The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

Chapter 155 Trip to Yuyang City

Time is short and the task is heavy.

There were also bandits and other forces nearby waiting for them to open the granaries and transport the grain.

There's really no room for them to dwell on it too much.

Whether it works or not, we'll only know by trying!
An hour later.

Tian Jiu led a troop of border troops and a box of thunderclaps, and rode at full speed to Yuyang City.

If you were to ask which of the nine border towns currently has the most grain in their hands, you would say it's the most important.

The one who should be the commander-in-chief of Yuyang City is Lai Su, who owns 30% of the military farmland in the Youzhou Plain!

The mere exchange fee of 20,000 shi of grain could not sway General Lai, who possessed salt, grain, and money.

Tian Jiu rambled on and on, but the other party just smiled and remained silent.

Tian Jiu didn't understand too many of the intricacies of the situation.

He opened the box he had brought directly.

"General, this is the Thunderclap Bomb, which our Huaiqing Prefecture Weapon Factory spent a lot of money and several years to improve."

Do you think this metal casing is better than the old-fashioned porcelain casing?
It is much safer to transport than the old-fashioned model.

If it's buried in the soil outside the city wall, people and horses stepping on it will trigger the fuse, and then the outer iron shell will turn into iron slag.

General Lai, who had been so nonchalant just moments before, paused upon hearing this.

After Tian Jiu finished speaking, he grabbed a thunderbolt from the large box and ordered his personal guard, "Have someone try it out!"

Turning his head, a smile appeared on his face:
"General Tian just said there's another good ingredient inside? The previous dynasty's thunderclap bombs loved to put arsenic in them, surely your weapons factory isn't that unoriginal?"

"General, the Thunderclap Bomb contains a poison that causes pain and itching when it comes into contact with the skin, and it also makes wounds fester very quickly."

General Lai simply nodded and chatted slowly with Tian Jiu over tea.

Soon.

Then, a deafening roar came from the place where the military camp was testing its firearms.

Just by listening to the sound, it's several times better than the old models from the previous dynasty.

After a short while, General Lai's personal guards rushed in, overjoyed, and whispered among themselves.

Tian Jiu vaguely heard a few words:
"Eight of them were dead, their faces were all scratched up, and they were rolling around on the ground."

After the guards left, General Lai smiled warmly at Tian Jiu:
"General Tian, ​​the artisans of Huaiqing Prefecture are truly remarkable! Especially their poisons, they're incredibly potent. I wonder what the current production volume of these thunderbolts is? Can our Yuyang City purchase them in large quantities?"

The mere mention of mass production made Tian Jiu's face fall:
"It's just that this poison is too difficult to extract, and the yield has always been small! We still need to discuss the purchase with our General Zhao. I will definitely try my best to get it for you when I return to the border town."

General Lai slapped Tian Jiu's arm, excitedly exclaiming:

"Very well! I like dealing with straightforward people like General Tian! How about this, we won't accept the exchange fee of 20,000 shi of grain. Could you leave all the thunderbolts you brought from the border city to our Yuyang City?"

There were only ten in the box that was delivered. I tried one and there are nine left.

Even the most powerful thunderbolts, what can a mere nine of them accomplish?

Their Yuyang City was responsible for the border defense line, which stretched from Linlu Pass in the east to Jimen Pass in the west, a total length of over 800 li!
General Lai: What would happen if we buried a massive array of thunderbolts outside the border?

Don't dare to think, don't dare to think!
Just thinking about it makes him incredibly happy.

How could Tian Jiu possibly agree to leave all three thousand Thunderclap Bombs to Yuyang City?
He still needed to use this trump card to continue negotiating with the three generals of Shanggu, Pingcheng, and Pianguan.

The two sides pulled and tugged at each other.

finally.

General Lai exchanged 800 thunderbolts for 600,000 shi of grain in Haijin Town.

Both parties are very satisfied.

Carrying General Lai's handwritten letter and the grain extraction certificate stamped with the official seal, Tian Jiu and his entourage rushed back to Haijin Town without stopping.

In the two days since they left, the centurions who stayed behind have been so worried that they've lost a lot of hair.

Everyone knows that in war, the transportation of supplies is of paramount importance.

When an army of 100,000 sets out, hundreds of thousands of laborers must follow behind to transport provisions.

Hundreds of thousands of laborers themselves constitute a significant consumer of food. Haven't there been many large-scale battles in history where troops eventually withdrew midway through?
Most of these are related to food supplies.

But now, the Jade-Faced Rakshasa has provided them with a new approach.

Grain warehouse replacement!

Even though multiple replacements involve a wide range of issues.

However, the amount of food paid for during this process is far less than that paid for by migrant workers during transportation.

Most importantly, the principle of local application.

The more they thought about it, the more excited they became.

They eagerly awaited the good news that General Tian Jiu would bring back.

Unsurprisingly, it was indeed fantastic news.

They even managed to save on the exchange fee they had estimated for 20,000 shi of grain!

Thunderclap Bombs are truly a valuable commodity in this important border town!

The eight centurions were all incredibly excited, as if they had been injected with chicken blood.

Next.

Tian Jiu and his seven commanders split into three groups, each leading three thousand men and eight hundred thunderbolts, heading towards Shanggu Pass, Pingcheng, and Pianguan.

Only Gan Minglan's medical team and a thousand muskets remained.

They need to stay in Haijin Town and wait for the General of Yuyang to send someone to take them over.

Before leaving, Tian Jiu solemnly instructed the centurion and Gan Minglan who remained behind:
"All our exchanges are contingent on these 600,000 shi of grain. We can't afford to be careless these next few days!"

The centurion who stayed behind thumped his chest loudly: "General, rest assured, as long as we're here, the food will be there!"

Gan Minglan nodded without saying anything more.

She gives everyone the impression of being rather aloof, not very talkative, and when she does speak, she always gets to the point.

Her nodding in agreement was so reassuring!
With the arrival of these more than 10,000 people.

The news that all the grain in Beicang Village had been transferred to the Northwest Frontier Army had already spread among various factions.

These local forces are also normal people with flesh and blood.

Even though they wanted to overthrow the old emperor of Shangdu right then and there, they also knew the importance of guarding the border.

After confirming the message, they naturally dispersed.

In some people's eyes, Tian Jiu and the others' departure was simply to find transport workers in various prefectures.

That day, the price of burlap sacks used for storing grain in Youzhou increased several times over.

Longpan Mountain in Youzhou is more than 100 miles away from Haijin Town.

The newly built Longpan Village on the mountaintop was still brightly lit in the middle of the night.

In less than three months, Longpanzhai grew from less than 100 people to more than 3,800.

Longpan Village has a very well-established set of rules.

Before entering the village, their skills and abilities are assessed.

There will be a period of observation after entering the village.

During the inspection, the village chief would issue them tasks from time to time.

The grain that was stolen from Taipingcang was a task completed by one of the squadrons during its probationary period.

What good grain could be found in the Taiping Granary?

It's either old grain or mixed with sand.

But the civilian grain depots in Beicang Village are different!

I heard that it contains good grains such as wheat, millet, and beans, which were harvested in the Youzhou Plain last year.

That's the kind of food a normal person should eat!

(End of this chapter)