Chapter 95 Preparing for War
November of the third year of Zhongping.

In the six southern counties of Kuaiji County, the late rice harvest is in full swing, and the yield of the thousand acres of land harvested recently has decreased significantly.

Only the four counties of Zhuji, Shan, Zhang'an and Yongning, which were planting crops for the first time, had acceptable yields.

However, due to the lack of sufficient fertilizer, the output of these four counties is not as good as that of Jinyun Mountain in the early days.

The yield per mu barely exceeds five shi, less than six shi.

It is estimated that 16,000 mu of paddy fields in the six counties will yield about 80,000 shi of late rice, with about 48,000 shi stored in storage.

Together with the early rice, autumn grain and inventory, there will be a total of 10 to 11 shi of grain in the warehouse this year.

Minus the 6 shi of grain consumed in the past few months, Jinmao's entire army can still use 7 to shi.

Based on the wartime average consumption of 2 koku per person per month, people would consume koku per month.

In fact, the number is far higher than this. According to statistics, the consumption of these soldiers during the training period is almost as high as this number.

Then during the war, a 50% increase, if not doubling, would not be excessive.

That means about 16,500 stones will be consumed per month!

"My lord, including the marching time, we can only fight for two months at most!"

Xi Zhicai, who was currently calculating, said solemnly, "If we go on the expedition at the end of November, we must withdraw our troops at the end of January next year. Otherwise, the two counties will be in chaos!"

Jin Mao sat at the top with a frown on his face.

Fighting with more than 5,000 people is completely different from fighting with less than 1,000 people.

At first, Jin Mao thought that after following Zhu Jun and understanding the general process, he would understand it after practicing it himself.

However, when the time came, I found that it was not the case at all.

As the saying goes, before the soldiers and horses move, food and grass go first.

There are a lot of trivial things about what people and horses eat and chew. For example, a donkey cart that transports grain, a 200-jin donkey would consume 3 stone of straw every month.

But a 200-pound donkey can only pull a maximum of 500 pounds of cargo on flat ground, and only 3-400 pounds on mountain roads.

Taking the average of 400 jin, it is about 7 dan.

So the monthly consumption of Jinmao's army of more than 5,000 people would require more than 4,000 donkey carts to transport food and fodder.

There are less than a thousand donkey carts in the entire Kuaiji County. What should we do?
water transport!

According to Xi Zhicai's plan, all wartime food would be concentrated in Qiantang County and transported to the front line by water, donkey carts and on backs.

In this way, the 5,500 people had to be divided into two parts, one to protect the water and land routes for transporting grain, and another part of the soldiers had to guard Qiantang County.

Assuming that each group has 500 people, there are only 4,000 people left who can fight on the front line.

If we conscript civilians to transport grain, the consumption will have to be increased, and 2 shi of grain a month will not be enough.

This is just transporting food.

Don't ask too many questions about eating, drinking, defecating, urinating, preventing and controlling diseases, setting up camp, who will be the vanguard, etc.

The eating, drinking, and defecation of 5,500 people is no small matter. The army must not start to suffer non-combat casualties before the battle even starts; morale will surely be low.

Of course, there is also a bandit-like fighting method that does not require baggage, which was once used by Champion Marquis Huo Qubing.

That is a plan to destroy the entire family and should not be used lightly. Moreover, the soldiers under Jin Mao cannot be compared with those under Guanjun Hou.

So, come on honestly.

But before Jin Mao could arrange all the pre-war matters, a fire broke out in the backyard of Yuzhang County.

The soldiers that Gong Lei left behind in the northern section of Wuyi Mountain broke through the encirclement covered in blood to report the news.

"The mountain folks are rioting!"

Lanzhi and the female soldiers showed amazing fighting power, but two fists are no match for four hands. It was considered good enough that five hundred female soldiers could hold off the attack of nearly twenty thousand young and strong men.

Jin Mao was very confused: "He was fine before, why did he betray me so suddenly?"

The messenger began to explain helplessly.

It turned out that Gong Lei and Pan Lin took their people away one after another, and Lanzhi became the only one in charge in the north of Wuyi Mountain.

Lanzhi, who holds great power, becomes arrogant and wants to improve the status of women and the elderly and the weak in this era.

If it was said that the five hundred female soldiers had a high status, everyone would accept it, but Ke Lanzhi insisted on improving the rights and interests of all the elderly, the weak, women and children.

At first, everyone gave face to the female soldiers. But after a few days, the hungry young men started to make trouble, and Lanzhi killed them one after another, but to no avail.

Later on, the elderly, the weak, women and children also started to make trouble. Originally they could always eat half full, but now they were going hungry again after just a few days of eating a full meal. How could they not make trouble?

Lanzhi was also cruel enough to kill even the old and weak who were causing trouble.

This stirred up a hornet's nest, and everyone, young and strong, old and weak, united together.

Thus, a bloody battle began.

But the female soldiers are not the royal guards and have never experienced actual combat. No matter how excellent they are, they will collapse in the face of huge casualties.

At the last moment, Lanzhi did the only right thing: escort Gong Lei's troops to break out!
Hearing this, Gong Lei looked at Jinmao with tears in his eyes.

The latter understood what he meant and asked, "Two hundred people broke through and only a dozen of you are left?"

“No, no.” The messenger shook his head repeatedly: “Everyone got separated during the breakout, and only we got here.”

Jinmao understood, it was just a fight between rookies.

It sounds dangerous, but the actual casualties are probably not as great as imagined.

This matter is more important than Wu County.

Jin Mao made a prompt decision: "Everyone gather and go to Yuzhang County to quell the rebellion!"

"My lord, no!"

This was the first time that Xi Zhicai had contradicted Jin Mao. In the past, when the two of them had quarreled, Xi Zhicai would always respond in line with Jin Mao's words instead of confronting him head-on like Yu Fan did.

Jin Mao likes such counselors, who are smart and speak well.

But today he was still shocked: "What did you say?"

Xi Zhicai had a serious expression on his face. Maybe he was not very good at domestic affairs, but he had great confidence in the military field.

"If you want to lead your entire army to attack Yuzhang County, you must also consider the temple strategizing!"

Xi Zhicai said seriously: "Underestimating the enemy is a taboo in military strategy. My lord has studied the art of war diligently, how could he forget it?"

Jin Mao slapped his forehead and said casually: "This is a simple matter. The preparations are almost done. It's just a change of target. Zhicai, are you worrying too much?"

"No."

Xi Zhicai asked three soul-searching questions: "My Lord, what is our goal?"

"Where are we going to quell the riots?"

"Where are the thieves?"

Jin Mao calmed down and thought about it carefully, and it seemed to be the case.

The Baiyue people live in the north of Wuyi Mountain, which radiates more than thirty miles from north to south and more than two hundred miles from east to west. If all five thousand five hundred people were spread out, how much land could they cover?

The trouble now is that these Baiyue people no longer gather together, but are scattered across the mountainous areas.

Jin Mao asked: "Then what do you think we should do?"

"My lord, you should forgive the mistakes of the mountain people." Xi Zhicai had expected this and his plan came out smoothly.

"We will find a way to gather the mountain people together again and leave a brave and capable general to replace the one guarding Lanzhi."

"Finally, we can unify the laws and assimilate these mountain people into the people under my rule, and this problem will be solved."

Jin Mao subconsciously disagreed with the idea of ​​being forgiven after a mistake had been made, but subconsciously he felt that there was no better way.

The remaining challenge is to gather the mountain people again.

Jin Mao suddenly had an idea: "Just do as you say!"

"Someone come!" Jin Mao took out his beloved wooden trumpet and said, "Order people to build it in this style. The more the better. Remember, there are only three days."

When Xi Zhicai saw the wooden trumpet, he knew that Jin Mao understood, and began to discuss further.

Details about food, supplies, camping, etc.

This time is different from the trip to Wujun.

Although Xi Zhicai just said that we should not underestimate the enemy, his arrangements were not as detailed as Wu Jun's.

The issue that the two argued about the most was the method of transporting grain.

(End of this chapter)