Entrepreneurship in the Late Tang Dynasty

Chapter 96 Swallowing Gold
Inside Jidong Pass, warhorses were everywhere. In a fence in the southwest corner of the pass, two or three hundred Nanzhao prisoners covered in mud huddled inside, looking at the Tang army above the pass with fear as fierce as birds and beasts.

At this moment, on the pass wall, Zhao Huai'an was examining the pass. He saw that the walls on both sides were thousands of feet high, and in front of the pass was only a dirt road about ten steps wide. The pass was right in the middle of the mountain road.

This is quite a comparison, just like "one man can hold the pass against ten thousand". I thought Jiange was majestic enough, but I didn't expect that an unnamed place like Jidong Pass would be just as impressive.

This land of Sichuan is truly full of mountains and passes.

Fortunately, the general in charge of this pass led all his troops out of the pass, and we are also grateful to Yan Shihui for betraying Zhao Da, otherwise how could we have easily taken Jidong Pass?
The thought of Yan Shihui made Zhao Da clench his fists.

If you dare to betray our Zhao Da, your Yan Shi Hui is already courting death!
Keeping this matter to himself, General Zhao looked down at the group of Nanzhao prisoners below, pondering how to deal with them.

In terms of composition, this group of people is definitely not the same as the Usa barbarian soldiers he had previously captured and recruited.

The Wusa tribe and the other thirty-six tribes in eastern Yunnan, or the southern barbarian tribes living in the mountainous areas of Guizhou, Yong, Rong, Guan, and Gui, were actually tributary forces of the Nanzhao Kingdom, and in reality, they were unable to effectively control the mountainous tribes in these areas.

However, this group of prisoners now consists of the Wuman and Baiman tribes of the Nanzhao Kingdom. These people are the core members of the Nanzhao Kingdom, and Zhao Huai'an would never dare to take them in.

Especially since he would be participating in the subsequent decisive battle, how could he dare to release these people in the army?

So even though Zhao Huai'an coveted these people's horsemanship, he still didn't dare to recruit these Wu and Bai barbarian cavalry on a large scale. He planned to sell them all when the accompanying merchant caravans arrived, and then raise money to reward his brothers.

Sigh, the brothers played so well, but it's also giving Zhao a headache, as this is another huge expense.

However, these were all happy troubles, and Zhao Da was still in a very good mood at the moment.

It wasn't just the more than 500 warhorses captured earlier, but also the Jidong Pass beneath their feet.

Guo Congyun's attack went very smoothly. After the Nanzhao prisoners in the group shouted to open the gate, he rushed in without caring whether there were any traps inside.

Even so, over a hundred Baoyi cavalrymen swept through the city in one fell swoop and captured the gates of Yazhou.

Cavalry is indeed the king of war, but its mobility is something that infantry cannot match.

At this moment, Zhao Da couldn't help but start to imagine how much merit he could achieve and how much wealth he could make once he recruited all five hundred-plus cavalry.

But the thought of where to recruit so many cavalrymen caused Zhao Da great distress.

At this moment, Guo Congyun and several other generals rushed up. They had just gone to wash their warhorses. After continuous battles and raids, the warhorses were covered in mud. Knights usually wouldn't entrust this task to others.

Over here, as soon as Zhao Dayi saw Guo Congyun arrive, he laughed heartily at his generals and advisors:
"Our Guo Zilong has arrived!"

Guo Congyun blushed and hurriedly ran over to bow to Zhao Da.

Speaking of the name "Guo Zilong", Guo Congyun was quite embarrassed. It turned out that Zhao Dazi's favorite thing to do after he started building his army was to tell his generals stories from "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".

Yes, it doesn't tell the official history, it only tells the story of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", and it starts from the Oath of the Peach Garden.

People like Guo Congyun, who were grassroots martial artists, were no less skilled in archery and horsemanship and had extensive experience in battle, but in terms of cultural literacy, they were at most only able to recognize a few characters.

They came to Chengdu from various vassal states to guard against the autumn harvest. They had also heard some local historical stories and knew that there had once been a ruler of Shu Han named Liu Bei. They had also heard of Guan Yu, who seemed to be admired by the people of Jingzhou. But who was Zhang Fei?
There's nothing we can do; that's their level of historical understanding. They still don't understand it. Who cares about people and events from a thousand years ago?
But they loved listening to Zhao Da tell them stories from "Romance of the Three Kingdoms." They found the stories fascinating and even the military strategies and tactics involved quite instructive. So every night they would gather around Zhao Da to listen.

Zhao Da also regarded this matter as an important spiritual project for the team. He would even have Zhang Guinian write it down every time he talked about it, and then have the scribes in the camp copy it into a book so that every soldier in the team would have a copy.

What's in Romance of the Three Kingdoms?
Some saw it as a military strategy, others as Machiavellian tactics, but Zhao Da saw it as nothing more than "loyalty and righteousness."

Now that Zhao Da has reached this position, whether his subordinates can fight is no longer the most important thing. What matters most is whether they are loyal to Zhao Da and whether they are loyal to him.

Therefore, Zhao Dajiang made some improvements to "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", changing the group portrait novel into one that highlighted Liu Bei's heroic deeds, and then told them in detail.

Moreover, because they were located in Sichuan, and some of their officers and soldiers were also from Shu, they felt even more connected to the story of Liu Bei, the ruler of Shu a thousand years ago.

Guo Congyun was just like that. Perhaps because they were both from the north and skilled in riding and archery, Guo Congyun immediately took on the role of Zhao Yun and called himself "Zilong of the Army".

Zhao Da heard this once and was very happy. Why?
Since Guo Congyun is Zilong, then Zhao Da is his wise lord Liu Bei!

Therefore, Zhao Da also began to affectionately call Guo Congyun Guo Zilong.

Things were going well up here, but soon Zhao Da's story was updated to the forty-first chapter, titled "Liu Bei Leads the People Across the River, Zhao Zilong Saves His Lord Alone".

Upon hearing that Zhao Zilong had fought his way through an army of 700,000, killing over 50 of Cao Cao's generals and rescuing A Dou, he was astonished.

Guo Congyun was stunned. Was Zhao Zilong really that fierce? Although he was confident in his martial prowess and was second to none in cavalry combat, he wouldn't dare charge into a 700,000-strong army seven times, let alone a 100-man army.

Now, when others call him "Guo Zilong" again, Guo Congyun is extremely embarrassed.

As Guo Congyun approached with small steps, he bowed deeply before even stopping, his demeanor showing even greater respect than before. Despite capturing Jidong Pass, Guo Congyun remained humble and unassuming, which further endeared him to Zhao Da. Regardless of whether Guo possessed the martial prowess of Zhao Zilong, Zhao Da could already discern the qualities of a great general.

Zhao Huai'an pounded Guo Congyun's breastplate and exclaimed in admiration:

"Old Guo, well done! Once we take Jidong Pass, our army can rest and regroup here."

Guo Congyun paused for a moment, then asked:

"My lord, shouldn't we press our advantage and pursue them? Yazhou is right before our eyes, shouldn't we give it a try?"

Zhao Huai'an shook his head, pointed to the northwest, where Gao Pian's main army was located, and said:
"The wars are never-ending, and no one can accomplish all the merits alone. We will follow the orders of the military headquarters."

After saying this, Zhao Da, half proud and half wary, sighed:

“I, Bao Yi, have already made enough of a splash during this period!”

Guo Congyun understood and nodded.

At this moment, Bao Yidu's generals and staff were all upstairs. They were originally going to have a small meeting, but they were just chatting because they were waiting for Guo Congyun.

Now that everyone had gathered, Zhao Da, standing on the gate tower, asked Wang Duo:

"How's the inventory and counting of the seized items going?"

Wang Duo was also pleased at this moment, and he took out an account book and began to report to Zhao Da:

"In this battle, our army captured 476 warhorses, and 96 of them were wounded or dead. These have all been sent to the logistics department, and we will eat horse meat tonight."

"In addition, our army captured a large amount of weaponry within the pass, including 500 sets of chainmail, 460 sets of willow-leaf iron armor, 30 sets of bright armor, and countless knives, heavy weapons, iron axes, maces, and crossbows. There were also 30 sets of horse armor, which should all be the equipment of the previous Nanzhao cavalry."

This was the first time Zhao Da had heard this number. While pleased, he also remarked with a sigh:
"The Nanzhao general underestimated us so much that he didn't use our equipment and recklessly advanced with light troops. We must heed the lesson of the general's death and the army's annihilation."

After hearing this, the more than twenty teams clasped their hands in unison:

"You will finally understand."

Looking at the spirited appearance of his generals, Zhao Huai'an thought, "Victory is indeed the best way to nourish men." He turned to Wang Duo and said:

"Didn't each team report their armor damage before? You can report their armor damage to them later, and then collect all the damaged armor so the craftsmen can repair it."

Wang Duo noted this down, and seeing that Zhao Huai'an had nothing to say, he began to talk about the wealth that Zhao Da was most concerned about.

As Zhao Huai'an's chief secretary, Wang Duo knew very well that his magistrate's biggest headache was money.

Despite the current success of the Hoyodo government, the military pay provided by the shogunate to Hoyodo is very limited. As mentioned before, whoever is in that position, whether it is Takapian or Ushimatsu, they will prioritize supplying the troops of the outer domains.

Previously, Dong Gongsu had sent a batch of money and grain, which was enough to cover Bao Yidu's military pay for three months. But Zhao Da Tai was so capable that in just one month, Bao Yidu's strength increased significantly.

Now Zhao Huai'an has captured another 500 warhorses, and he will definitely need to recruit a cavalry unit, which will cost a lot of money.

Sure enough, just as Wang Duo was about to report on the seized goods, Zhao Huai'an suddenly interrupted and asked:

"Old Wang, how much do you think it costs to maintain a cavalryman?"

As for why Zhao Da didn't ask the cavalry general Guo Congyun? Those soldiers don't know anything about accounts; all they know is that if they don't have enough money, they should ask their superiors.

Wang Duo had guessed the question correctly, so he was confident and explained the construction costs of the cavalry in detail.

He told Zhao Da that if Baoyidu were to build a cavalry force in the future, it would actually save a lot of money.

Nearly five hundred warhorses; if bought directly from the market, each of these fine Tibetan horses could fetch fifty strings of cash.

Five hundred warhorses, that's twenty-five thousand strings of cash! How much is that? The annual military pay for the more than a thousand officers and soldiers in the entire Baoyi region is only that much!

So how much money did Zhao Huai'an accumulate in his account after all this time and doing so many businesses? Six thousand strings of cash!
This clearly demonstrates just how much wealth Zhao Da made from the battle of Mingshankou. If Zhao Huai'an sold those warhorses, he basically wouldn't have to worry about money for a year!

Furthermore, the iron armor, lances, short axes, and crossbows left behind by the Nanzhao cavalry in Jidong Pass were the equipment of an 800-cavalry force. Now, they have all benefited Zhao Da, saving him an unknown amount of money.

Hearing these words, Zhao Da's smile never stopped. Old Wang was indeed professional, with detailed data, and it was obvious that he had been prepared.

But when Wang Duo started listing the remaining expenses, his face froze.

He turned to look at the more than four hundred warhorses below. At this moment, in Zhao Da's eyes, they were no longer wealth and power, but simply gold-devouring beasts!
(End of this chapter)