As soon as they entered the study, Chen Wu lifted his robe and knelt down. Walking ahead, Zhao Hanzhang was startled and quickly turned to help him up, “Oh my, General Chen, what are you doing?”

Chen Wu insisted on kneeling, his expression serious as he declared that over this past year, he and the Qihuo Army had been won over by Zhao Hanzhang’s personal charisma. He and the Qihuo Army were willing to submit to Zhao Hanzhang and would follow only her commands from now on.

He hoped Zhao Hanzhang would accept him and accept the Qihuo Army.

Zhao Hanzhang was stunned. She had thought it would take another year before she could win over the Qihuo Army, never expecting him to suddenly propose allegiance.

Zhao Hanzhang’s mind stirred, and she immediately understood why he had chosen this moment.

It was for the horses that had just returned!

Truthfully, she really hadn’t planned to allocate horses to the Qihuo Army. Such valuable resources naturally had to benefit her own people first. Her personally led Zhao Family Army, Erlang, and Beigong Chun all needed horses. This batch of horses wasn’t even enough for Zhao Ju, and there was still Xun Xiu and the Yuzhou Army to consider. Naturally there was no turn for the still half-outsider Qihuo Army.

But now…

Zhao Hanzhang smiled as she helped him up, accepted his allegiance, and then asked, “I remember your army doesn’t have many horses, and most are pack horses for hauling goods.”

Chen Wu nodded repeatedly, confirming this was correct. The Qihuo Army only had six horses fit for riding, while the rest were oxen and pack horses for hauling goods. Everyone relied on running on their own legs when fighting.

So poor—forget about buying horses, not even thirty percent of their entire army had armor, and the same went for weapons and equipment. They were the weakest among Luoyang’s armies.

But even in such circumstances, when wielding wooden spears and clubs in mock battles against Zhao Erlang’s Zhao Family Army, they could still dominate.

However, to save face for Zhao Erlang, the diplomatic Chen Wu deliberately selected soldiers from his army who were smaller and weaker, then held back somewhat, managing to fight Zhao Erlang’s forces to a draw.

Zhao Hanzhang naturally knew the Qihuo Army’s capabilities and didn’t believe the infantry under Zhao Erlang could defeat the Qihuo Army this way on a real battlefield.

One must know that after the Central Plains completely fell, the Qihuo Army guerrilla fought independently in the north, repeatedly refusing to surrender and blocking Shi Le and Liu Cong’s forces multiple times. After Western Jin’s fall, the Qihuo Army’s role was significant in allowing Eastern Jin to smoothly transition power in the south.

The Qihuo Army wasn’t limited to just Chen Wu’s force. In the Jizhou and Youzhou areas, there were Qihuo Army units that had come out from Bingzhou, all composed of gathered refugees who fought the barbarians with crude weapons. In later generations, the Qihuo Army was evaluated as the most ferocious and powerful peasant army in history.

Chen Wu’s Qihuo Army unit had persisted the longest. While he lived, he and Shi Le fought back and forth around the Pengguan area. For nearly ten years, Shi Le couldn’t capture Pengguan.

It wasn’t until his death that Chen Chuan led the Qihuo Army to surrender to Shi Le, but even that was Chen Chuan’s personal will—the Qihuo Army as a whole was unwilling to surrender.

Having such a powerful and principled force now under her command, Zhao Hanzhang naturally wanted it to become even stronger.

However, the Qihuo Army’s greatest strength was infantry combat. Zhao Hanzhang didn’t plan to favor them in the distribution of horses.

Hearing that Zhao Hanzhang only planned to allocate him twenty horses, Chen Wu felt slightly disappointed, but before the disappointment could settle, Zhao Hanzhang brought up their weapons, equipment, and armor.

Chen Wu’s eyes lit up as he looked at her excitedly.

Zhao Hanzhang said, “General Chen has rarely come. Why not stay a few more days? Let’s go look at the armory together. The damaged weapons in your army should also be replaced.”

“Yes, yes, yes.”

“I’ll also have the weapon workshops prioritize making some armor. While there are no military operations during winter, we can equip more. Who knows if the Xiongnu will march south next year.”

Chen Wu replied, “Yes, yes, yes.”

Compared to horses, weapons and armor were naturally more important.

Chen Wu did have ambitions to form a cavalry unit. What general in the world wouldn’t want an invincible cavalry force?

But he knew better where the Qihuo Army’s strengths lay. For an army to survive, it must maintain its strengths. If it could also become irreplaceable, then the army could endure long into the future.

His infantry—the Qihuo Army’s ferocity and desperate fighting spirit were the reasons for their consistent victories. If they could optimize their weapons and add armor on this foundation, the Qihuo Army would become even more formidable.

Just think—when he could fight barefoot, in ragged clothes, with insufficiently sharp blades and still carve out a bloody path, how much more so now that he could wear shoes, don armor, and wield sharp weapons.

When Chen Wu emerged from the study following Zhao Hanzhang, the smile on his face was impossible to hide, his mouth nearly splitting to his ears.

Seeing this, Beigong Chun’s heart sank. He couldn’t help but exchange glances with Xie Shi. The Commander wouldn’t have given all the horses to the Qihuo Army, would she?

That was naturally impossible.

Of this batch of horses, apart from the young colts not yet ready for battle, Beigong Chun received the most, followed by Zhao Hanzhang and Zhao Erlang.

She certainly wanted to create an invincible cavalry force within the Zhao Family Army, but she knew that when it came to cavalry, Beigong Chun’s Xiliang Army was still the best.

Now that there were good horses, they had to prioritize him first.

Beigong Chun left satisfied, and Chen Wu was also very satisfied, running off to catch up with Beigong Chun.

Although he had temporarily given up on forming a cavalry unit, the Qihuo Army would definitely need a cavalry force in the future, so it was good to build a relationship with Beigong Chun first. When training troops later, he could seek his advice more often.

Beigong Chun was also willing to befriend Chen Wu. The two walked off arm in arm to drink at a tavern.

However, Xie Shi stayed behind. After they left, he said to Zhao Hanzhang, “Commander, the Zhao Family Army should still have a fierce cavalry force.”

Zhao Hanzhang nodded, “Indeed.”

“Do you think it would be better for you to personally lead that cavalry force, or to entrust it to someone else?”

Zhao Hanzhang raised an eyebrow and asked, “What does Teacher Xie think?”

“I believe that Commander manages ten thousand affairs daily and cannot train troops every day. Why not entrust this matter to the Young General?” Xie Shi said. “You are the commander of the Zhao Family Army. Whether it’s Zhao Ju, Qiu Wu, or the Young General, they are all your subordinate generals. Why not have the Young General train the cavalry?”

Over the past two years, Zhao Erlang hadn’t learned many characters, but his martial skills improved daily. Perhaps due to the increased physical activity, the fifteen-year-old youth was strong and sturdy with tremendous strength. His martial arts were now on par with Zeng Yue and the others.

Even in mounted combat, he could fight Zhao Hanzhang to a draw and could exchange several dozen moves with Beigong Chun.

Zhao Hanzhang looked toward Ji Yuan.

Ji Yuan considered briefly before nodding, “This plan is sound.”

Zhao Hanzhang agreed.

Xie Shi smoothly continued, “The army still has too few horses. To form a cavalry force, we need to buy more horses.”

Having said this, Xie Shi stared at Zhao Hanzhang.

Zhao Hanzhang sighed and rubbed her forehead, looking toward Fan Ying, “How much money can the treasury spare?”

Fan Ying said, “Minister Ming said we must reserve one million as an emergency fund. Otherwise, based on the accounts submitted from various regions this year, there’s still a shortfall of eight million coins.”

She paused before continuing, “But excluding the funds already decided to be disbursed at this stage, there are still three million five hundred eighty thousand coins available.”

It sounded like quite a bit, but Zhao Hanzhang habitually converted the coins to silver, which was just over three thousand taels of silver.

How many horses could that buy?

Zhao Hanzhang lowered her eyes. Horses—based on the unit prices reported this time, it could buy quite a few, but actually the travel costs were higher than the horses’ value.

Zhao Hanzhang tapped the table and asked, “I remember Wu Erlang mentioned yesterday that the Xianbei don’t like our new coins but would rather trade with us using glass, cloth, and porcelain?”

“That’s right,” Ji Yuan nodded. “Also salt and iron implements.”

Zhao Hanzhang said, “We don’t need to consider salt and iron implements. We don’t have enough for ourselves. Strictly prohibit trading iron implements, copper, and salt with the barbarians.”

Everyone acknowledged the order.

Zhao Hanzhang continued, “Have people weave more cloth. Next time we’ll use barter trade. As for the money in the treasury, use it for travel expenses. Have the workshops work quickly. When the Jinyang army leaves, have Wu Erlang go with them.”

In other words, Wu Erlang temporarily didn’t need to travel to other places but would first run the direct trade route between Jinyang and Luoyang.

Arriving in Luoyang around the same time as Wu Erlang was Gao Hui’s merchant caravan.

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