Cao Wenzhao and Cao Bianjiao's uncle and nephew were confused. Taichang suddenly said kindly again: "Wenzhao, do you know what the situation in Liaodong is now?"

The title of the emperor has been changed, and it seems that this marriage is determined.

However, the question asked by the emperor is really hard to say!

Cao Wenzhao thought about it, and then said ashamed: "Emperor, the last general is incompetent, and he didn't even see a single Jiannu. He inexplicably followed the general general Jiang, the general invader, to Ningyuan. At this moment, the situation from Liaoyang to Jinzhou is really unclear. The last general only knows that Liaoyang has been lost, and the Grand Secretary of the Supervisor has sent heavy troops to defend the Guangning to Jinzhou."

When Taichang heard this, he quickly comforted him: "You can't blame you for this. You are just a general manager now. How could you not listen to the general's order? I just want to ask you what the specific situation is like in Ningyuan, Guangning and Jinzhou on the front line outside the pass."

Cao Wenzhao recalled it carefully, and then couldn't help but sigh: "Guangning and Jinzhou are all fine. Lord Sun has already incorporated nearly 100,000 defeated soldiers and reorganized most of the defeated soldiers, stationed in Guangning and Jinzhou respectively. It is a bit messy near Ningyuan. There are ordinary people and defeated soldiers everywhere who escaped from Shenyang, Liaoyang, Haizhou, and even Gaizhou, Fuzhou, Jinzhou and other places, densely packed and countless. It is said that most of the people in Liaodong have fled to Ningyuan."

How many?

Sun Chengzong mentioned this in the memorial, but Sun Chengzong said that the number of people is being counted and the specific number has not been given yet.

However, judging from Cao Wenzhao's tone, this number will probably scare me.

You know, there were more than 4 million civilians in Liaodong, most of which, wouldn’t that be more than 2 million!

When Taichang heard this, he couldn't help but be surprised and said, "What do you mean, there are more than two million ordinary people who fled to the vicinity of Ningyuan?"

Cao Wenzhao nodded with a serious face and said, "Looking at the dense posture that is beyond the limit, there must be two million."

OMG!

How can we support more than two million civilians who left their hometowns?

Alas, let’s see what Sun Chengzong said about this first.

Taichang sighed slightly, then asked again: "Wenzhao, I heard you have read a book?"

He was actually just fooling around, he heard nothing.

However, Cao Wenzhao did read books, especially the classics of military strategy. He had learned a lot. Without the serious internal strife in the Chongzhen Dynasty, he would not have been able to climb to the position of general.

Question, why did the emperor suddenly ask about this again?

Cao Wenzhao glanced at his nephew and then suddenly said, "The General of the Mo has indeed read military books for several years, and Bian Jiao is also studying military books with the General of the Mo."

He thought the emperor was afraid that the son-in-law he chose was a reckless man who could not read a word.

Of course, Taichang didn’t mean that. He was taking the exam for Cao Wenzhao.

He thought for a while and asked again: "Wenzhao, how much money do you think it will cost to form a 50,000 elite cavalry?"

ah?

The emperor's question is so fast!

Fortunately, Cao Wenzhao really knew that because the main horse ranch farms of the Ming Dynasty were in Shanxi and Shaanxi, and he was also considered a garrison who raised horses and was very familiar with cavalry.

He just thought for a moment, then asked, "Master, does this horse cost be considered?"

Since you asked, there must be a reason.

Taichang nodded without hesitation and said, "Forget it."

Cao Wenzhao thought about it carefully and then said solemnly: "The horse is not cheap now. A war horse can cost at least hundreds of taels of silver, and the equipment of the cavalry is also particularly expensive, such as saddles, stirrups, reins, rifles, sabers, sabers, hand shields, crossbows, armor, vests, etc. If all included, the equipment of a cavalry is more expensive than a war horse, that is, it costs at least ten million taels of silver to form a 50,000 elite cavalry."

ah!

Even though Taichang was a little rich now, he was shocked by the cost.

Ten million taels!

What are you kidding?

He said a little embarrassedly: "Why do you want to calculate the price of horses? After all, there are not many horse farms in Daming."

Cao Wenzhao sighed helplessly: "Your Majesty, you should know that in the Battle of Sarhu, our Ming cavalry was killed and injured, and all the war horses were stolen by Jiannu. The horse farm generally does not raise too many horses, because the ration required for an adult horse can be enough to meet the rations of four or five border troops. Therefore, our horse farm will raise more than 10,000 adult war horses at most, and it will take at least five or six years to breed war horses and raise them to the extent that they can participate in the war. Therefore, if the emperor wants to form 50,000 cavalry now, he will have to buy 40,000 war horses."

Damn, no wonder Sun Chengzong started to form the Guanning Iron Cavalry after establishing the Guanning Jin defense line in history. Wasn’t that exactly five or six years after the Battle of Sarhu!

After a long time, the Ming Dynasty now has neither cavalry nor many war horses!

Can I wait for five or six years?

Of course I can't wait!

Taichang thought for a while, then asked again: "Where should I buy that war horse?"

Cao Wenzhao said with a look of dismay: "In fact, even if you have money, you may not be able to buy so many horses, because most of the war horses in the Ming Dynasty were bought from Mongolian and Yuan tribes, Western countries, Wusizangdusi and Duogandusi and other places. The herders in those places like tea and grain. If they really buy it with silver, they may not be able to buy it. Moreover, we cannot go deep into these places to buy it, because no matter whether you bring silver or tea and food, you will never be able to come back. We can only open tea and horse markets at the border and let them exchange horses for things themselves."

Well, another tea and horse market is coming.

Taichang could only ask without shame: "If all tea and horse markets are opened, how many war horses can they get in exchange for a year?"

Cao Wenzhao calculated it briefly and then estimated: "If all tea and horse markets are opened, it would be no problem to exchange for more than 15,000 war horses a year, but we probably don't have so many tea bricks and grain to exchange."

What's going on?

Taichang simply asked: "Why don't we have so many tea bricks and grains? Isn't it enough to buy them?"

Cao Wenzhao shook his head and sighed, "They may be able to buy grain, but they can't make it because now the herdsmen have learned to eat it. If they exchange it for food, they will have hundreds of stones per horse. If they have more than 15,000 war horses, they will have to transport more than 1.5 million stones of grain to the border! If they have tea leaves, they can exchange it for one or two hundred kilograms of tea bricks. Now, they have thousands of kilograms of tea bricks, and ten thousand kilograms of tea leaves. I heard that tea farmers in Sichuan, Shanxi and Fujian are all tidy up by those tax envoys, and they dare not pick tea because the money they earn from selling tea is not enough to pay taxes. Therefore, the tea bricks in the border are very in short supply now, and there are not many at all."

Damn, how much pounds is that of a million and a million stones of grain?

That's at least hundreds of millions of pounds!

15 million kilograms of tea bricks save nearly 90% of the shipping fee. Where can I find so many tea bricks?

These damn mining surveillance officers!

Alas, there is no way.

No matter how difficult it is, I can't wait for five or six years.

Taichang gritted his teeth secretly, and then said decisively: "Wenzhao, you will be the general officer of the Shenwu Camp, responsible for forming and training 50,000 elite cavalry. I will give you three years. Do you have confidence?"

Shenwu Camp is the cavalry battalion in his own army. He thought that Sanqian Camp and Shenshu Camp were not very nice, so he gave him another name.

He had already passed the exam. Cao Wenzhao was indeed a rare talent, especially common sense in cavalry. Cao Wenzhao was so familiar with it.

Therefore, he handed over this important task to Cao Wenzhao without hesitation.

When Cao Wenzhao heard this, he was so shocked that his chin almost fell to the ground again.

He is still a general now, which is equivalent to the hundreds of households in the garrison. In terms of grade, he can barely be considered a sixth rank. The general is a second rank general.

In other words, he has been promoted to level 8 in a row!

Is there anyone who has such an increase?

That's nothing.

Taichang then said to Cao Bianjiao: "Bianjiao, you can barely be the deputy general. Learn from your uncle. I will pay attention to you."

this!

When Cao Bianjiao heard this, he almost fainted happily on the ground.

He is a mistress with no grade. If he counts from the ninth grade, he has been promoted to level 16 in a row!

This is the case with nepotism.

The emperor's approach is simply so gratifying!
Chapter completed!