Chapter 801 Donation of Five Million Jin of Grain

The Laki Kingdom launched several surprise attacks, which became known even to the common people in the capital, naturally sparking a huge discussion in the court.

"His Highness the Crown Prince is a proponent of war. He relayed Mother's words in court, requesting His Majesty to send him to crush the Laji Kingdom," Zhao Sidan said. "The court officials also understand that if the Laji Kingdom is not crushed, the battlefield will be in the outskirts of the capital or in the capital itself. No one wants such a thing to happen. Therefore, after the morning court session, more than half of the court officials were in favor of war, and all the first and second-rank officials were summoned to the Imperial Study by His Majesty for further discussion."

Cheng Wanwan nodded: "It seems that this battle is inevitable."

Everyone is afraid of war, everyone is afraid of sacrifice, but if we don't fight now, it will be the ordinary people who suffer in three to five years.

The reason why the Kingdom of Laki is currently lurking in the shadows is because they are not yet powerful enough. Declaring war at this moment is the best opportunity.

Sure enough, the emperor issued an edict after the morning court session the next day.

The General of the Cavalry led 30,000 troops to garrison the capital, determined to capture all the Laki Kingdom's supporters within a month.

The Ministry of War appointed Minister Zou as Assistant General and the Crown Prince as Lieutenant General, ordering them to lead 100,000 soldiers to Jilin Province to crush the Kingdom of Laji.

"Of these 100,000 soldiers, 50,000 were conscripted from the west and 50,000 were dispatched from the north, and they will converge in Jilin Province," Cheng Zhao said. "The Assistant General and His Highness the Crown Prince, along with 1,000 Imperial Guards and provisions, will set off first and arrive in Jilin Province in a month, ready to start the war at any time."

Ji Province is the northernmost province of the Great Yu Kingdom, separated from the Kingdom of Laki by a narrow coastline. It only takes two days to travel to the Kingdom of Laki by boat.

Crossing the sea with 100,000 soldiers, along with provisions and logistics personnel, was no easy task.

She looked up and asked, "How many troops does the Great Yu Kingdom have in total?"

“The Great Yu Kingdom has approximately 400,000 soldiers. 100,000 control the southern kingdoms, 150,000 defend the western frontier of the Western Rong, 100,000 defend the northern frontier, 30,000 are in the capital, and another 70,000 are distributed among the military headquarters in various provinces,” Cheng Zhao replied. “His Majesty also has some troops at his disposal, though the exact number is unknown. Sending 100,000 to pacify the Laji Kingdom should be enough.”

Cheng Wanwan nodded. Four hundred thousand soldiers would be considered a very strong military force in any dynasty of China. This should be an experience summarized from a history of blood and tears.

Sending 100,000 cavalry to Laki Kingdom is not a problem in terms of manpower, but if the food supply is cut off, the consequences will be quite serious.

It's May or June now, not yet the harvest season, so the national granaries probably don't have that much grain. Therefore, this battle must be won quickly.

But if something goes wrong, it's easy to be completely ruined. For example, once war breaks out, the price of grain will definitely skyrocket, and it wouldn't be surprising if it rose to 100 coins per catty. What if we can't procure enough grain? ... We must make full preparations in advance for everything and never fight a battle unprepared.

Cheng Wanwan said, "Zhao'er, could you please arrange a meeting with the Minister of Revenue? I'd like to donate some grain."

Zhao Sidan looked up in surprise: "In May and June, many farmers run out of food. Everyone is tightening their belts and waiting for the harvest in August and September. Even if they have money, they can't buy food. The court plans to send a month's worth of grain to Jilin Province first, and then send another batch after the harvest. It shouldn't be a problem."

"As the saying goes, 'An army marches on its stomach.' We can't wait until the battle is about to begin to send supplies, or it will destabilize the morale of the troops." Cheng Wanwan smiled. "Six months ago, when I first arrived in the capital, I visited the San Niu military camp. They treated me to the best wine, but it didn't taste very good. At that time, I thought about brewing my own wine and even bought a lot of grain and stored it in a warehouse on the outskirts of Beijing. I've been so busy lately that I forgot about it. Instead of using the grain to brew wine, it's better to send it to the front lines as supplies. It's my small contribution to this battle."

Zhao Sidan was busy with his studies, so it was normal that he didn't know about this, and he didn't find it strange.

Cheng Zhao lived in the outskirts of Beijing, so it was even less likely that he would know Cheng Wanwan's whereabouts.

Therefore, her words did not arouse any suspicion.

Of course, this excludes Cheng Yi, who has always been by her side.

If Cheng Jia were also in the capital, he would probably feel exactly the same way as Cheng Yi.

Upon learning that his second aunt possessed a large quantity of grain, Cheng Zhao immediately arranged to meet with the Minister of Revenue.

Cheng Wanwan and Cheng Yi rented a warehouse on the outskirts of Beijing overnight and filled it with grain.

In times of peace and prosperity, grain is not expensive; white rice costs only ten coins per pound, but because it is not yet harvest season, it is difficult to buy that much.

So she simply bought more than 5 million catties of grain at the mall at a clearance price of two coins per catty, spending a total of more than 10,000 taels of silver.

She did the math: 100,000 soldiers could eat at least 3 million catties of grain a month. Her donation of 5 million catties would feed 100,000 soldiers for nearly two months. Adding the amount reserved by the imperial court, three months would not be a problem.

The news that Lady Chao Sui had donated five million bushels of grain to the imperial court spread throughout the entire capital city in just one night.

The ministers in the court were also in an uproar.

"Five million catties of grain, Madam Sui is truly generous."

"Even the national treasury doesn't have this much grain, how could Lady Sui have hoarded so much?"

"Lord Cheng, where did your second aunt buy so much grain?"

Cheng Zhao: "..."

When his second aunt brought this up, he thought that two or three hundred thousand catties of grain would be the most he could get, but little did he know that it would actually be five million catties.

The price of five million catties of grain was not expensive, at ten coins per catty, which is about fifty thousand taels of silver. This amount of money was not expensive for many wealthy and powerful families, but it was very difficult to buy. No one would buy so much grain and hoard it at home for no reason.

“These grains are what my mother planned to use to brew liquor,” Zhao Sidan said as he walked over. “Two years ago, my mother donated 30,000 cotton-padded clothes and quilts to the garrison in the capital, which only barely solved the problem of the garrison’s suffering from the cold. My mother thought that she should brew more strong liquor to send to the garrison. When it snows in winter, drinking a glass of strong liquor can warm their bodies and give the soldiers more spirit to guard the capital, right?”

It takes ten catties of grain to produce one catty of strong liquor. Five million catties is equivalent to five hundred thousand catties of liquor. If it is donated to 30,000 stationed troops, each person can drink a dozen catties, which is about one jar, and that's about it. This amount is actually not that much.

With this in mind, the ministers all accepted the source of the grain.

While the ministers were stunned by Cheng Wanwan's behavior, the Empress of Kunning Palace felt something deeply.

With the crown prince going to war and her son about to go to the battlefield, she was more worried than anyone else, and thus, she was trapped in her own woman's mindset.

But she is not only a mother, but also the mother of a nation. How can she be bound by maternal love?

Mrs. Sui always puts the country first in everything she does, so shouldn't she do something too?

That afternoon, the Empress donated five thousand taels of silver to the army in the name of the Yan family.

With Lady Arisu and the Empress taking the lead, noblewomen in the capital followed suit, some donating grain and fodder, others donating silver... and military supplies were suddenly plentiful.