Start with a red name

December 22nd, around 7pm.

As Geng Xuan, riding on the galloping Xuanyou horse, rushed out of the tunnel first, the outpost camp that had been vacant for ten days soon became lively again.

Zha Luo and others, who had briefly stayed here for two days, quickly took over everything here again after returning to the camp.

Watching the Xuanyou horses pulling carts of food and other supplies galloping out of the tunnel in an orderly manner and entering the designated area in the camp.

Geng Xuan did not try to fight for the night's opportunity and asked everyone to travel east overnight.

Geng Xuan had walked back and forth several times on the nearly 100-mile mountain road from here to the silted-up section of the Zhushui River.

Geng Xuan was also quite familiar with the road conditions along the way.

It would be fine if they just urged the Xuanyou horses to go fast, but if they drove a large number of carriages, it would be impossible to go fast even during the day, not to mention at night.

Once a carriage broke down on the road, it could easily cause a blockage on the entire road.

So Geng Xuan settled down in the camp with peace of mind.

When the last Xuanyou horse pulled the fully loaded carriage out of the tunnel, this closely guarded tunnel had been "deserted" for two or three hours, and then the sound of dense footsteps was heard from the tunnel again.

After a while, nearly two hundred figures were seen walking out of the tunnel one after another.

As soon as these people walked out of the tunnel, they were "escorted" into the camp by the welcoming team that was "on high alert" at the tunnel entrance.

Not long after, about half an hour later, another group of one or two hundred people walked out of the tunnel.

Without any surprises, these people were quickly led into the camp to rest and settle down.

These people are of mixed composition.

The largest number of them were the "diggers" who were gathered personally by Geng Xuan from the "construction sites" in the mountains west of the "Ochre Red Eye" basin. There were more than a thousand of them, and they were all those who had practiced the art of walking on the ground.

Among them, the largest number of them were the "black coolies" deceived by Chen Zhan and others from all over Yuanzhou;
There are also "trainees" who come from the spy system headed by Chen Zhan;
There are also direct forces from the two states of Xuan and You, which are directly under Dong Guan.

There were also some formal gang members and a large number of temporary gang members left in the basin by Geng Xuan.

Among them, the Xu family headed by Xu Peng has the largest number of members.

After the Xuanyou cavalry took the lead, the subsequent batches of teams coming out of the tunnel were all carefully arranged by Xu Peng.

Ensure that each team can successfully pass through the tunnel area of more than 200 miles without any trouble.

Xu Peng personally led the last group of more than 300 people out of the tunnel.

After entering the camp, the first thing Xu Peng did was to confirm that all the teams arranged earlier had entered the camp smoothly.

There were no accidents during the journey and no one was missing.

After confirming this, Xu Peng, feeling relieved, headed towards Geng Xuan's tent where he was staying for the night.

At this moment, it was already past midnight.

The reason why he behaved so dedicatedly was that the days in the "Ochre-Eye" Basin stimulated his sense of ownership.

It was because Geng Xuan shared with him the latest situation of Wuyou Palace and Yuanjing the first time he saw him.

Among them, of course, the focus is on telling how embarrassing the situation was for the entire Xu family headed by Xu Ziming and Xu Qiwen before he entered Yuanjing, how he pulled them out of the quagmire, and how great their contribution was in the night attack on the city wall of Wuyou Palace, as well as how the two sides are now back to back and close.

To sum it up in one sentence, "Your Xu family has now completely boarded my pirate ship. From now on, you just work for me peacefully."

Shocked by such "bad news", Xu Peng felt a little bit of the vicissitudes of life in his heart, thinking "A day in the mountains is a thousand years in the world", and then he turned into a hardworking ox and was overwhelmed by the tasks thrown at him by Geng Xuan one after another.

At this moment, after finally completing all the tasks assigned by Geng Xuan without any mistakes, Xu Peng, feeling relieved, immediately went to report to Geng Xuan.

There was another person traveling with him, who was the "indigenous" leader of the "Ochre-Eye" basin, the old man Deng Shan.

This was not Xu Peng or Deng Shan's own initiative, but Geng Xuan's special instruction.

Compared to the sloppy and disheveled appearance when he first met Geng Xuan, Deng Shan now looked much more presentable.

His hair bun, tied with a wooden hairpin, was meticulously groomed by him. From his clothing to his demeanor, he exuded the aura of a "civilized person".

It even reaches a point where it seems a bit contrived.

When Xu Peng led Deng Shan into Geng Xuan's tent, they found that "Su Ruiliang" was discussing matters with others.

Seeing the eye signal from "Su Ruiliang", Xu Peng led Deng Shan to find a place to sit aside and wait quietly.

His eyes also swept over the other people in the tent.

He knew one of them, who was the original owner of this outpost camp and the leader of the spy system deployed by Dong Guan in Yuanzhou.

He did not know the identities of the other two.

However, when he heard an old woman mention "Yuan Jing", he pricked up his ears quietly.

……

"...In that case, my mission should be over, right? I wonder if I can return to Yuanjing?" the old woman said to Geng Xuan.

"Of course." Geng Xuan responded directly, with a slightly apologetic look on his face.

Unlike Han Jian and Xu Jiao who actively participated in the affairs of the Giant Bear Gang, Aunt Xu, the "temporary gang member", was very Buddhist.

Especially after experiencing the night attack by the elite troops of Wuyou Palace, she has been completely reclusive in Qingyuanji and does not participate in any affairs of the Giant Bear Gang.

Naturally, this also includes the northward migration of tens of thousands of residents related to the "dredging of the ancient Zhushui River", which has been a hot topic within the Giant Bear Gang in the past two days.

Aunt Xu did not participate at all.

For this reason, Geng Xuan met with Fang Jintang and others in the camp outside Qingyuanji yesterday. They sorted out and discussed many things, but ignored Aunt Xu, the biggest contributor to the elite night attack on Wuyou Palace.

Just now, after listening to Chen Zhan's introduction, Nanny Xu only learned today that he had returned from Yuanjing. She directly asked Fang Jintang for a Xuanyou horse and set off north.

I arrived at the temporary camp this afternoon, but didn't see Geng Xuan himself. I was disappointed again.

Luo Qing, who was now appointed by Geng Xuan as the general manager of the "River Dredging Project Department", received her and said that the gang leader was only away temporarily and would return the same day, so she could just wait in the camp with peace of mind. However, Aunt Xu insisted on seeing him as soon as possible.

——Although, after Guo Zian’s suggestion, the current scale of the project has changed greatly compared to the original idea.

But at this stage, everything we are doing is not fundamentally different from what we originally envisioned.

A group of Giant Bear Gang members led by Luo Qing and a group of neighborhood "old masters" led by Peng Ke have been making preliminary preparations for this for nearly a month.

They know all the details about the early stages of the project, from personnel scheduling to the preparation of various materials and tools.

Apart from using a large number of Xuanyou horses as transportation tools and some other adjustments to improve efficiency, everything else did not deviate from the framework set by their early preparations.

Under such circumstances, it was natural for Luo Qing to become the project leader at this stage.

……

Faced with Aunt Xu's insistence, Luo Qing had no choice but to agree.

But before he could arrange this matter, Hong Quan and his companions, who had gone south with five hundred Xuanyou horses early in the morning, returned to the camp with five hundred fully loaded horses.

The size of the camp suddenly increased from more than 400 people to nearly 1,000 people.

In addition to those planned, there were a few more people entering the camp with Hong Quan and others this time.

It was Liu Yueji and several of the rangers who were always by his side, Yue Luyuan, who now held the title of "temporary member of the Giant Bear Gang".

After this group of people were settled, at the repeated urging of Aunt Xu, Luo Qing, who had originally planned to arrange only a guide for her, simply went all out and temporarily arranged a fairly large team, considering the subsequent needs.

The guide changed from "someone" to Chen Zhan, and they were accompanied by Liu Yueji, Cheng Hui, several children from the pigeon training academy, and a large number of homing pigeons.

……

"...Then I'll take my leave." Nanny Xu bowed to Geng Xuan.

Geng Xuan said, "You'd better wait until daybreak before leaving. No matter how urgent the situation is in Yuanjing, it won't last overnight."

Aunt Xu shook her head and said, "It's easy for you to say it, but I feel that their current situation is not easy... If I don't go back soon, I will feel uneasy."

Geng Xuan's expression froze slightly. Why was there a hint of resentment in these words?
Is it my own illusion?

Or maybe, Aunt Xu really felt that after he caused a big fuss in Yuanjing, he threw the mess to Tang Caizhu and the others and walked away. This kind of "killing without burying" behavior was a bit too unkind?

Without waiting for Geng Xuan to think about it, Nanny Xu bowed to him again, then nodded to the other people in the tent, and strode out of the tent without stopping for a moment.

After Nanny Xu left, there was a moment of silence in the tent.

Geng Xuan's eyes swept over the people in the tent, and finally landed on Liu Yueji, saying:

“Tell me about your business first.

...Actually, we've already made everything clear last time. You don't have to make this trip in person."

By utilizing the group of knights in Yuanzhou and making them serve his own purposes, he has achieved the goal of eradicating the power of Wuyou Palace entrenched in various parts of Yuanzhou in a short period of time.

This idea was originally inspired and perfected during the discussion between Geng Xuan and Liu Yueji.

Now, it’s just a matter of putting the plan into action.

Geng Xuan was convinced that Liu Yueji's understanding of this mission was much deeper than those members of the Giant Bear Gang who had already received the mission and rushed to various places.

Have a clearer and more complete idea.

Liu Yueji responded with a smile:
"I already have a lot of preparations to make, so there's no rush... Also, I do have some questions I'd like to ask you in person."

Afterwards, Liu Yueji raised some typical problems that might be encountered during the mission.

The main issue is the definition of "Wuyou Palace remnants" and "non-Wuyou Palace forces" in places where various forces are intertwined and you are in me and I am in you.

About a quarter of an hour later, Liu Yueji, expressing her deep inspiration, said goodbye to Geng Xuan.

Before leaving, Liu Yueji handed an account book to Geng Xuan and said:

"Boss, before I leave, I will temporarily hand over the granary to Liang Wenying for supervision.

However, this is not appropriate after all.

When passing by Qingyuanji, he specifically mentioned this matter to Deputy Gang Leader Fang Jintang.

By now, he should have arranged for someone to take over the granary.

……

This is the general ledger of grain I have handled since Liuyunfang took over the grain transportation.

I made two copies of the more complicated and specific account books.

A copy was handed to Deputy Gang Leader Fang when he passed by Qingyuanji, so that he could send people to take over the granary.

I brought one copy to the temporary camp and personally handed it to Luo Qing."

Geng Xuan took the account book, flipped through it briefly, and said to Liu Yueji, "Thank you for your thoughtfulness."

……

Liu Yueji had already said goodbye and left, but Geng Xuan's gaze was still on the last page of the account book.

This is a statistical summary of the various discrepancies.

The total amount of grain transported to Liuyunfang from the seventy-two markets in Yueluyuan and handed over to Liu Yueji was 64 dan.

In accordance with Geng Xuan's promise to the westward-migrating neighborhoods, Geng Xuan would be responsible for all food consumption of the residents during the migration until the neighborhoods were resettled in the Wufang camp.

In order to simplify the process and reduce management pressure, Liu Yueji discussed with Liang Wenying, Peng Ke and other borough masters, and Liu Yueji directly allocated 10,000 shi of grain.

In addition, a large number of vagrants and horses were used during the transportation.

This resulted in huge consumption.

This consumption is not only the food for people and horses, but also the inevitable loss of grain due to packaging problems and multiple transfers during long-distance transportation.

Later, when the transfer was completed, guarding the granary also incurred consumption.

By now, the total consumption had reached 4 koku. Furthermore, during the entire Qingyuanji War, grain was transported to Qingyuanji many times to supply the needs.

Even after the Qingyuanji War ended, this supply did not stop.

According to Geng Xuan, before Qingyuanji completes its reconstruction and restores its "blood-making ability", the Giant Bear Gang will have to take on the livelihood issues of thousands of residents in Qingyuanji.

——The Giant Bear Gang did not supply food to the residents of Qingyuanji for free, but used food as a reward to mobilize those residents of Qingyuanji who had temporarily lost their livelihoods to participate in the reconstruction of Qingyuanji and work hard, which was a disguised form of work-for-relief.

Up to now, in just about twenty days, the granary has shipped out 6000 shi of grain.

According to Liu Yueji's estimate of the reconstruction period of Qingyuanji, this supply will continue for another four to six months, and the amount of grain spent from the granary will not be less than 6,000 shi each month.

Then, a large number of residents moved north. In order to meet their needs along the way and for a period of time after arriving at the construction site, another 5000 stones of grain were shipped out of the granary.

After deducting these major expenses, a simple calculation shows that there should still be 58 dan of grain in the granary.

However, Liu Yueji specifically noted at the end of the article that the actual number is definitely not that high.

The actual reserves may not even be 58 shi.

Food is different from other materials. Even if there is no corruption, its reserves will gradually decrease as the storage time increases.

Insects, rodents, birds, dampness, mildew...

In nature, there are so many forces that can be its "enemy".

Even if the guards try their best, they can only reduce the losses caused by various forces, but cannot completely eliminate them.

"Fortunately, it's winter, a dry place with few birds, insects or mice.

Otherwise, this kind of silent loss day after day would be much more serious than it is now."

This is the text Liu Yueji recorded at the end of the account book.

Geng Xuan stared at the text for a long time, then looked up at Xu Peng, who was sitting in a corner of the tent, and asked:

"Have you taken inventory of all the supplies in the center of the basin?"

Xu Peng nodded quickly and said:
"It's all sorted out."

As he spoke, he reached into his sleeve, took out a piece of paper that he had carefully folded, held it in his hand, and was about to hand it to Geng Xuan.

Geng Xuan waved his hand and said, "Just tell me the general idea."

"Yes."

Xu Peng responded and said:

“The largest amount of supplies in the warehouse is food, but the most valuable are various medicines and cultivation resources.

According to inventory statistics, before we took over these warehouses, the inventory of grain mainly included millet, wheat, beans, etc., totaling 175 shi, and various types of dried meat 8452 shi. "

Geng Xuan was surprised:
"Is it so clear? Have you checked all those warehouses?"

Xu Peng shook his head and said:
“No, it’s just that before each warehouse is closed, a seal is affixed, which records the inventory status of each warehouse in detail.

I randomly selected a few warehouses to do a count, and after confirming that they were correct, I accepted the data on the seals."

Geng Xuan nodded slightly, but couldn't help but open the account book Liu Yueji gave him. He stared at the statistics on the last page for a few seconds, with a look of confusion in his eyes.

He murmured softly, "This isn't right."

Xu Peng's heart tightened when he heard this, and he quickly asked, "Boss, is there any problem?"

Geng Xuan did not hide it from him and directly handed him the account book, saying:
"Yueluyuan, after having been requisitioned by Wuyou Palace once, has not excessively exploited the lower-level neighborhoods. The Seventy-two Markets, while having enough for their own needs, have also sent nearly 650,000 dan of grain to Liuyunfang.

Why is there so little food stored in this basin?
All the food and dried meat, added together, is only about 221 million shi, right?"

According to what Geng Xuan learned, of the grain squeezed out of Yuanzhou by Dong Guan this time, 20% was transported back to Xuanzhou via the Hang River as a cover, and the rest was all concentrated in the "Zhehongyan" basin.

Most of Yuanzhou's population and arable land are concentrated to the east of Yuanjing. Yueluyuan, located in the southwest, although it can be considered densely populated, is only a corner of Yuanzhou.

According to Geng Xuan's rough impression, the population and land of Yueluyuan should account for less than one-tenth of the entire Yuanzhou.

In this case, comparing the grain inventory quantities at these two locations looks weird no matter how you look at it.

Xu Peng barely understood Geng Xuan's question but was stunned as he couldn't find the answer for a moment.

Chen Zhan, who was standing next to him, seemed to have understood Geng Xuan's doubts without even seeing the account book in Xu Peng's hand. He took the initiative to step forward and said,
"Boss, the food we've obtained from Yueluyuan is way too high compared to the food stored in the basin. It seems a bit abnormal."

"Yeah." Geng Xuan nodded: "Do you know the reason?"

Chen Zhan nodded slightly, but did not answer directly. Instead, he asked:
"Boss, if I remember correctly, the grain you obtained from Yueluyuan was all transported to Liuyunfang by various markets. Then, Liu Yueji organized people to transport it three or four hundred miles west and stored it in the current granary, right?"

Geng Xuan nodded: "Not bad."

"There must have been quite a lot of losses along the way from the food and drink from people and horses, as well as spillage and leakage, right?" Chen Zhan asked again.

"Not bad." Geng Xuan nodded again.

Moreover, the loss is not small, exceeding seven percent of the total.

Thinking of this, Geng Xuan had already vaguely realized something.

Chen Zhan asked again: "Then, Gang Leader, what do you think will be the loss if we continue to transport these grains northward until they are stored in the warehouse in the center of the basin?"

After hearing Chen Zhan raise this question again, Geng Xuan finally realized that he had overlooked something and exclaimed, "Ah!" and gently patted his forehead.

He couldn't help but think in his heart, based on the transportation costs incurred over those three or four hundred miles.

Of the more than 600,000 dan of grain that started from Liuyunfang and traveled over a thousand miles, would there still be 400,000 dan left when it was finally stored in the basin warehouse?

Seeing that Geng Xuan had already reacted, Chen Zhan went further and said:

“The leader should have heard that Dong Guan often ordered his Xuanyou Iron Cavalry to go to other states to forage for food and eat humans.

In fact, this is not just a problem of food shortage in Xuanyou and Youzhou, which requires going to other states to make up for the shortage.

This is also because the consumption of food during long-distance transportation is too terrifying.

There is a saying in the Art of War: "One stone of enemy food is equivalent to twenty stones of our own."

Because if you transport grain from the rear across thousands or even tens of thousands of miles, for every stone you transport, ten stones will be consumed along the way.

The same principle applies to enemies.

Therefore, if you eat one stone of grain from the enemy, this increase and decrease is equivalent to earning twenty stones of grain for yourself.

For this reason, obtaining food from the enemy has been considered one of the fundamental strategies by military strategists of all generations.

From the enemy's territory, or even from one's own territory near the war zone, to supplement one's own needs through looting, or even directly eating people, this is almost a principle that the military leaders of each state do not publicize publicly, but will respect.

Compared to other military leaders, Dong Guan’s approach is to just make it a daily routine without even trying to cover it up, which makes him appear even more vicious and cruel.”

“Of course, in reality, if the transportation distance is not too far, the loss will not be so exaggerated.

But the situation is not much better.

Yuanzhou’s main grain-producing areas are mostly concentrated to the east of Yuanjing. The average distance from the basin’s central warehouse is conservatively estimated to be more than two thousand miles, close to three thousand miles.

To transport one million dan of grain here, even if everyone who handled it along the way was as honest as water and not a single one was corrupt, and only counting the consumption along the way, at the time of departure, at least three million dan of grain would be needed.

In other words, although there seem to be only more than two million shi of supplies in this warehouse, if calculated from the place of departure, there are at least six or seven million shi.

...And, do you think those who dealt with it along the way would be able to resist getting involved?"

How can it be!

Not to mention that most of those people only have a cooperative relationship with Dong Guan. Even if they are all direct subordinates from Xuanyou and Youzhou who are loyal to Dong Guan, it is impossible for them to be so clean and honest.

Not to mention the current world, even in the distant future that Geng Xuan can see, this will be like a cancer attached to the bone, a stubborn disease that will always be rooted in the human community.

Geng Xuan couldn't help but say:

“This loss is too exaggerated!

In this way, transporting grain over a distance of more than a thousand miles is not advisable.

Transporting food across thousands of miles across states is like throwing countless grains into the water."

There seemed to be only more than two million dan of supplies in the basin warehouse, but the scale at the place of shipment was likely to be more than ten million dan.

Geng Xuan couldn't help but feel distressed when he thought of the millions, or even tens of millions, of dan of grain that had "disappeared" out of thin air.

At this moment, Xu Peng, who was stunned at first and failed to answer in time, gave Chen Zhan a chance to perform, suddenly spoke:

"Boss, there is actually another reason."

"Oh? Is there any other reason?" Geng Xuan asked curiously.

"Of the more than 175 million shi of grain in stock, only about 45 million shi of millet, wheat, beans, etc., and more than shi of various types of dried meat.

The person in charge of the transportation should have taken into account the terrible loss caused by long-distance transportation and deliberately reduced the amount of food and increased the reserves of dried meat. "

At this point, seeing that "Su Ruiliang" was still thinking, Xu Peng further reminded:

"According to our Xu family's experience, from a chick to an adult chicken, based on the total amount of food it consumes, it usually takes four and a half kilograms of food to produce one kilogram of chicken meat.

The situation with other meats is similar.

...Some livestock seem to grow meat by eating grass without being fed grain, but such large-scale feeding requires converting large amounts of arable land into grassland.

In the final analysis, it is still equivalent to eating food.”

"Ah, that's it!"

Geng Xuan suddenly realized what Xu Peng wanted to express.

In Geng Xuan's opinion, these dried meats are a bit like "compressed packages" of grain.

Four to five pounds of grain produce one pound of meat. In order to store the dried meat for a long time, some of the water must be removed.

One pound of these stored dried meats may contain eight, nine, or even ten pounds of grain.

Under existing technical conditions, when it is difficult to significantly reduce the unit weight loss in long-distance transportation, actively reducing the weight of transported materials and increasing their "quality" is also a very smart choice when necessary.

After communicating with the two, Geng Xuan solved many of his puzzles and said to Xu Peng:

"From your observation, is there much natural loss in these warehouses?"

Xu Peng, who had already read the last page of the account book, understood what he meant and nodded:
“The loss of grain in the basin is definitely greater than the one recorded in the account book. Not only is the humidity higher, but the storage time is also longer.

Moreover, the basin is located deep in the Chiwu Mountains, and there are a large number of pests such as insects, rats, birds and other pests.

If it is not cleaned up for a few days, it will cause a flood.

This is what we can see with our own eyes. Unless we take a complete inventory of what we cannot see, we will never know the extent of the loss.”

Later, Xu Peng reported that in order to supply food for all 2938 people in the basin, shi of grain had been consumed in just nine days.

When he said this, there was a hint of "resentment" in his eyes when he looked at Geng Xuan.

Because originally, they only needed to bear the expenses of more than a thousand people.

But because of Geng Xuan's words, more than 7,000 indigenous people in the basin, led by the "indigenous chief" Deng Shan, all actively came out to work as long as they were able to move, just to have three full meals a day.

Even though these "natives" are just ordinary people without any cultivation, their appetites are terrifying.

The only good news is that all the food consumed is various staple foods, and all the meat consumed comes from Chiwu Mountain.

In this season when all things are dormant, it would have been a bit difficult for Xu Peng and others to accomplish this on their own, but they could resist the guidance of the "natives" who were familiar with the surrounding situation.

Even the giant bears hibernating deep in caves could not escape their clutches.

"This time, another 8,000 dan of supplies were urgently shipped, including 5,000 dan of various grains and 3,000 dan of various dried meats." (End of this chapter)