More than 800? Not much! Wen Tao: Your Majesty, really...
As night fell, Jingchang City was silent. The darkness enveloped the city, the moon was hidden in the clouds, and there was only a little light in the sky. It was an extremely dark night.
It seems that everything can be hidden in the darkness.
In the palace, Shen Zhiwei was lying on the bed, snoring, while her loyal subordinates could not sleep.
In the middle of the night, Hu Youan left the palace.
Before nightfall, she asked Shen Zhiwei for permission to leave the palace, but Shen Zhiwei didn't think much about it. Or rather, no matter what others said to Shen Zhiwei, Shen Zhiwei wouldn't think much about it.
She is just a king with an empty brain.
Shen Zhiwei just needs to make sure that she does not leave this world by suicide. She wishes someone would break into the palace and assassinate her in the middle of the night to end her sinful life as the king of a fallen country in advance.
Start her modern career as a wealthy woman.
When Shen Zhiwei thought about becoming a billionaire if he returned to the modern era, his dreams were sweet and he smiled so foolishly in his dreams.
Fortunately, no one saw this scene.
Shen Zhiwei didn't allow anyone to enter the palace to serve her after she fell asleep, mainly because she couldn't adapt to falling asleep under the gaze of others. Waking up in the middle of the night and facing the pair of big copper bell-like eyes of the palace maid on night duty was really scary.
Hu Youan felt that there were both advantages and disadvantages to the king not having anyone guard his bed at night. The advantage was that it could effectively prevent assassinations, but the disadvantage was that if an assassin really appeared, it would be difficult for outsiders to enter and protect the king.
However, the king has recently practiced riding and archery very well, and there is a sharp sword made by An Jin himself under his pillow, which is more than enough to protect himself.
But we cannot put the king's safety entirely on his own.
Ever since Hu Youan became a doctor in the palace, he has been worried about the king's personal safety. The palace's guards are too weak.
Most of the guards in the palace were descendants of aristocrats. They had learned martial arts, but their talents were mediocre. In addition, Jingchang had not seen any major incidents for many years, so most of these guards had become lax. Practicing martial arts is like practicing calligraphy. If you don't practice for a day, you will regress.
Because of his background, Hu Youan was unable to suppress the guards and make them train well on a daily basis.
This problem has been bothering Hu Youan, but now he finally sees hope for a solution.
"No! Five hundred men are far too many. Doctor Hu trains so many soldiers and is in charge of the palace horses. If you have any ulterior motives towards the king, we, being so far away from the palace, will be unable to save the king from danger. In the end, we might make a big mistake!"
The flame of the tallow candle danced in the lamp, and the black smoke of the burning oil floated down along the copper tube covered above, and finally merged into a small lamp of black water, without any meaning.
Such a lamp is as valuable as gold, and the oil it produces from burning it for one night is enough to feed three or five common people for several months.
There were dozens of such lights in the room, illuminating the originally dim room. Hu Youan could even see the genuine dissatisfaction on Gui Yang's face towards her.
Wen Tao pondered for a moment and said, "Five hundred people are indeed too many. Three hundred will be enough. The people on the shores of the East China Sea don't dare to make a big fuss. Three hundred is enough to drive them away."
As the host, Gui Yang sat at the top seat, Wen Tao sat to her right, and Hu Youan sat to her left.
The late-night conspiracy was for the purpose of recruiting soldiers.
"Three hundred men are only enough for the East China Sea salt fields, but not for anything else. The palace is under-guarded, and the only guards the king can call upon are You'an and the other two. No matter what happens to the salt fields in the future, the most important thing is to protect the king. If anything happens to the king, everything else will be in vain. After all, the king is the last of the Zhou royal family."
Hu Youan knew that the two would not agree to her recruiting 500 people, but she had her reasons and had already made plans.
She paused and continued, "Five hundred men are actually too few. The emperor should have three to five hundred more men by his side. He should have more than eight hundred men."
"Eight hundred? Doctor Hu has quite the appetite."
When Gui Yang heard the number eight hundred, the hair on her head stood on end.
In those days, when the various vassal states went to war with each other, or when a big country fought against a small country, sometimes they would not even send out 800 people. Among those armies that often numbered tens of thousands, how many were vanguards and how many were actual soldiers? The nobles of each country knew very well.
The so-called vanguards were civilians forcibly conscripted by the army from the local area. When those civilians went to the battlefield, they might not even have a pair of shoes. They were completely consumables during the war.
Real soldiers must be equipped with full armor and weapons, and elite soldiers must also have horses and heavy armor.
If Hu Youan really raised 800 well-equipped soldiers, she could lead 10,000 people to fight a war to destroy a country!
"Is eight hundred a lot? Don't forget, the emperor has over seventy thousand soldiers at his peak, and the Tiger Guards have fifty to six thousand at their peak. Eight hundred isn't even a fraction of that! The King of Anguo also has over thirty thousand soldiers, right? And there's also Bianguo. The King of Bianguo has over ten thousand soldiers around him, and the emperor only needs eight hundred."
Hu Youan gets angry whenever the army is mentioned.
The Zhou emperor was in charge of the army of the world, including the armies of the princes. However, the weakness of the royal family was not just talk. The princes had long stopped obeying the emperor's summons, and the army belonging to the emperor had been eaten away by the princes over the years, and there was little left.
The rest were nobles who were not valued by their families, as well as some old, weak, sick and disabled soldiers. It was not difficult for Hu Youan to squeeze out one or two hundred people from them to barely save face. If he wanted to rely on those trash to fight, Hu Youan would have to beg them not to die so quickly when he went to the battlefield!
Gui Yang was silent. He knew that eight hundred people were too few for the emperor.
He was silent, but Wen Tao would not remain silent. She had to know that she and Gui Yang had to pay for the support of those eight hundred people.
Even if the nobles had money and food, they couldn't act recklessly. Could the financial resources of two families support a large country? If they were really that powerful, why didn't they fight with the other princes for territory?
"Don't be angry, Doctor Hu. Whether it was 70,000 or 6,000, it was all in the past." The emperor once held the purview of the nation's public resources. What's the situation now? Jingchang is all that remains of the emperor's name. Wen Tao didn't elaborate, but fortunately, the audience were all intelligent and understood her unspoken words. "Three hundred is indeed a little too little. How about five hundred?"
Eight hundred is impossible anyway.
Gui Yang had no objection. Five hundred was five hundred. Compared to eight hundred, five hundred was really very appropriate.
Seeing that both of them had agreed on five hundred, Hu Youan's fists, which had been clenched tightly on her knees, loosened slightly. She rubbed her hands imperceptibly to wipe away the sweat.
It was not until he got the written contract written by Gui Yang and Wen Tao that Hu Youan finally put down the stone in his heart.
Gui Yang was going to leave Jingchang in two days. Seeing that things were almost done, he went down to rest. He needed to conserve his energy to deal with the enemies in the future.
Wen Tao and Hu Youan did not plan to rest here with Gui Yang for one night, so they naturally left after taking the written contract.
They all go out through the back door.
There was a small path on the way that they were traveling together. A mute slave from Gui Yang's mansion was standing in front and behind them, holding a lantern to light the way for them.
When I came out of the house, I found that the sky was very gloomy today. The night wind brought thick moisture.
"It might rain tomorrow, so it's not a good time to go out."
Wen Tao has changed from the difficult look she had when she was discussing the number of recruits with Hu Youan in the house. Now she speaks to Hu Youan very gently, and her smile looks a bit like an innocent boy.
Hu Youan, holding the written contract, felt confident and a relaxed smile appeared on his lips. He nodded and said, "Indeed, after this rain, the crops in the fields have grown."
Hu Youan was happy, but Wen Tao suddenly felt a little sad. She murmured to herself: "The millet is sparse, the millet seedlings are swaying, and my heart is shaking..."
Hu Youan thought Wen Tao was missing home, and was about to say something to comfort her, but suddenly he remembered that Wen Tao's home was right here, so which home was she missing?
Perhaps I miss the days when I studied in Bian State.
Before Hu Youan could organize his words, Wen Tao suppressed her worries and instead praised Hu Youan for showing some of the demeanor of her fellow disciples.
"He who remains undaunted in the face of great adversity possesses the courage of a sage. Doctor Hu will be able to discuss the Dao with my teacher in the future. Today's debate was quite ingenious."
This is referring to the fact that Hu Youan initially said there were 500 people, and later said there were 800 people.
Wen Tao knew that Hu Youan's goal from the beginning to the end was only the five hundred people, and he said eight hundred people just to get Gui Yang to agree to five hundred people.
Later, Anguo and Bianguo were mentioned specifically, obviously to provoke Gui Yang and her, who had ties with the two countries.
Although the method is simple, it is indeed effective. From this point of view, it can be seen that Hu Youan is not a stupid person.
"You are too kind, young lady. Actually, this method is not what Youan had in mind."
Hu Youan briefly recounted what happened this afternoon.
In the afternoon, she told Shen Zhiwei that she would leave the palace in the evening to meet Gui Yang and discuss something with him.
Maybe it was because the worry on her face was too obvious, Shen Zhiwei was aroused by her curiosity and asked her what was wrong, which made her frown with worry.
Hu Youan roughly said that she wanted to recruit more soldiers, but she was afraid that Gui Yang would not agree. After all, it was Gui Yang and her family who provided the money and food, and with too many people, they would have to pay more money and food.
Shen Zhiwei knew about the conscription, she just thought it was because of the lack of manpower, and they wanted to recruit some soldiers for Gui Yang to garrison in the East China Sea. People would pay for the food and recruit the soldiers themselves, and as the king, she had no right to interfere, so she nodded and agreed to the conscription.
This kid Gui Yang is really a hidden rich man. No wonder people say that the richer people are, the more stingy they are. Conscription concerns his own personal safety, but he is still unwilling to pay?
What's the difference between this and submitting a project that is related to the survival of the company, but the leader doesn't approve the funding, and still argues with the person in charge that the funding is too high?
Shen Zhiwei immediately gave an idea to Hu Youan, the unpaid laborer.
The simplest negotiation technique is that when someone is unwilling to open a window, just say to tear down the roof, and the person will naturally agree to open the window.
"You don't want to open the windows, so you tear down the roof?"
Wen Tao repeated this simple and easy-to-understand truth and was deeply shocked.
Although there are only a few words, they contain a wisdom that transcends the world, as if human nature is broken down and the theory that hits the nail on the head is finally stated.
Wen Tao had never regarded the king as a mortal before, but now she felt that she should regard the king more seriously.
"Doctor, let's add another 300 soldiers. 800 is really enough. As the doctor said, if something happens to the king, all this will be in vain."
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