After I traveled through the book, I fought back in the Hou Mansion

Chapter 177 Red Hare

Chapter 177

After leaving the house, just as she was about to walk out of the courtyard gate, Luo Shuiyao faintly heard a sobbing voice coming from inside the house: "Dad, I will definitely teach well and pass on your great aspirations. Your daughter will definitely live a good life and will never embarrass you again..."

Chun Xing couldn't help but sigh and cursed in a low voice: "That damn Liu Da, he actually ruined such a good girl for no reason."

Luo Shuiyao quickly stopped her with her eyes, signaling her not to say anything more. Then the master and servant quietly left the yard, leaving the silence and dignity behind in the house, like building a barrier to preserve some dignity for the injured person.

Another busy day has come to an end.

At night, when all is silent, save for the chirping of birds, the villa, nestled in the mountains, feels like a paradise, isolated from the hustle and bustle of the world, seemingly untouched by the mundane, a tranquil and beautiful place. Surrounded by verdant mountains, it feels as if time has slowed down, and every corner exudes a sense of nature and tranquility.

The next morning, Luo Shuiyao arranged the malt sugar delivery team and instructed them to take good care of Yu Xiu. Afterward, she stood outside the villa, following the team as they gradually retreated. Despite the recent days of continuous toil and exhaustion, she felt a surge of hope within her, and her fatigue was replaced by a surge of energy.

Just as she turned around to go back to the villa, she suddenly heard the sound of horse hooves in the distance.

Luo Shuiyao turned her head and saw Ye Yunzhou galloping towards her on a red horse. She frowned slightly: What is this man doing here so early in the morning? But she stood still, waiting for him to come closer.

When he was a few steps away from Luo Shuiyao, Ye Yunzhou tightened the reins and the horse stopped. He dismounted and looked at Luo Shuiyao and asked, "What are you doing here so early?"

Luo Shuiyao glanced at him and said, "I haven't asked you yet. Why did you ride here so early in the morning? What's the matter?"

Ye Yunzhou pursed his lips. He'd been so excited the previous night that he hadn't slept a wink. He'd ridden all night, and this morning, unable to contain himself, he'd rushed over without even breakfast. He'd simply wanted to see her, to confirm that yesterday's appointment wasn't just his imagination. Unexpectedly, upon arriving, he'd spotted the person he'd been thinking about so much from afar. He'd galloped over.

"I had something important to do early this morning. I just finished and was passing by here. I was wondering if you had breakfast yet. I'd like to join you. Is your place convenient?"

Luo Shuiyao raised her eyebrows slightly, not commenting on the truth of his words, but she was not so stingy as to not even give up a bowl of rice, so she nodded and said, "Then follow me in."

"Okay, let's go." Ye Yunzhou casually wrapped the reins around the horse's neck and was about to follow Luo Shuiyao inside.

Luo Shuiyao glanced at the tall and handsome horse grazing at the door and asked, "Why don't you take it in with you?"

Ye Yunzhou shook his head. "No need. It will wait for me here and won't run around. You don't have to worry."

Luo Shuiyao was immediately intrigued upon hearing this, and walked towards the gate with Ye Yunzhou. She turned her head to look at the horse again, and saw that it was indeed circling and wandering around the gate obediently, not running around. She was quite surprised and wondered to herself: Is this horse so human-like?

Ye Yunzhou seemed to see what she was thinking and said with a smile, "This is the finest horse of the Northern Di, the Red Hare. I named it Stepping on Snow. It is not only strong, but also very human and intelligent. This horse is extremely rare. I snatched it from the enemy when I was fighting with my father against the Northern Di. It was just a foal at the time, and I carefully nurtured it for a long time before it recognized me as its master."

Luo Shuiyao nodded. She had heard of the Red Hare in her past life. This horse, a charcoal-red beast with no stray hairs, could travel a thousand miles a day, crossing rivers and climbing mountains as if it were flat ground. Rumor had it that during the Three Kingdoms period, the Red Hare was first Lu Bu's mount, helping him to unleash his might on the battlefield. It later became Guan Yu's favorite steed, accompanying him on his campaigns and leaving behind countless legends. It was an extremely rare and valuable horse.

Seeing her keen interest, Ye Yunzhou offered her some equine knowledge. "Unlike the Northern Di, our Zhou Dynasty lacks the vast grasslands that allow us to cultivate exceptionally high-quality horses. Therefore, our cavalry has always been weaker than those of the border nomadic tribes. Perhaps those nomadic tribes are naturally adept at horse breeding, producing strong, combat-ready horses. Even with our utmost effort, the Zhou Dynasty could only obtain horses of inferior quality. This puts our dynasty at a disadvantage on the battlefield, and no one has yet been able to resolve this issue."

Luo Shuiyao walked forward while listening to his story. When she heard this, her eyes narrowed slightly, and a similar situation she had seen in a novel in her previous life suddenly emerged in her mind.

After hesitating for a while, she asked, "When you were breeding these horses, did you bring some stallions from Beidi?"

Ye Yunzhou hadn't expected her to know this, so he didn't think much about it and replied directly, "Every year, our dynasty exchanges vegetables for a large number of stallions from the Northern Di."

Luo Shuiyao nodded in understanding. "But those excellent stallions came here, but didn't they breed any excellent foals?"

Ye Yunzhou nodded again, his heart full of doubts, and he couldn't help but ask: "How do you know this?"

Although this was not a secret, it was definitely not something that a woman like her, who lived in the boudoir, could know.

Luo Shuiyao's eyes were bright, and she didn't rush to answer him. After leading Ye Yunzhou into the guest room, she told the maid to serve the food, and then she slowly answered his questions. "I don't know about this, I'm just guessing."

Unexpectedly, Ye Yunzhou's brows furrowed even tighter when he heard this. "Guess?"

"When I was in Kyoto, I was traveling with a caravan that traveled to Beidi all year round. I heard someone mention stallions. If you want to breed excellent foals, you can't just focus on stallions, you have to choose mares. Only by importing a large number of excellent mares can you breed excellent foals. Those stallions are just smokescreens released by foreign tribes to confuse us."

"my country has long spent vast quantities of grain and fruits in exchange for stallions from the Northern Di people. However, these stallions have not effectively improved the quality of our foals. In horse breeding, the influence of mares on the foal's quality is crucial. Simply importing stallions while ignoring the quality of the mares will make it difficult to breed high-quality foals. This is why, despite my country's considerable investment in imported stallions, it has never been able to fundamentally solve the problem of poor foal quality, causing the Zhou Dynasty's cavalry to lag behind the border herding peoples in terms of horse quality."