Chapter 400: Fine Horses

While Chen Ping was adventuring beyond the frontier, Heifu was not idle either. In the second month, he finished his county inspection tour and returned to Yiqu City, spending several tender days with his beloved wife, seizing every moment to make a baby.

But this young couple's time together lasted barely a month or so before Heifu had to travel on official business again…

This time, his destination was not far — just forty li north of Yiqu City, in Yuzhi County.

Yuzhi City lay at the confluence of the Huan River and the Ni River, with the layered ridges of White Horse Ridge to the north. Backed by mountains and girdled by rivers, perilous and secure on three sides, easy to defend and hard to attack, it was a fine fortress.

The natural conditions of this county were much the same as elsewhere in Beidi — half farming, half herding. However, apart from the Great Plain, the largest and richest pasture in Beidi Commandery was located here, so the Qin court had opened it up as a "Pastoral Stud" specifically for raising warhorses.

When Heifu arrived at the Pastoral Stud, spring was warming and flowers were blooming along the Huan River. The sky in this season seemed especially high, distant, and clear. The lush grass was like a carpet, rippling like waves under the long wind. Across the river, he could see a great herd of fine horses galloping over the grassy slopes…

"Fine horses!"

Behind Heifu, a burst of cheers instantly rang out.

Commandant Heifu had not come alone. This time, he was followed by a full three hundred attendants, every one of them properly dressed, their hair buns uniformly tilted to the right, bringing their own horses, bows and arrows, swords and blades, riding steadily on mounts with only low saddles.

These three hundred men were precisely Heifu's greatest harvest from his spring county tour: the sons of good families from every county in Beidi Commandery!

These Beidi sons of good families were all descendants of law-abiding folk who had migrated to the frontier, and their households possessed a certain amount of land, wealth, and rank — enough to support them in practicing martial arts from childhood, and even to "buy a fine horse in the east market, a saddle and saddlecloth in the west market, a bridle in the south market, and a long whip in the north market," single-mindedly pursuing honor and rank.

The Beidi sons of good families excelled at mounted archery and combat. In Heifu's eyes, they were superb raw recruits, and also the future source of low-level officers and clerks in the war against the Xiongnu…

But among the three hundred, there were differences in quality. After the sons of good families answered Heifu's recruitment, they had gathered in Yiqu City the previous month and were divided into three "hundreds." The three men serving as Hundred Commanders were the best among them, each from a different county: Qiang Hua of Jingyang County, Fu Zhi of Yiqu County, and Gan Chong of Niyang County.

Qiang Hua was another grandson of Qiang Hui, the Governor of Shang Commandery. Such is the way of officialdom: Qiang Hui would very likely be the overall commander leading the Qin army north against the Xiongnu in the future, so how could Heifu not give his grandson a leg up? That said, Qiang Hua came from a military family and his own skills were not weak. He was especially good at mounted archery, and it was said he had once led his household riders in pursuit of a band of bandits, killing and capturing many, earning him some local renown.

Fu Zhi of Yiqu County also came from a military-merit aristocratic background. Heifu's deepest impression of him was his great strength. When he played the army's common "stone-throwing" game, he was like an Olympic strongman — after spinning a few times, he hurled the stone dozens of paces in one breath, surpassing the height of the watchtower!

Compared to these two, Gan Chong of Niyang County was far less conspicuous. His family was merely ordinary small landowners, but Gan Chong had two special skills: the first was taking a small stone, placing it in a leather sling, and with a casual flick, hitting the mark every time within twenty or thirty paces — anyone struck would basically end up with a broken and bleeding head. He had learned this stone-slinging skill while herding horses as a child, so he was also very adept at horse taming and riding.

The three young men stayed close by Heifu's side, none willing to fall behind the others.

Heifu also intended to test them. He raised his whip and pointed at the horses stirring restlessly across the Huan River. "Do you know what they are doing?"

All three had dealt with horses since childhood — how could they not know? They vied to answer: "In the last month of spring, when the hundred grasses first sprout green shoots, the water and grass are lush and tender. It is the time to pair up bulls and stallions, and let mares roam with the studs. In short, the stallions and mares are mating!"

"Then these lovelorn horses — do you fellows have the confidence to tame them?"

Among the three hundred sons of good families, some showed troubled expressions, but even more were itching to try!

Horses in heat are the most ill-tempered, but that also makes it a good opportunity to test a rider's horsemanship. Heifu then announced some good news to the sons of good families:

"You three hundred have answered the call to enlist, serving as this Commandant's mounted retinue. Good riders cannot be without good horses to aid them. Go into the stud and choose. If you can tame the horse you pick, you may take it as your own mount, to ride in training and in battle!"

At these words, the sons of good families burst into cheers.

Aside from the scions of military-merit aristocratic families like Qiang Hua and Fu Zhi, the remaining two hundred-odd were mostly children of small landowning households. They had no worries about food or clothing, but their mounts were nothing special either.

There are two important concepts regarding a horse's physique. The first is "shoulder height." "Shoulder height" refers to the distance from the horse's shoulder blade to the ground; when measuring a horse's height, shoulder height is the standard. Generally speaking, the greater the shoulder height, the better the horse. The Rites of Zhou classifies horses into three grades by shoulder height: "Eight chi and above is a dragon; seven chi and above is a lai; six chi and above is a horse."

The second concept is "teeth," meaning the horse's age, judged by its teeth. Generally, ages four to ten are a horse's golden years, most suitable for riding, combat, and breeding. Once a horse reaches ten, its teeth are worn flat, it begins to enter middle age, and its vigor and physique start to decline.

Therefore, before unifying the realm, Qin issued this order: "It is forbidden for horses taller than six chi, with teeth not yet worn flat, to pass beyond the passes."

A few years ago, when Heifu saw the local horses in Chu, aside from the generals' carriage teams of four with shoulder heights above six chi, it is no exaggeration to say that most Chu horses were truly as short as mules and donkeys. For ever since Qin established Dong Commandery and cut off the Six States, Chu could only raise horses within its own territory or import them from the southwestern barbarians.

The mounts the sons of good families had bought from various counties were mostly inferior horses with shoulder heights of five chi eight cun to six cun. The warhorses raised at the Pastoral Stud, however, at least reached the passing line of "six chi," and their ages were generally under ten. To obtain one as a mount would truly be a great boon to these sons of good families, whose hearts were full of the desire to kill the enemy and earn merit!

And so, the three hundred sons of good families rolled up their sleeves, tightened their belts, and eagerly prepared to try.

While these young men went off to tussle with the warhorses that had just finished mating, Heifu, guided by the local County Commandant, Gongsun Bailu, began an inspection tour of the entire Pastoral Stud.

Qin, after all, had risen to power by horse-breeding, and its horse administration was very well done — far better, at least, than a certain dynasty with a "seventy percent victory rate in foreign wars." The warhorses raised in the Pastoral Stud all possessed a fierce spirit and abundant vitality. Long-term galloping on the pastures had left them with a trace of residual wildness.

Gongsun Bailu explained to Heifu that to ensure the warhorses' good galloping speed and endurance, the Stud Overseer had to subject the foals to rigorous training, and also stipulated standards for fodder usage.

"The statutes state: packhorses requisitioned from the Pastoral Stud must be five chi eight cun or taller; warhorses must be six chi or taller!"

If a requisitioned warhorse failed to meet the qualities required of a "warhorse," the officials at every level managing the horses would be punished according to the relevant laws. The old rule: fines! The County Horse Marshal would be fined two suits of armor; the Prefect and his Assistant would also each be fined two suits — half a year's salary gone just like that. Even if the standards were met, if they came in last place in the "examinations" — competitions the Qin people loved — they would still be fined. The person in charge of the army horses would be fined two suits of armor and dismissed from office, never to be employed again!

Heifu could not help but sigh with emotion: annual performance reviews truly have existed since ancient times, specifically to assess state public servants. Trying to slack off and neglect governance? Far too difficult!

Thus, from what Heifu could see, the County Horse Marshal practically lived at the Pastoral Stud, and the Stud Prefect and Stud Assistant within the stud, heedless of the horse dung staining their clothes, meticulously inspected every pasture.

But to be honest, even though the Qin horse administration was extremely meticulous, even though the Qin lands already "held the profits of the Qiang in the west and the livestock of the Rong and Di in the north, their animal husbandry the richest under heaven," in Heifu's eyes, these warhorses still could not be counted as fine steeds.

The warhorses of the Pastoral Stud were mostly the smaller Mongolian horse, the Hequ horse, or hybrids of the two. Their shoulder heights were basically between six chi and seven chi, with every cun taller counting as a grade of superiority.

A seven-chi horse was rare in the Central Plains. The so-called "thousand-li horse" was used to describe them. In the time of Duke Mu of Qin, Bole, searching for such a horse, ran east, north, and west, sparing no pains, and even gave rise to the story of "paying a thousand gold for a horse's bones."

An eight-chi horse would probably only be found west of the Pamirs.

"The Central Plains has no fine horses," Heifu sighed after completing his inspection tour.

"In the Commandant's opinion, what qualifies as a good horse?" Gongsun Bailu was somewhat surprised by this southerner's high standards for horses and could not help asking.

Heifu said, "His Majesty has a fine horse with a shoulder height of seven chi five cun, kept in the outer park of Shanglin. It is already the best horse there is. It is said that several years ago, a merchant of the Wu clan traded silk equal in weight to the horse itself to obtain it from the Xiongnu and the Hexi region…"

Gongsun Bailu's eyes lit up upon hearing this.

But Heifu continued, "Yet this horse was gelded and cannot breed. In another ten years, when it dies, a fine horse like it will be hard to find again."

The Xiongnu and Yuezhi were cunning too. Though they continuously exported livestock to the Central Plains, they absolutely never allowed superior breeding stock to flow out. Even if they were going to sell one, they would geld it first…

This was also why Heifu coveted Hexi, Hetao, and even the distant Western Regions. The Wu clan elder was right: the horses of the Xiongnu and Yuezhi were indeed better than those of the Central Plains. And the heavenly horses of Dayuan west of the Pamirs were each divinely fine, like dragons! If they could be introduced, the warhorse breeds of the Central Plains could be greatly improved.

Just as Heifu was sighing wistfully at the Pastoral Stud, Chen Ping — who had been "invited" by the Xiongnu Grand Danghu to the pass at Helan Mountain — watched, dumbstruck, as the Xiongnu Prince Modu, riding a tall, dragon-like steed eight chi at the shoulder and entirely crimson, galloped past them, on his way to welcome his bride…

(End of Chapter)