Please ask me to be the emperor

To build a cavalry, you must first have horses.

Even Zhu Yuanzhang, the founder of the Ming Dynasty, once said: "In the past, when people asked about the wealth of a country, how could it be equal to the number of horses?"

"The main thing is the army. The army starts at Xuanyuan, and the horses carry the soldiers to do the work, prepare the borders to resist humiliation, and charge with enough strength. The strength is great and the merits are beautiful. Don't you love to educate them?"

"That's why the ancients used horses first to raise money and food, so they numbered the horses to match. The horse's contribution is not only to prepare the army, but also if the ruler is wise, the power of the horse can pull the plows, drive the dung carts, and create fertile soil. This is of great benefit. That’s why the old and heavy people do this!”

What does it mean? That is to say, when people asked about the wealth of a country, they first calculated how many war horses it owned.

Therefore, after Zhang Shun decided to establish a cavalry, he asked Hong Chengchou: "How many horses are there in Gansu and Shaanxi?"

"The Ma Zheng of the Ming Dynasty began in Hongwu and was completed in Yongle. It successively established Shaanxi, Gansu and Shaanxi Xingtaipu temples, and at its peak, six prisons and twenty-four gardens were established." Hong Chengchou couldn't help but narrate from the beginning after hearing this.

"Among them, 10,000 horses are herded in Shangyuan, 7,000 horses are herded in Zhongyuan, and 4,000 horses are herded in Xiayuan. They are set up to herd the En Army and the Army respectively."

Zhang Shun immediately drooled when he heard this. Could it be that there were hundreds of thousands of war horses?

At present, he only has more than 100,000 soldiers under his command. Not to mention that each person is assigned a horse, but if he organizes 100,000 elite cavalry, who in the world can stop him?

"During the Hongzhi period, Ma Zheng was in a bad state. Only two prisons and six gardens were left. The original pasture was more than 133,700 hectares, and only 66,800 hectares were left." Hong Chengchou continued.

"Later, under the supervision of the famous minister Yang Yiqing, Shaanxi Xingtaipu Temple was under the jurisdiction of Changle and Lingwu Supervisors, and jointly supervised the Qiyuan Horse Farm, which often herded 33,500 war horses."

"A total of 33,500 horses?" Zhang Shun couldn't help but be stunned.

"Yes, a total of 33,500 horses!" Hong Chengchou affirmed.

Nima, Zhang Shun’s eyes are green.

It turns out that the 24th Garden Racecourse, based on the median of 7,000 horses, still has 160,000 horses, but now there is not even a fraction of it?

"By the beginning of Zhengde, there were more than 118,000 horses and colts in various horse temples in Shaanxi Province. By the tenth year of Zhengde, there were only more than 11,600 horses, colts and stallions left."

"At the beginning of the Jiajing period, the official horses were no longer enough, so they had to pay Taipu Temple silver to buy horses. At that time, the Lingzhou Salt Pond and the Huama Pond Salt Pond were built. 'Without manpower, there was little rain in the swamp, and the wind naturally produced them. 'It's very profitable, and the resources are endless', so I supplemented it with tea and salt to change the horse."

"Therefore, in the fourteenth year of Jiajing, all cavalry was used in Guyuan Town on three sides. By the fifth year of Longqing, the horse administration was in bad condition, and the number of war horses in Xingtaipu Temple in Shaanxi was less than 8,000!"

As Hong Chengchou narrated, Zhang Shun's mood also increased. At the end, he couldn't listen any more. He couldn't help but interrupt: "Let's not mention the old things for now. How many war horses can we gather now? "

"Estimated. It's estimated to be less than one battalion!" Hong Chengchou couldn't help hesitating.

When Zhang Shun heard this, his eyes darkened and he almost lost his temper.

This Nima, at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Shaanxi alone could raise 160,000 to 70,000 horses. No wonder it could pursue Mobei and conquer Mongolia five times.

Now the official racecourse can't even form a battalion of cavalry. No wonder you can let Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, Luo Rucai and other rebels spread across thousands of miles in the four northern provinces, and no one can stop them.

The emotional war horse has been destroyed by you. Of course, two legs can't outrun others' four legs!

In fact, Zhang Shun didn't know, thanks to him coming early this time. If we had waited until the 14th year of Chongzhen’s reign to invade Shaanxi, the following wonders would have appeared:

"There were originally more than 16,000 shepherds in the Seven Prisons of Shaanxi Province, but now there are less than 3,000. Heishuiyuan originally had 752 horses, but now only seven are left; Kaichengyuan originally had 1,092 horses, and now there are only 750 left. Twenty-six horses.”

As a result, there are only more than a hundred horses left in the seven horse farms in Shaanxi.

Zhang Shun frowned, and then said after a while: "I originally asked you, sir, to recommend talents for me and restore order in Xi'an Mansion. Now that the matter has been basically completed, I wonder if you can ask me, sir, to reorganize the salt and horse affairs for me and restore them to their former glory?"

Restore its former glory? Hong Chengchou's face almost turned green when he heard this. How much do you think highly of me?

In the early Ming Dynasty, Shaanxi raised nearly 200,000 horses. Who the hell could do this?

Hong Chengchou groaned and couldn't help but responded: "The King of Qin has an order, and I should do my best to carry it out."

"However, human power will eventually be limited, and the way of heaven will eventually be determined. I am afraid that I may not be able to reach the number of the past."

Okay, why the hell can’t we set up a battalion now, so how about one hundred thousand or two hundred thousand?

Zhang Shun quickly comforted him: "That's just a number for the future. If Yang Yiqing can restore the number of cleaning up Ma Zheng within a few years, I will be satisfied!"

Okay, now that I hear it, it’s OK!

Hong Chengchou secretly calculated that there should be 50,000 hectares of official grassland now, and the vassal kings had already been expelled and slaughtered by the rebels, so there was nothing to be afraid of. It should be possible to recover the 10,000 hectares. If the gentry and officials were cleaned up, It is estimated that the number of 80,000 can be collected no matter what.

Thinking of this, Hong Chengchou nodded quickly in response.

The long-term plan has been decided for the time being, but what about the war horses that are currently in short supply?

Zhang Shun frowned and began to calculate how much silver the rebels still had in hand that could be used to buy horses, but he saw that Hong Chengchou was hesitant to speak.

He couldn't help but wonder: "Mr. Hong doesn't know how to teach me, why is he hesitant?"

"I have something that I don't know whether to say or not!" Hong Chengchou glanced behind the screen and asked tentatively.

Zhang Shun was so shrewd that he immediately understood what Hong Chengchou must be worried about and couldn't help but smile: "Only Ma is here, no one else."

Ma Yingniang was born in Luoyang. Although she was in charge of the military academy, she actually had nothing to do with local interests in Shaanxi.

Sure enough, when Hong Chengchou heard this, he couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Actually, if King Shun wants to use horses, why not find your father-in-law?"

"The generals of Yulin are rich in wealth. Each family may have three to five thousand good horses. However, the origins are not correct and we cannot go into details!"

"Drinking soldiers' blood?" Zhang Shun reacted immediately.

"Although it's not a hit, it's still almost the same!" Hong Chengchou couldn't help but nodded and said, "In addition to embezzling war horses, there are actually many horse farms on the side wall."

"At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, when military strength was at its peak, the Tartars did not dare to go south to herd horses. All the land was used as pasture land for the border troops."

"As the border troubles continued, the Ao'erdu headquarters invaded the Hetao, and the border pasture land was abandoned. In addition, the gardens under the jurisdiction of Lingwu in Ningxia Town were often stolen and robbed due to the approaching Hulu, and they were successively abolished and abolished. They were also a large pasture. "

"Therefore, many generals usurped the pastures here, grazing privately, and raising thousands of horses and foals."

Zhang Shun's eyes turned red when he heard this.

Let me go, so Yulin Jiangmen is so fat?

Seeing that they hadn't annexed many farmlands, I thought they were relatively incorruptible, but instead they waited here!

If it weren't for the fact that he had no foundation in Shaanxi, Zhang Shun would have wanted to pick up the sword himself and kill all the Yulin generals one by one.

By then, if we seize their pastures and horses, we will be able to organize more than 10,000 cavalrymen.