Chen Shiyi continued to check several other horseshoes, and found the words "Shaanxi Horse Anning Shangyuan" on other horseshoes. He suddenly laughed.
"Chen Baihu, what do the writings on these horse irons mean?" Zhang Yanling asked with a frown.
Chen Shiyi explained: "It's like this, Lord Marquis. The main horses in our Ming Dynasty come from Shaanxi. Of course, horses are also provided in other places, but in terms of quality and scale of horses, none is better than Shaanxi Ma Zheng."
Zhang Yanling said: "I understand this. Could this be what the word "Shaanma" means above? Does it mean that this horse comes from the Shaanxi Horse Administration?"
"That's exactly what it means. Shaanma means Shaanxi Mazheng, which means that this horse is supplied from Shaanxi Mazheng. Most of the war horses in Beijing are supplied by Shaanxi Mazheng." Chen Shi said.
Zhang Yanling was a little discouraged after hearing the latter sentence. Most of the horses in the capital are from Shaanxi Ma Zheng, so what kind of clue is that?
Chen Shiyi continued: "Master Hou, this means that this horse is not an ordinary horse, it is a war horse. This is a war horse supplied by Shaanxi Mazheng to the imperial court, because Shaanxi Mazheng only supplies war horses, and the rest of the inferior horses for civilian use are provided by
Supplied elsewhere.”
Zhang Yanling nodded and said: "It seems to be of some use, but not much. There are so many war horses, so knowing this doesn't mean anything can be determined."
Chen Shi said: "Master Hou is right, but Master Hou, the scope of An Ning Shangyuan has been narrowed down."
Zhang Yanling asked: "What does Anning Shangyuan mean?"
Chen Shiyi said: "As far as I know, there are many racecourses in Shaanxi, which are divided into three categories. In Kaicheng, Anning is the Shangyuan, with an annual supply of up to 20,000 horses; in Guangning and Wan'an, it is the Zhongyuan, with an annual supply of horses.
It can reach up to 8,000 horses; Qingping, Heishui is the lower garden, and horses are provided every year.
Up to 4,000 horses. Shaanxi Mazheng provides the court with more than 30,000 well-trained war horses a year, which is the core of Ming Dynasty Mazheng. The sound of the hoofbeats of this horse means Shangyuan, which should mean that this horse is
They were raised from the horse farm in Anning, Shaanxi and supplied to the imperial court."
Zhang Yanling suddenly said: "It turns out that the six characters on the shoe are the identity of the horse. To prevent confusion about the horse's identity, or if the horse is unqualified, the source of responsibility can be traced."
Chen Shi said: "That's right. I didn't know there were marks on the horseshoes just now because the provenance marks of the war horses we use in the yamen are all on the iron plates on the bridles. But the bridle of the horse may have been stolen by someone.
It was replaced. But they didn’t notice the horseshoes, or they didn’t know about them at all. Not to mention, if the adults hadn’t discovered the marks on the horseshoes, even the humble people wouldn’t have known there were signs here.”
While talking, Chen Shi walked to his horse and showed Zhang Yanling a small iron plate hanging next to the horse's bridle. Zhang Yanling saw the words "Shaanxi Horse Qingping Xiayuan" written on it. Then
That is to say, the horse came from the Qingping Racecourse in Shaanxi Mazheng and belongs to the Xiayuan Racecourse. The Shangyuan, Zhongyuan and Xiayuan here should not refer to the quality of the horses, but to the size of the horse farm.
"The two horses have different marks. Does it mean that they are used by different yamen? For example, the horses used by our Jinyiwei all come from the Qingping Xiayuan Racecourse?" Zhang Yanling's mind started to come alive, and he suddenly had an idea.
A feeling of enlightenment.
Chen Shi nodded and said with a smile: "Master Hou is really smart. I don't need to answer for my humble position. Master Hou will know it when he comes and takes a look at these horses."
The logos on the horse bridles of several personal guards said it all. All the horses in Jinyiwei came from Shaanxi Horse Garden, Qingping and Heishui horse farms. Zhang Yanling's guess was correct.
Zhang Yanling became excited and felt that the identity of the group of attackers was already revealed. So she hurriedly asked: "Then which yamen does Anning Shangyuan Racecourse supply to?"
Chen Shiyi said in a deep voice: "As far as I know, Shangyuan Racecourse supplies soldiers and horses for the Beijing Camp, as well as the Royal Horse Supervisor Teng Xiang and the Four Guards horses. In addition, the Chinese Army Governor's Office supplies soldiers and horses in Beijing, plus horses for the East Factory of the Inner Court."
Zhang Yanling said in shock: "So many?"
Chen Shiyi said: "Of course, because Shangyuan Racecourse has a large number of horses, it naturally supplies many yamen and departments."
Zhang Yanling frowned and said, "That's hard to trace. There are many soldiers and horses in the Beijing camp, plus the Inner Court Royal Horse Supervisor and the Central Military Governor's Office in the East Factory. How can we trace this? Even if these people are from among them, it will be difficult to trace them out."
Chen Shi said: "It's difficult, but it's not difficult either."
Zhang Yanling said: "How to say?"
Chen Shi said: "The army has a quota of personnel, and the corpses are all here. If you check the missing people or identify the corpses, you can find out. Unless it is deliberately concealed. The Marquis has his own connections, so it should not be difficult to find out. It is rare.
They are the Dongchang of the Inner Court and the Four Guards of Tengxiang. These are difficult to check because they are in the palace and are under the jurisdiction of the Inner Court."
Zhang Yanling nodded, he understood what Chen Shiyi meant. In the Beijing camp and the Central Military Governor's Mansion, he could conduct a detailed investigation through several princes, at least he would have a grasp. But the inner court Dongchang and the imperial horse supervisor Teng Xiang and the four guards were
I have no idea where to plant, so it would be difficult to check.
"Let's go, let's not think about these things for now. Let's go take a look at another horse to see if it is also a horse from Shangyuan, Shaanxi. We will talk about other things later," Zhang Yanling said.
Several people got on their horses and ran forward for about two miles. Another dead horse was lying in the middle of the road. The horse's head was full of blood holes, and flies were flying around it. The markings on the horses' hooves were the same, which showed that the identity of the enemy was basically the same.
Confirmed. Zhang Yanling immediately ordered people to pry off all the horseshoes and take them away, and rushed back with Chen Shiyi and others.
…
In the afternoon, the group finally returned to the capital. A large number of people were already waiting at the city gate. Zhang Yanling ordered someone to notify the Jinyiwei General Office in advance and report the news of the attack. A total of more than ten people died.
Human life is at stake. This kind of thing cannot be careless. It must be reported according to normal procedures, otherwise there will be trouble. So Mou Bin personally led dozens of royal guards to wait outside the official road of Xizhimen.
When he saw the nine corpses strewn about the car, as well as the corpses of the two servants of the Zhang family, Mou Bin frowned and remained silent. After receiving the news, he thought it was unlikely that such a thing would happen.
But after all, it was a matter of great importance, so he came in person. Unexpectedly, all of this turned out to be true.
"It's unbelievable. I thought the matter was not that serious. Who would have expected that it would be like this. Mr. Zhang, you are really lucky to have escaped safely." Mou Bin smacked his lips and said.
Zhang Yanling sighed: "Yes, I almost confessed to everyone in the Zhang family. I really didn't expect that I, Zhang Yanling, am good to others and have not offended anyone. How could someone hate me so much? It's really unexpected."
When he said this, Zhang Yanling stared blankly at Mou Bin, hoping to see something from his face.