“What idea?”
Ninth Princess asked at once.
“Your Highness, we have both been thinking about this the wrong way,” Jin Feng said. “What the civilians need most right now is not silver. It is food and cloth!”
“Yes! When they were captured, their homes must have been looted by the cavalry.”
Ninth Princess instantly understood. “We can trade grain and cloth for the horses!”
That very night, Jin Feng and Ninth Princess had arranged three forces to attack two strategic points.
The Anxing Army and Changxin Army, which had come from Mianzou as reinforcements, were tasked with taking Bao’er Mountain.
The Qing Yuan Army was to seize the east gate.
Both the Changxin Army and Qing Yuan Army had suppressed bandits in Guangyuan and had been drilled for a long time by Qing Mulan and Zhang Liang. Although their combat strength was not equal to the escorts, they were far better than ordinary pampered troops.
Moreover, they were equipped with heavy crossbows and trebuchets, and their numbers were several times those of the enemy.
If they still could not take these two places, Ninth Princess would chop off their heads and feel no guilt at all.
However, Bao’er Mountain lay several li north of the city. Even if the Changxin Army captured it, the west gate and north gate were still in Danzhu’s hands.
The civilians were gathering at Old Crow Gully north of the city. To enter the city, they could only use the east gate or south gate.
The south gate was in the opposite direction, so that left only the east gate, and to reach it safely they would have to circle north of Bao’er Mountain.
That would be a round trip of at least several dozen li through mountain paths.
Even a strong, experienced hunter familiar with the terrain would need a full day to cover that distance.
These were people who had only just escaped a prisoner camp: the old, the weak, the sick, the crippled.
Just look at Han Feng and the Zhou Youda couple to know their condition.
It was already late autumn; the wilderness would be bitterly cold at night.
If they grew hungry, they could slaughter the horses for food. But if they grew cold?
So giving silver was far less useful than giving grain and clothing directly.
“But in such a short time, where can we gather that much grain and cloth?” Ninth Princess asked.
“No need to gather any. I already have them!” Jin Feng laughed.
The Jinchuan Merchant Association had originally focused on the luxury market.
Yet as Xihe Bay continued to develop, its range of products had expanded.
Black swords and glass beads were aimed at nobles and wealthy merchants.
Perfumed soap targeted ordinary traders and brothels: the middle class.
Cloth and common iron tools were for ordinary civilians.
And within Guangyuan Prefecture, there was also salt.
Ever since the weaving looms had been improved, the efficiency of the Xihe Bay textile mill had soared.
Tang Dongdong, the factory director, had grown increasingly confident.
The Zhou family of Guangyuan, once far beyond her reach, no longer mattered to her.
If she wished, she could drive the Zhou family out of Guangyuan at any time.
But Tang Dongdong was an ambitious woman.
As her position rose, so did her vision.
With Jin Feng assuring her that the looms still had huge room for improvement, her goals were no longer limited to the Zhou family or even Guangyuan.
She was now looking at the whole of Sichuan and Shu, and indeed the entire Great Kang.
So instead of attacking the Zhou family immediately, she maintained the same shipment volumes as before while quietly building up strength.
She would not move until the moment was right, and when she did, she would seize as much of the market as possible.
Xichuan City, as the chief city of Sichuan and Shu, was a key battlefield in her strategic plan.
The first thing the Jinchuan Association did upon arriving in Xichuan City was not to look for shops, but to find suitable warehouses.
Then they kept stockpiling cloth.
Jin Feng did not know exactly how much had been stored, but the quantity was certainly enormous.
Releasing these stocks now might expose Tang Dongdong’s plans and ruin her overall strategy, but for the sake of the war horses, Jin Feng no longer cared about that.
At worst he would be careful, and when he returned he would apologise sincerely and accept whatever punishment she gave.
After hearing Jin Feng’s explanation, Ninth Princess also felt the plan would work.
She nodded slightly, then asked, “What about grain?”
“I know that one!” Qing Mulan cut in. “Wuyang, have you forgotten? Sir has been worried that famine might strike this winter, so he has been frantically stockpiling grain. All along the route from Nanchong to Xichuan, he built granaries in every prefecture and county.
The largest granary is right here in Xichuan City. Sir even had me ask my brother to find the site.”
Hearing this, Ninth Princess let out a long breath of relief.
The war horses were finally secured.
Then she remembered the transport problem and frowned. “Sir, we will need a huge amount of grain and cloth this time. The north gate is still in Danzhu’s hands. Will there be enough time?”
“That is exactly why we must take the north gate!”
Jin Feng stared down the mountain, a trace of sorrow in his eyes. “Not just for the horses, but for the civilians!”
He had not considered the plight of the captured civilians earlier, but after the recent conversation his attitude had changed.
What crime had the common people committed?
They had already lost their homes and families. They had endured a hellish prisoner camp. They had risked their last strength to seize the horse camp.
Although most had acted purely out of the instinct to survive rather than to help anyone else, Jin Feng still could not bear to watch them freeze to death in the mountains and wilderness.
This was not being a saint. It was the most basic human compassion.
These people had no homes left, no clothes left, and earlier he had been scheming how to exploit them, how to obtain the horses at the lowest possible cost…
Thinking of the smug satisfaction he had felt, and how he had even smiled, Jin Feng now felt his face burn with shame.
Why have I become like this?
He asked himself silently.
When he first arrived in Great Kang, his only goal had been to survive.
Now he was living very well. Why did he still greedily want more?
By following Ninth Princess, a single decision from him could save countless lives. Why not do it?
If it were Guan Xiaorou who had been taken to the prisoner camp, if it were Tang Xiaobei shivering and starving in the wilderness, what then?
If someone clearly capable of saving them was still calculating for profit, how would he feel?
He would certainly want to kill that person.
“Sir… Sir…” Qing Mulan waved her hand in front of Jin Feng. “What are you thinking about?”
“Uh, nothing.” Jin Feng came back to himself and asked, “What is it?”
“You just said we have to take the north gate,” Qing Mulan reminded him. “What if Danzhu sends troops to block us?”
“Then we fight!” A cold light flashed in Jin Feng’s eyes.
He had been unwilling to send men to storm the Tubo main camp because it was fortified.
A direct assault would cause heavy casualties.
But if Danzhu wanted to stop him from attacking the north gate, he would have to leave the camp.
Danzhu no longer had cavalry. In a straight fight, the escorts were not afraid!
And they could not afford to be afraid!
“Sir, are you certain?” Ninth Princess asked. “If we are not completely confident, we can wait. At most two more days, and reinforcements from Jianzhou and Suizhou will arrive.”
“We can wait, but the civilians cannot!” Jin Feng’s tone was utterly resolute. “We must take the north gate as quickly as possible!”
“Then who will Sir send?” Ninth Princess asked.
Because of the shame he felt earlier, Jin Feng answered without hesitation, “I will personally lead the escort team!”
