“Everything else is negotiable, but this is within Jun County after all. If things escalate…”
Jiang Yan didn’t finish his sentence.
However, Han Mo was incredibly astute. Reaching that point, he naturally understood Jiang Yan’s concerns.
“You fight, you kill as you must. I’ll give you a token. If any soldiers obstruct you, push it all onto me. Just say you are on official duty, investigating the Manichaean rebellion!”
“But sir, if you do that, what will happen when Tang Ke and the others investigate you?”
Hearing Han Mo’s words, Jiang Yan’s eyes widened immediately. Others abandoned their pawns to save their chariots, but this was abandoning the chariot to save the pawn?
“You don’t need to worry about that. I have my own ways of extricating myself. In Hebei, the one in charge isn’t just Tang Ke!”
“Yes!”
Seeing Han Mo’s resolute confidence, Jiang Yan stopped questioning. He acknowledged with a “yes” and then strode out of the study.
Jiang Yan left, but Han Mo sank back into thought.
He still had no clue who was orchestrating this matter from behind the scenes.
Did an evil cult like Manichaeism truly possess the ability to train people of Hu Changzai’s caliber on a large scale?
If the answer was yes, then the human and material resources they possessed would be terrifying indeed.
After all, according to the information from Jiang Yan and his men, the person with the shortest training time among them had seven years of experience.
Furthermore, unlike the training environment of others, these individuals had survived on the battlefields bordering Western Xia and the Song Dynasty.
For years, constant battles, both large and small, had raged between the two nations. Beyond the direct combat, the skirmishes between their scouts were also exceptionally brutal.
Only those who could survive in such an environment for over a year were eligible for selection into these elite assassins.
With such a high threshold, the combat prowess of Jiang Yan and his men was already evident.
The fact that they could injure Jiang Yan when he was caught off guard was enough to illustrate the combat effectiveness of Hu Changzai and his ilk.
What made Han Mo’s blood run colder was that if Hu Changzai hadn’t confessed himself, Han Mo would never have known that in a small county like Neihuang, they had already deployed no less than 600 followers.
Moreover, these individuals were all brainwashed fanatics.
With a single command from Hu Changzai, they would unhesitatingly die for him.
If Jiang Yan and his men hadn’t acted so swiftly, and if their chosen attack locations hadn’t been so unimaginably precise,
it was truly uncertain what the outcome would have been if they had managed to mobilize those followers.
If they could place over 600 people in a small county like Neihuang, what about Jun County?
And further still, if they could secretly influence the brother-in-law of the current prime minister, what if there were one or two moles among the guards of the Changping Granary?
Thinking this far, Han Mo dared not continue contemplating.
The idea of establishing a granary in Jun County to concentrate emergency grain from several neighboring prefectures and counties was Han Mo’s own brainchild. Although he didn’t have precise figures for the manpower allocated to the Changping Granary, he had a rough estimate based on its scale.
The grain drawn from the treasuries of just three counties – Jun County, Neihuang, and Tangyin – already amounted to one hundred thousand *shi*.
If Wei County and Hua County were added, the grain stored in this single Changping Granary would likely exceed two hundred thousand *shi*.
Under normal circumstances, the loss of so much grain would indeed cause significant panic in the region.
However, it was almost autumn harvest season now.
Even if the immediate impact was substantial, and all officials involved in this matter were to face severe repercussions,
as long as the heavens were favorable and the local government maintained adequate defenses, the damage would not be too great.
But Han Mo knew that the military expenditure the court could currently afford did not exceed three million *guan* in total.
All the grain stored in the Changping Granaries throughout Hebei had already been designated as military provisions.
The reason this news had not yet been disseminated externally was twofold: firstly, the court still wished to preserve a sliver of its dignity.
Secondly, the court was waiting for intelligence on the movements of the Jin forces.
As soon as confirmation of the Jin movements was received, preparations for the transfer of grain and fodder would commence immediately.
If, at this juncture, they suddenly lost two hundred thousand *shi* of grain, coupled with the news that the court was requisitioning Changping Granary provisions as military grain, it would likely trigger a man-made grain famine among the populace.
If this famine truly erupted, and the price of grain could not be stabilized in a short period, let alone Tang Ke, the esteemed scholar,
even if Han Mo himself were in the position of Transporter Commissioner, he would be utterly helpless in completing the task of preparing and transporting the subsequent grain and fodder for the three hundred thousand strong army.
Upon reaching this thought, a fine sheen of sweat broke out on Han Mo’s back. He felt as if he had suddenly grasped the crux of the problem.
Putting aside the question of why the other party wanted to draw him into this scheme, the scheme itself was enough to make Han Mo’s heart pound with dread.
Before the troops march, provisions must be supplied.
On the eve of a war of annihilation, if news of insufficient grain and fodder supplies in the Song camp were to spread, the morale of the army might crumble before they even departed.
In the age of cold weapons, besides the numbers of personnel and the individual combat capabilities of the soldiers on both sides, morale was also a factor that could influence the outcome of a battle!
“Someone!”
With this thought, Han Mo took a deep breath and urgently called out towards the outside.
“My lord, what are your orders?”
Xu Fengnian hurried in.
“Go and invite my wife here. Immediately, now, right away!”
“Yes!”
Although he didn’t know why Han Mo was suddenly so urgent, Xu Fengnian quickly went out.
“What is it? Has something gone wrong? Why does your face look so grim?”
Zhe Yourong was about to make a lighthearted jest when she suddenly saw Han Mo’s somber expression and the dense sweat on his forehead. Her heart skipped a beat, and she quickly lowered her voice and asked.
“Have the businesses in Yuancheng been set up yet?”
“At this time, carrier pigeon communication should be fine! If everything goes smoothly, we should have a reply within four hours at most!”
“Then I will trouble my lady to send a message via carrier pigeon. Deliver it to Master Xu immediately. Ask Master Xu to help me investigate which military commanders are stationed near Jun County, and I also need a written authorization from him permitting cross-border investigations.”