Eighteen horses with blood, these are the top horses.
There are more than 300 "middle horses" with a lot of BMW blood, which are second-class horses.
There are more than a thousand "dismounted horses" with a certain amount of sweat and BMW blood. These are inferior horses.
But no matter which level, it is of great value.
A major achievement of the Western Expedition was brought by Shao Shude to one of the most important breeding bases under Sinong Temple: Jiedan Ranch.
At the foot of the Qilian Mountains, Shao Shude was fascinated by the horses filling the grassland. He once wanted to ride a horse and feel the atmosphere among the horses, but he was blocked by the officials.
"In this western expedition, the war horses bred by Sinong Temple have made great contributions. After thirty years of horse administration, they have lived up to my expectations. They are very good, very good." Shao Shude looked at the sleek horses and said happily.
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When it comes to raising horses, there are actually two methods.
The first is to herd horses, which means to enclose a large area of land with mountains, water, and grassland, enough for the horses to move around.
Because horses are not heat-resistant, the climate needs to be cooler. If you are in the hot and humid south, it is best to choose a cooler and drier place with a unique microclimate, otherwise the horse will easily get sick or the horse breed will degenerate.
A part of the farmland must be opened up in the pasture, and people may be hired to farm it, or prisoners may be assigned to farm it and plant some crops such as wheat and beans, so that when forage is insufficient in winter, food can be used to make up for the gap.
The second type is called "stable horse", that is, the horse is kept in a stable and artificially fed when it is very young. For example, in Nanzhao, foals are fed rice soup, and when they grow older, they are fed grain and pasture.
Because the horse is raised in a cage, for the development and health of the horse, it is best to take it out for regular walks and activities.
This method of raising horses does not require a large space and can be raised in cities. However, the cost is a bit high and it is relatively luxurious.
Han Yu's "Horse Theory" once said "parallel horses died in a stable", which is what it said.
In fact, as long as you have the will, why can’t you raise a horse?
Nanzhao would feed their colts with rice soup, thereby maintaining a large cavalry force, and even equipped them with armored cavalry. With the wealth of Bianjing and the prosperity of water transportation, even with grain piles, an astonishing number could be piled up
Stable horses. What's more, there are plenty of places suitable for free-range horses in the northern plains and even the south.
After hearing what Shao Shude said, all the generals accompanying him believed it deeply.
They now strongly agree on one thing: horses must have characteristics.
A charging horse does not require endurance, but emphasizes impact. It must be tall, explosive, and fast.
The riding horse does not require impact, any pony will do, even if it is as small as a dog, it has good endurance.
Pack horses do not need impact power, nor do they need to emphasize endurance, because they are destined to fall behind during the march, but their carrying capacity must be strong. They cannot carry more than 100 kilograms of luggage on board, and then foam at the mouth and die suddenly.
The calf is finished. In addition, it is best to tolerate rough feeding to reduce costs.
There is also a kind of draft horse, which must be strong and able to withstand rough feeding. Other requirements can be reduced.
If strict breeding is not carried out and the concept of breeding is not deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, horse breeders will breed at will, and over time, the genes with obvious characteristics will disappear.
Prairie herders basically have this virtue, they have no concept of breeding at all, and the quality of their horses is ridiculously poor.
Historically, when the Mongols went to Qinghai, they simply gave up their Mongolian horses and rode Hequ horses instead.
When I went to Central Asia, my eyes were shining brightly and I gathered all the good horses around me.
Although they don't pay much attention to breeding, they know exactly which horses are suitable for what tasks, and they use them very scientifically.
"It is not easy for me to collect horses." Shao Shude looked at the officials at Sinong Temple and said: "These good horses were obtained by the soldiers in exchange for their blood. We must make good use of them and strive to breed a new breed."
"I obey your orders."
"Did anyone from the Western Region send anyone there?"
"Dozens of people have been sent to Dihua to enclose land and build pastures."
"That's good." Shao Shude was relieved.
This new pastoral supervisor, named "Tianshan Ranch", breeds not only horses, but also cattle, sheep, camels and other livestock. Of course, the more important task in the early stage is to find a large number of calves for training to first meet the demand for cattle.
The environment and climate vary from place to place, and varieties suitable for the local area must be cultivated. In the past thirty years, not only Sinong Temple, but also officials have known about this, and even knowledgeable scholars among the people have gradually understood this.
A concept.
Shao Shude lived in a rural area when he was a child, and his family raised pigs. When breeding sows, he usually needed to contact someone in the countryside and pay the fee. The person would drive a very strong boar over and then tie up the sow.
On the bench, let the boar climb on the back of the sow...
During the whole process, the boar screamed and the sow screamed heart-breakingly, as if she was being killed.
After that, the boars are driven to the next house for breeding.
Farmers all know that they need to use strong boars to breed sows, but at this time in Daxia rural areas, breeding was very casual.
It has been twenty years since the book "On Bloodline" was published. Most of the states and counties in northern Daxia should have a few copies, and it is also continuing to spread in many places in the south.
This epoch-making masterpiece, destined to be included in the "Tongguang Encyclopedia", has profoundly changed the entire north.
In the south, where animal and plant resources are richer, smart people are already using the theories in the book to try to cultivate new varieties.
Theory guides practice, it is a perfect model, Shao Shude is very happy.
The next step is to summarize the theory from practice. If this behavior can become a habit, form a trend, make people profitable, and society will be different - profitability is the key among the keys.
The BMWs were taken away one by one by the driving officers and placed in a small pasture, with special personnel assigned to take care of them.
Shao Shude looked at it for a while and then left.
On the 27th, he left Jiedan.
On the second day of September, we stayed at Dadou Army City in Dadouba Valley. Because it is one of the nodes connecting Shanzhou, Ganzhou, and Liangzhou, there are 300 soldiers from Qingtang Town stationed here, and there is a tax card station to collect business transactions.
Just pay taxes.
On the night of September 12th, the People's Army garrisoned in An'an City.
On the 15th, we arrived at Shancheng County, Lisuo, Shanzhou, commonly known as "Qingtang City".
Shao Shude ordered to stay here for a few days to review the Qingtang Town Army. At the same time, he sent messengers to rush to various ministries, so that the chiefs would come to pay homage immediately.
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"I left a lot of memories here." It was already a bit chilly in Qinghai in September, but Shao Shude's face was rosy and he was very chatty.
The women listened patiently. Even if they didn't feel anything, they had to pretend to be very interested. From time to time, they would make some amused, nervous, or happy sounds, and give corresponding expressions, which really tested their acting skills.
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This is the charm of power.
Even if women don't love him, don't like him, or even hate him, they still have to serve him wholeheartedly and work harder than they do with the person they love, because this man can easily destroy their family and their lover's happiness.
Their hearts are with other men, but their plump and white bodies can only be left to the man in front of them and bear children for him. This is the cold reality.
"In the second year of Wende (889), I was hunting on the Xingxiu Sea, vowing to break through Qingtang City and regain the old land of Huangshui." Shao Shude took the walking bow handed over by Lian, quickly picked up the bow and arrow, and pulled it to the full moon.
"Whoosh!" An arrow flew out, and the waterfowl flying high flew to the ground slumped.
Lian, who was over forty years old, showed admiration like a little girl.
Shao Shude smiled and said nothing.
How could a woman like Lian, who was born in Gaochang, not know how to shoot and hunt? How could she have never seen anyone with outstanding archery skills?
Shao Shude asked himself that he had excellent archery skills when he was young, but now that he is older and his body functions have declined, archery no longer feels as light as it used to be, and the speed has also slowed down a lot.
He looked at Mrs. Lian and her daughter-in-law, and the speed of shooting was much faster.
"Master Jiezan set up an ambush in the Changning Gorge, thinking that because we have so many cavalry, we will march straight in and raid Qingtang." Shao Shude held his mother-in-law and daughter-in-law in his arms and said, "But my main army marched cautiously, and they were outflanked in two directions.
The partial army went straight to the empty Qingtang City. Jie Zan, haha, he is just a fool who can only mechanically copy military tactics."
"Your Majesty is so wise and powerful, who can match him?" Lian said with a smile.
Mr. Shao's body was slightly stiff and he remained silent.
Mrs. Lian looked at her, her eyes full of pity, advice, and even a hint of begging.
When Mr. Hao saw it, he looked away. After a while, he whispered: "Your Majesty... you are amazing."
Shao Shude laughed loudly and sat on the hillside with his arms around the two of them.
The hillside is surrounded by densely packed camps, with palace guards, Yin Anzhi and a section of the imperial army stationed nearby.
Farther away, there is the green and black city wall.
The city wall has been repaired over the years and looks quite impressive.
Near the city wall, there are thousands of villages and streets.
After the winter wheat harvest is completed, it is time to harvest the short-growing grains planted.
In the endless fields, farmers sometimes bent down and worked hard to harvest; sometimes they straightened up and gently beat their sore waists, but after seeing the golden millet, they looked satisfied again.
It’s worth it! Everything is worth it!
In Hebei, it is impossible for a family to own thirty or forty acres of land.
Although Shanzhou is desolate, it has a lot of land and can be considered fertile. After paying the taxes, the grain harvested is enough to feed a family and there is still more leftover. What is there to complain about?
We can't defeat the Shao thief. The old guy never dies, which makes us scared. But to be honest, the saint didn't treat us too badly. The whole family can have enough food and clothing, which is better than anything else.
There are also a large number of hills around the farmland where cattle, sheep, horses and camels can be grazed.
When the three-crop rotation system developed in the Huangshui River Basin, a new variant appeared: farmers were not willing to use part of their farmland to grow pasture, but instead went to the surrounding hills to graze their cattle and then collect the cow dung back - in order to compete for the dung,
The children grazing herds even got into fights.
In short, life is getting better and better, and the hostility in the hearts of immigrants from Hebei is gradually dissipating.
The title "Shao Thief" only exists in the mouths of the older generation...
Qingtang City, surrounded by farmland and orchards, is now the natural center of Shanzhou (originally governed by Huangshui, namely Ledu), because many post roads pass through here and business is quite prosperous.
In the past two years, they have even opened a trade route to Khotan, and the passenger flow has further increased.
Shanzhou also added Minhe (today's Minhe), Anren (today's Huangyuan), Weirong (today's Menyuan), and Haoqian (today's Menyuan) on the basis of the three counties of Shancheng, Huangshui and Longzhi in the Tang Dynasty.
wěi (now Datong) has four counties and seven counties, totaling more than 43,000 households and more than 213,600 people.
Kuozhou, to the south of Shanzhou, has also governed three counties in the Tang Dynasty, and now it has jurisdiction over Guangwei (today's Hualong is close to the Yellow River, and the state city is 80 steps outside the Yellow River), Dahua (today's Jianzhaxi),
The scale of the five counties of Michuan (today's Xunhua), Jishi (the original Jishi Military City, today's Guide), and Diaoyu (the original Diaoyu City, with thousands of Zhenwei troops stationed in the Tang Dynasty, now Baoan Town, Tongren County), totals more than 12,800
Households, more than 63,300 people.
In addition to the initial recruitment of a large number of Tibetan and Qiang people, through continuous immigration, immigrants from the Central Plains have now become the mainstream, especially near Shancheng County. Because the Qingtang Town Army has 10,000 infantry and cavalry stationed in various places, it is no different from the Central Plains.
Outside the two states of Shan and Kuo, especially those areas with an altitude of three thousand meters, they were distributed to various tribes attached to the imperial court. Together with the Qingtang Zhenjun, they served as the backbone of Daxia's military force in the Qinghai Lake area - these two
There are about 280,000 registered households in the 12 counties of the prefecture, basically occupying the most elite areas of Qinghai.
As for the outer areas, most of them are Tubo people.
The imperial court didn't bother to care about them, and they themselves didn't dare to go north. The two sides traded with each other, but they got along well.
Shao Shude himself didn't think much about the Tubo Plateau. Even when he found the descendants of Zampu from Gaochang, he just did it casually with the mentality of finding rare things to live in.
This time he sent a messenger south to summon all the tribes to join the alliance, but he didn't know how many would come.
Calm down, it's good to have it, but it doesn't matter if you don't have it. This is the place.
However, the descendant of Zamp named Tie Ge seems to have some ideas, which is interesting.