With 100,000 horses, this number sounds terrifying, but this number is nothing to a large pastoral area.

Gao Jitai had a way to get 100,000 war horses. The problem was that buying horses involved a secret from Tianquan Liufan. If you tell them, it would be unpredictable!

He frowned and pondered for a while, then asked carefully: "Your Majesty, General Qin said, if we recruited the clan of the Siju family in Tianquan and Liuban, you will provide us with food and salary. I wonder if this matter is true or false?"

Of course this is true.

Zhu Qizhuo nodded solemnly and said, "You are here to guard the border for the Ming Dynasty. The Ming Dynasty will naturally pay you food and salary. Don't worry, I will not let you guard the border here when you are hungry."

After so many years, the court finally paid us food and salary again!

Gao Jitai couldn't help but burst into tears when he heard this.

It is really not easy for them. There is no way for them to grow food in this bitter and cold land on the frontier. If the tribe members do not starve to death, they can only grazle and raise cattle, sheep and horses.

Problem, it is not easy to raise cattle, sheep and horses in this high-altitude land, and there are only so many pastures in their country, so in winter, people often starve to death!

The population of their Tianquan Liubanzhaodian has become smaller and smaller, from more than 100,000 at its peak to less than 50,000 now.

This is also the fundamental reason why he decided to follow the Tang King to rebel against Jingshen.

What happened to the rebellion and Jingshen?

Anyway, the original court ignored them and did not pay them food and salary. So what if it reversed?

Although the King of Tang was not the real emperor, the King of Tang promised to pay them food and pay them. With this, they followed the King of Tang, even if they rebel, they would do it!

Gao Jitai secretly wiped his tears and asked carefully: "Your Majesty, I will ask you boldly. I wonder how many people you plan to send us, and how much is the specific food and salary?"

These people must win over, and the war horses depend on them.

Zhu Qizhuo said without hesitation: "This depends on the number of your population. Otherwise, tell me how many people you have and how many soldiers you can send out. In short, in a word, I will not let you guard the border with hunger!"

Very good!

Gao Jitai couldn't help but say excitedly: "Your Majesty, I'm going to tell you that the population of our Tianquan Liuban recruitment department is less than 50,000. However, we are young and strong, so it should be no problem to recruit 5,000 troops."

Is this too exaggerated?

The territory of Tianquan Liufanzhan Treasury Department is as big as four or five counties, with a total population of less than 50,000!

However, it is not difficult to support this number of people.

Zhu Qizhu just estimated it a little and then made a decision: "Let's do this, 5,000 troops will be calculated based on ordinary border soldiers. Each person will have one stone of grain per month and one liang of food. In addition, you can decide the small flag, general flag, hundreds of households, thousands of households and other officers. I will give the officers at all levels an additional 5,000 stone of grain per month and 5,000 taels of food. How to distribute these is up to you. As for you and General Yang, each person will have another 2,000 stone of grain per month and 2,000 taels of food per month. Have you seen enough?"

My God, so many!

Grain alone is more than 10,000 stones a month, saving some food, and wild vegetables and meat can feed all the people of the tribe.

If you add money, everyone can barely get enough food and clothing.

Everyone finally doesn’t have to starve anymore, and the tribesmen will finally not starve to death!

Upon hearing this, Gao Jitai climbed to Zhu Qizhuo tremblingly, kowtowed hard and said, "Thank you for your gift, thank you for your gift."

Seeing this, Zhu Qizhi hurriedly grabbed his arm and helped him up, and then said solemnly: "This is what you deserve. I still say the same thing. I will not let you guard the border for the Ming Dynasty on hungry."

What a good emperor, much better than those dog emperors before.

Such a good emperor is worth it to sacrifice his life for him!

You want a war horse, right?

good!

I've given it to the forefront!

Gao Jitai gritted his teeth secretly, and then asked solemnly: "Do you know the ancient Tea-Horse Road?"

Ancient Tea-Horse Road?

It seems that I have heard of this, but it is very vague. I don’t know if it was heard of in my previous life or in this life.

Zhu Qizhu was stunned for a moment, and then said embarrassedly: "I have heard of the word "Tea Horse Ancient Road", but I don't know what it refers to."

Sure enough, the emperor did not know the twists and turns in it.

Gao Jitai thought about it and then explained: "The ancient tea-horse road originated from the Tang Dynasty, which specifically refers to the business roads opened by our border towns to trade with the nomadic tribes on the frontier. The nomadic tribes need tea, and we need war horses. The two sides mainly trade with each other, so they are called tea-horse roads. The name of the ancient tea-horse road comes from this."

We need war horses, this is easy to understand. This time I ran here for war horses.

Question, why do nomadic tribes need tea?

Tea seems to be able to refresh one's mind and relieve fatigue. Of course, many rich people are drinking good tea as high-end drinks these days, which is the so-called tea ceremony. Problem, these seem to have nothing to do with the nomadic tribes, right?

Do nomadic tribes also like to play tea ceremony?

This is a bit unreliable!

Zhu Qizhu couldn't help but curiously said, "The nomadic tribes need tea? Do they also like to drink tea?"

The emperor really knew nothing about these things.

Gao Jitai patiently explained: "The nomadic tribes drink tea not because of their habits, but because of their bodies. The grasslands are dry all year round, and the nomadic tribes feed on fishy meat and cream. If you eat too much, your stomach will be uncomfortable. Tea can digest food, quench thirst and remove greasiness. It is the natural medicine for the nomadic tribes. As long as you drink it regularly, the dryness of the grasslands is nothing to them. Eating meat and cream every day will not make you feel uncomfortable. Therefore, the nomadic tribes are popular with butter tea, milk tea and sweet tea, and everyone likes to drink tea."

So that's the case!

It seems that Gao Jitai knows this very well.

The ancient tea-horse road, tea-horse trades, does it mean to exchange tea for horses?

Perhaps, it’s not just tea that can be exchanged for horses.

Moreover, military supplies are not just war horses these days, such as fur goods, which are also very important.

This mutual market is very important and requires a detailed understanding.

Thinking of this, Zhu Qizhuo asked with great interest: "I am very interested in this ancient tea and horse road and tea and horse market. Can you explain it to me in detail?"

Of course this is OK.

Gao Jitai made up his mind a little, and then said slowly: "Rumor, the tea-horse trade began with the wedding between Songtsen Gampo and Princess Wencheng in the Tang Dynasty. It was because Princess Wencheng brought the tea into the snowy area that the nomadic tribes realized the importance of this tea to them. The ancestor Gao Buxi also led troops to fight in the Western Regions in the Tang Dynasty and stayed here for merit. The emperor, let me tell you that our entire tribe is actually from the water towns in Jiangnan, but has been guarding here for nearly a thousand years. Over the past thousand years, we have just witnessed the rise, prosperity and decline of the tea-horse trade. The tea-horse trade emerged in the Tang Dynasty, but

At that time, there were not many tea and horses in the mutual market. In the Song Dynasty, it was the time to be truly prosperous. According to the records of ancestors of the tribe, during the Song Dynasty, the tea production in Sichuan alone reached more than 30 million kilograms, and more than 15,000 horses were exchanged from the snowy area every year. Then, the Mongolian Yuan levies severe taxes, and the tea and horse market began to decline. During the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, the tea and horse market began to flourish again. Sichuan's tea and horse production once reached about 20 million kilograms. Unfortunately, during the Zhengtong period of Emperor Yingzong, the tea and horse market was banned. "
Chapter completed!