The horse farm team ended at a grand luncheon. Of course, don’t expect to leave a recipe that has been passed down through the ages like Zhang Jun entertained Emperor Gaozong. Because it is difficult to get such a table of dishes from a fifth-grade horse supervisor, and it is impossible to raise a home kitchen that is comparable to an imperial chef, so what you can only eat is a sumptuous "country" banquet.

However, Zhao Bing still thought that the meal was not only happy, but also very educational, allowing many people to see a veteran who was content with poverty, loyalty to the emperor and patriotism, never forget his original aspirations, and fulfill his duties. In modern terms, it gave the minds of these high-ranking people a lotion and their spiritual realm once again sublimated.

Zhao Bing drank a little too much today. Everyone was worried that it would be unsafe to ride a horse, so they advised him to take the bus back. "Drink some hot tea at the official house!" Wu Xi said after the newly brewed tea.

"Well, you didn't eat well today, right?" Zhao Bing took the tea and took a sip, and asked the two of them with a smile.

"I'm full, and the wife of the Feng family kept cooking for me, but I couldn't eat it later!" Chen Shu rubbed her stomach and smiled angrily.

"I have eaten well, although the local food is vulgar, it has a unique flavor compared to the food in the palace!" Wu Xi nodded and smiled.

"The officials, today all the old generals who went to Jiazi Town, the general's mansion, were there only these people?" Chen Shu asked.

"Although it's not too much, it's not too much!" Zhao Bing sighed, "At that time, Jiazi Town established an army, all of which were defeated soldiers and vagrants. In addition, Han Zhen brought a battalion of imperial troops, the total number of water infantry troops was more than 4,000. After more than ten years, some were killed in battle, some were injured, and some were transferred to the local area to perform their duties. There may not be enough people living in a battalion."

"Well, the officials don't have to be sad. They are loyal to the country and the king, and they are considered a place to die!" Wu Xi said.

"After that being said, the queen has not experienced what happened back then, and it is difficult to understand the friendship between everyone." Zhao Bing shook his head and chuckled, "Although it was hard, everyone's life was fighting together. I could call out almost everyone's names, and I still remember their appearance. What I was most afraid of at that time was that whenever I saw the list of dead people after the war, fresh lives left, leaving only a figure that only appeared in my dreams.

"Look at Yu Yue, Wu Feng, Liu Hong and others. People often tell me that they are too young. They are awarded titles and generals at their age and are in high positions. They are so arrogant. But how could those people know that they were orphans in the army or those whose parents were killed. Because they were young, they could not be trained in the old camp. But later, the situation was urgent, and they had to be assigned to the guard camp and follow me to the court to succeed the throne. Some of them died in Yashan at only fourteen or fifteen years old."

"At that time, the old camp took in a total of 736 children, most of them were devoted to the army, and more than 400 people died in more than ten years of war. My original intention was to raise them and grow up safely, but in the end it hurt them, and many people did not leave any incense." Zhao Bing said sadly.

"They are grateful for the grace of the officials for raising them, and they are also the only place to die!" Wu Xi comforted softly. She also understood why these arrogant soldiers were so loyal to the emperor, and why the emperor hated and loved them. When I issued an order to punish them, I was so entangled and heartbroken. That was because I couldn't bear to punish these beloved generals who had shared the joys and sorrows, and could not betray the law because of their faults.

"After the recapture of Ezhou, the official family executed more than 20 corrupt generals who were corrupt and abused, but they took on the responsibility of raising their children and taking care of their families. They have allocated money from the inner government every year to supplement their family income. It is precisely because of the charity that followed the country's destruction. And the old camp was still retained, and the inner government still invested in raising the orphans of the fallen officers and soldiers." Chen Shu interrupted at this time.

"Well, it is because of the official family that we have imitated today. In fact, Feng Shaojian doesn't have to live so hard. I asked his wife and found out that they only had two daughters and one son. The rest were all adopted children of the past who died in the past and supported their parents, so that their lives were very difficult." Wu Xi said.

"This is not uncommon. Even our family raises the orphans of my father and his military soldiers who retired due to disability to take care of them for the rest of their lives." Chen Shu said unsurprisingly.

"Concubine, I want to use some of our examples to fund those disabled soldiers who retired, as well as officials and soldiers who lived in difficult times during the General Administration. Do you think?" Wu Xi said with a moment of contempt and asked Chen Shu.

"Okay, this can not only share the worries of the officials, but also make the military and civilians feel the grace of the Queen!" Chen Shu responded without hesitation, and said, "The New Year is not far away. We can also sew some new clothes to send to the widows in the old camp, so that they can feel the same holy virtue."

"What do the officials think?" Wu Xi turned his face and asked the emperor.

"I am very pleased that the queen has this intention. We must know that the military and civilians are the foundation of the country, not the powerful people!" Zhao Bing said with a long sigh.

"The officials have been criticized, and they are all because they are ignorant in the past." Wu Xi said with shame, "This time I went out of the palace to accompany the officials to visit the northern tour, and I felt a lot. Only then did I realize the difficulties of the officials starting a business, the thrilling battlefield, and the hardships of the people's livelihood. I understood that what I knew and heard in the past were all one-sided words, like a frog in the well, I could not see the world, nor could I understand the painstaking efforts of the officials."

"The Queen has this insight, which is really a blessing for the people of our dynasty, and also my blessing, and the blessing of the Song Dynasty!" Zhao Bing looked up and down at Wu Xi as if he didn't know him, and he laughed until he was a little panicked, which made him shy...

On the tenth day of November, the collusion was over, and the army returned to the garrison as planned, and the emperor set off for a trip back to Beijing. Zhao Bing and the others still chose to take a boat to walk the canal, but his days on the boat were still busy. In the morning, they either reviewed official documents or discussed matters with Lu Xiufu and other ministers, and in the afternoon, they performed a second Northern Expedition with the ministers. However, their focus this time was not on military, but on the cost of war.

Everyone knows that war also costs money. This incident made Zhao Bing very troubled. In fact, it was a headache for emperors of all ages, and the root cause of this problem still depends on Ma.

An unknown nation from the Central Asian prairie tamed the horses. Soon, a barbaric nation named Hiksso put the horses on their chariots, and from then on a new weapon of war was born, and the situation of war changed. The barbaric Hiksso drove such a chariot, crossed the Isthmus of Suez, and conquered the ancient civilized country Egypt.

Other ethnic groups also developed their own chariots as if they were the Hikso people, and the era of chariot war began. However, at that time, horses were still a very weak animal and could not carry the knights to fight with his equipment, so people had to settle for the second best and tie them to the chariots in groups.

Even so, the power performance was still worrying, so people had to work hard to reduce weight for the chariot. But after a thousand years, the horses that had evolved after humans gradually became stronger and could carry a light cavalry, and the riding and shooting skills were born. After centuries of training by herders, "giant" horses similar to modern horses appeared.

Once the shepherds rode on the horse, the farmers' nightmare came, because the chariots still needed some industrial foundation as a guarantee, while the cavalry did not need it at all. Therefore, the unique technical characteristics of the shepherds made them gain an extremely favorable position in the confrontation with the farmers. In the history of the Chinese Empire, the invasion of the horse-riding nations from the north has always been an important reason for the collapse of the empire.

Among the orthodox dynasties, the Western Jin Dynasty, the Northern Song Dynasty, the Southern Song Dynasty, and the Ming Dynasty were directly or indirectly attacked and destroyed by the northern nomadic peoples; the Qin, Han, Sui and Tang Dynasties fought wars of varying scales to resist the invasion of these nomadic peoples. Even the Yuan Dynasty, which entered the Central Plains as the northern nomadic people, could not escape the fate: in the early Yuan Dynasty, he fought with the Haidu rebels in the northwest for a long time, and the Junggar Mongolia also caused a lot of trouble to the Qing Dynasty.

Almost no dynasty can escape the fate of being invaded by those barbaric nomadic peoples. The glorious Central Plains civilization has risen and fallen again and again in the wave of nomadic peoples invasion. So where is the advantage of nomadic people? Why can a barbaric tribe with a population of more than 100,000 troops and a population of more than 100,000 people defeat a civilized empire with a vast territory, dozens or even millions of troops, and tens of millions of people?

In Zhao Bing, it is a matter of war cost. The leaders of the nomadic peoples had excellent cavalry, and the main body of the Central Plains Emperor's army was infantry.

In the summer when the water and grass are plump, nomads do nothing to let their horses rest and gain weight. When the horses are fat, they start to launch an aggressive war. This is also the season when neighbors who make a living by farming have just harvested, and nomad cavalry can expect to obtain more trophy. In autumn and winter, rivers on the northern plains of China freeze into a smooth road suitable for cavalry access, and withered vegetation makes them have a broader horizon.

In the war, nomads eat simple. If they are hungry, they can make their own horses. After running desperately, their horses will be extremely congested. The Mongols bleed on the horses' hooves and suck a little blood to satisfy their hunger. If there is a mare in the horse's herd, they can also use horse milk to improve their lives. So in the war, each of them carries multiple war horses, which can not only multiply to preserve the horse's physical strength, but also obtain more food reserves. In this way, they can fight for about ten days without stopping.
Chapter completed!