After breakfast, Zhu Ping'an called Liu Dadao, who was carrying a tiger squat cannon to practice endurance, into the general's tent and stuffed him a stack of silver bills.
"Sir, what is this?" Liu Dadao was a little confused as he held a stack of banknotes.
Uncle Zhu Shouren, who was staying in the commander's tent reading a book to prepare for the exam, had red eyes, like a rabbit with chicken blood, and he wanted to snatch all the banknotes from Liu Dadao's hand.
"Da Dao, this is three thousand taels of silver. Take your people to the city to buy horses, buy as many as you can. If there are good horses, buy good horses first, if there are no good horses, buy ordinary horses, if there are no ordinary horses, buy mules. Remember, both horses and mules must be in stock, we don't have time to wait for them to transfer horses from other places."
Zhu Ping'an instructed Liu Dadao to go to Suzhou City to buy horses and mules, the more the better.
These three thousand taels of silver are the income from selling secret knife and medicine.
Zhu Ping'an knew that according to the current market price, a good horse would cost about thirty taels of silver, and an ordinary horse would cost half that, about fifteen taels of silver. As for mules, mules were three points cheaper than ordinary horses, and a blue and white mule would cost about six to ten taels of silver.
The Japanese pirates are about to attack Suzhou City and a war is about to begin. Given the brutal and greedy nature of the Japanese pirates, Suzhou City and the surrounding towns and villages will face the threat of the Japanese pirates.
Zhu Ping'an led the Zhejiang army to garrison Suzhou City, and he had the responsibility and obligation to protect Suzhou City and the surrounding towns and villages.
Therefore, it is crucial to form a mobile and flexible cavalry team.
Cavalry is much more mobile and flexible than infantry. With a cavalry team, the army can be quickly deployed to where it is needed.
Moreover, during the transition period between cold and hot weapons, cavalry was still a key branch of the military, playing an outstanding role in reconnaissance, harassment, pursuit, covering traffic lines and breaking the enemy's formation, such as the famous dragoons, carbines, cuirassiers, and hussars during the Napoleonic era.
The Zhejiang Army now has 700 mules and horses, which is far from enough to cope with the current situation, so Zhu Ping'an 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 of Jiangnan to raise horses and gave them special subsidies and tax incentives, raising horses would take up time and land for farming, and the input-output ratio was not cost-effective, so the people of Jiangnan did not raise many horses.
Even though Suzhou City is the richest city in the world, there are not too many horses available in the city’s horse market.
Of course, if there is time to adjust the horses, hundreds or even thousands of good horses will not be a problem.
Not enough, what we lack now is time.
So, as a second best option, if there are no good horses, buy ordinary horses. If ordinary horses are not enough, buy mules.
In fact, mules are not very suitable for war horses. Compared with horses, mules are smaller in size, and their disadvantages are quite obvious. Mules are slower than horses, less courageous than horses, and their strength is also less than horses, about one-fourth to one-third less.
However, at critical moments, mules can also be used as war horses.
Although mules are smaller than horses, their endurance and tolerance to hard work far exceed those of horses. They can carry a load and walk more than 40 miles in one breath, on good roads, bad roads, and even mountain roads.
In addition, mules are not prone to illness, are very strong and durable, and have no requirements for fodder. Unlike war horses, which not only require maintenance but also need to be fed fine grains at critical times, mules only need coarse grains to be raised.
Historically, Li Xilie formed a mule cavalry due to the lack of war horses, and the combat effectiveness was quite strong.
Perhaps, you have no impression of Li Xilie, but you must have heard of Yan Zhenqing, a famous calligrapher in history. Yan Zhenqing was killed by this guy Li Xilie.
"My dear nephew, why don't you leave it to us? I promise to buy you a good horse."
Uncle Zhu Shouren was jealous of the three thousand taels of silver in Liu Dadao's hand. He stood up, patted his chest and volunteered.
"Uncle, you are new here and you are not familiar with Suzhou yet, so let Dadao take care of it. You just focus on studying and preparing for the exam."
Zhu Ping'an smiled and firmly rejected his uncle's offer.
Haha, I'm kidding. If I give it to you, it will be like throwing meat buns at a dog, and there will be no return. If I give you these three thousand taels of silver, I guess you will go to a brothel and buy a skinny horse. Don't I know you well enough...
"Okay, time is tight and the task is heavy. Dadao, you guys go quickly." Zhu Ping'an waved his hand and asked Liu Dadao and the others to set off immediately.
"Yes, sir." Liu Dadao put the banknotes close to his body, clasped his fists and left, gathering his troops to go to Suzhou City to buy horses.
"Alas, my dear nephew..." Seeing that the matter was settled and Liu Dadao left with the silver, the uncle slapped his thigh in annoyance and said to Zhu Ping'an, "Didn't we say that we are here to lend you a hand? If you have anything to do, call us. We can do things like studying and preparing for exams at night when we are resting."
"Yes, Master Zhu, we are willing to serve you and study for the exam. We can do it in the evening."
Hu Wei and Xia Qiang also stood up and said.
Zhu Ping'an's mouth twitched. "Don't you know how capable you are? You are careless to an outrageous degree. You are more likely to cause trouble than to accomplish anything. I'm talking about you. I don't even have time to send you away, so how dare I use you?"
"Haha, since you guys are so enthusiastic, I have nothing to be embarrassed about. I do have something important to tell you."
Zhu Pingan smiled.
"Important thing?" Uncle and the others looked at each other, all with excited expressions.
"My dear nephew, you are right. Don't worry, it is right to leave the important things to us. We were careless last time, and our arithmetic and copying skills are not enough to show our actual level."
Uncle Zhu Shouren patted his chest and said.
"Please follow your instructions, sir. We will ensure that we complete the task." Hu Wei and Xia Qiang followed suit.
"My dear nephew, just tell me if there is any important errand. Do you want to buy something more important? Give me the silver quickly, and we will set off now." Uncle Zhu Shouren swallowed his saliva and urged repeatedly.
You are obsessed with money...
Zhu Ping'an was speechless.
"It's like this. The Japanese pirates will attack Suzhou soon. How to improve our army's combat effectiveness as soon as possible is the top priority. I hope that my uncle, Mr. Hu, and Mr. Xia can help me think of a good plan to help me quickly improve the combat effectiveness of the Zhejiang Army."
Under his uncle's repeated urging, Zhu Ping'an narrowed his eyes, curled the corners of his lips, and spoke slowly.
"Quickly improve the combat effectiveness of the army?" Uncle Zhu Shouren, Hu Wei and Xia Qiang were stunned. How would they know
However, even though his mind was in a mess, Uncle Zhu Shouren and his team still patted their chests and took on the responsibility, "My dear nephew, please rest assured, leave this matter to us, and we will definitely come up with a good plan."