Wei Yan did not just take Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty as a benchmark, he also had a higher benchmark, Tang Taizong Li Shimin.

In the Tang Dynasty, there were many supervisors and pastors in the border areas, which belonged to the management of the imperial servants, and more than 5,000 supervisors and horses were the upper supervisors, 3,000 were the middle supervisors, and the following were the lower supervisors. During the 40 years from Tang Zhenguan to Lin De, more than 700,000 official horses were raised, 8 squares and 48 prisons were placed, and more than 1,000 hectares of land were occupied.

Wei Yan's motive for developing cavalry was to speed up the process of the war, unify the Han Dynasty as soon as possible, and then unify the Eurasian continent, at least the land part of Asia, and second, to confront and defeat those nomads who had been riding on the neck of the Han nation in recent years.

Wei Yan discussed with Shi Tao, Han Hao, Tian Chou and others, and decided to plant pasture grass in all the places in the territory that are not convenient for reclamation or that are prone to soil erosion after reclamation, and enclose them for pasture.

Obviously, the pastures enclosed in this way are all small pastures, each pasture covers an area of no more than 1,000 acres, and the free-range horses are between 500 and 2,000 heads, but this is also a helpless thing, unless Wei Yan unifies the north and has a strong enough force, in order to gradually establish a large ranch that can graze more than 10,000 war horses inside and outside Yanmen Pass.

Now he only controls part of the plains, and can only start small pastures.

In this way, there are about 100 pastures in various places, all at the foot of the mountain, by the river and other places, about 100,000 war horses can be raised, in fact, by the end of the year, the war horses purchased and captured from various channels, only 30,000 war horses can be cultivated, including 20,000 war horses in active service.

On the basis of these 30,000 war horses, the annual natural breeding of these horses is 50 percent, the survival rate is about 60 percent, and the annual natural increase in the horse population is about 30 percent, so that in one year there will be 40,000 horses, and in five years there will be 100,000 horses.

During this period, Wei Yan bought more than 100,000 captured war horses, and it is estimated that there will be 200,000 if you count breeding.

If you count the war consumption and natural death consumed one-third of the war horses, five years later, Wei Yan's central army will have at least 200,000 war horses, because cavalry is more difficult to train, if Wei Yan trains 100,000 cavalry, then basically each cavalry can have two war horses, change one after another, and run at least four or five hundred miles in one night, such a mobile force can sweep most forces.

In order to prevent hostile forces from snatching horses, these pastures were close to the barracks, and there was a nearby Tuntian Wu Fort to take care of each other.

As for those cattle, sheep, and dogs, they were also kept in pastures at the beginning, and the selection method of eugenics and breeding was also adopted, so as to strive for better and better breeds of cultivated cattle, dairy cows, goats, and hunting dogs.

Wei Yan transferred 10,000 people from the Tuntian Corps, all of which were allocated to Tian Chou to raise horses and cattle, sheep and dogs in the pasture.

Tian Chou recruited more than 100 horse breeders from Youzhou to serve as the chief priests of various ranches to train the 10,000 people on how to raise horses.

Even so, Wei Yan still felt that the horses were not enough to use, so he issued a document to promote horse politics, encouraging all families or Han Shu landlords to plant pasture grass on the edge of their fields, which could not only consolidate the water and soil, but also graze cattle and horses.

Wei Yan also bought horses from all over the world, and the prices were above the market price.

Many poor landlords choose wasteland such as alfalfa at the foot of the mountain and by the river to plant alfalfa and other pastures, raise dozens or hundreds of horses, and if they can breed war horses and sell them to the army, the profit will be higher than the field rent, if they can breed good horses, the profit will be much higher than the field rent, but if the cultivation is not good, they have to sell it to homesteaders and the government at a low price for horse pulling, but the profit obtained is also the same as the field rent.

For these poor landlords, raising horses does not consume the field, the pastures used are barren land, and the upfront investment is the breeding fee, because the stallion is too expensive, many ranchers go to the official ranch to breed, although the breeding fee is high, it is much lower than the price of the stallion. Once the cultivation is successful, as long as they carefully follow the brochure issued by the Taifu Cheng, the reproduction rate is very high, and the survival rate is also very high, and they can hire middle and senior priests and veterinarians to guide them at a high price.

Five years later, in addition to having more than 200,000 war horses in the government-run pastures, Wei Yan bought more than 100,000 war horses from the folk families and Hanshu landlords, especially more than 70,000 horses raised by the Hanshu landlords.

With so many horses, countless fine fodder are consumed every year, and it is a bottomless pit, which is too difficult to rely on taxes and tuntian income to support.

Wei Yan remembered the popular horse gambling horses in a free trade port in later generations, although there are often legends about who bet on how much money the horse won, but it is the government that makes more money.

Wei Yan absorbed this successful experience and created a horse racing betting system, preparing to raise horses with horses.

First of all, a racecourse was established in Wancheng, which was completely arranged in accordance with the racecourse of a port, and the stepped grandstand surrounded the race field covering an area of 100 acres, and the stands could accommodate more than 10,000 people to stop and watch, and at the same time, the personnel of the horse racing division were responsible for opening the gambling game.

Twice a day, two quarters of an hour before the race, the horses race around the field, allowing bettors to objectively see the competitive state of the participating horses, and then bettors flock to the betting window to place bets according to their own judgment, which lasts until a quarter of an hour before the start of the race. Double the bet is ten coins, but it is also possible to multiple. Ten horses compete in the same field and the first or second horse to reach the finish line can win a prize. The amount of the prize is determined by the total amount of betting, once the underdog wins the championship, the prize is high, and it is even possible to win nearly a million dollars for ten dollars, it is this temptation to get rich overnight, so that many people are obsessed with gambling horses to the point of obsession.

In fact, most gamblers are to make selfless contributions to the horse politics of the official army in the end, which costs money and time and energy, and only a few people can realize their dream of making a fortune, but the legend of that very few people is enough to stimulate other people to participate in horse gambling frantically.

On the first day of the opening of the racecourse, Wei Yan rode a black horse, a blue-maned horse with Dian Wei, a horse with Xu Huang, and seven other generals rode famous horses and raced together. The Son of Heaven, the Queen Mother, Lu Zhi and other princes and ministers all attended the event, and the scene was extremely hot.

Wei Yan didn't deliberately create suspense, let the black horse play, and easily ran to the finish line first.

On the first day of opening, most of the residents won money, and Taifu Temple lost money, because most of the residents pressed Wei Yan's black horse, and the black horse lived up to expectations, but in the days that followed, those residents found that they lost more and won less, but they were already immersed in the crazy gambling atmosphere in the racecourse.

Since then, every horse racing day, the rich and magnates, the eunuchs, the citizens of Shengdou, and even passers-by from all over the world have come to feel the crazy atmosphere on the racecourse, and to try their luck.

Tian Chou has built hundreds of racecourses all over the country.

As horse racing betting became more and more popular across the country, the income from horse racing betting became higher and higher, and when it stabilized, billions of dollars were paid to the national treasury every year, in addition to paying for pastures and horses.

Wei Yan also created a new type of exciting game, polo, which has both rapid collision, dodge, and fast horse sprinting, and the body also needs to cooperate to make various movements, which can be said to be the culmination of equestrianism, not only selling tickets, but also setting up gambling games.

Polo quickly became popular all over the world, and became the two favorite sports of the Han people, just like the Keju game advocated by Wei Yan.

The prosperity of betting on horses and polo also stimulated the folk horse breeding industry, and later, as long as they could afford to raise horses, they either wanted to breed good racing horses and sell them for money, because a good racing horse was worth millions of dollars, or wanted to practice equestrianism to participate in polo competitions.

Of course, Wei Yan used most to buy war horses from nomads such as Xianbei, Xiongnu, Wuhuan, and Qianghu not currency, nor silk, nor grain, but the elixir, which originated from Zhang Zhongjing's Wushisan.

Wei Yan used Wushisan not only to exchange their most important strategic materials from the nomads - war horses, but also to continue to destroy their people, he did not feel the slightest guilt in his heart for making the elixir to destroy the nomadic tribes, but was extremely proud.

Because he deeply knows that the current Southern Xiongnu, Wuhuan, Xianbei, Buyu, and Ding Lingren have not yet been integrated into the great circle of the Chinese nation, and their exchange and integration with the Han people is a large-scale massacre.

It is a pity that some historians in later generations who saw the wind and had no shame in the wind worked hard to whitewash those beasts.

Standing at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the northern barbarians faced by the Han people were of the same nature as the little Japan faced by the entire Chinese nation in later generations. If it is not my race, its heart will be different, and it is already a great gift to send some elixir to them to enjoy!

From this point of view, Wei Yan deserves to be the great hero of the Han people!

When the elixir was popular among the children of the family and the nobles of the grassland tribes, it was inevitably popular among the people, because the price of the elixir in the territory of the Han Dynasty was strictly controlled at more than 1,000 yuan, many commoners could not afford it, so they dug out their hearts and minds to crack the formula of the elixir.

From beginning to end, Zhang Zhongjing strictly controlled the prescription and did not let the prescription flow out, but some doctors and Taoist priests who got the elixir were also very familiar with pharmacology and efficacy.

Half a year after the elixir began to circulate, there were knockoffs of the elixir in the world, and the price was as low as 20 yuan a piece.

The Pandora's box that Wei Yan opened with one hand seemed to be unable to close anymore.

Zhang Zhongjing learned that there was a knockoff of the elixir in the world and was taken by civilians, so he hurriedly ran to the general's mansion and knelt down in front of Wei Yan with a plop: "Zhang Ji is incompetent, causing the prescription to be cracked, harming the common people, and the crime is unforgivable, please send it down!" ”

Wei Yan hurriedly helped Zhang Zhongjing up: "Zhongjing, the fault is not you, but me." In fact, I know that the elixir can be cracked by others, and I know that the elixir may be taken by civilians, but in order to eliminate the threat of the alien race on the grassland, I insist on going my own way, I have a big sin! ”

Zhang Ji said bitterly: "No, your lord, you are not guilty, if I make the prescription more complicated and don't let those quack doctors and Taoists crack it, the elixir will continue to be exchanged for good horses from the grassland, which is beneficial and harmless to my Han, but because I Zhang Ji is incompetent, I let them crack it, causing today's disaster." ”

"Zhongjing, now is not the time to discuss right and wrong," Wei Yan said sharply, "We have to discuss now how to redeem it!" ”

"How can I get it back?" Zhang Zhongjing said helplessly: "As long as you eat this kind of thing three times, you can be addicted, unless you kill it, it will be difficult to quit!" ”

"This kind of thing, even if we don't do it now, someone will still do it in the future. What I'm thinking about now is what to do to make it have the least impact on the people of the Han Dynasty," Wei Yan thought about the situation in the later generations for a while, and then compared it with the end of the Han Dynasty, and said: "We only have two prongs!" ”

"What a two-pronged approach!"

"On the one hand, we will crack down on those who make the elixir without permission, and on the other hand, we will arrest the ordinary people who take the elixir and force them to work. Wei Yan really can't think of a good way for the time being.

Zhang Zhongjing said cautiously: "But in this way, the nobles of those grassland tribes will know that we have created the elixir?" ”

"Yes, we can't let them know that we created the elixir, so we can't directly attack the people who make the elixir privately, nor can we directly arrest the ordinary people who take the elixir," Wei Yan suddenly remembered that the elixir had always been made in the immortal courtyard of a wealthy merchant in Jiangdong in the impression of outsiders.

So, on the one hand, Wei Yan ordered Dark Xiangwei to increase the monitoring and crackdown on those forces that privately made the elixir, and on the other hand, in the name of the government, he issued a decree strictly prohibiting civilians from taking the elixir.

The female spies of Dark Xiangwei have obtained a great commission income from the sale of the elixir, and they naturally can't see anyone robbing their business, because their power has developed extremely fast, and they have spread all over the brothels and mansions of various dignitaries and nobles in various counties in the Han Dynasty, and they will soon find out the dens of those guys who privately make the elixir.

In order to please the beautiful sisters of Dark Xiangwei, the fierce men of Jinyi Wei and Fengyingwei almost went out of their nests and brought those guys who privately made the elixir to the nest.

Almost overnight, all the doctors and Taoist priests suspected of making the elixir of the gods and goddesses evaporated from the world, making those forces who were preparing to make the elixir secretly sweat, and they estimated the strength of the Immortal Academy a little higher.

In fact, those guys who privately made the Divine Elixir and their families were all arrested and locked up in secret dock forts near Yiyang New Town, and followed Zhang Zhongjing to continue to develop the Divine Pill No. 2, and at the same time continue to build the Divine Elixir No. 1.