Taipu Temple belongs to the Ministry of War and was the highest authority in charge of horse politics in the Ming Dynasty. It was the general leader of all horse politics. It inspected the Jingfang Supervisor, the number of horses stored in the capital, the breeding, treatment of military horses, the real loss of annual breeding, and so on. In short, Taipu Temple is like the Imperial Horse Supervisor in Journey to the West, and all horse-related things belong to it.

Zhou Xian's father Zhou Tianhong was the Shaoqing of Honglu Temple and was the second-ranked figure in Taipu Temple after Taipu Temple. He was under his control of the horse government in the whole country, and it was too easy for him to get some good horses. Currently, he has six horses in the backyard of the Zhou family. Although they are not a first-class good horse, they are also the best choice.

Take Zhou Xian’s elder brother Zhou Zhen’s words, the emperor’s horse is the supreme, and they are next. This is not a good horse like Zhou Tianhong, but a memorial to him who is afraid of the Censor.

The horse government was abandoned in the late Ming Dynasty, but the role of Taipu Temple became increasingly important. However, this effect was not good, but bad. When it was first established in the Ming Dynasty, military and horses were raised by officials. Later, the Ming Dynasty government handed over horse raising to the people. Using tax-free food, subsidies and other methods, it encouraged the people to raise horses. The initial effect was very obvious, and a large number of horses were also supplied. However, officials later pushed the responsibility of raising horses to the people, making it a service that had to be completed.

The government fosters good horses at the homes of the people. If there is a problem, the people will have to compensate the original price. But what should I do if I can’t afford the compensation? I can only sell my children and daughters, and make up for the house and land. Otherwise, the end of the whole family will be the end of the whole family. In addition, some local officials use Bank of Communications and other methods to plunder the people’s wealth, making the people’s lives even more unbearable.

If someone has carefully watched the civil unrest in the late Ming Dynasty, he will find that many refugees were from horse thieves at that time. And the later stages, the more such people were. Many times, refugees were riding horses in front, while officers and soldiers were chasing behind, and the number of officers and soldiers was sometimes even worse than that of refugees. This situation seems incredible, but in fact it is very simple, that is, many people rebel on the military horses that were raised by the government and rebel.

The corruption of Ma Zheng not only improved the combat effectiveness of refugees to a higher level, but also caused the Ming Dynasty to fail to provide sufficient support for the military's combat effectiveness. As a result, the Ming army was in a passive state of being beaten when facing the Manchu Captains for most of the time. Tens of thousands of Manchu Cavalry could burn, kill and loot outside the city of Beijing, but the Ming army would only hide in the city and hold on. This has to be said to be a tragedy.

By the end of the Ming Dynasty, the peasant army had to travel thousands of miles with its increasingly powerful cavalry to carry out large-scale encirclement operations against the Ming army. All the Ming army was exhausted by this tactic of east and west and suffered. This had a direct relationship with Li Zicheng's Dashun army being able to finally capture Beijing.

Therefore, some people say that the defeat of the Ming Dynasty originated from the corruption of Ma Zheng. Although it was a bit biased, it was not unreasonable.

Lin Bao looked at the six tall horses in front of him, and a strange light flashed in his eyes.

Zhou Tai looked at Lin Bao with a proud face and said, "Master, in fact, I have learned equestrian skills from my servants before. Do you want me to demonstrate to you first?"

Lin Bao shook his head and said, "Let's go another day! I have something to explain to you, so we will go back to the school ground first."

When everyone returned to the school ground, Lin Bao paused and said, "From today on, I will be your master. I have always been serious and will teach you with all my efforts. Therefore, don't think that learning martial arts from me is a very easy thing. If anyone of you feels that you can't stand the suffering, I advise you to quit as soon as possible."

"Okay! Since no one speaks, it means you all agree. Then I will talk about my rules next. No matter what status or identity you are now, I will only be my apprentice in front of me. If you have any questions about practice, I will definitely be able to speak out. But what I ask you to do must be meticulously completed. Now, do you have any questions to ask me?"

Zhou Tai looked at both sides and asked carefully: "Master, the weapons used by the four of us are different. Have you used each of them? Which one of you is the strongest?" The question Zhou Tai asked was probably the doubt in everyone's heart. After all, he had never seen any martial artist recruiting four disciples and using four different weapons respectively.

Lin Bao pondered for a moment and said, "Among what I have learned, sword technique is the first, shoot technique is the second, axe is the third, and sword is similar to swords. Although I have never used it, it is almost the same."

Zhou Tai said with a "ah": "What I learned is only third! Master, can I change to learning swords from you now?"

Lin Bao shook his head and explained, "Xiao Tai, you are different from Xiao Qian. He is strong and his movements are much more flexible than you. The sword technique opens and closes, and it is important to get out and forward quickly, which can give full play to his physical advantages. And you are fat and move slowly. If you are on the battlefield, no matter how strong you are, you just need to cut off with one knife. If you react slowly, you will not be too far away from your life while destroying the enemy."

Looking at Zhou Tai's disappointed expression, Lin Bao comforted him and said, "In fact, you don't have to be disappointed. The axe is not suitable for me, so if I practice hard, I won't achieve much, but you are different. You are very strong. If you are on the battlefield, you will be hurt by more than one person. One man can keep a guard, and tens of thousands of men cannot enter. This is the domineering a person with an axe."

Zhou Tai suddenly smiled and said, "Isn't that the enemy of ten thousand people?"

Lin Bao nodded with a smile.

Zhou Xian pondered for a while, turned to Lin Bao and asked, "Master, how do we arrange our daily training?"

Lin Bao looked at the sky and said, "Today is the first day, so I don't make any arrangements. Starting every day, everyone gets up at Mao hour every day. After the two-hour morning exercise, you go to morning class. Practice bows and arrows in two hours in the morning. That is a single-soldier killing weapon on the battlefield, and it is also an extra training program for you. In the afternoon, I will teach you what you want to learn."

Zhou Xian looked at Lin Bao with a little confusion and said, "Master, what is morning exercise? Could it be running?"

Lin Bao glanced at Zhou Tai, who was sweating coldly beside him, and smiled and said, "It's different. Most of you and Xiao Qian are running, and there are some other arrangements. Xiao Kun's morning exercise is morning reading and some basic movements such as horse stance. Xiao Tai's morning exercise is the easiest thing, which is to put twenty stone cubes in front of him every day until the end."
Chapter completed!