The end of the Ming Dynasty swept the world

Chapter 395
Ding Yi can ask him, and naturally he can also ask other Mongolians.

There are always Mongolians willing to tell the truth.

Most of the herdsmen here have not experienced war for hundreds of years, they are relatively simple and not as aggressive as the Mongolians on the grasslands.

After many people intermarried with Han Chinese and Koreans, after several generations, they could no longer be called Mongols.

It's just that the local Han people and Koreans still regard them as descendants of Mongolia.

Tu Zhe'er's head turned quickly, and after only a few seconds, he said: "The cost here is relatively low, and the ponies can be bred by themselves. We all have excellent stallions and mares."

"Grass is natural, and millions of acres of fertile grass are at our disposal. The only thing we need is time and manpower."

"It is necessary to cut a large amount of forage before winter every year, because it is best for war horses to go out in small quantities in winter, and they are easily injured, and they are worthless after being injured."

"Based on my estimate, the cost of raising a horse, including pony, manpower, time, should be --- two taels." Tu Zhe'er gritted his teeth and announced a figure.

Ding Yi calmly looked up at the other Muhu and Mongols. Everyone had similar expressions. It seemed that the cost was also on the scoreboard.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty raised about 10-15 horses in its own country, but the quality of the horses was not high, and there were shady scenes in the official procurement.

Later, he traded with Goryeo at that time, exchanging two pieces of cloth and eight pieces of Wenqi for one horse.

After the Tumu Fort change, return to ten taels of silver for a horse.

Until the opening of the horse market with Mongolia, the price of horses was reduced to five to eight taels.

In the Jiajing period (1537), Liaodong and the Mongols traded in the horse market. A gelding horse sold to the Ming Dynasty cost 6 yuan, a young horse cost [-] yuan, a guinea horse cost [-] yuan, and a cow cost [-] yuan. For money, a sheep is only one point, and a bear and tiger skin are only three points.

This is the most favorable time in history.

After that, it became more and more expensive. In the fifth year of Longqing (1571), the Xinpingbao horse market was five taels and eight cents a horse, and the Zhangjiakou horse market was seven taels and six cents a horse.

Then it became more and more expensive, eight taels, nine taels, and then at the end of Ming Dynasty, especially after the rise of Houjin, the cost of buying horses from Mongolia surged, and it was gradually cut off by Houjin. Now the price of war horses is basically . Between 30 taels and 50 taels.

According to Tu Zheer, the cost is two taels, and selling five taels already has a high profit.

Because the cost of raising horses here is even lower than that of the Mongolian grasslands.

The winter there is colder and the amount of grass is greatly reduced. It is necessary to stock up a large amount of fat and grass before winter, so the cost of raising a horse in winter is even greater.

The weather here is suitable, the fat grass is abundant, and sometimes there is no need to mow the grass before winter, and the grazing can continue.

Just now Tu Zheer also said that it is best to go out in small amounts, not to say that you cannot go out.

"How much did you sell to North Koreans?" Ding Yi asked.

Tu Zhe'er didn't dare to talk nonsense now, so he could only say: "Five taels."

Ding Yi looked back at Shen Shikui.

Shen Shikui said in a deep voice: "We just saw those horses, they don't seem very tall, can they be war horses?"

Tu Zhe'er stared: "If you raise a war horse, the cost will be even higher."

The requirements for military horses in different dynasties are not necessarily the same, but Tu Zheer said that most of the requirements for the shoulder height of the horses must be more than four feet three inches. 3 years old is the best.

Tu Zhe'er continued: "The horses we raise now are basically for commercial and civilian use, because if they are to be used as war horses, the requirements are relatively high."

"Horses not only need to eat grass, but also eat a lot of food."

War horses have to carry people and run for thousands of miles. In this way, it is not enough to just eat grass. They need to eat soybeans, millet, wheat, etc.

In this era when people can't get enough to eat, it is too extravagant to feed horses with grain.

According to the standard mentioned by Tu Zheer, most of the war horses in this period, no matter the Houjin army, the Ming army, or the Mongols, were unqualified.

"Your horses only eat grass?" Ding Yi asked again.

"I will also feed a small amount of soybeans and millet." Muhu here also grows some soybeans and millet, mainly to feed the horses and nourish the horse's stomach, which will make the horses look stronger when they are sold. Get a good price.

Of course, in order to reduce costs, the amount of food used is still relatively small, so the horse basically cannot reach the shoulder height of more than four feet three inches as he said.

Ding Yi thought for a while, and said in a deep voice: "If I ask, all the horses meet the requirements of standard war horses, with a shoulder height of more than four feet three inches, and the age of the horses is more than 3 years old and less than 8 years old. How much will it cost?"

Tu Zhe'er's mind turned quickly, and finally he said through gritted teeth: "A horse eats about 3500 catties of fodder a year."

"According to one-tenth of the ration, at least 350 catties of soybeans or millet are needed."

"Considering the quality of the war horse required by the general, it should be at least 400-500 catties."

Calculated in this way, the food cost alone costs two to three taels.

Tu Zhe'er finally said: "The cost is six taels."

Ding Yi turned his head and looked at each other with the generals. The cavalry really cost money, and the cost of raising a horse is only six taels a year.

If there is no war, a horse can be used for several years, even more than ten years, but if there is a war, it will suffer huge losses.

And this is just the cost. After the successor gets it, it will cost money to support it.

"How many horses can be raised here? The biggest." Ding Yi asked again.

Tu Zhe'er said: "5 horses."

"Oh." Ding Yi said with a smile: "I just heard that it can only be [-]."

"The [-] are all adult horses. General Ding will start to raise them now, and it is impossible for them to be all adult horses. We can always maintain [-] adult horses and [-] young horses. We will provide General Ding with about [-] qualified war horses every year. .”

"Only [-] a year?" Ding Yi felt a little low.

"Out of every [-] war horses, only [-] are qualified, and the rest can only be used as transport horses." Tu Zhe'er said.

Shen Shikui nodded at this moment, it was true, and in the Ming Dynasty, it was said that only one out of ten horses was qualified.

Why is that?Because the other horses were embezzled by them.

In fact, as long as you are serious about raising horses (provided you are serious and voluntary), you can choose one of the two.

In the early Ming Dynasty, the government forced the people to raise horses, and everyone deliberately raised horses to death. Later, there was no way to change it to official procurement, and the people voluntarily.

Immediately there were more private horse breeders, but when the government procured, it said that only one out of ten horses was qualified, and there was a lot of corruption.

Tu Zheer explained to Ding Yi that the death rate of raising horses was quite high, especially when young horses were born. Fortunately, the climate here is better than that on the grasslands, and the survival rate is relatively high.

Therefore, we need to prepare [-] young horses. When the young horses grow up to adulthood, the young horses will come out to replace them. Repeatedly, Bao Zheng can provide Ding Yi with [-] qualified war horses every year.

The unqualified can be given to North Korea, Ding Yi thought to himself, he thought for a while, and then asked, besides raising horses, what else do you do?
Tu Zhe'er said, they also plant a small amount of fields, one is to feed the horses with a small amount of grain, so that they can be sold for a good price, and the other is to feed themselves.

Ding Yi then called another group of Mongolians. This group of Mongolians mainly raised cattle and sheep. After Ding Yi asked, he found that most of them did not raise many cattle. Each household had dozens of cattle, dozens or so There are hundreds of sheep, and almost no one raises more than a thousand.

In the same period, the grassland Mongolians often had thousands of head raised by a family.

Of course, there are many people on the grassland, and there is a lot of consumption.

The population here is small, and they mainly raise food for themselves, and then sell a small amount of cattle. The cattle are mainly yellow cattle for food, and few buffaloes are used for plowing.

They raise cattle and sheep, eat beef and mutton, sell cattle and sheep skins, and also farm a small amount. Farming is the same as raising horses, not only for their own food, but also because cattle and sheep also eat a small amount of grain.

Ding Yi and the members of the Ming army also looked at each other in blank dismay. Many places in the Ming Dynasty didn't even have food for people, and Jeju Island had to consider the food for cattle, sheep and horses, but this is a good thing. It proves that the fields here are really good. .

Ding Yi summoned more than 100 people, most of whom were big and wealthy families in Jeju Island, former low-level officials, or elders in the village.

He asked seven Mongolians, and then came to a group of Koreans.

(End of this chapter)