The dignified Qu family doesn't have any treasures, and they still look down on this little money. If they had known that Zhao Guo could put his father's Chu Ci into the academy for the world to learn, Qu could have given Zhao Guo money in turn to promote his father.
reputation is more important than anything else.
"Can't Qu even look down on five thousand war horses?" Zhao Kuo said with a smile.
"Five thousand war horses!" Qu Shu stood up suddenly and looked at Zhao Kuo in disbelief.
"Not bad." Zhao Kuo nodded.
The Jing family and the Zhao family supported the Xiang family and suppressed the Qu family. Naturally, the Zhao State would support the Qu family to fight against the Xiang family. The Chu State with four or even five forces pulling each other was obviously more beneficial to the Zhao State than the united Chu State.
The military aspect of the Chu State was mainly controlled by the Jing family and the Xiang family, while the Zhao family and the Qu family mainly controlled the political aspect. And over the years, the Qu family's sphere of influence continued to shrink.
With 5,000 horses, Qu was able to carve a hole in the army.
"Foreign Minister, thank you very much, Your Majesty." Qu Shu solemnly bowed and bowed.
"I would also like to thank Qu on behalf of the students of Zhao State." Zhao Guo said with a smile.
These Chu Ci can neither govern the country nor strengthen the army. They seem useless, but they contain what is most lacking in this era - patriotism.
Before Confucianism took root in the hearts of the people, the vast majority of scholars had no idea of patriotism. There is no place for me to keep you here, I have my own place to stay. If I see you unhappy, I will leave, and I will work for your old enemy to disgust you.
Only members of the clan will fight tooth and nail to protect their family and country, even at the cost of their lives. But whether the purpose is to save the country or to save his clan, it is hard to say.
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Although Handan College has established so many subjects, it has not incorporated patriotic ideas. Others did not realize it. Zhao Kuo did, but he did not know how to start.
This thing is not just about shouting, but it can convince people and let people know why they are patriotic and needs subtle changes.
Qu Yuan's Chu Ci gave Zhao Kuo hope in this regard.
The only shortcoming is that Qu Yuan was from the Chu state, not the Zhao state. Otherwise, Zhao Kuo would have immediately ordered a statue of Qu Yuan to be built in a temple for people to worship and promote Qu Yuan's patriotism.
But now we can only rely on Qu Yuan to contrast Chu's mediocrity and inspire everyone's patriotic consciousness.
The effect is much worse, but there is no way. At least before the unification, it is impossible to publicize the humanistic deeds of Chu State.
Although Chu and Zhao are allies, they are also enemies. Promoting Chu people will only make people yearn for Chu.
Zhao Kuo worked hard to cultivate talents not just for them to contribute to Chu State.
"Your Majesty's words are serious. It's me, Mrs. Qu, who should thank your Majesty." Qu Shu leaned over and said, after so many years, someone finally cleared my father's name.
"Okay, let's get down to business. How many war horses does Chu intend to buy?" Zhao Kuo said seriously.
"Eighty thousand." Qu Shu also straightened his body and sat upright.
When passing by Wei State, he had already found out that Zhao State had sold 50,000 war horses to Wei State. After arriving at Handan, he even met envoys from South Korea and Qi State. This shows that Zhao State has no shortage of war horses.
If it can be sold to the Wei State for 50,000 yuan, it can be sold to the Chu State for 80,000 yuan.
Qu Shu has never been to the Hetao and the grassland. He doesn't know how big these places are and how many war horses they can raise. But he knows that Zhao State is definitely not as simple as recovering the Hetao. In the past, Zhao State could not produce so many war horses at its peak.
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"Can the Chu State spend so much money?" Zhao Kuo was a little surprised. The war horses of the Wei State cost nearly 20,000 yuan each. The Chu State would not be cheaper than the Wei State, but would only be more expensive.
It is possible that 80,000 war horses would be more than 1.6 billion.
The Chu State was not the unified empire that would later become the unified empire. Even a unified empire would have difficulty raising so much money at once.
Moreover, it will cost more money to raise and train horses later.
The Chu State is not like the Daijun, Yanmen and other places of the Zhao State. The sons of good families have been riding horses and shooting arrows since they were young. They can become cavalry when they are recruited. Even if they are not as good as the elite cavalry, they will not be much worse.
Everything in the Chu State had to be started from scratch, and the soldiers could not even ride a horse, so one can imagine the cost.
"We, the State of Chu, can exchange Hangou for war horses." Qu Shu said with a smile. He already knew about the Wei State's exchange of Hangou for war horses.
"No change." Zhao Kuo immediately refused.
Can Hangou be compared with Chassis? If it were the era when Suhu was familiar with the world and the world was full, Hangou could still be tied with Chassis. If it continued to connect north to south, like the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, it would be able to leave Chassis far behind.
But how can the current Hangou be compared with the Chasm?
In order to march north to conquer Qi, Fu Chai opened the Hangou ditch in the lower reaches of Huai River and Jiang River to connect the Central Plains and Jiangnan. Fu Chai was killed by Gou Jian not long after.
The target of the Yue State was not the Chu State in the west, but also the Qi State in the north, so Hangou was still prosperous at that time.
After the Chu State destroyed Yue, Hangou was completely deserted. The Chu State's focus has always been on the capital of Ying and the Central Plains, and has never been placed on the land of Wu and Yue.
The Chasm is one of the most golden waterways in the Central Plains. Even so, only 50,000 war horses were replaced.
Chu's offer of Hangou in exchange for 80,000 war horses was purely a waste of time.
Qu Shu smiled coquettishly. He had no hope that this matter would come true. He was just trying it out. He didn't expect that Zhao Kuo would refuse so simply without giving any face.
"What does your Majesty mean?" Qu Shu asked, cupping his hands.
"The price of Chu's war horses should have exceeded 20,000 yuan," Zhao Kuo said with a smile.
"Twenty-two thousand." Qu Shu told the truth. The price of Chu's war horses was already higher than that of the Central Plains, but this was the first time that it was so ridiculously high.
"I, the State of Zhao, can sell 60,000 war horses to the State of Chu, and the price of each horse is 20,000. In the grain transaction, you only need to pay 90%. There is no limit to the type of grain, including rice, corn, wheat, sorghum, and job's tears.
You can use it, but if it doesn't work, you can also use dried fish. For other silk, medicinal materials, copper, iron, and leather transactions, you need to pay 95%. If you pay with coins, you need 100%." Zhao Kuo said.
"Okay." Qu Shu thought for a moment and nodded.
It's a bit expensive, but everyone else has this thing, and Chu State can't live without it. If it doesn't, it will only be beaten in the future.
Although there is some gap between the initial target of 80,000 horses, plus the 5,000 war horses presented to him by the State of Zhao, the total of 65,000 war horses is not too different from the 80,000 horses, which is enough for the Chu State.
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"Do you need stirrups, horseshoes, saddles, etc.? Our country Zhao has all the matching ones, and we can sell them to Chu at a low price." Zhao Kuo was like a conscientious salesman, selling his products.
"This... there's no need for it, our country of Chu can build it." Qu Shu shook his head.
In order to buy these war horses, the King of Chu had already offended his nobles and promised to distribute some to them after buying them. After raising so much money, there was no extra money to buy stirrups.