Zhe Yanzhi said: "If we can ensure enough tea leaves, I think it is feasible."

"Okay, I will ask someone to arrange a new official position for you. The country is seriously short of horses. I hope you can help me tide over the difficulties."

"I will fulfill my mission!"

In fact, when war horses were introduced, the Song Dynasty also had to raise horses in its own territory.

There are also some horse farms in the Song Dynasty. Although they are not big, they can be used.

For example, Moutuogang, the royal horse farm in Kaifeng Prefecture.

There were originally 20,000 war horses there. In the first year of Jingkang, when the Jin army went south for the first time, Medicine Master Guo informed Wanyan Zongwang that there were horses there.

Wanyan Zongwang then sent people to bring over all the Moutuogang war horses.

However, horses from the Central Plains are definitely not as good as horses from the Northwest. This is determined by the climate and environment.

The best quality war horses are found in the Hexi Corridor in the northwest, especially Zhangye, where there is the largest horse breeding farm in the Eastern Continent.

At present, for Zhao Ning, a lack of horses is like a desert traveler lacking water.

If we could purchase large quantities of northwest war horses, equip them with heavy cavalry, form a large-scale heavy cavalry regiment, and be commanded by a commander of Yue Fei's ability, it would no longer be a city defense battle.

At that time, the Song army could truly engage in large-scale field battles, pursuit, and annihilation.

The urgent need for war horses at present is self-evident.

There was a truce between Song and Jin, but a war between Song and Xia might break out at any time.

If you want to destroy Jin, you must first destroy Xia.

It is impossible to completely destroy Xixia without war horses.

After all, the entire Hexi Corridor is in the hands of Xixia.

Early the next morning, Zhao Ning made some preparations and took Zhang Jun, Zhang Shuye and Zhe Yanzhi to Moutuogang.

Just as he was about to set off, Zhao Ning received the latest report from Hu Quan of Qingyuan Prefecture.

Qingyuan Prefecture has implemented banknote handing on a large scale, and the current results are stable. More than 3,000 guan have been exchanged.

This is also great news for Zhao Ning.

If Qingyuan Prefecture’s new banknote payment policy can serve as a demonstration, then the difficulty of large-scale implementation on the northern line will be greatly reduced.

That being the case, what are you waiting for?

Start printing money!

A currency war is imminent, with large-scale printing of money and the implementation of banknote transfer.

Moreover, the payment of banknotes in conjunction with the New Agricultural Policy reduces tax costs and is a win-win situation for all parties.

Moutuogang is a royal pasture of the Song Dynasty, more than 20 miles northwest of Tokyo.

In the morning, Zhao Ning and his people arrived at Moutuogang.

Upon hearing that the emperor had arrived, the horse officers from Moutuogang came one after another.

"Long live your Majesty, Li Zhu."

"Everyone is free of charge."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

In the early winter that has just ended in autumn, the surrounding plains and woods are still colorful, with some green, light yellow, golden, red, and fiery red.

Various colors appear like oil paintings under the blue sky of early winter.

"Li Zhu, how many horses are there in Moutuogang now?"

"Reporting to your Majesty, there are currently 2,300 horses in Moutuogang."

Zhao Ning didn't say much.

More than two thousand horses are not bad, after all, the rest of the horses have been deployed in the army.

The Ma Zheng of the Great Song Dynasty was famous in history.

Next, the horse officer took Zhao Ning and others to check on the horses.

Zhao Ning suddenly said: "Uncle, sir, what is the goal of deploying the war horses of the Imperial Guard Brigade?"

"Currently, the Guards Brigade has a total of fifteen thousand horses. Each cavalry has two horses. However, some of the horses are over thirteen years old and will be retired in four years. The number of such horses is about six thousand.

about."

"There are also five thousand war horses that are about ten years old."

"According to the target, there is an urgent need to add more than 20,000 war horses next year."

"Deyuan."

Zhang Jun said: "I am here."

"How many war horses does the Shaanxi Forbidden Army need?"

"Wu Lin's tribe is equipped with five thousand cavalry, and Liu Qi's tribe is equipped with five thousand cavalry."

"enough?"

"In the long run, the total number of horses required for the various roads in Shaanxi is at least 100,000. If it is a long-distance attack, it is best to equip each person with three horses."

"How long will it take to get 100,000 horses?"

"It would be great if we could have 100,000 horses within five years."

The hearts of the people around me all dropped. One hundred thousand horses within five years!

Zhang Jun! How dare you say that!

Seeing Zhang Jun's calm expression, the horse officers trembled inwardly.

"Zhe Qing."

"I'm here."

"How about this goal, Mr. Zhang?"

"I...I can only do my best."

Zhao Ning said again: "Deyuan, why do you think the Song Dynasty suddenly lacked horses?"

Zhang Jun said bluntly: "The shortage of horses in the Song Dynasty started after the Chanyuan Alliance. Before the Chanyuan Alliance, the Song Dynasty still had 200,000 horses. After the Chanyuan Alliance, the Song Dynasty and Liao Dynasty made peace and side affairs.

The horse administration has declined, and the number of horses has declined sharply."

What he said is true.

According to the "History of the Song Dynasty": At that time (the Zhenzong period), there were more than 200,000 horses and horses in the inner and outer squares, and 16,38 people in the horse military academy. Every year, the capital of the capital was 66

There were 60,000 men around, 62,240 kilograms of bran, more than 95,000 kilograms of salt, oil, medicine, and sugar, and the troops of various states were not prepared.

After the signing of the Chanyuan Alliance and the two largest empires in the East reaching an agreement to become brothers, peace became the main theme.

During the Renzong Dynasty, horses were no longer raised.

The Tangbo fortifications originally built to defend against the Khitans in Hebei were stopped.

During the Renzong period, Dongping Prison, Shanzhen Prison, and Luoyang Prison were successively abolished.

By the time of Shenzong, the horse administration was completely finished, with an annual output of more than 1,000 horses.

Just use as few horses as possible, but it will cost a lot of money.

"History of the Song Dynasty" records: The twelve prisons in the north of Henan Province, from the second to the fifth year of Xining, produced 1,640 horses per year, of which 264 could be given to cavalry, and the remainder was only enough for postage.

The miscellaneous expenses of the two supervisors, pastoral staff, and soldiers and the rent of the land were only 539,000 yuan. It was estimated that the money for the horse was only more than 36,400 yuan.

For just a few horses, the annual land rent would be more than 500,000 guan.

Later, we simply set up a tea and horse department and started trading from the border.

That is to say, war horses were imported from the Liao Kingdom and the northwest.

How expensive is an imported war horse?

"History of the Song Dynasty" records: Until they go out of bounds, each horse will be no less than fifty or six thousand.

Each horse has about fifty or sixty pieces.

If you want 10,000 horses, it would be 500,000 to 600,000 guan.

The problem is, most of those bought are the old, weak, sick and disabled.

Later, Wang Anshi's "Horse Preservation Law" had little effect. Coupled with the rapid increase in population in the middle and late Northern Song Dynasty, the pastures that used to be needed to raise horses in the interior have become fertile land.

This led to the current embarrassing situation.

"In my opinion, the imperial court only raises horses, and the number of war horses is not enough to support the needs of the imperial court. Private horse breeding should also be open to the private sector, and we should stop playing the trick of private individuals raising horses for the imperial court. Wang Jinggong's new law has proven to be unfeasible.

.”

Wang Anshi's horse-preserving method is actually somewhat deformed and twisted.

The horse policy of the Han Dynasty encouraged private individuals to raise horses and exempted them from taxes.

However, the horse policy of the Song Dynasty encouraged people to raise horses for court officials. The ownership of horses still belonged to the court, but the responsibility of raising horses was given to private individuals. Will private individuals devote their efforts to raising horses that are not their own property?

Zhao Ning rode his horse and walked forward while saying to everyone: "Encourage the people to raise their own horses and reduce taxes. The court will only record the registration and raise the total number of war horses in the Song Dynasty, so that the private businessmen themselves will also

Find a way to go to the border to buy horses."

"Zhe Qing, what do you think?"

"I think it's feasible."

As he walked, Zhao Ning suddenly saw a large area of ​​white appearing on the pasture ahead.

That is……

Zhao Ning was stunned for a moment and said, "If I'm not mistaken, are those sheep?"
Chapter completed!