Chapter 884 A Dream of Youth 416
Suddenly, rain began to fall in the night, hanging in the wind on the pink and blue hydrangeas in front of the corridor, as if covered with a thin veil. The two quickly took shelter under the corridor. Qing Le put her hands on her hips and said, "This heaven, it just starts raining whenever it wants."
Qingxu carefully put away the ointment in the box and glanced inside through the wooden corridor gate. It was a small courtyard in the corner, not very big, with only a two-story pavilion. Next to it was a small rockery and pond, where Xueqiu often slept under the willow tree.
This is Xie Ning's study. The first floor is used for meetings with her staff, while the second floor is where she works and rests.
"The young lady is probably resting in the study today. Go to the small kitchen and bring her the medicine."
Qingxu didn't really recommend Xie Ning sleep in the study, since there was only a couch there, which was definitely not as comfortable as the big bed in the boudoir.
"good."
Since returning from Hedong, Xie Ning has been feeling cold, so he has been taking medicine to regulate his body, but it hasn't been very effective.
Qingxu gave the box to Qingle and asked her to put it in Xie Ning's room. Then she took a maid and went upstairs to the second floor. At this time, Xie Ning was still working at his desk, with a thick stack of documents on the table.
Qingxu sighed upon seeing this, even with Mr. Ye and the others already sharing the burden.
Qingxu turned the lamp wick a little brighter and whispered, "Miss, you should rest early. You have to attend the morning court session tomorrow."
Xie Ning glanced at the clock on the small pearwood table and nodded. "Okay, I'll go to sleep in half an hour."
Actually, she's not always this busy; it's just that she's been particularly busy lately.
News from spies in Northern Jin says that the young grandson of the Northern Jin emperor has ascended the throne and is now settled. He is ruthless. There are rumors that Gu Yan killed the Northern Jin emperor, who was also his grandfather, before he ascended the throne.
The winters have grown colder year by year, and since they are in a more northern region, they need more supplies to get through the winter. The little bit of food that Da Zhou gave them is no longer enough to satisfy their appetites.
They are just waiting for the right opportunity to make a comeback.
Xie Ning thought of the envoys who came to congratulate Yan Xi on her wedding, and his gaze fell on the map on the wall. This year, there was one more envoy: the Wumeng Kingdom.
Moreover, while maintaining good relations with the Great Zhou, this newly established regime subtly expressed its desire to unite with the Great Zhou to annex the Northern Jin. With attacks from both sides, the Northern Jin would surely be destroyed.
Yan Xi was somewhat tempted. The former leader of Wumeng Kingdom was humiliated and died at the hands of the late emperor of Northern Jin, and the current king of Wumeng Kingdom was the former leader's son. Regardless of the father-son relationship, Wumeng Kingdom and Northern Jin Kingdom were definitely enemies.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend; all the so-called trust is fake, and everything is for the common good.
However, Yan Xi did not agree, because Wumeng Kingdom had only recently established its regime, and Yan Xi needed to see their strength.
Therefore, the two sides began to discuss other deals.
Many court officials looked down on the people of Wumeng Kingdom, considering them vulgar and uncouth, but they were very tempted by the conditions offered by the other side.
That's a horse, a tall and strong Mongolian horse!
The Great Zhou cavalry was very weak, and in the past two years, Yan Xi had also issued a series of measures to train the cavalry, among which horses were of particular importance.
When Xie Ning was reforming the new policy, she struggled with whether to continue implementing the new horse policy, which was to distribute horses to private households for breeding. However, after investigation, she abandoned the idea.
If this task were to be delegated to the common people and combined with the Baojia system, it would not only increase the burden on the people, but the horses they raised would also be completely unsuitable for warhorses.
It would be better if the government took over the management.
Speaking of horse administration, many of the corruption evidences Xie Ning uncovered at the Ministry of Revenue this time concerned it.
Due to the laxity in the administration of horses, a large amount of land was seized by powerful families. If the administration of horses is to be reinstated, those powerful families will have to return the horse-breeding lands they purchased at low prices.
Besides these inland territories, the newly expanded lands also had horses in Xili, but there weren't many usable warhorses left, because at that time, the good horses had been taken away by the remnants of Xili and transferred to the Northern Jin. This is one of the reasons why the Northern Jin accepted the remnants of Xili so easily.
However, since they already control that area of Xili, they can still train warhorses; it's just a matter of time.
Therefore, for now, the horses of the Great Zhou still need to be traded with other countries, one of which is the Northern Jin. Of course, given the current tense situation between the two countries, such trade is impossible, so the horse market on the border is now defunct.
Therefore, the offer of warhorses by the Wumeng Kingdom would be tempting to any person from the Great Zhou.
However, trading horses solely with the Wumeng Kingdom was not enough. One should not put all one's eggs in one basket. Therefore, in addition to the Wumeng Kingdom, the Great Zhou would also open horse markets on the northwestern border to trade with small countries or tribes other than the Northern Jin and Wumeng.
Then there's the southwest region.
Xu Hongying sent a message back, in which she mentioned horses in the southwest, suggesting that they could expand their supply from there.
The source of horses in the southwest is the Nanzhao Kingdom. So Xie Ning thought that since he was going to leave the capital to avoid trouble, he might as well go to the Nanzhao Kingdom to take a look. If the quality of the horses was good, he would try to negotiate a trade.
Therefore, during this period, while busy sorting out the affairs of the Ministry of Revenue for handover, I also had to study some information about the Nanzhao Kingdom, which is why I only slept for an hour at night.
As for the language, he had to learn it on the way from the other people at the Honglu Temple.
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