The dignified Qu family has no treasures, and she still looks down on this little money. If she had known that Zhao Guo could put her father's Chu Ci into the academy for the world to learn, Qu could have given Zhao Guo money in turn, and could promote his father. reputation is more important than anything else.
"Can't Qu even look down on five thousand war horses?" Zhao Kuo said with a smile.
"Five thousand war horses!" Qu Shu stood up suddenly and looked at Zhao Kuo in disbelief.
"Not bad." Zhao Kuo nodded.
The Jing family and the Zhao family supported the Xiang family and suppressed the Qu family. The Zhao State would naturally support the Qu family to fight against the Xiang family. The Chu State with four or even five forces pulling each other was obviously more beneficial to the Zhao State than the united Chu State.
The military aspect of the Chu State was mainly controlled by the Jing family and the Xiang family, while the Zhao family and the Qu family mainly controlled the political aspect. Moreover, the Qu family's sphere of influence continued to shrink over the years.
With 5,000 horses, Qu was able to carve a hole in the army.
"Foreign minister, thank you very much, Your Majesty." Qu Shu solemnly bowed and bowed.
"I would also like to thank Mr. Qu on behalf of the students of Zhao State." Zhao Guo said with a smile.
These Chu Ci can neither govern the country nor strengthen the army. They seem useless at all, but they contain what is most lacking in this era - patriotism.
Before Confucianism was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, most scholars had no sense of patriotism. There is no place for me to stay here, I have my own place to stay. If I see you unhappy, I will leave, and I will work for your old enemy to disgust you.
Only members of the clan will fight tooth and nail to protect their family and country, even at the cost of their lives. But whether the purpose is to preserve the country or to preserve his clan, it is difficult to say.
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Although Handan College has established so many subjects, it has not incorporated patriotic ideas. Others did not realize it. Zhao Kuo did realize it, but he did not know how to start.
This thing is not just about shouting, but it can convince people and let people know why they are patriotic and needs subtle changes.
Qu Yuan's Chu Ci gave Zhao Kuo hope in this regard.
The only drawback is that Qu Yuan was from the Chu state, not the Zhao state. Otherwise, Zhao Kuo would have immediately ordered a statue of Qu Yuan to be built in a temple for people to worship and promote Qu Yuan's patriotism.
But now we can only rely on Qu Yuan to contrast Chu's mediocrity and inspire everyone's patriotic consciousness.
The effect is much worse, but there is no way. At least before the unification, it is impossible to publicize the humanistic deeds of Chu State.
Although Chu and Zhao are allies, they are also enemies. Promoting Chu people will only make people yearn for Chu.
Zhao Kuo worked hard to cultivate talents not just for them to contribute to Chu State.
"Your Majesty's words are serious. It's me, Mrs. Qu, who should thank your Majesty." Qu Shu leaned over and said, after so many years, someone finally cleared my father's name.
"Okay, let's get down to business. How many war horses does Chu intend to buy?" Zhao Kuo said seriously.
"Eighty thousand." Qu Shu also straightened his body and sat upright.
When passing by Wei State, he had already found out that Zhao State had sold 50,000 war horses to Wei State. After arriving at Handan, he even met envoys from South Korea and Qi State. This shows that Zhao State has no shortage of war horses.
If you can sell it to the Wei State for 50,000 yuan, you can sell it to the Chu State for 80,000 yuan.
Qu Shu has never been to the Hetao and the grassland. He doesn't know how big these places are and how many war horses they can raise. But he knows that Zhao State is definitely not as simple as recovering the Hetao. In the past, Zhao State could not produce so many war horses at its peak. .
"Can the Chu State spend so much money?" Zhao Kuo was a little surprised. The war horses of the Wei State cost nearly 20,000 yuan each. The Chu State would not be cheaper than the Wei State, but would only be more expensive. It is possible that 80,000 war horses would be more than 1.6 billion.
The Chu State was not the unified empire that would later become the unified empire. Even a unified empire would have difficulty raising so much money at once.
And it will cost more to raise and train horses later.
The State of Chu is not like Daijun, Yanmen and other places in the State of Zhao. The sons of good families have been riding horses and shooting arrows since they were young. If they are recruited, they can become cavalry. Even if they are not as good as the elite cavalry, they will not be far behind.
Everything in Chu State had to be started from scratch. The soldiers could not even ride a horse, so the cost can be imagined.
"We, the State of Chu, can exchange Hangou for war horses." Qu Shu said with a smile. He already knew about Wei State's exchange of Hangou for war horses.
"No change." Zhao Kuo immediately refused.
Can Hangou's thing be compared with Honggou? If it were later, when Suhu and Lake were mature and the world was full, Hangou could still be tied with Chaifu. If it continued to connect north to south, like the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, it would be able to leave Chafeng far behind.
But how can the current Hangou be compared with the Chasm.
In order to march north to conquer Qi, Fu Chai opened the Hangou ditch in the lower reaches of the Huai River and the Yangtze River to connect the Central Plains and Jiangnan. Fu Chai was killed by Gou Jian not long after.
The target of the Yue State was not the Chu State in the west, but also the Qi State in the north, so Hangou was still prosperous at that time.
After the Chu State destroyed Yue, Hangou was completely deserted. The Chu State's focus has always been on Yingdu and the Central Plains, and has never been placed on the land of Wu and Yue.
The Chasm is one of the most golden waterways in the Central Plains. Even so, only 50,000 war horses were replaced.
The Chu State exchanged Hangou for 80,000 war horses, which was purely a waste of time.
Qu Shu smiled coquettishly. He had no hope that this matter would come true. He was just testing it out. He didn't expect that Zhao Kuo would refuse so simply without giving any face.
"What does your Majesty mean?" Qu Shu asked, cupping his hands.
"The price of Chu's war horses should have exceeded 20,000 yuan." Zhao Kuo said with a smile.
"Twenty-two thousand." Qu Shu told the truth. The price of Chu's war horses was already higher than that of the Central Plains, but this was the first time that it was so ridiculously high.
"I, the State of Zhao, can sell 60,000 war horses to the State of Chu, and the price of each horse is 20,000. In the grain transaction, you only need to pay 90%. There is no limit to the type of grain, including rice, corn, wheat, sorghum, and job's tears. Yes, you can, but if it doesn't work, you can use dried fish. Other silk, medicinal materials, copper, iron, and leather transactions require a payment of 95%. If you pay with coins, you need 100%." Zhao Kuo said.
"Okay." Qu Shu thought for a moment and nodded.
It's a bit expensive, but everyone else has this thing, and Chu State can't live without it. If it doesn't, it will only be beaten in the future.
Although there is some gap between the original target of 80,000 horses, plus the 5,000 war horses presented to him by the State of Zhao, the total is 65,000 war horses, which is not much different from the 80,000 horses. It is enough for the Chu State. .
"Do you need stirrups, horseshoes, saddles, etc.? Our country Zhao has matching ones and can be sold to Chu at a low price." Zhao Kuo was like a conscientious salesman, promoting his products.
"This... there's no need for it. Our country of Chu can build it." Qu Shu shook his head.
In order to buy these war horses, the King of Chu had already offended his nobles and promised to distribute some to them after buying them. After raising so much money, there was no extra money to buy stirrups.
Save what you can.