Chapter 1053 - Receiving the Horses

All that talk about "especially high bone density," along with claims that Japanese researchers had dissected haenyeo (female divers) and discovered their resistance to cold and ability to dive for extended periods was related to long-term consumption of "pony bone powder"—Feng Zongze considered this nothing more than "marketing stories" to dupe tourists into buying health supplements.

Feng Zongze had run a small pharmacy before and held a pharmacist's license. He knew that from a pure calcium-supplementation perspective, there was little difference in the calcium content of bone powder regardless of whether it came from horses, pigs, or cattle. The claim that Jeju ponies had especially high bone density and superior calcium-supplementation effects was simply self-promotion.

Although ponies did have certain advantages—being more convenient for mountain labor—their small size and limited carrying capacity made them unsuitable for practical use as riding or draught animals.

The Mongols had introduced their own horse breed precisely to improve the island's stock and make them suitable for riding and labor. They had neither the need nor the inclination to specially preserve and breed ponies of limited utility.

The Yi Dynasty court's demand for annual horse tribute from Jeju Island was purely for military, postal relay, and ceremonial purposes—none of which had any use for ponies. Thus, while Jeju ponies might still exist to some degree, they were certainly not the mainstream breed on the island's pastures.

"Your analysis makes sense. I also feel the horses I've seen are typical Mongolian horses," Nick said. "I want to immediately set up a team and begin screening the existing horses."

"No problem." Feng Zongze was himself a horse enthusiast and readily agreed. "Choose the location yourself—just ensure security. Horses and personnel are yours to select as well."

"I'll need a translator, then..."

"I have someone suitable here." As he spoke, Feng Zongze had Pak Deok-maeng summoned.

Unlike his elder brother, Pak Deok-maeng had few "external duties." He primarily stayed within the Military Control Commission, helping with paperwork and serving as translator—though still of the "brush conversation" variety. However, young people learned languages easily, and since he could read Chinese characters, he was soon able to communicate in simple Mandarin.

"I know you rarely leave the house in Lingao, and Gaoshan Ridge is a green zone, so you can go out with just your apprentices, no weapons or guards. But this is a purple zone—I must ensure your safety."

Inside the city walls was a blue zone; only inside the Provincial Governor's compound was it green. Essentially, the moment an Exemplar left the perimeter of Jeju's walls, they entered dangerous territory requiring armed escort. Feng Zongze knew Nick was never one for formalities and disliked armed guards, so he made a point of emphasizing this.

"Having those Japanese soldiers protect me will be sufficient."

Subsequently, under Pak Deok-maeng's guidance, Nick surveyed several locations inside and outside Jeju City. The city possessed large-scale horse paddocks—every year after the "horse tribute presentation," the selected horses were driven here to await transport by sea.

Because as many as 700 horses had to be presented in peak years, a paddock capable of holding over a thousand horses had been constructed outside the city walls. But Nick was disappointed after inspecting it in person: the paddock was extremely crude—so crude it hardly qualified as a "structure." It was nothing more than an open-air enclosure. The ground, churned up by horses' hooves, lay exposed and desolate. There were some drinking troughs and water cisterns. Since it was still early in the year and the horse tribute presentation was more than six months away, not a single horse was present. Even the fencing was incomplete, with entire sections missing; what remained was dilapidated. The only roofed building was the residence of the paddock watchmen.

The horse-managing clerk informed Nick through the translator that this was merely a temporary paddock. After inspection and approval, horses were held here for just a few days until weather and sea conditions were suitable, then driven to Jocheon to board ships for the mainland.

Properly roofed stables existed only at the postal relay station, the Provincial Governor's compound, and the military barracks.

Nick listened carefully to the clerk's introduction through the translator, occasionally asking questions. He was particularly concerned about winter fodder reserves.

Jeju did stockpile some dried grass and other fodder, though not in large quantities. These were primarily prepared for the official horses of the Provincial Governor's compound, the local garrison, and the postal station.

Nick inspected the fodder storeroom and was disappointed to find not only that the hay reserves were limited, but that there was virtually no concentrated feed. No wonder all the horses he had seen along the way were in poor condition, having lost considerable weight.

Next, he inspected the various captured official horses. These mostly belonged to Jeju's garrison.

"How many horses are there now?" Nick asked, frowning at the listless horses in the paddock and the manure-covered, filthy bedding that clearly had not been changed in many days.

The naturalized cadre responsible for receiving and managing the horses hurried to report: "Reporting, Chief: a total of 195, in four paddocks. There are another 40 at Jocheon."

"How many have died since you captured this place?"

Seeing Nick's dark expression, the man grew frightened and stammered: "R-r-reporting... 25 have died..."

"Why so many?"

"R-reporting, Chief: the Korean groom clerks say many horses die every winter..."

"Idiots!" Nick could no longer contain himself. "Just because many horses die every year, you can continue letting them die? What's the point of having you people?!"

The naturalized cadre shrank back, not daring to utter a word. Had he not received sufficient education, he might have dropped to his knees crying "This lowly one deserves death! Have mercy, my lord!" at that moment.

Seeing the man's ashen face and trembling body, Nick's heart softened.

"Forget it—you're not a specialist. Assigning you to manage the horse paddock was a mistake to begin with!" He waved his hand. "What department are you from?"

"I'm... no, I'm from the Planning Commission's Special Search Task Force..."

So it was the Planning Commission. No wonder he was in charge of the horses—they were war booty too. But while these people excelled at confiscating property and compiling statistics, asking them to care for living creatures was beyond their abilities.

With this realization, Nick's expression softened slightly. "And the grooms? Who are they?"

"Reporting, Chief: the grooms are all original local stable hands—official slaves from the Provincial Office. After we finished inventorying and receiving the horses, they continued feeding and caring for them."

"Where are they now?" Nick was somewhat puzzled. Since specialized grooms had been retained—even if they were unprofessional and had many bad habits—cleaning the paddock, changing bedding, and grooming horses was standard groom's work, the same everywhere in the world.

Looking at the state of things here, the bedding had not been changed for at least two weeks. The horses had not been groomed for days either.

"They were conscripted for road and building construction two weeks ago," the Planning Commission cadre said quietly. "They go during the day and come back at night to feed the horses a bit and water them..."

"Outrageous!" Nick flared up again. Everyone complained constantly about not having enough horses, yet when horses were actually available, this was the cavalier, careless attitude they adopted!

He examined the horses' condition more closely. Most had lost significant weight—clearly underfed—and many showed signs of overwork. There was no time to lose. He needed to immediately recall all the Korean grooms and, together with the personnel he had brought, give the horses a chance to rest and regain condition. Only then could the horses safely survive the winter.

Nick went to find Feng Zongze. Feng's attitude was excellent; he agreed to all of Nick's requests on the spot. He immediately handed over all the grooms and said he had already ordered all horse-related facilities and supplies to be transferred to Nick's control. With that, he handed over a ledger.

As for the paddock, although the one outside the city was essentially useless, Nick felt it was still better situated there. Feng Zongze had suggested that there was sufficient vacant land inside the city walls, which would be easier to secure and defend.

"No, horses cannot be kept in densely populated areas," Nick shook his head. "Besides, once the refugees start arriving in large numbers, the city will need to accommodate refugee camps. High density increases the risk of disease for both people and horses."

Although the area outside the walls was harder to defend, it offered ample space. In spring, wild grass could be grazed nearby. Moreover, there was a river convenient for watering the horses—horses were heavy water consumers. If the paddock were inside the city, water supply would become a major problem later on.

"Very well. I'll assign a guard detail to help with security," Feng Zongze said. "I'll arrange construction immediately—just provide the design drawings."

"That's no problem. I'll draw them myself."

Once the conscripted grooms returned from road and building work, Nick appointed his apprentice Laibao as paddock superintendent, with full authority over the Jeju paddock's operations. He also appointed the animal handlers he had brought as squad leaders.

"You know what needs to be done. Drill everything I've taught you into their heads," Nick instructed. "First thing: get these grooms properly washed—put them through purification! Horses are clean animals!"

Laibao immediately set to work, directing the grooms to muck out the paddocks and change the bedding, then groom the horses. One by one, the horses in the paddock were separated into different enclosures. Those that had lost the most weight, those with injuries or illness, and the aged were isolated into separate paddocks for targeted feeding and treatment.

Nick personally questioned the grooms and conducted a study of historical horse mortality patterns. Because these were all official horses, each had a corresponding "horse dossier" recording its service history, feed rations, illnesses, and deaths.

Overall, winter saw the highest horse mortality rate—directly related to overwork, insufficient autumn fattening, and winter fodder shortages.

Nick discovered that the Provincial Office and barracks maintained very limited winter hay reserves and rarely stockpiled concentrated feed. They frequently drove the horses out to forage on dead grass in the wild. Jeju Island's winters were relatively mild, with light snowfall, and abundant dead grass remained in the fields. This feeding method was cheap but too crude; if horses failed to fatten sufficiently in autumn and were overworked in winter, they would rapidly lose condition and die.

This practice was actually similar to the herd grazing of nomadic peoples. The problem was that nomadic horses were typically not worked in winter, so inferior or insufficient fodder was generally manageable. But for official and military horses that were regularly worked, such nutrition was inadequate.

(End of Chapter)