Volume 1: Kyoto Wind and Cloud Chapter 65: Sending a Great Gift Divine Soldier Treasure Horse

  What happened in the imperial palace was not under Liu Zhang's control, and he is now training soldiers in a newly built military camp. In order to make these soldiers more majestic, Liu Zhang had a large batch of cattle and sheep that were not sold from Youzhou transported over. Of course, these cattle and sheep are only used as supplementary food and to motivate the soldiers, not as a regular supply of rations. After all, these people have not yet completely belonged to Liu Zhang, but rather the 20,000 people in Youzhou are his true foundation. However, Liu Zhang did not have the intention of sharing joys and sorrows with the soldiers, he is the lord, not a general.

  Every year before the Chinese New Year, the Taishou and Cishi from various places would enter the capital to report their duties and also offer tribute to the big shots in the capital. For example, many scholars gathered at the gate of the Yuan family, while many generals gathered at the house of General He Jin. Although Liu Zhang was spending the Chinese New Year in the capital, someone still came to give him gifts, namely Su Shuang and Zhang Shi Ping.

  To be honest, Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping were really grateful to Liu Zhang. If it weren't for Liu Zhang, they wouldn't have been able to escape from the Yuan family either. After leaving the Yuan family, Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping had already prepared themselves for being attacked by the Yuan family, but what they didn't expect was that the Yuan family didn't react at all.

  After repeated inquiries, Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping finally understood how formidable their master was. After careful consideration, the two decided to offer their utmost loyalty to Liu Zhang. They hastily brought gifts and rushed to Luoyang, helping Liu Zhang deliver the weapons that Old Blacksmith Fei had spent a month forging.

  Liu Zhang was quite surprised to hear that Su Shuang and Zhang Shi Ping had arrived. Last time he was short of money, neither of them came. Now that the New Year is approaching, what are they doing here? It's worth noting that both Su Shuang and Zhang Shi Ping have their families in Youzhou.

  "See the young master!" Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping had been waiting in the side hall for half a day.

  Liu Zhang smiled and asked: "How did you come?"

  "Your Excellency, isn't the New Year approaching? As your subordinates, shouldn't we also show our filial piety?" Su Shuang was quite slick and seeing Liu Zhang's inquiry, he hastily stood up to respond without saying any unnecessary words.

  Liu Zhang smiled and said: "I've told you before, no need to go through this routine, just take care of the things I entrusted to you!"

  "Our lord has made his decision! But we, as subordinates, can't be unaware of what's good and bad. Besides, it's not like they're some great treasure, just a few fine horses! In the Han Dynasty, they'd be worth a lot, but on the grasslands, they're not that expensive!" Su Shuang immediately made an explanation, fearing to provoke Liu Zhang's displeasure.

  "This is an exception, don't take it as a precedent!" Liu Zhang nodded his head, he understood Su Shuang and Zhang Shi Ping's idea, and indeed Zhao Yun and others didn't have good horses.

  "Good!" Su Shuang said excitedly: "Young master, that horse is still outside the city, isn't it..."

  "No need to enter the city!" Liu Zhang smiled and said: "There's more space at home, war horses are better raised in a wider place! I built a military camp outside the city, I'll have someone take you there later!"

  "Master, when we came, the old blacksmith also asked us to bring the weapons you wanted!" Zhang Shiping smiled: "The old blacksmith's craftsmanship is indeed extraordinary, each piece is a masterpiece."

  Liu Zhang was overjoyed and said: "The blades have finally arrived? This will make the Dragon brothers even more formidable! Tomorrow, you all bring the weapons to the military camp together!"

  "Yes!" Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping were overjoyed, thinking that Liu Zhang's acceptance of their gift meant he had accepted their allegiance. The Chinese can be quite strange sometimes, just like some patients in later generations who go to the hospital for surgery, before the operation, family members often give the doctor a red envelope. This is clearly against the rules, but if the doctor doesn't accept it, the patient's family will worry instead. Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping were experiencing this kind of psychology right now.

  The next day, Liu Zhang brought Su Shuang and Zhang Shi Ping to the military camp on Mangshan. The two major merchants from Youzhou stared at the concrete-poured military camp with wide eyes!

  "Miracle! This is a miracle!" Looking at the seamless cement ground, a row of three-story small foreign houses. Su Shuang and Zhang Shipei were no different from the rural bumpkins who had just entered the city, and the soldiers in training were all using their eyes to stare at them.

  "Cough, cough!" Liu Zhang coughed twice, and Su Shuang and Zhang Shipei finally came back to their senses. The two of them rubbed their heads and said: "Young master, is this military camp your doing?"

  Liu Zhang nodded and said: "A special building material was used, you will come into contact with it later. However, for the time being, I don't want to reveal it yet, lest the enemy learn from it."

  "I understand! I understand!" Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping nodded their heads as if they were puppets on strings.

  "Big brother!" Zhang Fei had sharp eyes and saw Liu Zhong from a distance. He quickly let his deputy take over the command and went to greet him personally.

  Liu Zhang smiled and said: "Yi De, go and summon Zi Long and the others to the drill grounds!"

  "Yes!" Hearing Liu's order, Zhang Fei immediately went to summon someone.

  Before long, Zhang Fei had Zhao Yun, Zhang Ren and Huang Xu called to the drill ground. Liu Zhong saw that everyone was present, so he ordered Su Shuang to bring up the weapons and warhorses.

  Zhang Fei's eyes lit up and he asked, "Big brother, is this horse for us?"

  "Nonsense! Otherwise, why would I bother with this?" Liu Zhang rolled his eyes at Zhang Fei.

  "Ha ha!" Zhang Fei rubbed his hands and grinned foolishly: "Can I have that black horse?"

  "Black Whirlwind?" Following Zhang Fei's pointing finger, Liu Bei saw a black horse in the herd, but there was a white ring of fur on its hoof. Liu Bei smiled and said: "Wing-de, even if you like it, you have to ask other brothers!"

  Zhang Fei rubbed his head and smiled: "Don't worry, big brother, my brothers will definitely not fight with me!"

  Indeed, Zhang Fei was among this group of people, although not the youngest, but also almost. The only one younger than Zhang Fei is Zhao Yun. As for the Silver Spear White Horse Zhao Zilong, Liu Zhang did not want to change his image.

  Having obtained Liu's consent, Zhang Fei led the black horse over and examined it carefully before smiling at Liu and saying: "Thank you, brother. I was right, this horse is indeed a 'Heavenly Cloud Black'!"

  "Is it the Kick-the-clouds Black Whirlwind?" Liu Zhang looked deeply at Su Shuang and Zhang Shi Ping, others didn't know the origin of this horse, but he did. In history, Zhang Fei rode the Black Whirlwind Horse, whether it was the Kick-the-clouds Black Whirlwind or not is unknown!

  Riding his war horse, Zhang Fei galloped around the drill ground several times. Liu Zhong took out a well-made zhangba snake spear from another large vehicle and threw it to Zhang Fei, saying: "Yide, catch the spear!"

  A dark shadow flashed by, and Zhang Fei stretched out his hand to catch the long spear thrown by Liu Zhang. The spear was made entirely of forged steel, with a shaft one zhang (3.33 meters) long, a spearhead eight cun (26.67 cm) long, and a double-edged blade in the shape of a swimming snake. After catching the spear, Zhang Fei slowly performed a set of spear techniques, dancing with excitement, and suddenly produced a myriad of spear shadows in the sky, his aura seeming to revive that of the Overlord!

  "Good!" Zhang Fei shouted loudly, reining in his horse and saying: "Brother, what a fine horse! What a fine spear!"

  "That's all right!" Liu Zhang waved his hand and said: "Stand aside for now, Zi Long and the others haven't made their choices yet!"

  Zhang Fei held the snake halberd in his hand and ran off with a grin. Liu Zhang smiled and said, "Zilong, you're the youngest, you go first!"

  "Brothers haven't even chosen yet, how can it be my turn?" Zhao Yun was not Zhang Fei, he was more modest.

  Zhang Ren smiled and said: "The lord lets you choose, so you choose. Good things are naturally given to the younger ones first. Do you think everyone is like Yide, who doesn't know how to yield?"

  Zhang Fei listened to Zhang Ren's words, looked at him with a "I won't bother with you" expression, and everyone burst out laughing. Zhao Yun also chose a white horse under the pressure of hospitality, which turned out to be the Night-Shining Jade Lion Horse. As for his weapon, it was naturally the Radiant Silver Dragon Gun! After Zhao Yun finished choosing, Zhang Ren also chose a white horse and a gun, but the horse was slightly inferior to Zhao Yun's. Huang Xu chose a yellow horse and a knife, and this yellow horse was none other than the famous steed Absolute Shadow.

  Liu Zhang also wanted to choose a horse, but after looking for half a day, he wasn't satisfied. At this time, Su Shuang and Zhang Shipei exchanged a smile, and ordered someone to bring out another horse. This horse was entirely emerald green, let out a long whinny, and actually made all the horses except for Jueying, Wutui, and Yezhao Yushi tremble with fear. Zhang Shipei laughed and said: "Your Excellency, this horse is called Xianglong. It's a gift that we two have prepared for Your Excellency!"

  "Xiang Long?" Liu Zhang knew the origin of this horse. During the Han Emperor Xuan's reign, Feng Gongshi pacified Shache after defeating them and sent back the soldiers of various countries, continuing westward to reach Dayuan. Dayuan had already heard of his name, so he was given a grand reception. The king and ministers of Dayuan treated him with great respect, so he smoothly completed his mission. When it was time to leave, Dayuan gave him the famous horse Xiang Long as a symbol of friendship with the Han Dynasty. A horse that could be used as a tribute by a country must be a thousand-mile steed, seemingly even better than Jueying and Wutui. However, Zhang Shipei and Su Shuang spent such a huge price to get it, which made Liu Zhang somewhat suspicious.

  Seeing Liu Zhang's puzzled eyes, Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping felt a little embarrassed. These horses were very precious in other people's eyes, but they were easy to get for Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping. Now these foreigners were all trying to please the Han merchants, especially Wuma. Originally, every winter, these foreigners would not have enough food to eat, so they had to go on a hay-cutting expedition. But recently, Liu Zhang appeared in Youzhou, and another fierce man appeared in Bingzhou, making it impossible for the Xiongnu and Wuma tribes to find anything to eat, so they could only exchange goods for grain.

  What can the foreign tribes offer? Nothing but cattle and sheep! The Xiongnu are a bit better, they exchanged their cattle and sheep for a lot of grain, only paying out a few good horses. Zhang Fei's black horse was given by the Xiongnu people. The Wuhuan were miserable, they had a large number of cattle and sheep robbed by Liu Zhang, and could only use horses to exchange. As for the elephant that Zhang Shiping and Su Shuang presented to Liu Zhang, it was the mount of King Qiu Liji of the Wuhuan.

  Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping took advantage of the Wuhuan people's need to exchange horses for food, and obtained a large number of war horses from the Wuhuan. As long as these war horses could be sold, why would they care about giving a few good horses to Liu Zhang? Besides, since they were making a living under Liu Zhang's rule, they naturally had to serve him well.

  After listening to Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping's explanation, Liu Zhang was somewhat amused. Because of this, he could accept these horses with a clear conscience. After arranging the horses and weapons, Liu Zhang told Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping about the tea, horse, salt, and iron monopoly again. The two listened and their eyes sparkled with gold light, knowing that another opportunity to make money had come! However, Liu Zhang asked them to sell off the mid-to-low-grade warhorses and keep the high-grade ones, because Liu Zhang wanted to build a cavalry!

  Thanks for ssq1976 brother's reward!