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Chapter 861 Extra: Heavenly Power (Part )
This is simply a godsend!

For herders, raising cattle and sheep is part of their daily life. Raising horses is a little more delicate, but not that difficult. The grasslands are full of fresh grass and leaves, and the cattle, sheep and horses can walk and eat anywhere, and they will grow up naturally. For them, the truly precious thing is the food grown in the land.

Some dark-hearted merchants from Daliang came to the grassland to trade. They would trade a bushel of grain for a good horse. Now Her Majesty is willing to trade three bushels of grain for a horse. This is great!

The Gaoche envoy was overjoyed. He rushed out, knelt down, and kowtowed repeatedly to express his gratitude.

The envoys from other tribes could not sit still after hearing such good news. They all scrambled to kneel down and said, "Your Majesty, we are also willing to raise horses for Daliang."

"We don't want such a high price. We will exchange one stone of grain for two horses."

The Tatar envoy regretted his actions. He also knelt down shamelessly, "Your Majesty, the benevolent Queen of Daliang, please forgive my previous rudeness. We Tatars are the best at raising horses in the grasslands. We raise war horses with the most endurance and the fastest running speed. Please give us Tatars a chance to raise horses for Daliang."

The envoys were smart now, no longer shouting in a mess, and all switched to speaking Rouran language. The civil officials and military officers present could basically understand it.

When the generals heard about the war horses, their eyes sparkled. Especially General Fan, the left general, looked at the empress with particularly eager eyes.

The border troops were short of war horses, and so were the British Guards. Which army wouldn't want the best war horses?

If these tribes could pay tribute of tens of thousands of war horses every year, in three to five years at most, all the armies of Daliang would no longer be short of war horses.

Not to mention exchanging three stone of grain, even five stone would be a good deal.

This is another example of the wisdom of Her Majesty the Empress. If you force the grassland tribes to raise horses by coercion, I'm afraid it won't last long, and some grassland tribes will rise up in resistance. The border troops will continue to fight.

Every time the Daliang court sent troops into the grassland, the money and food consumed was a huge and terrifying number. Her Majesty the Empress could not stay at the border all the time, and she would soon return to the capital. Blind oppression is not advisable. This combination of hardness and softness is profitable, and the grassland tribes will revolt on their own.

Jiang Shaohua looked at him coldly for a moment, listened for a while, and then said, "My words are as good as gold, and I will keep my promise."

"I will not treat unfairly any tribe that is willing to raise horses for me and Daliang. Every March, the raised war horses will be sent to the border. One war horse will cost three shi of grain. I will give as much grain as the number of war horses."

"Minister Chen, prepare the contract and have all the tribes willing to raise horses sign it."

Chen Jinyu nodded and wrote a contract on the spot.

A group of envoys rushed to sign.

The Gaoche envoy was quite cunning and deliberately stretched out his leg to trip the Tatar envoy. The Tatar envoy fell down in public and was so angry that he turned over and wanted to beat the Gaoche envoy.

Without waiting for the Empress to frown, General Zuo stood up with a sneer and clenched his fists murderously. The two tribal envoys immediately became quiet, separated awkwardly, and signed their names.

Next, the emperor gave a banquet.

The food in the military camp was simple. The so-called banquet given by the emperor consisted of only six dishes. The cooks in the kitchen were not very skilled in cooking, and the dishes they made were not exquisite, but they were simmered for a long time with enough spices, making them particularly tasty. Moreover, they added a little too much salt.

Unexpectedly, this again amazed the tribal envoys.

"Daliang is indeed rich."

"How dare you put so much salt in it."

The herdsmen who grazed on the grasslands could only exchange their cattle and sheep for a bag of salt when the Daliang merchants passed by. They were reluctant to eat it on weekdays. In their eyes, salty meat was the most delicious food in the world.

After eating and drinking their fill, the Gaoche envoy knelt down devoutly and pleaded again: "We, the Gaoche tribe, will always be loyal to Her Majesty the Queen. We beg Her Majesty to open a market at the border so that we can exchange our cattle and sheep for some daily necessities." "Food, ironware, salt, tea, wine. We need all of them."

Every time the Gaoche envoy said something, the eyes of the tribal envoys beside him lit up, and they all rushed to kneel down and beg. They also wanted to trade with the border.

Jiang Shaohua had anticipated all of this and exchanged glances with Chen Jinyu.

Chen Jinyu stood up and responded in a powerful tone of a great country: "The matter of mutual trade is of great importance. It must be discussed by the Daliang government before it can be decided."

"Daliang will give you three years to see how you perform. When the time comes, the tribe that raises the best and most war horses will have priority in opening a trade with that tribe."

The tribal envoys became excited and promised one after another that they would bring the most war horses to the border in March next year.

That’s right, it has to be rolled up like this.

Jiang Shaohua was in a good mood and drank the wine in the glass.

After the banquet, Jiang Shaohua walked out of the military tent. There was an eagle hovering in the sky, and it was unknown which tribe's envoy brought it.

Jiang Shaohua glanced at Song Yuan, who immediately handed him the bow and arrow.

Jiang Shaohua drew his bow and shot the arrow without saying a word.

An eagle soaring in the sky had its throat pierced by an arrow and fell to the ground with a thud.

The steppe eagle, when shot to death by a sharp arrow, looks no different from an ordinary pheasant.

A group of grassland envoys witnessed this scene with their own eyes, and all of them had solemn expressions on their faces.

The Rouran Khan Shiluohou was shot in the chest by an arrow from the Empress of Daliang and fell off his horse. This was the real reason for the Rouran's defeat.

When people heard about this incident, most of them were skeptical and thought that the Daliang people were deliberately exaggerating.

Today, they witnessed with their own eyes the Queen of Daliang shooting an eagle to death in the sky with one arrow. Even the bravest knight in their tribe could not have achieved such vision and arm strength.

Her Majesty the Empress is more terrifying and powerful than they imagined.

……

The shocked tribal envoys became more respectful in the following days.

However, they did not get to see the Empress again. The person who greeted them every day was Chen Jinyu, the Minister of Rites.

On the grassland, women have a high status, and some tribes have female leaders. What surprised them was not that Daliang had female officials, but this young and beautiful Chen Shilang, who was very smart and capable. They tried every possible way, but failed to make Chen Shilang soften his heart and let the time of the trade be advanced.

The envoys were filled with regret and said goodbye one after another, leaving behind a large number of cattle, sheep and war horses.

To their surprise, the Empress rewarded them with more than a dozen carts of food, salt, and tea, which were more precious than gold on the grassland.

They knelt on the ground devoutly with their foreheads pressed to the ground.

Your Majesty the Queen of Daliang, your majesty and kindness shine on the grassland like the sunshine.