Originally, the three tribes of the North borders were composed of many tribes, and they lived scattered across the land according to their tribe. Their livelihood included raising herds of horses near the river banks. There were competitions and fighting within the tribes. Later, one tribe rose up with the support from the last Emperor of the Xia Dynasty and it spent more than 10 years unifying the powers of the big tribes in the North borders.

This mighty tribe is the “Qiang tribe”. It is said to be the last descendants of the Qiangwu tribe. Moreover, it is now the most powerful, largest in number, and the richest tribe amongst the three tribes of the North borders. The royal family of the north borders operates differently from that of the central plains. The governing authorities are complicated and confusing.

If this occurred in the imperial family of the central plains where the Emperor was muddle-headed and incompetent, most people would choose to bear their grievances silently. If the ministers’ advices were not heeded, they would most likely ignore it or join the Emperor in his unruly ways. Notably, in a place like the North borders, the situation was entirely different.

If the King of the royal family lacks in ability, the elders from the three tribes have the power to exercise their rights to abolish his rule and choose a new king! Before the King of the North borders unified the horse stables, each of the great horse stables belonged to honourable, aristocratic families in the North borders.

Wu Liba advised the King earlier about killing off all the female horses that were exposed to those Ferghana horses from Shalan. However, the King of the royal family turned a deaf ear to it, and this afforded the horse plague enough time to spread and infect other horses. Many of the big horse stables suffered unnecessary huge losses, so who should be responsible for the costs?

Since the noble families were willing to accept the royal family’s governance over the horse stables, it was certainly because they were after the benefits. At present, they had suffered a huge loss due to the misjudgement of the King, so how will these powerful and mighty noble families react to this setback? When Liu She spread this news to Xiangyang district, the internal government of the North borders was already in disarray. The trust and reputation of the royal family also suffered a painful setback.

Jiang Pengji wore a rather thick hemp garment which was coarse and brown. She sat at the side of the footpath between paddy fields, and on her head she wore a conical hat to block the sun.

Although there was a drought this year, the harvest from the fields was relatively good. When Xiangyang district was recaptured last year in one sitting, a large area of desolate lands was cleared for cultivation and almost every household was given 10 hectares of land. Having experienced the elation of a good harvest, the people were presently burning straw to fertilise the land.

She listened quietly to the insider’s report, then lifted her eyes to look at the skies.

Late autumn was approaching. Based on previous years, the first snow should descend very soon.

She responded calmly, “There’s no need to worry, when the first snow falls, the horse plague at the north borders will be suppressed though the loss incurred cannot be recuperated. Tell Father that if he has the ability, he must try his utmost to incite conflict amongst the internal government of the North borders. The High king of the royal family has made a major misjudgement in policies which has resulted in huge losses to numerous horse stables belonging to the aristocratic families. Surely he must be in agony now.”

In recent times, she was either busy at the carpentry workshop or in the fields. This caused an uproar in the live streaming room claiming that she’s switching careers.

Now that Liu She’s envoy has arrived, everyone was excited.

Yinian Quzhong: “Hahahaha — I can laugh at this joke for a year. The three tribes of the North borders harbour the wishful thinking of invading Dongqing, but unfortunately the heavens disapprove of it. They mercilessly sent a “horse plague”, and it is good now as I believe even the High king of the royal family will be forced to abdicate.”

Flash-fried Mushrooms: “Success in war requires opportune time, resources, and manpower. Sigh, they don’t even have the advantage of discerning the time, yet they had the courage to attack Dongqing. Who empowered them with boldness? Did Liang Jingru? Presently the horse plague has descended upon them. Their warhorses are dying one batch after another. I searched on Baidu, hahaha, the value of warhorses in the past isn’t just expensive, the entire horse stables there is considered naught, so how much loss must they have incurred?”

Luoriyin Cangqiong: “No, no, no — Indeed, they lost many warhorses, if the cost was calculated in terms of cash, it would be exorbitant. Yet you must understand that warhorses aren’t currency, neither are they circulating funds. In fact, the loss they made isn’t substantial.”

If the warhorses in the north borders can be smuggled, the price they were sold at is certainly marked up. However, it cannot be deemed that warhorses are worth that amount. The North borders possess large and small horse stables; they have the right to determine the costs. The outsiders are ignorant about how much these warhorses cost exactly.

Jintian Qianghezi: “That’s true, we calculated their loss based on the cost of smuggled warhorses. If we counted in terms of its original cost, the deficit might not be so exorbitant? Nonetheless, it shouldn’t differ very much, it is an excruciating loss.”

Zeitama Ciji: “Am I the only one worried about how the streamer is going to defeat the north borders? How is the horse plague going to be resolved?”

She glanced through the bullet screen in the live streaming room. The envoy has departed, she looked like she was dreaming, but in fact she posted a comment.

Streamer V: “I heard the detailed report from the envoy, I figured out how the horse plague spread, it was highly likely that it was transmitted by insects. The source of the plague originated near Shalan where the humidity levels are high. No signs of snow were ever seen across the four seasons as it’s mostly summer. If insects are indeed the vectors of the horse plague, when the weather cools down and snow covers the earth, the horse plague will naturally be suppressed.”

The routes of transmission are limited. After Jiang Pengji eliminated all kinds of transmission modes, she narrowed it down to insects which were commonly found in the grasslands. Although there isn’t any evidence to back up this hypothesis, she believes in her judgement.

If it were airborne, even if the virus had a long incubation time, the horse plague will be infectious within a few days and spread throughout the grasslands of the north borders. Evidently it isn’t so, the horse plague radiated then spread in all four directions and its rate of transmission was neither fast nor slow.

Understanding dawned on the viewers in the live streaming room.

Feise Xingkong: “This horse plague is like Africa’s horse plague. But the incubation time is longer than Africa’s horse epidemic, and the death rate is also higher.”

Fengbao Yingxiong: “Anyway, it’s good enough that the streamer is aware, we should just sit back and watch the show quietly.”

At this moment, a viewer raised an impromptu question.

Nuanling: “Gasp —I suddenly recalled something, Little White is also from the North borders, is he susceptible to the horse plague?”

Just the thought of that mighty, majestic and docile, famous horse dying suddenly, and everyone was worried sick.

Streamer V: “Little White is well, he is healthy.”

The storekeeper of the treasure house told Jiang Pengji that he purchased a snow-white warhorse of a premium breed, and he wished to offer it to her. Back then, she asked in detail and after she ascertained that Little White was healthy, she got the stableman to keep it in White’s VIP stable.

The storekeeper of the treasure house left the north borders with Little White. He purposely took a detour to reach Xiangyang district and he spent more than one month in between. If Little White had been infected, he would’ve died on the way, how would he have reached Xiangyang district safely?

In between the fields was full of burnt straw, Jiang Pengji stood up to wear her wooden clogs. Coincidentally, Li Yun was also back from patrolling the area. A bright smile spread across his face; this caused many ladies to gush over him.

“My lord —”

She nodded her head, signalling that she’s about to leave.

Li Yun was so delighted that he revealed his set of white teeth. “Initially I thought after the drought this year, there would be no harvest. Thankfully, it is a year of small harvest.”

He collated the yield of each family’s harvest; the supplies were enough to feed the entire population in Fengyi county.

Then considering the fields in the villages of Chengan district, by next year’s autumn harvest, it isn’t just the people who will have enough grain, the harvest can even feed 20,000 troops.