IDWBE -Chapter 138 Military Supply Contractors

What problem can be solved just by chopping off heads and killing people?

All it does is make everyone fearful and leave all the grain merchants at a loss over what to do.

He had watched a TV drama once, and it left a deep impression on him.

In a year of famine, when food was scarce, grain merchants raised prices to make a profit.

As usual, the authorities tried to stabilize grain prices, forbidding any increases. Anyone who raised prices would be beheaded as a warning.

As a result, no grain merchants dared transport grain into the area anymore. Only one grain shop owner, unable to bear seeing corpses of the starving everywhere, bought grain at cost and sold it at cost.

But even then, his price was still higher than the local standard.

He was beheaded by the authorities.

In the end, no one dared to transport even a single grain of rice into the region again. Even those who had grain didn’t dare to sell it.

Everyone starved together.

Lin Yi was determined not to see such a scene.

If you want to hoard and speculate, go ahead.

Lin Yi would open the granaries.

It wasn’t because he was smarter than others, but because this method was only possible in Sanhe.

In fertile places like Yuezhou and Chuzhou, the granaries were full. But once famine struck, neither the Provincial Administration Commissioner nor the Military Commissioner nor the Surveillance Commissioner had the authority to open the granaries!

Even if the grain inside had molded or become infested with worms, they still had to submit a memorial to the Emperor. Only after receiving imperial approval could they distribute grain for disaster relief.

By the time the memorial went back and forth—months would have passed. The starving people, unable to survive, would rebel anyway. Either way, it was death.

The first thing they did after rebelling was open the granaries.

But Sanhe was different. No father cared, no mother loved it—no one bothered with it. Even the tribute grain handed over to the imperial court was merely symbolic.

If he wanted to build granaries, he built them.

If he wanted to open them, he opened them.

He alone had the final say.

Still, lowering grain prices couldn’t be done casually.

Sanhe had many rice shops, but only a handful of major grain merchants.

Saying he would bankrupt them all was just a fit of anger.

If he really destroyed them, grain circulation in Sanhe would face serious problems.

So even if these merchants were rotten to the core, he still had to appease them properly.

The next day, five grain shops in Baiyun City lowered their prices simultaneously. Although the reduction wasn’t large, the major grain merchants were still uneasy.

At that moment, a notice was posted outside the Provincial Administration Office recruiting so-called “grain suppliers.”

The general meaning was that the Sanhe army was going out to suppress bandits and needed large quantities of grain.

And not only must the grain be sold at low prices, the suppliers would also have to transport it with the army—that is, wherever the army went, the grain had to follow.

Quite a demanding requirement.

But the term “supplier” was no longer unfamiliar in Baiyun City.

When Sanhe built roads, there had been lime suppliers, brick and stone suppliers, timber suppliers, gunpowder suppliers, ironware suppliers…

Whether it was the former Military Commission or the current Provincial Administration, payments were always prompt and generous, with no deductions. Any merchant bearing the title “supplier” had earned a fortune.

Even Sun the Cripple, who wove baskets in Baiyun City—his family had once been so poor they could barely eat. But after becoming the construction site’s basket supplier, not only did his entire family weave baskets day and night, he even hired over a hundred workers!

A small basket workshop had turned into a sizable enterprise. Just recently, he built an enviable large mansion on the south bank of the West River.

Let alone being a grain supplier—this was military provisioning!

Anyone with a bit of sense knew it was impossible not to make money.

Under Lin Yi’s planning, Shan Qi personally presided over Sanhe’s first “Military Supplies Supplier Conference,” not limited to grain alone.

Outsourcing military supplies to profit-driven merchants was opposed by Shan Qi and a group of elders. Even Han Deqing and Bao Kui, people close to Lin Yi, didn’t agree.

But Lin Yi had only one line:

In terms of material allocation and transport, even if everyone in the Prince’s residence and the Provincial Administration were combined, they wouldn’t match that tottering old man Liang Gen.

Professional matters should be handled by professionals. It saved money, time, and manpower, avoided bloated staffing, and their own people could learn in the process.

After all, in all of Sanhe, only Zhang Mian and He Jixiang truly had military experience—and neither excelled in logistics.

Otherwise, He Jixiang wouldn’t have lost so much silver in his two previous campaigns!

With no better choice, Shan Qi and the others reluctantly agreed. The Prince was right—it wouldn’t hurt to try.

The supplier conference was held in the courtyard of the Provincial Administration Office. It was packed with over two hundred people—all prominent merchants, landlords, and gentry of Sanhe. Even figures like Tian Shiyou and Ge Laoshan were present.

After intense bidding:

The contract for supplying swords, shields, and spears went to Huang Daoji, owner of the largest blacksmith shop in Baiyun City.

Grain transport was awarded to Liang Gen and Qiu Wujin.

Clothing, boots, hats, sacks, and tents were supplied by Li Sanniang—the only female shopkeeper present. Her garment shop employed over fifty seamstresses, the largest in Baiyun City.

The remaining supplies—livestock fodder, baskets, alum, coal, carts, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, tea, tung oil, candles, bronze lamps, hemp rope, iron bars, and horseshoes—also all found bidders.

After the conference ended, Butcher Jiang snorted at Zhu Ruorong and left without looking back.

What rotten luck!

Zhu Ruorong’s bid matched his exactly—now the two of them were both meat suppliers!

But now wasn’t the time to sulk. He had to hurry back to buy pigs, cattle, and sheep—and hire workers to make dried meat.

On the day the army marched out of the city, ten thousand garrison troops were followed by over twenty thousand civilian laborers driving pack animals loaded with supplies, along with the employees of various suppliers.

This time, the commanders were Naval Commissioner Zhang Mian and Chief Constable Bao Kui.

Once again, Baiyun City erupted in excitement.

With such a grand display this time, surely they wouldn’t be disappointed again?

Otherwise, every time they’d wasted their feelings!

Both sides of the road were packed tight, teeming with people. Even schoolchildren had skipped class to squeeze into the crowd, each more lively than the last.

Watching the warlike enthusiasm of the people, Lin Yi couldn’t understand.

Weren’t people supposed to love peace?

Why was everyone so excited?

It made no scientific sense.

Shan Qi smiled bitterly. “Your Highness, this expedition has already cost one hundred and ten thousand taels of silver.”

Nearly everyone in Baiyun City had earned money from it—how could they not be happy?

Lin Yi sighed.

War truly burned money.

Not only was the Provincial Administration broke, but his own residence had less than ten thousand taels of silver left.

If this campaign lost money again, he’d be drinking the northwest wind.

“What if we lose?” Lin Yi couldn’t help worrying again. Losing wasn’t what scared him—he feared deaths. Everyone had families to support.

If that happened, the burden of guilt would weigh heavily on him.

“Your Highness!”

He Jixiang suddenly shouted, “If we lose, I will throw myself into the West River!”

Back in the day, at the military review grounds, he had seen the finest troops under heaven!

If Baiyun City’s garrison troops could lose, then there would be no justice in heaven!

Among the ten thousand troops—never mind how many had reached the level of internal martial mastery—at the very least, all were trained in martial arts. Each one could fight five men alone!