"O Main God! It's snowing. Another winter has come!..."
The winter snow of October fell with a soft rustle. Two heavy snows had already fallen on the Kamchatka Peninsula, while Great Whale Port on the far northern Alaskan coast was only now receiving its first snow of the year. Under the influence of the Alaska Warm Current, the eastern side of the North Pacific at the same latitude was indeed somewhat warmer than the western side.
"Hyah! Hyah!..."
High Priest Chimer rode atop a Jurchen Horse, urging it into a flying gallop, his face brimming with a brilliant smile. Behind him, horse keeper Sukeichiro jogged after him, panting and shouting, but simply could not catch up.
Farther away by the river, two Yakut mares stood with swollen bellies, leading two little foals as they leisurely grazed by the water. After giving birth to the foals in June, they had been bred again during their postpartum heat at the end of the month, and had immediately become pregnant once more. By now, they had been carrying for four months.
In horse breeding, mating a mare during her first heat after giving birth was called "hot breeding," and the conception rate was extremely high, almost hitting the target with every shot. Although a mare's pregnancy lasted as long as a year, as long as the supply of fodder and nutrition was sufficient and the hot breeding was done in time, it was possible for her to give birth almost once a year.
This was the key to rapidly multiplying a herd. Sukeichiro had spoken of many similar key points. After Chimer questioned him one by one, he even drew a little booklet specially for it, adding the words he had recorded. It was called *Running Divine horses! A Divine Revelation Picture Scroll