"As the saying goes, food and grass must be prepared before troops move. In order to prevent the Japanese pirates from attacking Suzhou, they sent troops to cut off the connection between our Zhejiang Army Fengqiao Camp and Suzhou City. Our camp needs to have enough food and grass for one month to prevent the Japanese pirates from besieging our Fengqiao Camp with superior forces. Each of our soldiers needs two liters of food per day, and each mule and horse needs two liters of fodder and one liter of coarse grain per day. We have a total of two thousand soldiers and seven hundred mules and horses. How much food and grass do we need to ask Suzhou Prefecture for this trip? This is the official document for requesting food last time. Mr. Hu, please refer to this official document and draft a document to Suzhou Prefecture for requesting food."
Zhu Ping'an took a document from the bookshelf, handed it to Hu Wei beside him, and asked him to draft a letter to Liang Gongqi.
After returning from the sea sacrifice, Zhu Pingan sent scouts to patrol the area within a hundred miles to investigate the movements of the Japanese pirates. From various indications, Xu Hai and other Japanese pirates entrenched in Songjiang Prefecture were already gathering their forces and preparing to attack Suzhou.
Up to now, the total strength of the Japanese pirates entrenched in Songjiang Prefecture has reached more than 40,000, and their arrogance is growing.
The counties and towns around Songjiang Prefecture, such as Jiading, Kunshan and Wujiang, have all been ravaged by Japanese pirates. They have long been salivating over Suzhou Prefecture, which is so close and richer than anywhere else in the world.
In just a few days, the scouts discovered more than a dozen cases of Japanese pirate spies spying on Suzhou, and even outside the Fengqiao camp, they found several unidentified people spying on the camp. The frequency and depth of the Japanese pirate spies were far beyond the past.
Therefore, Zhu Ping'an concluded that the Japanese pirates were ready to attack Suzhou in the near future, perhaps in three to five days or even ten days.
Zhu Ping'an has also issued a warning to Suzhou City, and Suzhou Prefecture has also been strengthening the city's defenses.
"Please rest assured, sir. I will complete the task and draft the official document requesting grain." Hu Wei took the document with both hands and said confidently.
Zhu Ping'an nodded, then looked at Xia Qiang and said to him, "Marching and fighting requires the support and cooperation of local government offices. Recently, the Japanese pirates in Songjiang Prefecture are ready to make a move. In order to prepare for war, I plan to send a battalion of soldiers to Suzhou for training to improve their combat readiness. This place is the destination of this trip. Mr. Xia, please help me draft an official document to notify the local county government to cooperate. This is the official document sent to another government office last time to request its cooperation, for your reference."
As Zhu Ping'an spoke, he picked up a pen and wrote a place name on the paper, then took a document from the bookshelf and handed it to Xia Qiang.
"Please rest assured, sir. I will complete the task and draft the official document to notify the local government. I will not delay your military affairs." Xia Qiang, like Hu Wei, took the document with both hands and said confidently.
Uncle Zhu Shouren, who was standing by, couldn't hold back any longer and came forward eagerly, "My dear nephew, my dear nephew, what about me? Don't worry about my uncle's work, I promise to complete it beautifully for you."
"Uncle, I also have an official document that needs your help. In order to prevent attacks by Japanese pirates, in addition to preparing more food and grass, the camp must also prepare more weapons and gunpowder for consumption during battles. Assuming that one thousand kilograms of gunpowder is consumed every day and one hundred swords are lost, we need to prepare enough for half a month's consumption and ask Suzhou Prefecture for gunpowder and swords. In addition, we need to apply for an additional 500 spears, 500 longbows, and 10,000 feather arrows in case of emergency."
Zhu Ping'an gave instructions to his uncle Zhu Shouren and also gave him a copy of the official document applied for some time ago for reference.
"Don't worry, my dear nephew, uncle is doing his job. It's just a piece of official document, and it's easy to get it."
Uncle Zhu Shouren rolled up his sleeves, patted his chest and made a promise, with confidence evident on his face.
"Then I'll leave it to Uncle, Mr. Hu, and Mr. Xia. I'll go outside to inspect the soldiers' training and come back to see your results."
Zhu Ping'an bowed slightly and went out of the tent to inspect the training of the various camps, leaving his uncle Zhu Shouren, Hu Wei and Xia Qiang in the general's tent.
This is also a test for my uncle and the others, to see if they would rummage around when they are alone in the general's tent.
Of course, Zhu Ping'an had locked the commander's seal, tiger talisman, and confidential documents in the cabinet last night. There were only ordinary books and Wen Yong in the commander's tent, so there was no need to worry about them being read by his uncle and others.
Zhu Ping'an also made secret marks on these ordinary books and letters, and put strands of hair on them, so that he could find them as long as his uncle and others looked through the books and letters.
Zhu Ping'an inspected the soldiers' training and returned to the general's tent about half an hour later.
Uncle Zhu Shouren saw Zhu Ping'an coming back from a distance through the window, stuffed the books in his hands onto the bookshelf, and when Zhu Ping'an walked into the commander's tent, he said to Zhu Ping'an to take credit: "My dear nephew, you are back. Haha, we have already completed the task you assigned to us."
"Your Excellency is back. We have already drafted the document. Please review it and give us your comments."
Hu Wei and Xia Qiang also stood up and bowed to Zhu Ping'an, and confidently asked Zhu Ping'an to review the official documents they had prepared.
Zhu Ping'an nodded, took the documents handed over by Hu Wei and Xia Xian, and reviewed them carefully.
Zhu Ping'an first read the official document requesting grain written by Hu Wei.
There aren't many problems with the format of the official document. I'm just not familiar with it yet, so there are a few minor flaws, but they're not serious. However, the problems with the content of the document are serious.
The food and grass calculations made by Hu Wei were seriously wrong.
In the official document, Hu Wei requested a total of 400 dan of grain, 140 dan of fodder, and 70 dan of coarse grains.
As soon as Zhu Ping'an saw the data, he knew that Hu Wei was wrong, absolutely wrong.
Do some mental arithmetic.
The Zhejiang Army had a total of 2,000 soldiers, and each person needed two liters of food per day, which meant 4,000 liters per day.
Ten liters equals one dou, and ten dou equals one dan. In other words, the Zhejiang Army needed 40 dan of food a day, which means 1,200 dan of food a month.
As for mules and horses, the Zhejiang Army had a total of 700 mules and horses. Each mule and horse needed two liters of grass and one liter of coarse grains a day, which was 1,400 liters of grass and 700 liters of coarse grains a day. In other words, mules and horses needed 14 dan of grass and 7 dan of coarse grains a day. In a month, that was 420 dan of grass and 210 dan of coarse grains.
The correct answer is: A total of 1,200 dan of grain, 420 dan of fodder and 210 dan of coarse grains are required.
In the official document, Hu Wei requested a total of 400 dan of grain, 140 dan of fodder, and 70 dan of coarse grains.
It's three times the difference.
Zhu Ping'an thought about it and felt that Hu Wei must have been careless or negligent and calculated one month as ten days.
One day, you need 40 dan of grain, 14 dan of fodder, and 70 dan of coarse grain. In ten days, you need 400 dan of grain, 140 dan of fodder, and 70 dan of coarse grain...
If we follow Hu Wei's official document to request food, we should have stored a month's worth of food for emergencies. But the food we requested was only enough for ten days. What about the remaining twenty days
When Cao Cao and Yuan Shao were competing for supremacy, Cao Cao was not at an advantage in terms of military strength. The reason why Cao Cao won the Battle of Guandu was that he burned Yuan Shao's Wuchao granary, causing Yuan Shao's army to run out of food and be defeated.
The issue of food and fodder must be handled with extreme caution and not be careless at all.
Theoretically speaking, this was the first assignment that Hu Wei was given, and he should have been extremely cautious, but such a big mistake occurred. This showed that Hu Wei was not careful enough and was too careless.