Ming Zuo

Chapter 745 War Horse
"I really didn't expect to be able to eat familiar food in the far east."

Tasting the delicious salmon, Anthony Van Diemen was full of emotions.

Since he came to the East, he hadn't tasted these seafood from the cold water realm for a long time.

And these foods, he was used to eating when he was in Holland.

"It's a pity that Batavia is thousands of miles away, the distance is long, and food transportation is inconvenient. Otherwise, if you need it, we can provide it here."

In this era, it is absolutely impossible to send seafood thousands of miles away.

"Thank you, Commander, for your kindness."

Anthony Van Diemen toasted Zuo Menggeng a glass of wine, but kept his eyes on the person playing the piano in the distance.

As the saying goes, there is no feast without joy.

To entertain distinguished guests today, Zuo Menggeng not only prepared a sumptuous dinner, but also arranged music performances.

In addition to traditional Chinese music, piano performances also played.

As for traditional Chinese music, Anthony Van Diemen had only a half-knowledge of it, and only thought the melody was melodious but could not understand its meaning.

But the music played by the piano completely fascinated him.

"Mr. Commander-in-Chief, I have changed my mind. You don't have to pay the full amount for this transaction. Can you use this instrument to make up for it?"

Knowing that Anthony Van Diemen wanted to buy a piano, Zuo Menggeng was not surprised at all.

Before the governor of Macau became a prisoner of the piano, Anthony van Diemen was able to recognize the value of the piano, which is nothing new.

Zuo Menggeng was the happiest about being able to use the piano to make up the payment for the goods.

"I wonder how many pianos Mr. Dimen needs?"

Anthony van Diemen walked over and circled the piano.Touching the body of the piano with the palm of your hand, you have already been deeply intoxicated.

"I don't know the price of this instrument?"

"Five hundred taels of silver each."

Zuo Menggeng told the truth.

This price made Anthony van Diemen frown.

But the incomparably beautiful melody lingered in his ears, making him unable to extricate himself.

"I need five, no... fifty."

Anthony van Diemen knew very well that as long as such a fine instrument was brought back, it would definitely sell well.At that time, each piano will be priced at [-] taels, so he can become rich overnight.

Everyone in Shandong was overjoyed that Anthony Van Diemen would use [-] taels of silver to buy a piano.

How much does a piano cost?
But it's just over [-] taels of silver.

This is totally a high value-added product.

It can be used to make money, and no one will dislike it.

Especially since Shandong has to pay a huge sum of money to Anthony Van Diemen, it would be great to be able to recover a little blood with the piano at this time.

What commodity caused Shandong to bleed?

Of course it was a war horse.

Since the establishment of trade relations with the Dutch, Shandong has expressed its willingness to buy war horses.

If you want to buy war horses in East Asia, it is almost a huge difficulty.

Everyone knows that war horses are precious war resources, and anyone who owns a war horse firmly holds them in their hands.

It's impossible to get it without paying a huge price.

Even buying from Westerners is actually not easy.

The only exception is the Dutch.

The Dutch are most passionate about doing business.

As for whether selling the horses to Shandong will enhance Shandong's military strength, the Dutch don't care at all?

Anyway, they travel the world by boat.

No matter how powerful Shandong's cavalry is, can they still go into the sea on horses?
So when Shandong asked the Dutch to buy war horses, the Dutch readily agreed because of the generous price.

Relying on their strength in the ocean, they quickly collected a huge number of war horses.

At this time, Xu Erjue led the fleet to Batavia, and the increasingly large-scale trade allowed the Dutch to take advantage of the trend.

When he returned to Shandong with Xu Erjue, he brought the horses over.

However, the batch of war horses brought by the Dutch was very expensive.

Each horse needs one hundred and fifty taels of silver.

It's not that the Dutch are asking too much, it's the truth.

It took a lot of effort for the Dutch to get these horses. In addition, it took them thousands of miles to transport them from Batavia to Shandong, and the sea environment was very harsh, which increased the cost.

Even with the best care by the Dutch, a third of the horses died on the way.

But these costs will inevitably be apportioned to other war horses.

The war horses brought by the Dutch made Zuo Menggeng very enthusiastic. He inspected them personally and couldn't put it down for each horse.

"Look, this is a Mawari horse from Tianzhu. This kind of horse is tall, strong, extremely fast, and can withstand various environments. It is the best type of war horse in the world."

Zuo Menggeng is very familiar with war horses, and it sounds familiar.

"This is an Arabian horse, one of the oldest and most valuable horse breeds in the world. The Mongols, who were invincible in the world back then, suffered a great loss from this kind of war horse."

"This is a Scottish horse, the fastest horse in the world, and can travel a hundred miles a day."

Hearing this, many people's expressions changed.

What is the concept of traveling hundreds of miles a day for war?

In most cases nowadays, the daily march can only guarantee thirty to forty miles a day, which is already a very powerful army.

Even the new army can reach fifty miles a day at most, and only a hundred miles under extreme circumstances.

But that's certainly not the norm.

But this kind of Scottish horse can maintain a daily marching speed of about a hundred miles, which is too scary.

The war horses transported by the Dutch were very diverse. Zuo Menggeng checked them one by one and found almost all the well-known ones here.

The Dutch didn't know what kind of war horse Shandong needed, anyway, they got some of all kinds.

There is always one that customers need.

The final result made Anthony Van Diemen extremely satisfied.

Because all the horses Zuo Menggeng wanted.

He understood better than anyone in this era the importance of war horse blood.

There are so many excellent war horses combined, as long as they are carefully cultivated and reproduced, they will definitely be able to establish a sufficiently excellent war horse group.

Eight hundred war horses cost Shandong [-] taels of silver in total.If it weren't for using the piano to deduct part of it, it would really be a hemorrhage.

"Quickly send these war horses to Jeju Island to cultivate carefully, or use them to crossbreed with local war horses to improve the bloodline of the war horses."

The needs of war horses are different from the horse lineage theory of later generations.

The lineage theory of later generations emphasizes that the purer the better, and the older the better.The taller the horse is, the taller it is, the handsomer it is, the more graceful it is, the more valuable it is.

But as a war horse, the priority is the horse's endurance, speed, and character.

To put it bluntly, it is comprehensive quality.

Horses of pure blood and noble blood are not suitable for cavalry.

(End of this chapter)