MLMD -Chapter 43 I Want to Buy Horses

At this time, Yue Yang had no idea that someone was scheming against him. He was busy training over a thousand newly recruited soldiers.

Backed by the powerful productivity of modern society, he wasn’t worried about the few hundred sacks of salt that had been burned. He quickly ordered the reconstruction of the two salt shops that were destroyed and soon reopened them.

Because the salt sold in the Yue family shops was of high quality and low price, a buying frenzy soon swept through the city. To prevent other salt merchants from coming to his shops, buying in bulk, and reselling elsewhere, Yue Yang imposed a purchase limit: each person could buy no more than two jin of salt per day. This temporarily calmed the frenzy.

While busy with this, Yue Yang didn’t forget to take revenge on the Wang family. He sent Hu Laosan with hundreds of militia soldiers, dividing them into several groups, and launched a ruthless attack on all of Wang family’s enterprises. Whether it was arson or murder, he carried it out without any hesitation. In just over twenty days, more than twenty of the Wang family’s shops were burned, three trade caravans were raided, and hundreds of their guards and servants were killed. Yue Yang’s actions did not go unnoticed by the gentry and wealthy merchants of Yingzhou; they were all stunned silent by his audacity.

By November, the Wang family could no longer hold on. Especially after Wang Shoucheng received a letter from his eldest son and saw that the provincial governor Xu Dingchen seemed to favor Yue Yang, he finally realized that if the Wang family persisted, the only outcome would be ruin and death. Acknowledging this, Wang Shoucheng made the decisive choice to cut his losses: in a short time, he sold the Wang family’s properties in Shanxi at low prices and moved the entire family to Jinling.

This news shocked all the gentry and wealthy merchants of Yingzhou. Everyone was astonished at Yue Yang’s cold and ruthless efficiency. Once, the Wang family had been a formidable presence in Yingzhou, yet this young man had driven them out. Clearly, anyone who opposed him in the future would have to be cautious.

Yue Yang, however, was not concerned about what others thought. Having studied history, he knew that true chaos was approaching quickly. He had to do everything possible to strengthen his own power, or he would be swallowed by the tides of history. Thus, driving the Wang family out caused him no moral qualms. Today, he had proactively sought out someone for a different matter.

In a spacious hall in the eastern district of Yingzhou, Yue Yang’s voice rang out.

“Master Li, it’s been quite a while since we last met. You’ve put on some weight!” Yue Yang sat at the head seat in the hall, holding a teacup and smiling at Li Yuan.

Li Yuan could only look at Yue Yang helplessly, a trace of exasperation on his face. Truth be told, he really didn’t want to deal with this smiling young man. Recently, the commotion caused by Yue Yang had been enormous—so much so it was frightening. Killing hundreds of the Wang family’s guards and forcing the family to relocate—while the Wang family had broken rules first, Yue Yang’s methods left everyone familiar with the situation utterly shocked.

Seeing Li Yuan silent, Yue Yang continued cheerfully, “Master Li, to be honest, I’ve come to you this time with a small request.”

Li Yuan replied weakly, “Go ahead. What is it this time?”

Smiling, Yue Yang said, “Master Li, I heard that the Li family often deals with the barbarians beyond the border. Eighty percent of the leather trade in Yingzhou Prefecture is controlled by you—is that right?”

“Hmm. What do you want?” Hearing this, Li Yuan, who had been listless, sat up straight, a wary glint in his eyes. “Yue Yang, you’ve already driven the Wang family out of Yingzhou Prefecture and taken over their salt business. Are you trying to get into the leather trade as well?”

“Ah… Master Li, you’re too serious!” Yue Yang waved his hand. “Don’t worry, I have no interest in your leather business. I’ve come for a different matter and hope you can answer me truthfully.”

“Go on,” Li Yuan said, though his wariness didn’t lessen; if anything, it grew stronger. He now realized that Yue Yang was ruthless, and his actions couldn’t be judged by ordinary standards.

“Master Li, I just want to ask… if I wanted to buy a large number of warhorses, is there a way to get them?”

“Warhorses? In large numbers?” Li Yuan’s tension finally eased slightly. “How many horses are we talking about?”

“For now, this many!” Yue Yang calmly held out a hand, showing five fingers.

“Five hundred?” Li Yuan frowned, then curiously asked, “Your militia isn’t that large. Do you need so many horses?”

“Master Li, you’re mistaken. I’m not talking about five hundred, but five thousand!” Yue Yang held out his hand again, shaking it in front of him.

“Clang!” The teacup in Li Yuan’s hand fell to the ground with a sharp sound. He exclaimed, “Are you crazy? Five thousand warhorses? Do you intend to rebel? Do you know how much silver that would cost?”

“No idea,” Yue Yang said honestly, shaking his head.

“One horse costs at least sixty to seventy taels of silver, and even then, you might not get them! If you were buying just a dozen or two, people might sell to you. But if you try to buy thousands at once, everyone would know what you’re up to. Unless all the Mongols are fools, there’s no way you could get them. Even if they were willing, could you transport them? Do you think the border checkpoints are stupid?”

“Sixty to seventy taels per horse?” Yue Yang did a quick calculation in his mind: five thousand horses would cost over three hundred thousand taels of silver. At this rate, he really couldn’t afford it. Thinking it over, he said, “Master Li, if five thousand is too many, then we can start with a thousand.”

Li Yuan looked at Yue Yang like he was a monster for a long moment before helplessly saying, “Yue Yang, I really don’t understand—what are you going to do with so many horses? Do you know how much grain and silver it takes to support a cavalry? Aren’t you worried it will bankrupt the Yue estate?”

Some might think, “What’s so hard about raising horses? Feed them grass, hay, maybe some straw—they’ll be fine.” But anyone who says that doesn’t understand horses. Ordinary horses can survive on that, but warhorses must be well-fed, otherwise they won’t have the strength to train or fight. Their diet consists of soybeans, wheat, and bran, sometimes mixed with vegetable oil for nutrition and to prevent constipation. If a warhorse gets constipated from eating too much hay, the owner has to feed it low-quality honey as a laxative. Worse, a horse eats much more than a person: six to ten jin of grass and four to six jin of concentrated feed daily. In the era of cold weapons, the cost of maintaining one cavalryman equaled that of five infantrymen—hence Li Yuan’s incredulous tone.

But Yue Yang didn’t care at all.

“Of course I know!” Yue Yang said nonchalantly. “But don’t worry, Master Li. If I can afford to buy them, I can afford to feed them. You don’t need to worry. Just tell me if it’s possible to get them!”

The idea of forming a cavalry wasn’t sudden—Yue Yang had planned it for a long time. He wasn’t a military expert, but he knew that in the era of cold weapons, cavalry was the undisputed king of land warfare. Without a strong cavalry, even if his infantry were like iron-clad cans, they’d be crushed by cavalry. Previously, he didn’t act because he had too few soldiers, with the Wang and Lin families watching closely, and he had no way to buy horses. Now, with the Wang family gone, and Li Yuan—who had long traded leather with the Mongols—available, buying warhorses naturally fell to him.

Li Yuan was genuinely afraid of this unpredictable man and helplessly said, “If you want that many horses, I can’t get them for you. You’ll have to negotiate with the Mongols yourself. At most, I can introduce you to them.”

“Then it’s settled!”

Although Li Yuan hadn’t agreed outright, Yue Yang was already satisfied. He smiled at Li Yuan, who still looked frustrated, and said, “If you can introduce me to those Mongol tribes, I’ll sell you five thousand jin of fine salt at three hundred wen per jin—let you make some pocket money!”

“Really?” Yue Yang’s words immediately revitalized Li Yuan, who had looked as if frost had struck him.

Yue Yang smiled, “Of course. As long as you don’t compete with me in Shanxi, it’s a deal!”

“All right, it’s settled!” Li Yuan, like a true merchant, perked up at the prospect of profit. After all, Yue Yang’s fine salt had earned fame across Shanxi and even other provinces. Outside, one jin of fine salt could fetch nine hundred wen or more with no stock to sell. Yue Yang was literally handing him silver—no wonder Li Yuan was overjoyed.