In the outskirts of Yecheng, Yu Wenwen and his entourage are visiting the horse supervisor, in the horse supervisor ranch, a group of war horses are galloping, the endless plain is a common scenery in the north, and the 'southern turtles' who are used to seeing the mountains when they go out are constantly amazed.

"I'm afraid there are no less than 10,000 horses in this pasture!" Zhou Faming sighed, when he saw a horse supervisor of such a scale, he had no time to think about anything other than envy.

"It is said that there are 20,000 horses, and I don't know if it's true or not" Yu Wenwen said with a smile, the imperial horse prison he had seen in Guanzhong was not smaller than the scale in front of him, and the cavalry of this year, like the tanks of later generations, was an important pillar of a country's army strength.

"There are really a lot of cavalry in the Northern Dynasty" Zhou Faming was a little distracted, although he is now a native of the Zhou Kingdom, but he subconsciously still thinks of the Southern Dynasty, after all, his ancestors have been eunuchs of the Southern Dynasty for generations, and it is not imperceptible that it can be completely reversed in a few years.

The southern ships and northern horses, the Southern Dynasty relied on a strong naval division to hold the Yangtze River moat, the Northern Dynasty galloped on the battlefield with large-scale cavalry, and the cavalry of the Southern Dynasty was more miserable most of the time, because there were not enough horses, so there were not many of them.

When the southern army has few horses, the ratio of foot and cavalry is a little better, generally in 20 to 1, that is, 100,000 foot cavalry when going out, of which less than 5,000 cavalry, some rare times can reach 10 to 1, that is only 10,000, and the cavalry of the Northern Dynasty with tens of thousands of cavalry at every turn, it is short of breath.

The cavalry is not enough for one person and one horse, so you have to spare one horse just in case, and if you can't do one person and two horses, you must also have some horses to spare, otherwise the cavalry of one person and one horse will be crippled after a bad battle, and the cavalry of the Northern Dynasty is even common for one person and three horses.

If there are many horses, the speed of the assault will be fast, galloping two or three hundred miles day and night, running two horses and killing two horses and a third horse into the final battle, the army of the Northern Dynasties has used this extremely violent tactics to repeatedly make the army of the Southern Dynasties suffer great losses.

"Don't be in a daze, go see your own horses!" Yu Wenwen waved his hand and said proudly, in the corner of this ranch, there are horses they bought.

"Envoy, these horses won't be transferred, right?" Tian Yilong asked, he can only be regarded as "understanding" of horses, his eyes were black when he entered the horse market, and he chose some good horses thanks to someone's help, and now he is most afraid of the good horses he bought, which was transferred when he was fostered in the ranch.

"Don't worry, they are all marked, and besides, Leader Zhang is guarding day and night with people, and no one dares to mess around." Yu Wenwen didn't care, and when he saw Zhang Dingfa who was inspecting the horses, he first waved his hand, and then took Zhou Faming and Tian Yilong over to look at the horses.

"I want you to buy a peony horse to go back, I think it is to multiply, but it takes so much trouble that I am not afraid that the distant water will not quench my thirst?" Zhou Faming asked, he admired Yuwenwen's strong financial resources, but he was also surprised that he actually bought a stallion and a mare to go back to breed and breed.

There is no proper pasture in Bazhou, where there are so many flat land grazing horses, even if you find a piece of land and plug it, the horses can't move. It will take several years to go to the battlefield after giving birth to a pony, and relying on these horses as cavalry mounts, I am afraid that the dishes will be cold at that time!

"Ten birds in the forest is better than one bird in hand." Yu Wenwen replied, "Now Shannan Prefecture can get the allocated horses from the imperial court, and it can also buy sporadically from horse dealers, but the guarantee is still required." ”

Zhou Faming didn't say any more, this Qian Duo also has a lot of ideas, it's not something he can refute, when the battle between Zhou and Sui is a head, no one can say, if the fight lasts for decades, then Yuwen Wen has a foresight to buy horses and breed.

Yu Wenwen looked at the horses, while listening to Zhang Dingfa's introduction, since the other party came back from buying the horse, he arranged for people to take turns to be on duty at the ranch day and night, in case of any situation, of course, each horse has been marked to prevent someone from fishing in troubled waters.

Tian Yilong was worried that something would go wrong, and Yuwen Wen was more afraid of the horses being dropped than anyone else, Zhou Faming bought more than a hundred horses, Tian Yilong bought dozens of horses, and his horses were thousands.

It is rare to come to the famous northern city of Ye, Yuwenwen is fully prepared, to buy a lot in Yecheng, the most wanted to buy is naturally horses, and Zhang Dingfa, who is fully responsible for the purchase of horses, spent countless days after tossing, and bought back more than 2,000 war horses of various colors and horses.

Yuwen Wen, who spent a lot of money to buy horses, caused a lot of sensation in Yecheng, and its popularity was second only to the sale of rare "glass treasure mirrors".

Buying and selling horses is very knowledgeable, horse buyers and horse dealers are intrigued, all of a sudden it is "a foot high and a foot high", and all of a sudden it is "a foot high and a foot high", and there are many twists and turns in the stomach of profiteers over the years, and it is not too easy to deal with Yuwen Erlang, a rich man with fine clothes and jade food.

It is a serious denigration of the craftsmanship of the profiteers who have practiced to the point of using secret medicine, and a sick horse, who has taken a well-prepared secret medicine, is full of energy and radiance, and looks like a good horse.

Spend a lot of money to buy home, within half a month of illness fell to the ground and died, the buyer cried and had no place to cry, if the momentum came to the door, the profiteers looked innocent: "The horse is jumping alive in my hands, you bought it back only ten days before you died, and I am also falsely accused that I was killed, I want to go to the government to beat the drum to avenge my grievances!" ”

The matter is so big that it is impossible to find out the reason why the sick horse can be energetic, so it can only be inferred that the buyer looks at the horse and looks away, or that he does not take good care of it after buying it, unless the buyer is strong and can use power to suppress people, otherwise there is nothing to do with the profiteers.

Yuwen Wen is self-aware, although he often flies eagles and lackeys in Chang'an, and he has seen many famous horses, but he is only half a bucket of water about the horse market, if he goes to the horse market to buy a horse sooner or later he will be slaughtered, in line with the principle of "profiteer, you have to be more traitorous than him", Zhang Dingfa is authorized to be responsible for the purchase of horses.

Zhang Dingfa because of 'professional reasons', quite familiar with the horse market, do not dare to say that he knows all about the doorway, but under hearing and witnessing, he is qualified to be called an "expert", the main Bo Zhengtong day and night to buy books, inspection, and Zhang Dingfa is also a waste of sleep and food to buy horses.

Personally dealing with all kinds of horse dealers, watching horses, bargaining, inspection, acceptance, Zhang Dingfa took more than ten guards to rotate, bought a good horse, marked it and took it to the ranch for captivity, and waited for the time to come back to Shannan Bazhou.

1,100 war horses, of which 513 were peons; 1,200 horses, of which 625 are horses, whether they are used for war or to pull carts, half of the horses bought by Yuwen Wen are used for breeding.

Generally speaking, unless the breeding is kept, most of the war horses will be castrated, so as not to encounter estrus period difficult to control, and Yuwen Wen specially selected a good breed of peony horse.

Yuwenwen made a big purchase in Yecheng, and of course he wanted to ride a war horse, but the breeding and breeding of the peony horse was more important, because he could choose it on the spot in the thriving Yecheng Horse Market, and if he waited for the horse to traffic a small number of horses to Bazhou, then the choice would be much smaller.

"How much money is left?" Yu Wenwen asked, he should be the shopkeeper, and Zhang Dingfa will take care of the horse by himself, but he also has a good idea in his heart: the glass mirror he brought, and there is not much left after the sale.

Sure enough, Zhang Dingfa put the bill out:

First of all, there are five hundred and thirteen war horses, and eighty-two thousand five hundred and ninety-three were spent on copper coins, and the average price of each horse is about 160 consistently, this is because the peony horse should be used as a stallion, so the selected breed must be good, so the price is not low.

The war horses that were purely used for combat riding, five hundred and eighty-seven, were calculated in copper coins, and forty-seven thousand one hundred and fifteen were spent, and the average price of each horse was about eighty yuan.

Then there is the horse, this kind of horse is much cheaper than the war horse, the price of breeding or not breeding is not much different, in copper money, a total of nine thousand eight hundred and forty consistent, the average price of each horse is more than eight times.

The cost of buying a horse is calculated in copper coins, totaling more than 139,500 yuan, and the whole amount is 140,000 yuan, all of which are paid by the proceeds from the sale of glass mirrors.

However, the shopkeeper Liu has cooperated with the buyers of the mirror, and the cost of buying the horse is deducted from the other party, and the horse dealer goes directly to these stores to settle the bill and get the money, and it also saves the transfer of copper coins or bargains between several houses.

The horses were in hand, and the price was fourteen glass mirrors, one mirror was occupied by buying books and seeds, and three more were given to the little emperor as gifts, and there were only two mirrors left in Yuwenwen's hands now.

"The two mirrors can be sold for about 20,000 yuan no matter what, and with some money in hand, even if they stay in Yecheng until the end of the year, the money is more than enough to spend." Yu Wenwen said with a smile, signaling Zhang Dingfa not to worry about 'squandering' money like this.

"Lang Jun, do you really want to leave after the New Year?" Zhang Dingfa asked, he knew some things about Yuwenwen, it was said that he could go back after the Double Ninth Festival in September, but he was warmly retained by the emperor, and he could not get out until the end of the New Year.

"It's inconclusive, what's the matter, Leader Zhang rarely revisits his old place, and he doesn't want to stay longer?" Yuwenwen smiled, Zhang Dingfa shook his head with a smile when he heard this, and Zhou Fashang and Tian Yilong listened to it next to him, but they didn't see any anxiety.

"It's rare to come to a famous northern city, and it's nothing to stay for a few more months." Zhou Faming didn't have the slightest idea of going home, he was strictly controlled by his mother and second brother at home, so he had the opportunity to go out in the name of justice, where did he care about going back a few months later.

And Tian Yilong is the same, he only went around the states in Jiangbei before, and occasionally went to Yingzhou in the south of the Yangtze River, and now he has come to the north thousands of miles away to see the long knowledge, and he doesn't want to go back in a hurry.

The two of them set an itinerary before they set off, and they wanted to "advance and retreat together" with Yuwen Envoy, in addition to coming to Yecheng Chang to see him, he was to be the companion of this Yuwen Erlang, and after Zheng Fushu returned to Shannan first, those who could barely "admonish" Yuwen Wen could only count on them.

"By the way, Your Majesty is very interested in the two of you, if the time is ripe, you can't say that you want to enter the palace to face the king, or accompany you on a trip and hunting!" Yu Wenwen smiled, his smile full of mystery.

Zhou Fashang and Tian Yilong looked at each other when they heard this, the two of them were nominal members of the mission, and they came to Yechengquan to travel, so it is said that no one would remember it, how could they be registered with the Great Zhou Tianzi?

"Envoy, how can Your Majesty be interested in the two of us?"

"Well, naturally, there is a reason for the incident, two young heroes who are chivalrous and have constant adventures, and listen to my father to tell the truth of the matter one by one" Yu Wenwen's eyes narrowed with a smile, like a fox who succeeded in his treacherous scheme.

"Chivalrous and righteous? Adventures? Zhou Faming and Tian Yilong became more and more confused when they heard this, especially the word "young man", which made them feel that something was wrong. (To be continued.) )