novelraw Chapter 422: No Need to Worry About Food
Chapter 422: No Need to Worry About Food
Xing Honglang chuckled: “If someone carves the characters for ‘Gao Chuwu’ on a piece of wood themselves and tries to sneak into our camp, you guys… hehe, you get it?”
The guard soldiers suddenly realized: it was anti-counterfeiting! Truly worthy of Boss Xing, who had long traveled the martial world—her knowledge of its underhanded tricks was impressive.
Master Zhan Sheng had just gone back when the merchants arrived.
There were quite a few of them, over a dozen, all who had been trading at the docks for years.
Xing Honglang said: “Gentlemen, our stronghold is built now, and we have firmly established ourselves. Next, I plan to expand outwards. I called you here today for the matter of food.”
The dozen or so merchants had already guessed what they would be asked to do. They cupped their hands and said: “Boss Xing wants us to sell grain, right?”
“Yes!”
Xing Honglang said: “I’m not a proper merchant, so I can’t openly transport grain to Puzhou City. But you all can. I’ll give you this batch of goods at 200 wen per dou; set the selling price however you wish. Take this grain to Puzhou City or Hedong Road—sell it however you like… But make sure it gets into the hands of common citizens.”
The merchants murmured softly: “So it shouldn’t go into grain shops, right?”
“Correct! Don’t let this grain enter grain shops.” Xing Honglang chuckled again: “Once it enters a grain shop, who knows how many times the price would multiply before common citizens get their hands on it.”The merchants naturally understood this principle. They cupped their hands: “Don’t worry, Boss Xing. Leave this matter to us.”
“But…” one merchant whispered: “If we ship a lot of grain to Puzhou City and Hedong Road, won’t the stockpile at the dock shrink? Here, you feed every citizen fully every day and pay them three jin of flour as wages. That consumes a huge amount—thousands of jin daily. If we ship more out, and the dock citizens see the stockpile decreasing, they’ll grow anxious.”
Xing Honglang chuckled: “No need to worry about that. I have my own solution.”
The merchants wasted no more words. Each bought a quantity of grain from Xing Honglang based on their business ability. Carrying it on their shoulders, hauling it in carts, or even hiring porters—they used every trick to head towards Puzhou City. Zao Ying led her cavalry out of the camp to guard these merchants, escorting them all the way into Puzhou City before returning.
This shipment removed a lot of grain, significantly reducing the dock stockpile.
The porters gathered at the dock began to worry again…
“Did you see that? Many merchants went into the granary this morning and hauled off large amounts of grain.”
“I not only saw it—I even helped load the goods. A merchant paid me twenty coins for porter work.”
“We consume thousands of jin daily, and now so much is being shipped out. Oh my, how long will the remaining grain last us?”
“The stronghold’s stockpile is still quite large, piled like a small mountain. But using thousands of jin a day, it probably won’t last a month.”
“What should we do? Even Boss Xing can’t handle this, right?”
The citizens murmured among themselves. Just as they were gripped by fear…
Someone shouted: “Look! The ships are back! Boss Xing’s ships are back!”
It turned out that the warship and two cargo ships had unloaded their goods, left the ancient ferry dock two days ago, and returned to Qiachuan Port. No one expected them to come back now.
This time, there was an extra cargo ship, making it a fleet of one warship and three cargo ships.
“The ships actually increased again?”
“Such huge cargo ships—having two was already amazing, but Boss Xing has three?”
“Wow, all three ships are covered in black tarps. Could the tarps hide nothing but grain?”
“It must be grain! Otherwise, Boss Xing wouldn’t have dared to ship out the previous grain.”
“Where on earth did they get the grain from?”
“Did they go to the wealthy Jiangnan region?”
“Who cares where they got it? Even if it’s from the underworld, if it fills me up, I’ll call her mother.”
The three large cargo ships slowly docked, bringing another massive load of grain.
The porters saw this sight and cheered excitedly, their earlier fear of shortages vanishing instantly.
Before long, the main camp sent someone over: “We need a group of porters to unload the grain from the three cargo ships. Same rule as before: three jin of flour per day as wages.”
“Me! Me! Me!”
The citizens surged forward again, happily starting to work.
But Xing Honglang approached the warship’s captain and whispered about the dock needing construction work but lacking proper planning…
The captain nodded: “I’ll bring this back as soon as possible. The village will handle it. By the way, Instructor He and Mr. Bai asked me to pass on a message: Gaojia Village is already eyeing Bai Shui County, Hancheng, and Dali County. The base in Huanglong Mountain is also expanding. Things are moving fast, and manpower is short—we can’t add any more troops here. You might need to recruit some soldiers in Shanxi based on the situation.”
Old Nan Feng, standing behind Xing Honglang, inwardly jolted: “Bai Shui County and Dali County are one thing, but Hancheng is tough…”
The place of Hancheng belonged under Xi’an Prefecture, Tonggong District, Tongguan Road.
The unit “Road” differed from county, district, or prefecture—the latter three were ordinary administrative divisions.
But in the Ming Dynasty, “Road” carried military significance!
Wherever it was set as a “Road,” it held vital strategic importance.
For example, Hedong Road oversaw Jie Pond, the largest salt-producing site in the central plains, where the imperial court stationed heavy troops.
Another example was Tongguan Road, where Hancheng was located—it was the main axis cutting through the central heartland, linking Chang’an and Luoyang—a critical stronghold the court would never allow to be taken. If any rebels dared to target Hancheng, it would send fierce defenders.
Wang Zuogua had attacked Hancheng twice before but was beaten back aggressively both times; that fierce defender was Hong Chengchou.
The captain chuckled at Old Nan Feng: “Don’t worry, General. You’ve been out of the loop in the labor camps these years, so you don’t know all of Gaojia Village’s methods. Our way of dealing with Hancheng isn’t a direct attack—we’ll use various tactics… Well, even if we did go head-on, with the Deity stepping in, it wouldn’t be a problem.”
Old Nan Feng cupped his hands and fell silent.
The captain said: “Compared to Hancheng, your move against Jie Pond in Hedong Road will be harder. Shanxi is too distant; the Deity is too busy now to personally assist here. You’ll be acting without the Deity’s protection, so tread carefully—that’s the Deity’s exact advice.”