unable to form a large-scale cavalry because of the lack of horses. ”

But unless there is a natural disaster or a rebellion, there is basically no shortage of horses for the party. After all, although the party members are mainly nomadic, under the indoctrination and even coercion of the former Tang Dynasty and our dynasty, some people have turned to farming for a living. Grazing has long ceased to be the only way to survive for party members. ”

"And the original customization of the imperial court, in order to dispel the doubts of some party chiefs, also left some leeway. For example, there is no tax on the horses grazing according to the number of dings per household. At present, although the number of horses in the hands of the party members has long been different from what it used to be, it is impossible for the party members to form a large number of cavalry, but they can barely have the ability to protect themselves. ”

"At least internal attack, or with the surrounding tribes such as Tubo and Tuyuhun, it is enough to fight for a short period of time. Because the imperial court's alliance chief system for the Fanmin is not only for the party members, but also for the Tubo tribes who are subordinate to the imperial court, and so on. Everyone's strength is basically equal, and even if there is a fight between each other, the scale is very limited. ”

"Therefore, it is impossible for the party members to take risks, and there is basically no need to buy horses from the herd supervisors under the imperial court. Even if you buy it, I'm afraid it's only occasional, and it's impossible to buy too much. Moreover, selling horses to party members in private, once it is discovered, will be punished by the nine clans, this risk is too great. ”

"Not many officials, even the poorest and insane, don't have the courage to do such a thing. They have a way of making money, so why take the risk? Not to mention anything else, every year when young horses are born, there are a large number of mainland horse dealers who go to Suzhou to buy horses by all means. It is much safer to buy a horse from a few herdsmen than to buy it from Zhufan. ”

"If someone secretly sells horses to Han horse dealers before the young horses are branded, it is not for nothing. Because several horse farms belonging to the Suzhou herdsmen are distributed in Suzhou and Ganzhou, almost the entire Hexi Corridor has been captured, which can be described as a vast area. There are more than five horses produced every year, and there are more than 50,000 horses in the whole herd of herding supervisors. ”

"Suzhou herd supervisor is the largest of the four herd supervisors set up by the imperial court in the entire northwest, including Xiazhou herd superintendent, Lanzhou herd superintendent, and Xining Prefecture herd superintendent, and the horses produced are also the best one. The horses produced by the Suzhou herd superintendent and the Hequ horse produced by the Xining herd superintendent became the main war horses used by the cavalry of our dynasty. ”

"Every year, such a large number of young horses are produced, and the horse farms are widely distributed, and there are some officials who guard and steal them, although it is unavoidable. But to say that as the false words say, the young horses produced every year are only reported to the imperial court seventy percent, and thirty percent are sold to Zhufan privately, it is simply impossible, it is simply a crime to be added. ”

"I know the rules of the herd warden, and it is possible to report 90 or 8 percent of the young horses produced each year. Because people don't know how many diseases they have to suffer from from birth to adulthood, the number of children who die every year is probably too many to count. What's more, those horses that can't speak? People have plague, and horses also have horse plague. ”

"It is impossible for each herd supervisor to truthfully report the number of young horses produced each year, at least to leave a way back for himself. Otherwise, in the event of a plague, where can I find a sufficient number of ponies to fill the gap? But if you want to say 30 percent, no official would do that. If there is too much difference from the previous year or a few years, the official does not need to be the official. ”

Song Zhizhao's explanation made Huang Qiong frown slightly, but the more he wrinkled, the tighter he became. If it really turned out to be what this guy said, his father's affair at least looked like a false accusation. But if it is said that a Liubu Shangshu is framed, or a pacification envoy along the way, even an official like Zhizhou is still possible.

At least pull them down, and you may have the possibility of being in a higher position, or get other benefits. What is the intention of framing him in a bitter cold place, and even some officials regard it as avoidable, so that he does not want to go to the herd and prison prison? He had nothing to gain from it, except for the strictly controlled military horses.

Framing him should not be because he can't buy a horse from him, so he can do this trick. Either kill a hundred people, or want to replace them with people who are greedy for money and obedient. Otherwise, no one can think of any benefit enough to make people take such inferior measures. After all, the actual temptation of the position of a Suzhou group pastoral supervisor is not as great as that of a governor in the mainland.