Since he had nothing better to do anyway, Gan Ning did not mind explaining the finer points to Pei Yuanshao.
"It doesn't work that way."
"The common people don't have much grain in their hands, only enough to get by. If the Cao Army really tried to seize the grain that kept them alive, those people could immediately flee into the mountains. So there wouldn't be much grain to seize."
"As for robbing the city, that's even more impossible. Half of the Cao Army consists of Yizhou troops. When have you ever seen people burn, kill, and loot their own territory? They're all local people. If the Cao Army dared to do that, the Yizhou troops wouldn't be able to hold back. It would be strange if they didn't immediately rebel."
"If something like that happened, the local aristocratic clans would be the first to refuse. Wouldn't that be the same as digging up their own roots? They might as well surrender to us at once. Why go to all the trouble of cooperating with the Cao Army? If anything went wrong and the Imperial Advisor got angry, he might slaughter them all."
"So, the Cao Army wouldn't dare."
Pei Yuanshao thought for a moment before continuing, "But they can't starve to death just because they've lost their grain, right?"
"How could that happen? At worst, they can surrender. Who in the world doesn't know that our navy treats prisoners well? The Imperial Advisor has been promoting this for several years now. If things truly become impossible, Xiahou Dun and the others can't possibly force the army to throw away its lives. The camp would definitely erupt. As for the commanders themselves, they're experts at the externalized Qi level. It's very difficult for them to die."
Pei Yuanshao nodded repeatedly,