Looking at the harvest day by day, Hua'an will have the urge to abandon the army and join the people from time to time, but this is not the era of peace, the strategic environment faced by the Great Jin is very severe, the Zhao State in the north is like a knife hanging over the head, it may fall at any time, the Shu State in the west occupies a favorable terrain, harassing the Great Jin from time to time, it is also a big threat, the Nanyue people in Jiaozhou in the south often rebel, and it is a big threat to the rear stability of the Great Jin.

With these threats, Hua An knew that he could not farm with peace of mind, and only by destroying all the enemies of the Great Jin could he enjoy a peaceful and prosperous life.

A few foals in the pasture ran leisurely past Hua An, they were practicing running on the grass, looking at these lively and cute foals, Hua An seemed to see the majestic war horses charging in the future.

Horses are strategic resources, the status is no longer under the grain, but its reproductive ability is really limited, a mare can only produce one foal a year, and the female foal has to grow to four years old to mature, such a slow reproduction rate is slower than humans, and the Northern Expeditionary Army's pasture has only fifty mares, even if it waits for ten years, it can only breed about a thousand, which is far from meeting the needs of the Northern Expeditionary Army.

To this end, Hua An thought about it and took several measures, first, put the harvested grain in the market and sell it, and then use the money to buy as many mares as he could in the market, regardless of quality, as long as it was a horse.

Second, secretly send several subordinates to Liangzhou, Liaodong, Central Plains, Mobei, Western Regions and other places to buy all kinds of war horses with the money obtained from selling grain, especially the high-quality war horses in the Western Regions, which can buy as much as they can, which plays a vital role in improving the quality of war horses in the south of the Yangtze River.

In half a year, the Northern Expeditionary Army successively purchased more than 2,000 mares from the bazaars in the south of the Yangtze River, and several people who sneaked into the north secretly purchased more than 3,000 high-quality mares, and there were 300 stallions.

A year later, in 342 AD, the Great Jin Emperor Sima Yan died of sudden illness, and his younger brother Sima Yue, the king of Langya, ascended the throne with the support of the ministers, known as Emperor Kang of the Jin Dynasty, and his princess, Chu Lianzi, who was only 18 years old, was canonized as the queen, Yu Bing and He Chong were in charge of the government, and the uncle Yu Yi led the country's soldiers and horses.

The change of emperor went exceptionally smoothly, there was no turmoil in Jiangnan, and the neighboring states of Zhao and Shu did not find the opportunity to attack, and Jiangnan was in harmony.

In this year, Murong Hao of Liaodong moved the capital to Longcheng, and then sent Murong Han, Murong Ke, Murong Ba and other generals to attack Goguryeo in several ways, and after several months of fierce battles, they broke Goguryeo and shocked Liaodong.

Shi Hu, who occupied the Central Plains, in order to consume the vitality of the Han people in the Central Plains, successively built large-scale palaces in Yecheng, Luoyang, and Chang'an, and levied more than 400,000 people.

At the same time, in order to conquer the Great Jin in the south of the Yangtze River, Shi Hu ordered the four prefectures and counties south of the Yellow River to reorganize their armies, and the prefectures, Shuozhou, Qinzhou, and Yongzhou prepared materials for the westward expedition to Liangguo, and the armies of Qingzhou, Jizhou, and Youzhou prepared to march east to Liaodong.

In order to expand the armament of the war, Shi Hu stipulated that among the people, two out of every three men should be dispatched, three out of five people would be recruited, and the army collected by each state and county would have more than 500,000 armor soldiers and 170,000 boatmen, which could be described as extremely large.

In order to deal with Shi Hu's possible attack, the direction of the Great Jin Dynasty also carried out active combat preparations, and the main armies of the states and counties in the south of the Yangtze River all moved north, and Yu Yi, as the supreme commander, personally went to Wuchang to defend the town.

The Northern Expeditionary Army, which was in charge of the Gongwei Jing Division, was also stepping up its training and was ready to attack at any time, because the large battalion had hoarded a large amount of military rations, so Hua'an took the opportunity to make a proposal to Emperor Sima Yue, asking for an expansion of armaments to resist Shi Hu's possible attack.

Sima Yue and the ministers of the court hesitated, but considering that the scale of Shihu's conscription was very large, the Great Jin had to respond, so they ordered all the armies of Jing and Yang Prefectures to be temporarily expanded, and Hua'an's Northern Expeditionary Army was temporarily expanded by 20,000 people, these 20,000 horses were only temporary, and once the border situation eased, they should be immediately dismissed, so that these newly recruited soldiers could return to their homes and farms.

Although it was temporary, Hua An was still ecstatic, because he had already calculated in his heart that once the 20,000 horses entered the barracks, they would not be allowed to go back casually, and if the imperial court ordered the dismissal, Hua An also planned to let these horses stay in Tuntian, as a people's tun, most of the grain produced every year would be handed over to the national treasury, and it would never increase the burden on the imperial court.

The imperial court only needs to pay 30,000 horses, and these 20,000 people not only do not need military salaries, but can also increase grain for the treasury and farm the land, where to plant is different.

Of course, Hua'an did not intend for them to cultivate on the 2,000 hectares of land they had already obtained, which were too small, and they were distributed among 20,000 horses, with an average of five acres of land per person.

The high-quality land in the south of the Yangtze River has long been occupied by the clans, and Hua'an is just lucky to get an undeveloped wasteland, but the land in the north of the river is rich in wasteland, because it is often attacked by the Zhao State in the north, and the crops planted may be robbed by the enemy before they are harvested.

You know, farming is a cost, the cost of reclamation of wasteland is even greater, therefore, the family in the south of the Yangtze River is not very interested in the land between the Jianghuai River, they are also afraid of the risk, the risk of no harvest, for this reason, the wasteland between the Jianghuai, and even the barren fertile land is very much, if Hua'an let these 20,000 horses cross the river to reclaim thousands of hectares of fertile land, it can still work.

As long as there are 50,000 horses, Hua'an's range of activities will be changed from Jiangnan to Jianghuai, if there are 100,000 horses, Hua'an will directly advance to both sides of the Huai River.

The work of conscription is very important, because the soldiers and horses in Jing and Yang are expanding, if they don't act earlier, the good soldiers will be selected by others, and Hua'an doesn't want the remaining weak soldiers.

To this end, Hua'an attacked in many ways, and all the generals and soldiers who could speak well were sent to nearby villages and towns to recruit soldiers, and at the same time, the soldiers in the army recommended their relatives and friends to join the army, and if the recommended people were qualified, the recommended soldiers received a large reward.

At the same time, for the recruited qualified soldiers, Hua'an has also prepared enough rewards, the first day of the new recruits into the camp, each soldier can receive once the food, these grains are naturally sent home, which is not a small ** for many poor people who can't eat enough.