Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 419: New Dynasty Horse Administration (Part )

The horse policies of various dynasties in China, including both private and official animal husbandry, would hardly have more than one million official horses in the country. In the early Western Han Dynasty, there were 36 animal husbandry bureaus in the country, with a total number of about 40 war horses on hand. This reached its peak during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, with official horses on the register.

There was a slight increase in the Tang Dynasty, with more than 70 official horses at its peak. After the Anshi Rebellion, the number dropped to more than 20. Because the Song Dynasty lost the horse-breeding land in the north, there were only 20 official horses at its peak. During the Southern Song Dynasty, the country relied on the tea-horse trade, importing 1.2 horses each year, and had almost no pastures of its own.

At the same time, the Jin Dynasty had a stock of 47 official horses at its peak. It is no wonder that the Jin cavalry was able to win battles again and again.

Through these data, we can have a general understanding of China's horse breeding situation. Therefore, when Lu Jin said that a barbaric island country in the West could actually raise millions of dragon horses that were more than eight feet tall, one can imagine the shock these officials felt. Why could they raise so many good horses? What was their horse policy like? Could we learn a thing or two from them?
However, Lu Jin shook his head at this time, "It is almost impossible, or it is very difficult, to imitate the horse politics of Taixi."

Li Shanchang immediately asked, "Why? What is the difference between the horse policy of this country called Britain?"

Lu Jin then explained, “The horse politics in Taixi means there is no horse politics.”

"."Everyone was confused at once.

Lu Jin looked around again and saw that they were all staring at him, listening. He then asked, "Do you think that the taller the horse is, the better, and that if it is over eight feet tall, it is a dragon? I tell you, this concept is wrong.

"The country raises horses because the post stations and cavalry need mounts. If we just blindly pursue mounts that are as tall as possible, then why don't I just get some elephants from Yunnan and raise them to form an elephant cavalry? Aren't they taller than any horse?"

Feng Guoyong immediately said, "This is because elephants eat too much, run too slowly, are difficult to tame, and give birth too slowly. Raising tens of thousands of elephants is more difficult than raising hundreds of thousands of war horses."

Lu Jin nodded and praised immediately, "That's right, so the best mount should have speed, strength, and endurance, and should be easy to tame, easy to raise, and fast to reproduce. It's best if it's a little tougher and not prone to illness. In summary, horses are still the most suitable for riding.

“However, it is different from the horse-selection techniques you know. If I were to classify them, I would classify them according to body shape, weight and character. Horses with a shoulder height of less than 150 centimeters and a weight of less than 150 kilograms are light horses; horses with a shoulder height of 180 to 180 centimeters and a weight of to kilograms are medium horses; horses with a shoulder height of more than centimeters and a weight of more than kilograms are heavy horses.

"In terms of personality, they can be divided into hot-blooded horses, cold-blooded horses and warm-blooded horses. The so-called hot-blooded horses can be understood as the traditional wild horses, which have bad tempers, are aggressive, competitive, and difficult to tame. But once tamed, this kind of wild horse is the best mount.

"A cold-blooded horse is one that is extremely docile, even a little dull, more honest than a cow, and won't get angry even if you hit it with a stick. As for a warm-blooded horse, it is a hybrid of the cold-blooded and the hot-blooded. It has a docile personality, yet is agile. Although it is not as aggressive as a wild horse, and its speed is not as fast as a wild horse, it cannot be used on the battlefield, but it is the best for ordinary riding.

"If we use this classification method, then the traditional Chinese northern Mongolian horses and Gansu-Qinghai horses are considered to be the fierce horses among the light horses, while Yaoguang is the offspring of the Dayuan horse and the Mongolian horse. The Chixiao should be a Ferghana horse. Both of these are considered to be the fierce horses among the medium-sized horses, weighing about 165 kilograms and with a shoulder height of more than centimeters. They are the best war horses.

“And the Shire horses raised in the British Isles that I just mentioned are heavy cold-blooded horses. Although they are tall and weigh more than 2,000 kilograms, they are extremely docile in character, and with such a size, they can only be described as bulky.

"Think about it yourself and you will know that such a heavy horse cannot run fast, so this kind of horse cannot be used as a war horse. However, it is very suitable to pull artillery carts. Only two horses are needed to drag a cannon weighing ten thousand pounds to follow the troops on the march, instead of using eight Mongolian horses to drag a heavy cannon weighing more than three thousand pounds like we do now.

"As for why the islanders of that country raise so many Shire horses, it is because they do not use oxen to plow the land there, but horses. The millions of Shire horses are raised by the islanders of that country to plow the land and pull carts, not to ride in battles. They are all raised by the people, and the government of that country does not control them, so there is no horse policy at all.

"You may think that a million horses are a lot, but if you compare it with the number of oxen used for farming in China, it won't be that many."

"So that's it." Everyone suddenly understood.

However, Li Shanchang was puzzled again, "But this is not right. China has encouraged animal husbandry in all dynasties, but raising horses is very expensive and ordinary people can hardly afford it. The former Song Dynasty encouraged animal husbandry in Jingdong Road and Hebei Road, but it caused complaints from the people. Why can the island country of Taixi raise so many horses? Even if they are used for farming, it is not cost-effective, right?"

Lu Jin immediately said with emotion, "Sir, you have asked the right question. Why can they afford it? It is only because the agricultural technology of the Western Semu barbarians is extremely backward."

"Backward? How can a backward country afford to raise so many horses?" Feng Guoyong asked in confusion.

Lu Jin then explained in detail.

"The Semu barbarians in the west of Thailand, in many states of varying sizes, have extremely backward agricultural techniques and extremely low grain yields per mu. The people simply cannot get enough to eat just by growing grain, so they do not make a living purely on agriculture, but rather on a half-farming and half-animal husbandry method.

"How backward are they? Let me put it this way. Although they can't be called slash-and-burn farmers, and they even use horses to plow the land, they are not much better. Due to geographical and climatic issues, the West does not grow rice, but mainly grows wheat. The per-acre yield of wheat is not as good as that of rice, and these barbarians can't even ridge plow. They drive horses to turn the land casually, and then scatter seeds casually, and don't care about the rest. They don't know how to weed or apply fertilizer.

"Oh, by the way, they don't even have the curved plow that appeared in our Tang Dynasty, which is more labor-saving and can turn the soil deeper.

"Moreover, these barbarians do not know how to use human and animal feces as compost. They just dump their toilet buckets randomly on the streets of the town. There is filth everywhere. The streets are filthy and plagues often occur."

Everyone was stunned when they heard this. They didn't expect that the Semites in the western land would be so despicable.

Lu Jin continued, "Just think about it. They don't know how to use manure for composting, nor do they know how to till the soil and weed. After a long time, the fertility of the land will definitely decrease. How low will the grain yield per mu be? If I don't tell you, you can't even imagine it. If you sow 30 kilograms of seeds per mu of land, you can only harvest 60 kilograms at most.

"That can't even be considered an acreage yield. Planting 30 kilograms and harvesting 60 kilograms is only twice as much as the seeds. That's shit. If China also farmed like this, the people would starve to death!"

Everyone found it unbelievable. Could such a small harvest really feed a population?

Qin Conglong also asked curiously, "The harvested grain is only twice the amount of seeds. Is this grain edible? There is not enough food for people, so how can we afford to raise horses?"

Lu Jin immediately spread his hands and said, "It is precisely because there is not enough food that they have to use both farming and animal husbandry. In addition to farming, they also have to graze.

"As for raising horses, you also know that if the fields are not fertilized, they will lose their fertility after a few crops. In China, we can apply fertilizers and rotate beans to fertilize the fields, but those barbarians don't know this, so they can only leave the fields fallow." If you have a hundred acres of land, divide it into two pieces, plant fifty acres of wheat, and leave the other half unplanted this year, waiting for it to recover its fertility on its own. This is called the double-field system, and most places in the West are still using this method.

"A little more advanced than this is the three-field system, which divides a hundred acres of land into three plots, of which 30% is used to grow grain for human consumption, another 30% is used to grow oats, which is a kind of grain similar to the barley and highland crops grown by the Qiang people. The Westerners grow it specifically to feed their horses, and the last 30% is left fallow, so that they can afford to raise horses.

"That's why I said that it's hard for us in China to imitate the Westerners' horse policy. Can you let the people allocate 30% of their land to grow food to feed horses? Horses are different from cows. Cows only need to eat grass, but horses need to eat food! If we raise horses according to the Westerners' way, we will be taking food from the population!"

Everyone couldn't help but complain when they heard this. Feng Guoyong immediately said, "This way of raising horses is too wasteful and it's a waste of land."

Li Shanchang also said, "We in China definitely cannot follow this approach!"

Lu Jin also spread his hands and said, "So, raising horses is a very difficult thing, and even if I send a fleet to sail across the ocean for 200,000 miles to bring back those good horses from the West, you alone can't raise horses well!
“It’s not that I look down on Confucian scholars. In fact, China has imported many fine horse breeds throughout the dynasties. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty even launched two wars to import Dayuan horses. The territory of the Tang Dynasty even expanded to Persia. Those were places that produced good horses. The Tang Dynasty also imported good horses such as the Ferghana horse. But look for yourselves, do we have good horses in China now?
"No! They are all light horses like Mongolian horses and Gansu-Qinghai horses. Few have shoulder heights over 150 centimeters. Mongolian horses are not even over 140 centimeters. It's hard to pick a few medium-sized horses like Yaoguang and Chixiao. Even these are regarded as divine horses by you.

"Even if I send people to spend a lot of money to import top-quality war horses from overseas, can you guarantee that you can raise good horses?"

Everyone fell silent upon hearing this. Indeed, few people present knew how to raise horses.

Li Shanchang immediately asked, "Everyone has his own specialty. We are not good at raising horses, and we have not studied the biology in the Gongshu Secret Canon passed down by your family. So, according to your opinion, how should the new dynasty deal with horse policy?"

Lu Jin said immediately, "I just said that Gongshu's biology was developed based on the theory of evolution and genetics. The so-called genetics is actually the theory of bloodline.

"Chen Sheng once said, 'Do kings, dukes, generals and ministers have different species?' Kings, dukes, generals and ministers do not have different species. The strongest soldiers and horses in the world are kings, while the virtuous ones take over. If the emperor does not practice virtuous governance, the country will be destroyed. People with both virtue and talent can pass the imperial examinations to become officials, generals and ministers, and soldiers can also make meritorious deeds on the battlefield and be appointed as generals and dukes. However, according to Gongshu's biology, people do have different species.

"The so-called race here does not refer to what a person can do, but rather the person's appearance, bloodline, and features. For example, the Han people all have black eyes and black hair, the Semu people have high noses and deep eyes, and their eye colors vary. The barbarians in the West are even more exaggerated, with yellow hair and blue eyes, and red hair and red beards. The Japanese are short in stature, and it is said that a seven-foot man is a seven-foot man. The Japanese are not dwarfs, but their average height is less than five feet.

“There are even black people in Africa, whose skin is as black as ink and whose body odor is foul.

"According to the biological classification of kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species, and variety, these are the different varieties of the genus Homo. Do you understand?"

Everyone nodded, "I understand."

Lu Jin then continued, "So-called genetics is an extension of the theory of bloodline. The bloodlines of different races are different. Have you ever thought about this: if a Han Chinese and a Semu person get married and give birth to a child with mixed bloodlines, will this child have straight hair and black eyes or curly hair and blue eyes? Will this child inherit the characteristics of his father or the mother? Have you ever thought about this?"

"This..." Everyone looked at each other in bewilderment. They had never studied this thing before, and they had never heard of anyone studying it as a subject.

Without waiting for their answer, Lu Jin continued, "This is genetics. Not only do humans have bloodlines and breeds, but animals, livestock, and even plants all have their own bloodlines and breeds.

"Someone may ask, what is the use of studying genetics? It is very useful. As long as you learn the theory of genetics, you can use the bloodlines of different species as materials and create a new species that did not exist in the world by hybridizing different species. You can create whatever you want."

Everyone was stunned. Tao An, who had been silent, was even more shocked and said, "How can humans create creatures that do not exist in the world? If so, how is this different from gods and ghosts?"

Lu Jin immediately spread his hands and said, "So Gongshuzi said in his preface that the Mohists regarded me as an immortal god, and the corrupt Confucianists regarded me as a demon. My ancestors really did not deceive me.

"But this is not as magical as you think. The so-called creation of creatures that do not exist in the world does not mean that you can create a winged Pegasus or a winged tiger, but a new species of the same species.

"Let me give you an inappropriate example. There are no mules in the world. Are mules made by mating a horse and a donkey?"

"That's true." Everyone suddenly understood and secretly breathed a sigh of relief. The creation technique that Lu Jin talked about was finally within their understanding.

Lu Jin then said, "It's the same with horse breeding. Mongolian horses and Gansu-Qinghai horses are small in size, but they are adapted to China's climate. Ferghana horses, Dayuan horses, and even some other horse breeds from Persia and the West also have their own bloodlines.

"Let me give you another inappropriate example. If the bloodline of the Arabian horse is a drop of ink, and the bloodline of the Mongolian horse is a drop of water, when the two are combined, the ink will dissolve and the first generation of offspring will be born. They may inherit the father's genes or the mother's genes, with a 50% chance of each.

"The first generation of offspring born at this time will still have at least half of the Ferghana horse bloodline. But if the first generation of offspring is bred with Mongolian horses, the second generation of offspring will only have a quarter of the Ferghana horse bloodline. If the third generation is bred with Mongolian horses, only one-eighth of the Ferghana horse bloodline will be left.

"If this goes on for a long time, it's like adding clear water to a drop of ink. Slowly, the blood of the Arabian horse will be barely detectable in the offspring. If you drop a drop of ink into a pool of clear water, can you still see the drop of ink? When it is completely dissolved, you will only see a pool of clear water.

"This is why, although good horses from the Western Regions were introduced in previous dynasties, we still cannot breed good horses today. This is because the excellent bloodline of the Arabian horse has been diluted, so the excellent traits of the offspring have degenerated."

Everyone suddenly realized, "So that's it."

Li Shanchang finally understood what Lu Jin meant. "Then according to what the lord said, if the new dynasty imports excellent war horse breeds from overseas, then only good horses can be mated with good horses to maintain the purity of the bloodline, without mixing in the mixed blood of inferior horses. Only in this way can the bloodline of good horses continue?"

"That's right." Lu Jin nodded immediately.

Li Shanchang stroked his beard, thought for a moment and said, "That's not going to be easy. If we want to raise hundreds of thousands of purebred war horses, but we can't crossbreed them with Gansu-Qinghai and Mongolian horses, how many breeds of horses should we import? How many years will it take to raise the number of horses?"

Hearing this, Lu Jin said, "It's not as troublesome as you think, but it is indeed not easy."
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PS: Sorry, I clicked the wrong button when uploading. I copied it but it was pasted instead. It was not intentional. I searched the historical versions for a long time before I found the local cache.
(End of this chapter)