eldest son of Ming dynasty

In the 20th year of Zhengde, the Hetao area not only included the earliest Qiantao and Houtao plains.

Two hundred miles from Shuofang Town to the north can be regarded as the area controlled by the Ming Dynasty.

However, the terrain conditions here have begun to deteriorate. Not only are the Yinshan Mountains blocking the way, but the Gobi and grasslands of the Mongolian Plateau are no longer suitable for farming.

Naturally, there is no way to farm, cultivate, or build forts and defenses here.

The natural environment determines the production methods.

The military ideology inherited from the Army Academy is to use the nomadic production and lifestyle to achieve the purpose of controlling this area.

The political thought conveyed from the court can be summarized in four words: many feudalism and many constructions.

This is very similar to the Tuien Order of the Han Dynasty. The meaning of Duofengzhongjian is to use the authority of the central dynasty to divide a number of different tribes on a grassland to disperse the power of the grassland people and prevent them from uniting with the outside world.

Monan Mongolia to the north of the Hetao area was originally occupied by the Tatar tribe, but was now divided by the Ming Dynasty to the Yibula tribe, the Tumed tribe and the Ordos tribe.

There is also no precedent for the tribe to send girls into the palace as concubines.

Later, the leaders of the Tumut and Ordos tribes also sent women to the palace respectively.

Zhu Houzhao accepted all the documents and was canonized as a concubine.

This is somewhat similar to the Qing Dynasty's treatment method, and the effect was good, so it was naturally used as a doctrine.

And his use-ism has a premise - all this was achieved by the martial arts master Boma Rong.

At present, the Hexi Corridor and the Turpan and Ili areas of Xinjiang are directly ruled by the Han people. However, in the southwest and northeast directions of the Hexi Corridor, the court has also enfeoffed many small tribes and strengthened its control over these tribes.

According to the current rules, the troops and horses in these places should be directly under the unified control of their local officials in terms of process.

Just like Ma Rong, if the war requires, he can mobilize the soldiers and horses of the three tribes to his north to go with him in accordance with the imperial edict, and these Mongolian tribes cannot refuse.

In the same way, if foreign forces want to invade them, they can also ask the court for help.

During the expedition to the Yarkand Khanate in southern Xinjiang, troops were sent from these places.

Now the imperial court has set its sights on the Kazakh Khanate farther west.

Once the war starts, in addition to Xinjiang, Ma Rong will probably also send troops and horses to march eastward along the grassland.

On the Eurasian continent, there is a continuous grassland belt that stretches thousands of miles from East Asia to Eastern Europe. For thousands of years, the Huns, Turks, and Mongols have conquered east and west along this grassland belt. The epic and glory of this nation.

It's a pity that the Han people need supplies when they go to war, so in terms of fighting far, they can't compare with these people on horseback.

Ma Rong is already thinking about this.

According to the Army Academy's overall army-building philosophy, the Ming Dynasty will also begin to build nomadic cavalry.

If the strength is sufficient, Ma Rong can take these soldiers and horses, and then let the Mongolian tribes send out people, so won't the army come out all the way to conquer the west?

Just as it happened, in mid-September, the emperor's imperial edict came, saying that he had urgent military affairs and asked him to enter the capital Qingqi.

He planned to take this opportunity to report to the emperor in detail.

So after several days of greeting guests behind closed doors in the Governor's Mansion, a military general began to play with words.

On September 26, he basically sorted it out, and then explained the affairs in the domain to his deputy general Zuo Zheng.

Before leaving, he had one last place to go.

Speaking of which, there were dishonest Mongolian tribes in the past few years, but in the past three years, especially in the past year or so, after the court sealed off the grasslands of these Mongolian princes, they suddenly calmed down.

This feeling of letting go of the horse made him feel uncomfortable all over.

He was only in his thirties, and he didn't want to just wait for him to grow old.

And he never forgot the vast horse farm developed outside the city.

Since we need to learn from some of the nomadic people’s fighting methods, we must also pay attention to horses.

To a certain extent, the strength of a Mongolian tribe is largely reflected in the number of horses it owns.

Beginning in the ninth year of Zhengde, the imperial court successively established two official horse farms in Shuofang Town, both of Shangyuan size. Each horse farm could produce 8,000 horses per year.

When fighting is not frequent, there is no need for so many war horses.

At first, they just sold it to get back the money. After all, the court wanted to form cavalry and the people also needed horses. However, fifteen years after Zhengde, as the number of horses in the country increased, it was actually difficult for them to sell them here. As a result, the operating conditions of the racecourse are not good, and the costs of personnel, maintenance, stables and other facilities here are all allocated by the court.

It's equivalent to raising it.

War horses have this characteristic, and if you want to maintain them, you have to spend money.

It can be understood as part of military expenditure, because war horses are the most powerful weapons in this era.

But the advantage is that Ma Rong can carefully select the best horses for his soldiers.

These two racecourses are just northeast of Shuofang City, and there are two thousand-household stations stationed and defended respectively. The names given by the court were not liked by the local people, so over time they were replaced by the new racecourse and the old racecourse.

New means built later.

Ma Rong came to this wilderness. From the hillside to the plains below, the entire area was dotted with horses. The most spectacular moment was when they were running at full strength.

The rumbling sound could be heard seven or eight miles away.

"See you, Lord!"

The person in charge of the local racecourse was also a soldier. From a distance, he saw the governor galloping in with dozens of horses, raising dust that was three stories high.

"Get up." Ma Rong jumped off his horse and refused to be polite to him. "Old Yang, send out ten men and pick the ten best horses to accompany me to the capital."

This rugged man holds this important position and has been Ma Rong's subordinate for many years. His name is Yang He.

"Yes!" Yang He turned around and led the way, "When will your lord return to Beijing?"

"After three days, select carefully. I want to dedicate these horses to the emperor. The emperor always cares about the racecourse. If you find any flaws, it is not a trivial matter."

Yang He bared his teeth and smiled, the skin on his face was a little chapped due to dryness, "Lord, don't worry, I have been familiar with horses all my life, how can I not tell the difference between a good horse and a bad one?"

"Row."

Ma Rong also fell in love with the emperor.

The emperor is a horse lover.

Therefore, whenever he comes to Beijing in the past few years, he will choose good horses to present as gifts.

And every time it’s twenty horses.

What did Zhu Houzhao do with it?

One is for him and his son to ride, and the other is for the reward.

It is also good for a king to give a BMW as a gift.

The other one, although he does not agree with using horses for gambling, it is still okay to hold some horse racing events, even if it is to enhance the understanding of the importance of war horses.

In addition to ready-made horses,

Ma Rong also wants to report on the innovations in horse breeding technology and so on.

Taking advantage of Yang He's time to select horses, Ma Rong and his deputy Zuo Zheng said, "When I enter Beijing this time, I will report to the emperor to form an army to conquer the west."

"Seriously? But will the emperor agree? Yang Yiqing from Xinjiang originally wanted to conquer Kazakhstan, but he was blocked by the emperor."

Ma Rong said: "He is different from us. In the past few years, we have imitated the methods of the Mongols, setting up tents, raising horses, training cavalry, and going out to fight several times. Our fighting methods are different from those in Xinjiang. Tens of thousands of troops , using war to support war does not require the court to spend too much money, and the emperor will definitely agree."

"Budang, please forgive me for my words. I don't think it will be easy. If it is so simple, why didn't Wang Yangming do it in the first place?"

Ma Rong looked at the undulating hills in the distance, glanced at the people around him and said with a smile: "Everyone has an idea. There are not many people like me."

Zuo Zheng understood what he said.

The martial arts uncle in front of me is a literate military general. He has talked about his hometown of Han and Tang Dynasties every day since he joined the army.

Therefore, he is different from others in this regard. Others care about official position, fame and fortune, but he is a more pure general. He wants to win and open up territories.

It is precisely because of this that in the past twenty years, among the generals on the border, apart from Zhou Shangwen, who was awarded a title for his outstanding achievements, it was also Ma Rong who was awarded a martial arts uncle and became the majestic governor of Hetao.

The emperor's favor towards him is evident.

"Then I wish you immediate success!"

This is quite a pun.