"Also, what kind of alfalfa forage did Liu Jing mention, have you ever heard of it?

Xiahou Ying, you are a servant, in charge of horses, chariots, and stables, and you are the most proficient at ordinary military war horses, what do you think? ”

Liu Ji looked at Xiahou Ying inquiringly, Xiahou Ying had been prepared for this question,

"When the minister was in Pei County, he was appointed as the commander of Pei Stable, in charge of a place of carriages and horses, and it has been nearly 20 years now.

I have to say that the minister followed His Majesty from Peixian to Guanzhong and then to Luoyang, and before that, he had never heard the name of alfalfa. ”

Since receiving the note from the palace yesterday, Xiahou Ying didn't dare to slack off for a moment, for fear that she would be short-sighted, and she also found several senior temple officials overnight to inquire.

As a result, everyone shook their heads, saying that since the primitive breeding of horses in China, for hundreds of generations, whether official horses or civilian horses, all have been based on millet, soybeans, wheat and other legume grains as the main food.

Xiao He said,

Liu Jing said in the song that according to our traditional way of raising horses, horses only eat corn and other essences, and the amount of food for a horse is equivalent to the consumption of an ordinary family of six, resulting in military horses directly competing with the people for food.

Raising horses in this way will inevitably be restricted everywhere, and the consumption of the treasury will be quite huge. ”

"Huma, on the prairie, does not need to be fed a grain for the rest of his life, only alfalfa grass.

In addition, this grass grows forever, and there is no need for field cooking, and the planter is once and for all.

If it weren't for Liu Jing's own eyes, I would have sat in Luoyang, racking my brains, and I couldn't imagine that the Huns raised horses effortlessly, were born and raised, and were inexhaustible. ”

The courtiers couldn't help but sigh, and even the hard-mouthed Fan Hao gritted his teeth and admitted,

"In this way, in the matter of raising horses, we really have to learn from the Huns."

"I decided to add another Zuo Cao under the servant, with a rank of more than a thousand stones, who is specifically responsible for growing alfalfa.

Liu Jing said that he had brought back some alfalfa seeds, and that he would wait for Zhang Zifang to go to Beijing to discuss whether to simply put the main planting area in Longxi so that the horses could be saved. ”

Liu Ji knocked on the edge of the couch with the knuckle of his right index finger and said worriedly,

"With the forage that Huma likes to eat, Huma still needs to be found.

After finding Huma, it is still necessary to train a good rider in the future. ”

***

Liu Jingfeng hurried back to Luoyang, and in the early morning of the next day when he entered the palace to meet the emperor, he took out dozens of horses that were temporarily kept in the imperial stable with the Luoyang stable supervisor, and entered the palace with a roar.

Lu Pheasant was full of curiosity, and led the prince to wait in the South Palace early, and the ministers couldn't wait, even if the court meeting was dispersed, they refused to leave, and gathered outside the palace in twos and threes, looking forward to seeing Huma's demeanor.

Contrary to what everyone thinks, these horses from distant lands are not tall, but they have solid bones, thick limbs, long hairs on their horsehair and tail, and they are all tied with bronze danglu and gilded horse faces, which look sassy and capable.

Liu Jing read out the doubts in the eyes of the onlookers, ordered people to lead the horses out of the column one by one, and introduced them one by one,

"These horses belong to Uzhumuqin horses, white and yellow, good health, suitable for long and short distances, and cold-resistant and resistant to all kinds of diseases, no matter how deep the snow can gallop."

"These horses are vast horses, fast, strong spleen and stomach, can be rough feeding, even if the snow covers the mountain, only eat grass roots, they can still run."

"That's a hundred fork horses, herdsmen commonly known as 'hundred fork iron hoof horses', as the name suggests, this horse is good at walking mountain roads, climbing hillsides, not jumping or jumping, such as walking on the ground, the hoof is hard, no matter how rugged the stone is not cracked, as if the iron is beaten."

"It is a Wushen horse, a kind of horse, with a docile temperament, not good at charging at the front line, but suitable for carrying heavy loads in desert and arid areas, and has excellent endurance."

In a amazed exclamation, I only heard Liu Jiyu with praise,

"I remember when you first came to Luoyang, you couldn't even ride a horse, but now you have a few treasures."

Liu Jing turned around, looked at the emperor deeply, his face was triumphant, and explained with a smile,

"Your Majesty Mingjian, the minister was in the herdsmen's house of the Huns, every day from morning to night, milking goat's milk for three months.

Don't say that you know horses, even the breeds of sheep and yaks, the minister can tell your majesty something. ”

"It seems that it is not enough to just sit and talk about the Tao,"

Liu Jigang wanted to take advantage of the situation to say a few words about the way of being an official, but his eyes flashed, and he fell on a few horses with thin limbs and fat torsos in the horse team, and asked with a wrinkled nose,

"—Eh, the horses at the end of the line, whose horses pulled the cart got in?"

***

"It was brought by the minister from the imperial stable, and I wanted to make a comparison."

Xiahou Ying said angrily, and his black and red face was disappointed,

"Now it seems that there is no comparison, it is simply a high judgment."

"Look at their big bellies, they're all bean-eating—"

Liu Jing muttered in a low voice, wanting to criticize a few more words, but was swept by Xiahou Ying's sharp eyes, so he swallowed the following words in a sloppy manner.

Liu Ying and a group of young officials saw so many fierce and novel horses, and they all rubbed their hands, but the emperor, empress and court ministers were here, and they didn't dare to make a mistake, so they had to look at Lu Ze, the guard general of the palace.

Lu Pheasant's eyes were sharp, and he had already seen the thoughts of this group of young people, smiled and said to his brother,

"Seeing that they are eager to try, they might as well get on their horses and ride a few laps to show Your Majesty."

Lu Ze gave an order, and the teenagers rushed over happily, and they all jumped into the saddle and got on the horse, all of them looked proud, and felt that they were extremely majestic.

And Lu Pheasant, who had a full view of their actions, frowned tightly, as if he had been touched by some important joint, and thought nervously-

In front of me, it seems that something is always missing, what is wrong?

Suddenly, her eyes widened suddenly, and she said in amazement,

"Why, don't you deserve stirrups when you ride horses?"

In extreme astonishment, her voice unconsciously increased, and everyone present could clearly hear it. The ministers looked at each other, not knowing why, and were silent, while several generals turned their heads in unison and looked at the queen suspiciously,

"What is a stirrup?"

***

"In your life, you have never seen a stirrup, never used a stirrup?"

Lu Pheasant was shocked and asked again and again, and everyone's puzzled expressions clearly told her the answer.

Yes, she secretly blamed herself for her negligence in the year after her rebirth, obviously going in and out of the barracks several times, but she never really paid attention to the equipment around the war horse:

At this time, the war horses were equipped with pèi, saddle sheaths, leather belts, and even the decorative ornaments were not bad at all, at first glance, they were no different from the cavalry of the Tang Dynasty nine hundred years later, but only the stirrups hanging on both sides of the horse's belly were missing.

"No wonder! No wonder!

In this way, the Hun cavalry can be broken! ”

Lu Pheasant said as if no one was around, raised one eyebrow, and his tone was overjoyed.

She is wearing a jade phoenix golden hairpin today, and she holds three strings of small white beads hanging down from the finely carved phoenix mouth, accompanied by her muttering, the white beads sway slightly in the sun, shining brightly.

Seeing that Liu Ji was looking at herself, she confidently walked to a vast horse and said to Zhou Yafu on horseback,

"You ride it, run a lap, run faster."

Zhou Yafu's face was full of panic, but he still obediently followed the queen's words, his right hand was a little harder, and he hit the horse's buttocks hard, and the horse went straight out.