The imperial army's rations have arrived

Chapter 24: The Imperial Court’s Military Rations Arrive

Chu Huaibei had been arranging patrols with his personal guards for nearly two months. During this time, the noble families hadn't sent anyone to cause trouble, nor had there been any rumors of seizing fertile land. In fact, the bullying of men and women had even decreased. This made Chu Huaibei wonder if they were preparing for something big; it was impossible to expect these people to become obedient all of a sudden.

But before Chu Huaibei could find out what was going on, the imperial army's rations were delivered.

In mid-September, Chu Huaibei met with Wei Zeng, the Imperial Censor who was escorting grain and fodder. Wei Zeng handed the booklet containing the detailed military rations to the Prince of Zhenbei. When Chu Huaibei saw that the imperial court had only sent one million dan of military rations this year, his eyes grew increasingly sharp. This meant that when there was no war, the soldiers' meals would need to be reduced to barely meet the army's food needs.

The booklet contained the reason given by the emperor: heavy rain in the south this year resulted in a decrease in wheat production, making it impossible to raise more military rations.

I'm afraid this is not the real reason. I don't know what made the emperor unhappy again. He actually started to cut back on military rations. He withheld 200,000 shi this year. Will he continue to withhold 200,000 shi next year? What is he thinking? How can the soldiers guard the border if they don't have enough to eat? Is this emperor crazy?

Wei Zeng saw that the expression of Prince Zhenbei was becoming more and more serious. Although he could not see any anger, his mood was definitely not good. When he received the escort book this year, he was also thinking about it in his heart, but he saw that the Minister of Revenue had an indifferent expression, and he thought it was the emperor's intention.

He was solely responsible for ensuring the timely and safe delivery of rations to the barracks; the rest was beyond his control. "Please, Prince Zhenbei, personally receive and inspect them. We will then return to Fengjing to report on our work."

Chu Huaibei put down the book in his hand, stood up and left the tent to arrange for the military rations to be weighed and stored. "You have worked hard on your journey, Censor Wei. I will send someone to receive them immediately."

He sent his deputy general to the Ministry of Agriculture to fetch help, while he himself, along with Censor Wei, headed for the barracks' granary. The transport carts were already parked in an orderly fashion. Chu Huaibei pulled out his dagger and randomly inspected several bags of wheat. The dryness and plumpness were all above standard. This was also this year's new grain, so he seemed to have some integrity. If they had truly sent stale grain, there was nothing he could do. The emperor had given you grain, and he wasn't starving, so what could you do?

A short while later, the deputy general arrived with the people from the Sino-Agricultural Office. Chu Huaibei gave them a command, and they quickly began to work together, weighing, moving, and recording, all in an orderly manner.

During this period, the Military Inspector was also present. The storage of military rations was a major event, and Fan Liang also needed to verify the data to see if it was equal to the amount told to him by his superiors.

It took a whole day to sort through the one million dan of military rations and register them for storage. After the handover, Wei Zeng declined Chu Huaibei's invitation to stay at the barracks for dinner. After finishing his preparations, he led his men back to the post station to rest. Seeing Chu Huaibei's insistence, he didn't stay any longer and sent them on their way.

The next day, Wei Zeng, the Imperial Censor of the Canal, led the transport team back to Fengjing, not staying in the northern border for even a moment. Last year, Chu Huaibei had hosted a welcome party for him at the military camp, but this year he acted differently. Chu Huaibei could understand, though; they were all employees, and they had to do whatever their superiors told them to do.

Five days passed like this. On this day, Chu Huaibei was handling military affairs in the tent with his deputy general as usual. He heard a personal soldier outside reporting that Chen Sinong wanted to see him.

"Your Highness, I have something important to report. Please go to the granary!" Chen Sinong walked quickly into the tent without even bothering to salute.

Seeing the usually steady Chen Sinong acting like this, Chu Huaibei knew it must be something serious. He stood up and walked directly to the granary with Chen Sinong.

As soon as I entered, I saw people from the Ministry of Agriculture opening bags one by one to check what was going on.

Chen Sinong led Chu Huaibei to the place where half a bag of wheat was spread, squatted down, and picked up the wheat on the ground to show Chu Huaibei. He saw that the wheat in Chen Sinong's hand was mixed with white gravel, and at a glance, half of it was gravel, which was obviously not normal.

Chu Huaibei squatted down, opened the bag and took a closer look, and found that most of the wheat in the bag was mixed with gravel. Someone had tampered with the military rations!

Chu Huaibei asked Lu Shun to call in two hundred personal soldiers to search together, find out all the things mixed with sand and gravel, and pile them up separately.

After inspection, it was found that there were a total of 50,000 bags of such wheat, which is almost 50,000 dan of the stuff. What's even more disgusting is that these gravels are about the same size as the wheat, and it would take a lot of effort to sift them out.

These noble families were truly lawless. For a moment, Chu Huaibei was so enraged that he wanted to draw his sword and kill someone. Even if he reported this matter to the emperor now, considering his previous attitude, at most he could find a scapegoat and dismiss the matter. First, the quantity was small, and among the 50,000 dan, there were at least 20,000 dan of wheat, not all of it. It would be very likely that he could just say it was an accidental mix-up and get away with a minor punishment.

Chu Huaibei tried to calm himself down and ordered someone to sort out the wheat. He didn't need to say anything else to outsiders.

"Chen Sinong, the military settlement land should have been plowed. This year, you must follow my instructions for planting. First, you must use wheat from the northern border as seeds. Second, all grain seeds must be left outside to dry for three days. Select the plump seeds, then soak them in wood ash water overnight before sowing. This year, all military settlement land must be sown using plows. No household is allowed to sow the seeds at will. You must personally oversee this matter. I will send my personal soldiers to assist."

"It's better to keep food in our own hands so we don't panic next time we encounter a similar incident."

Chu Huaibei shifted his gaze from Chen Sinong's face to the people busy in the granary. Even though her voice was calm, Chen Sinong could still hear the hint of impending storm in it.

Chu Huaibei assigned Chen Sinong twenty personal soldiers to accompany him to the military settlement daily. After everyone had prepared the wheat seeds according to Chu Huaibei's instructions, a large number of plow carts appeared in the fields of the military settlement, rapidly sowing seeds on the plowed soil. Some were pulled by oxen, some by donkeys, and the most primitive were human-drawn. The fastest person could sow a hundred acres of land in a single day.

Of course, the appearance of the plow cart also alarmed the aristocratic families, but it was much less of a sensation than the curved plow, mainly because this sowing tool could not immediately demonstrate its value. A few aristocratic families, seeing the royal palace and the Qin family's farms also using it, became interested and bought a few for their people to use. However, these farmers, with their fixed mindsets, were unable to execute the machine well, using it on only a few acres, while the rest continued to sow by hand.

When the owner went to check on the farm again, the seeds had already been sown. He couldn't sow them again, so the matter was over.

The grain seeds in the palace and the farms of several families that were friendly with the Chu family were also sown according to Chu Huaibei's requirements, and they were also sown using plow carts.

Here we have to mention the previous visit to Yangjia Village. Du Jiping specially brought a plow cart back to the village and first talked about the most important things that everyone was concerned about, telling them that the children were studying hard and that the palace was taking good care of them, so they could rest assured. Zhang Zhiheng had passed the examination and became a student, but had not yet gone to the provincial school and remained at the Qingzhu Academy to study.

Next, he introduced the plow cart and told the villagers about Chu Huaibei's method of processing seeds. He said that the military settlements and the royal farms were all sown in this way, and that the prince must have his own reasons for doing so. The plow cart has been brought back, and everyone has been told how to use it. If they want to switch to the same farming model, then they should make a few more plow carts now to keep up with the sowing time.

After saying this, Du Jiping prepared to return to the palace. The village chief opened his mouth to say something, but in the end he was unable to ask until Du Jiping got on the carriage and left.

The village chief gathered the villagers at the threshing ground in the village, repeated the master's words, and asked for everyone's opinions. Only those families who sent their children to school were willing to listen to the master and use the new method of sowing. Even though the rest knew that the master would not harm them, they had been farming for a lifetime, and it was difficult for them to accept that the master suddenly told them that this way of sowing was not acceptable.

The village chief did not force him, but asked the skilled carpenters in the village to make twenty plow carts and distribute them to those in need. When the teacher left, he stuffed twenty taels of silver into his hand, saying that it was for the wages of making the plow carts. He could not refuse, so he accepted it.

The annual sowing season has come to an end.

After finishing his busy schedule, Chu Huaibei went home to rest for two days. That night, before going to bed, Chu Huaibei told Sun Mingsi everything that had happened in the military camp during these days. His words were completely different from the calmness he had at that time. He complained about everything and everyone he could, which made Sun Mingsi angry and distressed.

The next day, Sun Mingsi wrote a letter to Jin Yi, asking him to arrange people to slowly collect grain in the south and gradually open grain stores to the northern border. At least one grain route must be under his own hands.

This behavior was done in a very secretive manner. Even if someone wanted to investigate, they might not find anything even after three to five years.

Chu Huaibei took the initiative to tell her mother about the military rations in the camp. She knew her mother had always been in contact with her maternal grandparents, and some things needed to be shared. Growing up, Chu Huaibei seemed to have received nothing but books from her maternal grandparents. But she could sense that her maternal grandparents must have missed them very much, especially after her father's death.

When the Concubine heard about the military rations being replaced, she was instantly furious, her brow furrowed, but she managed to suppress her anger and analyzed the most likely scenarios with Chu Huaibei. The only other option was to find a way to gain more access to food. The Concubine had a grain route, but because it was not public, the amount of grain collected each year was not much, only 50,000 dan.

The Dowager's anger was that the Emperor, or someone with knowledge of the matter, had even factored this into her calculations. It was truly despicable. For whom did the Chu family defend the northern border, repeatedly mistreating them like this? Thinking of her father's previous letter, the Dowager felt indignant.

Over the years, the Zhenbei Palace has invested a lot of wealth in the Zhenbei Army. If it weren't for the concubine's good management, the palace would have been emptied long ago. Perhaps someone just wants to empty the palace.

Seeing that Chu Huaibei also intended to keep the Zhenbei Army's food and supplies in his own hands, unlike her overly cautious father, the concubine felt more at ease.

After telling his mother this, Chu Huaibei suddenly changed the subject to the vegetables they had for lunch and asked how many acres of land the family had planted.

The toffee was still mentally calculating something important one second ago, but was interrupted the next, with an expression of confusion. This wasn't the first time she'd eaten this vegetable; it was in its prime season right now, and she ate it every year, stewing, frying, boiling, and enjoying it in various ways.

"Not much, only about ten acres. There are not many people in our family and we don't like to eat it much. Most of it is eaten by the soldiers in the palace and the people in the village. Is there any problem?" asked the concubine.