After breakfast, Zhu Pingan called Liu Dadao into the commander's tent, who was practicing endurance with the Tiger Crouching Cannon, and gave him a stack of banknotes.
"Sir, what is this?" Liu Dadao was holding a stack of banknotes, a little confused.
Uncle Zhu Shouren, who was sitting in the handsome tent reading a book and preparing for the exam, had red eyes. He looked like a rabbit with chicken blood. He wanted to snatch all the banknotes from Liu Dadao's hand.
"Da Dao, this is three thousand taels of silver. You take people to the city to buy horses. Buy as many horses as you can. If there are good horses, buy them first. If there are no good horses, buy ordinary horses. If there are no ordinary horses, just buy them.
Mules. Remember, both horses and mules must be in stock. We don’t have time to wait for them to bring horses from other places.”
Zhu Ping'an told Liu Dadao that he should go to Suzhou City to buy horses and mules, the more the better.
These three thousand taels of silver are the income from selling the secret magic knife and medicine.
Zhu Ping'an knew that according to the current market price, a good horse costs about thirty taels of silver. An ordinary horse costs about fifteen taels of silver. An ordinary horse costs half as much. As for a mule, a mule is three cents cheaper than an ordinary horse.
, a blue and white mule costs about six to ten taels of silver.
The Japanese pirates are about to attack Suzhou City, and a war is about to begin. With the Japanese pirates' ferocious and greedy nature, Suzhou City and the surrounding towns and villages will face the threat of Japanese pirates.
Zhu Ping'an led the Zhejiang army to sit in Suzhou City, so he had the responsibility and obligation to protect Suzhou City and surrounding towns and villages.
Then, it is crucial to form a mobile and flexible cavalry team.
The cavalry is much more maneuverable than the infantry. With the cavalry, the army can be quickly delivered to where it is needed.
Moreover, during the period of excessive use of hot and cold weapons, cavalry was still a key unit. It played a prominent role in reconnaissance, harassment, pursuit, covering communication lines, and breaking formations, such as the famous dragoons, carbines, cuirassiers, hussars, etc. during the Napoleonic period.
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The Zhejiang army now has 700 mules and horses, which is far from enough to cope with the current situation, so Zhu Pingan asked Liu Dadao to go to Suzhou City to buy horses.
However, Zhu Ping'an also knew that Suzhou was located in the south of the Yangtze River and was not a horse-producing area.
Even though Emperor Hongwu encouraged the people in Jiangnan to raise horses and gave them special subsidies and tax benefits, raising horses would take up time and land for farming. The input-output ratio was not cost-effective, and the people in Jiangnan did not raise many horses.
Even if Suzhou City is the most prosperous city in the world, the number of horses currently in the horse market in the city will not be too many.
Of course, if you give time to adjust the horses, hundreds or even thousands of good horses will not be a problem.
It's not enough, what's missing now is time.
Therefore, the next best thing is to buy an ordinary horse if you don't have a good horse. If an ordinary horse is not enough, buy a mule.
In fact, mules are not very suitable for war horses. Compared with horses, mules are smaller in size and have obvious disadvantages. Mules are slower than horses, less courageous and less powerful than horses, about a quarter smaller.
to about one-third.
However, at critical times, mules can also be used as war horses.
Although mules are smaller than horses, their endurance and hard work are far superior to horses. They can walk more than forty miles in one breath, on both good and bad roads, and even mountain roads.
In addition, mules are not easy to get sick, their leather is very durable, and they have no requirements for forage. Unlike war horses, which not only need maintenance, but also need to be fed fine grains at critical times, mules only need coarse grains and extensive feeding.
Historically, Li Xilie formed a mule cavalry because of the lack of horses, and the combat effectiveness was quite strong.
Perhaps everyone has no impression of Li Xilie, but everyone must have heard of Yan Zhenqing, a famous calligrapher in history. Yan Zhenqing was killed by Li Xilie.
"My nephew, why don't you leave it to us? I'll make sure you buy a good horse for your nephew."
Uncle Zhu Shouren was jealous of the three thousand taels of silver notes in Liu Dadao's hand. He stood up, patted his chest and asked for help.
"Uncle, you are new here and are not familiar with Suzhou, so you should leave it to Da Dao. You can just study and prepare for the exam with peace of mind."
Zhu Ping'an smiled and firmly rejected his uncle's offer.
Haha, I’m kidding, I’ll leave it to you. Isn’t it just like beating a dog with a meat bun? If I give you these three thousand taels of silver, I’ll probably turn around and go to the flower house to buy a skinny horse. I don’t know you yet.
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"Okay, time is tight and the task is heavy, Dadao, you guys, go quickly." Zhu Ping'an waved his hand and told Liu Dadao and the others to set off immediately.
"I obey, young master." Liu Dadao put the banknote close to his body, clasped his fists and left, summoning the troops to go to Suzhou City to buy horses.
"Oh, my dear nephew." Seeing that the deal was done and Liu Dadao left with the money, the uncle slapped his thigh in annoyance and looked at Zhu Ping'an and said, "Didn't we say that we are here to help you? If you need anything, just
Tell us, we can do things like study and prepare for exams during our evening rest."
"Yes, Mr. Zhu, we are willing to do the hard work for Mr. Zhu, study and prepare for the exam, we can do it at night."
Hu Wei and Xia Qiang also stood up and said.
The corners of Zhu Ping'an's mouth twitched. Don't you know how many brushes you have? You are so sloppy and careless that you fail more than you accomplish. It's you who I'm talking about. I can't even send you away in time, so how dare I use you.
"Haha, you are so active, so I have nothing to be embarrassed about. I do have something important to tell you."
Zhu Pingan smiled.
"Is it important?" The uncle and the others looked at each other with excited expressions.
"My nephew, you are right. Don't worry, you are right to leave important matters to us. We were careless last time, and our arithmetic and copying skills were not enough to show our actual ability."
Uncle Zhu Shouren patted his chest and said.
"Please give me your orders, we will definitely complete the mission." Hu Wei and Xia Qiang followed closely and said.
"My dear nephew, if you have any important errands, please give me your instructions. If you want to buy something more important, please give me the money and we'll set off right away." Uncle Zhu Shouren took a gulp of saliva and urged him again and again.
You must be obsessed with money.
Zhu Pingan was speechless.
"That's it. The Japanese pirates will attack Suzhou soon. How to increase the combat effectiveness of our army as soon as possible is a top priority. I hope my uncle and Mr. Hu and Mr. Xia can help me think of some good strategies to help me quickly increase the combat effectiveness of the Zhejiang Army.
.”
Under his uncle's repeated urging, Zhu Ping'an narrowed his eyes, raised the corners of his lips, and said slowly.
"Rapidly increase the army's combat effectiveness?" Uncle Zhu Shouren, Hu Wei, and Xia Qiang were immediately confused. How could they know?
However, even though their minds were in a state of confusion, Uncle Zhu Shouren and the others still took it in with great enthusiasm, "Niece/Mr. Zhu, please rest assured that this matter has been left to us, and we can come up with a good plan for the safekeeping."