"Isn't it good for me to buy horses from Taifu Temple and Yuanma Temple?" Wang Zezhi asked puzzled.

"Don't you know?" The Cowherd scoffed and explained.

The people's herdsmen, tea horses, and market horses not only dragged down the people, but also troubled the imperial court.

The imperial court is lifting a stone to shoot itself in the foot.

First, the political affairs of the horse are heavy. Horse administration matters include supervision, viewing, branding, weaving, exchange, publication, etc.

And every matter must be done with great effort to be successful, such as supervision and maintenance must be diligent, and editing and review must be fair.

Second, increase the cost of the system. Horse politics is complicated and difficult to deal with, so officials often take it lightly and avoid the serious, such as ordering the subordinate households to raise horses, but they do not check the seals and do not compile and review the horse households.

Third, it is difficult to reconcile the contradiction between Ma Zheng and civil affairs. At the beginning of the horse administration, the officials of the Taifu Temple were in charge of the horses, and the officials of Fuzhou and County 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 people were tired because of the horses, which the magistrate could not bear, and it was difficult for the two sides to reconcile.

Fourth, increase administrative difficulty. The people are poor for horses, and they will inevitably refuse to raise horses, and they will encounter difficulties in sending horses. In the fifth year of Jiajing, there was an incident of refusing to raise horses.

In addition to these explicit reasons.

By virtue of the power in their hands, the local tycoons do whatever they want, and they not only oppress the good people, but also take advantage of the country's finances without any worries.

At the same time, the Taifu Temple, the Yuanma Temple, the princes and nobles, and the local heroes and the powerful were all in one place, and the tea horses and city horses were gradually corrupted.

From the Wanli year to the present, the grasslands in Shaanxi and Shanxi have been occupied by these people for more than 10,000 hectares.

By the first year of Chongzhen, the people and herdsmen, tea horses, and city horses had been abolished, and they had basically become cash cows for these interest groups that lived by exploiting horse households and horse heads.

Although the imperial court exempted the people who raised horses from labor and taxes, if the people wanted to obtain these benefits, they had to raise the horses to be fat and strong, and they had to give birth to a pony a year.

Otherwise, not only will labor and taxes not be exempted, but you will have to lose money.

As things stand, the people don't even have enough to eat, let alone meet these conditions.

As a result, more people have had to flee with their families.

The most important thing is that the imperial court also implements a rotation system.

In other words, many households take turns feeding a horse.

Some people rely on the rich and powerful, and the horses that should have been raised by multiple families in rotation have become old and weak and widows to raise.

In this way, the flight of the people was intensified.

Originally, in order to control the foreign ministries, the imperial court implemented the gold medal charm system to manage tea horses and market horses.

However, as Lin Dan Khan moved westward, the Mongol tribes began to implement a policy of grabbing.

In addition, the rise of private tea and private market trade has exacerbated the corruption of Ma Zheng.

In the first year of Chongzhen, the tea and horse market was already struggling.

Although Chongzhen succeeded to the throne and tried to rectify it, he even ordered the completion of the price of the horse in early June.

However, in the hands of corrupt officials, no amount of measures can save Ma Zheng.

"Then where did your horses come from? Is the quality guaranteed? ”

When Wang Zezhi heard this, he interrupted Cowherd's statement and asked.

"Taifu Temple, Yuanma Temple, two prisons and six gardens, the sturdy official horses were sold privately, and our Niu family also took a part.

Private tea, private market, our Niu family also has a copy.

As for the quality you are worried about, you can rest assured that the war horses of the border army are not as strong as those in our hands. ”

The Cowherd patted his chest and reassured.

"It's not okay to talk in the vernacular, we have to set up a note, black and white, and I'm not afraid of you cheating."

Wang Zezhi was still a little afraid, if the horses he bought back were all old, weak, sick and disabled, he would suffer a big loss.

"You can rest assured that we are doing long-term trading, not just running away with a vote." The Cowherd is a little reluctant to write evidence, which gives him the feeling that he is a liar.

"I will inspect every horse you brought, and I can only pay for it after passing the inspection." come

"Oops, this... This is not appropriate, let's get the horses here, and we have to prepare some high-quality horse materials along the way, and we have to spend money to buy road guides, which all cost money. ”

"Then let's make a note, how much is a horse, how much is the horse material for a horse, how much does it cost to guide the road, you have written it all clearly, and the money that should be given to you will not be missing a cent."

The war horse is a big matter, Wang Zezhi has to be careful, it is impossible to get money from him just by a few words from the cowherd.

"This..."The Cowherd is a livestock dealer, and what they earn is the difference in price, Wang Zezhi asked him to write these things clearly, what money does he make.

"If you feel embarrassed, you don't have to write about it, you bring the horse here, I will test it one by one, and pay for one horse if it is qualified."

Wang Zezhi knew that the Cowherd would not write these out.

"This dare is good, I didn't come empty-handed, I brought a hundred fat and strong war horses, do you want to test it."

Wang Zezhi said that he went around in a circle again, and the Cowherd was wound in, so he agreed without thinking about it.

The most important thing is the word interest, which method does not touch his interests, he will agree to which.

"Okay."

Wang Zezhi didn't eat anymore, put down his chopsticks and went to see the horse.

The cowherd copied the wine jug on the dinner table in his hand and followed Wang Zezhi out.

Wang Zezhi called to drag the wood, he was a Tatar, and the person who knew the most about horses in his hands belonged to him.

The hundred horses brought by the Cowherd only wore reins, and the saddles and horses did not have horses.

Wang Zezhi specially asked the Cowherd, and the Cowherd explained.

Horses are saddled and shoeed, and after being ridden, these horses will recognize their owners, and then they will be more difficult to tame if they are ridden.

Wang Zezhi was a little unconvinced, so he specifically asked Momu, and only after getting a positive answer from Momu did Wang Zezhi believe it.

He also thought that the cowherd was reluctant to pay for the saddle horse.

Dragwood took the reins of the horses and looked at them one by one.

Drag the wood to check the horse's bun armor, back, waist, hips, chest, ribs, membranes, and cheeks, raise the tail to check the tail force, anus, and back line, whether the left and right waist solutions are symmetrical, and whether there is edema in the horse's chest and abdomen.

Then, drag the wood with his hand from the horse's left forearm below the front of its front, and then check the knee, ball joints and tendons backwards to see if the limbs are damaged, lift the forelimbs, check the under-hooves and the state of the hooves, check the forelimb knees, ball joints and hind limb flying joints, ball joints, etc., and compare the inner and outer contours, front and back.

Finally, lead the horse to walk slowly, look at its gait from the front, side, and back, and observe the state of each part when walking, and observe the softness and hardness of the head, neck, and waist, whether there is lameness, protrusion, chasing abruptness, etc.

After the inspection, the tow wood stepped directly onto the horse's back, and the horse man stood up, full of violence.

"Phew~Phew~" Tuomu stroked the horse's mane, calmed the horse, and got off the horse's back.

"Good horse."

"Yo, this is an encounter with an expert." The Cowherd took a sip of wine and praised it.

Tuomu ignored him and continued to look at the horse.

"Don't talk nonsense, how much silver?" Wang Zezhi didn't want to talk nonsense with him, he always had to get drunk and talk a lot of nonsense about the cowherd.

"Eighty taels." The cowherd stretched out his thumb and index finger and gestured proudly.

"Thirty taels."

"You... Didn't you just cut it in half, why didn't you follow the rules this time? Cowherd was a little confused, he knew that Wang Zezhi liked to cut half of the price, but this time he cut ten taels more.

"Don't take me for a fool, inferior horses, fifteen taels and one, meat horses twenty-two and twenty-one, and superior horses thirty and twenty-one."

Wang Zeyi said as he stroked the horses, and sure enough, they were good horses, and their fur was extremely smooth.

"It's... Hey... It turns out that you know the price of horses, you said it earlier. But... Hey... I've got to make some money, don't I? How about forty-eight taels and one horse? "The Cowherd does not give up, and is still there to bargain.

"I need six thousand fine horses, and if you don't want to do this business, then I'll find someone else." Wang Zezhi had no fear and no longer bargained with the cowherd, so he pulled the horse and rode it for a try.

"Poof... How much? When the cowherd heard the number, he was shocked and squirted out all the wine in his mouth.

"Hey... You wait for me, thirty taels will do... Let's talk about it in more detail..."The cowherd stopped drinking, put down the flask and chased out.

"Hahaha... Drive! Wang Zezhi had a war horse, and he was very happy to ride the horse and run.