My son, Fusu, please abdicate the first emperor!

"Horses?" Qin II turned his head and said, "This is the Great Qin. Is the Great Qin still in need of war horses?"

Meng Tian said seriously, "Your Majesty, this is something that everyone, old, weak, women and children, knows. Horses are the most precious animals in our Qin State. They pull chariots during war and are taken back to farm and reclaim wasteland after war."

"Your Majesty gave an order to give the people a rest and reduce taxes, and the people were delighted. A large number of troops were disbanded, and the war horses were also turned into the property of local officials, specifically for farming and harvesting grain."

"The Qin State originally had less than 100,000 war horses, and now all the war horses have returned home to farm. As a result, there is a natural shortage of horses."

"These were all orders issued by His Majesty himself."

Qin II was suspicious, "Is there such a thing?"

Liang tiptoed forward and whispered, "Your Majesty, this is true. Have you forgotten that you once specifically advised the Emperor to expand the ranch so that he could breed horses?"

Qin II still didn't remember such an incident.

"What about the bred war horses?"

"If we want to expand the pasture, we have to go north. How can we turn the land where people grow crops into pasture? So the plan was abandoned."

Now Qin II was in a dilemma.

"So, if I want to get war horses, I have to go north first, so that I can get pastures."

Everyone nodded in unison.

Qin II was so angry that his left eye showed anger, his right eye showed smile, his beard flew slightly, and his lips tilted up and down.

"I am going north to attack the Hu people, so I need to prepare war horses first. But now you tell me that he must first defeat the Xiongnu before he can have war horses."

"Tell me, what use do I have for you?"

Seeing that Qin II was very angry, everyone dared not speak and buried their heads very deeply.

"Look, look, everyone behaves like this when something happens."

Meng Tian had his head held high, but when he saw this, he didn't know for a moment whether he should lower his head or raise it.

Fusu looked at Meng Tian. He really wanted to blame Meng Tian, ​​but when the words came to his lips, he automatically changed his mind.

"How many war horses does the Qin State have now?"

Meng Tian replied: "There are less than 20,000 horses in service. The number of reserve horses is no more than 30,000."

The emperor's eyes widened again, "My Great Qin now has only 20,000 war horses."

The empire's great general, Meng Tian, ​​was first and foremost an ordinary person.

There are also seven emotions and six desires.

Hearing this, Meng Tian naturally began to blame himself for a moment.

Yeah, he ignored it.

Even if His Majesty the Emperor does not plan to build any golden fire cavalry, given the size of the Qin Empire's army, if a war suddenly breaks out, these 20,000 war horses would not be enough.

If the emperor had not suddenly decided to build a legion, this problem might not have been exposed.

Qin II was also troubled by the fact that there were 20,000 active war horses in the center of the great Qin Empire.

"Since the general knew all this, didn't he think of any countermeasures beforehand?"

Meng Tian looked at Qin II and felt very depressed. Wasn't it the emperor himself who ordered him to cooperate in sending the soldiers back home to farm?

Why did he do it and the emperor said so?

According to experience, it is better not to pass on the blame at this time, especially not to directly tell the emperor that you are the root cause of the situation.

Once you retort to your leader, you will get into endless trouble in the future.

Meng Tian naturally took on all these tasks by himself.

"This is all my fault. I was so careless that I ask Your Majesty to punish me."

Seeing that Meng Tian admitted his mistakes so well, the emperor was not angry anymore even though he thought Meng Tian was not doing a good job.

Meng Tian saw the right opportunity and catered to the emperor's psychology by asking, "Your Majesty ordered that we should spare no effort to support the people in farming. But now the people across the country are working hard on farming and weaving. Right now, the people need horses for farming. If Your Majesty is to build up arms at this time, I'm afraid you will have to recall the war horses."

Today, Qin II summoned only Meng Tian. Meng Tian was somewhat isolated and helpless. He had never expected that Qin II would ask him to build a large army at this time.

This was the first time Meng Tian encountered such a thing. The task assigned by the emperor was far beyond his ability.

Didn’t we agree that Your Majesty would be good to the people after you ascend the throne?

Finally the emperor asked him to do this.

Only then did Qin II slowly regain his sanity and calm.

Meng Tian was a very shrewd man, but he used his shrewdness to do practical things and be loyal to people who deserved it. So in the eyes of outsiders, he was loyal, reliable, pragmatic and cautious.

The emperor knew clearly that Meng Tian was telling him clearly that he could not provide war horses at this time.

First, horses are a scarce species.

Second, Meng Tian disbanded the army and sent all the horses back to farm.

In short, these things are inseparable from one's own political orders.

Qin II sighed, "We still need to send people to take care of the horses, and send specialized people to take care of them. We must prepare a full 200,000 war horses for the Qin Dynasty. Not only must the number be sufficient, but they must also be very strong."

"Don't withdraw the horses from the fields. Just give them to the people. But the people can't always rely on horses. The oxen and cattle can also be used. Besides, there are so many technological tools."

"If you use a horse as a tool all day long, won't the horse be tired?"

For some reason, Fusu was very angry when he heard that people all over the country used horses instead of cows to farm.

The whole country is counting on horses.

Whatever the horse did wrong, it had to be ridden by others and work in the fields.

Meng Tian didn't know what was wrong with the emperor, as he suddenly started talking for the horse.

It’s just that we can’t raise an army... Look how angry His Majesty is.

Come to think of it, it was a good thing that I was smart enough to disperse all the horses and let them work for the farmers.

If they had not been disbanded, the emperor would have immediately equipped them to the legion.

What a fortune in misfortune.

Chen Ping frowned and agreed, "Your Majesty, I have taken note of it. I will hand this matter over to the two prime ministers another day."

"No. Leave it to the general. I trust the general to do the job. Besides, raising war horses is a major military matter and should be handled by the general."

Meng Tian was helpless, so he decided to give the trust to someone else.

"I think General Li Xin may be able to accomplish this."

Fusu suddenly remembered, "Li Xin?"

"It will be nine years since the Empire has been at peace. I almost forgot about it. He should be over fifty years old now."

Fusu did not forget Li Xin, but he had automatically ignored Li Xin for a long time.

At that time, Li Xin had the arms of a tiger, the waist of a bee, and the legs of a mantis. He was not only majestic, but also handsome and cool.

As for Li Xin now, he has a big round belly, a thick waist, a back as broad as a rock, and thighs as thick as an elephant.

He came to the court every day, but it was the same whether he came or not.

He sits in the corner and sleeps every day, and just says whatever others say.

Li Xin?

It's useless, it's been useless for a long time. Thinking of Li Xin, Fusu shook his head to show his distrust of him.

There's no way, Li Xin has been in a really bad shape in recent years.

He was unwilling to stay in Yan at first because he was worried that life in the border areas was too easy, which would make him indulge in sensual pleasures all day long, and eventually mislead the people and commit crimes.

So he ran to Xianyang City and let a group of people take care of him.

As a result, if there was no war, no one would pay any attention to him.

After all this, it still looks like a useless cat.

But his life in Xianyang City was much better than that of several princes in Yan area.

Since the fall of the State of Yan, all the resources of Yan, whether it was talented men or beautiful women, whether it was merchants or knights, all gathered around the prosperous city of Xianyang. What was left for Yan were only the ruined city walls to be repaired and orphans and widows to be cared for.

Li Xin, on the other hand, lived in Xianyang City, where he had a large group of cronies, fertile fiefdoms, and even beautiful women. His life was so luxurious that he almost forgot how to write the word "bitter".

Naturally, every organ in Fusu's body expressed rejection.

Let Li Xin raise horses for him...

Fusu no longer believed that Li Xin could accomplish anything.

However, Meng Tian felt that Li Xin had actually been very depressed over the years, and he stayed in Xianyang City just to help Qin II fight the war.

Over the years, he has always wanted to do something, but the Emperor no longer trusts him.

As for people, there will be no filial son by the bedside of a patient who has been sick for a long time.

At the beginning, Li Xin was full of confidence in his future.

However, with the changes of the times and the adjustments of the emperor's policies, Li Xin's life changed bit by bit as the days passed. He now began to resent Qin II.

Because he chose Qin II, and Qin II made such a big figure who was once a powerful figure on the battlefield of Chu State eat dust in the corner.

Li Xin naturally felt regretful about his wrong choice. In addition to being heartbroken, he often took his subordinates to ride horses in the distant suburbs of Xianyang.

Once, Li Xin got drunk and trampled on the people's farmland on his horse.

Because of this, a case broke out in Xianyang City.

This made Li Xin infamous in Xianyang city.

The case was finally settled by Xiao He.

The cause was that Li Xin trampled on farmland, which was not a big deal. As the Marquis of Longxi, Li Xin could afford to pay for the land.

He was also willing to pay the price.

Unfortunately, he had several retainers who advised Li Xin that he, Li Xin, was the Marquis of Longxi, with unparalleled status, resources and abilities, so how could he directly pay compensation for such a matter?

Let those farmers blame themselves for their bad luck.

Otherwise, if word gets out, his reputation as the Marquis of Longxi will be ruined.

The dignified Marquis of Longxi actually apologized to a few farmers.

Li Xin actually believed it. He used to be the same person as the farmers. He grazed in the mountains with the farmers' sons every day. In his heart, he did not put himself and the farmers in an unequal position.

But unfortunately, Li Xin ate too much good food and drank too much wine, and he lost his mind.

He actually followed the advice of his retainers and did not pay the full price.

Because in Xianyang at that time, the royal family, nobles and the like all thought highly of themselves.

They dare to do things like using public buses for personal purposes, occupying farmland, and all kinds of messy things.

The person in charge of public security at that time was Zhao Gao's younger brother, Zhao Cheng; later it was Zhang Han's younger brother.

These people focus on being good people, so they will of course cover up the affairs of the nobles, while the interests of the common people will naturally be ignored by them.

There is another very important person, Li Si. When he was alive, in order to consolidate his position, he, who was in charge of judicial and prison cases, often gave leniency to the nobles, but he would not protect the interests of the common people.

It was these people who worked together to create a very chaotic atmosphere in Xianyang City.

The nobles were rampant and tyrannical in Xianyang City, and the common people were humble and fearful, and could only swallow their pain and tears.

Girls like Xiong Rou might have been well educated when they were young, but gradually, under this kind of environment and atmosphere, they changed naturally.

And Li Xin was influenced by that kind of atmosphere.

Otherwise, why would everyone want to be a noble?

But in the end, he got into big trouble.

It happened that Qin II came to power and all forces were supporting him. As a result, Zhang Cang came to power, and Xiao He, Cao Cao, Chen Ping and others successively gained power.

And Li Xin got into trouble at this juncture.

Li Xin tested the law with his own body.

This set a standard negative example for everyone in Xianyang City.

This matter was handled by Xiao He in the most fair and strict manner. Not only was Li Xin ordered to pay compensation quickly, but he was also fined a large amount of money to the government.

This matter caused quite a stir.

Fusu also heard something about this matter.

As a result, Li Xin's reputation in Xianyang City plummeted.

Because he completely lost his own camp, he became the kind of person that everyone looked down upon the most.

He is neither the kind of upright gentleman who never breaks the law, nor the kind of treacherous villain who hides behind the scenes. Villains never show their heads, do so many bad things, and commit so many crimes, but they never surface.

Li Xin was humiliated for a while because of this, and his mentality began to decline.

For a prince, this is a shame among shames.

However, afterwards, Li Xin still did not drive away those retainers.

Because Li Xin is not that kind of villain.

The emperor also gradually became disgusted with Li Xin because of some rumors he heard.

On the contrary, it was Meng Tian who witnessed everything.

Although Li Xin was initially very repulsive to him on the battlefield, he also disagreed with Li Xin on tactics.

But Meng Tian saw the good qualities of Li Xin and he would not abandon anyone easily.

Moreover, Meng Tian admired Li Xin's courage to take responsibility for his own actions.

Unexpectedly, the person who least wanted Li Xin to fall was his former hated opponent.

Meng Tian said to Qin II, "Your Majesty, you have forgotten that the Marquis of Longxi originally came from the Longxi area. He is very familiar with the terrain around Longxi. Behind Longxi, there are large tracts of grassland that are connected to the territory of the Xiongnu."

"And according to Longxi Hou, there is a great horse farm in the northwest of Qishan. But it is occupied by barbarians."

[This horse farm is very famous. In history, during the Three Kingdoms period, Zhuge Liang, the prime minister of Shu Han, insisted on the Northern Expedition in order to obtain this pasture, which was named Shandan Horse Farm. Once this horse farm was obtained, the combat effectiveness of the entire Shu Han army would be greatly improved.

But unfortunately, the Prime Minister walked all his life but never reached the Shandan Horse Farm. 】

Seeing that Meng Tian strongly recommended Li Xin, Qin II naturally became hesitant.

"Can he do this?" Fusu was a little skeptical whether the horse could withstand Li Xin's weight. "Can he still get on the horse?"

"Your Majesty, you may not know that General Li was born on horseback, so he has developed the ability to ride a horse. Give him some time, and he will definitely be able to prove himself to Your Majesty."

Fusu was puzzled, "Li Xin, could he be a horse breeder?" (End of this chapter)