Chapter 943 The most important weapon of the country
It is definitely impossible not to give it. After all, the Wei State has given it. As an ally, the Han Dynasty is unwilling to sell it. This is not justified both emotionally and rationally.
It's not okay to ask for too high a price. After all, the price given by Wei is there. As an ally, if the Han Dynasty asks too high a price, is it still considered an ally?
“The envoy from Wu State is already on the way to Liangzhou. How should we deal with it? It would be better to discuss the countermeasures as early as possible.”
“Cao!”
Feng Jishi couldn't help but cursed again.
He finally realized what Liu Bei's mood was like when he faced Sun Quan's lion asking for Jingzhou.
Of course, Zhuge Laoyao’s experience may be more profound.
So he must have had the same idea as Liu Bei at that time, and it was not easy to refuse openly, and then let the Wu envoy come to Liangzhou to argue with him.
Thinking of this, Governor Feng's heart moved.
This old demon Zhuge is very bad!
“Who is the envoy of Wu State?”
“Lu Mao, one of the four surnames in Wu County, is the younger brother of Lu Xun.”
"Lu Xun?" Feng Yong's expression condensed upon hearing this, "My biological brother or my clan brother?"
“Of course he is a biological brother.”
“Do you have any information about Lu Hao?”
As a qualified secretary, Zhang Xiaosi has already prepared everything.
She handed over a piece of information:
“Yes, there are some, but I only collected some of the more important relationships and his reputation in Wu, and there is no more.”
Feng Yong took it, lowered his head and read it carefully.
From the time he used brown sugar to infiltrate Wu State, Feng Yong had already begun to pay attention to letting people collect intelligence about Wu State.
Especially for important ministers like Lu Xun, intelligence collection is the top priority.
Thanks to Lu Xun's attention, Lu Hao, as Lu Xun's younger brother, was naturally also a direction for intelligence collection.
Although it is not much, it is enough for Feng Yong to analyze some situations.
After reading, Feng Yong knocked on the table and frowned slightly:
“You are a gentleman! This is not easy to handle.”
Although Lu Hao can be regarded as a descendant of an aristocratic family in Wu County, he is a person who abides by friendship.
He is willing to sincerely communicate with anyone who comes from a poor background but has great ambitions.
Because of his reputation, people from the same county, even if they were strangers to Lu Mao, were willing to entrust their orphans and children to him.
Lu Hao also lived up to his trust. Not only did he build the other party's grave, but he also adopted the other party's young son.
The protagonist Lu Ji in "Lu Ji Huai Orange" is the head of the Lu family and the uncle of Lu Xun and Lu Mao.
But when Lu Ji passed away, he would rather entrust the child to Lu Mao to raise him than to entrust it to Lu Xun who helped him support his family.
From this we can see how much Lu Hao is a person and how trusted he is by others.
So it is not an exaggeration to say that he is a gentleman.
Of course a gentleman can bully others, but similarly, if a gentleman comes for justice, then no matter how much you bully the other party, he will not back down because of setbacks.
Now the state of Wu is asking the Han for horses to form a cavalry army, precisely for the purpose of Han and Wu sworn to form an alliance to defeat Wei.
This can be said to be righteous.
At least in the eyes of people like Lu Hao, this is where integrity lies.
As for whether Sun Shiwan can defeat the Wei thieves after he has a cavalry army...that is what General Wu has to consider.
Instead of what Lu Hao wants to consider during this trip, he will only consider how to achieve the purpose of this trip.
“There is one more thing that needs attention,” Zhang Xingyi reminded. “This time, the deputy envoy of Wu State is Zhang Bai.”
Zhang Bai is Zhang Wen’s younger brother.
The Zhang family, like the Lu family, is also one of the four surnames in Wu County.
Zhang Bai personally came to Liangzhou two years ago to interview Feng Yong about the grain trade in Jingzhou.
It can be regarded as Feng Yong, or the representative of the comprador family of Wu State supported by the Xinghan Hui.
“So Sun Quan is determined to get the war horse from the Han Dynasty?”
Feng Yong couldn't help but muttered when he learned that Zhang Bai was the deputy envoy.
After all, after Sun Quan deposed Zhang Wen, he also exiled Zhang Bai, simply trying to kill everyone.
If the Zhang family hadn’t met Feng Yong, they would also have been agents of the brown sugar business.
No matter how deep-rooted the Zhang family is, they will probably lose their vitality and remain dormant for a while.
When Zhang Wen was on a mission to Shu, he admired Feng Yong very much. After returning to Wu, he never concealed his appreciation for Feng Langjun's articles.
Although the two have never met, they have always exchanged letters. The so-called making friends through letters is a well-known thing in the world.
In addition, the Zhang family later became the largest brown sugar agent in Wu.
To say that the Zhang family has no friendship with Feng Yong is to tell lies.
In order to ask for horses from the Han Dynasty, Sun Quan actually ignored his previous suppression of the Zhang family and pulled Zhang Bai out as an envoy.
Such a thick skin is indeed rare in the world.
This is simply a threat: either give it to the horse, or it will be unfavorable.
It just so happens that the relationship between the Zhang family and Lu Hao is extremely close.
Because the daughter Lu Ji entrusted to Lu Mao to take care of was Lu Yusheng, who is now Zhang Bai's wife.
Thinking of this, Governor Feng couldn't help but "tsk":
“It seems that this horse has to be given away.”
Zhang Xiaosi still has a long way to go when it comes to intelligence analysis, but she is still very sensitive to political intrigue:
“It was originally meant to be given, otherwise the Prime Minister would not have refused it directly?”
"It's just a matter in Liangzhou. I still need to ask for your opinion after all, so I asked the Wu envoy to come here."
“Now we can only think about how to give less...”
Zhang Xingyi was also a little worried and subconsciously put his fingers in his mouth to chew on it.
“Give them all.”
Feng Jishi said unexpectedly.
“Huh? Are you crazy? No!”
Not only Secretary Zhang was present, but also General Guan, Liao Changshi and other key officials of the governor's office.
After all, they must be informed of such a major event.
But Liao Hua always knew the purpose of being sent here by the Prime Minister.
Coupled with his relationship with the Guan family, he is usually willing to be a tool.
After all, with Feng Guiwang Xiao Wenhe's reputation and his achievements over the years, there are only a few people in the world who dare to pretend to be in front of him, whether they are herdsmen or military officers.
As for General Guan, she had no intention of speaking.
After all, this kind of thing is not her specialty.
But when he heard that Governor Feng was so generous, he immediately objected.
It is true that Liangzhou produces horses.
But only the best horses can be selected into the army as war horses.
Otherwise, the combat effectiveness will be greatly reduced.
The horses used by Hu Renyi in the army were basically the second-class horses left over from the governor of Liangzhou.
Some of them can't even get into battle formations and can only be used as pack horses.
So 3,000 war horses must be carefully selected from at least 20,000 or even 30,000 horses.
Even if there are horse farms and stallions specially collected and bred, it would take more than 10,000 horses to select 3,000 war horses.
How much time, manpower, and material resources will it take to raise 10,000 mature horses?
Can General Guan not feel pain in his body?
“You have to give something anyway. If you give less, it will make Wu’s people dissatisfied, so it’s better not to give it.”
Feng Yong shook his head.
Isn't this what Liu Bei and Guan Yu did back then?
Just after they and Sun Quan had divided Jingzhou equally, the ink on the agreement between the two countries was not yet dry. Who would have expected that Sun Quan would dare to stab him in the back immediately?
"He said he wanted three thousand, so we gave him three thousand. This... this is too much, so give him less!"
Guan Jida said dissatisfied.
Although Liao Hua didn't speak, he nodded secretly.
That’s right, now the Wu people are asking for help from the Han people, so how can they let them do whatever they say?
In order to obtain half of Nanjun, how much land did the late emperor promise to Sun Quan?
This time, at least let Wu Guo have a taste of asking for help.
“Three thousand is indeed a bit much, but I didn’t say it was a one-time payment.”
Feng Yong smiled slyly, "We can give it in batches."
"What's the meaning?"
“Now, in fact, no matter how much we give, we will still lose money.”
Feng Yong sighed and continued:
“Because Cao Rui sold the war horses to Sun Quan at a low price, it has been destined that when we exchange them with the Wu people, the price we ask for cannot be too high, or even lower than the price Cao Rui gave.”
Otherwise, Sun Quan would definitely still be unhappy.
“So if that’s the case, why don’t we think of a solution from another angle?”
As he spoke, Governor Feng's eyes narrowed slightly, and a deep smile appeared on his face.
This kind of smile is rare on Feng Jishi's face.
But General Guan and Secretary Zhang had followed Feng Jishi for many years, so they naturally knew what this smile meant—it meant that Xiao Wenhe had appeared.
The two looked at each other and said in unison:
“What’s the plan?”
“Pay in installments!”
Feng Yong came out with a term that no one could understand, "Sun Quan wants three thousand horses, doesn't he? I'll give him four thousand and let him make up a cavalry army of five thousand."
Liao Hua was shocked when he heard this.
It’s just that he has seen big storms after all, and he is always aware of small articles and cunning, so he suppressed his temper at the moment.
Guo heard Feng Yong continue to say:
"However, we cannot pay for these four thousand horses in one lump sum. We must pay them in four installments."
As he spoke, Feng Yong stretched out four fingers, "We don't want that treasure either, as long as he exchanges it for other things."
“The Wu people are good at boats, aren’t they? Then I will exchange a thousand horses for a batch of his boats. Another thousand horses will be exchanged for a group of boatmen who can operate the boats.”
“I still have two groups of students under me, one group is sent to Wu Guojun Middle School to operate ships, and the other group is sent to Wu Guo’s shipyard to learn shipbuilding.”
"The remaining two thousand war horses will be used as tuition fees. When the two groups of students return from their studies, I will hand over the horses."
Five thousand cavalry is already a fighting force that cannot be underestimated.
Feng Jishi didn't believe that Sun Shiwan would not be tempted.
Besides, Han and Wu are the same family. The Wu Kingdom asked for horses in order to defeat bandits. The Han Dynasty studied shipbuilding and sailing, wasn’t it also in order to defeat bandits?
Not to mention anything else, how many ships come and go on the Qishan Road from Hanzhong to Longyou every year?
Didn’t Sun Quan say:
"Pearls and treasures are not needed, but they can be exchanged for horses. What's the regret?"
What a coincidence, I, Feng, think so too.
I don’t love money!
I’m not interested in jewelry either!
I just want to learn how to build and operate a ship...
After hearing Governor Feng’s plan, not to mention Liao Hua, even General Guan and Secretary Zhang were stunned.
It is understandable to exchange a boat for a horse, but the boat-changer is a bit unexpected.
Not to mention the need to exchange the Wu people's ship-managing skills and ship-building skills.
I don’t know how long it will take for those students to learn it.
It’s hard to say, even the battle in Guanzhong is over...
Liao Huasu knew that Governor Feng had never been too busy with things, and the time he spent taking his children out to play was much longer than the time he spent dealing with government affairs.
After all, government affairs have a secretariat, and military affairs are related to the generals under their command.
If it weren't for the political affairs in Liangzhou and the people's return, he would have been unable to restrain himself and wanted to give a warning.
Now it seems that Feng Mingwen can be regarded as a figure like Pang Tong in terms of strategy alone.
Those trivial things may not even catch his eye.
In the past, I only heard about its great reputation, but today I finally saw it with my own eyes!
Liao Hua was sighing when Feng Yong turned to him and said:
"Uncle Liao, I originally wanted to go to Juyan County after spring to supervise the farming, but now it seems that I can't do it. I'm afraid it will tire Uncle Liao a lot."
Liao Hua quickly said:
"Inspecting Juyan County is not a matter for the state and county; receiving the Wu envoy is a matter for the two countries. There is a difference in severity. Small matters are left to the old man, while big matters need to be handled by the prince himself."
Seeing with his own eyes that even the prime minister was able to shirk things, was easily resolved by Governor Feng, Liao Hua strengthened his determination to be a tool.
The only thing that worries Liao Hua is: Will the Wu people agree?
A few days later, Governor Feng personally received the Wu envoys who had traveled thousands of miles away in the official hall of the Governor's Mansion in Liangzhou.
The two sides recalled the long-term friendship between the two countries and looked forward to the future cooperation in jointly combating thieves.
During this period, Lu Mao formally proposed to Feng the governor that he would exchange the pearls and tortoise shells produced in Wu for the Liangzhou horses.
Feng Governor, who had been prepared for a long time, also made his request to Lu Hao.
Lu Hao, who is in his forties, is elegant and elegant.
Although he has entered middle age, it can still be seen that he must have been a handsome man in his youth.
Whether walking or sitting, it gives people a sense of leisure and leisure.
This calmness turned into anger after hearing the conditions put forward by Feng Jishi.
But I saw him standing up suddenly and staring at Feng Yong closely:
"I don't agree! The benefits of boats are important weapons of our great kingdom of Wu. How can we show them to others at will?"
“Mr. Lu, it’s meaningless for you to say that. Boats are the most important weapon of the Wu State. Are war horses not the most important weapon of my great man?”
Governor Feng sat there, motionless:
"In the battle of Xiaoguan, I was able to defeat one hundred thousand with twenty thousand. Isn't it because of the Han's cavalry?"
"How can it be the same? Who doesn't know that the cavalry under the command of the prince is very different from other cavalry. I heard that it was trained by the secret method of the prince's master."
Lu Hao didn't show any weakness at all, and even took a step closer, "In my opinion, this kind of secret method is the real important weapon. Is it possible that a prince would be willing to give it to me?"
"Nonsense!" Feng Junhou's face changed as soon as he heard this, and he raised his voice, "It's nothing!"
"The rumors outside are just what others say. Mr. Lu is a gentleman, how can he easily believe such rumors?"
Although his sitting posture has not changed, the subconsciously stretched neck and the slightly raised veins on his neck seem to show some kind of tension.
Although the change in Feng Yong's expression was quickly concealed, how could he hide it from Lu Hao?
The battle of Xiaoguan in the Han and Wei Dynasties shocked the world. The cavalry under Feng Governor could not attract attention even if they did not want to attract attention.
With the unprecedented new cavalry tactics, coupled with the previous rumors about Feng Yong, it is not unusual for someone to come to this conclusion.
Besides, the Zhang family has a relationship with Feng Mingwen. Who in Wu knows about it?
On the way to Liangzhou, Lu Hao had already asked Zhang Bai a lot about Feng Jishi.
As soon as he thought about this, Lu Hao subconsciously glanced at Zhang Bai, who was sitting next to him.
If it were another normal day, he would naturally not be sure about this, but now...
I'm sorry, Feng Junhou, when I was inquiring about your news on the road, Zhang Bai accidentally let it slip!
(End of this chapter)