A group of agents of Fengyingwei, disguised as exiles, went to Xu Wushan to attach themselves to Tian Chou, because these agents all spoke with Youzhou accents, and Tian Chou did not doubt him, after all, before this, Yuan Shao, Gongsun Zhan, Xianbei and Wuhuan forces did not force him to come out, and it was impossible to obtain his allegiance by kidnapping, but he underestimated Wei Yan.

Late one night, Tian Chou was not aware for a while, and was captured by agents of Fengyingwei, although Tian Chou was good at fencing, but he was caught off guard, it was difficult to play, and he was quickly subdued, and his wife and children were kidnapped, and they traveled thousands of miles to Yiyang New Town.

Wei Yan used the means of subduing Zhao Yun and other generals in the past to successfully capture Tian Chou's heart.

After Tian Chou surrendered, he sent a letter to his family, clansmen, and four or five thousand displaced people who depended on him to be transferred to Bingzhou under the control of Wei Yan and settled in Taiyuan County.

Wei Yan appointed Tian Chou as the pastor under the command of Marquis Wu, and was in charge of all the affairs of war horses and animal husbandry in his territory.

The reason why Wei Yan asked Tian Chou to do this thing was that he saw that Tian Chou had lived in the border area for a long time, was familiar with the habits of the nomads such as Wuhuan and Xianbei, and had prestige and influence among these nomads.

Wei Yan vaguely remembered that after Tian Chou was killed by Gongsun Zan by Liu Yu, the people of the clan lived in seclusion in Xu Wushan, cultivated to support their parents, and recruited displaced people, and in a few years to more than 5,000 families, Tian Chou was elected as a leader by the people, established a law, established a ritual system, opened a school to preach, and Wuhuan and Xianbei each sent tributes to return to obedience. Since Tian Chou can have influence on Wuhuan and Xianbei in that life, in this life, with the support of Wei Yan, his influence will inevitably be greater, Wuhuan and Xianbei and other clans are rich in good horses, and Tian Chou is in charge of horse administration, compared with other talents from various counties in the Central Plains, it is bound to get twice the result with half the effort.

During the pre-Han Dynasty, the imperial court set up priests in the six counties of Longxi, Tianshui, Anding, Beidi, Shangjun and Xihe, raising 300,000 horses. But at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Xiqiang rebellion in Longxi, Tianshui, and Anding, the Qianghu rebellion in the Beidi and Shangjun areas, and the Xihe County was occupied by the Southern Xiongnu. Prior to this, the Han army had very few war horses.

Whether Wei Yan is fighting Jizhou from Bingzhou, or from Sizhou to the east to Yuzhou Yanzhou and Xuzhou, it is a horse Pingchuan, and it is a place where cavalry gallops, if you want to dominate the world, only forty or fifty thousand cavalry will not help at all, I am afraid that even Wuhuan and Xianbei will not be able to defeat, for today's plan, is to learn the story of Emperor Wu of the former Han Dynasty, and greatly promote Ma Zheng.

Wei Yan has always commanded the cavalry, he knows the power of the cavalry in the era of cold weapons, especially after being equipped with double stirrups, high bridge saddles, and horseshoes, the cavalry gallops on land, just like the tanks of later generations, unstoppable, rather than spending a lot of energy and money to train the infantry to compete with the cavalry, it is better to train the cavalry directly.

Wei Yan can not only take advantage of the fact that these nomadic tribes are divided into small and small units to enter the Kou, capture their war horses and cavalry, but also exchange salt, silk, porcelain, tea and other Central Plains specialties for the good horses of the nomadic tribes such as Xianbei, Qianghu, and Wuhuan, and form a large number of cavalry on this basis.

When Wei Yan told Tian Chou about the plan to form a cavalry, he thought that Tian Chou would appreciate it.

But seeing Tian Chou, he said with a wry smile: "Lord, don't you know the temperament of those aliens, although they covet the salt, silk, and tea of Middle-earth, but they are greedy for stupidity, and there are suspicious and cunning eyes hidden under their stupid faces.

The lord has repeatedly broken the Southern Huns, and those foreigners are in awe of the lord, and they don't want to enhance the lord's combat power, so they will not dare to sell good war horses to the lord. If it is purchased directly from the grassland, the so-called good horses purchased can only be used as horses, although the baggage soldiers need to pull the horses, but after all, the horses that can be ridden and run thousands of miles are what the lord really wants.

Lord, it is also wishful thinking that you want to get war horses by defeating the raiding teams of those tribes. Although there are often disputes between those tribes, they are very united against us Han people. Once one or two of these small tribes are wiped out by the lord's army, the other tribes on the grassland will hear the wind and gather together to form a large force of men and horses, and with the existing cavalry strength of the lord, there is nothing to be done. ”

"Zitai is reasonable, but if there are not enough cavalry, how can I calm the world and hope that Zitai will teach me?" Wei Yan knew that Tian Chou's words just now were by no means alarmist, but a very real situation, how to break through this dilemma, Wei Yan was at a loss now.

Tian Chou said: "Liu Taiwei (Liu Yu) has governed the border areas for many years with the method of leniency, benevolence and gentleness. Now although Taiwei Liu has been killed by Gongsun Zhan, the lord can also purchase good horses from those foreign tribes through the Xian Yu Fu brothers and Yan Rou under Liu Taiwei's former command, although those foreign tribes will not sell the best horses, but the horses they sell to the Xian Yu brothers are definitely much better than the ones we buy directly. ”

Wei Yan frowned and asked, "But Taiwei Liu has always advocated that Huairou treat foreigners leniently, I'm afraid that the same is true for Brother Xianyu and Yan Rou, if they know that I also have the intention of buying horses to deal with foreigners, he will definitely not be this middleman, right?" ”

Since I am a priest, then there is no need for the lord to come forward in the matter of buying horses, I will negotiate with them, I have an old relationship with them, and said that our army's purchase of good horses is to deal with Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao in the future, and they will definitely be happy to do this. Tian Chou was impressed by Wei Yan's magnanimity, and before he knew it, he had put Wei Yan's interests above his old lord Liu Yu.

Of course, there is a more important reason, Tian Chou has reservations about Liu Yu's leniency, benevolence and tenderness, he has always wanted to get rid of Wuhuan in the past, but Gongsun Zan is incompetent, Yuan Shao wants to use the power of Wuhuan, and he waited until Cao Cao finally put Wuhuan at that time.

"Then thank you Zitai for your help. If you buy horses, you can withdraw them from the Yancai Bank. I hope there will be at least 20,000 horses in this first batch, and I want to build a cavalry brigade in each division. Wei Yan was anxious to build an iron horse, and hurriedly placed an order.

Tian Chou hurriedly admonished: "Lord, if they are allowed to buy 20,000 war horses from foreign tribes at once, such a large number will definitely make all the tribes of the grassland suspicious. ”

Wei Yan hurriedly asked, "What should I do with Zitai's meaning?" ”

"The lord can buy together through multiple channels, in addition to the Xianyu brothers and Yan Rou, the lord can also buy war horses through the Wuji Zhen family, Yuyang Tian family, Su Shuang, Zhang Shiping, and the Beiping Tian family, Fanyang Lu family, etc., where my family is located, buy one or two thousand good horses on each line, and bring one or two thousand horses, you can temporarily hide the grassland tribes."

Wei Yan nodded in approval, he couldn't just purchase so many good horses from one line, and he couldn't just purchase war horses, otherwise it would be easy for those aliens who were wary of the Han people to see through it.

Wei Yan said with a smile: "What is abundant on the grassland, and what our court lacks is not only war horses, but also horses, cattle, sheep, and hunting dogs. ”

"Cows, sheep, hounds?" Tian Chou asked in surprise, "What is the use of these livestock?" ”

"Cows, in addition to being used for ploughing the fields, but also because cattle can carry more weight than horses, can be used to tow heavy vehicles, some cows can secrete a lot of milk, can let the soldiers drink milk every day, enhance the physique, cattle can also be slaughtered, let the soldiers eat beef every few days, improve the diet, enhance the physique, cowhide can be used to make leather armor.

Mutton is a big supplement, every few days, slaughter some sheep to eat, can enhance the physique of the soldiers, goat milk is sweet and warm and has nourishing yin and nourishing the stomach, nourishing the kidneys, moisturizing and smoothing the stool, detoxification effect, sheepskin wool can be used to weave clothes to keep out the cold. Wei Yan asked in surprise: "The whole body of the cattle and sheep is a treasure, you should also know this." ”

"I know the rest, that is, let the soldiers in the army drink milk and goat's milk, I am afraid that the soldiers in the army will be difficult to get used to, because the smell of milk and goat's milk is really bad." Tian Chou frowned, presumably he had also tasted the taste of goat's milk and milk.

Wei Yan thought about it carefully, it turned out that in his later life, he drank all those impure pure milk produced by Sanlu, Mengniu, and Yili mixed with melamine and many other complex things, although the pros and cons of drinking were mixed, but the taste was still good, after all, he had received so many mixed treatments, but the milk and goat's milk in the Eastern Han Dynasty could not be mixed with melamine, and it was still the original taste, which naturally had a fishy smell and a bad smell.

Wei Yan laughed and said: "Zitai, whether it is a person or a livestock, after being born, he only drinks his mother's milk, which is a day and slippery, which shows how nutritious milk is." Most of the generals in our army are adapted from homeless bandits, malnourished, yellow and thin, and it is difficult to recuperate for a while and a half by the usual recuperation methods, so we must use this special method to drink milk. When it comes to taste, good medicine is bitter and good for disease, and the same is true for milk and goat's milk. ”

Tian Chou smiled and suggested: "But the lord should set an example and take the initiative to drink, and the soldiers in the army will naturally follow suit." ”

"Of course that's no problem, I still have a slogan that I want to tell the officers and soldiers in the army," Wei Yan picked up a cup and smiled mysteriously: "A cup of milk a day strengthens the Han people!" ”

Tian Chou said with a smile: "If the lord can drink it consistently, I believe that the officers and men in the army will definitely take drinking milk and goat's milk as a habit of life, and over time, it will definitely greatly improve their physique." ”

"Of course, I used to ......" Speaking of this, Wei Yan smiled dumbly, he wanted to say that I used to drink Sanlu milk and grew up, but when the words came to his mouth, he was stunned to find that Nima, this Sanlu's melamine is really powerful, making him almost brainless and saying things that shouldn't be said.

"Well, that's of course, I used to drink goat's milk and milk every day, that's why I grew so tall and had so much strength, don't believe it, you go and mention my red blood knife." Wei Yan laughed and said, in fact, such a size and divine power should be attributed to genetics.

Tian Chou took a look at the Red Blood Knife, and after spending his strength to eat milk, he reluctantly lifted the Red Blood Knife, thinking that Wei Yan was running this big knife like flying, and seeing that Wei Yan was nine feet tall, he couldn't help but admire: "Ah, it turns out that drinking milk and goat's milk has such great benefits, then I will also let our children start drinking milk." ”

"Haha, you reminded me, in the future, not only the soldiers in the army, but also the children of the soldiers, and even the entire Han territory, will advocate the implementation of 'a glass of milk a day, strong Han people', I believe that in this way, our originally weak Han people may grow stronger than those barbarians."

In the future, the dairy profiteers in Sanlu naturally said how good it is to drink milk, but some people also say that drinking milk actually does more harm than good to the Chinese people, especially drinking milk with melamine, but according to Wei Yan's observation, drinking more pure and good milk can definitely greatly enhance people's physique, especially for some people who were originally lacking in nutrition, such as most of the Han people in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, Wei Yan wanted to vigorously develop cattle and sheep animal husbandry, and improve the physique of the Han people. Don't be the sick man of East Asia again.

Tian Chou was puzzled: "Lord, what I don't understand is, why do you buy hunting dogs on the grassland?" Do you want to hunt? But how do you have time to hunt now that you're so busy? ”

Wei Yan explained with a smile: "Hehe, Zitai, you don't know, it is a hunting dog in the grassland, and in our military camp, it can be domesticated into a military dog, don't underestimate these dogs, their ability to distinguish smells is many times higher than that of people, and their hearing is much stronger than that of people, they have a broad field of vision, and are good at observing things at night. ”

"Military dogs, the lord said this, reminds me, I remember that in the Xia Shang era more than a thousand years ago, there was a habit of raising military dogs in the army, if we have military dogs in the army and use them to explore the way, we are not afraid of ambushes, use them to keep vigil, we are not afraid of night attacks, and we can also use them to communicate." Tian Chou was also a very knowledgeable person, and when he heard Wei Yan say this, he quickly understood Wei Yan's intentions.

"Haha, of course, it's not all, when our military life is boring, we can also play dog fighting games, when we are hungry, we can also eat some dog meat, eating dog meat in winter is a big supplement." After Wei Yan finished speaking, he laughed.

Tian Chou is more fond of raising dogs and has feelings for dogs, of course, he is a little unaccustomed to eating dog meat, so he ignored Wei Yan's joke and asked calmly: "Twenty thousand war horses look a little difficult now, how many war horses do you want to buy, how many horses?" ”