The Ming Dynasty Central Asia Province is a very large province established on the territory of the original Kazakh Khanate. To the south is Hezhong Province, and to the north is the vast Northwest Province (a province established on the territory of the Far Siberian Khanate).
To the east is the Western Region Province, to the west it is bordered by the Kazan Khanate, and across the Caspian Sea from Nanyun Province.
The geographical location can be said to be very important, as it was the ultimate road to Europe from the land of the Ming Empire.
Back then, the Kazakh Khanate took advantage of the war between the Ming Empire and the Ottoman Empire to make small moves behind the scenes. Unexpectedly, the Ottoman Empire suffered a complete defeat and signed the Erzinjan Agreement that was humiliating and humiliating to the country.
After the Ming Empire mobilized its army from the mainland, it began to sweep away the Kazakh Khanate. Wherever it passed, rivers of blood flowed from Yuzi and Yuzi, and corpses were strewn across the fields. Thousands of miles were uninhabited, and thousands of miles turned into wilderness.
Kazakh tribes, large and small, had to migrate westward, and a large number of them moved into the Kazan Khanate. Now they have become the pioneers of the Kazan Khanate in plundering the Principality of Moscow.
As for the vast grasslands that remained, the Ming Empire naturally established a new province, Central Asia.
After that, the Ming Empire migrated a large number of people from Guannei to Central Asia every year, and established immigrant towns here similar to those in the Hezhong area to develop agriculture and animal husbandry.
Up to now, the development of Central Asia Province is also extremely rapid, with grain production and livestock production increasing rapidly, and there is a faint tendency to even surpass Hezhong Province.
Especially in terms of animal husbandry, thanks to the unique natural environment, a large number of high-quality grasslands, and the Ming Empire's emphasis on this area, it vigorously supported the development of Central Asia.
Therefore, the animal husbandry industry in Central Asia Province has become the strongest animal husbandry industry in the Ming Dynasty, and its scale is even larger than the traditional Northern Steppe Province and Western Region Province.
One of the biggest features is that the herders in Central Asia Province are all Han Chinese.
The Han people are very good at farming and raising livestock, and they are also very good at grazing. Different from the nomadic way of nomadic tribes, the Han herdsmen have established more large pastures and have a fixed pasture economic model.
At this moment, Zhu Houzhao was riding his sweaty horse on the grasslands of Central Asia.
The grasslands in Central Asia, especially the Dayuzi grassland closely connected to the Western Regions Province, form a large amount of precipitation because the water vapor from the Atlantic Ocean is blocked and lifted by the Tianshan Mountains.
The water tanks here are rich and the scenery is charming, especially in the middle of summer at this moment. The flowers everywhere, the blue sky and white clouds, and the endless grassland make people feel relaxed and happy, amazed and amazed by it.
"gorgeous!"
"My Ming Dynasty's great rivers and mountains, it's time to take a walk and take a look. My beloved concubines, from now on I will take you out for a walk every year, okay?"
Zhu Houzhao was a big pig, and while looking at the scenery, he did not forget to pour honey on his concubines who came to the Western Regions.
Beside him, more than a dozen beauties from various tribes in the Western Region followed closely on horseback.
Hearing Zhu Houzhao's words, everyone was so happy. When they laughed, they were like the most beautiful flowers on the grassland. When they gathered together, the beautiful scenery on the grassland seemed to be eclipsed.
Walking, walking, Zhu Houzhao and his party came to a pasture.
This pasture is located next to a river and has a large number of wooden sheds. You can also see a large number of cattle and sheep grazing in pieces of pasture separated by fences.
Looking further into the distance, you can see large tracts of fields, but only a small part of these fields are planted with food, and the rest are all grown with pasture.
Some people are constantly harvesting the grass and then transporting it back using four-wheeled carriages. On the pasture, some people are using steam-driven machines to chop the grass into pieces, and then transport the grass to feed the cattle and sheep.
"Hi~"
Zhu Houzhao was a self-study, and before he even reached the pasture, he was already waving his hands and shouting excitedly.
Lai Ermao, who was busy, heard the sound and quickly looked over.
Lai Ermao was originally from the Loess Plateau of Shaanxi Province. In order to protect the Loess Plateau, the imperial court relocated almost all the people from the Loess Plateau.
Lai Ermao is also a member of the vast army of immigrants. He migrated here from the Loess Plateau of Shaanxi Province and turned from a farmer into a large rancher. A large area of grassland around him belongs to Lai Ermao's family.
The pasture in front of him was also built by him in the past few years.
Lai Ermao came outside. Zhu Houzhao and others had already walked over. Lai Ermao carefully looked at Zhu Houzhao in front of him. He was wearing bright clothes and angry horses. In addition, there were more than a dozen beauties around him, and there were also many guards behind him.
Man, there is no doubt that this is a noble person.
"Lai Ermao has met a noble person~"
Lai Ermao saluted respectfully and asked.
"My name is Zhu Shou. I happened to pass by your place and came here to ask for a glass of water. Isn't it convenient?"
Zhu Houzhao turned over and dismounted and said with a smile.
“Convenient, convenient~”
"Your Majesty, please~ Your Majesty, please~"
When Lai Ermao heard this, he immediately welcomed Zhu Houzhao into his ranch with great enthusiasm.
"Hurry up and boil water to make tea~"
"Take out all the fruits and melons I bought from Xiaoyun Town. Finally, a noble person has arrived, so we can't neglect it."
While Lai Ermao greeted Zhu Houzhao and others, he also ordered his wife and slaves to do things.
"Where are you coming from, noble man, and where are you going?"
Lai Ermao greeted Zhu Houzhao and his party warmly, and also asked about Zhu Houzhao.
"To be honest, I came from the capital and planned to visit Winter City."
Zhu Houzhao replied while looking at the pasture carefully.
"Winter City!"
"That's a bit far. If you ride a horse to the north, it might take more than ten days to get there. It's midsummer now. If it's winter, that place will be freezing cold."
Speaking of Winter City, Lai Ermao also said quickly.
"I also heard that the winter city is very cold, so I wanted to take a look. I heard that there are a lot of furs there and the quality is very good. I want to see if I can bring a batch of furs back to the capital to sell."
"The furs there are indeed the best. There are many types and good quality. They are all top-notch furs. It is very suitable to do fur business. It's just a noble man. Winter City is the enemy of the exiled prisoners. Wherever you go, you will need a lot.
Be careful, especially if you bring a dozen beauties with you, you will be even more jealous."
"Well, then I'll go take a look even more."
Zhu Houzhao drank tea, then looked at the pasture and said, "Is your pasture very different from the pastures I have seen before?"
"That's because my ancestors are from Shaanxi, and they are all Han people, not from nomadic tribes."
"We Han people are very good at farming, but of course our herding cannot be the same as that of the grassland people. We must be even more powerful."
"My pasture is different from that of the prairie people."
"They are nomadic people, driving their cattle and sheep to graze everywhere in a nomadic way. The advantage of this method is that it is very simple. They live by water and grass and do not require too much technology and skills."
"But the disadvantage is that it is difficult to raise many cattle and sheep in a large pasture, and often a vast pasture is not enough for them to graze. In addition, they are constantly moving around and are not fixed, which is not convenient for the education of their children."
"We Han people are different. We don't like to be nomadic, we like to be settled."
"So I divided my pasture into many areas, and then grazed them in turns. After eating in one area, I rushed to another area to eat, and grazing took turns."
"At the same time, I cultivate fields in places with abundant water resources. In addition to growing food and vegetables for my own consumption, the most important thing is to grow pasture."
When Lai Ermao heard this, he immediately became energetic and began to introduce the operation model of his ranch to Zhu Houzhao in detail.
He took some grass and said: "Sir, please look, this is the grass grown in our pasture. This is ryegrass, a high-quality grass imported from Europe. The yield is very high, and cattle, sheep and horses like to eat it very much."
.”
"The other one is the royal bamboo grass, which is also a high-quality forage imported from overseas. It has a high yield, but it needs to be crushed with a steam grinder before feeding."
Zhu Houzhao looked at the grass carefully. There are many varieties of grass grown in Lai Ermao Ranch. They are not just one kind of grass, but many of them are high-quality grass imported from overseas.
"How did you come up with the idea of growing these high-quality forage grasses imported from overseas?"
Zhu Houzhao thought for a while and asked.
"Ouch~"
"I'm just a rough guy. How do I know this? In fact, the government asked us to plant these grasses. These grasses are high-quality grasses that the government specially introduces and collects from overseas."
"We used to be farmers. How do we know about herding? The government taught us how to do it. In addition, I also bought a lot of slaves. Many of these slaves are nomadic tribes from the Middle East, West Asia, and Western Europe.
, they know more about herding than I do.”
"All I have to do here is follow what the government says, open up fields and plant grass, and then the slaves at home will do the rest."
When Lai Ermao heard this, he immediately replied with a smile.
"So, this model is also promoted by the government?"
When Zhu Houzhao heard this, he immediately asked.
"Yes, it was promoted by the government. Without guidance from the government, how would we know how to herd? Now, it has been several years, so we understand. When we first came here, it was nothing.
don't know."
Lai Ermao nodded and replied.
"That's it~"
"Then these women are all your slaves?"
Zhu Houzhao nodded slightly, and then looked at the many slaves busy in the farm. All of these slaves were women, and it was obvious at a glance that they were not Han people.
"They are all my slaves. If they give me a baby, they will become my concubines."
When Lai Ermao heard this, he immediately replied with a big mouth.