Less than fifty miles northeast of Guangning City is Husu County.
Husu County is the largest county among the thirteen counties in Guangning, but its population ranks last among the thirteen counties. The reason is actually very simple. Husu County has a vast grassland, which almost occupies the entire county.
Nearly half the area.
Husu Racecourse was one of the most famous racecourses in the Tang Empire. Although it was not as famous as the Liaodong Racecourse, it was far better than the Songyang Racecourse where Long Ruijun was stationed.
In addition to the safer location and wider area of the racecourse, the most important thing is that the grass quality of this pasture is not bad.
War horses in the Tang Dynasty have always been in short supply, and the sources of war horses have always come from the east and west.
To the west is naturally the Xiling Racecourse. The pastures under the Qilian Mountains are vast. The major racecourses in Xiling need to pay war horses to the court every year. Therefore, most of the empire's cavalry are equipped with Xiling horses, while the Northeast horses in the east are not equipped with many horses.
This is not because the empire does not want equipment, but because almost all war horses in major pastures in the Northeast are not paid to the imperial court.
The Liaodong Army firmly controls the major racecourses in the Northeast. Although the racecourses are nominally managed by the local pastoral supervision under the jurisdiction of Taipu Temple, the actual control rights are in the hands of the Liaodong Army. After all, the Liaodong Army mainly relies on cavalry, and the major racecourses in the Northeast
The war horses have always been supplied directly to the Liaodong Army.
Husu Racecourse maintains four to five thousand war horses all year round, and the fine war horses bred are also sent to Liaodong.
It was already evening when Qin Xiao arrived at Husu Racecourse.
A few days ago, he learned that there was a Husu horse farm in Liaoxi County, and thousands of war horses were raised. He was very excited at that time. After making some arrangements, he took advantage of the leisure time in the past two days and immediately took Jiang Xiaochun with him.
Come.
Yuwen Chengchao stayed in Guangning City, and Jiang Xiaochun was in charge of the Long Rui Army's cavalry training. Since he discovered that there was a horse farm in western Liaoning, Qin Xiao would naturally lead him along.
Jiang Xiaochun knew that although western Liaoning was already under the control of Long Rui's army, after this incident, the conflict between Liaodong's army and Long Rui's army became even more intense, and Qin Xiao's personal safety was much worse than before when he came to Beijing to garrison.
Yangcaochang is much more dangerous.
He originally wanted to bring all 200 cavalry to protect him, but Qin Xiao felt that it was a trivial matter, so in the end he only brought 30 elite cavalry to protect him.
Entering the territory of Husu Racecourse, we gradually saw sentry fortresses along the way, echoing each other and being heavily guarded.
"The Northeast was very unstable in the early years, and there were many bandits. These sentry forts were all designed to prevent bandits from robbing war horses." Jiang Xiaochun was very clear about the role of sentry forts. He explained: "If the current situation is turbulent, these forts have
Soldiers and guards are built at key points on the road, and they can respond to and take care of each other. Bandits and plunders are just falling into the trap. But it is still peaceful now, so there will be no extra troops here. Not all fortresses and sentries are arranged.
It's guarded."
"We've been walking for a long time and haven't arrived at the ranch yet." Qin Xiao said with a smile: "General Jiang Lang, in your opinion, how many war horses can be accommodated in this racecourse?"
Jiang Xiaochun said: "It cannot exceed 20,000 horses at most. I have also done some research on this horse farm. The landform is very good and it is very vast. There are several lakes within the grassland. As long as there is sufficient rainfall, there will be abundant water plants growing every year, which can supply
Forage for 20,000 war horses. If this amount is exceeded, the water and grass in the pasture will be tight, and additional supplies of fodder must be transported."
"It's about the same as I expected." Qin Xiao nodded and said: "I have already negotiated the silk horse trade with the True Feather Department in the north. The True Feather Department has also promised to provide us with 20,000 war horses this year. After the horses are delivered, we will also
We need to consider how to relocate them. Songyang Pasture cannot raise so many horses, and the geographical conditions there are worse than here, but it is more suitable for training cavalry. So I made some calculations, and in the future, Songyang Pasture will be used directly for training cavalry.
This site is where Long Ruijun keeps his war horses."
Jiang Xiaochun raised his eyebrows and said with a smile: "This is a good idea. Turning Husu Racecourse into Long Ruijun's stable will ensure that we have a constant supply of war horses." After thinking for a while, he asked: "General, Husu Racecourse was originally
There are thousands of war horses, and they are all Northeastern horses, what are you going to do with them?"
"What do you think?"
"The war horses from major racecourses in the Northeast have always been supplied to the Liaodong Army." Jiang Xiaochun said: "As far as I know, these thousands of war horses are kept here by the Liaodong Army. Now that western Liaoning is in our hands, the Liaodong Army has not acted rashly. It is obviously
We want to see what our intentions are. This time the general came to the pasture to inspect in person, and has already planned to use this place as a place to store our horses. The Liaodong Army will definitely send people to take away all these horses."
Qin Xiao laughed and said, "General Lang, do you think they can get rid of these horses?" He turned to look at Jiang Xiaochun, his eyes filled with meaning.
Jiang Xiaochun whispered: "General, are you planning to...detain all these horses?"
"General Lang is wrong." Qin Xiao shook his head and said, "Do you think these war horses really belong to the Liaodong Army?" He raised his head and looked at the sky. It was dusk and the sky was not completely dark yet.
The land below is not the king's land, and the shores of the land are not the king's ministers. This Husu grassland is the territory of the Tang Dynasty, and the war horses on the territory can only belong to the Tang Dynasty."
Jiang Xiaochun was startled, and vaguely understood something. Before he could speak, he heard Qin Xiao ask: "Hasn't the shepherd supervisor of Husu Pasture arrived yet?"
Before Qin Xiao came to inspect the pasture, he naturally had a detailed understanding of the pasture. Before entering the pasture, he had already sent someone to inform them in advance.
He knew that all the major racecourses in the empire were actually under the Taipu Temple in name. The Taipus Temple was responsible for managing all the livestock horses in the world. The world's racecourses were divided into government-run and private ones. The horses in the government-run racecourses were naturally directly subordinate to the Taipus.
Temples, and private racecourses are often established by wealthy businessmen investing money, and there are records in the government. However, the breeding is not the responsibility of the government. When the horses grow up, the government will purchase them at a high price, and the eventually purchased war horses will also be handed over to the servants.
Temple deployment.
Every government-run racecourse will have a stock supervisor, who is the highest official of the racecourse and is fully responsible for the management of the racecourse.
Husu Racecourse is a serious government-run racecourse. According to the laws of the Tang Dynasty, it belongs directly to Taipus Temple. However, in recent decades, Taipus Temple has been almost unable to transfer a war horse from Husu Racecourse. The entire building
Every war horse in the racecourse will eventually be supplied to the Liaodong Army.
Almost at this time, the sound of horse hoofbeats was heard. Everyone looked around and saw several horses galloping not far away. When they got closer, several of the horses got off their horses. The first one was wearing a government official uniform, but
Qin Xiao had seen many official robes of high-ranking officials and important ministers. Just by looking at that person's official uniform, he knew that his rank was very low.
"Duan Bao, the pastoral supervisor of Husu Racecourse, a lowly official, pays homage to the Lord." The official came forward quickly and bowed in front of Qin Xiaoma, very respectfully.
Qin Xiao nodded and said with a smile: "So you are Superintendent Duan? I heard that you take care of the Husu Horse Farm in an orderly manner. The horses here are all of high quality. It's really hard for you."
"I don't dare." Duan Bao reluctantly smiled and said, "I heard that the Lord is going to inspect the racecourse. What are your orders?"
Qin Xiao said simply: "Superintendent Duan, how many horses do you have here?"
"Replying to the general, there are a total of 7,346 horses in the register." Duan Bao, who was dedicated to his job, replied: "However, 1,154 of them are foals and have not yet grown up.
There are also more than 800 horses that have passed their prime and are no longer suitable for use in the army."
Qin Xiao nodded and said: "Superintendent Duan is well aware of the situation at the racecourse. He is indeed a good official. I know a few adults at Taipu Temple. I will go back and give you a few compliments to them."
Superintendent Duan said respectfully: "Thank you Sir." But he couldn't tell how happy he was.
Although he holds the post of Pastoral Supervisor and is nominally a local official under the command of Taipu Temple, the mountain is high and the emperor is far away. This place is far away from Kyoto. Taipu Temple's orders here are just a piece of paper. He,
Whether the position of Pastoral Supervisor can be secured has never depended on Taipusi's face, it only needs a word from the Protectorate.
Supervisor Duan Mu was indeed surprised by Qin Xiao's arrival, and he was even more panicked.
He was naturally very aware of what Long Ruijun was doing in western Liaoning. After all, Husu Racecourse was only more than a hundred miles away from Guangning City.
During these days, Guangning City and Yuguan were successively controlled by Long Rui's army, and the imperial envoy from the capital had also arrived, and they quickly rehabilitated Yingcaotang. In the past few days, they have begun to thoroughly investigate the bank robbery case and the arms case.
Officials were all involved, causing turmoil in the officialdom of western Liaoning.
Duan Mu supervised the racecourse, thinking that those cases could not involve him, and watched with cold eyes.
But today, when I received the news that Qin Xiao was coming to inspect the racecourse in person, I felt very uneasy and didn't know what Qin Xiao wanted.
"Why, Inspector Duan doesn't seem very happy?" Qin Xiao stared at Duan Bao and asked with a smile: "Is it useless to say nice things to you in Taipu Temple?"
Superintendent Duan was startled. He didn't expect that Qin Xiao would reveal his thoughts directly. He was so embarrassed that he laughed and said, "I don't dare. I'm grateful to you for your help. I humble my position and thank you."
"It doesn't matter." Qin Xiao smiled and said: "I heard that Duan Mu was recommended to Taipu Temple by the Duhu Palace. Taipu Temple couldn't help but give the Du Hu Palace face. After all, the Du Hu Palace is Duan Mu's parents."
Duan Mujian's heart sank. He knew that Long Ruijun and the Liaodong Army were facing each other tit for tat. The Duhufu was on the side of Liaodong County, so it was naturally Long Ruijun's opponent. At this moment, Qin Xiao directly said that the Duhufu was his food, clothing, and parents. It was clear that
What was it reminding me? A chill ran down my spine. I forced a smile and said: "Eating the emperor's salary and being loyal to the emperor are the things that the saints do. The saints are the humble parents of food and clothing."
"Superintendent Duan Mu, I'm going to requisition this pasture." Qin Xiao stopped talking and said directly: "I have already told the court that the Long Rui Army needs to train a large number of cavalry, and it is impossible not to have pasture to breed war horses. Songyang
The pasture can only be used for training, not for raising war horses, but this Husu Horse Farm is an excellent place for raising war horses." He leaned forward slightly, resting his arms on the horse's back, looking at Inspector Duan with a smile and asked: "What do you want?
Don’t you want to help me continue to take care of the racecourse?”