Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 421: New Dynasty Horse Administration (Part )

Seeing that everyone was looking at him expectantly, Lu Jin hesitated for a while before speaking.

"The imperial court took the lead in organizing horse racing competitions among the people. The rules only allowed horses of registered breeds bred by the imperial court to participate. Mixed horses with impure bloodlines were not allowed to participate.

"Pureblood horses raised by the people must be registered at the Imperial Household Department. If the people want to breed purebred horses themselves, they must take the genealogy and household registration of the two horses to the Imperial Household Department to obtain the engagement letters or breeding certificates of both the male and female horses, and then breed them at the place designated by the court.

"Only when the mare is successfully pregnant and the foal meets the breed standards can the offspring be registered as breed horses to ensure the purity of their bloodline."

Everyone looked at each other in surprise when they heard this. They didn't expect that Lu Jin's idea was to hold a horse racing competition. Feng Guoyong thought about the rules and then nodded and said.

"This can indeed ensure that the bloodlines of horses raised by the public are pure, but raising horses is expensive. If you want to participate in horse racing competitions, you have to raise them carefully and hire someone to train them. The cost of raising horses is not low, and it is even higher than raising ordinary mixed horses. How can we attract people to raise purebred horses themselves?"

Lu Jin immediately said, "Guan Zhong said that human nature is to seek benefits and avoid harm, and policy making should be guided by benefits. The fundamental purpose of the court holding horse racing is to let the people help the court share the cost of raising war horses to save court expenses. This is definitely a long-term policy, but if you want to maintain this policy for a long time, you have to let horse breeders see tangible benefits. If raising horses can't make money, who would raise horses?"

“So, for the competition, we must set up high prize money to attract the people to participate. It can be done like the imperial examination. There are imperial examinations for scholars and martial arts examinations for warriors. Then we can also have a similar competition for war horses. In each competition, the first, second and third place winners will be selected. The champion will receive 10,000 taels of silver, the runner-up will receive 5,000 taels, the third place will receive 3,000 taels, and the top six winners in the second place will receive 1,000 to 500 taels of silver.

"When ordinary people see such a generous prize, they will definitely be tempted. Although raising horses costs money, if they can get a high ranking, even if they can't make a fortune, at least they can make back their investment and won't lose too much."

Everyone was dumbfounded.

"Is this the selection of horses for the imperial examination?"

"Hiss - if a horse champion emerges, there will be a prize of 10,000 taels. This is probably more money than I can earn in several lifetimes. If I had the money to raise horses, I would definitely give it a try. What if I win? Even if I win the second place, third place, or second place in the imperial examination, it would still be a huge sum of money. It's definitely worth it."

The current market price of rice is about fifty wen salt and iron coupons per dou, which is equivalent to four wen per jin, which is similar to the purchasing power of three or four yuan in later generations. The official exchange rate between silver dollars and salt and iron coupons stipulates that one tael of silver is exchanged for one thousand wen, which is equivalent to the purchasing power of one thousand yuan in later generations.

However, because silver was still relatively scarce at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, the government only set a price but did not actually exchange it. Therefore, on the black market for private transactions, one tael of silver could be exchanged for one or two thousand salt and iron coupons. In other words, a prize of 10,000 taels of silver was roughly equivalent to more than 10 million RMB in later generations. This was a sky-high fortune, and it was indeed money that many people could not earn in several lifetimes!

Even if you get sixth place in the second class, which is ninth in the entire game, you can still get a prize of 500 taels, which is equivalent to the purchasing power of 500,000 RMB. This is very exciting. After all, there is only one champion, and you may not be able to win. There are only three places in the first class, but even if you only get ninth place, it is not a loss!

Upon hearing this, Li Shanchang stroked his beard and said, "This can indeed attract wealthy people among the people to raise horses on their own initiative, and it can also save the court a lot of horse-raising expenses. The court only needs to pay out a few tens of thousands of taels of bonus every year to attract a large number of people to raise horses, which is at least much lower than the cost of raising horses by official herdsmen.

"Moreover, the people are raising horses voluntarily because they are greedy for the bonus, which is what the lord said is to lure them with benefits, but the government does not force them to raise horses. In this way, there is no so-called horse policy that harms the people.

"But what are the drawbacks that my lord is talking about? And how does the court make a profit from horse racing? Could it be that the court sells stallions to the public to make a profit?"

Lu Jin immediately said, "Of course it's not selling stallions, at least it's not the main profit project. As for the disadvantages, you only hold one race a year, and the prize money for only nine places is too little, and it's difficult to form a scale effect. If hundreds of participating horses compete for those nine places, it's reasonable. If thousands or tens of thousands of horses compete for those nine places, it's not good enough.

“Raising horses is so expensive, but there is no hope of winning any prizes, so people’s enthusiasm has gradually waned. So we need to hold more competitions, preferably more than a dozen a year, all over the country, so that places suitable for horse breeding can participate and horse breeders everywhere can see the hope of winning prizes.

“Isn’t it said to be modeled after the imperial examination? The imperial examination also had the Academy Examination for Scholars, the Provincial Examination for Juren, the Metropolitan Examination for Jinshi, and the Palace Examination for Champions. Horse racing can’t copy this system, of course, but it can also be divided into different levels and events.

"When a foal is born, it starts training at the age of one. At the age of two, it participates in the Young Horse Championship and officially debuts as a racehorse. At the age of three, it participates in the National League and runs well in various venues across the country to gain a reputation. At the age of four, it participates in the Golden Grand Prix, which is the one with a prize of 10,000 taels. The competition is divided into three levels according to the age of the horse.

“Only when there are enough competitions and they are held all year round can horse breeders make horse racing their career and concentrate on raising horses, matching horses, training horses and racing horses, and treat it as a serious business.

“If a horse has not achieved any results at the age of four, it is already an adult. Continuing to raise it will only increase the cost of the horse breeder. At this time, the owner can choose to retire the racehorse and then sell it to the government at a low price. The Imperial Household Department only needs to pay the cost of raising the horse to buy back these purebred racehorses, and the owner can also make back some of the capital, so as not to suffer a huge loss.

“You should know that even the eliminated racehorses are of pure bloodline and are excellent war horses. According to the age classification of the competition, as long as there are 50,000 to 60,000 registered racehorses nationwide, there will be more than 10,000 eliminated racehorses every year, which is enough for the court to form a cavalry division.

"According to the average lifespan of a horse, which is 25 years, a warhorse can serve in the army for ten years from the age of five until it reaches adulthood at the age of fifteen. If a cavalry division is formed every year using the eliminated racehorses, the court can form at least ten cavalry divisions, with hundreds of thousands of elite cavalry.

"Adding the warhorses in the government-run ranches, a total of 15 cavalry divisions can be formed across the country, and 200,000 cavalrymen are more than enough."

Everyone nodded frequently as they listened, feeling that Lu Jin's idea of ​​dividing the competitions by age was a stroke of genius. If this competition system was followed, there would be more than 10,000 racehorses in almost every age group, and horse breeders would only need to eliminate the horses that did not rank in batches according to the progress of the competitions and age groups.

Taipu Temple's low-price recycling policy is equivalent to providing horse breeders with a guaranteed income. Not getting a ranking is equivalent to not making any profit for four years, but it will not be a huge loss either. However, once a ranking is achieved, the income will be considerable, and this income is all theirs.

The imperial court could also obtain a large and stable source of war horses from the public every year at the lowest price, which was used to continuously update the old horses of the cavalry in the army and keep all the war horses in peak condition.

These old horses that were eliminated by the army, ranging from 15 to 25 years old, still had at least ten years of life left. The imperial court could also sell them to the public at a low price for the people to pull carts or ride, and at the same time recover the cost of buying the horses. It was a win-win situation, equivalent to getting a war horse for free. The only thing they really needed to pay was the feed money for the ten years of service in the army. This method was absolutely amazing.
How did Lu Jin know so much about it? In fact, it was because a classmate of his who liked 2D horse racing girls told him a lot about Japanese horse racing.

After the Meiji Restoration, Japan followed the example of Britain and started horse racing. It also introduced many excellent horse breeds from Europe to breed war horses. As a result, horse racing became popular in Japan, and internationally renowned large-scale events such as the Emperor Award and the Satsuki Award were launched.

Japan also has an official horse racing association. Currently, there are more than 20,000 officially registered racehorses. With this number, more than 5,000 racehorses are eliminated every year. In modern times, there is no place for cavalry. Most of these retired racehorses that have lost their value are directly made into horse meat sashimi and canned horse meat.
But it was different in the Ming Dynasty. Even retired racehorses could be used as war horses. Even if internal combustion engine trucks were invented when Lu Jin was alive, the role of horses would not be eliminated so quickly.

Didn’t you see that during World War II, trucks and tanks were everywhere, the Soviet Union also had a large-scale cavalry army, and the German mechanized corps also had a large number of mule and horse troops. During World War I, horses were the main force for towing artillery and logistics transportation on the battlefield.

Lu Jin then added, "Moreover, participating in competitions and earning prize money is only a part of the income of horse breeders. Once a horse has achieved good results and won a championship, the other income may even be higher than the prize money."

Chen Yu immediately asked, "Besides the prize money from the competition, what other income can there be?"

"Of course it's for breeding." Lu Jin explained immediately, "When people go to take the imperial examination, there are also wealthy businessmen looking for sons-in-law under the list. Do you think there is no such thing in the horse racing club?"

"Uh" They really didn't expect this.

“Think about it, if a horse wins the championship, or wins two or three races in a row, it will be a double crown, triple crown, or even a grand slam. With such a horse king, I wonder how many horse owners will want to ask it to breed with their mares, and the value of this champion horse will go up.

"Two hundred taels of silver for each breeding, and another hundred taels of silver if the mare successfully conceives. I can earn three hundred taels of silver for breeding a mare. If I breed fifty horses a year, the income from breeding alone will be fifteen thousand taels of silver, which is more than half of the prize money for the champion.

"And from now on, we can breed fifty horses every year, which is equivalent to a stable income of 15,000 taels every year. As for the runner-up, third place, etc., although they won't be as good as the champion horse once, they can still earn several thousand taels a year through breeding. There must be no problem, right? There are many ways to make money here."

Wow, everyone was shocked by this high income. If you calculate it this way, a champion horse will earn far more than the 15 taels of prize money. If you continue to keep it as a stud for ten years, wouldn't you be able to earn taels just by breeding? Wow, how much money is this.
15 taels of silver is roughly equivalent to the purchasing power of 1.5 million RMB in modern times. In fact, it is a relatively normal value in modern times. The commercial value of top athletes can earn more than million by signing some advertising endorsements, such as Olympic champions. This is very normal.

Lu Jin added, "There is another advantage to this, which is that we can continuously select and breed better stallions through competitions. Horses that don't win a rank are not worthy of breeding the next generation. Only the best racehorses that win a rank can obtain the breeding rights. In this way, through long-term selection and breeding through competitions, the horses bred will only become stronger and stronger, and there will not be a situation where dynasties have introduced excellent war horses, but eventually all of them have degenerated." Feng Guoyong frowned and said, "But three hundred taels for breeding, isn't it too expensive? If a horse farmer wants to raise a good horse, he has to pay three hundred taels of capital first, and the horse may not win a rank when it is born. The court is unlikely to spend three hundred taels to buy back such a horse. Wouldn't the horse owner be losing money?"

Lu Jin said immediately, "Pureblood horses are not something that ordinary people can afford to raise. Only the poor can't afford them. Rich families can only raise three or five horses. You are worrying that they are too expensive. Besides, they are the best horses in the world. Is it really expensive to breed them at three hundred taels?"

"If you really think it's expensive, you can look for those breeds that are not ranked very high. They are definitely cheaper, and maybe with careful training, they can also run well."

When Li Shanchang heard that raising horses could make so much money, he also became interested, so he asked, "The court will hold more than a dozen competitions, and the prize money will be quite a lot. The prize money alone may be hundreds of thousands of taels a year. Since horse breeders make so much money, can the court collect taxes from them?
"Otherwise, they made so much money from the competitions and the horses that the court had worked so hard to breed, but the court only spent money and never earned anything. Wouldn't that be a huge loss?"

Lu Jin thought for a moment before saying, "It's not ideal to impose taxes on bonuses. We originally hoped to use bonuses to attract people to raise horses, but the money from breeding can indeed be taxed, and we can't let the horse owners earn so much for nothing. The court should impose at least 30% of the breeding income of 15,000 taels a year in taxes. If a horse owner gets 300 taels for each breeding, he has to pay 100 taels to the court.

"Every year, at least 10,000 racehorses are bred. This way, the imperial court can collect at least 100,000 taels of tax from the horse owners, which can be considered a return on some of the investment.

"Moreover, the collection of this tax by the imperial court will not cause much resentment among horse breeders. After all, they make a lot of money anyway. In addition, the cost of collecting this tax is relatively low. They can just pay the tax at the breeding station designated by the government. If they don't pay the tax, the government will not issue them breeding certificates or register their breed horses. In this way, even if they breed privately, the government will not allow them to participate in competitions. They will have no choice but to pay the tax on their own initiative, and there is no need for the government to urge them."

Li Shanchang nodded and asked, "Then there is no problem. However, from this point of view, apart from the fact that the court needs to spend some prize money to hold the competition, there doesn't seem to be much disadvantage. What disadvantages are you worried about? Also, what we are talking about now are all horse breeders making money. It seems that the court can't make any profit from it, right?"

Lu Jin finally said at this time, "If the court wants to make a profit from this, it is actually very simple. Have you ever seen Bo Mai?"

"Uh, this"

Everyone was shocked when they heard this. They never expected that their lord, who always behaved like a gentleman, would propose to use such a method to make a profit.
The so-called Bo Mai, also known as Guan Pu, Pu Mai, etc., is similar to gambling in the current sense. It is a commercial behavior that was born in the Northern Song Dynasty. It refers to gambling promotion methods in the form of lottery, drawing lots, darts, and turntables. For example, for a product with an original price of one hundred coins, customers spend ten coins to draw a lot. If they win the product, they can take it away directly. If they don’t win, the ten coins belong to the merchant. It is similar to modern ring tossing and balloon hitting.

This thing was particularly popular during the Song and Yuan dynasties. During the Song dynasty, when the Spring Festival came, people would go shopping and play Guanpu. Moreover, people in the Song and Yuan dynasties loved to go to the market. Even if they had no money, they would go. In order to attract customers, some vendors would deliberately give away worthless things by lottery. In order to attract customers, people without money also liked to go shopping. What if they won the lottery? What can they get for free?
So don’t think that ancient people were ignorant. Although some things have different names, they have already seen them.

However, because this kind of business activity was somewhat related to gambling, the government of the Song Dynasty did not actually encourage it, but it did not strictly prohibit it either. It was a tacit approval attitude. In the Yuan Dynasty, it was simply ignored, so it was very popular among the people.

Tao An frowned upon hearing this, and then he advised, "My lord, betting and gambling are similar to gambling. Although the Song and Yuan dynasties did not strictly prohibit them, they actually did not encourage such behavior. Once gambling becomes popular, it will inevitably have a very bad impact. The people will all want to get something for nothing, so no one will engage in various industries, and people's livelihood will naturally decline.

"Especially if this matter is done by ordinary people, it is fine, but if the court officials take the lead, wouldn't it encourage the people to follow suit? After all, if the superiors like something, the subordinates will follow it. My lord, please think twice."

Lu Jin immediately accepted the advice with an open mind and nodded, "Of course I know this truth, that's why I am hesitant."

Feng Guoyong and Li Shanchang looked at each other and realized that Lu Jin was trying to pass on the blame.
Lu Jin said before that this thing has both advantages and disadvantages, but you guys insisted that I say this, and he has already expressed his position. He knows that this thing has a bad atmosphere, so he is hesitant. Didn’t you say before that you would help to find out the gaps and fill them in? Then you guys come and express your position.

If this thing is successful, it will naturally be Lu Jin's credit, after all, it was he who proposed it himself. If trouble arises, whoever nods in support today will take the blame, it will not be Lu Jin's fault anyway.

Or is this lord really evil-hearted?
Li Shanchang thought about it, his eyes immediately swept over Yang Xian, and he nodded slightly, imperceptibly. Yang Xian gritted his teeth, immediately threw down the fishing rod beside him and stood up.

Unexpectedly, all their little movements were seen clearly by Lu Jin's eyes hidden behind his sunglasses. He wondered when these two people had hooked up with each other, but he did not show any abnormality and pretended not to know.

Yang Xian stood up and immediately bowed and said, "My lord, I think there is a difference between this game and gambling. Games like pitching pots are also suspected of gambling. During the New Year's Day and Lantern Festival of the former Song Dynasty, when the people were celebrating the festival, they would go out to the streets to play some games of gambling.

"As the saying goes, small gambling brings pleasure, big gambling kills. As long as it is not too big, even if the government personally gambles, I think it is fine. These tricks have long been known among the people, and the court can be said to be having fun with the people."

Lu Jin nodded when he heard this, then he looked at Feng Guoyong and Li Shanchang and asked them, "What do you think about this matter?"

Feng Guoyong was named, and after thinking for a while, he said, "I also think that gambling is a bad thing, but what Yang Yushi said makes sense. If it's not a big deal, just like a folk game, then it's fine. There's no need to make a big deal about it. The key is to see what the lord wants to do."

Lu Jin proposed it himself. Of course, he also knew the harm of gambling in groups, so he was also very cautious.

Putting aside the gambling, the horse racing system in the UK and Japan is still very advantageous for the breeding of horses. If you win, you get the right to breed, and you will have many offspring and return home with honor. If you lose, you will be made into canned horse meat directly, and the loser does not deserve the right to mate. Through breeding from generation to generation, the ones that remain are naturally the best war horses!

But these capitalist horse racing bettings are too exaggerated, and can make gamblers lose everything they have. Capitalist countries may not care about it, but Lu Jin cannot help but care.

So in his idea, the horse racing he organized should be more like a regular sports event, and he could sell some lottery tickets at the same time, just like welfare lottery and sports lottery. The main purpose was to recoup the huge expenses of raising horses for the court and save the cost of raising horses for the court. He did not expect to make much money from this thing.

And many people don’t know that the Soviet Union, a publicly owned country, once engaged in horse racing. The participating horses were all from state-owned farms and were state-owned assets. Citizens would watch horse racing and buy tickets, but the stakes were not high and there were limits on betting. Unlike in the UK and Japan, there were no multiple odds and no upper limit on betting. You either made a lot of money or you lost a lot of money.

What Lu Jin wanted to do was to create a horse racing system similar to that of the Soviet Union.

What Tao An said just now is very true. Gambling will give people the illusion of getting something for nothing. Therefore, once you get addicted, you can't get out of it. It is extremely harmful to social atmosphere.

Therefore, even if we run a lottery, we can’t let people make too much money. The maximum amount they can bet is a few dozen dollars. If they win, they won’t win much, and if they lose, they won’t lose too much either. The key lies in the right degree.

As the founding emperor, Lu Jin was confident that he could control the situation, but he was afraid that his descendants would mess around. This thing was like Pandora's box, once opened it would be difficult to close.

So he said, "I'm thinking of it like gambling. Before each race, lottery tickets are sold at the racecourse. The audience can choose which horse will win and which place it will win. Each bet costs ten cents, and each person can place a maximum of ten bets. After the race is over, after paying the audience who bought the lottery tickets, there will definitely be some profit. After all, the dealer will never lose money on this thing."

Feng Guoyong thought for a while before saying, "Nowadays, the daily wage for waiters in restaurants is only 100 wen, laborers 200 wen, and craftsmen 300 wen. If we set an upper limit, the maximum bet is 100 wen, which doesn't seem to be too much. I guess you can't win much. If you bet 100 wen and win 200 or 300, if that's all, you can do it. As long as you don't win or lose dozens of taels like in gambling houses, you won't ruin people's homes."

With Yang Xian and Feng Guoyong taking the lead, Li Shanchang finally spoke.

“I second the proposal. If the winning or losing is only a few hundred coins, then I think it can be done. This way, we can share the fun with the people, and it can also arouse the people’s attention and enthusiasm for horse breeding.

“Also, I roughly understand my lord’s intention. He does not want to make huge profits by this means. He just wants to make up for some of the expenses of raising horses for the court. He does not need to make too much money from selling lottery tickets. He just needs to make back the prize money and expenses paid by the court for holding the competition. It is enough to break even.

"If we promote horse breeding through horse racing, the court won't have to spend a penny, and tens of thousands of top-quality war horses can be raised among the people. The people will enjoy watching, the horse breeders will make money, and the court will get a stable source of high-quality war horses without spending any money. Why not do it?"

"Yes, that's exactly what I mean. As long as the money earned can cover the expenses of hosting the competition, it will be great. The key is not to make money, but to maintain the operation of this industrial chain." Lu Jin immediately nodded in agreement.

(End of this chapter)