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According to the suggestion of Du Feng, the Minister of the Imperial Household, the Qin Dynasty should also set up official ranches to raise horses, but this would mainly serve as a strategic reserve.
The cattle and horses needed on a daily basis were mainly obtained from nomadic peoples through commodity trade, following the policies of the Song Dynasty. In this way, the court did not have to set up many large ranches and spend a lot of effort.
At the same time, it can promote border trade, increase commercial tax revenue, and increase the dependence and trust of various nomadic peoples on the Qin Dynasty.
Du Feng was full of joy and said, "The prosperity of border trade is not as simple as increasing the commercial taxes of the court. I have carefully read the materials of the Song Dynasty and found that since the beginning of the Song Dynasty, Emperor Taizu of Song Dynasty has vigorously encouraged merchants to trade at the border by formulating some preferential policies. In addition to hoping to obtain the war horses that were in short supply in the Song Dynasty, there is another very important reason."
"Please speak, Mr. Du."
"King Qin, in order to ensure peace on the border, every dynasty has had to station a large number of troops on the border. And these borders are usually far away from grain-producing areas. The court has to spend a lot of manpower and financial resources on supplying the border troops.
The Ming Dynasty implemented the "Kaizhong Law", which required merchants to transport food and fodder to the border to supply military needs. The imperial court then issued salt permits to merchants, allowing them to sell salt within a certain range.
The Song Dynasty also had the Kaizhong Law, but in addition, the Song Dynasty encouraged border trade to solve the supply problem of border troops. Starting from Emperor Taizu of Song, a large number of trading grounds were set up on the border, and relatively detailed regulations were made for these trading grounds to regulate border trade.
Most of the tax revenue from border trade was used to support the border troops, which greatly reduced the amount of supplies shipped from the interior. When Wang Anshi became prime minister, in order to develop the northwest, he gave the border troops many privileges in border trade, so that most of the daily supplies of the northwest border troops could be solved by border trade alone.
Wang Anshi once said, "With today's strength and today's wealth, there is nothing that cannot be done in the northwest." It sounds like he is rich and powerful.
The key to Wang Anshi's bold statement lies in border trade. Therefore, I think that the horse policy of the Qin Dynasty can learn from the strategy of the Song Dynasty. There is no need to set up a large number of official ranches. It is entirely possible to obtain the required war horses from nomads through border trade. This will kill several birds with one stone. It can reduce unnecessary waste of the court, promote the prosperity of border trade, and solve part of the supply of the border troops. "
Qin Mu listened quietly. Du Feng highly praised the tea-horse trade in the Song Dynasty. However, as far as Qin Mu knew, the tea-horse trade in the Song Dynasty also had its drawbacks.
In this era, war horses have always been regarded as one of the most important strategic resources of a country. In order to ensure their own strategic advantages, the Liao Kingdom and the Western Xia Dynasty strictly restricted the sale of war horses to the Song Dynasty.
In other words, during the Song Dynasty, war horses, one of the most important war resources, were always restricted by the nomadic tribes.
However, from what Du Feng said, the strategies he mentioned were no longer limited to horse politics, but had already involved the core part of a country's comprehensive strategy.
The supply of border troops, the prosperity of border trade, exchanges with surrounding nomadic tribes, salt administration, tea trade, horse administration, etc., this series of issues were put together and solved in a highly integrated, mutually promoting, complementary and perfect way.
Qin Mu was very pleased that he had such vision.
Among the high-ranking officials of the Qin Dynasty, there were very few who were truly Jinshi (Jinshi) graduates, and most of them were "latecomers".
But precisely because of this, there are very few high-ranking officials who are promoted like the Donglin Party members who are boastful and talk big but can't do anything when asked to do something practical.
Like Du Feng, he was also just a scholar before, but listening to what he said, he was well-reasoned and meaningful, and his words were definitely not those empty words that were full of flowery words but unrealistic.
"King Qin, the tea-horse trade in the Song Dynasty was restricted by Liao and Xia. In fact, it could only trade war horses from the Tibetans in the northwest. In this regard, the Song Dynasty was greatly restricted, but it was still able to keep a lot of war horses, and also explained a large part of the food and grass supplies for the northwest border troops. This is already very remarkable.
Looking at our Great Qin, we do not have to worry about being restricted like the Song Dynasty. Now Liaodong, Hetao, Hexi, Longyou, and Khorchin have all been brought under the rule of the Great Qin. These places are traditional horse-producing areas, and the people mostly make a living by grazing.
Therefore, even if the surrounding nomadic peoples became hostile to the Qin Dynasty and restricted the trade of war horses, it would not cause fundamental harm to the Qin Dynasty. The Qin Dynasty could still obtain a large number of war horses from the people under its rule.
With the traditional horse-producing areas such as Liaodong, Hetao, Hexi and Longyou in our hands, we do not have to worry about being restricted by external factors like the Song Dynasty. On the contrary, we can control the surrounding nomadic peoples through this move.
Nomadic peoples have a single output, and all livestock cannot maintain their value for a long time. To put it bluntly, when horses, cattle and sheep grow up, they must sell them, otherwise there will not be enough grass, the cattle and sheep will die, and they will become penniless. And even if the cattle and sheep do not die, they must exchange them for other necessary living materials such as salt, iron and tea.
Through border trade, we can not only obtain the war horses we need from them, but also control them and make them form a habit of dependence. If anyone dares to invade Daqin, we will first cut off trade with him and make him hesitate. "
Qin Mu suddenly remembered that Yang Shen once mentioned that since ancient times, nomadic peoples had often invaded the south in years of plenty when livestock were thriving, rather than in years of famine.
By strengthening border trade and allowing both sides to get what they need, nomadic peoples can also obtain the necessary daily necessities through peaceful means. After their lives get better, will they still be willing to take risks
There are definitely people who want to gain something without working, but Qin Mu believes that more people cherish their lives. After all, every invasion to the south is not necessarily gaining something without working, and most of the time it costs lives.
In this way, developing border trade is truly a win-win situation. Daqin can obtain a large amount of commercial taxes and also solve some of the border army supply problems.
On the other hand, strengthening trade with surrounding ethnic groups will help increase their dependence on Daqin. At the same time, such close exchanges can increase mutual communication and friendship and eliminate barriers between each other.
More importantly, China in this era has a strong cultural advantage. The more frequent the communication, the more conducive it is to the promotion of Chinese culture. Or you can call it cultural invasion.
Qin Mu talked with Du Feng for a long time. The sky outside the Yangxin Palace was a deep blue, and the autumn clouds were floating in the wind with a sense of leisure. The incense in the palace exuded a wisp of smoke, which made people feel more peaceful.
Qin Mu said to Du Feng, "Mr. Du, please compile these suggestions into a booklet and hand it over to me. I will put it in the court meeting in two days for the ministers to discuss together. Let everyone work together to fill in the gaps and try to improve it to form a comprehensive and comprehensive border strategy, so that we can start to implement it."
Du Feng was overjoyed when he heard this, and immediately stood up and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, I obey your order."
Qin Mu raised his hand to signal, and said in a deep voice: "Du Qing, don't be anxious, you sit down first, I still have something to say about horse politics."
"Yes, King Qin."
Qin Mu sorted out his thoughts a little and said, "Mr. Du, according to your plan, although the war horses needed by the court do not have to rely entirely on the official ranch, the importance of the official ranch must still be highly valued.
What I mean is that Guanjian Ranch should not only reserve war horses for emergency use, but also turn Guanjian Ranch into an institution integrating domestication, livestock disease research, and breed improvement.
Especially in the areas of livestock disease prevention and control, and breed improvement, ordinary people find it difficult to undertake such research, so it has to be done by government-supervised ranches.
Don't underestimate these things. Under the rule of the Qin Dynasty, there are a large number of herdsmen, and their main source of livelihood is animal husbandry. However, the occurrence of a plague can make thousands of households lose everything. Even if you achieve a little success in the prevention and treatment of animal husbandry diseases, it is possible to save thousands of people from disasters. The Imperial Household Department must attach great importance to this.
In addition, although Mongolian horses have good endurance and are not picky about food, they are small in size and have a lot of room for improvement. As far as I know, during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, stallions were introduced from the Western Regions and attempts were made to improve the breed.
The Imperial Household Department should also strengthen research in this area, not only to improve the breed of war horses, but also to actively improve the breeds of cattle, sheep, camels, and even poultry such as chickens, ducks, and geese. These things may seem insignificant, but they are all major issues related to the national economy and people's livelihood.
If you need funds, I will give them to you even if I have to allocate them from the inner treasury. Du Liao, if you do these things well and make achievements, you will definitely have a place in my Lingyan Pavilion."
Du Feng's beard trembled with excitement. He stood up and bowed solemnly: "Your Majesty, I will obey the king's will until my death."
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ps: Today's monthly tickets are so bleak, only two votes a day, to be honest, I feel powerless. Brothers who have monthly tickets, please support me.
Please give me a monthly ticket!
.(To be continued..)
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