After three rounds of wine and five dishes, Zhao Lin spoke directly: "I'm here to buy some horses. As everyone knows, our Qingzhou Army has just been established, and we have to provide everything ourselves. Without war horses, we can't form cavalry. And without cavalry, what kind of army is it?"
He Bowen asked, "Qingzhou horses are renowned throughout the world and are far superior to our warhorses. Why did Lord Zhao choose to come from so far away to buy horses from us?"
Zhao Lin said, "To be honest, my lords, the Qingzhou horses are just too good, and they're coveted by many armies. I went to the Qingzhou horse farm several times, but Wang Jianzheng only promised to give me 500 horses. That's not enough, so I had no choice but to come here."
He Bowen nodded and said proudly, "Qingzhou horses are famous throughout the world and are used to support the Qingzhou soldiers. In terms of horses alone, our Ganxi horses are no worse than any other horses."
Zhao Lin nodded and said, "That's why I came here to buy a horse."
He Bowen asked, "How much does Lord Zhao want?"
Zhao Lin didn't say it directly, but asked: "How much can you give?"
He Bowen laughed.
The accompanying racecourse officials also laughed.
He Bowen said, "I'm afraid that the amount we can provide may not be enough for Lord Zhao to eat."
Zhao Lin smiled slightly, stretched out his right hand, and spread out his five fingers.
"Five thousand? Lord Zhao is very courageous, yes!" He Bowen nodded.
The Qingzhou army has only 30,000 people, so it is enough to form a cavalry of 5,000 people.
Zhao Lin smiled and waved his hand.
He Bowen frowned slightly. "Five hundred? Adding the five hundred from Qingzhou Horse Farm only makes one thousand. Isn't that a little?"
He Bowen picked up the wine glass and drank unhappily.
Zhao Lin didn't say anything and continued to smile and wave his hands.
He Bowen's wine glass suddenly stopped at his lips, and he stammered, "You, you better not say it's 50,000."
Zhao Lin then spoke, "What's wrong with 50,000? I plan to build the Qingzhou Army into the best cavalry of our dynasty, with each man riding two horses. This will require at least 60,000 war horses. I'm afraid asking too much might scare you, so I'm only asking for 50,000."
He Bowen smiled bitterly and said, "Does it make any difference?"
Zhao Lin laughed and said, "Is there?"
He Bowen lowered his head and thought for a moment before saying, "Yes, I do, but I can't give you that much. The Northwest Border Army still needs it, and I wouldn't be able to explain it to you if I gave it all to you. Besides, do you have that much silver?"
Zhao Lin smiled slightly and said, "Some time ago, the prince of Zhenbei Marquisate led troops to suppress a rebellion, but was captured by a trap. He was also captured along with some young masters who were trying to gain merit. Their families gave me some silver to save them."
"How much?" He Bowen asked quickly.
Zhao Lin made no secret of it and said, "Two hundred thousand taels per person, and Prince Zhao is worth five hundred thousand taels. I give half to the others, and I still have one million six hundred and fifty thousand taels left."
When Zhao Lin asked for the money, he did not hide it from others, and everyone knew it, so Zhao Lin did not hide it, but just gave a discount on the money he got.
Feng Siyuan is even more ruthless than Zhao Lin, so naturally he will not share the money that Zhao Lin deserves.
Only 50,000 taels were given to Xu Zhong, so Zhao Lin should have received 150,000 taels each, plus Zhao Chenhan's 450,000 taels, the total is 15 times 14 plus 45, totaling 2.55 million taels.
Although Zhao Lin did not tell the truth, the 1.6 million taels still scared He Bowen and the others. They heard crackling sounds and the chopsticks in their hands fell.
"One, more than one million taels?" He Bowen asked stutteringly.
Zhao Lin nodded. "The masters in the capital city love the child, so they are willing to give money. Of course, all this money will be reimbursed by the Zhenbei Marquisate in the end, so they are even more willing to give it. There is no bargaining at all."
He Bowen took a deep sip from his wine glass and said, "Although our horse farm is one of the largest in the country, due to the lack of timely replenishment of funds and grain in recent years, and the fact that many grasslands have been occupied for farmland, we don't have many horses, only about 20,000. This is also because the Northwest Border Army is short of money and hasn't bought horses in several years. Otherwise, there would be even fewer."
Zhao Lin nodded.
Of course he knew.
It is already good enough for a large horse farm to provide about a thousand qualified war horses a year.
There are even fewer small horse farms, with only a few hundred or even dozens of horses.
This put a lot of pressure on an army that often had to equip thousands of cavalry.
Therefore, in addition to opening horse farms in various places in Daqi, the Daqi Ministry of War goes abroad to purchase war horses every year.
Zhao Lin didn't come here expecting to buy enough at once, but being able to provide more than 20,000 horses was still beyond his expectations.
"More than 20,000 is enough." Zhao Lin said.
He Bowen shook his head and said, "We need to keep some for emergencies, so the most I can give you is 20,000."
Zhao Lin nodded and said, "I understand. How about the price?"
He Bowen said, "A high-quality warhorse costs one hundred taels, a medium-quality warhorse costs eighty taels, and a low-quality warhorse costs fifty taels."
Zhao Lin shook his head: "It's too expensive."
He Bowen smiled and said, "It's not expensive. To be honest, apart from here, you would never be able to buy so much at one time at any other horse farm. And war horses are controlled items, so selling them to you would mean taking a huge responsibility."
Zhao Lin smiled and said, "I came here with sincerity, and I hope Lord He will be sincere too. How about this, we each reduce the amount by twenty?"
He Bowen shook his head: "No, no, it's too much. How about reducing it by five taels?"
Zhao Lin said, "I don't like nonsense. Twenty, if that's okay, fine. If not, I'll ask Master Li Xingye to help, and then the price will be much higher."
He Bowen immediately hesitated.
If the higher-ups order us to sell it to Zhao Lin at a lower price, not to mention a twenty-tael reduction, it’s possible the price could be reduced by fifty taels.
Those who do this know the ins and outs of it all too well.
Buy high and sell low, anyway it is the government's money that is lost, it has nothing to do with them.
Faced with Zhao Lin's threat, He Bowen smiled bitterly and said, "Master Zhao, why bother? As the saying goes, if you ask for a high price, you will pay low. Let's talk slowly."
Zhao Lin shook his head and said, "I don't like wasting time. I could have sent someone else, but coming here in person proves my sincerity, and I don't want to waste time going back and forth. How about this: 50 taels for a top-quality horse, 40 taels for a medium-quality horse, and 30 taels for a low-quality horse..."
He Bowen's face suddenly changed.
Several other racecourse officials also looked at each other in confusion.
Just now, they said the price was fixed, why is it lower now?
There is still so much less.
This is a life-threatening situation.
He Bowen gritted his teeth and sneered, "Master Zhao, your price is too low. Even if Master Li and Minister Fu come together, it won't work."
Zhao Lin said calmly, "Don't worry, this is just the money for the horse farm. I will pay the difference."
"What do you mean?" He Bowen was puzzled.
Zhao Lin leaned back in his chair, smiled slightly, and looked like he had everything under control: "If these funds are not recorded in the accounts, how to distribute them is up to Lord He."
Crash!
He Bowen fell on his back.
The other racecourse officials all turned red in the face and their breathing became heavier.
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