Chapter 1102 Actuarial Science
In northern areas where agricultural activities are the main focus, why is the winter called Cat Winter?
Because there is no life in the fields and it is too cold, I can’t do anything, so I can only squat at home and think of ways to keep warm.
After several consecutive heavy snowfalls, human outdoor activities in Guanzhong have almost been completely blocked.
Especially for someone like Feng Junhou, who has a big house, a heated kang, and a new person in the house.
If it weren't for the need to maintain physical condition and the supervision of Tiger Girl, he would even think of not even getting up early to exercise.
Of course, there are almost no human outdoor activities in Guanzhong, which means it is still there.
Ordinary people cannot afford to go out in such a cold weather.
But after all, there are still people who can afford to stay warm outdoors.
For example, Zhu Ju, the son-in-law of Emperor Sun.
Coming with him are Zhao Guang and Yang Wanwan—now beside Feng Junhou, one of them is a general of the armored cavalry, and the other is a general of lightly armored cavalry.
"General Yang, in such a cold weather, the Han cavalry can actually charge. It is indeed much stronger than the Wei cavalry."
Standing on the commander's platform in the school field, Zhu Zhi couldn't help but marvel as he watched the cavalry troops below constantly changing their formations, sometimes gathering and sometimes dispersing.
In recent years, Da Wu has mostly gone north in winter and spring.
One of the reasons is that during these two seasons, Wei's cavalry was unable to exert its maximum power.
In winter, when riding a horse and galloping, just the cold wind blowing on your face can make people feel like a knife.
Let alone mount and run with weapons.
As long as the cold is severe enough, the hands will lose all feeling and they will be unable to hold a weapon at all, let alone brandish the weapon on horseback.
As for spring, of course it’s because there is a lot of spring rain in Huainan, and the ground is muddy throughout the spring.
Although it is troublesome for Da Wu's infantry, the increase in river water in spring is beneficial to Da Wu's boatmen.
The cavalry of Wei State could not run on the muddy road, let alone cross the water network that restored the water level.
“Now I finally understand why the elite cavalry of the Wei thieves were repeatedly defeated by Feng Junhou.”
Zhu Ju looked greedily at the cavalry array below that was still changing with the flags and drums, and couldn't help but marvel.
To be honest, if someone had not explained it in person, even if you entered the cavalry camp of the Han army, you would not be able to fully understand how much effort it takes to raise a cavalry.
Especially elite cavalry such as those under the command of Yang Feng Junhou.
The fodder and fine materials for feeding the horse, the oil on the rider's face, the gloves in his hands, as small as a horseshoe, as large as the knight's armor.
According to the Han generals, it is all very particular.
There are some things that only Xinghan will be able to provide to the army on a large scale.
Among these things, a small change may change the entire battle situation.
Very strict and precise, completely different from infantry.
Now, the Han State showed all the details of the cavalry in front of itself, without any reservations, openly and openly.
Knowing these things, even if Wu is unable to form a large-scale cavalry like Han did.
But at least when facing Wei again, he will know how to deal with it.
In the freezing weather, Zhu Ju felt hot in his heart.
After returning to his residence, regardless of fatigue, he immediately picked up a pen and paper and wrote down what he had learned today.
After the heavy snowfall in Guanzhong, it means that it has entered the deep winter.
The days passed day by day, and on the last winter day of the fifteenth year of Jianxing, Emperor Adou of the Han Dynasty issued an edict and ordered the ministers to draft a new year's name.
Then at the great court meeting on New Year's Day, the reign name "Yanxi" was finally selected.
When things have reached this point, everyone who is qualified to attend court understands one thing:
The emperor changes his reign title at this time, which means that next year, the capital will most likely be moved to Chang'an.
It can also be seen from this that although the prime minister passed away, there was Feng Junhou in Guanzhong, and everything went smoothly.
Unlike his brother-in-law who was worried about the new year's name and relocation to the capital, Feng Junhou happily spent the New Year with his wife, concubines and children on New Year's Day.
It makes up for the regrets of the past few years for the children.
In the past few years, Feng Junhou has been running around, fighting in the south and the north. In the childhood of Shuangshuang and Ah Chong, the company of adults and mother is a very precious memory.
It’s true as General Guan said:
If you enjoy the treatment of a prince's family that others cannot enjoy, you should bear the responsibilities of the prince's family.
Just entered the first year of Yanxi and the snow in Guanzhong began to melt. Zhu Ju couldn't wait to send troops to deliver letters to Jianye as soon as possible.
He wanted to tell Emperor Wu everything he saw and gained in Han.
This is the good intention of your Majesty.
Unexpectedly, the letter was almost torn into pieces as soon as it was delivered to Emperor Wu.
"How much? How much money does one armored cavalry need? How is it possible? Does he want me to disarm all the soldiers of Wu and return to the fields, and only support this armored cavalry?"
When Emperor Wu looked at the amount of money and food mentioned in the letter, he almost suffered from high blood pressure on the spot.
Sun Quan was actually prepared for the fact that the cavalry army wasted too much money and food.
But no matter how much money he spent, it could not stop him from wanting to form a cavalry army.
Otherwise, we wouldn’t have been trying to make good friends with Liaodong for decades.
In addition to wanting to unite Liaodong, attack Wei from the north and south, and obtain horses from Liaodong, this was also an important reason.
The elite cavalry of the Wei State has always been a sharp sword that weighs on the head of the Wu State.
It was extremely sharp, but Sun Quan was helpless.
The appearance of the Han cavalry finally gave Sun Quan a glimmer of hope.
Three thousand can defeat an army of 100,000.
Only three thousand!
The Han Kingdom had Liangzhou and Longyou. If Sun Quan wanted to come, even if he had to buy all the horses from the Han Kingdom, if he gritted his teeth, he could still gather three thousand armored cavalry.
That's why he was willing to open Wu's state-controlled weapons to Han.
To be honest, if Han could help Wu build an armored cavalry army, Emperor Sun would even be willing to exchange Wu's shipbuilding technology.
It was with this in mind that Emperor Sun made several choices, choosing a son-in-law who in his eyes was comparable to Lu Meng, both civil and military, and who he could trust to go to Han.
Unexpectedly, this son-in-law went to Han for so long, and the information he sent back would actually cost money.
And it costs a lot of money.
What kind of great method?
Half of Wu's tax revenue could afford to support this armored cavalry army of 3,000 men.
Is this crazy?
Da Wu is a land of three states!
And what about the Han Dynasty before the First World War at Xiaoguan?
It's just one state plus Longyou.
And how many years had Longyou been captured at that time?
Though thinking about it carefully, Shu seems to have been very rich in the past ten years.
But no matter how rich it is, it is impossible for it to be so rich that it can spend so much money and food to build such an armored cavalry army... right?
Sun Dadi held the letter in his hand tightly, his face was extremely ugly, and he subconsciously refused to believe the number stated in the letter by Zhu Yu.
After the establishment of the Three Kingdoms, all except Wei had the rich family fortune left by Cao Cao.
Whether it is Wu or Shu, the older generation of generals who dominated the battlefield have gradually disappeared.
Especially the State of Wu, which does not produce war horses.
Not to mention that in recent years, after the old generation north of the river has disappeared, many new generation generals have seen a large-scale cavalry army in Wei for the first time.
They had to learn from scratch how to resist the cavalry, let alone lead the cavalry in battle.
Emperor Wu was silent for a long time. He didn’t know what he was thinking. He handed one of the papers to Lu Yi and asked:
"Lu Qing, your school office has a lot of dealings with the Han Dynasty. Is the need for the armored cavalry mentioned in General Zhu's letter exaggerated?"
If we just talk about the cost of ordinary cavalry, Emperor Wu can naturally guess one or two.
After all, I have never eaten pork, and I have seen pigs running away.
It just so happens that this armored cavalry appears in this world for the first time.
Moreover, it is also a secret in the Han military. How can outsiders know the secrets?
Thinking of this, Sun Quan couldn't help but feel a little suspicious:
“Then Zhu Zifan, couldn’t he have been deceived?”
The so-called clever words make Feng Langjun look good.
Over the years, even the Wei Kingdom has spread rumors that this person, known as "Xiao Wenhe", is really ruthless and cunning, and is a very troublesome figure in the northern Central Plains.
Given Zhu Zifan’s temperament of being generous with money, could it be that the other party saw that he always underestimated money, so he exaggerated the cost of the armored cavalry?
The school affairs office led by Lu Yi was a mad dog raised by Emperor Wu. He was extremely loyal and would bite whomever Emperor Wu asked him to bite.
However, even if it is a dog, it still has judgment.
The school affairs office has had a good relationship with the Xinghan Association in the past few years.
In addition, when the school office encountered a crisis earlier, Xinghan would help and it was able to get through it safely.
Since Qin Bo returned from his first mission to the Han Dynasty, the school office has received many benefits from the Xinghan Hui.
And Feng Junhou is the leader of the Xinghan Society.
In the absence of conclusive evidence, Lu Yi rarely said something fair:
“As your Majesty said, General Zhu is a man of both civil and military skills. When it comes to leading an army in battle, that is indeed reassuring.”
“But raising an army and leading an army are not the same thing. General Zhu has a philanthropic temperament and has no control over spending money, so he may not know what the amount of money and food means.”
“Therefore, I had to carefully consider what was said in the letter and send someone to send it back to Your Majesty.”
The school affairs office has been able to alleviate many of Emperor Wu's urgent needs by continuously amassing money over the years.
With the understanding of Wu's treasury, Lu Yi also understood more and more that such a large country of Wu was actually in such an embarrassing situation.
In order to support the court officials and the army, in addition to the taxes that the major families in Wudi paid to the court every year.
Your Majesty has to find other ways to raise more money and food from major families every year.
There is no fixed quota for how much or how little you pay, it all depends on the mood of each big family.
After thinking about it carefully, I found out that a considerable part of the money and food in the treasury was actually controlled by the Wu family.
It was only then that Lu Yi finally understood why His Majesty was so afraid of the aristocratic families in Wu.
originally when King Huan entered Jiangdong, your Majesty’s family formed a **** feud with the powerful families of Jiangdong.
In addition, the aristocratic families in Wudi had their own clan soldiers, and many of their descendants held important positions in the army of the court, and they also controlled a considerable part of the money and food sources of the treasury.
Everyone would be afraid of anyone else.
This also explains why the school affairs office can immediately turn the crisis around as long as it can find financial resources for His Majesty.
Whether Feng Junhou deliberately deceived Zhu Ju was not important to Lu Yi. Anyway, the school affairs office could not get involved in military affairs.
But the path of Xinghanhui must not be discontinued—at least for now, it cannot be discontinued.
Otherwise, the school affairs office, which has no use value to His Majesty, will soon be torn into pieces by the officials in the court who have long held grudges.
Sun Quan naturally didn't know what Lu Yi was thinking, but he did think that Lu Yi's words made some sense.
He nodded immediately and asked:
“Then what do you think should be done?”
An imperceptible smile appeared on Lu Yi’s lips:
“Your Majesty, it is actually not difficult to confirm the money and food consumed by the armored cavalry, but I have come up with a way.”
“Oh? Come quickly!”
When Sun Quan heard this, he quickly said:
"Only the Han Kingdom has armored cavalry in the world. If they insist on setting this price, we may not have any good ideas. I was worried, but I didn't expect you to have something to do?"
Lu Yi agreed and then suggested:
“Why don’t your majesty send people who are good at arithmetic to Han in the name of contacting General Zhu?”
“It can be said that more people are sent to assist General Zhu externally, but secretly, we can dismantle the things needed by the armored cavalry one by one, and then calculate the money and food needed by each department."
“For example, how much does it cost to make a war horse, how much does it cost to build armor, are there any special features in weapons, etc.”
“As long as I, Da Wu, can build it myself, it can be calculated at Da Wu’s price.”
“As for those parts that only Han can provide, you can ask if you can teach them to Wu? Or see if they can be made cheaper…”
“Calculated in this way, the money and food consumed by a cavalry army, even if it cannot be significantly reduced, is definitely less than that provided by the Han Dynasty for an entire cavalry army.”
Sun Quan was overjoyed when he heard this: "Good!"
Zhu Zifan only said in the letter that the Han country needed money and food to raise three thousand armored cavalry, but he did not expect that those were all Han people's statements.
The iron armor and the like, if it were all made by Da Wu himself, it would definitely be much cheaper.
There is a large iron mine over there in Wuchang!
A few years ago, before the capital was moved, I made tens of thousands of swords there.
Just another question came to Sun Quan’s mind:
"I'm afraid that the Han Dynasty is only willing to sell iron armor and is not willing to teach us how to make it."
Lu Yi smiled slightly:
“Your Majesty, I remember that it has been nearly two years since the Han Dynasty sent people here to learn how to operate ships, but Your Majesty has never taught them how to build warships, right?”
Sun Quan suddenly woke up:
“Wonderful! The method of making iron armor is replaced by the method of making warships, how wonderful!”
As he spoke, he said with some complacency:
“If the Han Dynasty must sell us its iron armor, we can also sell our warships to them!”
He took two steps back and forth, looked at Lu Yi again, and said with approval:
"How did you come up with this idea? It's really good."
Lu Yi said modestly:
"The school affairs office has been dealing with the Han Dynasty for a long time. The Xinghan Society is accustomed to using arithmetic to calculate the price of goods. Although I am stupid, I know a little about his methods."
"Okay, okay!" Sun Quan said with a smile, "How about I leave it to your school affairs office to calculate the money and food consumed by the armored cavalry this time when I go to Han?"
Lu Yi was overjoyed and quickly prostrated himself: "My lord, I will certainly live up to your Majesty's expectations!"
(End of this chapter)