In February, he ended his trip to the county and returned to Yiqu City, where he lived with his beloved wife for a few days, seizing all the time to create a man.

But the time that the young couple spent together lasted only a few months, and Heifu was going on a business trip again......

The place he was going to this time was not far away, in Yuzhi County, forty miles north of Yiqu City.

Yuzhi City is at the confluence of the Huanjiang River and muddy water, and the north is the White Horse Ridge with mountains and mountains, negative mountains and water, dangerous on three sides, easy to defend and difficult to attack, it is a good fortress.

The natural situation of this county is similar to that of other places in the Northland, and it is also half farming and half pasture, but in addition to Dayuan, the largest and most abundant pasture in the Northland County is located here, so it was opened up by the Qin Dynasty as a "priest's garden" to raise war horses.

When Heifu arrived at the Priest's Court, it was the time of spring for the flowers to bloom around the river, and even the sky seemed exceptionally high and refreshing in this season, and the grass was like a wave, swaying like waves in the long wind, and across the river, he could see a large herd of horses running on the grassy slopes......

"Good horse!"

Behind Heifu, there was a burst of applause.

Lieutenant Hei did not come alone, but this time he was followed by a full three hundred entourage, all of them well-dressed, with their hair in a uniform right bun, and their own horses, bows, and swords, and they rode steadily on the back of a horse with only a low saddle.

These 300 people are the biggest harvest of Heifu Kaichun County: the sons of good families from all counties in Beidi County!

These good families in the north are all good people who have migrated to the border, and their families have a certain amount of land, wealth, and titles, which are enough to support them to practice martial arts since childhood, and they can also "buy horses in the east market, saddle shackles in the west market, bridles in the south market, and long whips in the north market", and concentrate on the pursuit of fame.

Liangjiazi of Beidi is good at riding and archery fighting, and he is an excellent soldier embryo in the eyes of Heifu, and it is also the source of grassroots generals in the future war against the Xiongnu......

But among the three hundred, there are also advantages and disadvantages, after the sons of the good family were recruited by the black husband, they concentrated in Yiqu City last month and were divided into three "hundreds", and the three people who served as the hundred generals were the best among them, respectively from three counties: Qianghua in Jingyang County, Fuzhi in Yiqu County, and Ganchong in Niyang County.

Qiang Hua is another grandson of Shangjun Shou Qiang, officialdom is like this, Qiang is likely to be the commander-in-chief of the Qin army to attack the Xiongnu in the north in the future, how can his grandson, Heifu not carry it? However, Qiang Hua was born in the gate, and his skills are not weak, he is especially good at riding and shooting, and it is said that he once led his family to ride from chasing a group of bandits, killing many captives, and is famous in the local area.

Fu Zhi of Yiqu County is also a military nobleman, Heifu's deepest impression of him is his strength, he plays the common "stone" in the army, like the strong man of the Olympic Games, after a few rotations, he threw dozens of steps in one breath! Beyond the pavilion!

Compared with these two, Gan Chong in Niyang County is much less conspicuous, his family is just an ordinary small landlord, but Gan Chong has two unique skills: one is to take a small stone, put it in a holster and throw it casually, within twenty or thirty steps, a hundred shots, and the people who are hit will basically have their heads broken and bleeding. His stone-throwing skills were learned by herding horses when he was a child, so he is also very good at horse riding skills.

The three young men followed closely beside Heifu, and none of them wanted to be left behind.

Heifu also intended to test them, and pointed at the horses on the other side of the river: "Do you know what they are doing?" “

The three of them have been dealing with horses since childhood, how can they not know, so they competed with each other: "In the spring month, the grass sprouts green, the water and grass are abundant and tender, and the cattle and horses are tired, and the fish are in the peony, in short, it is the male horse and mare breeding!" “

"Then these Sichun's horses, can the second and third sons be sure to tame?"

Among the three hundred good families, some people are embarrassed, but more are eager to try!

The horses in heat are the most irritable, but it is also a good opportunity to test the horseman's skill in the horse, and the black man announces good news to the good families:

"Thou and three hundred others shall be conscripted into the army and shall be the lieutenant of this county, and a good rider shall not be accompanied by a good horse. The second and third sons enter the garden to choose, and if the horses they pick can be tamed, they can be used as mounts for you, and they can be ridden during training and combat! “

As soon as these words came out, the sons of the good family cheered.

In addition to the children of military nobles such as Qiang Hua and Fu Zhi, the remaining more than 200 people, most of whom are children of small landlords, have no worries about food and clothing, but the mounts are not much better.

There are two important concepts in the physical index of horses, one of which is "shoulder height", the so-called "shoulder height" refers to the distance from the shoulder blades to the feet of the horse, and the shoulder height is subject to the height of the horse. In general, the higher the shoulder height, the better the horse. The "Zhou Li" divides horses into three classes according to their shoulder height: "Eight feet or more is a dragon, seven feet or more is a lái, and six feet or more is a horse." ”

The second concept is "teeth", that is, the age of the horse, which is judged according to the teeth, generally speaking, 4 to 10 years old, is the golden age of the horse, the most suitable for riding, fighting, breeding, the horse to the age of ten, the teeth will be smoothed, begin to enter middle age, energy and physique began to decline.

Therefore, before the unification of the whole country, Qin issued such an order: "It is forbidden to have horses more than six feet high, and the teeth are not leveled, and they are not allowed to go out of the customs."

A few years ago, the local horses that Heifu saw in Chu State, except for the generals' carts and horses whose shoulders were higher than six feet, it is not an exaggeration to say that most of the Chu horses were really as short as mules and donkeys. Because since Qin established Dongjun and cut off the Six Kingdoms, Chu could only raise horses on its own territory or import them from Southwest Yi.

Most of the mounts bought by the good families from various counties were inferior horses with a height of five feet eight to six inches at the shoulder. The war horses domesticated by the priest's garden have finally reached the passing line of "six feet", and the age is generally under ten years old.

So, the three hundred good families rolled up their sleeves, tightened their belts, and were eager to try.

Let these young people toss with the war horses that have just finished mating, and Heifu, under the guidance of the local county lieutenant Sun Bailu, patrols the entire priest's garden.

After all, Qin started as a horse herder, and Ma Zheng did a very good job, at least much stronger than a dynasty with a "70% victory rate in foreign wars".

Gongsun Bailu introduced to Heifu that in order to ensure the good running speed and endurance of the war horse, Yuan Qifu should conduct strict training on the foal, and also stipulate the standard for the use of feed.

"The law says that pack horses recruited from the priest's garden must be more than five feet eight inches, and war horses must be more than six feet!"

If the recruited war horses do not meet the qualities of the "war horses", the officials at all levels who manage the horses should be punished according to the relevant laws, or the old rules, fines! The county Sima was fined the second class, and the order and the cheng were also the second class, and the half-year salary was gone. Even if you meet the standards, you will be fined for winning the last place in the Qin people's favorite "class", that is, the person in charge of the military horse, and the person in charge of the military horse will be fined the second class, and he will be dismissed and never renewed!

Heifu couldn't help but sigh, the annual performance evaluation has really existed since ancient times, and it specializes in the assessment of national civil servants, and wants to be lazy and lazy? It's so hard!

Therefore, as far as Heifu can see, the county Sima almost lives in the priest's garden, and the Yuan Ling and Yuan Cheng in the garden carefully inspect every pasture regardless of the horse manure on their bodies.

However, in my heart, even if the horse administration of the Qin Dynasty was very meticulous, even if the Qin land was already "the benefit of Qiang in the west, the livestock of Rong Zhai in the north, and animal husbandry for the world", in the eyes of Heifu, these war horses are still not good horses.

Most of the war horses in the Priest's Garden are smaller Mongolian horses, Hequ horses, or hybrids of both. The height of the shoulders is basically between six feet and seven feet, and every inch of height is considered a grade of excellence.

Seven-foot horses, rare in the Central Plains, the so-called "thousands of horses" is used to describe them, Qin Mugong Bole in order to find such a horse, painstakingly, but also made a "thousand gold city horse bones" story.

The eight-foot horse, I'm afraid, will not be found until the west of the Green Ridge.

"China's unscrupulous horses." After Heifu made a round, he couldn't help but sigh.

"In the opinion of the county lieutenant, how can it be called a good horse?" Gongsun Bailu was a little surprised by Heifu, a southerner, for horses, and couldn't help but ask.

Heifu said: "Your Majesty has a horse with a shoulder height of seven feet and five inches, raised in Shanglin Waiyuan, this is already the best horse, it is said that a few years ago, the Wushi merchant Jia from the Xiongnu, Hexi, spent the same weight as this horse silk silk in exchange......"

When Gongsun Bailu heard this, his eyes lit up.

But Hefu said, "But this horse has been castrated and cannot reproduce, and in ten years, when it dies, a similar horse will be hard to find." ”

The Xiongnu and Yueshi are also ghosts, although they continue to import livestock to the Central Plains, but the excellent horse breeds are never allowed to flow out......

This is also the reason why Heifu is greedy for Hexi, Hetao and even the distant Western Regions, Wu Shi Lu is right, the horses of the Xiongnu and Yueshi are indeed better than those of the Central Plains. And the Dawan Heavenly Horse to the west of the Green Ridge is like a dragon! If it can be introduced, the war horse breeds in the Central Plains can be improved.

Just as Heifu sighed for a long time in the priest's garden, Chen Ping, who had been "invited" to Helan Mountain by the Huns, was stunned to see that the Huns' prince Maudun, riding a tall dragon horse eight feet high at the shoulders and covered in red, galloped past them and was about to greet his bride......