The term "Ma Zheng" was first seen in the "Book of Rites and Moon Order": "In the month of midsummer, you will wander into other groups, then you will linger in Tengju, Ban Ma Zheng is the month (referring to the month of the autumn season), and the Son of Heaven is taught to hunt in the field, to learn the five precepts, and Ban Ma Zheng."

The book notes: Ma Zheng is called the politics and religion of raising horses. The elevation of the general horse breeding industry to horse politics sprouted in the Shang Dynasty.

Since then, successive Central Plains dynasties have been unable to completely eliminate the Hu forces in the north due to the lack of a large number of excellent war horses.

You must know that in the era of cold weapons, war horses are not only extremely important military equipment for charging into battle and defeating the enemy, but also the main means of transportation for post stations and logistics support, which is directly related to the victory or defeat of the war, as well as the rise and fall of China!

Therefore, Ma Zheng has attracted the attention of Chinese dynasties!

In the Ming Dynasty, Emperor Taizu Hongwu was also very aware of the importance of war horses, and actively promoted horse politics.

"Since ancient times, there have been countries in the world, and horse politics has been the priority. Therefore, if you ask the king, you must count the horses...... His servants and the shepherds and supervisors ordered them to do their duties, and they did not neglect their work. ”

Therefore, when the Ming Dynasty had just set the capital of Jinling and the northern provinces had not been completely pacified, Emperor Hongwu of the Ming Dynasty ordered Yingtian, Taiping, Zhenjiang, Luzhou, Fengyang, Yangzhou six prefectures, Chu, and the people of Erzhou to herd horses.

After the Ming army swept the world and the Ming Dynasty set up a Chinese dynasty, Ming Taizu set up a full-time institution in the fourth year of Hongwu to strengthen the storage of horses.

In February of the sixth year of Hongwu, the Ming Dynasty clearly stipulated the law for the common people in various places to raise horses on behalf of officials, and strictly formulated the specific number of horses raised by horse households in various places and the number of fruits.

For example, in the twenty-eighth year of Hongwu, the Guo Dynasty once set an example: "Eleven households in the south of the Yangtze River and five households in the north of the Yangtze River raise a horse."

It took Tang Yu half an hour to briefly explain the beginning and end of the Ming Dynasty Ma Zheng, Liu Juntao was very interested in this and listened very carefully.

Then, Tang Yu continued: "Mr. Lian, the earliest dynasty only implemented horse politics in Liaodong and northwest provinces, while our horse administration in Shandong started from the Yongle Dynasty. According to the regulations promulgated by the imperial court, there are three forms of private horse breeding in various prefectures and counties in Shandong: breeding ~ horses, table horses, and foster horses. When the people raise official horses, the horse households must not only ensure the health of the horses, but also complete the amount of the fruits of the war horses, otherwise the horse households will have to compensate in full. Where do ordinary small households have so much money? Therefore, if these horse households don't get it right, they will break their homes! ”

"In other words, Ma Zheng was originally a policy issued by the imperial court to strengthen the army, but now it has become a complete policy that harms the people!"

Tang Yu nodded and said, "Mr. Lian is right!" Our horse administration in Shandong not only caused a great burden to the horse households in various places, but also occupied a large amount of fertile land, which caused a famine in the prefecture and county with more horse households! ”

"Oh? Let's talk about it! ”

"Mr. Lian, there are two main places where we produce good horses in the Ming Dynasty: one in Liaodong and the other in the northwest provinces. Both of these places are alpine places, and only such places can raise good horses. And raising horses can not be scattered one by one, it must be in the long mountains and valleys, there are beautiful grass, sweet springs, and open land, so that they can be raised in groups, and can be used for cavalry to go out of the fortress for long-distance pursuit! ”

"However, we in Shandong do not have such conditions, so in order to raise war horses, horse households can only graze on fertile fields in various places! An official once calculated that if all the arable land needed to raise a war horse was used for farming, it would be enough to feed twenty or thirty people and five or six villagers! If horses are raised on a large scale, how can the crops not be wasted everywhere! ”

Speaking of this, Tang Yu couldn't help but be a little excited, obviously he had also seen those Ma households who were dragged down by Ma Zheng and eventually led to the destruction of their families, the miserable scene in the past made Tang Yu very uncomfortable, and he was very dissatisfied with Ma Zheng's policy at this time.

"And our folk horse breeding in Shandong has not only dragged down horse households everywhere, but also troubled local governments!"

Liu Juntao couldn't help but be stunned, and didn't understand for a while, so he asked, "Why is this?" ”

Tang Yu paused slightly, sorted out his thoughts, and continued: "Mr. Lian, listen to me slowly. ”

"One of them is that Shandong Ma Zheng has made the affairs of the local government heavy and overwhelmed! Mr. Lian, the affairs of this horse administration include supervision, point viewing, printing, weaving horse households, exchange, publication and so on. Moreover, for each matter, local governments must pay huge manpower and material resources to achieve success. For example, supervision should be diligent, editing and review should be fair, and so on. These affairs have undoubtedly greatly increased the burden on local officials, making local officials tired and perfunctory of dealing with Ma Zheng! ”

"Second, Ma Zheng's policy is in serious conflict with local civil affairs! At the beginning of the implementation of horse administration, the officials of the Taifu Temple were in charge of the horses, and the officials of the prefectures and counties in various places were in charge of the people, and they seemed to have their own duties. In fact, horses are the people and herdsmen, and the two duties are inseparable. The official responsibility of the Taifu Temple is in the horse, and the responsibility of the local officials is in the people. Because of the people, Ma Zheng is trapped, and the officials of the Taifu Temple are not allowed; The local officials could not bear to be tired of the horses, so it was difficult for the two sides to reconcile, and the contradictions between the two sides continued to surge, making the horse households everywhere at a loss and hesitant. ”

"Third, the people everywhere are trapped by horses, and there will inevitably be a situation where the people refuse to raise horses, and even the original horse households will be scattered, so the horse administration sent by the imperial court to raise horses will encounter difficulties and cannot continue to be implemented."

After listening to Tang Yu's introduction to Ma Zheng, Liu Juntao had a comprehensive understanding of Ma Zheng in the Ming Dynasty.

"Tang Yu, you mentioned Shandong Ma Zheng to me, do you want to buy horses from those horse households? The war horses raised by those horse households were all raised for the imperial court, how could they sell them to us? ”

Tang Yu said with a smile: "I don't know what Mr. Lian knows, and now our Ma Zheng in Shandong can be said to be like nothing!" Horse households in various places raised a large number of war horses, but the people of the various yamen of the imperial court were floating and passing the buck to each other, which made the matter of recovering war horses intermittent and unable to last for a long time! So in order to make a living, horse households everywhere have chosen three ways out! ”

"What are the three ways out?"

"The first way out, that is to gather in the mountains and forests! Because the horse households are accompanied by war horses all the year round, most of them are superb riding skills, and they are very fierce, so some strong horse households simply started to rob the house, and the people everywhere call these horses who fall into the grass as the horses! ”

"The second way out is that some more honest horse households choose more, that is, rent out the war horses raised at home, or consign some goods, or simply use these war horses to join the gang, directly rent them to those ringing horses and bandits, and collect some scattered silver at home in order to barely survive!"

"The third way out is that those horse households who really can't open the pot at home directly sell the war horses raised at home, and finally have neither farmland nor livestock at home, and completely become destitute beggars."

"It seems that this horse policy is really harmful!"

As soon as he said this, Liu Juntao suddenly reacted and said, "That's not right! In fact, the imperial court's horse policy is not useless, but it is used in the wrong place! If it is in the eastern and northwest parts of Liaodong, the horse households over there may not necessarily have a bad life! ”

Tang Yu said admiringly; "It's really wise to practice all the time!"

"Haha!"

Liu Juntao smiled and said, "You said so much, I guess your idea must be to recruit those desperate horse households, and let them bring their own war horses to our Yushan to join us!" Is that right? ”

"Exactly!"

However, Tang Yu was a little worried and said, "Mr. Lian, there is something I have to tell you in advance. ”

"Say! But it doesn't hurt to say it! ”

"Mr. Lian, if our Yushan Group spreads the news of recruiting horse households, I dare to guarantee that with the reputation of our Yushan Group and the treatment of the escort team, those broken horse households will definitely flock to it!"

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"Not necessarily a good thing! Don't forget, there are many people among those horse households who have been ringing horses! These people are not only fierce and disobedient to discipline, but also many of them have human lives on their hands! Such a person, can we have the Yushan Guard? ”

"Absolutely not!"

After listening to this, Liu Juntao said categorically: "This matter must be cautious!" Although my Yushan Guardian is eager to expand its power, it is also better to have a shortage than an abundance! ”

Then, Liu Juntao continued: "This matter is done like this, Tang Yu, you immediately send out the news of recruiting Ma Hu, and if it really doesn't work, send out the news with Liu Zi'an." However, when you recruit horse households, you must add three conditions! ”

"What are the three conditions?"

"First, the horse household who is enlisted cannot be hung with human life! Second, the horse households who apply for the recruitment must agree to move their families to settle in Yushanji! Thirdly, the conscripts must pass the training of the convoy! ”

Liu Juntao finally said: "No matter how good the horse riding skills are, only if these three points are met, I will want Yushanji!" Otherwise, don't talk about it! ”