Sheng Nong Xue Su

The autumn wind from the north blows over people's faces and necks with a trace of coolness, which is bitingly refreshing.The autumn harvest has passed, and it is the season of "fighting with eagles and running dogs, shouting and galloping".The Royal Autumn Hunt is held once a year without special circumstances and is usually held as a grand event.There are three reasons for hunting in autumn: first, to avoid farming season, and to avoid disturbing the common people after harvest in autumn.Second, under the influence of Confucianism, spring and summer are when all things grow, and it is not suitable to kill animals. In winter, all things are killed, but the weather is too cold and animals rarely move around, so it is not suitable for hunting.Therefore, only autumn is suitable for hunting.Third, animals must store enough food for the winter in autumn, so there are more animals in autumn.

Ming Sheng leisurely strolled around the paddock on horseback, occasionally hunting some beautiful tail feathers of birds and pheasants, and if he saw a little rabbit or fox with bright fur, he would shoot a silver needle quenched with anesthesia and catch them alive. I'm going to give it to Xiaolan and Wanwan, they like these cute little things.However, there are too few small animals that fit Ming Sheng's aesthetics. Although there are many rabbits and foxes, their fur is either impure or not bright enough.So when the sun moved westward, Ming Sheng also caught a fiery red fox and a parrot with very colorful feathers.

Ming Sheng simply withdrew his hand, seeing that the surrounding terrain was flat and open and no one was passing by, he let go of the rein and let the horse wander by itself.Ming Sheng thought leisurely, it was really unexpected to be able to come to Autumn Hunting this time, what is the reason?Is it because teaching the prince is meritorious?Ha, why didn't the Hanlin Jinshi who taught the prince before get this kind of treatment.Ming Sheng went over what he had done in the past six months, but he couldn't find enough reasons.

"Anyway, it won't be a bad thing." Ming Sheng muttered.

The old horse knew the way, and unknowingly brought Ming Sheng not far from the stable.Ming Sheng looked at the stables in front of him, rubbed his temples dumbfoundedly, and said, "Boy, let's go see your friends together."

"Oh, please trouble Mr. Ming to bring it back in person. That screwdriver is too lazy." The owner of the horse saw Ming Sheng leading the horse, so he hurried up to meet him, "My lord, it's good for the younger one to come." Although the backing is not small, but Ming Sheng is an imperial scholar appointed by the emperor to teach the prince, and has power in his hands, so he should not be underestimated.

Ming Sheng smiled and said: "Master, you are being polite. I just wandered around here, so I came here out of curiosity, so I'm taking the liberty." As he spoke, he avoided Master Ma's hand holding the horse's rein.One side said: "Master, I heard that there are several thousand-mile horses, can you open my eyes."

The boy on the side took the horse from Ming Sheng's hand and went to settle down very interestingly.

The owner of the horse rubbed his hands together, put his hands into his thick sleeves, and said: "My lord just happened to come, and all those thousand-mile horses have just returned. I will show you here, little one."

"Okay!" Ming Sheng laughed loudly, and said, "Master eats a lot more salt than I eat rice, and his knowledge of horses is even better, so don't call him 'adult' or 'little', if you don't mind, Just call me Zhuqing." When Ming Sheng went to Beijing to take the exam, Cao Daru took the character, but people close to him still called him "A Sheng".

In ancient times, names and characters were very particular.The names of the ancients were mainly used to call themselves, and the characters of the ancients were mainly used to call others.Of course, it does not mean that in all cases it is necessary to call people by their names but not by their names. This depends on the mutual status of the two parties in the dialogue.Those who are of equal status respect others with words but not names, and respectfully call themselves with names without words; elders can also call juniors, teachers to students, and superiors to subordinates by their names instead of their names, which makes them more cordial.If the name is to distinguish each other, then the character is to distinguish the inferiority.

The official position of Master Ma is not in the mainstream, Ming Sheng asked Ma Master to be commensurate with words and didn't care about the inferiority, in Ming Sheng's view, "the master is a teacher", and Ma Master is two rounds older than himself , There is nothing wrong with the title.

It is always good to be kind to others when there is no conflict of interest, not to mention Ming Sheng's move can be called courtesy.So Master Ma's smile deepened a bit, and he said, "Okay, then I'll ask you to call Zhuqing. My full name is Mazhouhe, and Zhuqing can just call me by my name."

"It's rude to call you by your first name, so I'll call you Brother Ma." Ming Sheng said, "Brother Ma is named after Zhouhe, but he's from Sichuan."

"Zhu Qing is smart." Mazhou Hedao.

The two said that they had arrived at the resting place of Qianli Ma, and saw four beautiful horses in the stable about four feet tall (1.3 meters to 1.4 meters) with different styles, either standing or lying down.

"Zhuqing, this horse's name is Ben Xiao. It has a thick body, strong limbs, a rough and strong body, a large head, a wide forehead, a deep and long chest, short legs, well-developed joints and tendons. It has a thick coat and complex colors. It is afraid of cold, can adapt to extremely extensive feeding and management, has strong vitality, and can survive under harsh conditions." Mazhouhe pointed to the nearest horse path, "Benxiao is from Mongolia, and can travel 15 kilometers in one hour (one hour) 7500 meters per hour), the tamed Mongolian horses are the best military horses without surprise or deceit on the battlefield. Although Ben Xiao has not participated in battles, he has the purest bloodline." His voice was full of pride.

"Flying to the sky, traveling thousands of miles in the wild." Ming Sheng said, "It's worthy of its name."

"Haha, of course." Ma Zhouhe felt happier than boasting about himself.

Ma Zhouhe walked to the next stable, and it was a brown horse eating, with a pinch of white hair on its forehead.The bridge of the nose of this horse is raised slightly in the shape of a rabbit head, with a thick neck, a straight trunk, a deep and wide chest, and a stout body.

"Could this horse be a tribute horse?" Ming Sheng said.

Ma Zhouhe nodded, with admiration in his eyes, touched the horse, and said: "Yes, this horse is named Lu, in fact, it has a docile temperament, a calm temperament, strong endurance, and quick recovery from fatigue. A single set of carts can It is a typical Hequ horse that pulls heavy loads, and it is more suitable for agricultural draft horses." The tone was sighing, with a hint of melancholy in his eyes.

When Ming Sheng heard this, his heart moved, and he said: "Brother Ma really specializes in arts."

In fact, at this time eunuchs had special places to study. The eunuchs' schools did not teach eunuchs how to be eunuchs. It was similar to other schools, just to learn culture.In the inner palace of the Daqing Dynasty, there was an inner book hall, which was the eunuch's school.The students are young eunuchs around the age of ten, about two to three hundred.Just like the schools outside, you should pay homage to Confucius first when you enter the door.The teachers are served by Ci officials, that is, Hanlin people. During the teaching period, they come and go from Bei'anmen.The teacher does not teach in vain, the eunuchs are filial, and each prepares white wax, handkerchiefs and dragon hanging incense for the teacher. It is not known whether there are other gifts in private.The textbooks are based on the degree of level, including a hundred surnames, a thousand-character prose, a thousand poems, child prodigy poems, filial piety, and four books.Almost the same as the school outside.When teaching, a large sheet of printed homework is given out every day, with various forms of homework on it, and students are required to punctuate sentences, imitate, silently write, and fill in the blanks.If you are interested in learning, you can read other books for yourself, and the scope is quite wide.This kind of school is basically no different from the schools outside. The teachers are all Hanlin, obviously because they are close to the water. The schools outside, even the Imperial College, do not have such a strong teaching staff.But the rules of the eunuch school are very strict, and the punishment is extremely severe.The students who come out of it are definitely culturally up to standard or even outstanding. (Du Niang said.)

Ma Zhouhe smiled, pointed to a black horse in the opposite stable and said, "Zhu Qing, tell me what kind of horse this is?"

Ming Sheng took a closer look, and saw that this black horse had a bigger head than the others, a high neck, long mane, tail and mane.Ming Sheng knew it well, and said: "It's a Southwest horse, but I don't know which line of blood it is."

Mazhouhe said happily: "Ming Tanhua is really knowledgeable. This is the Jianchang horse from Shu. It has a good body structure, well-developed tendons, and solid hooves. It has strong adaptability, especially for the ecological environment of mountainous areas. It is short and powerful. , Ingenious and flexible, good at climbing mountains and wading, and able to endure hard work. This horse is called Shangui, who once carried 300 catties of supplies across mountains and mountains, and went deep into Bashu to rescue victims. He is a hero among horses." At the end, the voice was passionate, And there is honor.

Ming Sheng admired, and said: "Mountain ghost, mountain ghost, all people miss each other. I believe that the people in Bashu must be grateful and miss the mountain ghost."

"It's not important, the mountain ghost doesn't care about it. He just likes to eat more bamboo grass." Ma Zhouhe fed a handful of grass to the mountain ghost.

"Hehe." Ming Sheng patted the mountain ghost's head.

"Hey..." The fiery red-haired horse that had been lying in the stable all the time let out a breath from its nose, jumped up all of a sudden, walked gracefully to the side of the fence, raised its neck and let out a long whistle.Ten thousand horses in the stable roared together.The whistling of that horse turned around, and the whistling of other horses stopped.The horse seemed to be extremely satisfied, stopped whistling, flicked its tail, glanced at Ming Sheng and the two, turned around, and lay down gracefully on the ground, closing its eyes and resting.

Ming Sheng laughed straight, and said: "This horse is called 'Red Rabbit', but its temper is... very cute and interesting." It looks like someone.

Mazhouhe smiled wryly: "This is the 'Chitu'. It is said to be of the blood of the Three Kingdoms Chitu. It seems that there is trouble."

"Do you need my help?" Ming Sheng asked.

Mazhou Hedao: "No need. To be straightforward." Mazhou He is too straightforward, which is why he is still a small master in his forties. If Ma Jialing, a fellow villager, did not take care of him, he would have turned into dust there. up.Neither of them knew the power of the rumor that this "blunt statement" eventually turned into.

Ming Sheng nodded and said: "It's getting late today, so I'll take my leave."

"I'll send Zhuqing off." Mazhou He said.

The two of them walked out of the thousand-mile horse, and the ordinary stables outside were basically full, and the servants were busy feeding them.

Ming Sheng said while walking: "The horses outside also look very energetic."

"Well, these horses are all good, but their stamina and explosive power are still relatively inferior." Mazhou He said while looking at the horse over there. Suddenly, Ma Zhouhe saw a boy in gray in front of him feeding the horse. He didn't know the food, so he hurried over and shouted, "Stop, what is this?"

"Master, little...you don't even know what it is?" the gray-clothed boy said guiltily.

"You don't know what it is and you dare to feed it to a horse?!" Ma Zhouhe's voice was sharp and his face was stern.

The young boy in gray quietly threw the things in his hands back into the bag on the ground, and said submissively: "It is... the supervisor... the supervisor... told me. Besides, it has been fed for half a month and nothing happened. "After he said that, he became confident again.

"Bastard. It will be too late when something happens. In case someone uses these horses to make a fuss or cause trouble, you won't have enough heads to chop off." As he spoke, he slapped the boy in gray furiously on the forehead.

The grey-clothed boy's expression changed drastically, and he said, "Master..."

"Bastard! There were originally six horses in this batch, why are there only five here?" Ma Zhouhe asked in surprise as he swept the stables aside, grabbed the boy in gray by the collar.

The young man in gray turned pale, and said: "Today, Lord Wang Xiaohou's people came to exchange a horse. It's from this stable. It hasn't come back yet..." Enhou.)

Ma Zhouhe loosened the boy in gray and said, "You! Wash your neck and wait!" As he spoke, he kicked the bag on the ground.