In the northern region where agricultural activities are the main focus, why is the winter called Cat Winter?
Because there was no life in the fields and it was too cold to do anything, I could only squat at home and think of ways to stay warm.
After several consecutive heavy snowfalls, human outdoor activities in Guanzhong were almost completely blocked.
Especially 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 Tiger Girl's supervision, he would even think of skipping getting up early to exercise.
Of course, there are almost no outdoor activities for human beings 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 have the ability to keep warm outdoors...
For example, Zhu Ju, the son-in-law of Emperor Sun.
Also accompanying Feng Junhou are Zhao Guang and Yang Wanwan. 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 a high place, Zhu Ju couldn't help but marvel as he watched the cavalry troops below constantly changing their formations, sometimes gathering and sometimes dispersing.
Over the years, Da Wu has mostly traveled north in winter and spring.
One of the reasons is that during these two seasons, Wei's cavalry was unable to exert its greatest power.
In winter, when riding a horse and galloping, just the cold wind blowing on the face can make people feel like a knife.
Not to mention riding on and running with weapons in hand.
As long as the cold is severe enough, the hands will lose all feeling, making it impossible to hold a weapon, let alone brandish a weapon on horseback.
As for spring, it is naturally because there is a lot of spring rain in Huainan, and the ground is muddy throughout the spring.
Although it is troublesome for Wu's infantry, the increase in river water in spring is beneficial to Wu's boatmen.
The cavalry of Wei State could not run on the muddy road, let alone cross the water network where the water level had been restored.
"Now I finally understand why the Wei thieves' elite cavalry 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 hadn't explained it in person, even if I had entered the Han army's cavalry camp in person, I wouldn't have been able to fully understand how much effort it took to raise a cavalry force.
Especially elite cavalry like those under Yang Fengjunhou.
The fodder and fines 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, they are all very particular.
There are some things that only Xinghan has the ability to provide to the military on a large scale.
Among these things, a small change may change the entire battle situation.
Very strict, very 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 was unable to form a large-scale cavalry like the Han Dynasty 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.
When he returned to his place of residence, regardless of fatigue, he immediately picked up a pen and paper and wrote down what he had learned today.
After heavy snowfall, it means that it has entered the depth of winter.
Days passed day by day, and on the last winter day of the fifteenth year of Jianxing's reign, Emperor Adou of the Han Dynasty issued an edict, ordering 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, anyone who is qualified to attend court understands one thing:
If the emperor changes his reign title at this time, it 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, so everything went smoothly.
Unlike his brother-in-law who was worried about the new year's name and moving 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 north and south. In Shuangshuang and Ah Chong's childhood, the company of adults and mother is a very precious memory.
It is 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.
In the first year of Yanxi's reign, the snow in Guanzhong began to melt, and Zhu Ju couldn't wait to send troops to deliver a message to Jianye.
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 Da Wu and return to the fields, and only raise 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 couldn't 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 fine 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 it left Sun Quan helpless.
The appearance of the Han armored cavalry finally gave Sun Quan a glimmer of hope.
Three thousand can defeat an army of one hundred thousand.
Just three thousand!
The Han State had Liangzhou and Longyou. When Sun Quan came to think of it, even if he had to buy all the horses from the Han State, he would still be able to gather 3,000 armored cavalry by gritting his teeth.
That's why he was willing to open Wu's important weapons of state control 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 the Han Kingdom.
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 magic?
Only half of Wu's tax revenue could afford to support this armored cavalry army of three thousand men.
Is this crazy?
Dawu has three states!
And what about the Han Kingdom before the First Battle of Xiaoguan?
It's just one state plus Longyou.
And how many years had Longyou been captured at that time?
Although if you think about it carefully, it seems that Shu has always been very wealthy 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?
As frugal as Zhuge Kongming was during his lifetime, was he willing to spend so much money?
Emperor Gu Zuosun held the letter paper 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 the Kingdom of Wu or the Kingdom of Shu, the older generation of generals who commanded the battlefield have gradually disappeared.
Especially the State of Wu, which does not produce war horses.
Not to mention that in the past few years, after the older 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, and 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 requirement for the armored cavalry mentioned in General Zhu's letter an exaggeration?"
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.
But this is the first time this armored cavalry appears in this world.
Moreover, it is still a secret in the Han army. How can outsiders know the secrets?
Thinking of this, Sun Quan couldn't help but feel a little suspicious:
"Then Zhu Zifan, isn't he being deceived?"
The so-called clever words make Feng Langjun charming.
Over the years, even the Wei Kingdom has spread rumors that this person, known as "Xiao Wenhe", is truly ruthless and cunning, and is a very troublesome figure in the northern Central Plains.
Given Zhu Zifan's temperament of being generous and giving away 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.
Over the past few years, the school affairs office has had a good relationship with the Xinghan Association.
In addition, when the school affairs 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 affairs office has received many benefits from the Xinghan Hui.
And Feng Junhou was the leader of the Xinghan Society.
In the absence of conclusive evidence, Lu Yi rarely said something fair:
"As His Majesty said, General Zhu is a man who is both civil and military. When it comes to leading an army in battle, that is indeed reassuring."
"But raising an army and leading it 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."
"So 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 pressing needs by continuously amassing money over the years.
As he learned more about 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 various major families every year.
There is no fixed quota for how much you pay or how little you pay, it all depends on the mood of each big family.
Upon careful consideration, I discovered that a considerable portion of the money and food in the treasury was actually controlled by the Wu family.
Only then did Lu Yi fully understand why His Majesty was so afraid of the powerful families in Wu.
Originally, when King Huan entered Jiangdong, his Majesty's family formed a bloody feud with the powerful families of Jiangdong.
In addition, the aristocratic families in Wudi originally had their own clan soldiers, and many of their children held important positions in the army of the court, and controlled a considerable part of the source of money and food for the treasury.
Anyone else would be afraid.
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 Xing Han Hui 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 according to what you see, what should we do?"
An imperceptible smile appeared on the corner of Lu Yi's mouth:
"Your Majesty, it is actually not difficult to confirm the money and food consumed by the armored cavalry. 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 someone who is good at arithmetic to Han in the name of contacting General Zhu?"
"Externally, it can be said that more people are sent to assist General Zhu, but secretly, the things needed by the armored cavalry can be dismantled one by one, and then the money and food needed by each department can be calculated."
"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 of the weapons, etc."
"As long as it is something that I, Da Wu, can build myself, it can be calculated at Da Wu's price."
"As for those parts that only the Han Kingdom can provide, can I ask if I can teach Da Wu? Or see if I can make it 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 Dynasty needed money and food to raise three thousand armored cavalry, but he did not expect that those were the Han people's opinions.
If the armor and the like were all made by Da Wu himself, it would definitely be much cheaper.
There is a big iron mine over there in Wuchang!
A few years ago, before the capital was moved, he had forged tens of thousands of swords there.
But Sun Quan thought of another question:
"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 smugness:
"If the Han Dynasty must sell us its 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 method? 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 used to use arithmetic to calculate the price of goods. Although I am stupid, I also know a little about his methods."
"Okay, okay!" Sun Quan said with a smile, "This time I go to Han to calculate the money and food consumed by the armored cavalry, how about I leave it to your school affairs office?"
Lu Yi was overjoyed and quickly prostrated: "My lord, I will definitely live up to your Majesty's expectations!"
