Chapter 291 War Horse Trading! (Subscribe!)

Gu Sansi, who was about to tell Ye Mingsheng about his plan, was a little surprised when he saw that Ye Mingsheng had revealed his thoughts. He bowed to Ye Mingsheng and said:

"No one knows me better than you, my Lord!"

Hearing that Gu Sansi really meant this, Ye Mingsheng stood up and paced back and forth in the study with a serious face. The Khitans were a nomadic people. Gold and silver might be precious to them, but war horses were their real lifeblood. They seldom sold horses to outsiders, especially war horses...

In this battle with Yelu Yan, Ye Mingsheng has fully experienced the high mobility and tremendous power of cavalry in the era of cold weapons. He has realized that, at least at this stage before he has developed heavy machine guns and breech-loading rifles, cavalry is still the unparalleled king of war, and only cavalry can deal with cavalry!

So after deciding to expand the army, Ye Mingsheng's first task was to expand his cavalry team into a cavalry battalion.

Although more than a thousand war horses were captured from the Khitans, and Ye Mingsheng was also actively obtaining horses from various other channels, until now, Ye Mingsheng's cavalry camp still had a certain gap in war horses...
Although the 20,000 taels of silver offered by Yelu Peng were very good and tempting, as the saying goes, "I want fish, and I also want bear's paw; I cannot have both, so I will give up fish and take bear's paw."

I want silver, and I also want war horses. Since I cannot have both, I will give up the silver and take the war horses.

Of course, specific matters still need to be analyzed specifically. Ye Mingsheng also needs to see how many war horses Yelu Peng can be willing to give up. If there are only a hundred or eighty horses, he will not do this deal!
After thinking for a while, Ye Mingsheng asked Gu Sansi:
"How many war horses do you plan to ask Yelu Peng for?"

Gu Sansi obviously already had an answer to Ye Mingsheng's question, and he spoke directly:
"A thousand!"

Ye Mingsheng's eyelids twitched slightly when he heard this. He had been trying so hard until now, spending countless energy and money, but he had only managed to get less than two thousand war horses. But Gu Sansi asked for a thousand horses right away. His appetite was really not small...
However, although the Khitans are nomadic people and are rich in horses, war horses are an important strategic resource, especially in border areas. Their importance is self-evident. Can Yelu Peng agree to him?
"How confident are you?" Ye Mingsheng thought for a moment and asked again:

"Asking the Khitans for war horses is just an idea of ​​mine. I haven't negotiated with Yelu Peng's envoy yet, so I am only about 50% sure!" Gu Sansi pondered for a moment and said:
"Are you serious?" Seeing that Gu Sansi was so confident, Ye Mingsheng asked in surprise:
After listening to Gu Sansi's previous words, he originally thought that Gu Sansi's confidence would not be very high, at most only about 20% to 30%. This 50% was really beyond his expectations...

"If the opponent is Yelu Yan, I won't even have a 10% chance of winning. But if it's Yelu Peng, after my planning, a 50% chance is still a conservative estimate!" Gu Sansi said with a smile, his words full of contempt for Yelu Peng.

"Oh? What do you mean?" Ye Mingsheng became more and more interested in Gu Sansi's words.

"Although Yelu Peng and Yelu Yan are half brothers, in my humble opinion, one of them is a wolf cub and the other is a dog cub!"

"Yelü Yan is a cunning and cruel man who will do anything to achieve his goal. In addition, he is surrounded by a group of loyal Khitan tribesmen who are willing to die for him. As long as he is not eliminated, he will be a major threat to Fengzhou!"

“But Yelu Peng is just a child who has not grown up yet and needs his mother’s protection. He prefers treacherous people, is ambitious, and likes luxury…”

"He doesn't value war horses as much as Yelu Yan. We just need to use money to bribe his trusted subordinates and give Yelu Peng some valuable gifts such as gold, silver and silk, and half of the matter will be done," Gu Sansi said confidently. Ye Mingsheng pondered for a while after hearing this, then took out a silver note worth one thousand and two taels of silver from the drawer of the desk and handed it to Gu Sansi.

"Mr. Gu, take this 1,000 taels of silver as activity funds. If it's not enough, you can withdraw it from the account office!"

Seeing Ye Mingsheng approve the money so readily, Gu Sansi was overjoyed. He respectfully took the banknote with both hands and assured Ye Mingsheng:

"I will definitely live up to your high expectations and bring back a thousand war horses for you!"

Ye Mingsheng nodded upon hearing this, and then said again: "Find out what the Khitan people's demand for weapons is!"

Hearing Ye Mingsheng's question, Gu Sansi didn't know what Ye Mingsheng meant for a moment, but he could only answer:
“Because of the existence of the Dalongchang Company, the Khitans can obtain iron continuously, so they don’t have a great need for weapons. However, due to their poor forging skills, the weapons they forge themselves are of average quality and power, far inferior to the weapons used by our army…”

After getting the answer from Gu Sansi, Ye Mingsheng's eyes flickered, and then he asked again:

"If I trade weapons with the Khitans, how many war horses can I get from them?"

Hearing Ye Mingsheng say this, Gu Sansi was immediately shocked and quickly bowed to Ye Mingsheng and said:

"Sir, this is absolutely not allowed. If the Khitan cavalry has the help of military equipment, it will be even more powerful. Our Fengzhou will be in danger!"

Gu Sansi's reaction was completely within Ye Mingsheng's expectations. He smiled and waved his hand:
"Mr. Gu, do you know that science and technology are the primary productive forces?"

Although Gu Sansi was talented and quick-witted, he was still unable to break free from the constraints of the times. He was immediately confused by Ye Mingsheng's words...

Although he somewhat enjoyed watching the seemingly omnipotent Gu Sansi looking confused, Ye Mingsheng was too lazy to keep him in suspense and directly took out a dagger from the study and handed it to Gu Sansi.

"Mr. Gu, this is a sample sent by the Artisan Camp a few days ago. What do you think of this knife? How does it compare to the weapons we are currently using?"

Although he was still very opposed to why Ye Mingsheng wanted to use military weapons to trade with the Khitans, Gu Sansi still carefully observed the knife that Ye Mingsheng brought over according to Ye Mingsheng's request.

In Gu Sansi's opinion, this waist knife looks no different from military weapons. The length, width and thickness are basically the same. However, when he thought of what Ye Mingsheng just said, Gu Sansi knew that there must be something fishy about this knife...
(End of this chapter)