Inside the study of the main residence, Su Muchen’s fingers flew across the keyboard. The rapid tapping sounded like a dense rainstorm in the quiet room—hurried yet rhythmic.
On the screen, sets of data concerning the climate of the Northern Border, the soldiers’ physical conditions, and the existing logistical supplies were rapidly entered into the system, transforming into complicated statistical charts.
Su Muchen stared at the records in the window, his brows gradually drawing together.
Over the past few days, he had accompanied the military physicians on their rounds through the camp, and the situation was even more severe than he had imagined.
After enduring prolonged winter food shortages and the court’s delayed relief provisions, the soldiers were suffering from widespread and severe malnutrition.
Some had difficulty seeing at night. Some had bleeding gums, ulcers, and wounds that refused to heal. There were even large numbers of soldiers who became dizzy and suffered heart palpitations and muscle aches after only a little training. Behind all of this was a combination of insufficient total calories, vitamin deficiencies, iron deficiency, and electrolyte imbalance.
This was no longer a problem that could be solved simply by “making sure everyone had enough to eat.”
Now, they had finally endured until spring, and the first batch of the extremely early-maturing potatoes he had brought in had already been harvested.
The drums of war could sound at any moment. He had to forcibly bring the physical strength and combat effectiveness of these thirty thousand men back up to baseline in the shortest possible time.
This was no child’s play. It was a “troop-nourishment plan” racing against the Grim Reaper.
Su Muchen picked up the phone resting beside him. After unlocking it, he opened the AI-assisted program developed internally by the group.
“Scenario setting: spring in a high-cold region, thirty thousand troops. Prerequisites: prolonged food shortages, with high-intensity military training and actual combat about to begin.”
His tone was calm and rapid as he entered the instructions:
“Based on the existing logistical inventory, estimate the current dietary structure of the army, identify the most severe nutritional deficiencies, and design an extremely low-cost military-ration replacement plan that can be implemented on a large scale immediately.”
Beside him, Xiao Yuan lifted his eyes slightly from the mountain of documents and glanced at Su Canjun, who was talking to a glowing “brick” in his hands.
The corner of his mouth lifted almost imperceptibly.
Then he quietly lowered his head and continued reviewing the documents.
The AI quickly provided feedback on the phone screen.
Su Muchen looked at the data that popped up, his brows knitting even tighter.
“The potatoes have already been harvested, but because of the limited number of greenhouses, they can’t completely replace millet and wheat.”
The AI’s voice was flat.
“Recommendation: Position the first batch of harvested potatoes as a ‘calorie supplementation source.’ Potatoes can provide potassium and vitamin C and serve as an effective supplement to the daily diet, but they cannot replace staple grains.”
Su Muchen quickly made a mark on his calculation paper.
For thirty thousand troops, if each person consumed four liang of potatoes a day to supplement their calories, they would consume more than ten thousand jin in a single day.
The harvest from the first batch of greenhouse trials simply could not support the entire army directly.
“This batch of potatoes can’t save lives. But it can forcibly make up that huge chunk of calories they’re missing every day.”
He continued asking, “Meat is severely lacking, and animal protein intake is extremely low.”
AI: “Recommendation: urgently increase inexpensive sources of plant-based protein, such as various soybean products and eggs, to maintain basic muscle mass.”
Su Muchen: “Vegetable supplies are also running out.”
AI: “Prioritize allocating storable root vegetables and dried, dehydrated vegetables. Recommend adding fermented vegetables to daily soups to supplement sodium and certain vitamins…”
Looking at the dense red text on the screen, resembling a bottomless pit of nutritional requirements, Su Muchen couldn’t help raising a hand to rub his faintly aching temples. He muttered:
“…Am I raising an army here, or am I supporting thirty thousand ancestors?”
The complaint did not escape Xiao Yuan’s ears.
The man behind the main desk finally stopped writing and looked up at him, his tone carrying undisguised teasing.
“Look on the bright side, Su Canjun. At least these thirty thousand ancestors will charge forward on their own when they fight. You won’t have to carry them on your back.”
Su Muchen gave him a helpless look. His fingers flew across the screen as he quickly filtered through the AI’s recommendations one by one, rapidly constructing a practical plan in his mind.
He knew very well that they couldn’t rely solely on transporting large quantities of health supplements from the modern world to solve the problem.
Having “everyone swallow one multivitamin a day” was simply impractical for an army.
The most fundamental problem right now was—
Total calories and protein were severely insufficient.
Future military training and actual combat would cause energy consumption to increase by several times over.
The greatest strategic significance of potatoes was that they could prop up the minimum calorie baseline of the army’s rations.
Although their energy density was lower than that of dried rations, their yield was astonishing, and they could be prepared in many different ways. In the future, they could be promoted on a large scale throughout the Northern Border.
The problem was that war would not wait.
“What legumes are produced in large quantities in the Northern Border and are inexpensive?” Su Muchen turned and asked.
Xiao Yuan thought for a moment before answering, “Black beans and broad beans are the most common. Black beans are the cheapest. However… black beans are primarily used to feed the warhorses in the army. They are an important military supply for horse feed.”
“To feed horses?” Su Muchen raised an eyebrow. “You have beans, and you use all of them to feed horses?”
“In the Northern Border, warhorses are worth more than people.”
Xiao Yuan’s tone was flat, but his words revealed the most brutal reality of the frontier.
Su Muchen was silent for two seconds before saying calmly, “Then let’s ‘borrow’ a little from the warhorses first. Black beans are extremely high in protein, iron, and magnesium. When meat is insufficient, they’re the best substitute.”
He paused, his eyes burning as he looked at Xiao Yuan.
“Use them to stew with meat or cook into porridge. That can maximize the improvement of the soldiers’ basic muscular strength.”
Looking at his confident expression, Xiao Yuan’s tone was gentle.
“Then I’ll leave the physical foundation of those thirty thousand soldiers entirely in your hands, Su Canjun.”
“A few days ago, I already had the military physicians begin conducting a ‘nutritional status grading assessment’ of all the soldiers. They’re divided into four levels: A, B, C, and D.”
He carefully explained it all to Xiao Yuan.
Level A: Basically healthy. Maintain normal military rations, supplemented with potatoes and black-bean porridge.
Level B: Mild malnutrition. Increase allocations of black beans, eggs, and fats, while supplementing basic vitamins.
Level C: Moderate malnutrition / noticeably decreased physical fitness. Suspend high-intensity training. Focus on high-protein meals and provide modern multivitamins.
Level D: Severe malnutrition / recovery from illness or injury. Temporarily barred from combat and placed under centralized management in the sick and wounded camp. Clinical intervention would be carried out using high-calorie, high-protein liquid foods and precisely targeted micronutrients.
As for the vitamins and mineral supplements he had brought from the modern world, Su Muchen strictly classified them as “tactical-grade medical supplies,” to be used only for emergency “patching of deficiencies.”
They would use modern technology to survive the most dangerous nutritional gap for the time being, while gradually improving the entire army’s actual physical condition through potatoes and the new menu.
“I’ll assign different dietary priorities and modern supplements according to these four levels.”
As he spoke, Su Muchen printed out the information he had organized on the laptop and casually handed it to Mu Li beside him, whom he had recruited as his “scribe.”
Official documents had to be written with a calligraphy brush, after all, and he had never learned how to write with one.
Mu Li stood to the side and accepted the draft Su Muchen had printed.
Given that Su Muchen’s handwriting possessed an extremely “modern cursive-art” quality that was truly unsuitable for formal presentation, Mu Li had, after several days of adjustment, become highly skilled at translating Su Canjun’s various wild ideas into standard military and governmental documents of Da Sheng.
Before long, two official documents, their ink still wet, had been drafted:
《Recommendations for Adjusting Military Diets》
and
《Spring Military Ration Procurement List》.
Su Muchen quickly scanned them and was extremely satisfied with Mu Li’s efficiency and precision.
He immediately signed them, solemnly stamped them with his military advisor’s seal, and handed them to Xiao Yuan’s desk.
Xiao Yuan accepted the Recommendations for Adjusting Military Diets and read through it at a glance.
The document stated:
Submitted to: His Highness the Prince of Su.
Subject: Due to food shortages in the army over the past month, the soldiers have been consuming millet, wheat, and preserved meat for prolonged periods, compounded by winter food shortages. Some soldiers have already developed night blindness, bleeding gums, decreased muscular strength, and wounds that are slow to heal.
This subject believes that what the army currently lacks is not merely “food,” but also variety in food. The way to strengthen the army does not lie in simply increasing the amount of food, but in nourishing the body’s foundation and strengthening its bones.
Therefore, a three-tier dietary system is proposed: first, ordinary training days; second, heavy training and marching days; third, special provisions for the sick and wounded camp…
It was clear and well organized, hitting the heart of the matter.
He then picked up the other document. His gaze landed on the first figure on the procurement list, and he paused slightly.
“Black beans, one thousand jin?”
“This is only the first trial batch,” Su Muchen explained. “We can’t implement it across the entire army all at once. I plan to select three hundred men from the personal guard battalion, then another seven hundred ordinary infantrymen from the Hanchuan garrison, forming a one-thousand-man test group for a seven-day trial. Each person will receive a fixed daily ration. The military physicians will record gastrointestinal reactions and changes in physical fitness throughout the entire process. Once we confirm that it’s feasible, we’ll roll it out across the entire army.”
There were elite soldiers, ordinary infantrymen from the lower ranks, and even a control group had effectively been established.
A trace of deep approval flashed through Xiao Yuan’s eyes. He picked up his brush and wrote a vermilion approval on the document:
“Approved. Have the logistics battalion immediately check the inventory of potatoes, black beans, and meat. Purchase any shortages according to the register. During the trial period, the military medical camp must record detailed changes in the soldiers’ physical conditions every day.”
The moment he finished speaking, the study door opened.
Xia Lanshi and Xiao entered one after another.
Xiao carried an armful of documents, military reports, and account books taller than half his body. Without changing expression, he dumped the entire stack onto Xiao Yuan’s desk with a loud thud.
Xiao Yuan glanced helplessly at the small mountain of documents and continued reviewing them.
Su Muchen had originally intended to hand the documents to Xia Lanshi, but when he saw the faint redness at the corners of Xia Lanshi’s eyes and the slight weariness on his face, he couldn’t help looking up and silently questioning Xiao with his eyes.
Had he actually been supervising Xia Lanshi properly according to the “recuperation plan”?
Xiao merely blinked, looking innocent.
“Chief Secretary Xia.” Su Muchen handed him a document. “This is the newly approved Spring Military Ration Procurement List. I’ll trouble you to arrange it.”
Xia Lanshi accepted the newly approved list. His eyes swept over it before stopping at one item, and his brows furrowed almost imperceptibly.
“One thousand jin of black beans?”
He looked up at Su Muchen, his tone slightly heavy.
“I’m afraid procurement may be difficult. Recently, the prices of all kinds of grain in the Northern Border, including black beans, have risen abnormally sharply.”
“Risen sharply?” Su Muchen immediately sensed something strange. “What happened? Aren’t black beans horse feed? And spring planting has just finished. Why would the price be rising?”
“We’ll probably have to ask Pavilion Master Tingxue about that.”
Xia Lanshi’s expression was grave.
Not long afterward, Chi Banyue arrived after being summoned, carrying her usual cool fragrance with her as she entered the study.
The moment she stepped through the door, her eyes accurately locked onto Xiao standing in the corner.
“Perfect. I also have an urgent matter to discuss with Mr. ‘Nangong Heng.’”
Xiao raised his head, his gaze shifting slightly.
“…?”
“Grain prices in the Northern Border have been rising wildly since half a month ago, and they still haven’t stopped.”
Chi Banyue’s smile disappeared as she spoke seriously.
“If this continues, within a month, not only will our silver be completely depleted, but there won’t even be a single grain of old rice left to buy on the market.”
Upon hearing this, Xiao Yuan finally raised his head from the mountain of documents. His gaze instantly turned cold as ice.
“Explain in detail.”
“I mobilized Tingxue Pavilion’s informants to investigate.”
Chi Banyue’s brows knitted tightly.
“Several major grain merchants are giving exactly the same story. They all claim their inventories are running low and are willing to release only very small quantities of old grain, at prices that have more than tripled.”
“Taking advantage of the situation?” Su Muchen snorted, sounding somewhat disdainful. “Could they also know that the army is about to march and want to hoard grain for profit?”
“If it were simply greed, that would be one thing. But it’s not that simple.”
Chi Banyue shook her head and produced a stack of grain-import records from Beiming Port.
“Beiming Port is the largest grain transshipment port in the Northern Border. According to Tingxue Pavilion’s intelligence, these merchant houses clearly have records of enormous quantities of grain entering through Beiming Port. But strangely, the moment these shipments enter the border, they’re quickly dispersed through various unknown channels like drops of water falling into the sea, and then they completely ‘disappear.’”
Xiao Yuan’s eyes instantly dropped to freezing point.
“Even the grain being transshipped through Beiming Port can evaporate into thin air… This isn’t ordinary grain merchants hoarding goods for profit.”
The air in the study instantly became still.
Xia Lanshi lightly tapped his fingers against the table before slowly speaking.
“Coincidentally, both Tingxue Pavilion’s intelligence and the intelligence from ‘that side’ indicate that the Northern Di have also been purchasing grain in enormous quantities at any cost recently. There probably isn’t such a coincidence in this world.”
The Northern Di had just gone through three years of severe drought and plague, and their internal grain supplies had already been exhausted.
Ever since Prince Su entered Linbei City, they had found it increasingly difficult to seize grain from Da Sheng.
They had likely found another way.
“Supplying the enemy?”
Chi Banyue sucked in a breath of cold air.
“That’s a crime of treason and collaboration with the enemy punishable by exterminating nine generations of the family! Once discovered, the entire household would be executed. The merchants in the Northern Border are all extremely shrewd people who know how to read the wind. Would they really have the guts to do something this stupid?”
“The reason shrewd people are shrewd is precisely because they think they’ve covered their tracks perfectly.”
Xia Lanshi’s gaze was cold.
“What if they don’t know that the person behind that seemingly generous payment is actually the Northern Di?”
“This…”
Chi Banyue was momentarily speechless.
“That’s only the worst-case speculation. But the great war is already imminent, and we urgently need supplies. We have to get this grain.”
Xia Lanshi looked toward Xiao Yuan.
Xiao, who had been silently studying the import records Chi Banyue had brought, suddenly moved.
He walked over to Chi Banyue and handed her a pen.
“Write down the names of all the major merchant houses in the Northern Border involved in hoarding grain.”
As the Pavilion Master of Tingxue Pavilion, Chi Banyue already knew this intelligence by heart.
She accepted the paper and pen, her brush flying across the page. In moments, she had listed more than thirty merchant houses.
Xiao took the list and quickly scanned it.
Then he picked up a cinnabar-red pen and smoothly drew several circles and check marks on the list. On several other names, he placed bright red X’s and triangles. The rest were left blank, while one was marked with a question mark.
When he finished, he pushed the list back to Chi Banyue.
“Effective immediately, all large-scale purchases made openly by Tingxue Pavilion are to be suspended. We cannot enter the market ourselves and drive prices even higher.”
Xiao’s voice was calm and utterly emotionless.
“But the covert channels cannot stop. Avoid the merchant houses marked with an ‘X’ and a ‘triangle.’ Only purchase small quantities of old grain at normal prices through dispersed channels. Absolutely do not participate in bidding.”
Chi Banyue raised an eyebrow.
“No bidding? We just let them drive the price up?”
“Let them.”
Xiao’s tone remained flat.
“These few houses without markings have extremely narrow funding chains. They’re merely hoarding goods because everyone else is doing it. They don’t actually have much grain in hand. Once prices reach their peak, when the Northern Di’s funds withdraw or are cut off, these merchants who followed the trend will be the first to buckle and dump their inventory. That’s when we step in and take their stock at the lowest price.”
Xiao looked at the list, his voice turning slightly cold.
“What they’re raising right now is price, not value. Without genuine demand to support it, price can’t stay high for long.”
He continued, “In addition, once prices fall back to normal levels, immediately approach the merchant houses marked with a ‘check.’ They will give us an unexpectedly good price.”
After hearing this, Xiao Yuan nodded slightly.
“Send the order. Tingxue Pavilion will be responsible for intelligence and market monitoring. The army will maintain normal procurement through official channels to stabilize both military and civilian confidence. As for the remaining grain and fodder shortfall… follow Mr. Xiao’s instructions and quietly move grain across the border.”
“Understood.”
Chi Banyue bowed and accepted the order.
Listening to this precise commercial segmentation and deployment strategy, Chi Banyue was secretly astonished.
Xiao’s analysis and understanding of these merchant houses matched what she knew.
Even the merchant house marked with a question mark was deliberately a non-grain merchant that she had inserted, yet Xiao had identified it at a glance.
The only thing she couldn’t understand was the few merchant houses marked with checks. For the moment, she couldn’t figure out what was special about them or what they had in common.
But those merchant houses were indeed clean.
This wasn’t blind guessing.
It was a precise strike based on an intimate understanding of the Northern Border merchants’ backgrounds and the movement of their capital.
Yet while everyone was discussing how to respond to the soaring grain prices, Su Muchen, sitting to the side, was staring at the grain-import data from Beiming Port provided by Chi Banyue. His fingers rapidly tapped on the computer calculator, and three sets of intricate comparative data appeared on the screen.
His expression slowly darkened.
“Muan?”
Xiao Yuan was the first to notice something wrong.
“What did you find?”
Su Muchen slowly raised his head, shock and coldness filling his eyes.
He looked at Xiao Yuan, his tone extraordinarily grave.
“We’ve been calculating how to feed thirty thousand troops, how to trial a thousand jin of black beans… But I just pulled up the data from Beiming Port for previous springs and compared it.”
He turned the screen toward everyone and pointed at the charts.
“Under normal circumstances, the amount of grain transshipped through the Northern Border each month is relatively fixed. But during this half-month alone, the amount of grain entering through Beiming Port suddenly increased several times over. And at least more than a million jin of grain has neither entered civilian granaries in the towns of the Northern Border nor been delivered to any of the military camps.”
Su Muchen took a deep breath. His voice was very low, yet it struck the study like a thunderbolt.
“That enormous missing quantity, combined with the grain that has been swept off the market… There’s no way disaster victims could have consumed grain on that scale.”
“Even using the minimum military-ration standard, with only one jin of raw grain per person per day… that’s three million jin a month. If they were merely trying to survive a famine, they wouldn’t need such a massive and concentrated quantity.”
Su Muchen raised his eyes and met Xiao Yuan’s deep gaze.
“They may be preparing strategic grain reserves for an invasion by an army of one hundred thousand.”
The study instantly fell into dead silence.
The two armies had yet to clash on the battlefield, but inside this study, modern data analysis and ancient strategic intelligence had, for the first time, precisely converged, revealing the most brutal veil of the storm that was about to arrive.
The atmosphere was so heavy it seemed frozen.
Su Muchen’s words—“strategic grain reserves for an army of one hundred thousand”—had violently pulled everyone out of the simple questions of “procurement budgets” and “merchants manipulating prices.”
Xiao Yuan stared at the grain-import data from Beiming Port marked with abnormal routes. His gaze was as dark as an abyss.
“This isn’t profiteering from a disaster.”
He slowly spoke, his voice ice-cold.
“This is a war that has been planned for a long time.”
“If the Northern Di really are behind this, then these grain merchants in the Northern Border…”
Chi Banyue’s brows knitted tightly, a trace of killing intent flashing in her eyes.
“Your Highness, should we immediately order the three prefectures of the Northern Border to confiscate the assets of all the merchant houses involved? We absolutely cannot allow a single grain of food to enter enemy territory.”
“No.”
“Absolutely not.”
Two voices rang out almost simultaneously.
Xiao Yuan raised his eyes toward Xiao standing to the side.
Xiao remained as calm as ever. He pointed at the list of Northern Border grain merchants he had marked earlier.
“Arresting every merchant hoarding grain and treating them as traitors would be the stupidest thing we could do.”
His tone was flat, yet filled with absolute certainty.
“If we really do that, by tomorrow all the grain in the Northern Border will move into the underground black market. The government won’t be able to buy even a single jin of old rice.”
Chi Banyue countered, “Then what does Mr. Xiao think we should do?”
Xiao pointed to the X mark.
“First category.”
His fingertip touched the paper.
“They know the ultimate buyer is the Northern Di, and may even have participated in planning the smuggling routes, yet they continue secretly supplying grain for the sake of enormous profits. These are the true enemy collaborators. For this category, investigate them covertly, intercept the goods, arrest the people, follow the trail all the way up, and leave no one behind.”
Next was the triangle.
“Second category. They only know that someone is purchasing large quantities of grain at twice the market price, but they don’t know where it ultimately goes. They’re greedy middlemen, tools being used by someone else. For this category, don’t act yet. Find out where the goods in their hands are going, and when necessary, directly cut off or take over their trading networks.”
Then he pointed to the names without any markings.
“Third category. They haven’t sold a single grain to the Northern Di. They merely saw the market going crazy, so they’re tightly holding onto their stock, hoarding grain and waiting for prices to double again. Purely profit-driven merchants. There’s no need to use a blade against them. Use government orders—force them to declare their inventories, impose price controls, and compel them to release their grain, while preserving their merchant houses.”
Finally, Xiao pointed to the circle.
“This is the fourth category, and also the one most easily killed by mistake.”
Xiao raised his eyes, his gaze sweeping lightly across everyone.
“These merchants were originally just conducting ordinary business. But suddenly one day, a mysterious buyer starts buying everything up at a frantic pace, and everyone in the trade starts raising prices wildly. If they don’t raise their prices and don’t hoard grain, their stores will be bought empty tomorrow, they’ll have nothing left to sell the day after, and eventually their competitors will squeeze them out of business.”
He pushed the list toward the center of the desk.
“These people appear to be hoarding grain for profit.”
“But in reality, what they’re hoarding isn’t profit. It’s survival.”
Xiao looked toward Xiao Yuan.
“If Your Highness issues a military order to ‘eliminate corrupt merchants,’ these people will be the first to die. And these people are precisely the foundation that keeps the Northern Border’s civilian economy functioning.”
Xiao did not explain what the remaining fifth category marked with the “check” actually represented, and the others tacitly chose not to ask.
Su Muchen listened from the side, secretly astonished.
This wasn’t merely classifying merchants.
This was an entire economic and social-psychological war game being laid out bloodily on the table.
Xiao Yuan looked at the markings on the paper, and an extremely sharp light flashed through his deep eyes.
“So I cannot issue an order to ‘investigate enemy collaboration’ or ‘crack down on corrupt merchants.’”
He stood up.
“I can’t even tell the governors of the three prefectures directly about these categories.”
“Yes.”
Xia Lanshi immediately understood.
“If we directly order them to investigate enemy collaboration, the people below will inevitably arrest innocent merchants to fill their quotas, while the real masterminds will have already fled with their money.”
“Transmit my military order to Hanzhou, Linzhou, and Cangzhou.”
Xiao Yuan’s voice was authoritative, every word like iron.
“Under the pretext of ‘protecting spring cultivation and military supplies in the Northern Border,’ require the three prefectures to immediately ‘investigate abnormal movements of grain.’
“First, register all records of large-scale grain transactions over the past three months.
“Second, thoroughly investigate merchant houses where grain prices have suddenly surged or which have made frequent large-scale grain purchases within a short period.
“Third, verify the destination of all grain after entering the border. Any military grain or strategic grain transported out of the border without government inspection and approval is to be confiscated according to law. Any case involving collaboration with the enemy is to be transferred to the military government and judicial authorities for joint examination.
“In addition, strictly prohibit local government offices from independently confiscating the property or seizing the grain and fodder of legitimate merchants. When necessary, the government may step in and purchase part of their stored grain at a ‘reasonable market price.’”
Xia Lanshi: “This subject obeys.”
It was an airtight administrative order.
It never mentioned “supplying the enemy,” yet precisely targeted the destination of every abnormal flow of goods. It not only reasonably divided authority between the local government and military justice institutions, but also protected the normal operation of commerce.
Like an invisible net, it silently descended upon the true “wolves.”
◆◇◆◇◆
Three days later.
Three urgent reports from three different prefectures were placed separately on Xiao Yuan’s desk.
Xiao stood to the side, calmly scanning the three completely different official reports.
This was not merely a grain investigation.
It was also a stress test of the political attitudes of the three prefectures of the Northern Border.
The first came from the Governor of Hanzhou. It read:
“This subject completed the initial investigation within two days. Twelve checkpoints have been established, fifteen suspicious grain carts attempting to leave the territory have been temporarily detained, and all major merchant houses within the city have been ordered to submit inventory records. To avoid disturbing civilian livelihoods, no merchants have yet been arrested. Awaiting Your Highness’s instructions.”
“This person isn’t trustworthy.”
Xiao gave a faint nod as he commented.
“He knows better than anyone that if the Northern Border runs out of grain and the Northern Di move south, he’ll be the first to die. That’s why he acted the fastest, but he was also the most cautious, afraid of forcing the grain merchants into revolt.”
A faint, cold smile appeared at the corner of Xiao Yuan’s mouth.
“Knowing when to stand on which side is also a form of loyalty.”
Hanzhou bordered Linbei City. If Linbei City were taken by the Northern Di, Hanzhou would be next.
In the past, before Linbei City had been renamed, when it was still the Northern Border’s foremost military city, it had once been occupied by the Northern Di, and the front line had been pushed south to Hanchuan City.
Therefore, Hanzhou was the prefecture that best understood the importance of Linbei City.
The second report came from Linzhou.
This official document was the thickest. It contained not only the seal of the Governor of Linzhou, but also a joint confidential report from the Port Authority, Customs Office, and Grain Transport Office.
“Three abnormal empty warehouses have been sealed. All port entry and exit registers from Beiming Port over the past two months have been retrieved. Investigation reveals that five merchant houses each imported more than a thousand shi of grain in a single month, yet all their warehouses within the city are empty, and the destination of the grain is unknown. The list is attached. They are currently under covert surveillance.”
“These people aren’t the governor’s men.”
A trace of satisfaction flashed through Xiao’s eyes as he spoke calmly.
“They’re the people who truly hold power beneath the surface in Linzhou. They’ve already chosen to stand on our side.”
Xia Lanshi smiled faintly.
The original power network in Linzhou had already been secretly cleansed and replaced by him.
This report appeared to have been issued by Lu Zhiyao, the newly appointed governor who was practically a figurehead.
In reality, Linzhou’s port, grain transport network, and merchant association had long since begun working for Prince Su.
The most important grain entry point, Beiming Port, had already been firmly placed in their hands.
The third report came from the Governor of Cangzhou.
“This subject has immediately begun the investigation upon the governor-general’s order. However, spring cultivation is busy, and verification by each county will take time. This subject has ordered his subordinates to investigate strictly. Once the account books have been gathered, a detailed report will certainly be submitted.”
Upon seeing this official report, Chi Banyue couldn’t help sneering.
“Passing the buck. The Governor of Cangzhou probably hasn’t taken His Highness’s military order seriously at all.”
Xiao, however, looked at the report and slowly shook his head.
“No. He isn’t passing the buck.”
Chi Banyue frowned.
“You call this not passing the buck? Three days have passed, and he hasn’t even gathered the account books?”
“He’s waiting to see which way the wind blows.”
Xiao placed the report back on the desk and analyzed it calmly.
“He is the farthest from Linbei City. He doesn’t know how deep this grain war really goes, and he doesn’t know whether His Highness can win. He doesn’t dare openly disobey the order, but he also doesn’t dare put all his chips on His Highness right now. He’s waiting.”
“Waiting for what?”
“Waiting for us to prove who truly has the final say in the Northern Border.”
Xiao Yuan listened to Xiao’s analysis. There was no anger in his eyes. Instead, a deep and stern coldness emerged.
“Don’t pressure Cangzhou. Let him continue ‘verifying.’ It’s fine if he doesn’t side with me, as long as he doesn’t side with the Emperor or the Northern Di at this critical moment.”
Xiao Yuan lowered his eyes and slowly turned the thumb ring on his finger.
“Give him time. Let him see clearly who can keep Cangzhou stable through this spring.”
His gaze then shifted toward Su Muchen’s Spring Military Ration Trial Procurement List.
If they destroyed the Northern Border’s merchant network at this point, there would truly be nowhere to replenish the grain and supplies needed by thirty thousand troops every day.
“The situation is clear now.”
Xiao Yuan stood and pressed his fingertip firmly onto the map of Beiming Port in Linzhou.
“The government will provide enough security to reassure the merchants and let them release their grain. On Su Canjun’s side, we’ll conduct stable large-scale purchases in the name of the army, giving them a reason to profit.”
Killing intent suddenly appeared in his eyes, and his voice became as cold as profound ice.
“As for those who are truly supplying the enemy…”
“Send orders to the Secret Guard Battalion, Tingxue Pavilion, and the personal guard scouts. Close the net completely.”
“I want to know exactly how those ‘disappeared’ shipments of grain from Beiming Port are being transported, step by step, across this vast frontier.”