At the dinner before the war, Mr. Xinling, Mr. Liang Wei and the three ministers discussed Wu Zi's way of running the army and the country, and everyone gained something. When the porridge in the cauldron was gone, the four of them resigned, all reluctant to leave.
Mr. Liang Wei mentioned that the soldiers must not have enough to eat, but Lord Xinling could not discuss it in depth in front of the four of them. After the four people resigned, they called all the gentlemen to gather together to discuss how to solve the problem of food and fodder.
Mr. Zhong Yue led the team and a group of disciples personally inspected the grain storage situation in Huayang City. Everyone first walked around the city wall. It turned out that there were piles of food here, but now there is no trace of it. Mr. Zhongyue said: This is because the supply is half-quantity, so it can be maintained for such a long time; if it is supplied according to the ration, it will be gone in two or three days.
Lord Xinling was deeply impressed by the food piled everywhere in Huayang City. He was accustomed to the fact that the food disappeared at a speed visible to the naked eye every day. But today, when I went on an inspection tour with Mr. Zhongyue, I discovered that the food piled up all over the streets was gone. It had only been a few days since we entered Huayang City, and the food from South Korea hadn't even been shipped yet.
Mr. Zhongyue said: "The warehouse will be opened tomorrow. Your Majesty, please go to Cangcheng to have a look." The group followed Mr. Zhongyue into Cangcheng.
Cangcheng has strict security measures. Generally, people have to take off all their clothes when entering, only wearing a piece of cloth, and enter under strict guard; when they come out, they take off the cloth and put their clothes back on. This time, for Lord Xinling's sake, he didn't take off his clothes, but he was strictly prohibited from entering the warehouse and could only watch from a distance.
The people guarding Cangcheng were not Wei Wu soldiers, but Han soldiers. They were familiar with the operation and management regulations of Cangcheng. The leader was a retainer of Lord Xinling, who mainly played a supervisory role. Lord Xinling and his entourage inspected each warehouse in Cangcheng one by one under the supervision of a group of Korean soldiers covered with cloth.
The warehouses in Huayang City are permanent and dug deep into the ground, so that they can store thousands of stones of grain. If they are piled on the ground, a warehouse can hold up to two to three thousand stones. There are four rows and five rows, a total of twenty warehouses, clearly visible. A doorman held a torch, and the guards of each warehouse opened the door according to specific procedures. The doorman introduced him and looked inside. The grain in the cellar was not full, some were quite lacking. The first three rows are granaries, and the last row is straw. After the inspection, Lord Xinling suddenly asked: "What can I do about transporting food every day?"
The retainer said: "When we bring out the food from the warehouse, we have to wait for the two talismans to be cleared before we can do it. However, the soldiers are waiting for food, and there are many people in a hurry. With five thousand stones a day, it is impossible to do it. It is difficult to hesitate."
Mr. Zhongyue said: "Huayang takes a thousand people to lead and fifty people to rush, which is enough to provide for them. Now there are a hundred thousand people, and there will be five thousand soldiers. How can we get it?"
Lord Xinling suddenly said: "Who among all the gentlemen is good at counting, I won't invite him!"
Zhang Zuo had some impressions, but could not remember clearly, so he sent a retainer to find Mang Chen to inquire, and soon the youngest son, Wei Zhe, was found. After everyone saw the ceremony, Lord Xinling said: "We will send out food to the army every day, five thousand stones a day, how many soldiers are needed, and can we prepare them all at once?"
Wei Zhe said: "I would like to observe its path and check its distance." So everyone led them and walked around again.
Wei Zhe said: "This is the twenty warehouse. The warehouse has twenty people to move it, two people to count, two people to supervise, a total of four hundred and eighty people. There are two people to check the festival talismans at the door of the warehouse, two people to supervise, and ten guards. It takes about one person. The whole camp."
When Lord Xinling saw Wei Zhe coming with his mouth open, he asked, "Are you not confused?"
Mr. Zhongyue said: "What if we get a thousand people?"
Wei Zhe said: "If you get a thousand people, they will avoid each other on the road. Going too far is not enough."
Mr. Zhongyue said: "That's great! It's the master's calculation!"
Lord Xinling said: "I hope that the young master will temporarily rely on Mr. Zhongyue to assist him. Don't give up your hard work!"
Wei Zhe said: "Young Master's order, how dare you resign!" When everyone came out of Cangcheng, Mr. Zhongyue and Wei Zhe carefully calculated the shipment of grain from the warehouse, and then discussed with Zhang Yue and others where to mobilize it. manpower.
Lord Xinling only said, "When fighting, use it to prepare food," and he didn't care about anything else.
Mr. Zhong Yue was busy supplying food for the entire army, while Zhang Nou was thinking about how to go to Zheng tomorrow, contact Chen Zhen, and at least find Zeng Ji. But his eyes were dark and he had no idea how to proceed. So I had a few discussions with Mr. Zhongyue, decided on a general framework for transporting grain, and went to find Mr. Guo and others to discuss tomorrow's affairs. I also found Zheng Anping and asked carefully about the situation during my visit to Dr. Xu Jia. After questioning a few details in particular, it was generally confirmed that Dr. Xu Jia suddenly said the word "Chen Gong" without any preconditions. Knowing this, Zhang Noi had some idea in his mind: Chen Zhen was actually looking for a channel to communicate with Wei State, and if he let it out on his own, there would be no results.
When Ying Mao's drums sounded, Zhang Ye and two retainers, all dressed as retainers, left Huayang City and headed for Zheng Di. The three of them deliberately walked around to attract attention. When I arrived at Zhengdi, I went to the pavilion to buy water from the pavilion chief. Went to the wine shop under the pavilion and drank a few glasses of wine. Then he slowly came to Beiqumen.
Contrary to the previous fear of being seen by the retainer dressed as a coachman, Zhang Yue took the initiative to greet the retainer dressed as a coachman. The guests were shocked when they saw it was Zhang Noi, but seeing that Zhang Noi was dressed as a retainer, they did not dare to make any mistake and only treated him as a stranger.
Zhang Zou asked deliberately: "When I was young, I wanted to drive, but I dared to do it?"
The guest didn't know what he meant, so he could only answer vaguely: "You have to ask the master!"
Seeing that the guest was very knowledgeable, Zhang Noi was very satisfied and said: "I'm visiting when I was young." The two even left each other's names in a decent manner.
The three of them did not go to the inn first, but entered the city, walked around the market twice, and came to the previous wine shop again. After the three of them ordered wine and food, Zhang Noi asked the wine shop owner to invite a stranger in. .
The owner of the wine shop went out and soon came in with a stranger.
After seeing the ceremony, Zhang Noi invited the man to sit down. Zhang Noi poured wine, made three toasts, and invited the man to eat several pieces of meat. The man in the middle said: "I dare to ask you what you want to ask. If you don't know, I dare not accept it."
Zhang He said: "Qin and Wei fought in Huayang, and I heard that Han transported grain to Qifeng and gained a lot. My Lord is thinking about it. Qin already has grain and if it tries to exploit it, the gains will be small. If it exploits it in Wei, what can be done? "
The middleman said: "Wei did not set up a military market, how can your family manage it?"
Zhang Ye said: "It is really difficult. However, Han and Wei are allies. If we get huge profits, we must do something about it; if there is no profit, we will abandon it early."
The middle man said: "The transportation between Han and Qin is customized, and your family will definitely benefit from it. If it is used in Wei... there is no system for it, and the pros and cons are hard to say."
Zhang He said: "I would like to hear about the communication between Qin and Han, and the situation of Han and Wei betraying their alliance."
The middleman said: "I occasionally heard rumors in the palace that Mr. Chen, I don't know who he was, was talking about the king and Qin. The king was unable to make a decision, and when Qin entered Guandong, the king collapsed from shock and has been ill ever since. The prince and his ministers are supervising the country. The ministers have different opinions, whether they want to make peace with Qin or those who want to make peace with Wei, but the prince is unable to make a decision, and it has been delayed to this day."
Zhang He said: "I heard that the Wei envoy has arrived, why doesn't the prince see him?"
The middleman said: "Not only the prince, but all the ministers are also hard to see!"
Zhang Ye said: "Why?"
The middleman said: "Think about it, if the Wei envoy accuses Han of betraying the alliance, what should he say in response?"
Zhang He said: "I heard that Prime Minister Han said that Han's investment in Qin's grain was for the sake of profit, not for betraying the alliance. Therefore, I think about it, if we get huge profits by joining the alliance, wouldn't we kill two birds with one stone?"
The middle man said: "I heard that the Prime Minister of Han also regretted it. Why? The Qin army gained tens of thousands of grains every day, the price of grain in the four villages was soaring, and the people were competing for Qin, and if they did not enter Zheng, Zheng's grain would not be much."
Zhang He said: "Even if this is the case, Qin still buys it at twice the price?"
The man in the middle said: "I haven't even taken a break."
Zhang Noi said: "Zheng's food supply is about to run out, and Hu is still selling?"
The middleman said: "A hundred thousand Qin people are sitting outside the city, and they want to stop. How can we get it?"
Zhang Yue felt happy: the Koreans finally tasted the pain of the Qin Dynasty! Then he asked: "What does the prince want to do?"
The middleman said: "How can I have him? He just wants to send Qin back to his country. Therefore, it is not possible to plan for Qin and Wei to connect and balance."
Zhang Noi said: "Qin and Wei Lianheng, the prince is in charge?"
The man in the middle said: "Prince Wei agreed, how dare others."
Zhang He said: "Is it possible that Duke Chen is not involved?"
The middleman said: "Although Mr. Chen talks about Han and Qin, the one who talks about Wei Lianheng is not Mr. Chen, but actually Han."
Zhang Noi asked: "How much food is left in Zheng Di?"
The middleman said: "There is a certain number. There are not many in Zhengcang. They all rely on external transportation. They have transported 40,000 stones for four days in a row."
Zhang Noi said: "The land of Zheng is short of food, who can get it?"
The middleman said: "This is also discussed by the middlemen, not just heard by the nobles."
Zhang Noi said: "What are you talking about?"
The man in the middle said: "One day, the food was rotten and inedible. We were surprised. The supervisor said, Zheng's grain was all paid to Qin, but the old grain can be used as a continuation. In a few days, I am afraid that the old grain will not be available either."
Zhang Noi asked: "How many days have you been eating old grain?"
The man in the middle said: "Those who eat carrion can only eat for a long time! If we talk about old food, we can only eat it for two or three days."
Zhang Yue and others understood that this person's status in the palace was not high and it was difficult to obtain any valuable information, so they diligently persuaded him to drink wine, held the ceremony very respectfully, and said: "You know the important affairs of the family and the country very well, so you must be respected by others!"
The middle man said: "But I heard that there may be something wrong with the old man, but I am not surprised."
Zhang Ye said: "How dare you, a humble concubine! I have the virtue of being a public servant in my heart and I dare not forget it."
The three of them paid and left, leaving only one of them to finish the rest of the food and wine.
After the three people left, they did not leave the city, but went south along the city. Along the way, they saw the entrances of various kilns for copper, iron, and pottery making. The smoke was billowing and the sound was loud, indicating that they were busy at work. Suddenly I saw a cart coming out of a pottery kiln, loaded with baked pottery and ready to come out. There is a gentle slope at the door, and the cow is overwhelmed and makes a "moo" cry. Upon seeing this, Zhang He and the other three stepped forward together, gave the car a push, and pushed the car up the slope. If you are driving, please park your car and come over to thank me. Zhang He waited politely in return, and naturally followed slowly beside the car, chatting.
Zhang Ye said: "Many of the utensils made from your kilns are in the Korean palace, but why go south?"
The driver of the cart said: "Sir, the utensils on the cart are all coarse pottery bowls and lamps. They are not for the palace, but are for unsealing."
Zhang Noi was deliberately surprised and said: "I heard that Qifeng is occupied by the Qin people. Can your kiln be bought and sold there?"
The driver of the cart said: "We, little men, don't know what's going on, but we have a destiny and dare not resign. I am not the only one in the kiln. The surrounding iron kilns, copper kilns, and bone kilns are also going to open the seal. What have you heard, sir?"
Zhang He said: "It must be true. Let me find out more."
