Chapter Seventy-Fifth: Suppressing Grain

  Although the black side has not yet joined the battle, it has lost nearly a hundred people. However, due to the huge advantage of the black side in terms of numbers, it still occupies an obvious advantage at this time, so from the surface, the winning rate of the black side is still greater than that of the red side.

  But after the two sides clashed, the black side's soldiers fell one after another and withdrew from the battle, while the red side's soldiers suffered almost no losses, which also shocked the generals watching in the stands. Only then did they come to their senses and carefully observe this battle.

  Because the Mandarin Duck Formation is a column formation, the first to engage with the enemy are the two shieldmen and two long halberdiers in the front row. However, their main task is not to attack the enemy but to cover the long spearmen behind them. Each long spearsman uses an extended long spear that exceeds five meters in length, which can easily pierce the enemy even from behind the shieldmen and long halberdiers.

  Behind the formation of the Mandarin ducks, there were four crossbowmen. Although at this time the distance between the two sides was only a dozen meters, which is not the range of the crossbow, but with their own companions covering them in front, the crossbowmen could also shoot arrows without any worries, striking the enemy, and at the same time, there were double-edged axe soldiers throwing javelins. As a result, the black side's soldiers were either stabbed "to death" by the long spear soldiers or shot by the crossbowmen, and they had to withdraw from the battle.

  At this time, Zhao Bing of the black side finally understood a little and tried to bypass the shield soldiers and long spear soldiers' obstruction, attacking from both sides. However, there was only five or six meters between each column of the red side, making it difficult for the black side to attack from both sides. Moreover, even if a few people managed to break through the front row of soldiers, there were two double-bladed axe men waiting for them on the red side. The double-bladed axe could be used with one hand or held in both hands for chopping and slashing, although it was lighter than guns and spears, but its power was equally great, so they were all chopped "to death".

  After a fierce battle between the two sides, the black side had soldiers "killed" and retreated one after another, while the red side only had one or two soldiers "killed". The black side's advantage in numbers was also rapidly declining.

  The entire confrontation training lasted only half an hour, and with a long whistle, both sides stopped and separated. After checking, the black side had "killed" 304 people, while the red side had only "killed" 53 people, averaging only two or more people per squad.

  The result of the statistics also made the generals on the platform look stunned, because in the war between countries, when fighting head-on, unless the quality of the soldiers and generals of both sides is vastly different, the losses are basically equal. The real loss is mainly after defeat, during the process of defeat and escape. But now the two sides have not yet determined victory or defeat, only interrupted. And the casualties on the black side were four to five times that of the red side, a result that indeed made all the generals stunned. Even Li Mu was shocked.

  Because the plateau had a successful example of training cavalry, Li Mu had some confidence in training infantry on the plateau, and he was also looking forward to it. However, he did not expect such a result. It is worth noting that although the cavalry is still a new type of soldier, the infantry has been developed in China for over a thousand years, with rich experience, theoretical tactics, and infantry formations. In this situation, it is not easy for the plateau to make another breakthrough, designing a brand-new infantry formation and tactic. Moreover, the power of the Mandarin Duck Formation was almost astonishing.

  Now Zhao Jun has been training new cavalry, if the Mandarin Duck Formation is also popularized in the Zhao army, it will increase the combat effectiveness of the Zhao army several times. Even a powerful Qin army would not be a match for the Zhao army. As for resisting the future attack of the Qin army, there are a few more guarantees. Therefore, Li Mu was also very happy.

  Because of the gold brought out by Gao Yuan, plus Li Mu's own gold, the military expenses were settled. Since leaving the palace last time, for more than two months, Li Mu had not entered the palace to see King Zhao again. Every day, he went outside the city to drill the troops and simply lived in the barracks, only occasionally returning to his mansion in Handan City. He also took the opportunity to go to Jingdian's large camp to arrange for the construction of defensive works.

  While Zhao Wangqian was indulging in wine and women for more than two months, he didn't care about state affairs and handed over major state matters to Guo Kai. Apart from being able to set up some obstacles on military expenses, Guo Kai had no other way to deal with Li Mu, so they temporarily coexisted peacefully.

  However, for the past two months, Li Mu's heart had been very depressed, and sometimes he even forced a smile. But after seeing the infantry trained on the plateau, Li Mu's heart was indeed relieved a lot. Therefore, he nodded repeatedly and said: "Gao Yuan, I didn't expect you to train infantry, and it's really good, not inferior to training cavalry. Do you think if we train all of Zhao's army in the Mandarin Duck Formation, how much time would it take to complete?"

  Gao Yuan Dao: "Great General, to train the entire Zhao army in the Mandarin Duck Formation is quite difficult. Although the Mandarin Duck Formation has great power, it cannot be relied upon solely to conquer the world; other tactics must be used in conjunction with it. Moreover, even now, this batch of soldiers' training in the Mandarin Duck Formation is not yet complete. The Mandarin Duck Formation also has two variant formations: the Five Elements Formation and the Three Talents Formation. Furthermore, the Mandarin Duck Formation requires some specialized weapons to be manufactured. Otherwise, its power will be greatly reduced. Therefore, I think it would be better to select a smaller group of soldiers for training, and have them cooperate with the cavalry and other troops on the battlefield."

  Li Mu also nodded and said, "You've thought this through carefully. Alright, I'll assign 5,000 soldiers to you for training first, and the necessary weapons can be prioritized for casting."

  "Yes."

  Li Mu smiled and said: "Gao Yuan, now you want to train cavalry and infantry at the same time, this burden is not light."

  The plateau was about to speak again when a guard walked onto the platform and said, "General, Lady Wenqing has an urgent matter and requests to see the General."

  Li Mu was taken aback, wondering if something had happened to Wen Qing again. He was about to rush to the large camp outside the city to find him, so he immediately said: "Good, ask her to wait in my big tent, I'll go see her right away." The guard responded with a sound and immediately turned around and retreated from the high platform. Li Mu also said: "Gao Yuan, Ying Hong, you two accompany me to see Wen Qing together."

  Returning to Li Mu's large tent, after both sides had exchanged formal greetings, Li Mu then said: "Wen Qing, you rushed here to find me, what is the matter?"

  Lin Wenching smiled wryly and said, "The general has been away from Handan City for almost a month now. I don't know what's going on in Handan City, but if the general doesn't return to the city soon, I'm afraid something big will happen."

  Li Mu was also startled and asked: "What happened in Handan City?"

  Lin Wenqing said: "About three months ago, the general suggested to the imperial court that we merchants take the lead in buying grain from Qi State to alleviate the disaster situation in our Zhao State. So five of us businessmen in Handan City also jointly formed a business firm and went to Qi State to buy grain."

  Li Mu nodded and said, "Yes, can't we buy grain from Qi State?" He also thought to himself that if they really couldn't buy grain from Qi State, it would be troublesome. Because now another three months have passed, the granary of Zhao State is almost empty, and the remaining grain in the folk is not much, the grain price on the market has soared to more than 500 yuan per stone, and it is still hard to find for sale, only a few merchants who still have surplus grain sell limited quantities every day, only selling 50 stones. But once they are put on the market, they will be snapped up immediately, now Handan also began to appear famine.

  The refugees outside the city are still increasing, and Li Mu has already allocated 200,000 stones of military rations from the Jingdian camp to relieve the disaster victims, barely stabilizing the situation without any major incidents. However, small-scale looting continues to occur. Relying on military rations will not last long, and it is also difficult for Li Mu to allocate more food from the military rations to relief the disaster victims. If they cannot buy grain from Qi State, Zhao State will find it hard to sustain itself. Next year after the new year, a great chaos must occur.

  Lin Wenqing shook his head and said, "The grain has been purchased, and the first batch of 300,000 dan of grain arrived in Handan six days ago. The second batch of 500,000 dan of grain has also departed from Qi State and will arrive in Handan within half a month at most."

  Li Mu also let out a slight sigh of relief and said, "Isn't this great? We can buy grain from the state of Qi."

  Lin Wenqing sighed and said, "But this batch of grain was not distributed according to the original agreement after it arrived in Handan. Instead, it was all withheld by Guo Xiangguo and then handed over to Yun Jueshe, which sold it on the market for 600 coins per stone."

  Li Mu was also shocked and said, "Is this really true?"

  When deciding to buy grain from Qi, the merchants and the Zhao state government had already reached an agreement. At that time, the grain in Qi was abundant and the price was not high, with one stone of grain costing between 50 to 60 coins. Adding the cost of transportation, labor, consumption, and other expenses, the total cost of transporting one stone of grain back to Handan was within 120 coins. Therefore, after the grain arrived in Handan, the first batch of 300,000 stones of grain, the Zhao state government purchased half of it at a price of 150 coins per stone for military and disaster relief purposes, while the other half was sold by the merchants themselves, but the price of one stone of grain could not exceed 180 coins.

  Before the disaster, the grain price in Zhao was around eighty cents, so suppressing the grain price to one hundred and eighty cents is still within an acceptable range. Merchants also have money to make, everyone is happy, and Zhao can get through this disaster.

  Yun Jia Society is a medium-sized shop in Handan City, but the owner is Guo Kai's nephew Guo Yun. In fact, it relies on Guo Kai's power to maintain its operation. Although the grain was successfully purchased back, it was withheld by Guo Kai and handed over to Yun Jia Society for sale. The selling price per stone far exceeded the originally set price, completely destroying the agreement reached between the merchants and the imperial court. At the same time, it will inevitably destroy the fragile stability that is currently being maintained inside and outside Handan City, which is a very big deal.