Distant Mountain Battle Song

Chapter 204 What is meant by "the general trend"?
The Han Dynasty was beginning to descend into chaos.

The decreasing number of caravans arriving at Jingkou Pass is a telling sign.

Yun Ce's favorite baby beans, peanut-sized pieces of refined rice, glutinous millet, the kind of animal meat with its own floral fragrance, and honey that can be left to set and develop a frosting effect are all gone.

Not only are they gone, but there are no substitutes either, and the variety of goods is rapidly decreasing.

Business was really good at Jingkou Pass. As long as the goods brought by the caravan were not sold, Jingkou Pass would buy up the remaining goods at 30% of the market price.

This is almost a guaranteed profit, since the remaining goods are called surplus stock. Selling them at 30% of the market price is definitely a beneficial move for the caravan.

More importantly, the goods collected at Jingkou Pass were ultimately paid for in gold; they almost never used the green coins that caravans disliked to pay for the goods.

Moreover, there is no history of defaulting on debts or engaging in forced buying and selling.

To further facilitate caravans, Jingkou Pass even exempted them from entering the city tax.

Various measures were taken and implemented, but unfortunately, after a caravan that specialized in selling clothing and cloth came by, no caravan had come to Jingkou Pass for twenty days.

To be precise, the Han Dynasty was a purely commercial nation.

Because there was no large-scale agriculture, the people relied on gathering and hunting to collect resources. Then, a large number of traveling merchants would collect the resources from the people and transport them to small towns, where they would be resold to small caravans. Once the small caravans had gathered enough resources, they would then transport them to the big cities.

If large cities cannot consume so many goods, specialized merchants will stockpile the surplus goods and hand them over to large caravans, who will then transport these goods to the large cities that need them for resale.

If they still can't be sold, they are transferred to local caravans to continue selling in the next-tier city until they are all sold out.

In other words, the role of large caravans was to regulate supply and demand, like blood vessels transporting blood to every part of the body. If the blood vessels stopped supplying blood, it would be a dead end.

Now, no caravans have come to Jingkou Pass for twenty days, which indicates that the main caravan routes are in trouble and there are no surplus supplies to reach a fifth-tier city like Jingkou Pass.

This is a serious problem because the area north of the Great Wall does not produce salt grass or grow important textile resources like cloth trees. It's one thing if other materials can't get in, but the lack of salt grass and cloth trees is a major problem for Yun Ce.

Yun Ce had never seen the sea here before, nor did he know if the salt in the sea was edible, because he had never heard of sea salt as a commodity.

The same applies to the yew tree. It grows in the cold regions north of the Great Wall, but the bark fiber cannot be extracted from it. This is mainly because the bark is thick and hard, and it is impossible to grind it into powder to extract the starch, as the starch from the yew tree here is not only bitter but also has a certain degree of toxicity.

It's a great raw material for making paper.

Previously, when Liu Che was the garrison commander of Jingkou Pass, it was common for merchant caravans to not come for ten or twenty days. This was mainly because the military households at Jingkou Pass under Liu Che's command were all poor. Not only did they not have money to buy their goods, but they also sometimes stole them.

Now, Jingkou Pass is a well-known good place to do business. However, the caravan still did not come for twenty days. This was not a problem with Jingkou Pass, but a problem with the caravan.

Despite the many speculations, everyone could only wait until Feng An, who had been sent out to gather information, returned.

Fortunately, Yun Ce had already ordered the purchase of more supplies before he was chased by Yu Sang. To this day, the supplies in Jingkou Pass are still relatively plentiful. As for Yun Clan Manor, apart from the consumption of green salt, grain, and clothing, the consumption of other supplies is very low.

After Liang Kun compiled the statistics, he told Yun Ce a figure of 120 days. In other words, at the current rate of resource consumption, both Jingkou Pass and Yun Clan Manor would run out of resources in 120 days.

One hundred and twenty days is actually a relatively safe figure. According to the general food security line on Earth, a 20% stock-to-consumption ratio can support the food consumption of the country's residents for about seventy-three days. If Jingkou Pass and Yunshi Manor do not restrict consumption, they can support one hundred and twenty days, which is already quite good.

Yun Ce made these preparations because food storage was a very important task on Earth, and even after Yun Ce came here and became the leader of a group, this task remained his top priority.

Feng An has returned, and the news he brought back is very bad.

It turns out that not only have caravans not come to Jingkou Pass, but also to the nearby Yujin Pass, Hutou Pass, Daliang Pass, and Dongquan Pass for a long time.

Yujin Pass and Hutou Pass belong to the Cao family's territory. They can also send their own caravans from Qiuhe Prefecture, which is not far away. As for other passes, apart from Jingkou Pass, there is no wealthy and powerful patron behind them who can summon their own caravans to come to their aid at any time.

The Han people do not have the habit of storing supplies for a long time, especially those in cities. They buy and eat as needed. The long period of peace in the past has led them to mistakenly believe that food and supplies are everywhere and can be obtained anytime, anywhere if they want them.

After roughly assessing the grain reserves of several nearby towns and cities, Liang Kun decisively concluded that if the caravans did not enter soon, famine would occur in these towns along the Great Wall defense line within a month.

Feng An's face was very pale.

"It's not just the cities along the Great Wall that aren't seeing any caravans coming; the six cities right next to our side of the Great Wall are also basically without caravans. When I was in Pingcheng, I heard from a caravan manager that the major cities in the interior are now stockpiling grain and supplies, and very little of the supplies that used to be transported from Fengdi are reaching our northern cities."

Even if some were available, it would be a drop in the ocean, and they would be snapped up as soon as they entered the big cities.

This time I ordered 60,000 catties of hay, but I only received less than 20,000 catties and transported them back. As a result, many people who couldn't buy hay said that I was able to buy it only because the shopkeeper wanted to maintain his relationship with Jingkou Pass.

I originally wanted to continue deeper into Pingzhou, but when I reached Pingcheng, I couldn't go any further. Pingcheng had kept the news very tightly under wraps, and no one knew what was happening south of Pingcheng.

I squatted at the south gate of Pingcheng for three days, and counted the wagons that transported grain to the south. Based on the amount of grain transported each day, I roughly estimated that Pingzhou could supply the army of 60,000 people in the south with grain every day.

In other words, a large-scale battle is taking place south of Pingcheng, but the identity of the opposing side is unknown.

"It is He Tian of Lingzhou and Tan Shou of Pingzhou who are fighting for the confluence of the Yongshou River and the Qingshui River. So far, Pingzhou has the upper hand."

When Yun Ce saw Cao Kun, he did not stop him from walking straight into the council hall. He stood up, smiled, and cupped his hands, saying, "It's not surprising that I have no grain here. Brother Cao, with your large family and business, you still look like you're in a hurry."

Holding a sword, Cao Kun sat down unceremoniously on the futon next to Yun Ce and said directly, "Tan Shou of Pingzhou is trying to starve us this time, so I discussed it with everyone and we plan to take advantage of Tan Shou's main force being tied up at the mouth of the Yongshou River and launch a joint attack on Pingzhou. What do you think?"

Yun Ce glanced at the group of people Cao Kun had brought; some were acquaintances, while others were complete strangers.

Cao Kun laughed and said, "They are all envoys sent by the generals of various places to participate in this grand event. As long as Brother Yun agrees, we will have all the people we need."

Yun Ce laughed and said, "Since it's a matter for everyone, how could I, Yun Ce, refuse?"

Cao Kun stood up, raised the sword in his hand, and said, "I am the commander-in-chief. What do you think, Brother Yun?"

Yun Ce stood up, cupped his hands, and said, "Since it is what everyone wants, as a member of the Great Wall border city, I will naturally comply. However, the soldiers and generals at Jingkou Pass are few and weak, and I am afraid that Brother Cao will not be satisfied with them."

Cao Kun looked at Yun Ce and said, "This is exactly where we can help you."

Having said that, he had someone bring a geomantic map and nail it to a wooden board. Pointing to Xiangcheng, the closest city to Jingkou Pass, he asked Yun Ce, "Can we take this city in three days?"

After looking at the place Cao Kun pointed out, Yun Ce sighed and said, "To seize Xiangcheng, a city with 6,000 troops and high walls and deep moats, with only 500 soldiers, Brother Cao really thinks highly of me."

Cao Kun said coldly, "Yan Fei, the lord of Xiangcheng, has always been very arrogant and considers himself the number one warrior in the north. Although Xiangcheng is a fortified city, if Brother Yun leads his troops there, he will definitely come out of the city to meet the enemy."

"Field battles are precisely where Brother Yun's troops excel. If Brother Yun can kill Yan Fei in battle, Xiangcheng's morale will surely be thrown into chaos, allowing Brother Yun to take it in one fell swoop."

Yun Ce asked in surprise, "What if he doesn't come out?"

Cao Kun laughed heartily and said, "If he doesn't come out, Brother Yun, just guard Xiangcheng and prevent him from leaving. After we've dealt with the five nearby cities and passes, we'll join forces and take Xiangcheng."

Seeing that Yun Ce remained silent, Cao Kun continued, "If we don't eliminate Tan Shou of Pingzhou, the trade routes and supplies won't reach the Great Wall. Otherwise, we'll all face certain death."

Why is Brother Yun still hesitating and remaining silent?

"Five hundred cavalrymen are also needed to guard Jingkou Pass. The rest of the Yun family are all elderly, weak, women and children. Once these five hundred cavalrymen leave, Jingkou Pass will be completely undefended."

"If any enemy invades, forty thousand women and children will have no choice but to await their execution; I dare not gamble with that."

Cao Kun said, "I can borrow five hundred soldiers to guard Jingkou Pass."

Yun Ce shook his head and said, "How about the commander borrows five hundred soldiers to accompany my troops to Xiangcheng? I am not talented, but I am willing to serve as the commander's vanguard."

Cao Kun looked at Yun Ce and said, "Very well! The five hundred men you requested will arrive by noon tomorrow. At that time, I hope Brother Yun will not cause any further trouble and delay the military operation."

Yun Ce cupped his hands and said, "This humble general will certainly await the arrival of the five hundred cavalrymen and will rush to Xiangcheng as soon as possible."

When Yun Ce saw Cao Kun off from Yun Clan Manor, Cao Kun glanced at the people busy in the fields and whispered to Yun Ce, "This place is flat and suitable for farming, but there is no city defense. Be careful."

(End of this chapter)